Blood splattered across a child’s face, her eyes wide as the light left her mother’s.  She fell to her knees before her mother’s body, clutching at her shirt as the creature that killed her approached.  Trembling in terror, the child gazed up at the monster, its eyes illuminated by the glow of its weapon; cold and unflinching.

In desperation she grabbed the dagger from her mother’s hand, a dagger much too large for a child her age.  It belonged to her father, lost and missing in the chaos of the night.  She wanted her father.  She wanted her big brother, her grandmother, her grandfather.  But none of them were there to save her.  Her only companion was the corpse of her mother, lifeless at her feet.

With the terror of death stepping ever closer, she pointed her father’s weapon at the monster in front of her.  It stopped for a moment, giving the child little more than a thought before raising its weapon; a scythe with a blade of fire.  The child closed her eyes and screamed, grief, anger, terror and desperation wrapped into a single, fledgling package that threw herself at the face of death. 

All she felt and knew was darkness.

A young woman woke up in a cold sweat, clutching at her racing heart.  Her dark fingers ran through her messy bob of snow-white hair, her piercing red eyes dilated in shock.  She struggled to calm herself, taking stock of her bed, her room.  She took stock of her place in time, reminding herself it was just a dream; just an old memory.  Tears crawled down Arlee’s light brown cheeks as she buried her face in her hands, breathing deeply to soothe her nerves.

Arlee looked over at her nightstand, grabbing at the large Delphinian dagger sheathed atop it.  She drew the jagged blade half-out, looking at her reflection in the polished lightsteel.  She looked at the burned scar around her neck and ran her fingers across it before shifting her gaze over to the photograph sitting next to her lamp.  Reaching for it, she hesitated before her fingers found purchase and picked it up.

Arlee gazed upon the water-stained, creased picture of her childhood self, clinging to a stuffed tiger and smiling awkwardly as she stood next to a young woman with one arm and dark skin, with half of her face shrouded by a veil.  The crippled girl looked happy, or (perhaps more accurately) she wanted to be happy.  Now on the cusp of adulthood, Arlee looked upon the photo in stark silence, only her eyes giving whispers of the melancholy she felt. 

As always, she tried to convince herself that things were different now.  That she didn’t have to worry anymore.  After she pulled herself up out of bed and stretched, she slunk into the hallway and entered the bathroom, washing her face and hair in cold water.  After using a towel to dry her head with the intensity of a jeweler trying to polish a tarnished ring, she made her way down the stairs into the kitchen, rifling through the refrigerator for the makings of her breakfast.  Footsteps could be heard from upstairs as her mother came down after her.

“Arlee?  What are you doing up so early?” her mother asked.  Mileena was wearing a set of pajamas, which never ceased to amuse Arlee.  It just never quite fit her image of her rough and tough mother, honestly.  

“Could ask you the same thing.  You’re usually not out of bed before noon if you don’t have to be.”  With a shrill laugh, the lively revenant sat down at the table and put her feet up on it.  Because of course she would. 

“Just how things played out, kid.  I don’t know what to tell ya!”  Arlee was glad to have her back of course, but she felt as though she finally understood what her dad had meant all those years ago when he had told her that her mother ‘is a handful’.  “Didn’t answer my question, though,” Mileena pointed out.  “Everything okay?”  Arlee’s eyes couldn’t help but glance at the soul fire that licked out from between the buttons on her mother’s pajama shirt.

“...Yeah.  I’m fine.  Just the usual nightmare.”  Mileena’s eyes glanced downward before she got up from her seat and placed her hand on Arlee’s shoulder while she tried to fix some eggs.

“I know you’ve heard me say this before, but you don’t ever have to worry about that again.  Least not on my account.”  Arlee grasped at her mother’s hand and held it, rubbing Mileena’s fingers.

“I… I know, Mom.”

“Now gimme that pan, so I can make you some breakfast,” Mileena insisted.  The color promptly drained from Arlee’s face as she felt a knot form in her stomach.  She didn’t know how it was possible to screw up eggs so badly that they became rubbery, but her mother consistently managed the impossible when it came to culinary blunders.  There must have been a good reason she didn’t remember her mom ever cooking their meals when she was little.

“No way.  Dad’s kitchen rules are still in effect.”  Her mother scoffed at that.

“Come on, he’s not even…” Mileena stopped herself mid-sentence, catching the words in her mouth before recomposing herself.  “Okay, okay.  You make your eggs how you want.  Just… let me know if you need any help.”

Arlee continued to make herself some eggs and toast as her mother began to flip through some news feeds on their television, never settling on any segments.  Arlee seemed to be in her own little headspace as she ate, the faintest smile gracing her face.

“Did you have fun yesterday?”  Arlee almost dropped her fork when her mother’s question grabbed her by surprise.  She quickly turned her gaze toward Mileena to see her grinning.

“…Yeah.  Yeah, I did.  It was… nice.”  Mileena smiled wider at Arlee’s answer.

“Good.  I’m really happy for you, kiddo.”

“Thanks, Mom.”  Arlee quietly finished her meal with a smile before she put her plate away in the dishwasher.  “Alright, Mom.  Let’s do a check-up before I leave for school.”  Mileena groaned at the prospect.

“Do we have to?  My body is working just fine.”

“Yeah we do,” Arlee insisted.  “We pushed it off yesterday, and I don’t want to give it another pass.”  Her mother grumbled under her breath, causing Arlee to add, “Come on, Mom.  It’s important to do this once a month.  So… so I don’t lose you again.”

A groan left Mileena’s lips as she reached back and scratched her head.  “Maaaan…  when did you become so much like your father?”

“Somewhere around when I was fixing your brain up in Riev.”  Arlee spoke while she grabbed her grimoire and positioned her hand in the correct spot above her mother’s chest.  The page she opened to glowed in response, and tendrils of soul fire connected the two.  “Now come on, let’s get this out of the way.”

Maintenance was the only way to describe what she was doing.  As the wispy tendrils Arlee conjured entered Mileena’s body, Arlee could ‘feel’ everything her mother could, with alarming clarity.  In a way, it was much like putting a puppet on strings, if doing so allowed the puppeteer to feel everything the puppet could. 

Mileena shuddered as her arm seemed to move on its own, Arlee flexing her left arm, then her right, twisting her wrists back and forth, bending them up and down.  She rolled her neck, and Mileena did as well.  Every action she took was mirrored, everything she felt, Arlee felt.  For that moment, their souls were connected.  Arlee gently stretched her back and each of her legs.  As Mileena stretched her legs in turn, Arlee could feel the slightest resistance in Mileena’s knees and ankles.  General wear, nothing beyond what Arlee expected.

“Just a little joint damage.  Nothing major,” Arlee commented.  The pages of her grimoire turned in response to her intentions, flipping open to the page with the diagram she needed.  The ink of the sigil shined a bright pale blue as the tendrils bulged slightly, siphoning a portion of Arlee’s mass and magic to repair her mother’s body.  Then, Arlee closed her grimoire and the tendrils receded back to her.  “There, all done.”  A smirk tugged at Arlee’s lips as her mother sighed with relief before pumping her fist.  “Just take it easy, okay?  No running off to collect bounties or something.” 

“Relaaaaax, I can handle anything the Silver Chariot throws at me.  Not like people usually start shit there to begin with, but-”  Arlee held up her hand, and just embraced her mom, pulling her close. 

“Not talking about your job.  You know yourself better than I do.  Just have a good day, and I’ll try to do the same, okay?”  For all her worrying, Mileena’s expression softened, as she nodded to her.

“You got it, kiddo.”  She gave Arlee a squeeze before letting go of her, rustling her daughter’s hair.  “So, you still got a while before school starts.  You wanna watch something?”  Arlee thought about it for a moment before she shook her head.

“Nah.  I think I’ll take a walk around town a bit.”  Mileena was happily surprised by this.

“Alright.  I’m gonna get a little more sleep before my shift.  You have fun, okay?”

“That’s the plan.”  Arlee grabbed her grimoire, made her way upstairs and collected her notebooks and folding tablet.  Upon retrieving her dark backpack, she bade her mother one last goodbye and exited her home.

There was a certain uncanniness that Arlee felt as she explored the streets of Zarrid.  Arlee’s earliest memories were of the desert outlands of Delphinus, but while the city of Zarrid also lay within a desert, it was much different than her homeland.  Many buildings had a cylindrical or conical shape, with spiral staircases that had sloped centers.  The prevailing design conventions gave lamian architecture a decidedly rounded appearance, flying in the face of the grids and prisms that Arlee was accustomed to from her childhood.

As much as Arlee wanted to walk on the sidewalks themselves, she couldn’t shake her uneasiness at being within a crowd.  It ate at her when people regarded her with pity, and caution; as if she was a bomb attached to a hair-trigger.  She hated being looked at with fear, and she had grown so used to it that she scarcely believed that she had made a group of friends.  More importantly, they approached her, willing to accept her.  As much as she thought Yanaes was a cocksure dork, she was nonetheless grateful that he sat at her table yesterday, without fear.  Without judgment.

Flashing blue and yellow lights caught Arlee’s attention, and her curiosity drove her to find the source down below.  She peered out from above the apartment rooftop she had landed on to find an ambulance and two police cruisers crowded around an alleyway.  A pair of paramedics loaded a stretcher with a full body bag into the ambulance, surrounded by concerned and curious bystanders.  Even from her perch, Arlee could hear murmurs about dangerous wildlife and concerns that animal control was inadequate.  The family of wyverns from the previous day immediately came to her mind, and Arlee couldn’t help but wonder if she should have killed them after all.

As she turned to resume her journey, however, Arlee found a most unusual couple sitting on a bench near the rooftop access to the apartment floors below.  A tall, broadly built man sat beside a feline beastkin woman.  Her short strawberry-blonde hair hung about her face in a messy bob, accented by auburn low-lights.  Her striped ears twitched at Arlee’s gaze, and her grass-green eyes glinted with amusement as they met Arlee’s.  Her brindled tail poked out of her blue short shorts, flitting playfully back and forth.  Her tight red t-shirt punctuated her slender build and bust, and exposed the scars around her elbows and knees.  Her cheeks were flushed with excitement as she clung to her partner, smiling playfully at their guest.

The man wore a bone-white robe with silver embroidery and an indigo sash about his neck and shoulders.  His light blond hair was long and straight, swaying ever so slightly and broken only by his pointed ears.  He regarded Arlee with a nod and a smile, appraising her with lime eyes.  “Well greetings, friend,” he bade her with a calm and soft voice.  “I hope we didn’t startle you.  I was so sure that we had picked a private place to chat, but it would seem it wasn’t private enough to avoid your passing.”  His companion giggled as she cuddled up beside him.  “My sincere apologies.” 

Arlee awkwardly shook her head.  She honestly wasn’t sure what she had expected, jumping across rooftops on a daily basis.  In hindsight, she was surprised she hadn’t run into people this way more often, but she never would have thought that she would run into someone wearing a robe quite like his.  It had a notably religious appearance.  Perhaps it was ceremonial, though apparently not ceremonious enough to stop this priest from privately fraternizing with a very casual woman.

“Erm, no, I should be the one apologizing,” Arlee insisted.  “You two clearly wanted privacy, and I… uh, kinda crashed in on you.  That’s my bad.  I’ll… let you two get back to your business.”

“Oh, don’t leave simply on our account.  Why don’t you come and chat with us?” the elven man invited.  “We would be delighted.  After all, there is no such thing as a chance encounter, especially among necromancers.”  Arlee flinched at having been called out (however softly) before immediately relaxing as the entirety of his sentence sunk in.

“You’re a necromancer too?  How did you know I was one?”

“Well, when you practice magic for a long while, you get a keener sense for mana,” the man explained.  “And necromancy has a certain… ‘flavor’, let us say.  But where are my manners?  I should have introduced myself much sooner.  I am Brother Boa, of the Order of the Holy Mother, and my fair companion is Molly.  What is your name, friend?”

A part of Arlee was still cautious of this perceptive elven necromancer, but the more she looked into his eyes, the calmer she felt.  She saw kindness in his eyes, and it assuaged her fears.  “My name is Arlee.”

“Arlee,” he repeated, as if he was letting her name sit on his tongue.  “How positively precious.  Your parents must love you very much to have given you such a wonderful name.”  Bittersweet pride overtook Arlee as her lips curled into an awkward smile.

“W-well… I love them, too.  That’s kinda why…”.  Her voice trailed off, but her silence spoke for her.  The air about the strange couple dampened.

“I understand, friend,” Brother Boa assured her.  “Tis a natural reaction, make no mistake.  Such grief was what motivated most of us to pursue the path.  Come, Arlee, please sit with us.”  Molly gave her partner a cross look, none too pleased to share her seat, though she quickly found a solution by slinking into Brother Boa’s lap.  Her clawed toes curled with glee.  Arlee accepted the priest’s invitation and sat next to him, though she had a hard time making eye contact with him while Molly cozily clung to him.

“How go your endeavors?” the elf asked Arlee.  She remained silent for a while before finally answering him.

“I was able to resurrect my mother, after a… really hard time.  But I haven’t been able to resurrect my dad, or my brother.  No matter how much I tried.  They won’t respond to me.  I stopped trying a while ago.”

“I see,” he softly acknowledged.  “But you did succeed in bringing your mother back, which is no small feat.  In fact (and I mean no offense), I’m amazed you are able to practice necromancy at all.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she shot back at the elven man.

“Well, objectively speaking, necromancy is a form of vampiric magic,” the priest explained.  “What’s more, part of the aren genome was… well, tailored to self-destruct if it underwent the metamorphic effects of vampiric and demonic magic.  Just as a vampire’s bite would typically be fatal to you, practicing necromancy should turn your tissues into a fetid sludge.  I’m actually quite curious as to how you circumvent that.”

“Oh, yeah.  …That,” Arlee chuckled nervously.  “I, uh… kinda underwent a procedure-slash-ritual to alter myself on the genetic level so that my body wouldn’t turn to mush when I tried to bring my mom back.  It was… pretty rough.  Lots of esoteric magic, immunosuppressants, all of that.  Miss Ophe-... the Queen herself was involved at points, even.”  She glanced over to Brother Boa to find both him and Molly staring incredulously at her, completely motionless.

“…How old were you?” he finally asked.

“I was, like, nine.  Ten after it was finished.”

“By the Mother…”  Brother Boa seemed genuinely and delightfully stunned by Arlee’s words.  “So you’re nothing if not determined.  Now, tell me, friend; were you the one who manifested that boreal allosaur yesterday?”

“Y-yeah, that was me,” she answered while scratching the back of her head.

“I knew it,” he said with a smile.  “No one in my flock has a thrall quite like that.”

“I guess I should have known word would get around,” the outlander laughed nervously.

“Indeed.  That was quite impressive,” he assured her.  “It’s clear to me you have a great deal of talent, and for being so young, too.  And yet, something is preventing you from bringing the rest of your family back, when by all means you have the skill to do so.  Which tells me that there are three possible causes.  Either they don’t want to be brought back, they were resurrected by someone else (which is unlikely, given the overall difficulty of resurrecting arens, no offense), or they are still alive.”

“I… I figured most of that,” Arlee insisted.  “But if they really are still alive, why can’t I find them?  Why haven’t they found me?”

“I don’t know,” the priest admitted before placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.  “But I can do what I can to help you.”  Arlee turned to look at Brother Boa and found a soft and reassuring smile upon his face.  She was at an utter loss for words, astounded that this stranger and fellow necromancer would offer his aid.

“You… you mean it?”

“Of course, friend.  Tell me, what were their names?”

“Adonis and Cael Zealan.”  The couple’s expressions suddenly changed to stark astonishment.

“A-Adonis Zealan?”

“The war hero?!”  It was the first time Arlee heard Molly speak, her voice high and shrill with shock.  Arlee blushed with embarrassment, certain that they didn’t believe her.  She shrank beside them, trembling.  Part of her wanted to run away, but Brother Boa’s hand softly rubbed her shoulder.  The priest gradually regained his composure, but his smile didn’t return.

“Oh, my poor child…” he finally said to her.  “I’ll confess, I have heard no news of your father’s return, let alone your brother’s.  But don’t give up hope on them.  I promise you, if I hear any news of their whereabouts, I’ll tell you immediately.”  Tears dewed about Arlee’s eyes as she stared up into the priest’s, finding such calming comfort in his lime-green gaze.

“You… you promise?”

“Of course, Arlee,” he assured her.  He reached into his robes and pulled out a phone.  “Here, friend; let me give you my contact.  What is your number?”

“It’s ‘2147-7779-8517’,” she told him.  He immediately input her number and Arlee felt her phone vibrate.  She pulled it out of her pocket to find Brother Boa’s contact, but her eyes focused on the time, of ten-to-eight.

“Oh crap!  Have we really been talking for that long?  I’m sorry, I really gotta get to class!”

“Oh my!  Then let us keep you no longer, friend.”  Arlee swiftly grabbed the priest’s hand and grasped it tightly.

“Thank you so much, Brother.  I really appreciate talking with you.”  He gently shook her hand with a soft touch.

“The pleasure was all ours, Arlee.  May we meet again.”

“Best of luck out there,” Molly bade her as Arlee hurried across the roof of the apartment building and leapt to the next one, hurrying to her high school.  While Arlee did in fact have more than enough time to get to her class, she typically preferred being among the first to enter, so as to avoid awkward hallway interactions with her fellow students.  This time, however, she would nonetheless have to share the halls with the vast majority of her peers, but she told herself that it was worth it for having met Brother Boa and his companion.

Arlee tried to make her time in the halls as brief as possible, and she sighed with relief that the wing her homeroom was in was relatively empty.  She entered the strange doorway and was immediately greeted by the friends she made yesterday, plus one more.

“Oh, you guys are already here.”

“Yo, Arlee!”  Yanaes called out to her with that silly grin, waving her over.  “Come on over, I want you to meet someone.”  Arlee apprehensively approached them, and couldn’t help but feel on edge as the scolid gave her a decidedly sinister grin.  Perhaps it was simply her face, but Arlee felt like she was being looked down on by this girl in (rather cheap) gothic attire.  “This is Revvet, we’ve been friends since middle school.  Revvet, meet Arlee.”  Even as Yanaes introduced them to one another, Arlee felt uneasy as the scolid eyed her up.

“So, are you Yan’s-?”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence.”  Arlee cut her off with a stern look.  “I’m not dating Yan.”

“It’s true.  Scout’s honor,” the lamia said as he raised his hand.  Revvet cocked her head at Yanaes before twisting her body toward him.

“You were never a junior desert scout.”  Arlee couldn’t help but snort at how quickly Revvet called the lamia out.

“No, but my mom is the greatest hunter this rock has ever seen, so… I’m giving myself a pass I probably don’t deserve.”  He giggled to himself with that goofy grin on his face.  And yet, there was something about it that Arlee couldn’t help but find charming.  “Point is, we’re not dating.  I’m officially off the market.”  The scolid girl scoffed at him.

“If you say so, lover boy.  Sounds like you dodged a bullet, Arlee.”  She could only roll her eyes at the scolid, unamused.

As more students filed into the classroom, Arlee’s attention was grabbed by the arrival of a rather delicate girl.  While she wore a pink hoodie adorned with embroidered petals, and her lower half was a skirt of brilliantly pink and white thorny leaves, covering legs that seemed to be roots twisting into facsimiles of human legs.  Several petals and leaves layered themselves like hair over her head and framed her face like bangs, and a beautifully vivid flower adorned her head like an ornament.  The alraune’s honeyed eyes seemed to settle on Arlee and the group, and her suspicions were confirmed when Yanaes waved at her.

“I didn’t know Tsubaki was going to be joining us, too,” Revvet remarked.  “Nice.”

“I told her about Miss Rangers’ class yesterday, so she must have submitted a transfer request, too.”  The prickly plant girl walked right up to the group, smiling brightly.

“You guys are all here!”  Tsubaki’s voice was loud and cheery, causing Arlee to back away slightly as the alraune walked right up to Aire and hugged her.  “I’m so happy this worked out so well.”

“Yup, we got the whole gang together,” Yanaes affirmed.  It was then that the alraune turned to Arlee and extended a soft and delicate hand to her.

“You must be Arlee.  I’m Kokoro Tsubaki.”  Arlee was caught off guard, but she nonetheless shook her hand, if only so that she didn’t appear to be inexcusably rude.  She couldn’t help but notice that Tsubaki’s hand was cool to the touch, and her pale green skin felt smoother than that of any other person she had met.

“N-nice to meet you,” Arlee stammered as she averted the alraune’s gaze.  “Sorry, I’m still getting used to this whole ‘friends’ thing.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll get along with us just fine.”  A warm and genuine smile lit Tsubaki’s face as she spoke.  “Also, Yanaes assured me that you weren’t dating him, so I’ll spare you the routine questions.  He said you yelled at his mother when she asked you.”

“I-I did not yell at Missus Akonda… directly.”  Embarrassment flushed her cheeks as Tsubaki giggled.  Yanaes gave Arlee a playful nudge as he slipped by next to her.

“Don’t sweat it.  My mom’s been through way worse.  You didn’t offend her one bit.  She actually likes you.  Says she can’t wait for your mom to come visit.”  Arlee clenched her teeth, dreading such an encounter.

“Can they not meet?”

“Knowing my mom, they probably already have,” Yanaes insisted.

As the last few students entered the class, there was a new face that stood out, causing Arlee to go rigid; there was an alarmingly beautiful boy with ice blue eyes that shined like the diamonds in his earrings, and layered, platinum blonde hair that hung down past his rosy, pink lips.  A puffy white jacket lined with black fur covered his upper body and the shirt underneath, and a black-and-white checkered skirt covered halfway down his thighs.  He wore dark stockings and knee-high black leather boots with gold buckles and raised heels that helped him stand just an inch-and-a-half above Lea.  Slender fingers with sharp black nails grasped a designer book bag, and powerful perfume assaulted Arlee’s nose even from her distance.

The banter among Arlee’s friends faded out of her attention while her shifting eyes were fixed on the newcomer.  This boy in drag had a very low body temperature, as if he was a corpse, and the aura emanating from him was unusually strong, much stronger than any of her other peers, save for Eleris.  He breathed slowly, and his heart beat slowly as well.  It was if his body was blurring the line between life and death, and breathless terror seized Arlee as she remembered all the warning signs her sister had told her as a child.

She was certain that this boy was a vampire.

As Arlee watched the boy with laser focus, the boy’s gaze landed on Arlee, and immediately his body stiffened as their eyes met.  Both Arlee and the vampire seemed to instantly recognize what the other was thinking in that moment; that Arlee was an aren and that she was able to discern that he was a vampire in disguise.  The two of them tensed further as they each feared what the other might do, dreading what utter catastrophe was going to befall the confined space of the classroom.

“Arlee?”  Yanaes’s voice seized her attention, realizing that he was looking at her with concern.  “Hey, what’s wrong?  Do you know them?”  Arlee froze, completely lost as to what she should do.  She knew that Aire, Eleris, Lea, and every other human student in the class (nay, the school) was in danger.  But how could she tell her friends?  What would happen if they panicked?  Would he act out then and there after having his cover blown?

“No, I don’t.  It’s… it’s nothing.”  Arlee couldn’t tell Yanaes.  She wouldn’t let this leech hurt them if she could help it, not after finally making some friends.  Arlee resolved to handle this matter by herself.

“Alright, everyone!  Take your seats,” Miss Rangers commanded.  Arlee continued to lock eyes with the vampire until they were forced to sit down.  She watched him like a hawk as he sat next to a human boy.  She couldn’t remember his name, and it didn’t matter to her, she only knew that he was in danger.  Every fiber of her being wanted to draw her dagger and strike the creature down, but she forced herself to hold back.  Time seemed to crawl as she watched him whisper back and forth with the other boy, surely sizing him up as prey.  The boy probably thought the vile cretin was a cute girl, wholly unaware of his true nature.  The vampire seemed to be rather appealing to his mark, making maddening small talk until Miss Rangers called him to the front.

“Lastly, Miss Grace, please come to the front.”  The vampire stood up, smiling to his peer as he brushed himself off before walking to the front of the class and turned to them with an almost alien grace.  

“Yo.  Heya, name’s Sorel.  I’m, ah… gifted with earth magic.”  Arlee’s ears practically twitched at the vampire’s high-pitched and feminine voice.  “And Miss Rangers, I’m a guy, actually.  I know it’s pretty hard to tell, with how cute I am.  Seeing how some people can’t keep their eyes off of me, figured I’d get that out in the open right away.”

Arlee’s cheeks burned as the vampire’s eyes stared back toward her, as if pointing his words at her with his eyes.  Her stomach turned as the vampire bantered along with their teacher and classmates before finally being sent back to their seats, completely ignorant of the danger at hand.  The boy seated next to “Sorel” seemed to sink in his chair when the vampire returned, but the two of them resumed their small talk, causing the boy to gradually perk back up.  They traded whispers and laughs, and it drove Arlee nearly mad watching this predator thoroughly endear himself to his peers.

“Now, perhaps someone can answer this next question.”  Leera’s suddenly sharp voice efficiently seized the attention of Sorel, his mark, and Arlee as well, gesturing to the tar-like center of a diagram Arlee had hardly followed.  “What do you suppose the inverse of Lightning is?”

Arlee’s eyes dilated with horror as she gazed at the black, empty center.  Sweat drained from her pores as she dug her nails into the wood of her seat, hyperventilating as the darkness seemed to spread across the diagram.  It wasn’t just black ink, it was the absence of all light placed on the classroom board, and she could feel herself drawn to it, as if it was slowly trying to consume her.

Just like it had when she was small, blurring the terror of the present with her nightmares of the past.

Arlee felt a soft and gentle hand touch her own, and she knocked it away in a fright.  Her eyes turned to the source, ready to strike the intruder when she found it was Yanaes, throwing his hands up as if to surrender to her.

“Arlee, it’s me.”  Arlee struggled for her breath as she slowly realized that she was still in class, with every single eye trained on her.  Humiliation took hold of her.  Her stomach told her that everyone in the class must have thought she was insane.  Even Yanaes must have thought she was crazy, or so she told herself until he spoke again.  “Are you okay?  Do you need the nurse?”

Arlee grappled with herself.  There was a part of her that wanted to get out of that room, to say ‘yes, I need the nurse,’ and hide from all the eyes staring at her.  But she shook her head, determined to watch the monster among them, and she answered her teacher who seemed to be watching her with the same concerned look as her friends.  

“The answer doesn’t have a name.  Some people call it black mana.  Null mana.  Void mana.  But what it really is… it’s like darkness!  Deep, utter darkness…”  Her voice petered out as Miss Rangers raised her hand, gesturing for her to calm down.  But how could Arlee?  She slowly took her seat, and she resumed her vigil over Sorel.  The rest of the class seemed to turn their attention back to their teacher, but Arlee couldn’t help but notice that Yanaes was watching her.  As if he was waiting to intervene, or perhaps assist.

The sound of paper scraping her desk caught Arlee’s attention as Yanaes slid a written note in front of her, his eyes still cast forward.  She glanced at him, but he kept his head straight, only gesturing for her to read it.

“Are you sure you don’t need the nurse?” the noted read.  “It’s okay if you need help.  If you need someone to talk to, you can talk to me.”  Arlee glanced back and forth between Yanaes and the note he wrote, struggling with herself before picking up her pencil.

“I’m fine.  Really.”  She pushed the note back to him with her brief response, and he quickly wrote a reply before discreetly handing the note back.

“What’s going on with you and Sorel?”

Arlee stared at the note, her body tense.  She turned her eyes toward him to see him glancing back at her.  His posture was serious.  She knew he wasn’t going to let her ignore him.  Her hand gripped her pencil tightly as she stared at the paper, struggling to decide what to write before finally scratching her response and sliding it back to him.

“I can’t talk about it.  I want to.  There’s something I need to confirm.  Don’t let Aire El or Lea near him for now.  Be discreet.”  Yanaes’s eyes widened as he read the note, stunned by Arlee’s reply.  After slowly gathering himself, he slowly slid it back to her with a question.

“Do you think he’s dangerous?”

“Maybe.  I don’t know.  Let me handle it.”  She slid the note back to Yanaes, leaving her hand over the page for a poignant moment.  The conversation was over.  Yanaes locked eyes with Arlee before finally giving her a nod and a shaky, nervous sigh.

Time crawled for Arlee, her eyes trained intently on the vampire as she formed her plan of attack.  She had to calm herself.  She had something to focus on, something dangerous that threatened all of her new friends.  Vampires were leeches, and regardless of anything else, they were an aren’s born enemy.  Their blood curse, the thing that made normal humans into more vampires, was toxic to arens, and while she had undergone a procedure in order to use the vampiric magic of necromancy, she wasn’t wholly certain that the changes to her body would protect her from the effects of a vampire’s bite.

Finally, the bell rang, and she watched him as he picked up his things and left with all of the other students.  Her pupils had narrowed into cat like slits as her eyes followed him out the door.  She had to find a way to confront him, where no one would see.  There was no way she was going to leave a vampire unattended in the school, that much was certain. 

The moment she rushed out after him though, she was caught up in the crowd of students changing classes, and begrudgingly had to admit to herself that confronting him at that moment was less than ideal.  But her nervous, anxious energy could barely be contained as she shuffled between the rest of her classes; the best chance to deal with this particular problem was during her lunch period.  Fourth period, history, came and went agonizingly slowly, as she tried to figure out how she would go about dealing with this leech.  It was hard to think with her instincts keeping her on high alert.  Other students had been edging away from her in every class thanks to the intense expression on her face. 

The bell finally rang, and she was free to deal with her problem.  The only problem was that said problem was already waiting for her.  Right in front of the cafeteria.  She couldn’t draw her dagger, or use any magic in such a crowded area, and especially not the school.  He didn’t even seem afraid of her, his feminine face mostly bemused by her extreme reaction to his presence. 

“Yeah, so… we need to talk.”  Arlee swallowed as he spoke.  Hell, if he or Yanaes hadn’t said anything about it, even she would mistake the guy for a gal, if not for her aren eyes.  It was an uncanny disconnect for her.  He didn’t seem to exude a hint of malice as he walked past her, his eyes closed while she thought of about twenty different ways to kill him and make it look like an accident without anyone being the wiser. 

“...Are you seriously thinking about it?” Sorel called her out.  “Come on, and follow me to the roof, so I can at least try and explain myself.”  Explain himself.  Did he seriously think he could talk his way out of this?  But as she followed him, it dawned on her how bright the light streaming in through the windows was.  How hot it was outside.  There was no sane bloodsucker that would put themselves in a secluded place with an aren in broad daylight.  As they walked out, they were greeted with a rarely used space, sporting benches, a few decorative sculptures breaking up the open space as well.  Sorel winced noticeably as he walked out into the open sunlight, but unless he got an open wound it wouldn’t really matter. 

“Gods it’s hot…”  Arlee muttered for him, tugging on her muffler and her shirt collar underneath it.  “Whatever we’re gonna do, let’s make it quick:  What’s a bloodsucker like you doing here, and why shouldn’t I shank you?”

“Because I’m just a student here,” Sorel insisted before turning to Arlee.  “I’m not here to spirit anyone away, or feed on anybody, I’m actually here to learn.  Hear me out.  I haven’t been a vampire for very long.  I’m twenty, but I was turned when I was fifteen.  The people who kidnapped me back then were… pretty twisted.  Obviously, my current circumstances are way better now, but I still lost out on all of high school, and some of middle school for that matter.  So that’s part of why I’m here; to get a little bit of my life I lost out on back for myself.”

Arlee’s eyes narrowed at the diminutive vampire, her body tensing.  “What’s the other part?”  Her question drew a grin from Sorel as he pulled his backpack off his shoulders.

“You’re going to love this.  May I show you something?”  Arlee’s body became still, ready to draw her dagger at the slightest hint of trickery.

“Alright.  But do it slowly.”  Sorel kept smiling as he nodded and reached into his backpack and pulled out a vial of pharmaceutical pills.  Arlee canted her head, confused.  “What is that?”

“I can’t get into specifics, but these pills are a substitute for blood.”  Her eyes widened at his words before shaking her head.

“Bullshit.” 

Sorel just laughed, putting the small medicine bottle back in his backpack.  “Well, a supplement then.  We’ve already been testing them for a few weeks here, and… well, HemoWORKS thinks they’re pretty promising so far.  I’ve stretched a single blood bag over all that time with these, at least, so… they seem to be on the right track.” 

“... What, so this is some PR stunt, then?  Get vampires back out into the world, swear up and down they aren’t dangerous, loosen up the regulations and all that?”  Arlee had a point, Sorel couldn’t deny that, but she missed the mark at the same time. 

“Obviously you can’t account for everyone, right Arlee?”  She swallowed as he addressed her directly, adding, “A lot of our kind just want our lives back.  Grand Divide is a great place, but rights for vampires are still highly restrictive even here.”  Arlee was about to speak up when Sorel put his hand up to stop her.  “For good reasons, I know.”

Sorel scratched the back of his head as he fidgeted in place.  “Look, I can’t speak for the Blood Raiders, or the Crimson Guard, and especially not the Deepvein Nobles, but for innocent people like me who just want to live like we used to, this could change everything.  I don’t have to moderate myself on this stuff.”  He let out a brief sigh, and looked up at her.  “Of course… most people don’t know because… you know.  Panic, and all that.  But the whole situation is being monitored.  The principal knows.  Miss Rangers knows, because she’d have found out just as quickly as you did anyways.  A… government agency or two knows.” 

Arlee just watched him, listening to his voice for a hint of deceit.  Not a bit came through.  Was he for real?  Had some company in Lower Edge stumbled across some wonder drug that would cut into vampires’ need for blood?

“…Let’s say I believe you,” Arlee began, her eyes still narrowed at him.  “I can relate to wanting to live a simple life.  I know what it’s like to have my life broken, and to want to reclaim the experiences that I was robbed of.  Which is why I’m going to tell you this one time:  If you hurt me, my friends, or do anything to mess up my life here, I will end you.  Understood?”

“L-loud and clear,” Sorel shakily answered.  His smile remained, but he was clearly more than a little intimidated.  “…So, what now?”

“Right now… I need to get out of this heat.  Also food,” Arlee insisted.

“Can I join you?  Your boyfriend seems pretty nice, I’d be down with sitting at his table.”

“‘Boyfriend’?  What are you-?”  Arlee’s face began to burn as she realized he was talking about Yanaes.  “We’re just friends!”

“Oh.  Really?”

“Yes, really!” she insisted.

“Okay, okay, yeesh!  Could have fooled me.”

“Oh, don’t even start with that after you were catfishing that kid in Miss Rangers’ class,” Arlee shot back.

“I-I wasn’t catfishing him-okay, maybe just a little,” he admitted.  “He thought I was real cute, so I played it up a bit, you know?”

“No, I don’t,” Arlee said impatiently.

“Well… maybe you should try it sometime,” he told her, causing her to scoff.

“What, being a guy?”

“No!  Well, maybe…  But I meant ‘being cute’.”  The comment stunned Arlee, but she quickly shook her head and gave him a cross look.

“I don’t do ‘cute’,” she stated firmly, but a wry smile graced his lips.

“Uh huh, if you say so.”  Arlee tried to compose herself in spite of Sorel’s words, before finally leading him down from the roof.  As they entered the cafeteria, Arlee found Yanaes with his usual company.  However, as the lamia spotted her and Sorel, he stiffened like a board, practically petrified.  Arlee gestured for Sorel to follow her, and they both approached the table.  Aire, Eleris, and Lea stopped talking as soon as they realized Sorel was with Arlee.

“Hey guys, you remember Sorel from magic class, right?  Mind if he sits with us?”  Yanaes fumbled with his words while Eleris immediately answered.

“Oh yeah, sure.  Dang, Arlee~.”

“Don’t you start with me, El.”  Aire and Lea looked across the rest of the table and back to Sorel as Eleris teased Arlee.

“I mean, if you guys are fine with him sitting with us, I don’t mind,” Aire spoke up.

“Y-yeah, same here,” Lea agreed.  However, the spectacled blonde had trouble looking Sorel in the eyes, blushing intensely.  Naturally, this did not escape Eleris’s notice.

“Relax, Lea, you’re still the cutest.”

“That sounds like a challenge,” Sorel interjected before crouching next to Lea and putting his best doll-face on.  Even the unflappable Eleris began to blush, and Aire nearly choked on her soda.  Arlee couldn’t help but to laugh at Lea’s expense as well, but Yanaes remained deathly silent with Sorel right next to Lea.

“What’s wrong, Yan?  You’re never this quiet,” Aire called him out, practically startling him.

“What, me?  I’m fine, just fine,” he swiftly blurted out, chuckling nervously.  “What about you, Arlee?  You had us worried earlier.  Is everything okay?”  He gave Arlee a desperately skittish look, as if to ask ‘what the hell is happening?’  Arlee simply gave him a reassuring nod.

“Yeah, everything is fine.  Sorry for spooking you earlier.  False alarm.”