One of the girls flipped on the sound system as she waited for the try-outs to start. The soft pulse crept out of the stereo, making the air seem to beat around the girls. Across the gym, the football players stretched and ran through their daily warm-ups. Kain stood nearby, watching the humans disgustedly. The cheerleaders also ran through a quick warm-up as the music grew slowly louder, the beat pounding out through the gym. The frenzied pulse grew louder and louder, until at the peak of the beat, the music exploded into throbbing beats and crying instruments as the double doors to the gym's entrance slammed open. Everyone, football players and cheerleaders alike, looked up to watch Rose storm in, wearing a black leather trench coat and slightly heeled boots. Her hair was pulled up and back, her pointed ears showing to the entire world, and a malicious smirk graced her features, noticeably underneath her lips the unmistakable whiteness of her fangs. As the beat continued, Rose strode in time to it toward the girls, letting her trench coat drop to the floor to reveal an ankle-long black skirt with slits running up to her hips and a silver halter top. She was almost screaming to the world, 'I'm a fucking vampire! What are you going to do about it?!' Several catcalls penetrated the air from the football players' side, and she glanced over in amusement to see multiple mouths drop. With a pleased smile, her gaze landed on Kain to see his glasses were pushed down the bridge of his nose, and he rested one hand against his face, the front finger resting against his temple, the thumb under his jaw. She knew he was using it to keep his own mouth from dropping.

'Two can play at this game, master vampire,' she thought to herself contentedly. She turned back to the cheerleaders and was surprised to find Kairan climbing across the bleachers toward her, another girl behind her. The girl walking behind her was tan skinned, had long black hair that was meticulously brushed back into a ponytail, and silvery-gray eyes.

"Hey, what's with the outfit, Rose?" Kairan inquired. Rose shrugged.

"I just felt like it. Who's this?"

"Rose, meet Metowaka. She's the friend Diana mentioned."

Rose cocked her head to the side, taking in the facial structure of the young woman. She looked perhaps seventeen and was outfitted in mostly black with little bits of gold for highlights. Rose offered a hand and Metowaka took it and shook it with a strong, but gentle grip.

"To be honest," Rose stated, "I have never heard of a name in quite the same structure before. How did you come by the name, if you don't mind my inquiring?"

"I'm Native American," the young woman responded in a soft but energetic tone.

"Really?" Rose smiled. "Sometime I would love to hear about the customs of your people if we get the time and you don't mind. I'm rather knew to America all around."

"I guessed as much from your accent. British?"

"Mm-hm."

"She's from England," Kairan supplied helpfully.

"Hey!" another voice cried from the bleachers. The three girls turned to see Diana hopping down them toward the trio.

"Did you forget about me?"

"Oh, yeah, Diana's here as well, Rose."

Diana punched Kairan lightly on the arm.

"Thanks a lot."

"You're welcome."

Rose sighed and shook her head, a smile on her face. She abruptly clapped her hands and looked around at the assembled girls.

"Well, let's get this show on the road, everyone."

The "preps" of the school watched in amusement as Rose quickly got everyone up and started placing them in lines. They knew that inevitably it'd be one of their numbers who ended up head of the cheerleading squad. After all, they had been cheerleading since high school. This exchange student probably hadn't done it ever, so they laughed but let Rose try out having the crown of leadership around her neck choking her. As they progressed into a half an hour of the trials, they began to realize that Rose was handling the responsibility better than any of them ever had, and that was unforgivable. One by one, or two by two, the girls walked out of the try-out, in protest of a newbie leading the team. The try-outs had consisted with a number of about forty girls, and once all the harpies had left, the group was condensed down to a nice size of fifteen. Perfect for what they wanted to do.

The dean and a few other teachers had come down to judge the girls and found all the remaining girls acceptable. They took a few minutes to jot down notes about each girl and write who made it and who didn't, making it take a grand total of one hour. They posted the list on the wall, nodding to the girls whom made it, and left it to them to choose a cheerleading captain.

Rose immediately noticed the looks she was given after the teachers had left and vaguely wondered if she had bitten off more than she could chew. She really hadn't possessed any intention of becoming the captain. She had taken control of the try-outs because she wanted to make them as erotic for the male populous on the other end of the gym as possible without going too far out. She started to quietly slip toward the back when Diana turned on her.

"I nominate Rose!"

"As do I!" Kairan added. Rose shot her friend a dirty look and Kairan shrugged with a 'ha ha, you got yourself into this' expression.

After a few moments of whispering between all the girls, they all decided to go ahead and go with it. None of the others wanted to take up the mantle of responsibility, especially with the normal women who took it gone. So Rose was given it all because she wanted to spite Kain.

'Speaking of . . .' She glanced over and realized with a start that the entire football team had settled down and was watching the try-outs with intense fascination. She glanced over at Kain and met his gaze as he looked up at her at the same moment. He shook his head quickly and turned to the team, roaring at them to get off their lazy arses and practice.

A few days passed in such a way, and Rose came to be good friends with Metowaka. She kept the cheerleaders always up and distracting the football players, and no matter where Kain would move the football team, the cheerleaders would end up gravitating to it. During one of his practices, Kain finally hit a limit after having to draw the attention of the third person from the window where the cheerleaders were.

"All right, that's enough. I feel you have all been experiencing far too many distractions, so I have come to a conclusion and decided to change things."

The football team looked up hopefully, wishing he'd cancel the practice so they could go watch the cheerleaders in peace.

"I'm changing the warm-ups," Kain continued. He waved a hand, and a collection of ropes dropped down, hanging a good four feet above the boys' heads. They looked up at them incredulously as he continued, "No one is leaving here until you have all climbed at least one of the ropes."

There was a dull click as the doors to the gym locked to emphasize his statement. The boys looked amongst themselves and the cheerleaders, having noticed something different about the team, followed their captain as Rose headed up to the window and peeked in.

"And just what is our motivation for doing something like this?" one of the football players demanded.

Kain smirked cruelly. "This is your motivation," he answered, walking over to a large box and flipping the gate open. The football team watched in horror as a large tiger padded out of the box. The pulled away, naturally afraid of it, before one of the boy's gathered his courage and stepped forward.

"Ah, it's got to be a tame tiger," he stated calmly. The tiger almost seemed to look up at Kain. Kain nodded once.

"Sic them."

The tiger let out a bellowing roar and ran toward the boys, claws extended. The football players wisely turned and raced away, many jumping up to grab the rope. With the addition adrenaline, they quickly jumped up and climbed the ropes to get away from the giant feline. Kain chuckled maliciously, walked up behind the cat—who was staring up at the boys hungrily—and scratched behind its ear gently. The cat rumbled in its throat in pleasure. After leaving the feline there for a while, he finally urged it back into the box, closed the door, and let the football players come down.

"Practice dismissed," he told them. The quickly ran toward the door which was unlocked now, and raced out. Rose let the cheerleaders leave and headed into the gym to see Kain rolling the box out.

"That was a mean trick," she told him, grinning.

"I could have been worse," he responded. "In fact, I could have put them into the pool with crocodiles, but they were a bit short notice. I could also have—"

"I don't want to know!" Rose protested. Before she could escape, he grabbed her and set her down on one of the bleachers, then started telling her what he could have done and how. She groaned and after a minute, when his back was turned, she grabbed her trusty little CD player and stuck the earphones in her ears. Kain continued talking, nicely drowned out by music. She let her head bob slowly in time to the music, and finally after about ten minutes, Kain peered at her, and nodded, obviously having finished his lecture. She quickly pulled the earphones off, noting he didn't look surprised in the least to see them. He simply gave her a malicious smile.

"Uh oh," she mumbled. "I'm going to get it for this, aren't I?"

"No, you already are." He walked toward the door, her following. He stopped at the threshold and looked back at her, continuing, "You've agreed to clean the gym." He shrugged and shut the door, and she heard it lock. She knew it wasn't going to unlock until she was done. She glanced around the gym sullenly.

"You know, I really do hate him."