Thirteen
Winter Solstice
Chaos was usually in control. If she didn't have information, she yelled at someone till she did. If she didn't like the way things were going, she yelled at someone till she did. And if she had no idea what was going on, she yelled at someone till she did. Life is what you make of it, and she simply chose to make hers straight forward and simple.
Of course, Jack stepped in and made that complicated for her, by not listening when she yelled. This was new for Chaos, and it made them enemies from first sight. She could have counted up to the thousands of the numbers of times she had wanted to drive a stake through his chest, vampire or no. It would be a fitting death for a slayer, at least. When he neglected to tell her about the vampire war, forcing her to find out on her own means, that was one of those times. It was lucky his window had been closed at that point, otherwise the headmaster would be peeling him off the cement the next morning.
It didn't mean Chaos wasn't content through in the months leading up to the Winter Solstice. Bumlets seemed to be following her orders more and more, for which she was thankful, and the slaying wasn't incredibly hard. Her opinion was that they should move somewhere where some real vampires were just waiting to be staked, but Jack insisted on staying in New York. Chaos understood the whole vampire war but, with all due respect (or not so much), nothing was happening. The city was as dead as the vampires they killed. Maybe an apocalypse was on the horizon again. She had no clue. But sometimes you just had to take things as they came.
Like Mondie's cat ears. That had been the strangest thing Chaos had experienced yet. She had taken her share of demons dripping slime and malice, medieval vampires and monsters and freaks and so forth and so on. But a completely normal girl growing cat ears? The four of them had gotten to work, trying to find exactly what was going on with it, but no solutions had come up yet. It seemed harmless anyhow.
Chaos had heard all about Spot and Misprint, but then again, what vampire slayer at the school hadn't? She was fuming mad at her for letting a lousy demon take control of her life like that. How was that a way to survive? Luckily, it seemed like it had stopped before it began. There was no more word of the demon appearing around her, and Shade was being her body guard 24/7. Unfortunately for the slayers, she couldn't manage to squeeze any information from her at all. Spot's lair was still unknown. Chaos had a feeling that was what was keeping Jack in New York. She understood the longing to fulfil a vow you had made.
Just tell him where he is, Mis. She often thought in aggravation. Then we can get the hell out of here. Kiss this rotten old town g'bye.
But no information came from Misprint.
"Heya! Chaos!" A voice called. Chaos turned to see Shade running down the hall towards her. Wonder of wonders, Shade and Misprint had actually tried to catch up on their school work. They were often found in their dorm writing out long essays or something to get their grades up. Chaos didn't blame them. Who would want to be stuck in a place like this?
Shade hated the essays. She hated the homework and the school work and the conventionality of it all. But it was the only way to break out of the school, besides dropping out. And Shade wasn't quite ready to leave right away. There was always the risk of getting sent to another orphanage. She'd lose Misprint. And Jack.
She and Jack had edged around each other for the past months. She wanted to talk to him, and vice versa, but neither could pluck up the courage to do so. And they were both apathetic.
"Why should I care?" Shade had snapped when Misprint had questioned her about the two of them not talking. "If he ain't gonna talk to me, then I ain't gonna talk to him."
"That's a pretty strange relationship you got going there." Misprint said, raising her eyebrows. Shade neglected to remind her of her brief, but extremely strange and extremely painful relationship with Spot. She knew it would only make her curl up inside herself. Shade was never sure how to introduce the topic of Spot to her. She knew she had to, to find some way to get to his lair so they could kill the bastard and be done with it, but Misprint didn't want to answer. There was no way they'd be able to find out.
"Whassa matter, Shade?" Chaos asked, as the girl finally caught up with her. Shade dropped her voice to a dramatic whisper.
"We going out tonight?" She asked. Chaos rolled her eyes.
"Yeah. To that new restaurant down the block."
"You know what I mean!" She snapped, play punching Chaos on the arm. Chaos didn't smile.
"Yeah. You comin'?"
"Sure." Shade grinned, happy to be included. She had learnt to start going to Chaos and Dutchy to ask if she could go slaying. Bumlets was as sweet as anything, but he had taken over Jack's position as "stickler for the rules". She knew he wouldn't hesitate to give her permission if she was allowed, but things were different.
"Where?"
"Probably down to the Brooklyn Heights. Heard there's been some mysterious murders down there. We'll wipe out a few vamps, at least." Chaos shrugged. She spoke completely normally, as if she had been dealing with this type of thing for years.
She has, Shade realised with a jolt of excitement. Chaos glanced over at Shade and watched her through the corner of her eye. She was never sure what to make of Shade. It was obvious the girl was different from any other orphan in the school, what with the amazing strength she possessed. Chaos had seen her slay. It was incredible. Yet, she wasn't a slayer. There was no way the Slayers Council would be able to let her get away with wandering around free. Chaos always figured she was half slayer. It would make sense. The strength of a slayer, but not so powerful it would get out of control.
She nodded her head, as though in approval. She liked bringing Shade along when they went slaying.
It pissed off Jack.
+
Mondie wasn't sure how she was able to keep her ears a secret to the school. Only the four slayers, Shade, Gemini, and Misprint knew of the strange new appendages. She had ditched the toque and used a blue hair band, pushing the ears flat against her head, and letting her hair fall over the space where her ears should be. She had dropped the habit of flicking her hair over her shoulders, and in P.E., always wore an extremely tight base ball cap.
Mush had been the one to tell her about the vampires and the slayers. So whenever she moved her head to stop his fingers from finding her ears, she always felt guilty for keeping it a secret. Deep down, she knew he wouldn't hate her for having them, but wanted desperately to keep them private for a little while longer, but for how long, she could not say.
She didn't have to wait for a lengthy amount of time.
Mush and Mondie were in the gym, finishing rolling up the volleyball nets, a chore that the both of them despised, but were told to do after class, since they were wasting time talking. Mondie didn't really mind. She and Mush were never really part of the "in" crowd, that consisted of the jocks and lip gloss addicts, preferring to make their own friends who were judged by kindness and not by designer labels. So their relationship wasn't wide spread across the school. They liked it better that way.
They finally finished pushing the net into the sports closet. Mondie took a sly glance behind her, and saw the gym empty. She quickly seized Mush around the neck and pulled him into the small room, kicking away a soccer ball that was in their way.
"Mondie!" He chastened, flushing. She tossed her head back and laughed.
"Comon Mush. No one's gonna miss us." She paused in thought. "Not for half an hour, anyways."
He was about to open his mouth to protest, when he realised he didn't really want to. He had Mondie in his arms. He gave her a grin, then leaned in to kiss her.
Mondie was only anticipating his lips, and not the fact he couldn't kiss her with the cap.
He laughed shortly when his forehead hit the brim, then slowly pulled the hat off her head.
SHIT! Mondie was screaming on the inside. Before he had a chance to notice anything to awry, she leaned up and pressed her lips against his, hoping she'd be able to find a way out of this.
Mush paused, then kissed her back. She had been awful fast about that. What was it that girls were so afraid of? Hat hair or something? He couldn't remember. And he didn't particularily care at the moment.
It's been a long time since I've seen Mondie without something in her hair, he thought happily.
Alas, if it had been any one else, they would have clued in at this point. But our darling Mush is naïve indeed.
Mondie felt like screaming as he pulled away and smiled into her eyes. It was as sweet as all get out. But it also meant that if he shifted his eyes up one more centimeter, he'd have a clear view of the two, thin brown ears, that were poking up from her hair. She tried to pull him towards her for another kiss, but his eyes were fixed on the point above her head. She shut her eyes tightly, waiting for the bomb to fall. Her stomach sunk horribly.
"Mondie, you got ears!" He said incredulously. Mondie sighed.
"I know." She replied. He gaped. He was utterly dumbfounded. Mondie wriggled out of his arms, scooped her cap up from the ground and jammed it onto her head. Then, before he could say another word, she ran out of the closet, out of the gym, into the wintry daylight of December.
+
Shade sat on the bed across from Misprint, who was wearing a sweatshirt and long blue pajama pants. Shade, herself, was dressed in a black three-quarter length top and dark pants.
"Ain't you gonna be cold tonight?" Misprint enquired, staring at the ensemble.
"Slayin'll get me warmed up quick enough." She replied, pulling her hair into a high ponytail. Misprint nodded. She didn't talk to people any more. She only spoke for the sake of conversation. Her thoughts were somewhere else.
"Tell me how many you snuff tonight." She smiled. Shade grinned devilishly.
"Agreed." She promised. There was a small pause. "Anything new about Spot?" She asked softly. Misprint looked up with a jerk of her head.
"No." She said. "Nothing."
"You wanna get rid of him, don't you?" Shade persuaded. Misprint's eyes were guarded.
"Yes…" She said slowly.
"Then you just gotta tell us where the lair is, Mis." She said softly. Misprint's eyes narrowed, in spite of herself. She didn't know where the lair was, she had been blinded on the way. For all she knew, it could be in Jersey. But no one believed her.
I wouldn't tell 'em anyways, she realised sickly. The thought made her feel ill.
"Mis? You listening?" Shade asked, sounding concerned. Misprints eyes jolted up to her friends face.
"I already told you over and over." Misprint said in a monotone. "I don't know."
Something tapped at the window. Misprint jumped and twisted around, her heart fluttering faster, but there was nothing to be seen at all. Until a gray stone flew up from below and cracked against the glass. Misprint sighed in relief as Shade flipped the ponytail off her face.
"Gotta go." She grinned, as though she hadn't just failed to get the information out of her friend again. "Take care a' yourself, alright?"
"It's been a few months." Misprint reminded her, rolling her eyes. Shade nodded, but repeated the wish anyways. Then she climbed out the window, and was gone.
Misprint waited until the foot steps receded from ear shot. She sighed shakily and stood. Maybe she could make it to Stephens before that time, and they could just talk. Even though he had made her angry their very first visit with each other, it didn't stop her from routinely coming to see him, but only after Shade had gone out to slay. She was still best friends with the girl, but knew she'd get jealous if she more often than not left her alone to go talk with Stephen.
But Stephen understood Spot.
And Stephen understood what she was going through.
She heard the crunch of a shoe against brick outside the window, and sat back down again. Never mind Stephen. She'd go over to his dorm later. She'd have a new scar for him by then. She pictured their conversation. It was the same every time.
"Heya Steph."
"Hi Mis."
"How's it rollin'?"
"Not bad. Got anything new for me?"
It was the same every time. And every time, there was a new scar on her back, or her leg, or her thigh, or her shoulder. He'd always ask her where it was first, even though he knew. And every time he cleaned it and bandaged it. Something Shade would have done if Misprint could have told her. But she didn't want Spot slain.
A dark figure was outside the window. She watched him swing in and wipe the strands of hair from his face. His eyes glinted at her, and he smiled. She automatically tensed as he went to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, and then buried his face in her throat. His teeth scraped at the skin.
"I thought your little slayer friend would never leave." He whispered into the bite marks.
+
Stephen knew who it was before he even opened the door. And it wasn't just a lucky guess. He could see her standing there, her hand around her shoulder, eyes strained, but empty at the same time. He opened the door.
"Heya Stephen." She said in a monotone.
"Hi Mis."
"How's it rollin'?"
"Not bad. Got anythin' new for me?"
"Yeah. Back of the shoulder." She murmured. He glanced up and down the hallways. There was still voices from the insides of the rooms. She brushed past him into his room. She was wearing black sweatshirt over a pair of blue pajama pants. The sweater had a dark stain on the back of the shoulder. Stephen tensed.
When she had first came to him with the scar on her thigh, he had hated her. Hated her for making the same mistakes that all the others had. Letting him do this to them all was the stupidest thing, but he could forgive it. He knew Spot like he knew the back of his hand, knew the way the vampires mind worked. He knew all this, but could hardly ever manage to guess his next move.
"I'll get the Bactine." He said resignedly, moving towards the bathroom. She nodded her thanks, then pulled off the sweat shirt, wincing as the fabric clung to the ragged skin around the cut. She didn't like their midnight sessions, but wanted the scars to heal as fast as possible. Having a bevy of the cuts being flaunted for the whole school to see was not her best interest, to say the least.
Stephen returned with the half empty bottle in his hand, bandages, and a cotton swabs. She sat down on the bed, her bones straining against her pale skin. He could trace the edges of her spine and shoulder blades with the cotton as he rubbed the Bactine soaked substance over the cut. She winced, feeling the burn underneath her skin, but reassured herself. It was burning the evil away.
Too bad evil kept coming back.
She was glad Stephen had finally given in to the fact that she couldn't stop Spot. She had tried. She had tried so hard it had nearly killed her, but he was as bad as the Nuke he had injected into Shade's veins. And Misprint didn't have a hot, blonde haired brown eyed beach boy helping her through it.
She had Stephen.
"Ow!" She complained finally, her eyes watering. He gave her a disapproving look.
"Might I remind you who's fault this is?" He said. She quieted immediately.
"I dunno Stephen." She sighed. "I know you want me to stop. An' I've tried."
"I know." Stephen reassured her, pressing the bandage into place. "There we go. I know how you feel, Mis, I've been involved with him."
"How?" Misprint asked suddenly. Stephen paused. His fingers stopped on her shoulder, the ice of her skin making butterflies take flight in the pits of his stomach.
"What?" He asked slowly.
"You keep tellin' me that. But what happened? What did he do to you?" She asked. She shuffled around so she was facing him. The brown and blue eyes met, taking in each others faces, trying to learn each others secrets. Stephen wasn't spilling. He crossed his arms.
"That's for me to know, and you not to." He said firmly.
"Stephen, you already know everything there is to know about me." She admitted. She tried out a fake pout. But in the seriousness of the moment, the humour was lost on the both of them. Stephen sighed and dropped his arms to the bed.
"It's a long story." He said slowly. Misprint shrugged.
"We got all night." She said truthfully. He nodded, but still seemed reluctant to tell. She reached forwards and hesitantly pushed a lock of hair away from his forehead. He glanced up at her, and saw the trust and curiosity in her zealous blue eyes. She had never looked more alive to his eyes.
He slowly began to talk, just as the alarm clocks letters showed 12:00 in the blood red font.
+
Gemini sat straight up in bed, her eyes shut tightly, as though she didn't want to wake up for the life of her. The dorm room was absolutely silent. Mondie was curled up in a ball under her covers, dried tears on her cheeks. The drapes were as still as curtains with five minutes to go till performance. The whole room reeked of tension. Suspense and tautness.
Gemini's curls were floating gently, as though in a warm breeze, even though the air was dead still. Her eyes flickered open, but they weren't eyes anymore. They were balls of white light. Light so radiant and effulgent, it was a wonder it didn't burn through the walls in front of her. Under the sheets, her fingertips were glowing with the same light, radiating through the thin fabric.
She snapped her head to one side and watched as a bag of hair elastics shot off the shelf and hit the floor with a resounding "thud". Mondie didn't move. She sleeping with the tranquility and peace of the dead. A stuffy toy dog quivered on it's shelf, then suddenly flew across the room and hit the wall, then flopped limply to the floor.
The fan started going. The air was shimmering with this white light, this irresistible beauty that Gemini controlled. Pens and pencils were flying off the desks and shooting across the air like missiles, leaving blue and charcoal spots on the white washed walls. Papers were fluttering everywhere like wounded doves, and clothes were shooting to the floor as though a mad spirit had taken the room by storm.
It was over berore it even began. Gemini lay back down, her eyes flopping closed, and her fingertips returning to the regular colour. She fell into a dream filled sleep.
+
Miles away, in his home in Washington, Specs woke up with a start, then hastily groped around the bedside table for his namesake. Pushing his glasses on, he stumbled out of bed and ran to the computer. Something was wrong.
A powerful Wicca was loose in New York.
+
Misprint woke suddenly, as though from a bad dream. But whatever it was, she couldn't remember. She yawned and buried her face in her what she thought was her pillow, completely oblivious to the fact that she was sleeping wrapped in Stephen's arms.
Stephen wasn't half as unaware.
"Uh…Misprint?" He whispered, nudging her slightly.
"Mmm…what?" She mumbled into his shirt.
"You're kind of on top of me…and I gotta get up and get ready…"
"That's great…I…what?" She sat up like a bolt of lightening and checked to see if she was still wearing clothes. Stephen too, in her eyes, was deemed decent. Sighing in relief, she tried a smile.
"Wow. Innocence. There's a new venue for me."
"Do you remember last night?"
"Kinda blurry typed."
"Blood loss will do that to you." To avoid the blue-eyed glare, he quickly continued. "You were holding me as I was talking, and afterwards we…we both kinda fell asleep."
"Really? You didn't jump on the bandwagon to try and cop a good feel with your friendly neighborhood slut?"
"Misprint…"
+
Specs was already on the plane to New York by the time Gemini had finally rolled over and turned off the alarm clock, with some difficulty. Due to last nights events, it was understandable that she hadn't gotten much sleep. What confused the girl was the fact that she couldn't remember it, and was baffled by this sudden exhaustion.
Mondie, too, had been oblivious to the whole episode. She woke up with mascara streaked under her eyes, and hastily tried to rub it off as she made a break for the bathroom. But even when she was sleepy, Gemini could spot things from a mile away.
"Aw…honey." She groaned, sitting up. "What's the matter?" Mondie stopped, with one foot in the bathroom. Caught. She sighed, slumped her shoulders, and sniffled.
"Mush found out about my ears."
"Finally." Gemini rolled her eyes. "You took long enough to tell him."
"I didn't tell 'im, he found out!" She protested. "Which makes it even woise."
"How so?" Gemini asked, stretching and brushing her flattened hair back from her forehead.
"He's gonna be hurt that I didn't tell him." She reasoned. Gemini smirked as she slid out of bed and stumbled towards the bathroom, hoping Mondie would be too depressed to try and beat her there.
"Are you kiddin'?" Gemini asked as she sidled past. "He loves everything about you. He'll probably wanna marry you or something."
+
Shade finally found Misprint, in front of her locker, neat and tidy as you please, putting away her books. Shade felt like the hours of pent up rage inside her was ready to come down on this not-so-fortunate spiky head.
"Mis. Print." She hissed, grabbing her by the arm. Misprint winced, but Shade assumed it was the "I'm in trouble" factor, as opposed to the "you're ripping up old scars" factor. "Where. Were. You?"
"I. Was. With. Stephen." Misprint replied. Shade's glare was so furious, Misprint felt as though she was melting into a puddle on the floor. She instantly regretted mocking her friends speech. She realised that every time she went missing, the worst must come to mind. She sighed and slammed her locker shut. "I'm sorry. I should of realized you'd think that."
"Hell yes!" Shade snapped, finally letting her arm go. Misprint shot a glance down at her shirt and was glad to see that she wasn't bleeding. That would not have been a pleasant turn of events. "Mis, when you go off somewhere, you gotta leave a note or something. I was tearin' my hair out." She paused, and glanced at the dark rings under her friends eyes. She had a feeling they were not from the misuse of eyeliner. "Where were you all night?"
Misprint was hesitant to reply. How could she tell her she had woken up in Stephens arms? If you told Shade they woke up together, and then told her they were fully decent, the facts did not compute in her brain. She was forced to cancel one out. And more likely than not, it would be the "decent" one.
"I was with Stephen. We were talkin'. And we fell asleep. On opposite sides of the room." She said carefully. A little lie hurt no one. It often saved big time ass.
"Sure." Shade rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you were talkin'." This was different. She did not truly believe Misprint and Stephen had engaged in less than seemly behaviour, but just wanted to piss her off.
"We talked." She repeated indignantly.
"Right. Comon. We gotta get to class."
+
"Shit!" Mondie cursed suddenly, opening her back pack. "I don't have my homework!"
"Big deal. It's Mrs. Orrello. Who really cares?" Gemini laughed, pulling her hair into two braids.
"I dunno. With Shade and Misprint suddenly working so hard, I always feel a bit guilty when I'm off reading or goofing off instead of writing book reports." She said glumly, zipping the bag closed and slinging it over her shoulder. Gemini laughed.
"It's all an act." She assured her. "Shade and Misprint? Good students? More likely the gym will collapse at noon today."
+
Jack sighed as he straightened his tie. Mrs. Orrello's class was the hardest class of all. It was the one with Shade in it. Many times had he wanted to talk to her, so many he couldn't count them all. He definitely wasn't pleased with his current situation. For God sakes, he was a slayer. And he didn't have enough courage to tell a girl that he liked her?
It was different when she had pointedly expressed the opposite to his face. And not politely either. So he did have a reason for this sudden cowardice.
It didn't stop him from constantly mentally berating himself.
Not to mention the fact that he was starting to feel a little guilty about all the times he had treated Chaos like an eight year old. Chaos! Of all people to start feeling sympathetic about! Maybe he was losing his touch.
He sighed and picked up his back pack. He had a gut feeling something was going to happen today. Something big. He just wouldn't be able to tell anyone, even if they paid him.
+
"Seen Blink lately?" Mondie asked slyly. Gemini grinned demurely.
"Yeah. A little." She said, raising her eyebrows in a coy way.
"You two are so cute." Mondie said brushing her hair over the lack of her ears, and sliding the blue hair band on. "And you're always together."
"Ah, what can I say?" Gemini sighed happily. "He's magnetic."
+
Dutchy could feel the same thing Jack could. He could even sense it in his slaying partner, as he saw the boy glance up and down the halls, as though waiting for something. He ran to meet him, and then play punched him on the shoulder to grab his attention.
"Heya Kelly." He said.
"Dutchy." He responded, nodding. Nothing had to be said. They both had the strange thought. Something was up.
+
The two girls chatted readily as they strode down the hall to their French class. Gemini couldn't remember feeling this good in years. After all, she was an orphan. It wasn't exactly the status that everyone was dying to be. And now with the added threat of vampires, she was feeling a little under the weather lately.
"And what about Jack and Shade?" Mondie volunteered pluckily. "They'd be really cute together."
"Tell me about it." Gemini rolled her eyes. "They should just make out and get it over with."
Gemini was simply engaged in girl talk. She had no idea what she was unleashing. But if the casual observer had picked up all the right pieces, he would slowly be able to fit them together as Blink brushed his hair behind his ears, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and watched as the metal clip on the end of one of the straps hit his leg, and stuck to it, as though it had been glued.