A/N:

Announcements: The ever changing fanfic layout...gotta love it. Anyway, sorry for the wait again, real life hit harder than I expected it to. I also apologize for any spelling or grammar errors in this, it's late at night and I really wanted to get this out before I went to bed, so it hasn't been edited quite as well.

New story should be coming around soon called The Magician's Trick. The only problem? I need characters, so please check out the SYOC 2 if you haven't already! I know, you're probably sitting there thinking 'well, she hardly uses my character now anyway, why should I make another?' Chaos had a plot already planned out surrounding the Nerd Herd and JC and I intend to follow it, sometimes that means your character doesn't get as much writing time or whatever. The Magician's Trick is all OC, so I don't have to stay in canon and it literally follows the story of those OCs...they will be used a lot.

I'm also tempted to delve into the wonderful world of Korra fic. Any fans of Legend of Korra? Think I should attempt it?

Characters: Violet (Dreams of the Darkness)

Review Number: I'm just curious to see who all is still actually reading, so if you are, drop me a review please? At least 3 reviews would be quite awesome and might motivate me enough to get another chapter out in the next couple of days ;)

Disclaimer: Nothing's mine, nothing's mine! Don't sue me!

Tulsa

Gwen's POV

With classes being canceled again and ignoring the growing unrest over Dee's death, it was a pretty boring day. Granted, there really is no way to ignore the death of a classmate not at the hands of the Change when the gossip of it was everywhere. All that was really talked about was the death and the new student, Violet. At least other people besides us saw the striking coincidence in the timing, and it brought about mad theories from everyone.

"Maybe she killed Dee to get into our House of Night! She really wanted to come here to develop her affinity more, Neferet is the best vamp to help her do that."

"I bet you she had help from her human family too. Well, she had to if she was still at her old House."

"Maybe her friends too. Even if Dee was a fledgling, it'd take a lot to subdue her and kill her like that."

Those were the theories floating around the main room as I walked past to get some food for me and Maggie. Either I was the only one who had spoken with her or people were really stupid. If there was one thing I knew from our little conversation, it was that Violet did not want to be here. Sighing, I attempted to block out the gossip as I collected some food for us and walked back up to Maggie's room.

What I returned to was a rather interesting sight and I stood in the doorway, watching for a few moments as my girlfriend had a stare-off with her kitten. "Now, go fetch!" Maggie exclaimed and that's when I lost it, startling both her and Belle. "And just what is so funny?"

I chuckled and walked over to the bed, plopping the various snacks on the bed. "You and Belle. You do realize kittens don't fetch, right?" I asked with a smirk.

"It was worth a shot," she shrugged.

I looked at the kitten and shook my head, "what I would give to have JC here right now, just to know what Belle was thinking."

"Ok, Miss Animal Expert, what do you suggest I do?" Maggie asked and crossed her arms.

As an answer, I gently gathered Belle in my arms, she gave a squeak of protest, but quickly settled onto my lap as I set her down again and scratched behind her ears. "Oreo used to love this when he was younger," I explained and smiled when the kitten started purring.

She blew out a breath and muttered under her breath, "I should be better at this."

"This is what, day 3? Less maybe?" I asked, "you'll get better, I've had Oreo for a year. Don't worry, within a month, Belle will have you trained."

"Don't you mean the other way around?"

I laughed and shook my head, "no, no I don't."

Maggie sighed and nodded, "alright, if you say so. Now, what do we got to eat up here?"

"Various snacks and a certain amount of stupidity," I answered, the last part slipping out as I remembered the conversations going on downstairs. I chuckled when she gave me a confused look and decided to explain, "there are so many theories floating about this new girl. People are actually thinking that she killed Dee to get a spot opened up so she could transfer!"

Grabbing a package of fruit snacks I brought up, she seemed to think over this new information. Finally, after tearing the package open, she looked at me and shrugged, "at this point in time, is that really hard to believe? I mean, I know we thought it was Neferet, but don't you think it would be possible that it could be someone else?"

"No!" I exclaimed quickly, but after stopping to think about it, I changed my mind, "yes. Maybe. Goddess, I don't know anymore!" I groaned and fell back on the bed, "after talking to her, she really doesn't seem to want to be here. Why would she kill someone to go somewhere she doesn't want to be?"

"You really got that feeling from her?" Maggie asked.

"She's less than thrilled to be here so…yeah, I did," I nodded, "this is Neferet's doing, it has to be."

"You seem convinced of that," she pointed out.

"The timing is too coincidental, Darkness was everywhere on Dee, Violet said herself that the transfer came as a surprise to her; if that doesn't reek of Neferet then I don't know what does," I explained and sighed, "for once I want to be ahead of Neferet. I want to know what she's planning with this and with Violet, but we literally have nothing besides those three things."

"And just exactly how do you intend to get that information?" she asked.

"Beats the hell out of me. JC was right in saying there's very little we can do right now but wait," I muttered and groaned again, "but waiting is just going to lead to something bad, I just know it."

"The only way to know what's going on is to ask Neferet herself."

I smirked wryly, "meaning we're never going to know. Truthfully, that's unnerving."

We remained silent for a few moments and Maggie gazed out the window. "You know, I miss the days when the only thing we had to worry about was my roommate walking in on us making out on my bed," she commented after another moment.

I smiled a bit, "those were the days. Too bad they're over," I admitted and stared at the ceiling. That was when it hit me, her comment about Neferet. "We need to talk to Lenobia!" I announced and sat up.

Maggie stared at me like I had just lost my mind, "well now I'm confused."

"What you said about Neferet and that's how we know what's going on," I said and she was still confused, "professors usually get notices about new students transferring and their reasoning. Lenobia should know about this at least a bit, she can help us figure out just what the hell it is that's going on."

"That's logical, but with the abruptness of the transfer, do you really think she'll know anything?" she asked a bit skeptically.

I shrugged, "it's worth a shot. Has curfew been lifted?" I asked, looking for a clock.

"It's quarter after 12," she whipped out her phone and told me, "so yeah, we can leave."

"Great, call the guys and tell them to meet us at the stables, I want them to be in on this too," I ordered and got up, going over to my own phone.

"Yes ma'am," Maggie chuckled and pressed her phone to her ear.

I let her talk to whichever one of them she chose and disconnected my phone from its charger. JC hadn't contacted me since our last conversation, not that I expected her to. With how time zones worked, I didn't even know if she was still awake. Granted, with how JC worked, I could only imagine the endless possibilities that she could get herself into right now. Still, I debated on calling her or sending her a text or something with this new info we had. She didn't know about Violet coming in, which she probably should know. But then I figured what was the point? If Lenobia had any information regarding this, I'd just have to contact her again anyway. Of course, no matter how much I hoped, there was still a chance the Horse Mistress didn't have any clue what was going on, but still, there was a chance.

"They'll be down at the stables in a few, c'mon, let's go," my girlfriend announced, pulling me out of my contemplations. I nodded and followed after her out the door. Downstairs proved to have similar conversations as before; everyone seemed to be transfixed on this new student and how she possibly could be connected to Dee's murder. Everyone assumed she had some hand in the death, and of course no one figured "Saint Neferet" could have anything to do with it, I had to repress the urge to scream at them pretty quickly. I mean, I could understand (understand not accept) where they were coming from…but that didn't make it any easier to not want to knock some sense into them.

"Wow, they're already prepared to persecute the poor girl," Maggie commented once we were outside, "I didn't think it was quite that bad. Granted, I didn't think that many people loved Dee either."

"I don't think they did," I admitted as we continued to our destination, "but when one of their own dies and an outsider comes in…it's not going to bode well. Plus, Violet isn't the most, uh, sociable person there is," I added.

"I guess if I didn't know what was fueling that logic, I could accept it," she conceded with a sigh.

"Fueling what logic?" Luke asked as we approached the stables. All three of them were already out waiting in front for us, I had to wonder how they got there first.

"And why are we here?" Zane added, "despite the horrible circumstances classes were canceled under today, I kinda intended to use it to sleep. What gives?"

I sighed, "do you guys know about the new girl that came like, four hours ago?"

"Aside from the few guys who have seen her claiming she is insanely hot? No, not much is known," Harley answered.

"Though, if what they say is true, I know I want to meet her," Zane said with a small smirk.

"Figures," I muttered and rolled my eyes. Girls fixate on harsh rumors and plans for revenge on a presumably innocent, if not really unlucky, bystander, guys look for hotness. If that wasn't so utterly stereotypical, it'd be funny. "Well, it'll be explained in a few moments, I think Lenobia may be able to give us some information on her," I explained as we went into the stables. "Lenobia!" I called out.

"Why do we need information on her?" Harley asked.

Maggie took up explaining for me, "a lot of the girls think she killed Dee to get a spot in Tulsa. While that's doubtful, the timing is way too coincidental. Gwen thinks Neferet is up to something, I have to agree there."

"The timing is insanely close," Luke agreed just as the professor we were looking for appeared.

"Gwen? Is everything alright, are you all ok?" Lenobia asked upon seeing us, instantly fearing the worst it seems.

"We're all alright," I assured her.

"Is everything ok with JC and Zoey?"

"As far as I know, I talked to JC a little while ago and she sounded tired, but alright," I explained, choosing to leave out JC's little incident on the plane.

"If everyone is alright, what do you all need?" she asked and behind her, I saw Daniel Kier come out of her office looking slightly worried as well. I chose not to comment on that just then (though I couldn't hide the small smirk), there were other pressing issues.

"We were wondering what, if anything, you knew about this new student, Violet Winters," I answered.

"There are some rather crazy rumors going around about her and what happened with Dee. While we don't believe them, there is a bit too much of a time overlap with the two," Maggie added, "we think Neferet has something planned."

Lenobia sighed and looked to her stalls for a few moments. "I wish I could help you, but I know about just as much as you do. Neferet was looking to bring her here a few days ago but was rejected by the High Priestess. Today she appeared out of nowhere with no warning," she told us, "other than the more adamant High Priestess and Dee's murder, the situation is very much like Stark's."

Harley's head shot up at the last sentence and his brown eyes sparked, he was on to something apparently. "How is it like Stark's, if I may?" he asked.

"Well, none of us professors had much to go off of. All we knew was Neferet was very interested in bringing them here and both of them wound up here a few days later without much warning to us. Stark was easier to move out here because of his archery incident and his desire to get away from that, I don't know about Violet…"

"She doesn't seem like she wants to be here, or is very thrilled about the transfer. Based on what you said, neither was her High Priestess," I cut in and looked to my friend, "Har, what are you thinking?"

"Neferet presumably wanted to bring Stark in for his affinity, that's the general assumption now. After the events that freed Kalona, it's pretty much a fact," he explained, "what if…what if this girl is the same way?"

"That's a plausible assumption based on the few days I've been here and observing what's going on," Daniel spoke up for the first time.

Lenobia nodded in agreement, "at this point, anything is possible…and with similar circumstances, it is quite possible. Her affinity wasn't given on the memos we received about her, but neither was Stark's…the only reason we knew it was for archery was because of his past accomplishments in the field." We all fell into a silence as we contemplated this. Was it possible Neferet had recruited this girl because of an affinity? And how did that connect to murdering Dee? I couldn't shake the feeling that somehow, all of this was related.

"If Neferet is enlisting her for her affinity, that's one damn powerful affinity," Maggie pointed out into the silence.

"We need to know what it is…if it's crucial to Neferet's plans, whatever they may be…we need to know what her affinity is," I said with conviction.

"How do you suggest we do that though?" Luke asked.

"You're probably not going to like my answer but, have you tried talking to the girl?" Lenobia asked.

I nodded, "I have…she's not the most sociable person, as I told Mags."

"Still, we have to find a way to get around that, she's our best bet to get down to what's going on before it happens," Harley agreed with the notion of speaking to her.

"With Neferet though, that's still a pretty slim bet," Zane retorted with a sigh, "it's worth a shot, but we can't get our hopes up. No one has ever been ahead of her before."

"Point taken, but we still have to try," Luke said.

"And I would suggest doing that soon, as in within the day," Lenobia added, "the sooner you can find anything out, the better."

"This should be interesting," Maggie muttered, "it's almost lunch. We can plan our approach over food."

"Sounds like a deal to me," I nodded and looked around, "unless you and Daniel want to join us in figuring out just exactly what it is we have to do."

"You'd probably be better off to talk to her as a student with a student approach," Daniel said to decline, "go do what you need to do."

"Then let's go!" my girlfriend exclaimed and, despite on crutches, was out of the stables in a heartbeat. I shook my head as we followed her out…we just had food, though not a full course meal…Maggie ate like a pig, I'd learned to just not question it.

When we got to the dining hall, most of the student body was already there, so we got our lunch relatively quick and chose a seat near our intended target. Maggie pointed her out, she was sitting alone at a corner table, eating and either staring at nothing or watching everyone else, it was hard to figure out which.

"So…how we gonna do this?" Zane asked, breaking the tension filled silence as we all ate and alternated giving quick, nervous glances at Violet.

"I feel like we are thinking about some dangerous mission," Luke sighed, "we're talking to a fledgling who is new…this shouldn't be hard."

"We weren't this apprehensive around JC, or each other…sure there was a little bit of awkwardness but…it wasn't this bad," Harley agreed with Luke, "I feel like all we should do is go talk to her like we would anyone else."

"That can be done!" Zane grinned and stood up, "I'll be right back."

All of us knew what he was going to do. "Zane…wait," I called and watched his retreating figure for a moment. He didn't stop and I sighed, turning back to the group, "alright, so when Zane's charming technique doesn't work, how are we going to fix that and convince her we aren't all nuts?"

"Explain to her that Zane is a moron on so many levels…" the rest of Maggie's suggestion was cut off as a scream rang out through the dining hall. My eyes immediately went back to our friend and Violet to have my suspicion, and fear, confirmed. Zane was on the ground nearly in the fetal position, knees drawn up to his chest and face contorted in pain. Violet was standing over him, glaring.

"What the hell?" I gasped out and was up with the rest of my table, running over to the scene. I literally skidded to Zane on my knees, resting my hand on his cheek in an act of comfort, "Zane, what's wrong?" I asked gently.

"What the hell did you do to him?" Harley demanded.

Out of the corner of my eye, Violet crossed her arms defensively, "you should be asking what he did to me in order to provoke this."

"Zane, what's going on, where did she hurt you?" Luke asked, kneeling down beside me. All both of us got as a response for some time was him muttering incomprehensibly about bears and me and Maggie.

"Like hell I should!" Maggie shouted. Great, well she was pissed. "Zane may be a bit of a flirt, but nothing to warrant this. Now answer my friend, what the hell did you do to him?"

"Well, maybe your player of a friend should learn to control himself better," Violet answered coldly, "and why should I answer you in the first place?"

"And maybe you should learn to answer the damn question no matter who asks you," my girlfriend retorted. By now, we collected the majority of the dining hall around us as they watched the scene unfold, me and Luke still by a trembling Zane and Harley and Maggie standing off to the suspected murderer.

"What is going on here?" a powerful voice demanded and it felt like a wave of Darkness crashed into me. I glanced up for a moment to confirm my fear, Neferet. Her cold green eyes scanned the scene and I thought I saw a smirk cross her face. "Violet, did you start this?" she asked.

"Started, no, he did. I am the reason he is on the ground like that," the girl answered matter-of-factly.

"Violet, come with me," Neferet ordered briskly, and then like an afterthought, turned to us gathered around Zane, "and bring the boy to the infirmary."

"It's only his worst fear, he'll recover soon enough," Violet informed us with an uninterested shrug, "and the next time you want to learn about me and my affinity, don't do it this way," she added, then followed after Neferet.

"Only his…why you little…"

"Harley don't," I ordered and stuck out my hand in front of him, "you don't either, Maggie. Just help me and Luke get him to the infirmary," I said, and with the help of Harley and Luke, picked up our whimpering friend and was off.

"Can you only imagine what he'd say when he finds out about all this?" Harley asked half way there, "he's going to be so utterly embarrassed."

"That's the least of my concerns right now," I muttered, "what the hell happened to him? What did she do? How did she do it?"

"She said something about his greatest fear?" Luke answered, more as another question than anything. None of us knew what just happened. Ugh, it would figure that in our search for answers we just wind up more confused…and Zane winds up getting hurt.

We got Zane to the infirmary and explained (or at least tried to the best of our ability) what happened to the nurses. They took him back into a room and we were forced to wait in the designated waiting room until they could either figure out what was wrong with him or calm him down…or even more preferably, both.

"When I see that girl again, I swear to the Goddess I will give her a lesson she'll never forget! Zane may be an idiotic, attempting player, but he never goes too far! Nothing to excuse what she did to him!" Maggie was muttering angrily, pacing awkwardly with her crutches and brown eyes burning.

"And how are you going to teach her a lesson with a plastered leg and two crutches?" I asked matter-of-factly and looked up at her. In my head, the idea was crazy…but it suddenly hit me that she could very easily turn those into a weapon.

"Are you saying you aren't angry about this?" Luke asked, sounding a bit surprised.

"No, I'm almightily pissed about this, and even more so, I'm damn well tired of shit like this happening," I answered and sighed, "but I'm still trying to be reasonable. Even with everything that's happened, we can't just go declaring fights against students all willy-nilly like this."

"The girl's already be considered for murder…for the first time since all this started, we'd probably have the school on our side," Harley pointed out.

"And that's probably what Neferet wants." I was cut off from my logical response about how that didn't matter and how the students were all still brainwashed drones by Luke. We all stopped and looked at him like we'd been slapped in the face.

"How do you figure that?" my girlfriend asked what the three of us were thinking.

"After everything that's happened, it's entirely logical," he shrugged, "in case you haven't noticed, Neferet hasn't gained any power by things being calm around here. The entire student body turning on one person only creates and harvests more hatred, only makes things more chaotic…and then she swoops in like a saving grace for us and everyone loves and idolizes and follows her more. With Zoey and Stevie Rae and JC gone, she needs someone else to turn everyone against, and Violet is a pretty easy target.

We were all silent after that, taking in Luke's explanation. I didn't know what everyone else was thinking (and I chose not to invade their privacy), but I knew that made a lot of sense, there was no denying that. "D-do you really think Neferet is that conniving?" Harley asked.

"Do you really think she's not?" he asked to answer, "I mean, I'm not saying she entirely planned out what happened to Zane…but she has to know what Violet's affinity is, whatever the hell that may be, and she has to know what Violet's attitude is, which seems to be a 'doesn't take shit' type of thing. Add in the circumstances of which she came here, whatever those are, and the timing…and it's a recipe for disaster."

I blew out a breath and closed my eyes, a new feeling of dread washing over me at this possibility. "Forget being one step ahead, we need to be six steps farther just to be caught up with her," I groaned.

"And there's still a lot of blanks we don't know about," Maggie added in glumly.

I sighed and hung my head, shoving my hand in my pocket and fishing for my phone. I knew what I needed to do. "I'm going to call JC," I announced and stood up with my phone in hand, "we may not know a whole lot, but they need to know what's going on here."

"I agree," Harley nodded, "we'll get you if Helena comes out."

I nodded and walked out of the room, standing in the lobby of the infirmary. I pressed call and waited. One ring, then another, then another…my phone continued to ring until her voicemail picked up and I sighed heavily. Damn time zone differences.

"Hey JC, it's me. Listen, I know you're probably busy, but we really need to talk. Some things have happened and…well…it's better if I tell you when you're on the phone. Call me back ASAP, bye," I left a message and snapped my phone shut, turning on my heels and back into the waiting room. "She didn't pick up," I told them and sat back down.

Not a moment later, Helena walked in. "He's stable and calm now, he seemed to be in shock for a bit there but we calmed him out of it. We want to keep him overnight to monitor him just to be safe, but you can see him now," she told us and led us back to Zane's room.

We walked in the room to find Zane lying on one of the cots, sheet pulled up to his waist, and him seemingly calmer and less in pain, but eyes still darting around nervously. When he saw us come in, specifically me and Mags, he let out a sigh of relief, "thank Goddess you're alright."

"Thank Goddess we're alright?" Maggie asked in surprise, "thank Goddess you're alright, you were the one that dropped in the dining hall. What the hell happened to you?"

"Mags," I hissed in a warning. If anything, she wasn't the most sensitive person.

"It's alright, Gwen," Zane waved us off and gave a slight smile. It faltered when he started explaining though, "I'm still not entirely sure what happened. I went over to try and talk her up, give her the old Zane charm and work my magic. She seemed to get annoyed by it though and told me to 'fuck off.' I didn't think much of it and continued, joking she was hard to get. I met her eyes and the next thing I know…I was in a fucking nightmare. Goddess, I don't even know, I was transported to a forest at night and I just started running. What I wound up running into…" he paused and swallowed loudly, "there were four bears, four of them. They were tearing you two to shreds and I just…I couldn't stop them no matter what I did. I failed you guys and then…they started advancing on me and it…" his voice trailed off there, already weak from the rest of the explanation. The heart monitor he was hooked up too started beeping erratically and I knew we had to calm him down.

"Man, that sounds terrible, dude," Luke muttered and went over next to the bed, "but it didn't actually happen. Gwen and Maggie are still here and alive, no bears or anything of the sort," he added soothingly.

"I know, I know," Zane mumbled out, and though I knew he'd refuse it later, I saw tears in his eyes, "but it felt so fucking real, and I couldn't escape from it!"

"But it's over now," I reassured him and went to stand on the opposite side of the bed from Luke, "it wasn't real and now it's over. Maggie and I are still alive and kicking…and no bear is ever going to be the death of us. Right?" I asked with a smile and looked to Mags.

"Damn straight," she agreed with a grin, "there's no way in hell I'm getting my ass handed to me by a bear!"

"Y-you two promise?" he asked and looked between us.

"We promise," I nodded, "now I think it's probably best if we let you alone to get some rest after that whole ordeal. The nurses are keeping you here overnight…and surely they're going to kick us out at some point, is that alright with you?"

Zane nodded weakly but still seemed a little on edge, "sure, of course, I mean…it makes sense. The nurses don't want you here all night," he agreed.

"We just wanted to make sure you were alright, and clearly we weren't helping matters any it seems," Maggie said, referring to his previous freak out. Yeah, I didn't want to do that to him again, "so we're going to go and leave you some peace. Get better, and I promise you, nothing is going to happen to us, any of us."

"You better hold on to that promise," he muttered but nodded, "yeah, go, it's alright. I'm pretty damn tired after all of that anyway," he agreed, "I guess I'll see you all tomorrow?"

"Yeah, you will," Luke agreed with a nod, "get better and you will. Good night Zane," he said for all of us and we filed out.

Once we were back in the waiting room, we paused, deciding what to do next. "I don't want to just leave him," Harley, who had been strangely silent throughout our meeting, "he seemed freaked out. I feel horrible to let him just spend the night here alone."

"Maybe one of us should stay here then? Clearly not all of us can stay, but someone staying can't hurt anything," Luke suggested with a shrug.

"Yeah, yeah maybe," Harley nodded and looked back to the room, "I'm his roommate, I'll stay. You guys go, I'm sure you want to get in touch with JC anyway and you can do some more snooping around or whatever, I want to make sure he's alright," he offered.

At that moment it occurred to me just how close those two were. Harley and Zane were roommates, but they were also best friends, and though they would pick on each other and seemed to be polar opposites, they really did have a bond between them. It had to have been hard for Harley to see him go through that. "Keep him sane," I agreed with a smile, "don't let him fret over us anymore."

"I will, thanks Gwen," he responded and disappeared back to Zane's room. That left the three of us to head out of the infirmary and back to the dorms or wherever.

"So, are we going to do anymore snooping tonight?" Luke asked quietly as we walked.

"I don't know about you two, but after the events that happened, I don't want to chance it," I answered.

"Understandable…and I can't believe I, of all people, am going to say this, but I think staying out of trouble is the best way to go," Maggie agreed with a small smirk.

"Fair enough," Luke nodded, "I'm probably just going to go back to the dorm and watch TV or something, get my mind off of everything for a bit. Bye girls, let me know if you get a hold of JC and she has any explanations," he added and waved to us as he veered off the path towards the guys' dorms.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," I muttered as Maggie and I went into the girls' dorms, "I think I'm just going to go back to my room and read, get my mind off of things, and try to contact JC of course."

"Damn, and here I was hoping you'd come back to my room," she joked, "ah well, I guess I can see why you wouldn't want to after all of that. My leg's hurting like a bitch anyway, so I'm probably going to rest it up. Let me know when you get some info," she said and kissed me on the cheek before we parted ways.

I got back to my room and did exactly what I said. I curled up on my bed, Oreo at my side, grabbed Eragon, and read basically until it was time for me to go to bed. The only times I took a break was when I attempted another two times to call JC, to no avail, and texted her. Yeah, a little extreme and I probably seemed annoying, but I was desperate to let her know what was going on. No, I didn't even eat dinner, but judging by the fact that no one came to get me, they probably didn't either. I wasn't hungry and sure as hell didn't want to go back to the dining hall anyway, so all the better.

It was when I couldn't force my eyes to stay open anymore that I put my book down and went to bed, falling asleep on never-ending thoughts about all the possibilities that could explain the events of that day. The past two days seemed to be game changers beyond what I could comprehend.

Neferet's POV

I was quite happy with the choices I made. After witnessing firsthand the power that girl wields, I held no regrets. There were times during the day I foolishly questioned my choice to kill Dee, she was an ally who was willing to do anything for me. But seeing Violet and her affinity at action, I realized there was little left that girl could do for me. She held no affinity, and once a vampyre, there was much doubt she would have much control over the fledgling population. No, this trade off was quite valuable.

The bonus came with the fact that other fledglings were suspicious of their newest peer. Their confusion and hatred and suspicion only fueled Darkness further as they slowly began to question and turn against Violet. It was unexpected, I never figured they would be so smart as to put that together, even if it was a fallacy. Of course, that would be fixed if the girl were to join me, but for now, the power was welcomed.

I didn't expect to get the chance to talk with her about certain topics so soon after her arrival either. But the events during their lunch provided the perfect setup to begin. I would extract the suspicious fledgling like the "good Priestess" I am, watch JC's friends fall a little further, and get the opportunity to speak with Violet.

I brought her back to my office, where both Kalona and Aurox were waiting, and motioned for her to sit down when she stood by the door. She did as I suggested and sat down, allowing the two men to get a closer look at her and for me to evaluate her. "What you did in the dining hall today," I started after a long moment of trying to read her, "was truly remarkable."

"Remarkable, huh?" she asked, "that's never been a word to describe my affinity."

"Well it should be," I answered with an encouraging smile, "it is truly a powerful gift Nyx has granted you with," I explained smoothly.

"I suppose," she responded evenly with a shrug. Though it was hardly recognizable, she seemed confused over what was taking place.

"What is this fledgling's affinity?" Kalona inquired. I looked back to him only to find his amber eyes trained on the girl, curious and intense.

"Fear," Violet answered for herself, "I can make you see your worst fear."

Kalona seemed to mull this over for a moment and then nodded, "she would be a powerful ally to have on our side."

"Then I am glad we have reached the same conclusion," I answered and turned back to Violet, who's confusion had broken through.

"What do you mean 'ally'?" she demanded, "if you aren't going to punish me, why am I here? And just in general, why the hell was I brought to Tulsa?"

"Violet, you were transferred to Tulsa because I was very much impressed with your affinity. Now that I have seen it in action, I am even more impressed," I responded, "I want you here because I believe you can do many great things for me in return for power greater than you could imagine. I wanted you here because I wanted to offer you this deal."

"And what kind of things would I be doing in this so called 'deal'?" she asked and crossed her arms, face remaining cold and impassive.

"What you did to that boy Zane was truly something evil…"

The girl had the audacity to cut me off, "no, that was me teaching an idiot to learn when to back the hell off. It wasn't evil, it was my own style of learning for a flirt."

"But, if trained properly and honed even more, that affinity becomes stronger and can be used for that purpose," I told her, choosing to ignore her ignorance.

"Is that why I'm here?" Violet asked, "because you want me to be some sort of pawn in your little game of Darkness?"

"How do you know about such an ancient magick?" I questioned, choosing not to respond straight away.

"Rumors travel, Neferet. They may not be confirmed, but they travel."

"This I did not know." That was the surprise of my night and a task for me to complete. Those rumors must be put to rest for the time being. "However, I do not wish to control you, I wish for you to stand by me and help me in this battle."

"You're insane to think I would do such a thing," she spat at me.

"Am I?" I asked and arched a brow, "your affinity is extremely powerful and can inflict harm. Your do not have a problem using that affinity on others and you are extremely proud of what you accomplish. Those traits fit in nicely."

"They are merely traits," Violet responded and stood up, "if that's all you wanted from me, then my answer is no and I'm leaving," she announced and went to the door.

"I could redeem your image with this school," I said to her back, "you know what they think of you. They think you killed our student to get here, such mindless sheep they are. Add to it your little outburst in the dining hall, your image has already been shattered on your first day. Your peers do not and will not like you, but I can fix that all."

"You really believe I care what a few fledglings who don't know me think?" she asked and actually laughed, "let them think what they want. Let them fear me even, I don't care. My answer is still no," Violet said and walked out the door.

I could have stopped her with Darkness, I could have forced her into such a thing. I chose not to, very clearly, now was not the time to force her into that kind of decision. It was better to let her stay for a few days, be surrounded by Darkness and begin to accept it. Then was when I would go after her again.

"Do you believe she can be turned?" I asked, turning to look back at Kalona.

"It will be harder than you initially planned, but I believe it can happen. You probably have a better chance at Violet than you do at the Red One or Jennifer," he answered and focused his amber eyes on me, "so long as you play your cards right."

I smirked and focused back on the door my newest student just walked out of, "my cards could never be better, it's impossible to play them wrong."