HOME | DD

Description
“We need a healer!”
“Somebody get a healer in here!”

Someone ran out of the room as the two raced over and placed the injured on the couch. Everyone gathered around the two distressed as they tried to stop the bleeding of the young boy lying down barely conscious.

A lady dressed in white ran through the crowd, “Out of my way! Make room!” She stopped as the two from before moved over as she looked at the boy, “What happened?”

“We found him outside –”

“What’s going on here?!”

Everyone went quiet and looked up to see a tall, dark haired young man walking down the stairs. Everyone bowed and made room for him as he made his way towards the three standing over the boy.
“Alpha,” The one dressed in dark red addressed the young man, “This boy was attacked by a rogue.”

He looked down at the boy before turning to the healer, “We need to move him. Get a room ready.” The healer bowed before running off and doing as commanded. The Alpha then turned to the two dressed in red. He pointed at the girl, “You take him to the room.” She nodded and picked up the boy in her arms where he lay limp. The Alpha then pointed to the boy, “You get everyone out of here. I don’t want any disturbances.” The boy nodded and turned. “And,” The boy looked at his Alpha. “Get my second and third in command.” The boy nodded again as he tried to clear the area of the gathering crowd.

“Check his vitals!”
“We’re losing him!”

“How is he?”

The group of healers turned to see the Alpha walking into the room.
The healer from before bowed. “Not good sir. He has lost too much blood. I’m sorry but the human boy is not going to make it.”
The Alpha walked over, as all the healers moved away from the table, and he looked down at the boy. He lifted his hand and moved the boy’s shirt to reveal two large puncture holes that were still bleeding. “I want you all to leave.”
The healers looked at the Alpha confused, “Sir?”
He turned to them, “I want you all to leave the room. You are no longer needed.”
“But sir…”
He narrowed his eyes at the one who spoke.
She bowed, “Yes sir.”
They all left the room as two new people walked in.
The Alpha turned back to the boy when one of the two spoke, “You wanted to see us?”
The Alpha nodded, “Sera, Zephyr. Close the door.”
The young man, who was called Zephyr, nodded and did as asked.
The young woman, who was called Sera, looked over toward the boy, “What’s with the human?”
The Alpha looked up from the boy to the two. “That’s why I asked you here.” He turned to the young man; “I’m going to need you to do something for me Zephyr.”

-----

“Wake up!”
My eyes shot open as I felt my body shake. I stared up to see black hair and brown eyes staring back down at me. My Mentor.
I took a relieved breath. It was only a nightmare.
I’ve had a nightmare every few nights for the past couple of months. It was always the same one.

“Get dressed, today is your first day of class.”

I sighed and stood up from my bed.
I don’t remember much of that night; I barely remember what is in my nightmares. All I know is that night changed my life forever, and there is no going back.
I’m a vampire. A Vampire Turned.

---

I followed my mentor through the halls of the castle.
You see, we all live under the same roof, the same home. This castle looks normal from the outside, or so I’m told, but its enchanted to be as large as we need it on the inside. They don’t let younglings, like me, out of the castle that often, at least not until we learn to control our thirst. I know that feeling all too well. That burning at the back of my throat that started a few months back. My mentor has been kind and knows when I need a drink. He makes sure to give me some only when I need it; otherwise I eat just as everyone else does. At first the thought of drinking blood was disgusting, but the metallic taste grows on you, especially when it gets rid of the pain you feel beforehand.

Its true that it has been months since I was turned, but it’s taken that long for my body to adjust to the change. They are putting me into a class with kids my age, well sort of. Vampires age differently than humans do. When they are young they age quickly until a certain point. When they get to their teens they start to age at the same pace as humans, but once they get to their twenties most stop aging.

Humans say that vampires are immortal. They are, to a degree. Most stories that humans tell, I have learned, are myths that their ancestors made up to scare the younger generation. The stories of how they burn when in the sun, only come out to hunt the poor souls who find themselves in the middle of nowhere on a moonlit night, or the most stupid of all; how they recently been saying they sparkle. None of that is true. Vampires can go into the sun; they just have more sensitive skin to the suns rays than humans do. They also do not sparkle; I have no idea how that rumor started. But they do prefer to hunt at night, just not for humans. Most prefer to hunt animals, like deer. These days vampires that hunt humans are called rogues. I’ve heard stories that some rogues are not able to control their thirst, so they hunt non-stop, and where most others stop drinking after a certain point and let their victims live, rogues continue until there is nothing left. I’ve even heard that they don’t just go for animals or humans, some say that they will even attack one of their own, but I’m not sure if that’s true. However, today in the minds of humans, vampires are just as the stories they tell of us. Myths.

“You okay?”
I snapped out of my thoughts to see my mentor looking down at me.
I nodded, “Yeah.”
He stopped. “Are you sure? If you’re not ready for this we could wait a little longer.”
I looked up at him, “I’m fine, just a little nervous I guess.”
He nodded, “If you’re sure.”
I smiled at him, “Yeah I am. Thank you Zephyr.”
He smiled down at me, “Then its time to meet your age group.”
I nodded as he turned toward the door that was behind him.
As the door opened I heard many voices talking and yelling, but once Zephyr stepped into the room, me right behind him, the room went quiet.
I didn’t look up; I just kept looking at the floor.
“Why is he here?!”
“Why is our group getting him?!”
“Why are we getting the turned?!”
I flinched as they used that word. ‘A turned.’ You see vampires don’t ‘turn’ anyone anymore. Not since the vampire wars about a millennia ago. All vampires these days are ‘vampire born’ their parents are vampires, and so were their ancestors.
“Pétur! You will not use that term!”
The room went quiet after Zephyr’s correction. He stood straight up and addressed the class. “Everyone, this is Damian. He is our newest student.”
I looked up as Zephyr said my name. My light brown hair falling to the sides of my face as my light brown eyes scanned the people I will be with from now on.
Each kid I laid my eyes on was about the same age as me. My age group starts at the age of 13 and ends at age 15. I’m right in the middle. I’m 14.
Once you turn 16 you advance to the next age group, where you learn harder studies. This is a beginner class. Perfect for me I guess, I already know less than everyone else in this room.

“Why don’t you sit down Damian, and we can start todays lesson.”

I nodded and made my way to an open seat in the back. As I walked I could feel the glares my classmates were giving me. I guess that’s what I get because of what I am.
As I walk I could hear some of my classmates whispering, I tried to ignore it when I tripped on something and fell face first to the floor. I looked up to see two boys high five each other as the rest of the room laughed. Yeah, this is going to be a long day.
I quickly got up and rushed to the chair before anything else could happen.
I sat down and looked up to see Zephyr drawing something on the board. He isn’t just my mentor; he is also the teacher of my age group. Which could be good for me incase i need extra help, I guess.

He turned around to face us all. “Can anyone tell me what this is?”
He looked at everyone in the room and sighed, “You should all know this.” He shook his head, “This is the territory map. Our home. It consists of the town, the university grounds, and a good amount of the woods surrounding them.”
He turned back to the board marking four different areas, one on each side of the territory. “Can anyone tell me what surrounds our territory?”
This time a boy raised his hand. Zephyr turned toward him, “Yes Jairus?”
“Surrounding our territory are four other territories.”
Zephyr nodded, “Yes, and can you tell us who those territories belong to and where they’re located?"
Jairus nodded and stood up. He walked over to the board where Zephyr handed him the chalk.
“To the North is the vampire clan Night Descent. To the West is the vampire clan Nox. To the East is the werewolf pack called the Dusk Star Pack, and to the South is the vampire clan Shadow's Swarm.”
Zaphyr nodded, “Good Jairus, you can sit down now.” He turned back to the class, “Now that you know our neighbors, you should know that we are currently at peace with the Night Descent clan, and the Nox clan.” He looked at each of us, “And I’m sure your parents have told you of werewolves and vampires ancient feud right?”
Everyone nodded.
“Well that is true for most vampires and werewolves but thanks to our Alpha we, the Black Rose clan, are currently at peace with our neighbors the Dusk Star Pack.” He turned back to the board, “However, the Shadow's Swarm clan to our south has been giving us trouble as of recently.” He turned back to us all, “They say they want our territory for themselves. Their Alpha has said that we haven’t been using all our resources that our territory offers. They don’t believe in the same beliefs as us, that drinking from humans is wrong. They believe themselves to be better than humans, but I must tell you all this, vampires are no better than any human. We are all the same in the end, and that is why we live in peace with the people who live inside our territory. I want you all to remember that.”
Everyone nodded as he looked up at the clock. “That is all for now, you can all leave for lunch.”
With that said everyone stood up and headed for the door.
I got up from my seat in the back and made my way to the door.
“Damian.”
I looked over at Zephyr, “Yeah?”
“Did you understand what I was talking about?”
I nodded, “Yeah.”
“Good, because you, out of everyone here, should know how true that is.”
I didn’t say anything; I only nodded before I walked out of the room and down the hallway towards the ‘cafeteria.’
I call it that because it’s more like a cafeteria than anything else. It’s really just a large room with many tables in it. I think it used to be the ballroom at one point, but they turned into the place where we eat. The kitchen is just a room over, and depending on what time of day it is, the cooks make different kinds of food.
I continued to walk through the halls, hoping that I won’t get lost. Its not that I’ve never been to the cafeteria, I’m just not used to this area of the castle.

When I finally made it to the cafeteria I walked over to the buffet table. Since this is not a normal cafeteria you could order whatever you wanted, like a restaurant, or you could have the food they were having that day. Today was pizza. I picked up a plate and placed a slice on it. It smelled so good, and incase your wondering, the myth that vampires only drink blood is not true. We can eat everything a human can, and no we do not put blood on or in any of our regular food either. As I said before, we eat just the same as humans. Which is nice, one less change for me.
I turned around and tried looking for a seat. There wasn’t many open, actually, at this point, I would be happy with anything.
I spotted an empty seat and walked over to it. Sitting there were a few kids my age, but I didn’t recognize them so they weren’t in my class. Good, then they didn’t see anything that happened earlier.
“Is this seat taken?”
The group stopped talking and looked up at me. One of the boys smiled, “No, you can sit.”
I nodded, “Thank you.”
After I sat down I took a bite of my pizza.
“I’ve never seen you before, what’s your name?”
I turned to see the same boy, the one who let me sit, looking at me. He had dark drown hair that didn’t make it past his ears, and copper colored eyes. I swallowed and answered him, “Damian.”
The boy narrowed his eyes, “Damian… Where have I heard that name before?”
Great, he knew who I was, that means one less place for me to sit.
Then he smiled, “I know! You’re that new kid! The turned right?!”
I looked down at my plate, not wanting to see his face, “Yeah.”
“That is so cool!”
My head shot up, “What?”
He laughed at my confused face, “Yeah! What was it like being turned? Did it hurt? Did you feel anything? Did it –”
“Geez Denzel, slow down. You don’t want to scare him away with all your questions do you?”
I looked over to see another boy sitting across from me. He was older than the others; I’m guessing he was about 16, maybe a little older. He had dark brown hair and teal colored eyes.
Denzel, I guess his name was, rolled his eyes, “No, but don’t you want to know those things too?”
“I have to admit I am curious, but you just met him. You can’t just ask questions like that after just meeting someone. He didn’t even know your name.”
Denzel sighed, “I guess your right.”
The teal-eyed boy turned to me, “Sorry about that. My brother can be… annoying at times. My names Elazar, and I’m sure you heard me call him Denzel.”
I nodded, “Its nice to meet you.”
“Great, we all know each other! Can I ask a question now?”
I looked over at Denzel and nodded, “Sure.”
“Yes! Now, there’s something no one seems to know. Who was one who turned you?”
Apparently, not many vampires these days even have the capability of ‘turning’ someone. So, I guess, everyone wants to know who was able to do it with me.
I looked around the table to see everyone looking at me, all-waiting to hear my answer, I turned back to Denzel, “I actually don’t know.”
Denzel’s smile fell, “What do you mean you don’t know?”
I shrugged, “I don’t know who turned me. My mentor never told me.”
“Who’s your mentor?”
I turned to Elazar, “Zephyr.”
I looked around the table when everyone fell silent. “What?”
“Zephyr’s your mentor?”
I nodded, “Yeah…”
“Zephyr, the third in command is your mentor?”
I looked at Elazar confused, “Wait. What’s a third in command?”
“You don’t know?”
I shook my head, “No.”
“Well you at least know what an Alpha is right?”
I nodded, “The leader of the clan right?”
“Yes. Well, there are four top positions, Alpha, 2nd, 3rd and 4th in command. The 2nd in command’s job is to help the Alpha with anything he needs. The 3rd in command does the same, but as you know he also has another job.”
“Teacher.”
He nodded, “Yeah, and apparently your mentor as well.”
I nodded, “What about the 4th in command?”
“Well–”
“Sorry I’m late, Avalona stopped me in the hall…. Who’s this?”
I looked up to see a girl taking a seat across from me. She seemed the same age as Elazar, had dirty blonde hair that went down to her waist, a dark green hairstreak on her right side, and blue eyes, but what caught my eye was the raven sitting on her shoulder.
“Velorina, this is Damian.”
She looked at Elazar, “The turned?”
He nodded.
She turned to me and smiled, “Cool. Nice to meet you Damian, as you may have guessed, my names Velorina.”
I nodded. She looked at me confused and followed my gaze to the bird on her shoulder. “Julianna get off of me!”
It was my turn to be confused as I watched her try to shoo the bird off her shoulder. The bird gave her one last peck on the head and flew to the empty seat next to Denzel. My eyes grew wide as the bird’s shape changed and a girl sat in the chair leaning against Denzel, laughing. I noticed she had brown hair that went just past her chest with a midnight blue hairstreak on the left side.
“Geez Julianna! You can fly, why do you have to ride on my shoulder all the time?!”
She shrugged, “Its fun.” She then turned her hazel eyes on me, “Hi, My names Julianna. Nice to meet you Damian.”
I nodded and shook her hand, “Nice to meet you too. How did you do that?”
She looked at me confused, “What?”
“How did you…? How were you a bird?”
She gave me a big smile, “Oh that! I’m a shape-shifter. A raven is one of the animals I can turn into.”
“Oh. So you already have your power.”
She nodded and Elazar spoke before she could, “Everyone gets their powers before they turn 16. I think you will too.”
“Really? What’s yours?”
Velorina smiled, “I can talk to animals, which helps when my sister changes a lot.”
I looked at her confused, “Your sister?”
“Right, we forgot to tell you. Julianna and I are twins”
Julianna smiled, “But you would never be able to tell right?”
I saw Denzel roll his eyes, “Never.”
Julianna heard him and hit his shoulder. The two started arguing as I turned to Elazar, “What about you?”
He looked at me “Mine? Well…” He cleared his throat, and when he started talking again he sounded like Julianna, “I can manipulate my voice to sound like anyone I want.”
“Hey! I told you not to do that!”
He started laughing as Julianna glared at him from across the table. I then noticed everyone start to stand up and leave the cafeteria.
Elazar noticed too, “I guess its time to go back to class.”
Everyone nodded and got up. Denzel walked with me for a while since our classes are in the same hall, but we eventually had to split up.

I was walking alone to my class when I was harshly pushed against the wall. I groaned as I tried to turn around only to have my head pushed back against the wall again. “Where do you think you’re going turned?”
“You don’t belong here.”
“Yeah, you shouldn’t even exist.”
I groaned again as I heard the same boys from class earlier laugh at me. I felt one of them grab the back of my shirt and forcefully push me against the wall again, harder than the first time. He leaned in and whispered in my ear, “You will never be good enough. You will never be a true vampire.”
“Hey!”
The two boys quickly let go of me and turned around. I simply just slid down to the floor, my head hurting from being banged against the wall multiple times.
As I was sitting I saw the two run off as someone came running over.
“Where do you think you two are going?! Get back here!”
I looked up to see someone standing in the middle of the hallway yelling at the two boys who ran off, the figure had jet-black hair that went only to their shoulders. They turned to me and I saw that it was a girl. She walked over to me, “You okay?”
I nodded, only to flinch from my, now, splitting headache.
She looked at my head with her dark eyes, “You’re not bleeding, but I think you need to see a healer.”
Not giving me anytime to answer she grabbed my arm and helped me stand. She moved my arm over her shoulder to help me stay up. “My names Ravette, what’s yours?”
“Damian.”
“Don’t worry Damian, The healer will help.”

I tried not to blink as the healer moved a flashlight to either of my eyes.
She smiled and stood up, “You’re going to be fine. Just be careful next time, okay?”
I nodded as I took the ice bag she handed me and held it to my head.
“Go back to your room and get some sleep sweetie, you should feel better in the morning.”
I gave her a small smile, “Thanks.”
I walked out of the room to see Ravette leaning against the wall, whom I now saw was dressed in all black with chains hanging off of her belt. I stopped and looked at her, “You’re still here?”
She looked up and nodded, “Yeah. Where else would I be?”
I shrugged, “Anywhere but here? Away from me.”
She looked at me confused, “Why would I do that?”
I looked down at the floor, “Because of what I am. Because you wouldn’t want to be seen with a turned.”
She narrowed her eyes at me and crossed her arms, “You really think that would matter? I don’t care what people call you. You’re a vampire aren’t you?”
I didn’t look up at her, “I guess…”
She huffed, “You guess? You crave blood don’t you?”
“Yes…”
“Then you’re a vampire. It doesn’t matter what you used to be, you are one now, and that is never going to change.”
I looked up at her and gave a small smile, “Thanks…”
She smiled back, “You’re welcome. Anyway, I’m thirsty what about you?”
I looked at her confused, but rubbed my throat a bit, “I guess so… But I will just tell my mentor, and he’ll get some for me…”
She crossed her arms again, “That’s no fun. I know a great place to get some.”
“But… we aren’t allowed to leave the grounds.”
She rolled her eyes, “Rules don’t mean anything to me. Come on. Do you want to be stuck in bed all night with that ice pack of yours, or do you want to find the wonders of being a vampire and get rid of that headache right now?”
I looked down at the ice pack I held in my hand.
“Well?”
I looked up at her and sighed. “Okay.”
She smiled and grabbed my arm, causing me to drop the ice pack. “Great! Lets go!” She then half dragged me through the halls of the castle.
“Do you know where you’re going?”
She didn’t look back, “Of course! I’ve done this hundreds of times before.”
Why didn’t that make me feel better?
She stopped running when we were in front of a door. She leaned against the wall, and I did the same.
“What are we –?”
She quickly covered my mouth as the door to the room opened, and someone walked out, part of me kind of wanted to get caught, the other wanted to see what she was so excited about, but they didn’t seem to see us.
She removed her hand from my face and caught the door before it closed, she motioned for me to go through the door, and whispered, “Come on.”
I nodded and went through the door with her right behind me.
When the door closed behind us, there was no light, but that didn’t bother us. One of the cool things about being a vampire, I’ve learned, is that we have amazing night vision.
I looked over to where she was to see her walking, carefully, to the other side of the room. I followed her.
She stopped in front of another door and turned to me. “Ready? Once we go through this door, there is no going back. We have to make a run for it. Got it?”
I swallowed, a little nervous, but nodded.
She opened the door and I stepped out.

I looked around to see the trees, the grass, and felt the breeze blow on my face. I took a deep breath and looked up to see the night sky filled with stars. It seems so long since I’ve seen the sky and felt the wind against my face.
Ravette then tugged my arm and I broke out of my daydream to see her run off toward the forest. I ran after her.
I stopped at the tree line and turned around to see the castle. It looked so small compared to what I knew was inside.
“You coming?”
I turned back at Ravette and nodded.
We ran through the trees. We weren’t that fast yet, humans tell stories of how fast vampires run, that you can’t even see them when they do. That was actually true, but younglings have to practice before they can do that. Ravette and I weren’t fast, we were faster than humans, but we weren’t fast compared to the adults.
It felt so good to feel the wind blow through my hair as we ran, and I think I laughed for the first time in months.
I looked up to see Ravette smiling at me for a second before turning forward leading the way and I followed right behind her. Somehow, at one point, our running turned into a race. She was in front of me at the moment, but I wasn’t far behind. She kept blocking me every time I tried to pass her, but I saw a flaw in her tactic.
I smirked as I swerved to her left and, just as I knew she would, she moved to block me. I quickly ducked down and jumped to her right, just barely landing on my feet in front of her. I looked back at her and smiled at her surprised reaction. I turned forward again and continued to run.
After a few more minutes I felt something grab the back of my shirt and I came to a sudden stop, causing me to get a face full of dirt.
I looked up to see Ravette standing over me. “That’s what you get for running in front of me. Anyway, we’re here.”
I stood, wiping the dirt from my face and dusting off my clothes. “Where are we?”
My eyes went wide when I heard some leaves rustle.
Apparently, vampires have better senses than humans, but no one told me how much. They also forgot to mention the hunting instinct you get when you’re thirsty.
And God was I thirsty.
The next few moments were like a blur, somehow I got down in a bush watching a deer graze close by. Without thinking I lunged at it, somehow getting on its back. I had a tight hold on it, and I was so into the trance I didn’t even notice Ravette doing the same. It tried to shake us off but I just held on. I narrowed my eyes and bit down on its neck hard, I barely registered the cry of pain it made as I did. I closed my eyes as I tasted the metallic flavored liquid touch my tongue. Not long after I felt the deer’s movement slow, and opened my eyes. I quickly realized what I was doing and let go, getting off of it as fast as I could. I landed hard on the ground, and looked up to see the deer shake Ravette off and run into the woods.
She landed on her feet and turned to me, wiping the small amount of blood from her lip. “That was fun wasn’t it?”
I didn’t say anything; I just continued to stare where I last saw the deer, breathing heavily.
She walked over to me and lightly kicked my leg, causing me to turn toward her. I looked up to see her smile as she offered her hand to me, “Don’t worry it gets easier.”
I took her hand and stood up.

I don’t know about easier, but my life has defiantly gotten more complicated.

Description
“We need a healer!”
“Somebody get a healer in here!”

Someone ran out of the room as the two raced over and placed the injured on the couch. Everyone gathered around the two distressed as they tried to stop the bleeding of the young boy lying down barely conscious.

A lady dressed in white ran through the crowd, “Out of my way! Make room!” She stopped as the two from before moved over as she looked at the boy, “What happened?”

“We found him outside –”

“What’s going on here?!”

Everyone went quiet and looked up to see a tall, dark haired young man walking down the stairs. Everyone bowed and made room for him as he made his way towards the three standing over the boy.
“Alpha,” The one dressed in dark red addressed the young man, “This boy was attacked by a rogue.”

He looked down at the boy before turning to the healer, “We need to move him. Get a room ready.” The healer bowed before running off and doing as commanded. The Alpha then turned to the two dressed in red. He pointed at the girl, “You take him to the room.” She nodded and picked up the boy in her arms where he lay limp. The Alpha then pointed to the boy, “You get everyone out of here. I don’t want any disturbances.” The boy nodded and turned. “And,” The boy looked at his Alpha. “Get my second and third in command.” The boy nodded again as he tried to clear the area of the gathering crowd.

“Check his vitals!”
“We’re losing him!”

“How is he?”

The group of healers turned to see the Alpha walking into the room.
The healer from before bowed. “Not good sir. He has lost too much blood. I’m sorry but the human boy is not going to make it.”
The Alpha walked over, as all the healers moved away from the table, and he looked down at the boy. He lifted his hand and moved the boy’s shirt to reveal two large puncture holes that were still bleeding. “I want you all to leave.”
The healers looked at the Alpha confused, “Sir?”
He turned to them, “I want you all to leave the room. You are no longer needed.”
“But sir…”
He narrowed his eyes at the one who spoke.
She bowed, “Yes sir.”
They all left the room as two new people walked in.
The Alpha turned back to the boy when one of the two spoke, “You wanted to see us?”
The Alpha nodded, “Sera, Zephyr. Close the door.”
The young man, who was called Zephyr, nodded and did as asked.
The young woman, who was called Sera, looked over toward the boy, “What’s with the human?”
The Alpha looked up from the boy to the two. “That’s why I asked you here.” He turned to the young man; “I’m going to need you to do something for me Zephyr.”

-----

“Wake up!”
My eyes shot open as I felt my body shake. I stared up to see black hair and brown eyes staring back down at me. My Mentor.
I took a relieved breath. It was only a nightmare.
I’ve had a nightmare every few nights for the past couple of months. It was always the same one.

“Get dressed, today is your first day of class.”

I sighed and stood up from my bed.
I don’t remember much of that night; I barely remember what is in my nightmares. All I know is that night changed my life forever, and there is no going back.
I’m a vampire. A Vampire Turned.

---

I followed my mentor through the halls of the castle.
You see, we all live under the same roof, the same home. This castle looks normal from the outside, or so I’m told, but its enchanted to be as large as we need it on the inside. They don’t let younglings, like me, out of the castle that often, at least not until we learn to control our thirst. I know that feeling all too well. That burning at the back of my throat that started a few months back. My mentor has been kind and knows when I need a drink. He makes sure to give me some only when I need it; otherwise I eat just as everyone else does. At first the thought of drinking blood was disgusting, but the metallic taste grows on you, especially when it gets rid of the pain you feel beforehand.

Its true that it has been months since I was turned, but it’s taken that long for my body to adjust to the change. They are putting me into a class with kids my age, well sort of. Vampires age differently than humans do. When they are young they age quickly until a certain point. When they get to their teens they start to age at the same pace as humans, but once they get to their twenties most stop aging.

Humans say that vampires are immortal. They are, to a degree. Most stories that humans tell, I have learned, are myths that their ancestors made up to scare the younger generation. The stories of how they burn when in the sun, only come out to hunt the poor souls who find themselves in the middle of nowhere on a moonlit night, or the most stupid of all; how they recently been saying they sparkle. None of that is true. Vampires can go into the sun; they just have more sensitive skin to the suns rays than humans do. They also do not sparkle; I have no idea how that rumor started. But they do prefer to hunt at night, just not for humans. Most prefer to hunt animals, like deer. These days vampires that hunt humans are called rogues. I’ve heard stories that some rogues are not able to control their thirst, so they hunt non-stop, and where most others stop drinking after a certain point and let their victims live, rogues continue until there is nothing left. I’ve even heard that they don’t just go for animals or humans, some say that they will even attack one of their own, but I’m not sure if that’s true. However, today in the minds of humans, vampires are just as the stories they tell of us. Myths.

“You okay?”
I snapped out of my thoughts to see my mentor looking down at me.
I nodded, “Yeah.”
He stopped. “Are you sure? If you’re not ready for this we could wait a little longer.”
I looked up at him, “I’m fine, just a little nervous I guess.”
He nodded, “If you’re sure.”
I smiled at him, “Yeah I am. Thank you Zephyr.”
He smiled down at me, “Then its time to meet your age group.”
I nodded as he turned toward the door that was behind him.
As the door opened I heard many voices talking and yelling, but once Zephyr stepped into the room, me right behind him, the room went quiet.
I didn’t look up; I just kept looking at the floor.
“Why is he here?!”
“Why is our group getting him?!”
“Why are we getting the turned?!”
I flinched as they used that word. ‘A turned.’ You see vampires don’t ‘turn’ anyone anymore. Not since the vampire wars about a millennia ago. All vampires these days are ‘vampire born’ their parents are vampires, and so were their ancestors.
“Pétur! You will not use that term!”
The room went quiet after Zephyr’s correction. He stood straight up and addressed the class. “Everyone, this is Damian. He is our newest student.”
I looked up as Zephyr said my name. My light brown hair falling to the sides of my face as my light brown eyes scanned the people I will be with from now on.
Each kid I laid my eyes on was about the same age as me. My age group starts at the age of 13 and ends at age 15. I’m right in the middle. I’m 14.
Once you turn 16 you advance to the next age group, where you learn harder studies. This is a beginner class. Perfect for me I guess, I already know less than everyone else in this room.

“Why don’t you sit down Damian, and we can start todays lesson.”

I nodded and made my way to an open seat in the back. As I walked I could feel the glares my classmates were giving me. I guess that’s what I get because of what I am.
As I walk I could hear some of my classmates whispering, I tried to ignore it when I tripped on something and fell face first to the floor. I looked up to see two boys high five each other as the rest of the room laughed. Yeah, this is going to be a long day.
I quickly got up and rushed to the chair before anything else could happen.
I sat down and looked up to see Zephyr drawing something on the board. He isn’t just my mentor; he is also the teacher of my age group. Which could be good for me incase i need extra help, I guess.

He turned around to face us all. “Can anyone tell me what this is?”
He looked at everyone in the room and sighed, “You should all know this.” He shook his head, “This is the territory map. Our home. It consists of the town, the university grounds, and a good amount of the woods surrounding them.”
He turned back to the board marking four different areas, one on each side of the territory. “Can anyone tell me what surrounds our territory?”
This time a boy raised his hand. Zephyr turned toward him, “Yes Jairus?”
“Surrounding our territory are four other territories.”
Zephyr nodded, “Yes, and can you tell us who those territories belong to and where they’re located?"
Jairus nodded and stood up. He walked over to the board where Zephyr handed him the chalk.
“To the North is the vampire clan Night Descent. To the West is the vampire clan Nox. To the East is the werewolf pack called the Dusk Star Pack, and to the South is the vampire clan Shadow's Swarm.”
Zaphyr nodded, “Good Jairus, you can sit down now.” He turned back to the class, “Now that you know our neighbors, you should know that we are currently at peace with the Night Descent clan, and the Nox clan.” He looked at each of us, “And I’m sure your parents have told you of werewolves and vampires ancient feud right?”
Everyone nodded.
“Well that is true for most vampires and werewolves but thanks to our Alpha we, the Black Rose clan, are currently at peace with our neighbors the Dusk Star Pack.” He turned back to the board, “However, the Shadow's Swarm clan to our south has been giving us trouble as of recently.” He turned back to us all, “They say they want our territory for themselves. Their Alpha has said that we haven’t been using all our resources that our territory offers. They don’t believe in the same beliefs as us, that drinking from humans is wrong. They believe themselves to be better than humans, but I must tell you all this, vampires are no better than any human. We are all the same in the end, and that is why we live in peace with the people who live inside our territory. I want you all to remember that.”
Everyone nodded as he looked up at the clock. “That is all for now, you can all leave for lunch.”
With that said everyone stood up and headed for the door.
I got up from my seat in the back and made my way to the door.
“Damian.”
I looked over at Zephyr, “Yeah?”
“Did you understand what I was talking about?”
I nodded, “Yeah.”
“Good, because you, out of everyone here, should know how true that is.”
I didn’t say anything; I only nodded before I walked out of the room and down the hallway towards the ‘cafeteria.’
I call it that because it’s more like a cafeteria than anything else. It’s really just a large room with many tables in it. I think it used to be the ballroom at one point, but they turned into the place where we eat. The kitchen is just a room over, and depending on what time of day it is, the cooks make different kinds of food.
I continued to walk through the halls, hoping that I won’t get lost. Its not that I’ve never been to the cafeteria, I’m just not used to this area of the castle.

When I finally made it to the cafeteria I walked over to the buffet table. Since this is not a normal cafeteria you could order whatever you wanted, like a restaurant, or you could have the food they were having that day. Today was pizza. I picked up a plate and placed a slice on it. It smelled so good, and incase your wondering, the myth that vampires only drink blood is not true. We can eat everything a human can, and no we do not put blood on or in any of our regular food either. As I said before, we eat just the same as humans. Which is nice, one less change for me.
I turned around and tried looking for a seat. There wasn’t many open, actually, at this point, I would be happy with anything.
I spotted an empty seat and walked over to it. Sitting there were a few kids my age, but I didn’t recognize them so they weren’t in my class. Good, then they didn’t see anything that happened earlier.
“Is this seat taken?”
The group stopped talking and looked up at me. One of the boys smiled, “No, you can sit.”
I nodded, “Thank you.”
After I sat down I took a bite of my pizza.
“I’ve never seen you before, what’s your name?”
I turned to see the same boy, the one who let me sit, looking at me. He had dark drown hair that didn’t make it past his ears, and copper colored eyes. I swallowed and answered him, “Damian.”
The boy narrowed his eyes, “Damian… Where have I heard that name before?”
Great, he knew who I was, that means one less place for me to sit.
Then he smiled, “I know! You’re that new kid! The turned right?!”
I looked down at my plate, not wanting to see his face, “Yeah.”
“That is so cool!”
My head shot up, “What?”
He laughed at my confused face, “Yeah! What was it like being turned? Did it hurt? Did you feel anything? Did it –”
“Geez Denzel, slow down. You don’t want to scare him away with all your questions do you?”
I looked over to see another boy sitting across from me. He was older than the others; I’m guessing he was about 16, maybe a little older. He had dark brown hair and teal colored eyes.
Denzel, I guess his name was, rolled his eyes, “No, but don’t you want to know those things too?”
“I have to admit I am curious, but you just met him. You can’t just ask questions like that after just meeting someone. He didn’t even know your name.”
Denzel sighed, “I guess your right.”
The teal-eyed boy turned to me, “Sorry about that. My brother can be… annoying at times. My names Elazar, and I’m sure you heard me call him Denzel.”
I nodded, “Its nice to meet you.”
“Great, we all know each other! Can I ask a question now?”
I looked over at Denzel and nodded, “Sure.”
“Yes! Now, there’s something no one seems to know. Who was one who turned you?”
Apparently, not many vampires these days even have the capability of ‘turning’ someone. So, I guess, everyone wants to know who was able to do it with me.
I looked around the table to see everyone looking at me, all-waiting to hear my answer, I turned back to Denzel, “I actually don’t know.”
Denzel’s smile fell, “What do you mean you don’t know?”
I shrugged, “I don’t know who turned me. My mentor never told me.”
“Who’s your mentor?”
I turned to Elazar, “Zephyr.”
I looked around the table when everyone fell silent. “What?”
“Zephyr’s your mentor?”
I nodded, “Yeah…”
“Zephyr, the third in command is your mentor?”
I looked at Elazar confused, “Wait. What’s a third in command?”
“You don’t know?”
I shook my head, “No.”
“Well you at least know what an Alpha is right?”
I nodded, “The leader of the clan right?”
“Yes. Well, there are four top positions, Alpha, 2nd, 3rd and 4th in command. The 2nd in command’s job is to help the Alpha with anything he needs. The 3rd in command does the same, but as you know he also has another job.”
“Teacher.”
He nodded, “Yeah, and apparently your mentor as well.”
I nodded, “What about the 4th in command?”
“Well–”
“Sorry I’m late, Avalona stopped me in the hall…. Who’s this?”
I looked up to see a girl taking a seat across from me. She seemed the same age as Elazar, had dirty blonde hair that went down to her waist, a dark green hairstreak on her right side, and blue eyes, but what caught my eye was the raven sitting on her shoulder.
“Velorina, this is Damian.”
She looked at Elazar, “The turned?”
He nodded.
She turned to me and smiled, “Cool. Nice to meet you Damian, as you may have guessed, my names Velorina.”
I nodded. She looked at me confused and followed my gaze to the bird on her shoulder. “Julianna get off of me!”
It was my turn to be confused as I watched her try to shoo the bird off her shoulder. The bird gave her one last peck on the head and flew to the empty seat next to Denzel. My eyes grew wide as the bird’s shape changed and a girl sat in the chair leaning against Denzel, laughing. I noticed she had brown hair that went just past her chest with a midnight blue hairstreak on the left side.
“Geez Julianna! You can fly, why do you have to ride on my shoulder all the time?!”
She shrugged, “Its fun.” She then turned her hazel eyes on me, “Hi, My names Julianna. Nice to meet you Damian.”
I nodded and shook her hand, “Nice to meet you too. How did you do that?”
She looked at me confused, “What?”
“How did you…? How were you a bird?”
She gave me a big smile, “Oh that! I’m a shape-shifter. A raven is one of the animals I can turn into.”
“Oh. So you already have your power.”
She nodded and Elazar spoke before she could, “Everyone gets their powers before they turn 16. I think you will too.”
“Really? What’s yours?”
Velorina smiled, “I can talk to animals, which helps when my sister changes a lot.”
I looked at her confused, “Your sister?”
“Right, we forgot to tell you. Julianna and I are twins”
Julianna smiled, “But you would never be able to tell right?”
I saw Denzel roll his eyes, “Never.”
Julianna heard him and hit his shoulder. The two started arguing as I turned to Elazar, “What about you?”
He looked at me “Mine? Well…” He cleared his throat, and when he started talking again he sounded like Julianna, “I can manipulate my voice to sound like anyone I want.”
“Hey! I told you not to do that!”
He started laughing as Julianna glared at him from across the table. I then noticed everyone start to stand up and leave the cafeteria.
Elazar noticed too, “I guess its time to go back to class.”
Everyone nodded and got up. Denzel walked with me for a while since our classes are in the same hall, but we eventually had to split up.

I was walking alone to my class when I was harshly pushed against the wall. I groaned as I tried to turn around only to have my head pushed back against the wall again. “Where do you think you’re going turned?”
“You don’t belong here.”
“Yeah, you shouldn’t even exist.”
I groaned again as I heard the same boys from class earlier laugh at me. I felt one of them grab the back of my shirt and forcefully push me against the wall again, harder than the first time. He leaned in and whispered in my ear, “You will never be good enough. You will never be a true vampire.”
“Hey!”
The two boys quickly let go of me and turned around. I simply just slid down to the floor, my head hurting from being banged against the wall multiple times.
As I was sitting I saw the two run off as someone came running over.
“Where do you think you two are going?! Get back here!”
I looked up to see someone standing in the middle of the hallway yelling at the two boys who ran off, the figure had jet-black hair that went only to their shoulders. They turned to me and I saw that it was a girl. She walked over to me, “You okay?”
I nodded, only to flinch from my, now, splitting headache.
She looked at my head with her dark eyes, “You’re not bleeding, but I think you need to see a healer.”
Not giving me anytime to answer she grabbed my arm and helped me stand. She moved my arm over her shoulder to help me stay up. “My names Ravette, what’s yours?”
“Damian.”
“Don’t worry Damian, The healer will help.”

I tried not to blink as the healer moved a flashlight to either of my eyes.
She smiled and stood up, “You’re going to be fine. Just be careful next time, okay?”
I nodded as I took the ice bag she handed me and held it to my head.
“Go back to your room and get some sleep sweetie, you should feel better in the morning.”
I gave her a small smile, “Thanks.”
I walked out of the room to see Ravette leaning against the wall, whom I now saw was dressed in all black with chains hanging off of her belt. I stopped and looked at her, “You’re still here?”
She looked up and nodded, “Yeah. Where else would I be?”
I shrugged, “Anywhere but here? Away from me.”
She looked at me confused, “Why would I do that?”
I looked down at the floor, “Because of what I am. Because you wouldn’t want to be seen with a turned.”
She narrowed her eyes at me and crossed her arms, “You really think that would matter? I don’t care what people call you. You’re a vampire aren’t you?”
I didn’t look up at her, “I guess…”
She huffed, “You guess? You crave blood don’t you?”
“Yes…”
“Then you’re a vampire. It doesn’t matter what you used to be, you are one now, and that is never going to change.”
I looked up at her and gave a small smile, “Thanks…”
She smiled back, “You’re welcome. Anyway, I’m thirsty what about you?”
I looked at her confused, but rubbed my throat a bit, “I guess so… But I will just tell my mentor, and he’ll get some for me…”
She crossed her arms again, “That’s no fun. I know a great place to get some.”
“But… we aren’t allowed to leave the grounds.”
She rolled her eyes, “Rules don’t mean anything to me. Come on. Do you want to be stuck in bed all night with that ice pack of yours, or do you want to find the wonders of being a vampire and get rid of that headache right now?”
I looked down at the ice pack I held in my hand.
“Well?”
I looked up at her and sighed. “Okay.”
She smiled and grabbed my arm, causing me to drop the ice pack. “Great! Lets go!” She then half dragged me through the halls of the castle.
“Do you know where you’re going?”
She didn’t look back, “Of course! I’ve done this hundreds of times before.”
Why didn’t that make me feel better?
She stopped running when we were in front of a door. She leaned against the wall, and I did the same.
“What are we –?”
She quickly covered my mouth as the door to the room opened, and someone walked out, part of me kind of wanted to get caught, the other wanted to see what she was so excited about, but they didn’t seem to see us.
She removed her hand from my face and caught the door before it closed, she motioned for me to go through the door, and whispered, “Come on.”
I nodded and went through the door with her right behind me.
When the door closed behind us, there was no light, but that didn’t bother us. One of the cool things about being a vampire, I’ve learned, is that we have amazing night vision.
I looked over to where she was to see her walking, carefully, to the other side of the room. I followed her.
She stopped in front of another door and turned to me. “Ready? Once we go through this door, there is no going back. We have to make a run for it. Got it?”
I swallowed, a little nervous, but nodded.
She opened the door and I stepped out.

I looked around to see the trees, the grass, and felt the breeze blow on my face. I took a deep breath and looked up to see the night sky filled with stars. It seems so long since I’ve seen the sky and felt the wind against my face.
Ravette then tugged my arm and I broke out of my daydream to see her run off toward the forest. I ran after her.
I stopped at the tree line and turned around to see the castle. It looked so small compared to what I knew was inside.
“You coming?”
I turned back at Ravette and nodded.
We ran through the trees. We weren’t that fast yet, humans tell stories of how fast vampires run, that you can’t even see them when they do. That was actually true, but younglings have to practice before they can do that. Ravette and I weren’t fast, we were faster than humans, but we weren’t fast compared to the adults.
It felt so good to feel the wind blow through my hair as we ran, and I think I laughed for the first time in months.
I looked up to see Ravette smiling at me for a second before turning forward leading the way and I followed right behind her. Somehow, at one point, our running turned into a race. She was in front of me at the moment, but I wasn’t far behind. She kept blocking me every time I tried to pass her, but I saw a flaw in her tactic.
I smirked as I swerved to her left and, just as I knew she would, she moved to block me. I quickly ducked down and jumped to her right, just barely landing on my feet in front of her. I looked back at her and smiled at her surprised reaction. I turned forward again and continued to run.
After a few more minutes I felt something grab the back of my shirt and I came to a sudden stop, causing me to get a face full of dirt.
I looked up to see Ravette standing over me. “That’s what you get for running in front of me. Anyway, we’re here.”
I stood, wiping the dirt from my face and dusting off my clothes. “Where are we?”
My eyes went wide when I heard some leaves rustle.
Apparently, vampires have better senses than humans, but no one told me how much. They also forgot to mention the hunting instinct you get when you’re thirsty.
And God was I thirsty.
The next few moments were like a blur, somehow I got down in a bush watching a deer graze close by. Without thinking I lunged at it, somehow getting on its back. I had a tight hold on it, and I was so into the trance I didn’t even notice Ravette doing the same. It tried to shake us off but I just held on. I narrowed my eyes and bit down on its neck hard, I barely registered the cry of pain it made as I did. I closed my eyes as I tasted the metallic flavored liquid touch my tongue. Not long after I felt the deer’s movement slow, and opened my eyes. I quickly realized what I was doing and let go, getting off of it as fast as I could. I landed hard on the ground, and looked up to see the deer shake Ravette off and run into the woods.
She landed on her feet and turned to me, wiping the small amount of blood from her lip. “That was fun wasn’t it?”
I didn’t say anything; I just continued to stare where I last saw the deer, breathing heavily.
She walked over to me and lightly kicked my leg, causing me to turn toward her. I looked up to see her smile as she offered her hand to me, “Don’t worry it gets easier.”
I took her hand and stood up.

I don’t know about easier, but my life has defiantly gotten more complicated.