Disclaimer: I only own this story, not the characters etc.

AN: I actually like the Cornelia/Caleb relationship in the comics, especially the way that it formed. (Unlike the cartoons, it's actually pretty cute) However, this is a hybrid between one of my ideas and XV Dragons and as a sign of respect to that fact and the fact that I'm an Irma/Cornelia or Cornelia/Elyon shipper, I've made a few changes.

Will groggily opened her eyes as sunlight streamed into her room. She lay there for a moment, trying to hold on to the remnants of her dream, especially the face of that boy. The boy in question had been haunting her dreams and daydreams for the past two years. Not that she minded having him there, he was very cute, with his windswept brown hair, dreamy brown eyes and sweet lips. Despite the fact that she had never seen him in the flesh, she felt certain he existed, but she couldn't really tell why. It was just a feeling really. She turned her face towards her alarm clock and swore as she saw the time.

"I'm late!" she exclaimed to no one in particular as she jumped up and began rushing around to get dressed. Mystery boy would have to wait for later. Grabbing her bag on the way out, she ran to school.

Three hours earlier

For Susan Vandom, the start of the day was far less hectic. Despite a late night and the early start, Susan was used to getting by on little sleep. Although it had given her trouble when she first started, soon she found a suitable daily rhythm. Something Will needed to work on, she thought, a slight smile on her face. Still, Will had her alarm clock. That should get her up on time.

Arriving at her new office, she headed into the head office for her formal introduction to this branch of the company. As she entered the office, the smell of rotting flesh hit her nostrils. Susan almost gagged, but at the last moment stopped herself. She heard a person chuckle at the other end of the room.

"You know, you're the only person who didn't gag upon entering." The tall zombie said, looking at her in amusement. He waved his hand and the smell disappeared.

"Yeah, well I am a necromancer, it kinda goes with the territory" Susan replied. "But if you're smelling like that, you need to get your anti decomposition spells checked."

The zombie chuckled. "There isn't anything wrong with the spells. The smell is merely a charm. It helps me test our new arrivals."

Susan swore under her breath. Most zombies she'd met were obsessive about any bad smells they had around them. Well, excluding those who were under the control of dark necromancers of course. She hadn't had to fight one of those in, what fourteen years?

"My name is Earl Simmond" The zombie continued. "You have a most impressive service record Mrs Vandom and I'm proud to welcome you to our team." He handed her a set of keys. "Here are the keys to your new office. I'm sure you can handle the work waiting for you."

Taking the keys, Susan left.

000000000000000000000000000000000

Cornelia brushed a lock of long blonde hair out of the way of her eyes and shook herself. For the past fifty minutes, Cornelia Hale aka the ice queen of Sheffield had been thoroughly out of it. She'd been doing IT again.

This time she'd been staring out of the window, at the red-green maple tree leaves as the breeze blew them around. But then the leaves began to form shapes. At first she saw a squirrel. Then, an image of her best friend Elyon, a crown atop her head and a smile on her face. Her sister Lillian, sneering at her followed this in short order. Then the shape of her friend Elyon assembled once more, this time looking scared and confused, a nasty slash on her face. It was with that disturbing image that Cornelia snapped out of it, heart pounding. Part of her knew she was causing the images to form. But the rest of her was sure that wasn't possible and denied it every time the knowledge came to surface.

She had no idea that the images she was seeing were just the beginning.

00000000000000000000000000000

Susan worked on her new computer programme, determined to get it completed in time for her meeting with Mr Collins. It was standard company policy for company mages to have a legitimate reason for meeting up when they did. The fact that as a Seer, Dean Collins could probably write the programme better than any normal person amused her in its irony. Any mage worth their salt knew at least one seer. Seer's collected and analysed data and their magic allowed them to spot underlying currents in seemingly unrelated events. As she started writing the final lines of code, her phone rang.

"Susan Vandom." She said as she answered the phone.

"Hi, it's m-"

"Will!" Susan exclaimed "How was your first day?!"

"Listen, there's going to be a party at school tonight and-"

"Fabulous! That's a great place to make new friends, Will. What luck!" Susan replied, feeling a sense of happiness that Will was beginning to come out of her shell. Before she had come to Heatherfield, Will had retreated into herself so much that Susan had worried that she might never come out.

"Wait," Will said, a tone of apprehension sounding in her voice, but Susan chose to ignore it.

"I'll drive you!" she continued, determined to help Will get on with her life. Will continued to try and pursuade her to say no, but Susan steamrollered over her objections. After saying goodbye, she put down the phone and smiled to herself. She knew full well that Will wanted an excuse to stay in her shell, but Susan knew that she wouldn't do Will any favours by letting her stay that way.

0000000000000000000000000000000000

Susan sat outside the grave and tapped her fingers impatiently. Normally she felt a sense of calm in graveyards, but she was running late for her daughter's lift to the Halloween party. Why couldn't vampires choose more convenient times to rise? She wondered idly to herself. At 9:30 she finally saw the earth around the grave begin to move and she touched her Ankh ring. Swiftly she transformed into her necromancer robes, just as the vampires head poked out.

"Oh damn." He said as he looked at her. "Hey if it's about those two tramps I killed, it was an accident, I swear."

"Not according to Paladin Cook, it wasn't" she replied sardonically. Cursing under his breath, he launched himself at her yelling.

"And now I'll kill you as well!"

With a sigh she swung her staff, skull first into the attack. With a sudden flash, he let out a slight "oh" of surprise and collapsed into a pile of dust. Susan dusted herself off and breathed a mental sigh of relief. Irish/American style vampires were by far the most convenient and easy vampires to deal with and it meant that she didn't need to wait for a cleanup crew. Hoping Will would forgive her lateness and trying to think up a good reason for being so late, Susan dashed to her car and headed for home.

As Susan opened the door to their new apartment, she noticed that despite the late hour, the lights weren't on. Switching on the lights, she soon saw why. Lying on her bed, Will was fast asleep. Susan smiled to herself. She looked so sweet when she was sleeping like that. It also meant that she didn't have to explain herself either. Settling down in the living room, Susan prepared to act like she'd arrived at a normal time.

AN: Most people are unaware of the fact that the types of vampires that exist in popular culture are derived from the Irish variants. This is because of the popular novel Dracula, which forms the baseline of modern vampire lore. The fact that the author of the novel, Bram Stoker never went to Transylvania is irrelevant.