No one has brought it up yet, but I felt I should mention it anyway. I have nothing but love for cats everywhere. I have three at my home now, and just lost one to liver disease over the weekend. I wrote Amy with a dog because I didn't think Stark should be the only fledgling with a dog. Besides, the dog thing will make more sense with the plot as the story unfolds.
Rebirth
Chapter 2: Something Strange
By the time I reached the dining hall, I'd begun to calm down. I even talked myself into thinking that I must have imagined the encounter. Still, this nagging feeling of foreboding latched onto me and refused to let go.
Everything continued as it usually did. Well, aside from one of the little first years dying. Poor kid. We held a memorial for the kid, but still had to go to our classes like we do every day (well, night). I caught up with Isis the day after, and we began to talk about it.
Isis and I got on great, even though she's not my roommate (she's actually rooming with some girl named Celia). My roommate died my first year here and no-one's been assigned her place yet.
"Such a shame about that Donna girl." Isis stated. "She seemed like such a healthy girl."
"I never met her." I said. "But it's good that Eliante holds memorials for all the fledglings after they've died. I don't think many other Houses do that."
"One more thing to like about our High Priestess." She shrugged. "I have heard strange reports from the Tulsa House."
I shuddered. Another reason for my not being in Tulsa was Neferet: the High Priestess there. I can't put my finger on it, but there was something about her (my parents and I spoke to her about joining the Tulsa campus before I decided to come here) that I just couldn't trust. Still, news of odd happenings perked my ears.
"What kinds of things?"
"A fledgling with adult Marks and bloodlust impulses, fledglings losing their affinities, and the friends of the adult-Marked fledgling dying." She replied.
"Whoa, back up." I said. "What's this about lost affinities? Nyx usually doesn't just take affinities."
"I know. And the girl swears up and down that she's still seeing visions."
"Maybe Neferet just told the girl that the visions were false because it was something she didn't want getting out?" I mused. "Besides, you know that woman's totally obsessed with declaring an all-our war—something that Shekinah and the other Priestesses around the globe are mostly against. It's possible that the vision-girl saw Neferet declaring open war and using Dark Magik."
"True." She said. "But why would the new Dark Daughters' leader's friends be dying?" Isis asked. "And from the sound of it, a vampyre's been doing the killing."
"I don't know, Ice." I said. "It sounds like a cover-up to me. But then again, what do I know? I'm just the freaky dog-girl who can turn the hallway into a winter snow globe in about a minute." The bell rang in the background.
Crap. Late for psychology again, I see.
It was a ritual night that night. And since Shannon and I are terminally late for everything, we were running straight to the temple from the bathroom. We thought it would go easily enough.
Boy were we wrong.
"I think something's out there." Shannon said, scooting in closer to me. I sighed.
"it's probably nothing." I said, trying to ignore the tingling sensation on the back of my neck.
"No, I think we're being watched." She said, now right next to me. And inside my space bubble.
"You're imagining things." I told her. Suddenly, a low growl met my ears, and I froze. Looking to my right, I saw two yellow eyes staring at us from the darkness.
"Am I imagining that?" she asked.
"No, Shanda, I don't think you are." I said. The owner of the eyes made another growl, and then sprang out at us. Shannon froze like a deer in truck headlights. I didn't have time to freeze. Or think, for that matter. I just acted out the first thing in my mind.
"Freezing Rain, I call on you!" I shouted as the wind whipped violently around us and the moisture in the air turned to little ice crystals. The crystals then shot at the attacker like dozens of tiny daggers, sending it with great force into a tree. After hitting the tree, it slumped over on the ground, obviously knocked out.
By now, someone had heard what was up. Shannon screamed like a banshee when it lurched at us.
"Girls, what is going on?" Eliante asked as she strode out of the temple. Eliante is gorgeous, like all adult vamps. She's average height with brown hair, brown eyes, and a golden brown complexion. Her tattoos look like vapor wisps and shooting stars, which ties into her affinity for precognition very well.
Eliante is usually the cool, collected type, but when she saw what attacked us she stepped back.
"It cannot be!"
I looked where she had gazed and gasped. What we thought to be an animal wasn't quite, but it wasn't human either. It was dog-like with shaggy gray fur, pointed ears, claws, and a muzzle. It still had a human's body, though, which confused me.
What the hell was this thing? I felt like I knew what it was, but I didn't know from where.
"It's a werewolf!" One girl shrieked. Aw crap. That's why it looked so familiar.
I guess they did make it to America. And more importantly, inside the school grounds.
"Take the students inside." Eliante ordered. "We must purify the grounds and rid them of these creatures."
Shannon and I did as we were told, and wondered just what this development meant for our lives.
If you're going to come to the Chicago campus, you need to know three things. 1, you are chosen and Marked by Nyx for the Change. 2, Some Fledglings (about 5% of all vampyre fledglings marked) have purple tattoos and special "alternations" to their affinity. This is some unusual but connected form of a normal affinity. 3, and this is a big one, discrimination by any student against those few with amethyst marks will be dealt with swiftly and effectively by the high priestess. Any who don't know the last two rules and break them will learn not to in a day's time.
I thought of Eliante's laws because of the new instructor who's taking over for Professor Caldwell. New guy's a young Adult from the London campus, but none of us know because we're not allowed to attend staff meetings. Why is Professor Caldwell looking for a replacement? His opera-performing daughter and her architect husband just had their first child, making him a grandfather. Which means instead of teaching us to Fence, he'll be spoiling the next generation of vampyres. What a lovely thought.
Last night's ceremony was Caldwell's last, and the new professor arrived after all of us Fledglings had gone to bed, so none of us had met him yet.
But I was about to.
I took my place on the bleachers—away from Carrigan and her entourage. After a minute or two, the gymnasium doors opened and the students (me included) gasped.
He was young and very handsome. Longish espresso-colored hair danced around his positively stunning storm-cloud-gray eyes and contrasted his flawless creamy skin. But what attracted everyone's attention was his tattoo. It was an unbelievable array of knots and swords that masked his face—all in the same bright amethyst that outlined Isis's and Angel's crescents.
"Merry meet." He smiled, his British accent adding a cultured sound to his deep voice. "I am Jephthah, your new Fencing instructor. Please do not address me as Professor Jephthah; it makes me feel old."
I laughed. I was going to like this guy.
"Now all of you I'm sure have heard the old story of the purple-marked priestess and the werewolves." He said. "Rest assured, I do not dabble in magic. My affinity is for weapons and physical strength, not incantations and spells. Furthermore, I will implore you all not to judge all of those who have marks like mine as 'evil'. We are not bad; just specially gifted by the Goddess. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Sir." We chorused. He smiled.
"Good. Now, who's up first today?"
I'll say this for Jephthah, he made class interesting. The man looked dangerous to start with, but put a foil in his hands and he's absolutely fatal. I discovered this when Zeus stepped up to battle against him. Let's just say that Carrigan's favorite boy-toy nearly got sliced in half. I was mesmerized and couldn't stop staring at those piercing eyes of his. And he caught on.
"Amy, isn't it?" He asked me as class finished up. I nodded, feeling mortified and embarrassed.
"I'm so sorry for staring." I apologized. "I didn't mean it as disrespect or anything. I've just never seen an adult male vampyre with amethyst tattoos before."
"What can I say? I'm unique." He smiled. Oh, what a smile. "Actually, I wanted to commend you."
"for what?" I blinked. What did I do that was worth his attention?
"For fighting of the werewolf last night." He said. "That took some quick thinking."
"It wasn't anything special." I said. "I'm always good under pressure."
"Nonetheless, it was impressive." He stated. "A great character trait for a future High Priestess."
I froze. Priestess? Me? "I'm not the next priestess. Carrigan is."
"Just because she controls the Dark Daughters doesn't mean she's Nyx's chosen." He told me. "I think you are the one the Goddess really desires to run this school."
"Well, unless something truly tragic happens or I change before she does, it's not happening anytime soon."
"Very well." He smiled, placing his right fist over his heart. I started a bit. Usually, adult vampyres only greeted other vampyres or respected older humans with this sign of honor. It's never used on a Fledgling. "Blessed be, Amy." He smiled. I mimicked his motions.
"Blessed be." I relied, bowing slightly, and walking away. And as I walked, I mulled over what he'd said to the class about purple marks.
He was right, of course. Amethyst marks don't make evil vampyres—just very powerful ones. Isis and Angel are no exceptions. Isis is a phenomenal empath; she can even convert the emotional energy ("waves" she calls them) into physical energy that she uses to find people and sometimes zap them when they misbehave. Angel, on the other hand, is telekinetic and telepathic. I mean, we always knew she could read minds, but one day last week she totally freaked out over something and every non-anchored object in the classroom flew around her. That scared us all, and we petitioned our Priestess to help her. Of course, Eliante couldn't turn us down. Thanks to her, Angel's a lot better.
But what did this mean for our mysterious new teacher? He mentioned a weapons affinity, but what exactly was a weapons affinity? And what was his alternation? The effect his affinity reached to that wasn't the norm. It made me extremely curious. So curious that I nearly forgot all about our little verbal exchange. And while I thought, I ran smack into Miko.
"Sorry!" I blurted. "I guess I was thinking to hard about our new teacher." She smiled.
"So, is he hot?" Leave it to Miko to search out the best gossip sources. I nodded.
"Like a volcano." I sighed. "And get this: he has purple tattoos. Just like Ice and Angel, only his is a full-fledged mask with criss-crossing swords and shield-shaped knots." She gasped.
"No way!" I nodded.
"Way. And he's a kick-ass fighter, so watch your back."
"Thanks." She said. "I gotta get to class. See ya at lunch!"
"You too!" I called after her, thoughts of priestess-ship now at the back corners of my mind.
If any of you need an analogy for Isis's "waves", think Hanajima from the Anime "Fruits Basket" (and if you don't read the manga, go look the character up on a fansite. You'll find the info there.).
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