A/N: Sorry for the delayedness. The site is sorta going wonky on me...and my weekend was strange. Saturday was St. Patty's Day, which is kinda a big deal around her, Sunday is a day better left forgotten, Monday I was in loopy land from a big headache, and today I'm kind of afraid to leave the safety area around my bathroom. Fun times, 'nuff said. I also apologize for any mistakes for these reasons as well.
Disclaimer: So, let's check up with what's going on in Tulsa. I own nothing but my characters, and anyone who isn't mine belongs to their rightful owners from the SYOC, I'm just too lazy to cross-reference everything right now.
I've got a lot coming up this weekend, including a college visit (the joys of high school's final years). I'm thinking 5 reviews would be enough incentive for me to get something up on Sunday or Monday ;).
Tulsa
Neferet's POV
The little brat got away after all. I had no intentions for JC to leave my sight and go to that isle where she can learn everything she needs to. Knowledge could very easily be power to that girl, and while she could never reach my ability, her being weak was a great benefit to me. My plan to keep her here was now ruined thanks in no part to Lenobia interfering. Teacher interference, that would have to be taken care of and soon. I already had the perfect way.
However, the one good to come of it was that I had extra space for other plans. Other fledglings, those more important and helpful to me. I had been doing some research, learning about other students with other affinities, affinities that could be useful in our current issues with the human population, as I told other High Priestesses. There were many promising fledglings, boys and girls alike, but after looking at the records, one girl stood out above the rest. I knew for a fact that she would aid me willingly, both with her personality and her affinity. There was only one issue, her High Priestess was refusing to transfer her for some, ludicrous reason.
Darkness could sway her mind, just as it could mostly anyone's, and I could use it to sway this Priestess's, but a sacrifice was required. While it was ready and willing to go against the natural order of free choice, it needed that power the life would give it, and yes…it must have a life. If it weren't for the life power needed, this transfer would have already been done.
But, everything was covered. And as I was glancing out my window, the knock came and I smiled. "You may enter," I called and the girl came in.
"Hello, Priestess," Dee Summers said and bowed formally to me. I hid my grin behind my coffee mug, "Sam said you wanted to see me?"
"Hello, Dee, yes, I did," I nodded and motioned to the chair in front of me, "please, sit down and make yourself comfortable." The girl did as I told and I let out a small sigh, debating on how to start this conversation. Surely she would be upset and frightened about this if I approached it incorrectly, and I didn't need the noise of her complaints and frightened screams so soon. "Would you agree that we must all make sacrifices during this time?" I asked finally, stopping her from fidgeting.
"Of course, Neferet," she agreed quickly, "but it will all be beneficial when this fight turns out right."
I knew what she meant, but I would enjoy toying with her a bit. I gave her a silky smile and nodded, "be careful of what you mean by right. Not everyone might agree with what is the proper outcome of this."
"You're win, of course," Dee amended.
I grinned, "very good, I am glad to know that you are still on my side. It makes my news a bit more bearable to tell."
She perked up instantly, "you have news? What's going on? Now that the circle is gone, it'll be so much easier I imagine!"
"Yes, it will, though I did not wish for all of them to leave," I muttered my frustrations but continued, "however, this has nothing to do with them. This is between you and me. I need something from you, Dee, something very important."
"Anything, Neferet. What do you need?" she asked quickly.
She was going to be upset over the next words, and I had to resist the urge to smile at the image of her face falling and the negative emotions rolling off of her. "I need your life," I answered.
And just as I predicted, her face fell and her voice faltered. "W-what?"
"I need your life, are you deaf, child?" I asked, "the truth is, you have outgrown your use to me and I need your life. Even you said yourself that sacrifices must be made, this is your sacrifice to our cause."
"W-w-why? How have I outgrown my use to you? I have known you for four years, followed you and your every word, I have the school wrapped around my finger! How could I no longer be of a service to you?" Dee cried, just as I expected her. And the emotions, the fear, the sadness, the anger were coming off of her in waves.
"Ah, that was always your one fault, child, you don't think ahead to the future," I stated. She seemed confused, so I sighed and had to explain, "you are a sixth former now, Dee. Obviously, Nyx," I nearly spat the name, "does not want you to die, therefore you will not reject the Change. But what happens once you do Change and you're a vampyre? What use are you then? You have no affinity, you have no purpose to stay at the House of Night, so you leave, just like that, and you no longer help me. At least, in this way, you die for our cause and do the right thing. And is that not what you wanted all along?" I asked.
She looked at me, fear and the formation of tears in her brown eyes. And then she spoke the words I was waiting and wanting to hear. "I don't want to die, Neferet," she whispered brokenly. In a way, I almost pitied her. But it was all I needed to justify the killing.
"Then obviously, Dee, you are not on my side," I stated. Darkness formed around me, and I let it swirl around my fingers before I commanded it. "Restrain her," I ordered and it did as I asked.
The girl looked frightfully at her wrists as Darkness cut into her skin and started to make them bleed. She attempted to move them, and I laughed when she couldn't. "Foolish, you know the power I wield, there is no reason to attempt to escape from it!"
"How could you do this to me?" she yelled, thrashing against her invisible bindings, "after everything that I did for you, you treat me and betray me like this! Why, I don't get it?" she cried. I expected one of two reactions from her, one the silent, willing submission to her fate. Obviously, this was not happening, meaning she was going to fight for her life and try to earn it from me.
"Betrayal?" I asked and laughed, "please, Dee, get your facts straight. I never promised anything to you! You followed me expecting to get something, and that was your mistake to make."
"Neferet, don't do this," she said, "please, don't do this! I will do anything you want, absolutely everything you tell me to do! I'll stay after my Change, I'll take a school position, no matter what it is. I'll increase my power over the student body, anything you want! Just don't do it, don't kill me."
"Stop it at once!" I ordered and glared at her, "I never expected you to beg, I figured you had more self-respect than that. I suppose I was wrong, and I suppose I am exposing you for what you truly are right now. A coward. My decision is final, child, nothing you can say will sway me. Darkness, do what you will to her and take what you need to fulfill my request."
The Darkness intensified around her and she let out a scream in sheer agony. I smiled at the sound, it was music to my ears, and I could feel the power swell in the air. I watched as a sliver wrapped around her throat and cut, leaving the air in empty silence as the girl's eyes shut and the element fed.
The dark red liquid fell to the floor, and Darkness fed on every inch of it. After watching intently, I realized the body was being released and I bit my lip. Of course it would need to be cleared away without anyone knowing, and I couldn't be bothered with such a task.
"Aurox," I called and the boy stepped out of the corner filled with shadows. I remembered he was there, and by the glazed look in his eyes, I was happy because the incident gave him power as well. "You are not to use that yet. Take the body and lay it by the large oak, take care to let no one see you. If someone does, by chance, tell them you found her outside of school grounds like this and do what they instruct you to. Go," I ordered.
"What of the blood?"
"Darkness shall take care of that," I grinned, "now go, do as I ask."
"Yes, Priestess," he agreed huskily and I turned my back as he went to fulfill it.
Just as the door closed, my phone rang. And as Darkness continued to feed, I smirked and went to pick it up. It had worked, and I was one step closer. "Hello?"
Aurox's POV
I had witnessed the whole thing. Much like the battle, it was exhilarating and powerful while sick at the same time. I knew what was happening to the poor girl was not something that should be commended. The blood pooled around her as the Darkness took her. It was sheer black and red around the body, and it was a gruesome and horrifying scene.
Yet her emotions, her fear, her sadness, her regret, pooled into me with an intensity I didn't know could exist. And they gave me power, they gave me strength, and I could feel the Darkness calling to me, telling me to help it in its killing of the sacrifice. I wanted to, but at the same time I didn't, I knew it was wrong and I felt disgusted at the force and at Priestess for doing what she did. The girl very clearly didn't want to die and was more than willing to do anything to spare her life. Priestess considered it cowardice, I saw it as desperation.
It was over just as quickly as it seemed to start, and it was very obvious that the body remaining in the chair was lifeless. That was when Priestess ordered me to take the body out of the room. I knew it would be bad for her to be implemented in this death, which was why she wanted the body removed, but I worried more about the blood. It would be difficult to remove that from the floor. However, she promised it would be taken care of, and I obliged to her original order, leaving the room just as the phone started ringing.
I navigated my way through the school grounds in the shadows, avoiding any contact with another as best I could, just as Priestess had asked. No one noticed me, as it was getting late for vampyres and they were going to sleep. I reached the oak without much of an issue and carefully laid the body down on the ground in front of it.
If it weren't for the jagged, swollen, red line cutting across her throat, the girl would appear to be sleeping comfortably underneath the tree. She contained almost an ethereal beauty about her, her hair splayed about her and her eyes closed, but the cuts and the Darkness surrounding her destroyed the image.
I sighed and stood up from my kneeling position, dusting off my pants. There was something wrong about this whole situation, I just couldn't say why. The girl shouldn't have been killed, much less by Darkness. Like Priestess had said, Nyx had not meant for her to die, she was meant to go on as a vampyre and live a somewhat normal life. Now, she was dead and just another pawn in Priestess's game.
"You know the difference." I started at the voice and looked up. A woman floated there with long, dark hair and dark eyes. I thought I saw the Mark of a vampyre on her forehead, but I couldn't be so sure. The light of the coming sun obstructed my view partially.
"What?" I asked and blinked at her, "what difference?"
"You know the difference," she said again and I think she smiled, "you know the difference between good and evil, despite what you do. That is a good sign at the very least."
"A sign of what?" I asked.
"Many things," she answered, "now go, you are expected in other places to do other things."
I paused and stared at her. "Who are you?" I asked instead of obeying. Not obeying, the thought did not register with me right away, but I did choose to stay.
"I go by many names, my Son, and it is a topic that can be discussed at a later date. Now, I would advise you to go on now, for your own safety," she responded.
This woman apparently knew something I did not, so I nodded and turned away. I walked away from the scene just like she had asked, and faintly I thought I heard on the wind, "goodbye Heath."
That was followed by me hearing footsteps approaching the spot. I fell into a light, silent jog as I went back to the shadows around the school. Stopping and out of curiosity, I turned back around and watched as a blonde haired girl and her black and white cat approached the area where the other girl's body was lying. She spotted the body quickly and let out a strangled gasp at the sight.
I turned back around and continued my jog. I figured it would be best for me to be entirely gone from the scene and avoid the questions, just as Priestess had ordered. Priestess, and seemingly the mysterious woman I had just spoken with.
Gwen's POV
After JC had left for the airport, I started and finished my homework from yesterday. As a teenager, and because of the events that took place that night, I didn't get the majority of it done, and I figured I should probably do so for tomorrow. Especially since I couldn't use the excuse of not having enough time because we didn't have classes today.
I got that done and then just waited for my roommate to call me and let me know that she got there safe. And that was the reason I knew I couldn't sleep, because I'd be waiting for her to call. Goddess knows she had gotten herself into more trouble than she needed, and I just hoped she got there without injury or any other issue. I knew Maggie was asleep, her magic pain pills were pretty good and made her sleep pretty heavily, so I couldn't hang out with her, and it was past curfew, so I couldn't go see any of the guys.
On the other hand, I was bored out of my mind in my room. After some debate, I grabbed my phone and got off of my bed, deciding that I'd go for a walk. Though vampyres and sunlight didn't seem to go together that well, I didn't care. It had been a while since I had seen a sunrise, and I did kind of miss it.
Going to the door, I turned back when I heard a meow. I looked back and smiled at Oreo, who had gotten up and was staring at me. Having JC did help in that aspect, since he wasn't alone with Quinn and Duchess here, and she could talk to him. Though, it didn't take much to figure out what he wanted, and I smiled. "Alright, c'mon. We're gonna go for a walk," I said and opened the door, closing it behind my cat.
The dorms were clear as I left, seeing as everyone probably went up to bed. I got outside without a problem and was surprised the sun didn't hurt as I walked out. It was only just starting to peek over the horizon though, so that could've been why. Everything outside was really nice though, the slight breeze, the remainder of the snow and ice from the storm, and the fact that everything was cleared off now. You wouldn't be able to tell of the fight and subsequent deaths from the night before if you didn't know about them, and I was thankful because the bodies and blood was absolutely disgusting to leave outside and in view of all of us.
"The calm after the storm. Or maybe before, who knows," I sighed as I looked down to Oreo. He gave a slight mrrow in response and I took it as an agreement. "It is kinda sad that I have to add that last part though," I mused as an afterthought. Before all of this, there wouldn't have been a calm before the storm after a storm already hit. Now, it was a downpour at least once a week.
I was lost in thought and let my legs take me wherever. Oreo followed by me without a second thought or sound, so when he started growling and sounding extremely uncomfortable, I snapped out of it. "What is it Oreo?" I asked and tried to follow his vision.
I noticed there appeared to be something laying underneath the oak tree where everything went down last night. I figured that maybe it was just a body that the cleanup forgot or was preparing for the proper vampyre burial (there was one vampyre killed after all), but as I approached, it was kinda obvious it wasn't that.
The first thing that hit me as I approached was the Darkness in the air. I couldn't see it, but it was very prominent all around me and the body. Then, I saw the brown hair, closed eyes, and the crescent. This wasn't a vampyre, someone who was killed in the fight…this was Dee.
"Oh my Goddess!" I breathed and I covered my mouth, "oh my Goddess, oh my Goddess, oh my Goddess!"
Oreo meowed and brushed up against my leg. "No," I shook my head. I may have hated everything that girl was, but I didn't want her dead. I didn't want anyone else dead, though that was unlikely.
Against everything my body was telling me, I walked over and knelt down beside her. The Darkness intensified with each step I took, and looking down, I could see the welt across her neck. That alone was obvious proof that she didn't reject the Change and was killed. Along with the fact that she was a sixth former and I could feel the Darkness around her, but that was circumstantial evidence…the welt was proof.
Protocol would require me to tell someone, preferably Neferet. But the Darkness led me to suspect she was the cause of it, and there was no way in hell I was approaching that. That's when I stood up and bolted, screaming the first name that came to thought, "DRAGON!"
I ran to the gym and burst through the doors to find he was just leaving, probably clearing up some work or the reports of what happened last night. I nearly ran smack into him and he looked at me worriedly.
"Gwendolyn? What's wrong, what's the matter?" he asked and grabbed me by the shoulders.
"Body…by the tree, it's Dee, come on!" I cried and turned around, running back to the tree and leading him there.
Dragon went over to the body immediately when we were there and looked at her. "You found her like this, and didn't touch her?"
"Nothing, none of that, no," I shook my head, "what…what happened?" I asked.
"There is no definitive answer yet…but I think you and I both know what happened," Dragon said and glanced at me, "go back to the dorm and let us handle this."
I stared blankly at him until what he said registered and I went off, glancing back every so often as more teachers and Sons of Erebus Warriors appeared and approached him. This wasn't how this night was supposed to go either, yay for more death.
Still no one was in the dorms as I walked back in and shakily went back up to my room. I sat down on my bed, Oreo curled in my lap, and for about 15 minutes, I just sat there and tried to gather my thoughts. Around the time where I could think properly and process the fact that I had, indeed, just seen the dead body of Dee Summers, I heard banging on my door. Sighing, I got up (effectively pushing an unhappy Oreo off of my lap) and answered the door, surprised to see my currently crippled girlfriend standing there. "What's up Mags, something wrong?" I asked and peeked around her. It was even more surprising since every other fledgling was being woken up and leaving too.
"Neferet called a meeting in the auditorium, she wants all of us there as quickly as we can," she explained and stepped out of the way to let me out.
"Great," I grumbled and came out, closing the door behind me and following Maggie through the dorms. "Did she, or whoever came to get you, tell you why?" I asked.
"Nope, Sam came and said, and I quote, 'get your gay ass out here, get your damn girlfriend, and go to the auditorium.' She left before I had the chance to shove my crutch up her ass," Maggie explained and rolled her eyes. She looked at me with a small smile that faltered upon my expression, "why do you ask? Do you know why?"
I bit my lip and looked down, watching myself walk down the steps. "I couldn't sleep, waiting for JC to call and all that, and yes, I know it'll be a while, but I still couldn't sleep. I went out for a walk and…I discovered that Dee is dead," I answered quietly.
"She…what?" she asked in surprise, obviously unable to form any other words.
"Dee Summers, the hateful bitch to all of us, is dead. Her body was lying in front of the oak where everything always happens around here, and her throat was slashed. I found Dragon the moment I found out and…that's probably what this meeting is about," I added.
"Wow. Was it…"
"There was Darkness everywhere," I answered her unasked question, "even Dragon thought the same thing. It's hard to not jump to that conclusion with the evidence around."
Maggie remained silent for a while and we walked (or I walked and she hobbled) toward the auditorium in the cool, morning air. Finally, she sighed, "I never really did like her. If anything, our lives may be a little bit easier now."
I looked up at my girlfriend in shock. "Just because she was a bitch to us doesn't mean she deserved to die," I stated.
"I know," she nodded, "and I didn't want her to die either. It's just my thought process. I wonder why Neferet would kill her…I mean, Dee was her biggest supporter."
"That's the only weird part," I sighed and pushed open the auditorium door that we reached, "but I guess we're about to find out."
Maggie and I found the rest of our group and sat down. Harley and Luke greeted us tiredly and Zane oddly looked over us in worry before nodding and greeting us as well. I was going to ask him what was wrong, but Neferet came out onto the stage almost the moment after I sat down.
"Students and faculty, I'm sure you are wondering why I called you all to this meeting at such a late hour," Neferet called over the microphone and everyone effectively shut up, "well, it is because I come bearing bad news. It has just recently been discovered that one of your classmates and students, sixth former Dee Summers, has been killed."
Gasps of shock rang out among the room. She paused to take it all in and then continued, "now it is known that she did not reject the Change, because, while it is not impossible, it is extremely rare for a sixth former to reject the Change. In addition, after a basic examination, there is evidence to suggest that she had her throat cut."
This time it was murmurs going from every student. This was rare, nothing like this had happened since the professor killings that were attributed to humans. "And based upon where she was discovered, near the broken oak, there is one assumption that can be made."
I could feel the anticipation, Darkness, and hate starting to swell up in the room. Thoughts were becoming more prominent, and I knew where this speech was going before Neferet even said the words. "That assumption, is that the humans have infiltrated our school grounds and Dee, who was out because she couldn't sleep or for some sort, was found and they killed her out of sheer hatred and prejudice!"
The crowd roared almost immediately at the indignity of one of their peers being killed. So many thoughts were filled with so much hatred toward the humans, and Darkness was eating up every part of it. This was wrong, so very wrong. Humans did nothing, it wasn't their fault. I groaned and sunk deeper into my seat, pressing my hand to my eyes. I didn't expect this to physically hurt, but I was starting to feel pain in my head from everything going on.
I felt someone squeeze my hand and kiss my temple. I looked from under my hand to notice Maggie and Luke, sitting on either side of me, and looking at me in worry. "This isn't right," I muttered, "we all know that. It hurts, a lot, and I don't know why."
"It hurts?" Luke asked quietly.
"The hatred, the Darkness, all of it. It's like a system overload almost," I whispered. In response, Luke just squeezed my hand in comfort and Maggie started rubbing my back.
"Because of this injustice and for your own safety," Neferet continued, "I have decided to cancel classes for another day and issue a curfew. After this meeting is over, return directly to your dorms and you are ordered to stay there until 8:00 pm, when classes would normally start. So long as there are no questions, you are dismissed."
"What are you going to do?" someone shouted from the crowd.
"I will make a decision regarding this soon and you all shall know," Neferet answered and walked off to the stage, signaling an end to that short questioning period.
People started filing out of the auditorium, thus taking their hatred and anger and Darkness with them. The pain in my head started receding and I let out a relieved sigh as I sat up properly in the chair to meet four pairs of worried eyes. "What the hell was that?" Maggie demanded quietly. There were still a few people that could hear us and she didn't want to draw attention (for that matter, I didn't want the attention).
"I don't know," I shook my head, "it hurt though, like my brain was pushing its way out of my skull. I have no clue what it was in response to…er, no…it was because of everyone else and the hatred and the Darkness. I don't know why it happened."
Everyone stood quietly and stared at me for a moment with a mixture of looks. "Well, if anything, it should be a help to get you out of here. So let's do it," Maggie broke the silence as Harley and Zane helped me up. After standing up and managing to shake the two of them off, I followed after them as we went back to our dorms.
The guys split up from us when the time came, leaving just Maggie and me to go back to our rooms. "So, you sure you're alright?" she asked as we went back inside.
"I'm feeling better now, it was just really weird," I answered confidently, "I don't know why it happened, that worries me more than anything."
"A lot of weird shit going on."
I laughed a bit bitterly, "you're telling me."
"You want me to come up to your room with you?" she offered.
"Nah," I shook my head, "I'm' just going to go and get some sleep, shake off the remaining effects and all that. It's not going to be too exciting."
"Alright, feel better at least," Maggie said and leaned over, kissing my temple as we got to her floor.
"Says the girl with crutches and her leg in a cast," I joked, "I will."
Maggie just chuckled as she went off and I went back to my room to do exactly what I said. Well, actually I had one thing to do before that, I realized when I pulled my phone out of my pocket. Scrolling quickly, I found my roommate's number and pressed send, put it to my ear, and waited.
"Gwen! I was just about to call you!" JC's voice came from the other line and that alone took a huge burden off my shoulders. "I finally got up to my room just now, I would have called you when I first got here…but there was an…incident I'll call it," she added.
My thoughts were sidetracked by that statement. "An incident? What happened?" I asked.
"Heh…" she sounded a bit guilty, "11 popped stitches in my shoulder, almost passed out in front of Queen Sgiach from the blood loss."
"JC!"
"I know, I know!" she exclaimed and chuckled a bit, "trust me, Zoey tried to reprimand me too. But what was I supposed to do with popped stitches on an airplane and in an airport? Especially with a red fledgling who started burning in the sun…"
"Sounds like a rough plane, but you're there now, safe, sound, and taken care of?" I asked.
JC chuckled again, "already met one of the nurses and a couple of my fellow students now. I'm apparently not allowed to go to classes for today, and quite possible tomorrow, because of this. But I'm here now. So what's up, why'd you call?" she asked.
Right, this fun news. "Well," I sighed, "some interesting events took place today. Stuff that you probably need to know."
"Judging by your tone, this isn't good," she pointed out and I could hear her sitting down on the bed, "what's going on over there?"
"Dee was found dead about an hour ago," I figured it'd be best to just rip it off like a Band-Aid. When the silence from the other end continued on, I started to get worried. "JC?" I asked, "you still there?"
"…Yeah, yeah I'm still here," she answered quietly, clearly surprised, "I just…wow. Was it, was it from the Change?"
I grimaced a little bit, "her throat was cut. Neferet is claiming that it was a human that jumped the wall and got into the school."
"That's a lie, isn't it?"
I nodded even though she couldn't see me, "I was the one who found the body. JC, there was Darkness all around her…even Dragon knew it was evident what really happened. But the whole school took the human theory to a new height in response. I don't know what's going to happen with it, but it can't end well."
There was silence again, and then, "I may have hated her guts within the short amount of time I knew her, but I would never wish her dead, especially in that manner. I just…don't understand why. Dee was like Neferet's puppy, followed her everywhere and did everything she said. What purpose would Neferet have for killing her? How does that serve her?"
"We're on the same page in that regard," I admitted, "I was trying to think of some reasons and came up with nothing. Maggie commented that her being dead should make it a bit easier on us, with one less obstacle and everything, but I'm not sure. Neferet had to have some reason to kill her, and that may be even worse."
JC sighed and I could hear the wheels turning in her mind. "Maybe Dee went against her or something. Maybe Neferet took her power too far and Dee, having still a little bit of a conscious, decided enough was enough and stood up for herself," she suggested.
"Maybe," I conceded a bit, "but that seems far too easy."
"Sometimes easy is the best answer. Occam's Razor and all that," she responded.
"Occam's Razor was smashed to pieces by Neferet and her crazy, evil Sword of Darkness and Complete and Total Chaos," I retorted darkly.
"Well that's positive," JC snorted and then sighed bitterly, "but so true. I'm sure there's more to it, like you said, but honestly…we don't have anything to go off of, even to validate my Occam's Razor point. Nothing can be said of this right now."
I grumbled, "I wish we could do something about it. The reaction to this was beyond horrible. As I said, Neferet's claiming it was the humans, and a lot of the vampyres and fledglings here are calling for blood…and that's what Neferet really wants."
She groaned and I could just imagine her flopping back on her bed. "Has anything, of yet, been decided regarding that aspect?" she asked.
"Other than the majority of the school believing it was humans and calling for the start of a war? No, she didn't say how she was going to enact anything yet. Probably to let the feelings of hatred and anger to boil over in everyone," I spat.
"Then, I hate to say it, but all you can do right now is wait," JC responded, "you have no proof of anything, just suspicion…and we can't go off of that. You just need to wait and see what happens."
"I hate waiting, especially right now," I grumbled.
"I know, trust me. I get it, I really do, but there is absolutely nothing you can do about it right now," she said comfortingly.
"Why do you have to be so reasonable right now?" I joked and sighed, "yeah, I know, all we can do is wait right now. It doesn't mean that I don't want to go rip out Neferet's eyes and throat."
"Honestly, I've played that scenario in my mind hundreds of times…and none of them end so good with the current position we're in."
"I'm not quite sure how to respond to that," I commented, "should I be worried?"
"Eh, depends on which way you look at it," she chuckled, "listen, I'm gonna go find Zoey and tell her about this news. If we can get anything on it, I'll call you ASAP. You sound dead tired, you need to get some sleep."
"This coming from the girl with 20 stitches in her shoulder, 11 of them popping, a torn up hand, and who hasn't slept in at least a week. Do you understand how hypocritical that is?" I teased.
"Well…let's just not get into that. You follow doctor's order like you should, you're responsible like that. I'm not," she laughed, "but seriously, get some rest, and if anything changes call me, sound fair?"
I sighed and agreed, "sounds fair. Get some rest yourself. Bye JC."
"Bye Gwen, talk to you soon," she said and I hung up.
I threw my phone to the bottom of my bed and this time actually curled under the covers and fell asleep. The little nap helped me immensely, because when I woke up again, any linger effects of the headache I got earlier were gone and I felt pretty good. And hungry.
With my stomach growling, I got up, ran my fingers through my hair a few times, and went downstairs to the small kitchen we had, intent on looking for food. This time, more girls were out and about now that we didn't have classes today either and because we had the curfew. None of them watching TV paid me any mind as I walked into the kitchen, but that trend was ended pretty soon.
Walking in, I noticed a girl that I didn't recognize. She had nearly white hair going down to her waist, which I couldn't decide if it was impressive or not since she was nearly 6' tall, and dark green eyes. She was in a pair of jeans and boots with a corset top (how girls can wear those I will never understand), a leather jacket, and a fedora. Judging by the symbol on her jacket, she was a fourth former like me…meaning that she was in my class and I would likely know her even if I didn't talk to her. I didn't know her at all, and judging by the clothes and her stature, this was going to be an interesting conversation if one was struck up.
"Enjoying the show?" I blinked out of my thoughts about trying to figure out if I knew her when she spoke. Her cold, green eyes were fixed on me and I shook my head.
"Sorry, it's been a rough couple of days, and for the record, no, I'm not," I answered, wary of what she'd already been told of me. If she'd been told anything, that is. "Have we met before?" I asked bluntly.
"Doubtful," she answered in a rather bored tone, "seeing as though I just got here about an hour ago."
"So you are new then," I muttered and looked her over. I couldn't sense any Darkness around her (yet), but I was a little wary. "Welcome to the Tulsa House of Night then. Hope this place doesn't throw you into hell quite as quickly as it has to a few other new students," I said and walked around her, grabbing a bowl to use for some cereal. Let's just say, after the past couple of incidents…I was feeling quite a bit cynical.
"Thanks for the warm welcome," she responded and rolled her eyes.
"Just speaking the truth if you haven't heard of much about here," I shrugged.
"Trust me, I'm not stupid. I've heard about what's been going on around here," she retorted.
"Then you'd understand my warm welcome," I answered simply and started getting my breakfast together.
"Whatever," she grunted, "and now that this fun little meeting is over, I think I'm going to go find my new room. You know, after being ripped out of my original House of Night and transplanted here within a few hours of another student's murder and then getting that wonderful greeting, I'm pretty exhausted. Thanks again, really. Come on, Ferocious," she said and turned away. A small, gray kitten appeared that I didn't even know was there and left with the retreating figure.
I watched her a moment, trying to see around her. There was no Darkness, as I already knew, but with that type of personality with whatever the hell just happened, there was a lot of potential. And that was extremely odd, which made me extremely wary, I must admit.
"So you've met our newest fourth former, Violet Winters now," Maggie said, coming up and standing next to me. I didn't notice her in the room either, "isn't she just a peach?"
I didn't respond for a moment, caught up in watching this new girl, Violet, walk up the stairs and out of my sight. I didn't care about what proof I had, something was weird. "This isn't right…there's something going on with this. It's just too coincidental."