House of Night, Mumbai, India.

A fifth former sat in his room, skipping class again. His phone was malfunctioning from all the texts he was getting from his roommate/boyfriend. Wavy black hair hung over his softly sun-darkened face. Eyelids hung sleepily over dark blue eyes. A student handbook and a Hindi text lay open on either side of him, as he caught a few z's.

His eyes shot open as the door opened. A woman smiled at him, ripping apart his soul as she did so.

"Hello Tarak." Xia, dressed in purple, smiled greater at his surprise. "I've chosen you as special."

The next thing Tarak knew, he was staring up at a shocked boy. "Hey, Akash, what happened?"

"Your forehead…" the boy replied. His dark brown eyes looked down worriedly through the dirty blond bangs straightened purposely over them. "I-…it's covered in b-bl-blood…"

Tarak shot up and over to a mirror hanging on the back of their door. He then ran into the bathroom and off his forehead with his roommate's bath towel. A sigh of relief was cut short as he realized what had happened.

"You're one of those…" Akash stated calmly. Their high priestess had mentioned Vampyres with backwards marks but when she talked about them it seemed like total mythology. "I-I'll go get Kimi…"

Tarak nodded gratefully and went to sit on the bed.

"It was nice to see you again, Kimi dear," A tall blonde woman said as she exited the priestess's quarters. She looked at Akash as he neared the room. "Looks like Xia is done her deed then."

The woman was then gone, walking down the hallway. Akash looked at the disheveled Priestess. Kimi Cookie looked up from her desk with a grimace, expecting any number of affinitied (not an actual word) females.

"Akash? What is it?" Her mood lightened as she stroked one of the cats on her desk, expecting him to have a normal problem.

"Tarak's mark…" The response caused a groan to escape the female's mouth.

"Alright. Details, go!"

Akash starred at his priestess.

She groaned again. "So it just flipped?"

"There was blood on his forehead when I walked in."

Kimi nodded thoughtfully, her hair bouncing happily. "Just like hers…"

"Who's?"

"Kaine Macabre was my roommate when I was a fledgling. We were good friends."

"Really! That must have been exciting!"

Kimi shrugged and picked up her phone, dialing the Berlin HON. "Go back to him, I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Guten Abend, Berlin House of Night." A female voice said, it sounded half annoyed.

"गुड ईवनिंग! It's Kimi! I have some fun news to share with you!"

"Really? Because I kept forgetting to call you about some news of my own!"

"Why don't you go first, since I'm mostly calling to get someone's number."

"You and your phone numbers. Anyway, about a three days ago someone was marked, with Xia's mark. Luckily for her Vlad was in town at the same time!"

"Really? Because one of my boys' marks just flipped. By the way, if he's still there can you have him stop by?"

"Definitely. She's planning on marking at least three more fledglings."

"Ese failed to mention that when she was talking to me."

Cleo laughed. "So, yours was already a fledgling?"

"Yeah. A fifth former."

"Apparently Xia's picking older, Steffi's eighteen."

Kimi sighed. "Well I better go talk to him. Get that damned mirror's ass on a plane as soon as possible please!"

"You got it! I'll have Sieg book it right now."

"Why me?" The warrior asked in the background.

About twenty-four hours later Tarak was summoned to his priestess's room. Vlad was standing next to Kimi's desk when he walked in. He stared at the man's mark.

"So you're Tarak?" The man frowned. The boy nodded.

"Lovely. And you speak English! So you know vampyre stuff, eh? So we just need to train you up, figure out your element, and set you up with a filled in mark?"

"I guess… What's your element then?"

"I'm thunder." Kimi doubled over laughing. Vlad's face flushed from embarrassment.

"Boom!" The priestess yelled.

"Anyway, I think he should just continue with his school and set aside some time to read this," Vlad handed the book that Eden had given him several years ago to the boy.

Tarak opened it up and frowned at the odd symbols. He held it back out to Vlad. "I can't read it."

Vlad groaned and sat it back on the desk. "Steffi couldn't read it either. Xia's really trying to make my life difficult isn't she?"

"Xia wouldn't have it any other way." Kimi smiled.

"Well, you should head back to class. I'll begin lessons after she's done picking out suck- I mean fledglings."

"You're a sucker too, Vlad."

"So I can go?" Tarak pointed to the door. He hoped he could go grab a nap before his boyfriend drug him to class.

The vampyres nodded and he bolted.

"Babe!" Akash grabbed his hand as he passed out the doors of Kimi's office. He pulled him into a passionate kiss. "How'd it go?"

The mirrored fledgling shrugged and squeezed his lover's hand. Akash dragged Tarak toward next class, a groan of displeasure trailing behind the two.