3 High School

Mum enrolled Dominic and me into Graysville High before we arrived. Today, Monday 2nd of February, the start of the school year, is our first day of school. Looking out the window, I saw grey clouds as far as the eye could see, with streaks of light coming through here and there. Today was overcast. Overcasts are practically sunny day's here in Helgrey. So to stay warm, I put stockings underneath my Jeans and a singlet under my white turtleneck, throwing on an oversized checkered flannel.

Note from Author - (For those who don't know. A flannel is the same as a lumberjack shirt.)

Ready for the day, I headed out of my bedroom. But on the way out, I freeze, looking at my sister's picture, framed and displayed on my dresser. Taking a deep breath, I unfreeze myself and walk out of my bedroom. Now in the hallway, I barge my way into Dominic's room to wake him up; to no surprise, his room was a mess.

When you entered Dominic's room, you could see clothes spread all over the floor, his bed a complete pigsty, and a midnight snack - from last night - on his drawer. I don't know how he managed to make his room that messy in just a few days.

"Wake up, you gremlin. Mum says it's time to get ready for school!" I say as loud as possible, pulling the blankets off him to make sure he'd wake up and get out of bed.

"Rhi, you should focus on brushing your teeth instead of me; I can smell your zombie breath from here," Dominic quipped back as he turned away, pulling the blankets over himself.

After his snide comment, I get on his bed and jump, landing a flying elbow drop, flopping beside him after landing the blow.

"Looks like someone's finally up," I say in amused as Dominic trembled in pain beside me. "Bet you'd think twice before saying something stupid like that again," I added smugly.

It was fun while it lasted, but Dominic soon got himself together and elbowed me right in the ribs. After Dominic got even with me, I laid there for a second, the pain subsiding.

"You still having nightmares?" I asked straightforwardly.

"Yeah, they're pretty shitty," Dominic replies honestly.

"Hey, well, it beats listening to you scream like a banshee for two weeks," I tease, lightening the mood.

"Hey! At least I didn't turn into a ghost for half a month." Dominic shot's back before we both broke out in laughter.

After our - kinda serious talk - Dominic gets out of bed in nothing but his Calvin Klein underwear and starts putting on his clothes. Taking that as my queue to leave I make my way downstairs.

"I'll meet you at the table!" I exclaim as I leave Dominic's room.

"See you there!" Dominic exclaim's back.

As I make my way downstairs, I see mum cooking some scrambled eggs. "Good morning; did you sleep well?" Mum asks.

"I slept alright," I replied a little awkwardly as I made my way to the table.

"Same here, just without the awkwardness," Dominic adds with a smirk as he enters the room not long after me.

Of course, when we take our seats and put our school bags down, I give him a well-deserved kick.

"You'll get used to it," Mum reassures, smiling a little at Dominic's playful teasing as she put the food on the table.

"Thanks for the breakfast, mum," Dominic and I say gratefully.

After we'd eaten our breakfast, we got in the car and made our way to Graysville High. When you drive into the school, you're welcomed into the premises by a sign that reads ~ Welcome to Graysville high school ~. When we parked, we got out of the car and made our way to the school's office.

With the small population of a few thousand, It was a welcomed surprise to see how big the High School was. Following mum, Dominic and I walked past the sign to the school's reception. Opposite the reception was the school hall, student services, and a block of classrooms. The buildings were all painted a different shade of white or beige, with dark coloured ruffing and labelling on the outside so you'd know which buildings which.

When we arrived at the reception room, we didn't have to wait long before a man signalled for us to come into his office; the sign on his office, reading ~Principal~. The Principal was a handsome middle-aged man with black hair and oak brown eyes. He wore blue uniform pants, a pair of shiny jet black oxford shoes, and a plain white buttoned-up shirt that did little to hide his well-toned figure. Coming into the office, the handsome Principal gestured to the seats; once we were seated, the man began to speak. Both me and Dominic were surprised because the man already seemed to know mum.

"Suzy, It's so good to see you again. I've missed you so much." The principal said warmly, with his deep, smooth voice, coming in for a hug.

"It's been a while, hasn't it, Ray," Mum replies, happily receiving a hug from the handsome unknown man.

When the hugging ended, the principal turned his focus to us and flashed a warm smile toward Dominic and me.

"And these two must be Rhiannon and Dominic." The principal said curiously with a grin. "From what I've heard from your mother, you two seem to be quite the troublemakers." The principal added, flashing the same warm smile he'd shown just moments before.

I was utterly baffled as to who this man could be; as far as I knew, mum never had any male companions. I pondered over this shocking development, as did Dominic, who looked like he'd just found out that the earth was round.

"Oh, that's right, your mother probably never talked about me; I must seem like a stranger. Well then, let me introduce myself. I'm Aaron Denzal Rayez, the principal of this school, your mother's older brother, and your uncle. You can call me uncle Ray". The principal - my newfound uncle - said with the same warm smile.

While I was wondering what was going on, someone knocked on the door. Looking to see who it was, I saw a girl with stunning red curly hair and leaf green eyes standing in the doorway. The girl wore a baggy jersey and ripped jeans as she leaned on the doorframe, waving a piece of paper in the air, proclaiming without a care in the world.

"Mr D, I got the note. If this is about the graffiti, I said I was sorry." The principal - my newfound uncle - shook his head at the redhead's talk of graffiti and her unrepentant attitude.

"No, this isn't about the graffiti, although we will be discussing your punishment on that matter later." He said sternly, letting out a sigh while shaking his head once more. "But for now, Leona, what I want you to do, is show my niece Rhiannon here around the school."

"Oh, so those two must be the niece and nephew you've been raving on about," Leona said playfully.

Mum smiled at Leona's response, snickering at her brothers barely noticeable pinkened face. "It seems you haven't changed much, personality-wise, have you, Ray. You're still such a pushover when it comes to kid's; I can see the kids love you very much." Mum chimed in with a chuckle.

"Suzy, stop teasing me. Not in front of my new niece and nephew," he said pleadingly.

I didn't even have enough time to think before the red-haired Leona used the distraction to pull me out of my seat and practically shove me out the door. "Don't worry, Mr D. I'll take good care of her," Leona said quickly with a grin as we walked out of the principal's office.

On the way to form class, we struck up a conversation. We found out we had a lot in common. We both liked the same music, books, movies. We even had the same tastes in food; I had a feeling we'd be good friends. When the two of us get to class, Leona makes me wait outside the door while she talks with the teacher.

While Leona informed the teacher that I'd be joining the class, I looked through the window to see what the teacher looked like. The teacher had ice-blue eyes and long shiny, silky black hair; the black colour of her hair, matching the black of her pencil skirt, stockings, and heels, contrasting well with her white blouse.

"Class, we have a new student joining us today. Her name is Rhiannon". The teacher said with a voice as smooth as velvet gesturing for me to enter the classroom.

"Rhiannon, welcome to the class. You can call me Miss Rose. Please; take the empty seat by the window, the one next to Leona." Miss Rose said kindly, making me feel at ease.

When the bell rang, prompting the end of form period, Leona and I headed to our first-period class, science. "Be careful of miss Blanche, Rhi," Leona warned.

"Why? is she a monster or something?" I say jokingly.

"Might as well be," Leona tells me, "she's a bitter old woman who loves giving people detention," Leona said angrily (clearly Miss Blanche, must've sent Lena to detention one too many times)

Entering the classroom, I wasn't able to escape the introduction. From Leona's talk of Miss Blanche's love of detention, I knew - putting it lightly - that I'd dislike her. Miss Blanche was an old lady who looked to be in her fifties. She had silver hair and black eye's, wearing a turtleneck sweater with skinny jeans, accentuating her thin figure.

"Please introduce yourself to the class," Miss Blanche asked.

"Hi, I'm Rhiannon… and I come from Mandevado… my family and I just moved here last week," I say awkwardly.

"Welcome to the class, Rhiannon. You can take the seat near the front, right next to Leona." The teacher said authoritatively.

During the class, Miss Blanche gave a poor boy named Rick detention - for - and I quote 'not paying attention in class' when in actuality, Rick just asked his friend next to him for help with some questions. When the bell rung, signalling the end of the class, Leona leads me to the cafeteria, where she introduces me to her friends.

"Rhi," Leona gestures to me. "Meet Nathan and Kristina," she then gestures to each of her friends. "Nate and Kristy," She re-gestures to her friends. "Meet Rhiannon." she gestures back to me.

"You're the new girl, right? Mr D's niece? The whole school's heard you were coming?" Nathan said questioningly.

Nathan had dirty blonde hair, dark brown eyes and - I guessed from the orange white-striped basketball by his bag - he enjoyed playing Basketball. Nathan wore beige cargo pants and a grey shirt that paired well with his overworn Nikes, the trim of the Nikes worn from playing basketball.

"Yeah, I'm the new girl, uncle Ray's niece," I reply.

I say, uncle, so they wouldn't ask too many questions; like - how come you've never met your uncle? - Or - wow, so what's it like finding out you have a new uncle you never knew existed? - all of it made me tired just thinking about it. The rumour of the new kids, who were the principal's niece and nephew - spread, courtesy of uncle Ray - was already more than enough.

"So, you really are the principal's niece. That must be pretty cool." Kristina chimes in, her green eye's gleaming with curiosity.

Kristina had brunette hair and deep green eyes, and wore a plain blue hoodie with black tights and a pair of vans. After breaking the ice, she asked a lot of questions. She asked where I got my clothes, where I got my hair done, what clothing stores I shopped at, then asked me if I wanted to go to the mall with her this weekend. Wanting to give this new life here in Helgrey a try for mum and Dominic, I happily accepted.

When lunch was over, Kristina and I headed to English. The English teacher was a kind-looking man called Mr Richard, who was in his mid-forties. Mr Richard had brown eyes and burgundy coloured hair. The burgundy colour of his hair, accompanied by streaks of grey due to age. Mr Richard wore khakis, with a plain white shirt and woollen coat. The woollen coat, taken off and put on the back of his seat. As I sat at my table with Kristina, we both got out our English book's and took notes, taking breaks to talk with each other here and there during the lesson.

The day went smoothly, and the three of us all got to know each other. During the Second break, I noticed Dominic didn't manage to make any friends. So, I introduced him to Leona, Nathan, and Kristina during lunch. Dominic and Nathan hit it off well, bonding over video games and sports; they even planned to play video games together at our house during the weekend, or play some basketball, if it wasn't raining. Maybe living in Helgrey won't be so bad.

Two weeks later...

"Please, I beg you, Keres… I swear, I did everything I could." The man said, struggling to get the words out as he coughed up blood.

"Markus, I didn't ask for excuses? I gave you one job, and you failed. It's as simple as that," Keres said in an uninterested voice, staring at Markus coldly as he started to wash the man's fresh crimson blood from his hands.

Keres washing his hands gave Markus enough time to heal and grovel for forgiveness at his feet.

"Your begging disgusts me, Markus. But your grovelling revolts me even more." Keres said with his smooth, bone-chillingly calm voice as he finished cleaning his bloodied hands.

When his hands were clean, Keres walked towards Markus, each step he took making him shudder in fear; until the footsteps stopped and Keres crouched down in front of him. At lightning speed, Keres grabbed Markus by the throat holding him in his iron grip, letting out a low monstrous snarl as he revealed his sharp, wolf-like fangs and eyes that looked like a pitch-black night, illuminated by an amber moon.

Markus squirmed, trying to break free from Keres's grip, clawing desperately at his arms as blood tricked from his mouth. But all Markus could do was hiss in retaliation, baring his fangs and inhuman eyes out of instinct, bracing himself for the worst. Keres just looked at Markus as he struggled in vain. With no sign of emotion, Keres tightened his grip on Markus's throat, bit by bit.

Markus's corpse in his hand; Keres threw it to the ground. After a minute or two had passed, Markus sprang back to life. He let out a cough as the air filled his lungs, then turned to his side, coughing up blood as Keres spoke.

"Markus, do you know what the best part about being a vampire is?" Keres asked rhetorically, staring coldly at Markus. "The best part of being a vampire. Is that as long as the heart's still beating, you can still feel pain. Pain is - after all - one of the only things we have left of our human lives." Keres said this calmly as he shifted his gaze to look out a window, seeming to remember something.

"What… do you… mean…" Markus said weakly, lying on the ground, unable to move.

"What I mean to say, " Keres shifted his gaze back to Markus. "Is choking you to death was me being kind, so you better find that witch. Cause you don't want to see me when I'm Cruel." Keres said as he took a seat.

With his inhuman amber eyes, he watched as Markus coughed, splattering blood on the already blood-stained floor.

"I already sent out a search party. Hopefully, they'll bring me good news," The now seated Keres informed Markus.

"In the meantime, once you've recuperated, go get one of our other witch friends. If that little witch is using magic to hide herself, then we'll just use magic to find her, and I'm sure I don't have to remind you about what will happen if you fail me again." Keres shot him a menacing look.

Meanwhile, the witch...

The severely wounded witch ran through the forest, her breathing haggard.

"I have to find my sister." The witch said through uneven breathing as she ran. With her senses of full alert, she noticed movements in the darkness, accompanied by low monstrous growls. Thinking quickly, she attacked her pursuers.

"Lumiradus Incindia!" she yelled. (pronounced - Lou - mi - ra - dus - In - sin - diya - )

In seconds, the spell trapped her trackers in a sphere of light. But that wasn't all the spell did. As she kept running, mini-explosions formed inside the spheres, turning the pursuers to ash. Having gotten rid of her pursuers, she let out a sigh of relief. But with no time to waste, she quickly found a safe place to recover.

"Retoravartas." She groaned, clenching her jaw from the pain as her wounds healing. (pronounced - Re - tour - a - var - tus {roll the R's})

With no time to rest, she stopped by a body of water and pricked her finger, letting a droplet of blood fall, making a ripple.

"Locataris." She said with her eye's fixed on the water. (pronounced - Low - ka - ta - ris {roll the R})

When she finished speaking, the water showed her a sign that said ~ Welcome to Helgrey ~ and her sister working in a cafe on a Street called Wilton. Getting the information she needed, she headed there immediately.