Alyson had dressed to kill today, literally and figuratively

Alyson had dressed to kill today, literally and figuratively. She wore no less than three knives hidden in various places on her person, and the studded gloves and spiked boots she wore were not just for decoration. She had gone with the street tough look for her first day at Worcester Valmont High School. Her long black hair was unbound and fell to the middle of her back. She wore a white, sleeveless tee-shirt and black leather pants that were like a second skin, showing her to be as lean and muscled as any predatory feline.

Her make-up had a decidedly Egyptian influence about it, with the black eyeliner that ran from the corners of her eyes to her temples. But the bright red lipstick was all her own. Alyson looked dangerous and beautiful, and she chose ruby earrings to enhance her appeal. Rubies stimulated desire. Lastly, she took a delicate black pin from her dresser and attached it to her tee-shirt. A dahlia, the symbol of the Night World witches. For the next few weeks, she would be Alyson Frost, a witch of Circle Midnight with a paternal relation to the Harman line.

Checking her appearance in the mirror one final time, she yelled at her mom that she'd be going out for the day.

"Be careful, honey," called her mother from her room. Luckily, Eddie Roze knew nothing about her daughter's occupation. For all she knew, Aly worked as a clerk at a local law firm that had hired her as soon as she'd graduated from college early at the age of only 19 years old. Of course, the "law firm" was really the Circle Daybreak base of operations in this part of the state.

"I will mom." Alyson gave her mother a kiss as she headed out the door.

She made it to school in just under fifteen minutes, just in time for the first bell of the day. Let's see, which class was first? Oh yeah, homeroom with Mr. Richards. Alyson headed in the direction of the classroom purposefully. She was supposed to be new in town, so she had to play a little lost even though she'd been living in Worcester, Massachusetts for almost a year now. I wonder if there are any Night People in my classes, she thought.

She walked into the classroom just as Richards called her name.

"Frost, Alyson," he called, sounding for all the world like Ben Stein in Ferris Buller's Day Off.

"Here," called Alyson as she took a seat behind a small, wiry kid with brown hair and glasses. She took a quick look about the room to see if anybody openly wore their dahlias or foxglove or roses. Alyson recognized one vampire right off the bat; he was very obvious about it, and Alyson decided that he had to be lamia, a born vampire. Besides the lamia boy, she also saw two black dahlias. Two witches, and neither of them looked friendly.

"Hey, are you new?" asked the wiry kid in front of her.

"Yeah," she replied.

"I'm Jonathan, but everyone calls me Morgan – it's my last name."

"Alyson Frost," she replied. "People call me Aly." This kid was going to get on her nerves quick if he kept being this cheerful. She was trying to create an image here!

"Can I give you some advice?"

"Sure," replied Aly indifferently.

"Stay away from Madeline and Gabrielle over there in the corner. People say that they're witches."

People were right, but she wasn't about to tell him that. She just chuckled.

"Hey, do what you want, but don't say I didn't warn you." Morgan shrugged, then turned around and pulled out what Aly assumed was his homework. For her part, Aly just stared into space, mentally reciting the stones and metals of Power to pass the time. She breathed a sigh of relief when the bell rang, signaling the end of homeroom.

She spent the rest of the morning in a daze until lunchtime, when an unexpected hand brushed her shoulder. She looked up into amber-brown eyes, and she could see the darkness within them. It was Gabrielle, one of the witches from her homeroom. The amber-eyed girl took a seat beside Alyson.

"I noticed your pin. What circle?"

"Midnight, and you?"

"Midnight. I am a relation of Maeve Harman." Alyson was impressed, Maeve was the Dark One, the witch who had made a bargain with Hunter Redfern to bring peace between the witches and vampires, and who bore him children. Gabrielle must be a descendent of Roseclear, Maeve's half-mortal daughter. "What is your clan?"

"Frost clan," replied Alyson. Frost was a fairly weak but numerous clan, so Alyson could easily be telling the truth. "I have relations to the lost Harmans on my father's side."

"Interesting. You just moved here?"

"Well, a few weeks ago. We've finally gotten settled in, my mother and I."

"How nice. Since you're new in town then, why don't you join us for the full moon celebration tonight? That way, you can get to know the other Circle Midnight members in the area."

"That sounds really great, I'll do that. Where are you meeting?"

"On top of Knoll's Bluff. Know how to get there?"

"I can find it."

"Tonight at eight p.m. See you then, Frost," said Gabrielle in farewell.

That went better that I'd hoped, thought Alyson. The rest of the day she kept a watch for other witches and vampires and shapeshifters. Surprisingly, there were quite a few. All the witches were from Circle Midnight, and all but two were female. There was one made vampire, a girl who was fairly new, and seven of the lamia. Shapeshifters seemed sparse, though. Alyson saw only three the whole day, a tiger, a hawk, and a wolf, and none of them seemed to be in a good mood. Strange, she thought, how all the Night Worlders she'd met today seemed to be unsociable. Alyson was relieved when the final bell of the day rang.

As she headed outside and toward her car, she felt a prickle at the back of her neck. Something was not right. Alyson looked around for anything that didn't belong, but saw nothing. Continuing toward her car, she saw a young man perched on the hood.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

"Griffin Weald," he answered. He was a witch, a descendent of the Weald line! It was a powerful family, an ancient branch of the Harman line.

"Well, what do you want?"

"Just wanted to scope out the new girl is all. Madeline said that you were pretty, she didn't mention beautiful."

She blushed. "Thanks." Actually, he wasn't bad himself. His golden hair was fairly long, and worn loose it fell to his jawline. And those eyes weren't anything to scoff at, either. Large and pale green, they reminded Alyson of ice on blades of grass.

"Are you coming to the party tonight?"

"Party?"

"Yeah, it's a full moon night. Circle Midnight kids around here always party on full moon nights. Gabrielle said that she'd invited you."

"She did. I'm going. It's on Knoll's Bluff, right?"

"That's right. I'll look forward to seeing you there," said Griffin before he hopped off her hood and walked away. What a strange guy.

Alyson drove home to wait. There was plenty of time, so she worked on her current jewelry project, a star sapphire set in a gold pendant. Sapphire was good for focusing energy, and star sapphires were even better. Gold was basically and amplifier for whatever stone was set into it. She had created the pendant as a gift for her mother, an herb witch. The piece was already cast, all that was needed was to set the sapphire in place and cast the spell that would activate its power.

"Blessed Mother, Hecate, grant your child the power to awaken this gem," she chanted, holding her hand over the finished necklace. The metal flashed, signaling the success of the spell. Aly smiled contentedly before she slipped off into sleep sitting up at her worktable.