NationStates Jolt Archive

As Ruari dashed off and started climbing the walls, Mierin was not far behind him. He had gotten a bit of a head start and so was up farther, but the young vampiress had chosen to climb up a gutter pipe instead of scaling the wall. Mierin had to climb carefully to avoid messing up her dress.

Just then, a thought hit her. She called out to Ruari, softly, yet loud enough for him to hear. "Ruari... what is our destination? Your room or mine?" It would not be much work to get to her room, it was near the gutter. She had almost overtaken the boy from Findhorn by this point.

Ruari was so caught up in his 'race' that at first he didn't understand Mierin's question. Then the actual meaning of what she'd said hit him.

"Huh? Oh. Ohhh. . ." he babbled, looking under his arm at the laughing face just a little way below him. "Er, ah, which one's closer? Where's yours?"

Even in the dark he was sure her eyes were twinkling. She indicated her room with an exaggeratedly regal gesture of one arm while she clung to the drainpipe with the other. Her playacting almost tricked him into laughing out loud.

"Yiss, miss. Thankee, miss. At your service, miss," he whispered in the broadest country bumpkin accent he could manage as he scrambled across to her side and tumbled through the window after her.

"Very much at your service," he added in an entirely different tone as they landed in an intriguing tangle of arms and legs.

"Here, you'll ruin your lovely dress, carrying on like that," Ruari continued, mock-scolding. He was doing his best to keep his tone light even though his heart was beating at -- surely -- twice the rate it had during the exertion of the climb. "Would you like me to be hanging it up for you?"

He was grateful that she hadn't turned on the light yet. His face was burning at his own boldness, but his hands were relatively steady as he reached for the tiny cords that were, as far as he could tell, all that was holding the wonderful garment together.

Gahlagæer Smiled, "Yes we will," he said.

When Alice was gone, he turned and walked away, whistling to himself.

"Oh yes, Please" Mierin said completely casually. She did not turn on the light, and appeared able to see perfectly in the dark room. "Just let me get my boots off first." Most Callisdrunians wore boots of some kind or another, due to the rather extreme weather conditions. Despite being reminiscient of the combat style of boots, Mierin's managed to be elegant, or, at least they looked so when she wore them.

After getting them off and putting them in a corner, she let Ruari undo her dress and hang it up. In a move that probably surprised the boy, Mierin, who had almost no reaction to being stark naked in his presence, non-chalantly went to her wardrobe and retrieved a tank top and a set of underwear, both black and put them on. As she dressed, she talked to Ruari. "What was that accent you did before we climbed in? It was funny." Mierin herself had a very strong accent, though she was perfectly understandable. She then went to sit on the bed, looking back to the boy as if the situation were completely normal.

Celestial follows suit, going out into the hairway first, and looking both ways. "Hmmm... This way, or that way... Where's a Turncate* when you need one?"

Iris thinks for a moment,"lets try left". She turns left and walks down the hall way.

"Cricket is a sport," Robin explained. "Quite popular too."

His eyes turned to Arpads hands.

"No it won't, trust me on that."



"Oh..." Arpad said, feeling ignorant. "What do bats have to do with it? Is it like baseball? There's a stick in that sport that people call a bat. I never really understood the game myself." Most Callisdrunians knew the basics of baseball, that a player had to hit a ball and then run around a square before getting tagged, if only from the foreign press.

"And what does it have to do with using a sword?"

"What was that accent you did before we climbed in? It was funny." ... She then went to sit on the bed, looking back to the boy as if the situation were completely normal.

"Uh ... It's, uh ... sort of a joke. It's the way we imagine an English peasant would talk," Ruari offered, his mind not exactly on what he was saying. He could hear the rustling in the dark as Mierin moved around. His fingers had slid gently over her smooth, cool skin as he took the dress, and his response was so immediate that he thought it better to sit down somewhere, quickly.

But Mierin seemed unaware of the effect she was having. As she moved about, the moonlight from the window showed him she had put some clothes on. Ruari was puzzled; obviously her invitation hadn't meant what he thought. He heard the muffled flounce of bedding and a faint squeak as she sat down. He could sense she was looking at him.

"So, uh ..." When you're sitting in a girl's bedroom in the middle of the night, Do you come here often? was obviously not the right way to get the conversation back on track. But Ruari's limited experience with girls -- serious girls -- left him without any idea what to do next. He felt hot, embarrassed, stupid and very, very young.

Oh, the hell with the girl-boy stuff. He wouldn't be tongue-tied like this if it were Callum sitting opposite him in the dark. He'd be just sitting, and their talk would wander over anything that came to mind. If something was bothering one of them, they'd hash it out. Well, okay, here was Mierin, and she'd proven she was a friend, too. Besides, a vampire should know more than Callum about weird stuff like this.

"Mierin, look, about that old lady tonight ... you know, at the movies," he began. It was easier telling her about it when he couldn't see her face. The whole story came out, the sorry tale of the grandmother who was dead but who nevertheless kept appearing, large as life and twice as lively, at the worst possible times.

"The thing is, they keep saying I'm a necromancer," he concluded earnestly. "I never believed there was any such thing. But if you're a vampire -- and I know you are," he added, rubbing the spot where her teeth had gone in, "well, if vampires are true, then necromancers could be, too."

He thought she nodded. In the dark, he couldn't be sure, but she moved, and she didn't stop him. It was all the encouragement he needed.

"Mierin, listen, I sat in on a necromancy class here. I guess I didn't get it, I didn't know what they were on about, but I tuned in enough to get the idea that necromancy was hard. Like, you know, you have to study and be in control and do things and stuff. I don't remember doing anything to make Granny come back. And besides, it's a Dark Art, isn't it? And I don't want to have to be dark or evil or whatever. I just wanna be like I was!"

He hoped he didn't sound as desperate as he felt. He could swear his ears were stretching, he was so keen to hear Mierin's answer. She'd been around this sort of stuff all her life; surely she knew enough to help him sort it out.

"Oh..." Arpad said, feeling ignorant. "What do bats have to do with it? Is it like baseball? There's a stick in that sport that people call a bat. I never really understood the game myself." Most Callisdrunians knew the basics of baseball, that a player had to hit a ball and then run around a square before getting tagged, if only from the foreign press.

"And what does it have to do with using a sword?"


"Looks like I'll have to show you cricket sometime as well," Robin joked. "Like baseball only alot better."

He held his sword down low as if he was holding a cricket bat.

"What it has to do with using a sword is similar." he then said. "It is all in the way you hold it. To hit the ball harder, you have to hold it just right. That goes for holding a sword as well."

Sigh

Haedrian had so far had a very uneventful day. Once Necromancy had ended, he had simply wandered around until he stumbled upon across his room. He had found his way back to his bed, and he had been lying there ever since, just thinking.

What are the dreams I've been having...I've never experianced something like that before. He Certainly hoped it was simply from his lack of eating over the past two days. His stomach growled. He got off his bed and slowly walked over to his door, intending to find the kitchen or dining hall.

He walked down the stairs from his room, reached up to the door knob, and pushed the door open. He walked along the cold stone floor, feeling the walls, trying to listen to hear another student or proffesor talking somewhere in the distance. After nearly ten minutes of this, he heard footsteps approaching him.

"Excuse me, could you tell me how to get to the dining hall?"

Professor Bräck stopped walking and looked toward Haedrian. "The dining hall is down that way," he said, pointing the way. "Better hurry I would, not long until they stop serving dinner."

Haedrian smiled slightly. "Umm, sorry to be a little rude sir, but, that doesn't do me much good. I cant see so it would be good if you could point my arm in the right direction."

"Oh yes, do excuse me," Professor Bräck apologised. He tapped Haedrian on the shoulder and mumbled something. "Just say dining room and it shall take you there."

Haedrian grinned.

"Thank you very much Sir. This will help a lot getting around the castle."

He muttered some words under his breath, said dinning room, and vanished in a crack of blue flame.


OOC: very sorry for the short little post, ive got a date right about now, so I'll be back around 10.

Professor Bräck smiled and headed back to his office.

"Maybe you're just unusually talented, but don't have much control." She then laughed. "If you don't want to be involved with darkness, it was a bit odd to ask me out, don't you think?" Mierin smiled at him. Her tone had been sarcastic, but she wanted to make sure that he knew she was saying it in jest.

"I don't know all that much about it myself, unfortunately," she said, regretfully. "I'm a rarity in that I have any talent in it at all. But I'm sure that controlling necromancy is the problem you're having. I'm sure they can teach you taht here. Don't worry about it."

Mierin then indicated a spot on the bed with her hand. "Here," she said. "Come and sit with me." Looking down at Ruari's feet, she added "Take your shoes off first."

"Looks like I'll have to show you cricket sometime as well," Robin joked. "Like baseball only alot better."

He held his sword down low as if he was holding a cricket bat.

"What it has to do with using a sword is similar." he then said. "It is all in the way you hold it. To hit the ball harder, you have to hold it just right. That goes for holding a sword as well."

Arpad loosened his grip on the sword and imitated both the way Robin was holding it. It was somewhat like how he'd seen baseball players holding the bat in pictures. "Is this a bit better?"

Iris thinks for a moment,"lets try left". She turns left and walks down the hall way.


((OOC: Skipping ahead... >_>))

As the two walked, Celestial flicked her earring again, 'Trance' music pouring out of it. A very uptempo and 'danceable' instrumental song began to play. As they walked, Celestial bobbed her head in tune to the music, adding a little jazz to her step, shaking her body.

By the time they reached the sparring room, her music was still playing, (The song lasted about ten minutes, and they were four into it). She looked up at the two in here, both playing with swords. She waved to them, grooving her way into the room. "Hi! I'm Celestial!" She says over her music, motioning to Iris as she too came near. "This is my friend Iris. Mess with her, and you're messing with me."

Feeling she laid the ground rules out pretty clearly, she backs away from the two, still moving her body in tune to her music.

Arpad loosened his grip on the sword and imitated both the way Robin was holding it. It was somewhat like how he'd seen baseball players holding the bat in pictures. "Is this a bit better?"

"Yea, much better," Robin said with a smile. "Try swinging it from side to side, like this."

He then held his sword out and began to make chopping motions.

"Hello," he said to the two whom had come in. "I'll be sure to note that."

Mierin then indicated a spot on the bed with her hand. "Here," she said. "Come and sit with me." Looking down at Ruari's feet, she added "Take your shoes off first."

Omigod do my feet smell? was Ruari's first, panicked reaction. But he came willingly enough and sat down carefully on the exact spot Mierin had patted. Her response hadn't solved anything, but it had helped, all the same. He had the feeling that even the most accomplished necromancer would have had trouble with Granny Dhurig. But from the way Mierin spoke, it seemed likely she'd seen other examples of people with, um, powers that they couldn't control.

His mind would have like to follow that thought. The idea of himself with 'powers' of any kind was definitely intriguing. But his body had other interests right now.

Nonetheless, he wasn't going to make an idiot of himself again. He'd heard the smile in Mierin's voice, but he'd read her signals wrong just a few minutes ago, when she'd let him take her dress off. So he was just going to sit here on the bed and not make any wrong moves, no matter how close she sat and how sneakily her perfume crept under his guard and how ... interesting ... it was, the way her body temperature was so cool and yet his seemed to be soaring ...

Ruari was very much aware that necromancy wasn't the only art in which he was a complete novice.

As soon as Ruari was up on the bed next to her, Mierin snuggled up to him. This close, the boy would likely notice her perfume, which has a scent similar to burning leaves. If the light had been on, Ruari might have seen that both the tank top and the underwear Mierin was wearing were so thin as to leave little to the imagination. Even in the dark, he still might. Mierin put one leg over both of Ruari's in a somewhat scandalous manner and pressed him close. She wasn't quite sure what she felt about him. He was very nice, but also very odd. However, his inexperience instilled almost a sense of duty in Mierin to 'educate' him.

"So, if we are going to stay up later, than I can get out my laptop and we can watch something on there. Or are you tired? Because we could sleep, instead." Mierin kissed him on the cheek, softly.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Arpad swung the sword a bit, still awkwardly, but with a little more confidence than he had started with. He attempted to do what Robin was demonstrating. Arpad's sword movements looked rather ungainly, but he did them. They weren't bad per se, just lacking in the fluidity the movements of someone who had experience with the sword would have.

He hardly glanced over when the other two came in.

"Good, good you're getting the hang of it," Robin said and held his sword at his side, like holding a cricket bat. "Now bring it up like this." Saying that, he brought the sword upwards as if batting a ball away, only the sharp edge was where the ball would hit.

After several minutes of the spell walking Haedrian, he stopped. Assuming he was in the dining hall (which he was), he felt around for a table. He found one a small distance to his left and he tried to find a chair. Sadly when he did, it was much to large for him.

Being unable to reach a chair, he simply sat down on the floor. He called out "Is anyone here?"


OOC: edited the post, saved the other chunk somewhere else. He'll just chill here for a bit I suppose.

"No, just us ghosts," a male voice said, coming from the opposite side of the table to Haedrian.

The dining hall was pretty much quiet apart from a few people talking elsewhere.

Haedrian gave a slight jump. He turned towards the direction of the voice.

"Just you...ghosts?" Haedrian had never met a ghost, though he had heard many stories of them. He relized his mouth was hanging slightly open so he shut it. "Sorry, I've never met one of your kind." He wondered if he had never met one, or if he had just not seen who he was talking to at some point...

"Well truthfully I'm not a ghost, just having you on," the voice admitted.

"Oh, thanks," said Haedrian sarcastically. "Well, do you feel like helping me or do you just want to continue to try and insult a blind boy?"

"Hmph," the voice replied. "Where's your sense of humour?"

As soon as Ruari was up on the bed next to her, Mierin snuggled up to him... <snip> ... Mierin put one leg over both of Ruari's in a somewhat scandalous manner and pressed him close... <snip> ... Mierin kissed him on the cheek, softly.

I am just going to lie here and I am not going to do anything stupid, Ruari promised himself. At one end of him Mierin was fluttering kisses that wouldn't have disturbed his Great-Aunt Aggie. At the other end she had him in a scissor-lock that said, "I mean business!" as clearly as if she'd spoken the words aloud.

Ruari hoped he hadn't actually whimpered as he tried to work out what he was supposed to do next. She was chatting lightly about what they might do "later". Did this mean that they were going to do something else, "earlier"?

Well, if she kept on leaning over him like that, they were. Much earlier. Ruari hadn't realised it was possible for clothing to be quite so, um, unclothed. He tried to think of something to say -- some cool comment on what brand of laptop she had? A query about whether she snored? He opened his mouth, hoping something sensible would come out, and found that Mierin had moved her base of operations.

No more butterfly kisses. Time blurred a little -- he seemed to have taken his shirt off. You weren't going to move, remember? his mind scolded. Arr, shaddup! said Ruari.

This might have been the ideal moment to study the old philosophical problem of mind-body duality. But Ruari didn't take advantage of the opportunity. He was busy taking advantage of other opportunities entirely.

Haedrian was suprised at himself for a moment. He had gotten used to people just messing with him, not actually joking. I suppose not everyone's bad...

"Sorry. I'm not used to people joking around. I'll try to get used to humor." He smiled a little. "It's nice to meet you mr...?"

"They call me Drake, Elrohir Drake," he replied.

Smiling as she heard Ruari whimper softly, cutely, she thought, Mierin shifted her kisses from the boy's neck and cheek to his lips as she continued to squeeze him with her pale legs. She repositioned herself so that she was now straddling Ruari. She was not going to make love with him tonight, there would be plenty of time at a later date for that, but things were going to get hot and heavy. In Callisdrunian, the word for french kissing translated directly to "tongue-dancing." The kisses Mierin gave left no doubt as to why. I wonder if he likes the piercing? the young vampiress thought. She had gotten her tongue pierced a couple years earlier.

Ruari seemed somewhat surprised when she helped him out of his shirt, but of course, raised no protest. Nor did the boy object when she maneuvered his hands were she wanted them. One under tank top, the other on her hip. She pulled the blankets up over them. In her country, "sleeping with" someone did not imply sex. It did imply some pre-sleep romantic activity, though. Just after another deep kiss, Ruari muttered "shut up!"

Pulling her head away, Mierin looked confused. "What? I didn't say anything."

Just after another deep kiss, Ruari muttered "shut up!"

Pulling her head away, Mierin looked confused. "What? I didn't say anything."

"Oh, sorry," gasped Ruari, with what little breath she'd left him. He hadn't realised that he'd spoken aloud. Now what? He didn't want to have to think, he just wanted her to keep on doing what she was doing ... all the wonderful things she was doing ...

But she was looking at him quizzically, he could tell by the tilt of her head, and all activity had come to a dead halt. He had to come up with some sort of answer.

"I said ... uh ..." Inspiration struck! Thank you, Goddess! "I said, uh, 'chutzpah'," he offered hopefully. "It's a word I think of when I think of you. But it came out as 'chutup' because I'm verbally dyslexic."

She was silent. Because she was offended? Because she didn't think it was funny?

"Maybe I should get my tongue pierced, too, to make it behave better," he suggested. "Your tongue behaves beautifully, Mierin."

He stroked his hand slowly over her hip. Every sense he had was alive to her, telling him about her ... "Everything you have behaves beautifully," he added, his voice hoarse and his sincerity evident. "Every ... single ... bit."

It had been a month since the academy year had started and the first years had survived probably the toughest month that year. A few had vanished, either they hadn’t been able to take it or had mysteriously vanished for more sinister reasons, which of course was rare.

It was early morning and most students were in bed, but for two however bed had yet to come. Zero and Raven snuck into their respective rooms having spent all night together elsewhere. Both were careful not to wake up the ones they shared their dorm rooms with.

They weren’t the only students who had been out that night and as the first rays of sunlight appeared over the forest. Robin was running as fast as he could up the drive which led to the academy, as a Draconian vampire, sunlight could burn him and would eventually cause absolute death. He of course made it back just in time and practically flew through the main doors. Since there was no one around, he leaned against a wall and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. There had still been some blood on his lips from the girl he’d met in a nearby village.

“Out late again Master Graves,” came Professor Bräck’s voice.

Robin looked up and smirked. “Sorry Professor,” he apologised, although he wasn’t really sorry about it.

From a dark corner of the hallway emerged the headmaster. He eyed the young vampire with suspicion. “I do hope I don’t hear about missing villagers again,” he warned.

“Won’t be anything to do with me if there is Professor,” Robin replied and fled the scene.

Quietly he walked down the boys floor and headed into his dorm room. Like some he had opted for a solo room.

Smiling as he offered his explanation. Probably just thinking aloud, really, she thought, Mierin actually laughed when he talked about getting his tongue pierced. "I don't know if it would make it behave..." she said, suggestively. "It might make things interesting. As long as you got regular barbell and not a ring, because if you got a ring, my barbell could get caught in it."

Brushing her hair back a bit, and running her hand through his, she said. "You do quite well yourself, Ruari. Except when you doubt yourself. Now, where were we?" She then went back to making out with the boy. After a fairly long session of such, she informed him quite casually that it was time to sleep.

Thus went the first night of their relationship. Sometimes they slept in their own rooms, sometimes they both slept in Mierin's, or both in Ruari's. Mierin didn't know how either of their roommates felt about, she didn't ask. They didn't do anything too serious with either one in the room, though. However, Mierin still had ample time alone with Ruari and his misbehaving tongue. She was occasionally mean to him, as that was just how her personality was, but she did apologize if Ruari told her she was being mean, something she was unused to doing.

In the wee morning hours, Mierin was still asleep, Ruari had spent the night in her room. He had been surprised upon learning that like many Callisdrunians, she usually slept with no clothes at all. Out of concerns for her roommate's modesty, since Mierin had learned that not all peoples had as casual views about nudity as in her home country, she always kept some clothes to change into by the bed, and such was the case this night. She partially wakened when she heard something by the door.

Arpad of course, was also still asleep, in his room. He had been a decently quick learner at the sword, Robin had continued to teach him, but he was still a bit awkward with it. Unlike Mierin, he didn't approve of "hunting." So, he had not accompanied her when she bit the villager. She had not killed him, and had snuck up from behind, so had not been seen. Arpad had called her a moron and arrogant, though, as she was already in trouble.

Zero quietly walked to his bed and flopped down before falling asleep almost instantly. Raven however sat down on her bed and reached under the matress, taking out a book. She lit a candle beside her bed and wrote something in it.

"Why the Hel are you up so early?" Mierin said. Raven had been very quiet when she entered the room, but not silent. "It's only an hour or so before sunrise," she added with a yawn.

Raven almost jumped, she'd thought that Mierin was still asleep. She quickly closed the book she had been writing in and looked across the room at the other bed.

"Umm, not up early just up late," she said. "Lost track of time."

Raven almost jumped, she'd thought that Mierin was still asleep. She quickly closed the book she had been writing in and looked across the room at the other bed.

"Umm, not up early just up late," she said. "Lost track of time."

"Ahhh..." she said knowingly. Mierin's black eyes seemed to glint in the faint light, somehow. "Having romance with Zero?" Her roommate's relationship was a well known fact to her.

Raven grinned. "Of course," she replied. "Anyone taken your fancy yet?"

"I'm surprised you ask," Mierin said grinning. She sat up, clutching the comforter close to cover herself. She looked down at Ruari, who was still asleep. The boy had slept on the wall side of the bed, thus, hiding him somewhat from view. "He's rather young, I'm sure people are calling me a cradle-robber or something, but I think he's cute."

Raven looked over and laughed, she hadn't noticed him there. "Better not let the headmaster find him there," she warned.

"Oh?" Mierin said, suddenly concerned, almost dropping the comforter. "He hasn't noticed yet. What would he do if he found out? Would I be expelled or something?" It was a legitimate worry. She didn't mind getting in a little trouble, she'd always done that, but she certainly didn't want to be kicked out of the school.

"You'd both get detention," Raven shrugged. "I'd probably get detention too for knowingly letting him stay there."

Raven lay back down on her bed.

"You don't have to worry, takes alot to get kicked out."

"I should probably get a rope then," she said, somewhat jokingly, and laying back down and snuggling back up against the still sleeping Ruari. "What if I already have detention?"

"You'll find out at the end of the day when you're dragged there," she replied, placing her hands behind her head. "What's the rope for?"

"Well, the rope is necessary in case Ruari needs to escape in a hurry," she said with a wink. "I suppose I should try to go back to sleep, though I doubt I'll be able to." Mierin closed her eyes, but it was evident she was not asleep.

Raven nodded and closed her eyes to try and at least get some sleep.

With 7am came the opening of the dining hall for breakfast. Many student had already headed down and were now tucking into breakfast. Up in the dormroom he shared with Arpad, Zero woke up and stretched. He knew he was unlikely to get any more sleep and so got up and changed into clean clothes.

"Well, the rope is necessary in case Ruari needs to escape in a hurry," she said with a wink. "I suppose I should try to go back to sleep, though I doubt I'll be able to." Mierin closed her eyes, but it was evident she was not asleep.

Ruari wasn't either; his smile would have been a dead give-away, if the girls had been able to see. He hadn't stopped smiling in a month. He snuggled closer to Mierin, putting his arms around what had become the beloved, familiar coolness of her body.

He was so lucky. At the beginning, he realised, he had been flying high on simple excitement at his first sexual encounter, but lately he had been learning just what sort of person he had forged a bond with, and he couldn't believe his good fortune.

Just being with Mierin was teaching him so much; like, for example, why people got so fierce about religion. And he liked to think he was good for her, too. For all her beauty, her wit and her talent, she seemed to have some deep feeling that somewhere, somehow, sometime, she might not measure up; but he couldn't imagine any situation where she wouldn't be more than equal to anything that happened -- even detention, he thought, grinning.

How would she go with Granny, though?

The thought popped traitorously into his head. Granny Dhurig had discreetly avoided bothering him when he was with others, but she'd snatched the chance to appear when he was alone in the library one day and explain why she kept on turning up.

Apparently she couldn't be returned to her proper realm by anyone except the necromancer who'd summoned her -- Ruari. But he wasn't able to do it yet. In fact, the way he read the curriculum, he wouldn't be able to do it until he was at least in second year, even if he got his powers under control. Which he couldn't; he didn't seem able to summon anything, not even a termite, so he certainly wouldn't be able to send anything back.

He could, of course, ask the staff. A couple of them had kindly told him they'd be happy to help if he had any problems; he wasn't the first student who'd arrived totally unaware of why the school existed. But he was afraid that they might just zap Granny off to some sort of uncomfortable place for bothersome spirits. He wanted to make sure she went back to where she belonged. She was family, after all, even if she was dead.

He would have worried over the problem longer if his empty stomach hadn't reminded him that life, and breakfast, went on regardless. Whispering hurried farewells in Mierin's ear, he dragged on last night's clothes and set off on the always-risky trip back to his own room.

Gahlagæer was stood below the window to Alice's room, watching Ruari make his way back to his own room the risky way. He raised his hand and a peice of paper appeared, gently it rose and disappeared through the window, landing on the bedside table. Should Alice read it, she would head to the cemetary rather then to Vampire Studies.

Iris mutterd and rolled over still sound asleep. The black-out curtians that she had put up at the begining of the year did their job of keeping light and sound out of her room while she was asleep, unfourtionatly this also had caused her to over sleep quite a few times. So Iris lay sound asleep dreaming unaware that the day was about to start.

Celestial yawned, digging into the school breakfast. She didn't wear bright colors now, the shade of her clothes becoming darker and darker. She has fell away from the other students, keeping more and more to herself over the month.

She was waiting for the bell to ring for first class.

Gahlagæer was stood below the window to Alice's room, watching Ruari make his way back to his own room the risky way. He raised his hand and a peice of paper appeared, gently it rose and disappeared through the window, landing on the bedside table. Should Alice read it, she would head to the cemetary rather then to Vampire Studies.

After a month Alice had finally become used to an ordinary sleeping pattern yet still found it odd she would rise as the sun did so. Quickly having a shower and throwing on a pair of jeans and t-shirt, Alice was about to head out to class when she noticed a piece of paper sitting on her dresser that hadn't been there last night.

Reading over the written message, Alice smiled a little. It appeared she wouldn't be going to Vampire Studies afterall. Folding the paper into her pocket, Alice departed her room at a swift pace, now comfortably familiar with the halls around her that she could navigate them at speed, weaving between people and corridors.

Within five minutes the young vampire found herself outside, the sun dimmed slightly by light cloud cover. Moving towards the graveyard, Alice kept her eyes open for the odd necromancer that would soon to be her tutor.

He would have worried over the problem longer if his empty stomach hadn't reminded him that life, and breakfast, went on regardless. Whispering hurried farewells in Mierin's ear, he dragged on last night's clothes and set off on the always-risky trip back to his own room.

Watching as her lover got his clothes on and prepared to leave, Mierin returned his temporary goodbyes, and gave Ruari's rear a hard pinch as the boy left. He was getting quite good at climbing around the outside of the building.

The young vampiress sighed as she lethargically donned her clothes, a white tube top and a black longsleeved shirt that she did not button. It functioned as a light jacket for her, its thin fabric enough in this warmer climate. Black jeans came on before socks. Finally, Mierin laced up her boots. It had probably initially surprised Raven, her roommate, that the Callisdrunian girl polished her boots herself. Mierin didn't give it a second thought.

After brushing her hair, she got her books and went down to breakfast, her sleepiness obvious in her black eyes. She had described it more than once as "simply unnatural" to wake this early. Mierin had fed from Ruari the previous night, before bed, so she only needed regular food. After getting it, she sat down randomly, finding herself near the cat girl, Celestial.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Arpad groaned as his alarm went off. He didn't know it, but he was thinking the same thing as Mierin at that moment. Why the Hel do they make us get up so early? Zero was already up and about, as usual. Arpad could not comprehend how he could find it so normal to get up at this time of day.

He quickly got dressed and headed out, down to the dining hall, drinking a cup of refrigerated blood on the way. At first he had disliked how the liquid was when it wasn't warm, but after a month in this weather, he appreciated the fact that it was chilled.

He was neither excited or disappointed at the selection of breakfast foods in the dining hall. After all, he ate the same kind of cereal every day. Some did not understand how Arpad didn't get bored with it, but he figured that since he liked it, why should he change?

Gahlagæer was sat atop a tomb waiting as he watched Alice near.

"I didn't think you would be interested in Vampire Studies so I'm giving you a lesson out here instead," he smirked.

There was a muffled sound from within the tomb.

--------------------------------------------

Zero waited for Raven to appear before heading into the dining hall. They went and sat down with the others.

Scrambling down the ivy, Ruari felt it again. That itch between the shoulderblades: I'm watching you. It happened almost every time now. It was making him edgy about getting back to his room this way. He wasn't scared of climbing; he'd done enough of it on the cliffs at home, after all. But he'd never had this sort of thing happen there; never felt like he'd been trapped on a glass slide, and above him the microscope was being adjusted, sharper and sharper, until somebody's entire intelligence was focussed on him, little microbe him ...

He reached for a branch and missed. The small mishap shocked him back to here and now. Watch what you're doing, you idiot! He had to use the ivy for his comings and goings. Trying to skulk back to his room through the morning corridors, with students and staff milling around all over the place, would get him caught, sure as eggs. He still hadn't worked out what the rules of this place were, but he'd bet there was something to cover what he was doing: 'Students are strictly forbidden to climb down the ivy when moving to or from the bed or beds of their lover or lovers,' perhaps?

The thought made him grin inwardly for a second, but the feeling was still there. Stronger, if anything. It seemed to be coming from the forest. And the forest itself seemed darker than before. He could remember when he'd first arrived, he'd even imagined going for a picnic there with Mierin. When they came home from the movies, too, surely it had been just night-dark, not this peculiar sort of dark. He squinted at it under one arm; no, it wasn't actually dark at all, not that he could see. But it sort of felt dark.

Ruari huffed impatiently and wriggled his shoulders. Cramp, probably, that was all. The minute he got back to his room he'd take a really hot shower and untwist his muscles.

His feet found the window-ledge, his hand grabbed the frame and he thumped thankfully into his own room.

Alice flashed Gahlagæer a brief smile, she certainly did appreciate being taken out of Vampire Studies and actually doing something constructive with her time. Whilst she wasn't quite sure what this lesson would involve, it had to be better.

"It's certainly better than being in there."

At that point the young vampire's attention was grabbed by a noise from inside the tomb Gahlagæer sat upon. Now she was genuinely curious.

"So what do you have stowed away in there?"

Gahlagæer smirked. "Caught the local prankster trying to play a prank on me," he explained and thumped a fist against the tomb lid. "Elrohir Drake I believe his name is."

There was another muffled sound, followed by thumping. It would seem that the captive was trying to kick at the lid.

"So, what do you think we should do to him?"

Iris sighs as she rolls out of bed, she did not need to look at the clock to know that she had once again over slept. Muttering to her self, Iris brushes her hair and pulls on a hoodie over her pj's and then makes her way barefoot down to the commins to get some thing to eat.
Class had better be interesting to day.

Robin wandered into the dining room, yawning. Not wanting much to eat he grabbed some toast and coffee. As a vampire he still needed to eat mortal food.

Iris nodded to Robin as she walked past him. Once she had gotten her breakfast, a glass of Orange juice some sausage and a bagle and cream cheese, Iris walked out side and sat down on the grass to eat.

Robin nodded back, he might have followed her outside had it not been for the sun being up.

Once she had finshed eating Iris wonder back inside and sat down in front of the fire place in the dinning room.

Aaron Blackheart entered the dining hall along with a group of his friends. Luckily for everyone else, Diego was no where to be seen.

"Here's trouble," Zero groaned.

Gahlagæer smirked. "Caught the local prankster trying to play a prank on me," he explained and thumped a fist against the tomb lid. "Elrohir Drake I believe his name is."

There was another muffled sound, followed by thumping. It would seem that the captive was trying to kick at the lid.

"So, what do you think we should do to him?"

Alice couldn't help but grin, she enjoyed it one those recieved what was deserving of them and she thought very little of pranksters. Thinking for a moment in silence, Alice's eyes flared with anticipation as she spoke.

"Why don't we see how he likes inhabbitting the body of of a toad or some similar creature. I could use the practice in moving souls..."

Aliced waited in silence as her mentor pondered the suggestion.

Gahlagæer smirked, his black eyes seemed yo flash. "A good idea but I can hear the headmaster warning me already," he sighed. "He's not going to be happy that I've taken you out of vampire studies, I'm not one to anger him further."

He thought for a moment.

"On the other hand you could bring in one of those nasty souls from where you got the last one and have it chase him, there are plenty of bodies around here."

There was a muffled yell from within the tomb.

Emerging dripping from the shower, Ruari moaned slightly when he saw the clock, scrambled into his clothes without trying to dry himself -- which he knew would slow him down, because clothes were harder to drag over a wet body, but he could never convince himself it was true -- and set off to the dining room.

He was growing out of his jeans again. When he looked down the length of his body, they seemed to be half-way up to his knees. And they were getting tight. He had to take that interesting striped rock he'd found out of his back pocket because it seemed to be sitting right on the spot where Mierin had pinched him.

Just wait till I catch up with her, he promised himself fondly. Cereal down the front of her top? Salt in her coffee? Breakfast offered many opportunities to a boy with mayhem in mind.

Gahlagæer highlighted a good point considering the headmaster. He probably wouldn't appreciate Alice misplacing the souls of other students around the school. Whilst slightly disappointed, Gahlagæer had a fair compromise that was doable and would prove to be entertaining.

"I suppose we could do that without too much trouble resulting..."

Closing her eyes, Alice plunged her mind into that dark place she visited yesterday, that place of lost souls that neither went to a heaven or hell, they merely existed. This time Alice locked on to the essence of a specific creature, a very low class demon, not humanoid so it would be hindered in it's new body and not get out of hand.

Locking onto the creature, Alice watched as she directed a small sphere of power towards the being, weaving past the others until it finally collided with the intended target. With the soul locked in, Alice called it into her world and waited.

Minutes passed in silence until a dull thumping could be heard from one of the tombs nearby.

"That would be it..."

((OOC: Sorry, I didn't read your entire post, Callisdrun! >_<))


Celestial craned her neck, nodding as a girl she was always seeing Ruari running around with sit down at the same table as her. She found her thoughts drawn to the matter of their relationship. Does she use him simply for nourishment? Can vampires express love? Normally she would have greeted the other girl, maybe even offered her some candy or what have you. But, after all the cold shoulders and negative responses to her party invites, she was a changed catgirl.

She was not so changed as to be inpolite however, so she put on a smile and pushed such thoughts out of her head. She noted the existance of Aaron as he entered the dining room. She silently prayed to the Goddess Cori that he wouldn't cause trouble today.

"Hello," Mierin said. A month had not dulled either her accent or the strange backround hissing sound of her voice. However, by now, most were probably used to both. She didn't say good morning, for it was far too early for that phrase.

"How are you at this ridiculously early hour, Celestial?" she said with a pleasant smile. She suddenly remembered that the other girl had invited her to some parties, but that she'd been so occupied with Ruari that she hadn't attended. I hope she doesn't think I dislike her Mierin thought as she ate her cereal and chocolate milk. She had gone completely to cold cereal in this hot weather. After a couple bites, she shifted her black eyes back up to meet those of Celestial.

<snip>

Minutes passed in silence until a dull thumping could be heard from one of the tombs nearby.

"That would be it..."

Gahlagæer smirked. "And I wonder what kind of monster it might be," he said, leaping off the tomb and landed beside Alice. His black eyes twinkled.

The lid of the tomb moved by itself and Elrohir scrambled out, wide-eyed. His black hair was a complete mess as he ran his hands through it.

"You are fucked up," he told the damned child.

Gahlagæer smirked and waited for Alice's creation to make it's entrance

Celestial smiled a little, "I'm okay, I guess. I'm still not used to waking up this early. Heh, years of partying 'til sunrise and sleeping 'til mid-afternoon has that kinda effect, I guess." She giggles.

She blew on her spoon, within some heated milk. Her bowl was filled of the same. She really liked milk. "And how are you?" she asked, before slipping the spoonful of milk in her mouth, placing it down in the bowl again to scoop up some more.

"Quite well," Mierin said cheerfully. "Aside from the hour of course." It was fairly obvious that moroii vampires were not generally in the habit of waking up early in the morning. Or, not in the morning at all. "I had a rather late night, too," she added.

She yawned widely, which exposed her barbed fangs, but then, everyone was probably used to them here, and by now. Yawning was not considered rude in Callisdrun. She then continued eating her cereal. It was a local brand, but seemed to be somewhat similar to "Lucky Charms."

"Body clock still not adjusted eh?" Zero commented.

Celestial turned to looked at the one who had said that. She knew him by name only, Zero, they had meant on her first day briefly, before she ran off with Iris. She gave him a small smile. "Something like that... Hey, umh..." What the hell... It's not like they'll say yes or anything. "I'm going to try and have a little together in my dorm tonight. Nothing big or fancy, just a bunch of us hanging out, maybe listening to music or something..."

She picked up her bowl of milk, Here's to another night spent alone... I miss Krowemoh... she thought as she brought it to her lips.

"With a visit from the headmaster," Zero sighed. "He's a bastard when it comes to dorm parties."

"Oh, come now?" Mierin said, rather surprised. "He can't possibly object to a few students hanging out in one of their rooms. Can he? That sounds ridiculous." She finished her cereal and drank the milk out of the bowl. "We can bring our books and say we were studying together if it's really a problem."

It was at this moment that Arpad joined the group. "What's a problem?" Mierin then started explaining it to him, somewhat irritatedly.

Ruari skidded into the dining room, pleased to note that the porridge was still hot and hadn't morphed into sad lumps and starchy water. Sugar, milk and just a little salt, the only way to start the morning; he whistled cheerily under his breath as he approached the table where Mierin was sitting.

The cheer had a lot to do with the inspiration that he'd had when passing the bowls of fresh fruit displayed on ice.

"He-e-e-yyyy, Fang!" he said affectionately, patting Mierin warmly on the shoulder and letting the pilfered bit of ice slip down her back. Pinch him, would she? He waited smugly for the explosion, the shrieks, the retaliation.

And waited, and waited. He'd forgotten her low body temperature. It looked like the ice was just going to sit there and melt so slowly it wouldn't be noticed; not until someone told her about the wet patch on her back, anyway, by which time they'd be in class and nothing would happen. Damn, he'd been looking forward to a good old scuffling fun-fight. It might even have spread and become a general food-fight.

Dreaming regretfully of mayhem, Ruari only slowly tuned into the conversation, hitting consciousness about the time Arpad was being brought up to speed.

"What, we can't party in our own rooms?" he echoed, astonished. "That's daft! Like saying we can't do things in our own homes!"

But there seemed to be some sort of agreement that there actually was a rule about it; and the cat-girl seemed a bit downcast, and Ruari had always liked cats.

"So where can we party?" he asked innocently, looking round the group. "I mean, this is supposed to be a school for the Dark Arts, right? So can anyone do anything, I dunno, darkly artful? Like, slip us into another plane, or go back in time, or fold the space-time continuum, or something?"

Truth to tell, he felt a bit silly coming out with all those science-fiction-y things. But after all, if vampires were true and raising spirits was possible, maybe the other stuff in books was real too. He waited with some excitement to hear what the older students might suggest.

"Well it's more of a case of boys being on the girls floor," Zero remarked. "Sneaking one in is risky enough." He smirked at Raven. "But a whole load is going to be noticed."

Iris slowly stood up from where she had been sitting infront of the fire and walked over to the table where Zero,Ruari,Mierin and the others were sitting.

Zero looked up and smiled as she sat down with them.

Iris returned the smiled and mummbled hellos to the rest of the table," So, what fun and exciting things are you all ploting to do to day?"

"Well other then classes and a party that'll get us detention, pretty much fuck all," Zero said and yawned.

"why would a party get us a detention", She looked quite confused.

Zero groaned. "We're not allowed them."

Iris looked shocked," Well why not, do they ban fun as well?"

"Parties mean costly bills to repair the damage done," came Professor Bräck's voice. It appeared to come at them from all directions.

Gahlagæer smirked. "And I wonder what kind of monster it might be," he said, leaping off the tomb and landed beside Alice. His black eyes twinkled.

<snip>

Alice watched calmly as the lid to a nearby tomb was promptly launched off its resting position to land some distance behind the the pair. Whatever had possessed the half decomposed body had certainly brought supernatural strength with it, although she had made sure it didn't possess much in the way of intelligence.

Still maintaining a connection to the summoned creature, Alice directed its attention towards Elrohir. With the boy in sight, the zombie charged towards him with unnatural speed for a corpse and an intent that was certainly more than playful. By all respects it appeared as though this thing was ready to tear the boy apart.

Without any sign of emotion upon her face, Alice merely watched as it charged towards Elrohir and terror spread across her peer's face. Perhaps this place would be interesting afterall.

Elrohir went pale, paler then usual as the zombie charged at him. He couldn't believe how fast it was.

"You're mad," he yelled and ran for the cemetary gates.

Gahlagæer's eyes shone as he watched. "So how much control do you have over it?"

"He-e-e-yyyy, Fang!" he said affectionately, patting Mierin warmly on the shoulder and letting the pilfered bit of ice slip down her back. Pinch him, would she? He waited smugly for the explosion, the shrieks, the retaliation.

And waited, and waited. He'd forgotten her low body temperature. It looked like the ice was just going to sit there and melt so slowly it wouldn't be noticed; not until someone told her about the wet patch on her back, anyway, by which time they'd be in class and nothing would happen. Damn, he'd been looking forward to a good old scuffling fun-fight. It might even have spread and become a general food-fight.

Dreaming regretfully of mayhem, Ruari only slowly tuned into the conversation, hitting consciousness about the time Arpad was being brought up to speed.

Sensing something cold and somewhat wet sliding down her back, Mierin arched herself forward slightly, and then reached under her shirt and removed the piece of ice. She giggled a bit, and then, without warning, turned around and put the ice down the front of her boyfriend's pants, giving him another pinch on the bottom afterward for good measure.

"Feeling mischevious, today, darling?" Mierin said amusedly, with a large grin. She did put an arm around his waist though. "Anyway, back to the subject, where would it be possible for a medium sized group of us to 'hang out' as they put it?" Her question was directed mainly at the students who had been here in previous years.

Alice replied with a smile as she bent the creature to her will with her overpowering arcane strength.

"Enough."

With that said, the zombie creature launched itself into the air and landed straight before Elrohir with a sickening thud as it impacted upon the ground and several smaller bones snapped under the pressure.

Glaring down at the boy before him, the creature hissed as it moved forward. Alice could sense the creature's desire to tear this boy apart and feast upon the goo inside him but she would not allow that, this was merely meant to scare the hell out of him and not leave him dead.

The creature swiped towards Elrohir with unnatural speed yet she kept in check, making sure the blow merely grazed the boy's face, scaring him all the more.

"So what shall we do now?"

Celestial sighed, hearing the headmaster's voice. She looked at Meirn a her boyfriend, nodding to Iris as she too sat down. "Well, maybe not in my dorm... How about a nearby village, or something? I'm a certified pilot, my planet hopper can take us anywhere on the planet. I'm sure there's an abandoned building or something somewhere on this rock where no one would mind a bunch of people having a get together." She sighed heavily.

<snip>

"So what shall we do now?"

Elrohir slid to a halt and was about to run back the other way when the creatire took a swipe. The ble scraped his cheek and drew blood.

"Hmm, perhaps we have frightened him enough," Gahlagæer mentioned, his eyes dulling somewhat. "I'm sure he has learned his lesson by now."

Gahlagæer smirked as Elrohirs legs gave out from beneath him and he fell into a heap on the ground.

Celestial sighed, hearing the headmaster's voice. She looked at Meirn a her boyfriend, nodding to Iris as she too sat down. "Well, maybe not in my dorm... How about a nearby village, or something? I'm a certified pilot, my planet hopper can take us anywhere on the planet. I'm sure there's an abandoned building or something somewhere on this rock where no one would mind a bunch of people having a get together." She sighed heavily.


"Oh theres plenty, it's a big rock," Zero pointed out.

"Some of the students head out to the cemetary to get together," Raven pointed out.

"Sounds nice," Mierin said. Cemetaries were usually quiet, peaceful and pretty. Or, at least they were in her experience. "Maybe we should arrange something then?"

"Yeah, see what we can do," Zero agreed.

"Just make sure it doesn't start until the sun goes down," Robin pointed out.

With Elrohir now crumpled on the ground, Alice allowed her vigilance over her summoned creature to slip ever so slightly. She doubted it would be of any real consequence as it had become somewhat more docile.

Turning to her newfound master, Alice gave a nod of amusement.

"I'm sure he learned his lesson and I assume when he wakes up he won't feel the need to inform the headmaster of what just happened?"

Whilst Alice did enjoy playing around like this, she had no desire to be expelled from the academy, she'd only been here a few months and so far she had certainly picked up a few tricks here and there that would certainly be useful in the future.

Before Gahlagæer could reply Alice felt the outburst of mental will as the creature under he watch surged forward, leaping through the air with gnarled fingers outstretched towards Alice. Caught off guard, Alice abandoned her mental control over the creature and placed her own arm forwards, manouvering her position so she caught the creature by the throat and used her other hand to grasp it's thin wrists. There were certain physical advantages one could enjoy being a vampire. Superior strength was one of them.

"And I suppose we should get rid of this thing..."

Gahlagæer chuckled, "He's still concious," he pointed out. "His legs turned to jelly with fear."

The damned child held out his right hand towards where Elrohir lay. Whilst the monster leapt at Alice, Gahlagæer got Elrohir to stand up again.

"Yes, perhaps you should."

Elrohir could only stare at them with wide eyes.

Robin looked down at his watch. "Time to start thinking aout going to vampire studies," he sighed.

Alice allowed Gahlagæer to do what he wished with Elrohir whilst she went to work on disposing of the creature within her grasp. The possessed corpse certainly did have a strength greater than the average human yet Alice wasn't exactly human these days and didn't find too much trouble in physically restraining the beast.

Forcefully placing the creature back within it's tomb, Alice willed the stone lid over the top once again and held it down with both hands as she began to delve into the dark arts once again, perparing to send the true essence of this creature back to wherever it existed normally.

Focusing on the thing inside the corpse, Alice wrapped tendrils of her power around the creature, restraining it within her will as she allowed her consciousness to flow out of this world and into a place of darkness and hate, a place formed by the spite of imprisoned demons and other such creatures that would much rather exist in a world where there were many to kill and feast upon.

Now deep within the place she'd found this creature, Alice released the essence and allowed it to fall back into the abyss. As she prepared to depart, the unexpected presence of a much stronger being slammed into Alice, taking her off guard. For a brief moment they're minds merged and Alice bore witness horrors even she could not imagine. Releasing a slight scream, Alice pulled out of the dark world and back onto the mortal plain.

Now on her back, Alice felt slightly shaken but otherwise alright. Shaking off her shock, the young girl got to her feet and matched Gahlagæer's stare.

"There are some... unpleasant creatures down there."

Gahlagæer looked over at Alice and nodded, "There are always unplesent creature when messing with the laws of nature," he explained. His dark eyes brightened somewhat.

He could sense she was shaken somewhat by the place she had returned the creatures essence back to. He breifly looked toward Elrohir who now looked able to stand on his own two feet and let go. The young boy didn't run off, he just seemed to watch them instead.

"You do get used to it in time," he then said.

Iris stood,"Maby we could meet in the library." She headed out of the dinning hall, to the vampire studys class. When she got there she took a seat at the back of the rome on one of the ends and waited.

Whilst Alice understood what her mento was saying completely, she still couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right. Somewhere deep within herself was a strange sense of being unnatural. Shrugging it off as a bit of shock, Alice turned back to Gahlagæer and Elrohir.

"So what do we do with him?"

Evidently Alice didn't really care much for the boy before her but she wasn't about to get caught and have the repurcussions of the headmaster fall down upon her.

"We need to make sure he doesn't tell certain people of certain events."

Gahlagæer just smirked and looked over at Elrohir, who just gulped.

"He won't tell anyone," Gahlagæer then said, keeping his eyes on the young boy. "He knows whats good for him."

The damned child clicked his fingers and Elrohir nodded before running off in the direction of the academy.

Robin and the others began heading towards the vampire studies. They wouldn't want to be late as Professor Kvapil was in the room next door preparing the lesson.

"Another day, another bore about vampire lore I know already," Robin yawned.

"I don't know much about it," Arpad said in reply to Robin. It was true, he had never really learned much about vampires other than the Moroii clans of Callisdrun and their various customs, rivalries, alliances and what not.

Mierin did not seem to hear, as she followed along after, practically herding Ruari along as she made little comments to him, most of them humorous though tinged with a cynical tone at times.

"Ah you'll learn," Robin grinned. "Just not alot in vampire studies, I hear one weekend we go on a school trip to Caer Chan Caddug for vampire studies."

"So tell me Alice, what is it like where you come from," Gahlagæer then asked. "What are the people like, how do they view the dark arts?"

***************

By the time Elrohir made it to the vampire studies he was sweating and out of breath. He also looked rather pale as he headed inside and took a seat, ignoring the others.

On the way back to the academy Gahlagæer stirred up idle chat and eventually moved onto the topic of Alice's homeland. She didn't really think much of the place, she'd pretty much grown up there, being turned into a vampire and then left.

"Assington is not a magical nation. Whilst I was born there, my father was born in a nation called Tarlachia where arcane abilities are more common. Those more knowledgable of other cultures would know of magic users, but there are none in Assington and I don't think the government really welcomes them. You know, they already have enough trouble with vampires, they don't need necromancers on their minds as well."

The academy was coming into sight once again and Alice figured she would have to attend class at some point, just not Vampire Studies for today.

"I suppose I should get going to my next class soon..."

"Nothing wrong with a few necromancers coming in to stir up trouble," Gahlagæer smirked. "Sounds like they could use some to go with the vampires."

He lifted up his arm and looked down at the watch he wore.

"You could, but by my reckoning it's still vampire studies. Professor Bräck is most likely scouting the halls so I would be careful."

Alice nodded at her mentor's comment regarding the headmaster and his patrolling. She'd already started off a little edgy with Bräck and had no particular desire to irritate him any further, especially considering he was in charge of the academy and happened to be a powerful necromancer himself.

"Hmm, perhaps you're right. I'll see what I can do about getting in through the window."

Gahlagæer nodded. "He isn't too fond of me either," he shrugged with a grin. His eyes crossed to the academy looking for any sign of the headmaster.

He saw no sign of him, nor any sign of any other stray student that they could use to take away the headmasters attention if needed. Perhaps another way in.

"You know, there is always Professor Kvapils tunnel, however that leads into his room beside the vampire studies room."

Ruari wasn't all that eager to get to Vampire Studies. It was making a lot more sense to him now, thanks to Mierin; but the most interesting things she taught him weren't part of that particular curriculum.

The boy smirked to himself as he recalled part of his last e-mail home: "I was having a bit of trouble with some of the subjects, but one of the older students is helping me with my homework ...".

He eyed her from under his fringe: the Cuter Tutor. The A-Cuter Tutor, in fact. She was certainly looking good enough to eat today -- he winced as she jabbed him none too gently with her thumb. Sometimes he could swear she was psychic.

Why was it females were so obsessed with timetables, he wondered, forgetting for a moment that Mierin had been at the school longer than he had. It didn't occur to him that he'd never seen any staff member really lose his temper. He'd heard the older ones talk about how this one or that hated latecomers or scruffy books or whatever, but it hadn't actually penetrated his fog of confusion.

"Hey, stop sheepdogging me!" he protested to Mierin. He grrinned and lolled his tongue out like an exhausted pup. "Rover bites!" he added, playfully lunging at the nearest group of stragglers.

Mierin continued to behave exactly how she wanted to towards Ruari. "I'm not 'sheep-dogging you, dear," she said, slightly sarcastically. "I'm man-handling you." She gave him a smile though, that said that she was not terribly serious, and then kissed him while his tongue was stuck out. He's silly... which can be a bit much at times, but well... he's cute enough to pull it off. Her thoughts then turned tot he coming class, which she was doing well in.

In any event, she continued pulling Ruari along. Of course, part of her domineering of her boyfriend was cultural. In Callisdrun, especially among moroii, for a long time the female had been considered to be in charge of a relationship. A more equal view had gradually risen, but old habits died hard. She got to the class on time and sat down.


Arpad had followed the others, chatting a bit with Robin on the way there. He was not doing as well as Mierin was in vampires studies. Of course, he didn't talk to her as much as he used to now that she was so occupied with the foreign kid she'd been going out with, which was a bit of a relief. He got there with a little time to spare, right after Robin.

With vampire studies over, the students had a five minute break before their next lesson.

"Ack alchemy," Robin yawned as he headed for the door.

OOC: Sorry guys, didn't feel like running out the lesson.

Slamming his books into his backpack, Ruari could feel a good solid sulk building up.

In the first place, he'd come into class feeling like an immature idiot because the others had pointedly ignored his attempt at a bit of push-and-shove fun.

Then they'd got back the results of their previous work and his had carried the dreaded, "See me!" scrawled across it.

So he had "seen", and now he was stuck with extra work and catch-up sessions on Friday afternoons when he could have been hanging out with the rest, planning this party they'd all been talking about before class. And the extra work and catch-ups weren't with Mierin, either, but with some really old kid from the graduating class, who'd be nagging him all the time, no doubt.

Alchemy would at least take the pressure off him for a while -- he wasn't the one who punctuated every lesson with an explosion -- but eventually there'd be Necromancy.

Ruari's stomach knotted up at the very thought. Necromancy at his level was supposed to be really simple: he didn't even have to raise human dead, just disturb a few of the basic first-level spirits to prove he could contact them. Not much more effort than picking up on the feelings in a room, really. It'd been explained to him over and over, and he understood the principles of the thing quite thoroughly, but he couldn't do it!

Yet everyone kept assuring him that he could. "When you're really under pressure -- when you stop thinking about it so hard -- then you'll just let go and do it," they'd said. "After all, you've already done it once."

Yeah, sure. You could jump off the bell-tower of Findhorn Abbey once, too, but that didn't mean you could do it again.

"You know, there is always Professor Kvapils tunnel, however that leads into his room beside the vampire studies room."

Alice contemplated this for a moment. Whilst the idea of a tunnel was ideal as she couldn't be seen underground, popping up in the room right next to the classroom she should have been in seemed a little too risky in her opinion. Especially when she was in a magical academy, there was no telling what could be watching her.

"Perhaps I'll simply try the window."

Since the pair were now standing outside the main building where Alice figured her room would be she decided to leave her mentor.

"I assume we'll run into eachother tomorrow, or perhaps later on today?"

With that said she launched herself off the ground and landed softly upon a ledge on the second level. Alice had the whole ordeal appear quite graceful thanks to her vampiric abilities and didn't find too much trouble in sliding across the ledge until she came across her room. Peaking inside she noted her roomate wasn't around and so willed the windows open before climbing in as quietly as possible.

Now sitting calmly upon her bed, Alice sighed slightly. She'd gotten away with this one.

Gahlagæer smiled. "Perhaps this evening, I'll still be in the area," he said. "Have fun in alchemy, try not to blow anything up and keep an eye on that Elrohir kid."

Having watched Alice disappear into her room, he leaned against the wall and looked out at the forest. Within the shadows he could see something moving, whatever it was let out a pained howl.

Iris stood and followed the other students out of the room, the class had been interesting but something about it did not feel right. Sighing softly to her self Iris slowly walked to her next class head bowed, lost in thought.

"You look troubled," Mierin said to her boyfriend as they walked to alchemy. Her tone was one of moderate concern, which for her, was saying something. She knew that Ruari had not gotten a very good grade on his work, but that didn't seem to be it.

The Iris girl was a little up ahead. She also seemed troubled to Mierin, but the vampiress figured that whatever was up with the other girl was probably none of her business, which meant it could wait.

Once in the alchemy classroom, the students found that Professor Psyren wasn't even there yet. Looking in, Robin noticed open windoes and scowled.

"Fucking teacher," he muttered, walking past the areas in direct sunlight.

"Yeah, she really hates vampires," one of the other vampires agreed.

Startled out of his dark mood, Ruari looked at Mierin. He could read only mild interest in her face, but that somehow helped: made him feel that his
problems were not all that bad, after all. Besides, it reminded him he did have someone on his side. He curled an arm round Mierin's waist and hugged her gratefully.

"I'm not troubled, exactly," he told her. "More in trouble. Look."

The assignment he handed her, with its embarrassing C-minus, had a scrawled message stapled on:

You have spent far too much time and effort on the Moroii, to the detriment of your other studies. You will attend Mr Oliver Hamesworth in Tutorial Room 3 from 7pm to 9pm, beginning this Friday.

"I asked him whether this Oliver bloke was a teacher, and you should have heard him," Ruari continued. He put on a pompous teacher-voice: "He said, 'Mr Hamesworth is a student who will graduate this year. Throughout his academic career he has shown a particular ability to persuade less dedicated students to, ah, reassess their priorities, as it were'. As it were, indeed!"

He savagely kicked a stone; serve it right, it had had the cheek to get onto the path in front of his foot. "Which probably means that this guy is a suck-up who'll make me do written work all the time so he can prove I'm studying," he grumbled. "I mean, I've never heard of this Hamesworth, so he can't be all that great."

Mierin didn't instantly jump in with a potted biography the minute he'd finished speaking. That was enough to convince Ruari that he had to be right; this Hamesworth character was just a waste of space. After all, Mierin seemed to know everyone interesting in the Academy.

"That line about 'spending too much time and effort on the Moroii' worries me a bit, too," Ruari confided, looking sideways at the young vampiress to see if she'd read into it the same message he had.

He had a nasty feeling that the teacher didn't mean he'd spent too much time and effort on the Moroii people, but rather, on one particular Moroii. Not that any teacher worth his salt would come right out and say so.

Ruari was beginning to suspect that the staff of the Academy rather enjoyed cat-and-mouse games, provided they were the cats.

Mierin sighed, a hint of sadness and regret but also amusement in her voice. "Well, as unpleasant as it is to say, it may be necessary for the sake of your grade to spend less time worshipping me and more time studying the textbook." Oddly for her, she did not sound sarcastic in the slightest. "I love our... close studies of each other... but I don't want to be responsible for you failing vampire studies." She smiled mischeviously at him, in an attempt to cheer him up. That was something she had never considered herself good at, unlike the opposite. "Don't worry, if you study a bit more I'm sure you'll be fine," she added.

They arrived just as Robin and another girl were grumbling over the teacher's lateness. Mierin chimed in with a particularly nasty swear word, that while clearly a curse, would only be understood by Ruari (as she had taught him all the cusses of her language).

It seemed barely moments since Alice sat down and yet she noted it was time for alchemy class. There was something about alchemy Alice didn't like, besides the teacher and his obvious predjudices the whole potion thing never boded well with her. Alas it was reasonably significant knowledge for a young necromancer to be learning.

Grabbing the necessary books, Alice launched herself into the hallway and zipped passed several other students as she used her vampiric speed and agility to navigate the halls much faster than the average human. Hopefully she wouldn't be late, she had no real desire to irritate the teacher anymore than his usual level of general annoyance.

After almost bowling over a frail looking young girl, Alice skidded to a halt directly in front of the alchemy classroom and made her way inside, only seconds behind most of the other students. Thankfully the teacher wasn't even there so there was no harm done. Noticing Mierin and her latest pet, Rurai, Alice decided to sit upon the other side of the young vampiress as she seemed to be the only other student she'd really related to at all in her time at the academy.

"Hey..."

"Hello," Mierin said, in a friendly tone. By now, everyone probably knew that the hissing backround sound her voice made was not in anger, it was just a characteristic. "You weren't in vampire studies today. Not that I blame you. Kvapil went on a long tangent about something random. Were you sleeping later or just doing something more interesting?"

Robin raised an eyebrow, "Am I correct in thinking that that was a curse in your own language?" he wondered.

The girl vampire looked up at the ceiling. "Three, two, one," and just as she finished saying that, the mansion was shaken by an explosion.

"That's scary when you see the future," Robin then said.

"Yes, it was a curse word," Mierin said, suddenly turning to Robin.

She said nothing after the explosion, though her black eyes went a bit wider.

Robin smirked. "I know many curses in Ancient," he replied, looking over at Mierin. "I'd say that was either summoning or Aaron and Diego are at it again."

"It's summoning," the girl vampire said. "Aaron and Diego just happen to be in that room right now."

Her eyes had clouded over and were wide.

Alice nodded slightly at Mierin's second assumption. Evidently almost anything was better than enduring Vampire Studies and she certainly enjoyed learning under her new mentor, actually learning something useful.

"I've been off practicing my soul calling. I figured it was more important than hearing about the exact length of this vampire's fangs or the resistance of sunlight to that kind... none of that is particularly important."

Silence reigned for a moment as the building shook, knocking a few objects off desks and the sort. By now Alice was used to such things and didn't really think too much of it anymore.

"You'd think they'd do something to contain those explosions a little better..."

The teacher still wasn't around and so Alice engulfed herself in idle chat with the young vampiress beside her.

"Yeah, but then again it wouldn't feel right not feeling the random explosions rocking the mansion," Robin remarked, placing his hands behind his head and looked toward Alice. "A little bird told me that Elrohir's current nervousness is down to you."

True enough, the red haired boy was sat quietly at a desk, still looking rather pale. His eyes were still wide with fright.

Alice's eyes narrowed as she gazed upon Robin. She had no idea how he knew or what exactly he did know but anything was too much in her opion. Keeping a calm tone she replied.

"You shouldn't pay attention to little birds, their words are easily influenced by the hawks."

Since she didn't really know what Robin was like, Alice had no idea whether he would tell or if he would attempt to use it against her. Perhaps he needed to pay a visit to the graveyard too...

Robin looked out the window, carefully avoiding contact with direct sunlight. He ponted towards a wall where someone was sat. An arm was outstretched and a raven was perched upon the persons hand.

"Thats the bird that told me," he said. "Gahlagæer ever tell you he can controls ravens?"

Ruari's ears would have been twitching if he could have moved them. His eyes swivelled from one speaker to the next as they so casually discussed powers that just last year he would never have believed possible.

He thought he had settled in. Mierin's interest in him had made the strangeness seem ordinary. After all, he was having a love affair with a girl vampire, nothing could out-weird that. It no longer seemed strange to sit down in class to study vampire clans. In fact, he found it less interesting than maths. The way everyone yammered on about the exact dimensions of the physical characteristics that distinguished one group from another drove him crazy. He might just as well have been doing history; VampStuds had become almost as boring as trying to memorise the names of Kings and Queens.

Yet then you got a day like today, where people casually threw comments into the conversation that made it clear they could cause explosions at a distance -- couldn't they? Who was doing the explosions, exactly? And why? Well, no, not why; Ruari realised that if he could make things go boom! whenever he wanted, he'd be doing it too: kicks and giggles was a good enough reason for that sort of thing.

But they could do all this stuff, and he couldn't even do the trick that had got him here in the first place. Mierin, it seemed, could even see into the future, if he'd understood that remark properly. Goddess, what did that do to a relationship? She'd probably come up to him one day and slap him up but good, then tell him he deserved it for what he was going to say next Sunday.

He'd always been effortlessly at the top of any class, but now the only person who seemed dumber than he felt was that little white mouse Elrohir. Although, with the way the kid just sat there staring into space, with that washed-out look about him that you sometimes got with redheads, you couldn't really tell what he was like.

Ruari slumped down and, for the first time in his life, wished fervently that a teacher would come into the room and start the lesson. Not that he was so keen on alchemy, just that he was even less keen on the way his thoughts were making him feel.

From the doorway came the sound of someone clearing their throat. Professor Psyren walked across the room and stood by the desks. "Sit down," she demanded.

Knowing how mean she could be, the students went and sat down as the professor watched them. She glared at the various vampires that were sat away from the windows.

Alice had been about to reply to Robin's comment but was silenced before a word even escaped as the teacher finally arrived, plunging the classroom into quiet. It was evident within Professor Psyren's tone and eyes that she had a blatant disliking of vampires and Alice certainly had doubts regarding her treatment of those students.

Matching the teacher's gaze calmly, Alice remained silent yet did not back down. She wasn't about to let anyone push her around, even a teacher.

Professor Psyren looked over the class in front of her. “Frankly I’m disappointed”, she said, nonchalantly. “None of you as of yet are showing signs of actually being any good at alchemy.” Her eyes narrowed as she looked at them. “Hoping to turn lead into gold? Forget it.”

She paced the front of the classroom, before stopping to look out of the window.

“Immortality on the otherhand is very possible, but still way out of your league.” She turned to face the class once again. “So, who knows of an alchemist by the name of Nicolas Flamel?”

Mierin almost sighed. She really disliked this teacher. But it was the teacher's fault. Having such a blatant prejudice against her kind was just asking for hatred. She was too busy glancing at Ruari, trying to read the boy, to join Alice in staring down Psyren.

"Is something the matter, Ruari?" she whispered, barely loud enough for the boy to hear. She was good at regulating the volume of her voice so that it was only as loud as she intended it to be.

Knowing that someone else, one of the types who liked to show off in this class, would answer the prof's question, Mierin continued to keep her attention on Ruari, though pretending to pay attention to the class.

Most of the students, the vampires especially, stayed silent. Even Elrohir, for different reasons of course, stayed quiet. Professor Psyren glared at the silent class, her dark eyes speaking a curse to each student.

“As I expected,” she sneered. “Each and everyone of you is unfit for alchemy.”

She clapped her hands and books appeared in front of each student. She walked over to her desk and leaned beside it, getting out a book and opening it.

“I will be giving you your homework early, that is to read up on Nicolas Flamel. You can start now in silence.”

Mierin truly disliked this teacher. She thought it was definitely a bad idea for someone who hated children as much as Professor Psyren clearly did to go into teaching. Perhaps the infernal woman did it for the long vacations.

She got out her book and turned to the correct page, pretending to read about Nicolas Flamel, but her mind was elsewhere. Ruari's apparent melancholy was perplexing. Was he not speaking to her intentionally? Or had he just not heard her? As her mind drifted over the possibilities, it suddenly seized on a random fact of the class. Elohir, usually a somewhat immature clown, had been strangely silent so far, and didn't have his characteristicly stupid looking (or at least she thought so) smile.

Come the end of the lesson, most of the students were close to falling asleep. In fact, Robin had and Professor Psyren was not pleased when she noticed he had his face buried in his arms. She clapped her hands and a small explosion occured on his desk, waking him and the other students up.

"Mr Graves, I will not tolerate sleeping in my class," she sternly told him, her eyes growing cold. "A months detention all evening. I expect each and everyone of you to know everything about Nicolas Flamel by next lesson, class dismissed."

Robin was not the only one sighing as the students left the classroom. She was a very unpopular teacher, anyone who could manage to get rid of her would most likely be considered a hero amongst the students. As he left, the white-haired vampire pondered a way of making Professor Psyren have an accident.

As Robin stormed off, his fellow Ravnos watched with worry. Deciding not to go after him, instead she looked towards the others.

“He is in another of his moods,” she warned. “My vision is clouded, I can’t see what he plans.” Her eyes dulled somewhat. “You remember that vampire he fought with a while ago, you remember what happened to her? All they found was dust.”

Robin stared at the door in front of him and grimaced. He had failed to realise that would would be locked and a spell placed upon it in order to keep students out. This very door led down into the lower dungeons where ghosts and Alices dog resided. It was the dog that the white-haired vampire wanted, since he felt he knew of a way to control it unlike Alice and in his anger he had decided to use the dog against Professor Psyren.

Down at the first hurdle it appeared. Out of complete frustration he kicked the door. Ignoring the pain in his foot, he watched a dull yellow patch appear in the area he had kicked, the forcefield that kept anything attempting to bring the door down from being successful. An arm appeared from nowhere and rested upon Robins shoulder, waving a key in front of his face.

“I do believe you need this,” came Gahlagæers voice. “You know what I want in return from you Robin.”

Robin grabbed the key from Gahlagæer. “You know you’ll get it anyway,” he replied, placing the key in the lock.

It fit perfectly in and as Robin turned the key, the distictive clunk of the door unlocking was heard. There was a brief yellow flash the magical forcefield was gone. The door opened with a creak and Robin stepped into the darkness. Gahlagæer stepped in behind him and shut the door having removed the key.

“Alice, that dog of yours…” the girl vampire said. She looked over at Alice with clouded eyes before passing out.

Alice watched the girl before her as she fell to the ground. She didn't like where this was going in the slightest. Being a somewhat proud girl, Alice didn't like not being able to do something and when things became out of control due to her inability, that was one of the worst things that could happen.

Still slightly bound to the 'dog' she had created, Alice could sense it's agitation, something was happening around it.

"Well shit..."

Not bothering to take any time to acknowledge the others around her, Alice stormed off down the hallway and towards the dungeons. Despite her inability to get rid of the dog Alice certainly felt it was her responsibility and didn't want anyone messing around with it, especially if it could associate her with something she had no desire to be linked with.

After a few minutes of weaving through this hall and that door, Alice finally arrived before the sealed door to the dungeons. The door was still locked, she could sense the barrier on it. Banging her fist against the door resulted in the yellow shield flaring to life.

"Damnit!"

There was no telling whether she'd be able to get through the door yet she was determined to try. Gathering energies into her hand, Alice's first approach involved an attempt to overwhelm the shield with power, in the hope it wouldn't be strong enough to hold. Hopefully it would work.

Footsteps echoed the hallway near Alice, sounding as though they were getting closer with each step. Within moments, the footsteps had stopped.

"You can't go in there Alice," came Elrohirs voice.

He was stood behind her with a vacant look upon his face. It seemed as though hewas being controlled by another.

Back outside the Alchemy class, several students were helping the vampire girl. Her eyes fluttered as she regained conciousness.

"I did it again didn't I?"

Alice glanced back at Elrohir as she continued to slam her power against the door in what was obviously a hopeless attempt to open it.

"Shutup."

She could feel the creature's agitation rising, it was angry and it had a target for the anger. Unfortunately it wasn't able to unleash such anger from within a cage. Feeling the frustration, Alice was sure there was someone before the animal.

"We need to get in there, someone is fucking with my dog."

Taking a different approach to the situation, Alice placed both palms together and concentrated her will. Throwing energy into the door had obviously done nothing so perhaps she could drain it.

A small sphere appeared within her now cupped hands, slowly growing larger as her hands moved further apart. Within a minute the sphere was now the size of a basketball and hovering before the door. Stepping away, Alice initiated the spell with a single word.

Hopefully this one would work.

"No that dog will be fine," Elrohir replied. "We do not need to go inside."

The magical forcefield withstood the attack from the sphere. Elrohir just shook his head.

"That forcefield was put up by Professor Bräck himself, you couldn't break it down, not in a million years. There is one key that can open it and Gahlagæer has it."

Inside the dungeons, Robin and Gahlagæer faced the dog.

Alice couldn't help but scream as she slammed her fist against the barrier, disengaging her spell at the same time. She didn't want to admit but Elrohir was right, she wouldn't be getting the barrier down anytime soon.

"Why the hell are you here anyway, this has nothing to do with you!"

The dog began bark savagely as it eyed Robin and Gahlagæer. Anyone outside the cage was viewed as it's captors and so the overwhelming urge to tear them apart was ever rising.

Closing her eyes, Alice attempted to establish a connection with the dog, something more substantial than mild empathy. She needed a solid mental link, something she could use.

Sitting in the corner of the room, Alice began to concentrate. She could feel the rage within the beast rising. Obviously she didn't want to commit herself to the dog as the creature inside could attack her mind. All she needed was glimpse.

Shaking violently and falling to her side, Alice opened her eyes and began panting heavily.

"Robin... and another. They're in there, before the dog."

Elrohir chuckled. "Oh there is a reason for me to be here, same as there was a reason for me to be in the cemetary," he said, his eyes going cold as he remembered what Alice had done to him. "There are things here that you are oblivious to, Robin just wants to borrow your dog to get rid of a certain some one. Gahlagæer is just helping him and you should be thankful."

Gahlagæer knelt down in front of the dog, his eyes staring into the eyes of the dog. "You want to kill don't you, Robin here knows just the person."

Mierin had observed that last bit after dragging Ruari along into the hall with her. She rushed over to the girl who had fainted. "What about Alice's dog? What did you see?" she asked. Normally she was not this concerned about things, but that dog/thing was a nasty creature.

Arpad had simply gone to his room to study since Robin had stalked off in what appeared to be a very bad mood.

((OOC: Trying to get back in. >_>))


A silver haired catgirl seemed to just... Materalize behind Mierin, looking down at the fallen vampire girl. Celestial made a face. "Dogs? But... Dogs are so... Ewww..."

"Dogs are simply a variation on wolves," Mierin said sharply. She liked Celestial, but her family kept a wolf as a pet, and she would not hear him insulted. "This particular dog is unpleasant, though."

Celestial shrugged. She wasn't going to let it get to her. "Yeah, I kinda figured Alice as the type who'd keep a loud, rowdy unpleasent dog... Le sigh..." She shook her head slowly, her cat-tail swishing behind her, "What do you think she meant by that last bit?"

As she spoke, she tucked away her completed Alchemy assignment into a binder. While most of the other students had slept, she used the time to complete the assignment she was given by their teacher. She wouldn't be surprised if, at this moment, she was the only student who knew anything about Nicolas Flamel.

"Robin," the vampire girl said quietly. Her head was spinning since she'd never recieved a vision that strong before. "He's planning something."

She knew exactly what he planned but since she hated the alchemy teacher she was willing to let it happen.

Iris stood at the edge of the forest; she knew that if she took one more step she would risk expulsion from the school. Iris sighed deeply and turned to walk back to the school, she hugged her books to her chest as if she were warming herself from a chill, as she neared the school she looked up to see a group of students huddled together, I wonder what’s happening this time..., she thought to her self grimly and sat next to a tree content to watch from a distance.

"No no," Mierin said in response to Celestial. "This isn't an ordinary dog." The fact that there was no explanation as to what was going on with the dog was a bit worrying. "It's the carcass of a dog with the soul of something else, something really nasty in it."

Turning back to the girl, Mierin said "What is he planning? And what does Robin have to do with the dog?"

Arpad had been studying in his room, but that got far too boring after a while. Looking out his window, he noticed it was a beautiful day outside, though not too bright. After that, the decision was made. He quickly put some sunblock on and left the castle, walking lazily over the grounds.

He noticed Iris, a quiet girl, not far away. "Hey."

Iris looked up from her book when she heard some one say hey, it was one of the boys from vampire studys, she closed the book marking her place, "Hello, enjoying the weather?"

Alice was becoming more irritated with Elrohir by the second, every word he uttered seemed to build upon her frustration until she finally spun around and pushed him into the wall, her vampiric strength making such a task effortless.

"I'm not interested in who Robin wants to get rid of, that's entirely his business but when he starts meddling with things that could connect me to his actions, then I get irritated."

Turning around, Alice looked at the door once again. It wasn't going to open and she couldn't think of anyway to get through it. Unfortunately this was one of those situations where it didn't help being a novice magic user.

As Gahlagæer knelt down before the dog it made a lunging attempt to tear at his face. Fortunately for the necromancer he was protected by the cage bars that came to mee the dog's face and the arcane chains that held firm. It wasn't going anywhere without being released.

Iris looked up from her book when she heard some one say hey, it was one of the boys from vampire studys, she closed the book marking her place, "Hello, enjoying the weather?"

Arpad looked up at the sky, his eyes protected by the sunglasses he'd donned just before going outside. "Yeah, it's a bit warm, but it's weather I've never really experienced before."

Turning back to the girl, Mierin said "What is he planning? And what does Robin have to do with the dog?"


The girl looked up at her, "I don't know," she lied.

Alice was becoming more irritated with Elrohir by the second, every word he uttered seemed to build upon her frustration until she finally spun around and pushed him into the wall, her vampiric strength making such a task effortless.

"I'm not interested in who Robin wants to get rid of, that's entirely his business but when he starts meddling with things that could connect me to his actions, then I get irritated."

Turning around, Alice looked at the door once again. It wasn't going to open and she couldn't think of anyway to get through it. Unfortunately this was one of those situations where it didn't help being a novice magic user.

As Gahlagæer knelt down before the dog it made a lunging attempt to tear at his face. Fortunately for the necromancer he was protected by the cage bars that came to mee the dog's face and the arcane chains that held firm. It wasn't going anywhere without being released.


Elrohir laughed, he seemed much brighter then he had during the lessons. It was as if all that was just an act. He turned to face her.

"You're Gahlagæer's apprentice right?" he then said. "He'll make it so you don't get into trouble at all over this, after all who was it that got you to bring the dog back to life." He smirked at her. "Not your fault if the dog should escape."

He then raised his hand up at the door.

"Nothing is getting in there without that key."

In the cell, Gahlagæer summoned a demon leesh that wrapped itself around the dogs neck. Once he was satisfied that it was in place and the dog could be brought under control, he released it from it's chains.

Alice noted the difference in Elrohir's manner yet was too irritated to make mention of it, she didn't really care at the moment. Whilst it was most likely true that Gahlagæer would prevent any of the blame from falling upon her, Alice still didn't like the idea of her 'creature' being used for some petty plot due to Robin being a little upset.

Sighing to herself, Alice resigned from attempting to get through the door. There wasn't any chance of that happening and so she'd merely have to wait things out. Turning to Elrohir, her eyes narrowed.

"What is your part in all this?"

Elrohir calmly leaned against the wall, his eyes drifting down the hallway. "My part?" he asked, almost sounding his usual cheeky way. "My part is to keep watch, like I'm doing now and keep everyone else out."

The mansion was then rocked by a rather loud explosion. Elrohir smirked.

Now restrained within Gahlagæer's leash, the dog could do nothing but growl and attempt to escape as it was dragged out of the cage yet held back from attacking the two figures before it. Barking loudly, the demonic shepard stared down Gahlagæer.

Alice ignored the explosion as she watched Elrohir. She didn't like his new manner, he was far too confident and that either meant he was an idiot or he had abilities that filled him with such confidence.

"Fine. But if I encounter your or Robin fucking with my business again... they'll be worse than a few zombies chasing you around."

With that said Alice stormed out of the dungeon, back into the main halls of the academy. She didn't like Elrohir and considering there was nothing she could do there was no real point in hanging around with him..

The girl looked up at her, "I don't know," she lied.

Mierin swore loudly, in what would have translated roughly to "bullshit," as she laughed in disbelief. She'd lied to others enough times to recognize when she herself was being lied to. "In addition to the fact that you're obvious, you wouldn't have fainted earlier if what you saw hadn't shocked you or something. Inquiring minds want to know." Mierin was not so civic minded that she wanted to divulge the information out of a sense of duty, she just prefered to know things, for her own sake.

Elrohir just laughed as Alice headed off. "You'll be lucky," he muttered under his breath and carried on his duty of keeping watch.

There was now a back exit to the dungeon as the stonework fell away and a hole opened up. Within the sunlight that now appeared, a figure stood.

"Got it," came a familiar voice.

A set of hooded robes that could protect a Draconian vampire landed at the feet of Robin.

"Good work Zero," Gahlagæer smiled.

Once Robin had put on the robes and put the hood up, Gahlagæer passed the leesh to him. Robin then began to climb up through the hole attempting to bring the dog with him.

"I'm sworn to secrecy," the vampire girl replied.

"I'm sworn to secrecy," the vampire girl replied.

Mierin laughed incredulously, she could barely stop, what with the hilarity of that statement. "No you're not," she said, still half laughing.

The vampire girls eyes clouded over and her head rolled back. "Careful Mierin I can see yor death," she mentioned.

Now back in the normal halls, Alice couldn't shake the feeling this wouldn't turn out well. She would have expected a student that's been here longer than Alice to concoct something a little more devious than using a dog to get at someone. Despite the demonic creature inside it, the body was still a dog and bound by what a dog could do. Seemed hardly a challenge to an accomplished dark arts teacher.

Now back near the others, Alice noticed the other vampiric girl was still on the ground whilst everyone else crowded around her. She had no idea how the girl slotted into this yet she didn't really want to know. There was nothing she could do but wait.

Edit: Woops, different vampiric character of mine.

OOC: Skadi?

IC:

Gahlagæer looked up at the windows on the teachers floor, he knew exactly which windows belonged to Professor Psyrens quarters.

"She's in there," Zero mentioned. "Checked already."

Using the leesh, Robin commanded the dog to go up there and attack. The demonic dog managed a large leap and crashed through the window just as the professor was heading toward the window. Before she even knew what was happening, the dogs jaws clamped down around her neck.

With the prospect of blood exciting the dog beyond measure, it didn't hesitate to leap forth and pounce onto the unsuspecting professor. Knocking her to the ground gard, sharp canine teeth sunk into her neck as the beast began to tear and pull at her soft flesh.

Alice swore loudly as she went through another flash of what the dog could see. Currently it wasn't much besides skin and blood, it was attacking someone yet she didn't know their identity.

"Damnit!"

Looking as if she were about ready to rip someone's head off herself, Alice looked around for any sign of Robin or her mentor.

The vampire girls eyes clouded over and her head rolled back. "Careful Mierin I can see yor death," she mentioned.

Rolling her black eyes, Mierin sighed and said "good for you, but I don't really care. Just because you can see it doesn't alter a thing about the actual event." She looked back at the girl and said "Now really, what harm could come of telling me what's going on with Alice's... thing? I just want to know for my own amusement."

Professor Bräck appeared in the corridor in front of Alice. "I do apologise, it would seem I was lax in the security around your dog," he apologised. "I really should have had it destroyed."

The vampire girl used the headmasters pressence to try and distance herself away from Mierin. Quickly she made her way back to her dorm room.

For Professor Psyren however, things were bleak indeed. Her last breath came out in a hollow gasp, spraying blood over the demonic dog. Knowing she was dead, Gahlagæer looked over at Robin and nodded.

"Time to bring it back."

Professor Bräck's appearance out of nowhere startled Alice slightly as she was so engulfed in her rage she barely noticed anything else. Getting over her mild shock she listened intently, it was good to see she wouldn't be feeling the consequences of Robin's actions.

"We should have sent it back after the class..."

Nevertheless, nothing could be done about it now. Alice could tell it had killed, it was practically oozing with satisfaction as the last spark of life gurgled out of Professor Psyren's devastated throat.

"It's killed someone, just now..."

Alice didn't know whether Bräck was fully aware of the situation considering he seemed rather calm. You she could never tell with him, he was difficult to read.

"Yes I know, but nothing we can do about that right now," Professor Bräck said in a calm tone. "The one thing we can do is deal with that soul inside the dog, come with me."

He took one last look at Alice before turning around and heading down the corridor.

Mierin glared at the vampire girl who could tell the future. It wasn't a "I hate you and am going to kill you and your family" glare, though. It said something more like "It's totally unfair that you didn't tell me and I really wanted to know so now I'm going to pout."

"Wow if looks could kill," came Raven's voice. "Mierin you haven't seen Zero have you? He seems to have vanished."

He did know, of course. It seemed nothing happened in this school without Bräck knowing. Alice supposed it was something to do with being a master necromancer and general magic user thing. Forcing the thoughts out of her head, Alice nodded in agreement and followed the Professor as he moved off down the hallway.

There was a reasonable chance Alice would be able to remove the soul now, it had been months since first summoning it and she'd certainly been practicing, her knowledge expanding and power pooling. She excelled most in necromancy but was fairly competent in the concoctions of potions as well.

Suddenly caught by surprise, Mierin snapped out of her pout. It took her a moment to realize the question she was being asked, because she had been so intent on sulking. "No, I'm afraid I have no idea where he is. That seems odd to just disappear like that, unless of course he can do that." Speaking of male companionship, Ruari seemed to have gone off somewhere as well.

He did know, of course. It seemed nothing happened in this school without Bräck knowing. Alice supposed it was something to do with being a master necromancer and general magic user thing. Forcing the thoughts out of her head, Alice nodded in agreement and followed the Professor as he moved off down the hallway.

There was a reasonable chance Alice would be able to remove the soul now, it had been months since first summoning it and she'd certainly been practicing, her knowledge expanding and power pooling. She excelled most in necromancy but was fairly competent in the concoctions of potions as well.

Professor Bräck led Alice outside, he took her around the side of the mension to where the dog was still being held by Gahlagæer, Robin and Zero. Behind them Elrohir had even shown up, seemingly from out of the hole to the dungeons.

"Do you have the confidence of sending the soul back?" the headmaster asked.

Suddenly caught by surprise, Mierin snapped out of her pout. It took her a moment to realize the question she was being asked, because she had been so intent on sulking. "No, I'm afraid I have no idea where he is. That seems odd to just disappear like that, unless of course he can do that." Speaking of male companionship, Ruari seemed to have gone off somewhere as well.


Raven sighed. "Sometimes I wonder if he's in some sort of secret club or something, he does it often."

Alice had been hoping he'd ask that, power already pooling under her command. She was much stronger and had better control over her own ability now, the dog would be going back and there was nothing it could do about it.

"Just say the word and it's gone."

No little demon soul would get the best of this apprentice necromancer, on top of growing stronger, Alice was a lot more confident in her abilities and felt ready to take on the task that had defeated her towards the beginning of her education at the academy.

Robin was still hidden away by the hooded robe as he tried keeping the demonic dog steady. It was using all his vampiric strength to do so.

Professor Bräck nodded. "Then do it," he said. "Make it gone."

Alice nodded and immediately focused her mind upon the task at hand. Falling into a light trance, the distractions of the world around her faded away as she focused upon the soul of the creature occupying the shepard.

Tendrils of power expanded from Alice's consciousness, wrapping around the very core of the demonic creature. As the power surrounded it, the dog immediately began to kick and shake as panic soared through it's very being. After tasting blood for the first time in months, it had no desire to be returned to the underworld, robbed of physical ability once again.

The ethereal core of the beast screamed in rage as Alice contained it, not allowing the horrid noise to distract her as she began to pluck it from the canine body. It attempted to fight back yet did not possess the arcane knowledge or ability to successfully escape Alice's grasp.

Smiling to hereself, Alice yanked hard, pulling the demon spirit free from the dog and down into the lower depths of the underworld. Navigating through the darkness easily, Alice avoided other demonic spirits as she continued to descend. Instead of placing the minor demon back where she'd initially found it, Alice intended to plunge it deeper into the nether, where it could never escape from.

After several minutes she arrived into a darkness like nothing she'd seen before. It was eternal. Satisfied with her effort, Alice released the creature into the nether and retracted her consciousness, following her own trail back in the physical world and into her own body.

Opening her eyes, Alice sighed.

"It's done."

Ruari sat in his room, brooding; at least that was something he'd improved at since he came to this lousy school. First he brooded about the stupid homework assignment. As if everyone didn't already know about Nicholas Flamel! Not all there was to know, of course; the Elizabethan alchemist had played quite a big, if secret, part in the establishment of Findhorn. But when he'd started to tell the story, someone had laughed and said, "Oh, of course, everything has to have something to do with Findhorn."

Know-it-all older kids! Ruari had clammed up.

He brooded even more about Mierin, who had dragged him after her without even thinking whether he wanted to go. He did, of course -- things were somehow more exciting around Mierin -- but she shouldn't just assume it. So he'd waited, and then quietly backed away. He didn't understand what was going on, anyway. He'd come up here to his room and just sat.

While he was sitting, his eyes had been flicking around the room. They came to rest on his chess set. Maybe he could practise the moves he'd been learning ...

Heh, someone had changed it around! Must have been Mierin, for a joke. He'd left it set up ready for a game. But now the two sides, red and black, were clustered in a wide circle around the Red King. He smiled, cheered slightly. It wouldn't have been easy for her to sneak in here during the day. She'd gone to a bit of trouble for him. So, was he supposed to be the Red King? What was she trying to say, eh?

He was just standing there in front of the chess set. He hadn't touched a thing, he could swear. But this time, when he looked again, the Red King was no longer alone. The Black Queen stood at his side. And the circle of other pieces seemed to have closed in on them. He didn't know why, but they looked ... well, menacing.

Dammit, he was getting as spooky as that Alice kid! It must have been a trick of the light, or something. He'd just missed seeing it properly the first time. Of course chess sets didn't move without people.

Yes, well, he'd been up here too long, he was probably missing something interesting. He'd go and ask Mierin what she was up to. It was probably all quite simple. Maybe they could go get some coffee, or something. Maybe someone had some good music. Maybe someone would like to know what he knew about Nicholas Flamel. In fact, it was probably almost his duty to go find the others ....

If there'd been a watcher, he or she would have been amused to see how Ruari's usual lazy slouch turned into a scuttle as he pelted back downstairs to the safety of the group.

The dog slumped to the ground, lifeless. Professor Bräck smiled at Alice and said, "Good job, I probably should have asked on your talents before. Now I have a nasty mess to have cleaned up and I have to find a new alchemy teacher."

He took one look at Gahlagæer before heading off.

"One less vampire hater, now if only we could do that to every vampire hunter as well," Robin smirked, dropping the leesh he looked toward Alice. "And don't think they wouldn't come after you."

"Oh there you are!" Mierin said when she saw Ruari come down the stairs. "I was actually just wondering where you'd gone off to," she added, walking up to him and facing him as she put her hands on his waist. "That girl who can see the future wouldn't tell me what she saw, and it turned out to be something really interesting."

Alice waited for the headmaster to leave before levelling a cold glare at Robin. She wasn't worried that he'd just instigated the death of a teacher, Alice disliked the woman as much as anyone else. She wouldn't forget Robin's little stunt with her dog, his inability to do his own dirty work irritated her, that and he didn't even ask her.

"They should be more worried about me coming for them..."

Not wishing to hang around any longer, Alice promptly made her way out of the room and back into the main corridors. She now had a bit of time to kill before the next class, whatever it was.

Gahlagæer smirked, "Fiesty one isn't she," he said to the others.

"I don't like her," Elrohir mentioned with a scowl.

"Oh I don't expect you to, but I wonder if she trusts me enough after this to continue as my apprentice," the damned child wondered. "I hope she does, she has power. Power that won't be fulfilled just coming to this academy."

Elrohir turned around to walk away. "Well if anyone wants me I'm in my room planning pranks," he stated.

Gahlagæer looked at the dog and wondered about something.

Gahlagæer appeared behind Alice. "I am sorry if my inner circle have caused you trouble," he apologised.

Having parted ways with the others, Zero headed back to his room. As he wandered in he saw no sign of Arpad. Knowing that he lay down on his bed and began listening to music while reading a necromancy book.

Alice turned to face her master. She wasn't happy with him yet she didn't directly blame him. Even after these months she couldn't exactly understand his purpose here, besides to cause more trouble and work for the headmaster.

"Your inner circle is a bunch of immature brats. I don't care to concern myself with their affairs, yet I suggest they go about such via their own means and not involve me."

Evidently Alice was serious in her words, she didn't appreciate the recent events in the slightest.

Gahlagæer smirked at her. "Yes it's true some of them can be immature," he admitted. "But it's expected, my inner circle is more of a boys club."

His face then took on a more serious expression.

"I will warn them in future not to involve you."

"Right. I'm not worried about what they do, I just don't want any part of their buggery."

Looking at her timetable, Alice sighed. Vampire studies were next, the most painful subject in all existence as far as she was concerned.

"What are you up to next period? Just about anything is better than enduring another class on the history of some extinct vampiric race..."

As the months had gone by, Alice's competence and general ability had increased greatly. Whilst her main focus was on necromancy, she'd become quite skilled in potion mixing and a general control of her strength. The only thing she hadn't taken to was vampire studies...

The smirk on Gahlagæers face dimmed slightly. "I have no plans really," he admitted. "I was just going to head back to my nearest castle and experiment on dead bodies. You're quite welcome to join me if that interests you."

He placed his hands in his pockets and leaned against a wall.

"I promise that none of my inner circle will be there."

Alice couldn't really say that playing with corpses interested her that much, yet Vampire Studies made her want to place a bullet through her brain, so the corpses won this battle.

"May as well, nothing better is going on."

There was always the chance Alice would learn something useful off in Gahlagæer's castle and knowing that wouldn't be the case in her next class, Alice didn't hesitate.

"Shall we go?"

Gahlagæer nodded, he placed his hand on Alice's shoulder and in a flash their surroundings changed. No longer was it the hallway of the mansion, it was now the cold stonewalled room of a castle. Piled in one corner were bones, human bones. Lying on a slab nearby was a fresh corpse.

"Welcome to Duchoc Castle," he smiled, taking his hand off her shoulder. "I should have probably had the place cleaned up prior to your arrival."

Alice chuckled slightly at her master's comment as she looked around the castle.

"I'm sure I'll live, a little mess never killed anyone... at least, I don't think so."

This happened to be the young woman's first time in a castle, as none remained in Assington and she'd never felt compelled to go investigate medieval structures.

Following Gahlagæer, Alice noted the corpses and bones.

"I take it this place isn't a popular destination for most?"

"Oh you'd be surprised at what can kill a weak being," Gahlagæer smirked. "Some of the castles horrors have been known to cause heart faliure."

He noticed Alice chuckle, it was the first time that he could recall her showing such an emotion.

"For most no, but for others it is popular."

Somewhere deep within the castle came a loud inhuman growl.

The strange growl halted conversation for a moment as Alice raised an eyebrow, looking back to Gahlagæer.

"A pet of yours?"

Whilst training to be a necromancer, Alice wasn't exactly into the whole big dark castle full of monsters and corpses seen. Sure there was a certain stigma about being one that practices dark magics, yet she was never one to follow trends.

"Kind of cosy, in a slightly disturbed manner..."

Gahlagæer nodded as he listened to the inhuman growling. Something within the castle was hungry.

"That would be a rabbit late to a dinner party, or something like that," he said and looked up at a clock on the wall.

It was early afternoon, the time the other students in Alice's year would now be heading to Vampire Studies.

"He's called Bugs, don't ask me why, Robin named him. Want to meet him?"

Alice shrugged, she had nothing else better to do.

"May as well."

As the pair moved through the castle, the howls became louder and more unnerving yet Alice didn't bother herself too much with it, she was used to these sorts of things by now.

"I was thinking, I think I'm ready to attempt bringing a human fully back to life... I've done everything else."

Alice wasn't sure if Gahlagæer would approve, yet she expected she'd have better chances with as opposed to the headmaster.

Gahlagæer led Alice into another room, in the centre was a large pit.

"Careful not to fall in," he joked before kneeling at the edge and peering in.

Glowing stones in the walls of the pit lit it up, allowing them to see what was down there. Two red eyes peered up, they belonged to a large grey, drooling rabbit. Seeing them, sent it into another fit of growling.

"I'd say he's hungry," the damned child then mentioned. He thought of what Alice had just told him. "If you think you're ready for it."

Gazing into the pit, Alice raised an eyebrow as she looked upon a rather large rabbit. Evidently it wasn't the kind of rabbit one would find hopping around the woods, yet she doubted one would find a normal rabbit hopping around the woods in this area anyway.

"I don't think I want to know how you ended up with a giant, rabid bunny."

Taking another gaze at the growling creature, Alice gathered it was hungry as well.

"So what does it eat?"

"Funny story actually," Gahlagæer said with a cruel smirk.

From within the castle came yelling. The door across the pit from where the two were stood opened and two men with blank expressions upon their face entered, holding onto a third struggling man.

"I did warn you not to betray me Elrich," Gahlagæer said and clapped his hands.

"No!" the man yelled as he was brought to the edge of the pit and saw the large rabid rabbit.

The two emotionless men the threw Elrich into the pit. His screaming was cut short as the rabbit tore him to pieces. After that the two men then left.

"That's what it eats, human flesh."

When Zero sat up again, he noticed he was still alone in the room. Taking off his headphones he left the shared dorm room and headed out to find Arpad.

Alice watched calmly as the rabbit tore the defenceless man to pieces, making quick work of his flesh and whatever else happened to be in the mix. Not a particularly pleasant death, nor one that many would ever consider in their lives.

"Well, that's charming. Shall we move on and let the bunny enjoy it's meal?"

Whilst not particularly phased by the site, Alice certainly didn't enjoy watching a giant rabbit eat someone and could think of better things to be doing.

Gahlagæer just smirked at the mans gruesome demise. He turned around and headed for the door.

"You want to try and bring a person back to life right?" he asked. "Then allow me to give you that chance."

Arpad made his way back inside, heading up to his room to study. By now, the sunblock was probably wearing off, and moroii could get such terrible sunburns. He walked at a leisurely pace, no need to hurry since there was still plenty of time to do his work. He wasn't the best student, but he did do most of his school work.

Finding his search unsuccessful, Zero gave up and retuened to his dorm. Sighing he opened the door and walked inside, almost slamming it shut behind him. As he was about to head over his bed he noticed Arpad was back in there.

"So you returned," he said. "I was looking for you."

Alice gazed up at Gahlagæer, noting his serious expression and tone. He seemed confident enough that she could do it, she knew she was.

"Alright, anyone in particular in mind?"

The prospect of accomplishing this was exciting for the young necromancer, she'd struggled at times with controlling her power and adapting to the structured guidlines of magic, despite her determination.

Gahlagæer smirked and nodded.

"Just the usual dead bodies that tend to be collected," he admitted. "But I do have someone I picked up from last years academy deaths, a young girl of sixteen who hung herself."

He looked back toward Alice.

"I keep the bodies frozen, stops the natural decay, so if you'll follow me I shall show you where the bodies are kept."

A suicide. Alice didn't exactly like the idea of bringing back someone that had killed themselves, mainly for two reasons. Those that killed themselves obviously didn't want to be alive and she figured those that would do such didn't possess the strength of constitution to deal with life.

Yet, it was a chance to prove herself and would be good enough.

"Fine. Lead the way."

Alice couldn't help but ponder why her mentor kept a bunch of frozen corpses lying about, she was always under the impression that one didn't have to be some sort of freak just to be a necromancer, yet she imagined he had his own reasons.

"I'm sure she'll be thrilled to be alive once again..."

Gahlagæer nodded and led the way way through the dark narrow hallways down to the lower parts of the castle.

"Possibly, I'm sure she'll look forward to trying to gain revenge," he then said, he stopped beside a door at the bottom of a set of stone steps. "After all she didn't willingly hang herself, hypnotised into it actually."

Gently he pushed open the door and led Alice into a cold and dark room. Clapping his hands twice the lights came on and revealed a martuary. Rows upon rows of draws, alot were empty but many contained bodies. One open draw revealled the body of a young white haired teenager, he looked rather much like Robin.

But Gahlagæer ignored it and walked over to another to another draw and opened it.. "Here she is," he said, revealling a young blue haired girl.

Finding his search unsuccessful, Zero gave up and retuened to his dorm. Sighing he opened the door and walked inside, almost slamming it shut behind him. As he was about to head over his bed he noticed Arpad was back in there.

"So you returned," he said. "I was looking for you."

"Yes, it was a nice day outside, but the sun was a bit too much for me," Arpad said, looking up from his book. It seemed odd that his roommate would look for him instead of just waiting for him to inevitably come back. This sparked his curiosity. "Any specific reason you were looking for me?"

Zero went and sat down on his bed, placing his hands on his lap and looked toward Arpad. "Well Gahlagæer wanted me to ask you something and I hoped to find you before he left but he already has," he explained. "Want to join his inner circle? It's really more of a club than anything."

Alice nodded in understanding as Gahlagæer explained the rest of the girl's situation. Revenge seemed a likely motivation to return to the living, Alice knew she'd like a shot at returning to life in order to server her own personal justice if she were ever murdered.

"Fair enough, I'm sure she'll be grateful then."

Alice took a moment to look over the dead girl, wondering what she had been alike when she was alive and why someone had killed her.

"Alright, is there anything I need to know?"

"Keep all sharp objects away from her," Gahlagæer grinned.

He looked down at the body of the dead girl and thought for a moment. He could still clearly remember his first time at bringing a person back to life and the problems he'd had. Now Alice he knew was strong, but could she control this girl if she went out of control, he was sure she could.

"Other then we should unfreeze the body," he began to say. "You should be aware that some people whom are brought back to life instantly go berzerk."

Alice nodded, looking around the room. There didn't appear to be anything sharp yet a few blunt object were littered across the floor. With the wave of a hand, the objects slid across the floor and out the door before it closed, sealing them in a now relatively bare room.

With the body now shifted onto a cold steel table, Alice began muttering in incantation whilst drawing runes within the air, a faint trail of energy tracing them out before disappearing. Whilst there was no visible evidence of heat, it appeared as though the dead girl's body was softening up, soon to be ready for revival.

"Alright, I think everything is in order then."

Gahlagæer raised an eyebrow and watched Alice. He noticed her clear the room of certain objects and went over to close the other open draw. It didn't need to be open and he'd have to talk to Robin about leaving the draws open, again.

"Then you may start," Gahlagæer said. He reached out to touch the girls skin. "Feels about right, an interesting way of getting the body to room tempurature." He looked over at Alice. "How do you wish to begin?"

"Hmmm."

Alice examined the body physically, noting that everything appeared to be in order. She assumed the girl must have suffocated as opposed to breaking her neck when she hung herself, either way there shouldn't be a problem maintaining life once the consciousness was back in the body.

"I'll need to trace the path of her soul, get a feel for it so I can be sure it will be her..."

Closing her eyes, Alice placed both hands lightly upon the corpse before her and attempted to locate any trail of her soul, any slight ethereal residue that could give her a 'scent', for lack of a better term.

Eventually she came across the dim path of the departed soul. Within the darkness of this girl's brain, a single red line trickled into the nether region, away from the physical concerns of the world and into a place where only consciousness could exist.

It would take some time, but eventually Alice would find the right soul and return it to the body.

Gahlagæer nodded. "Just watch no other sould gets caught up in this," he said.

Then he was silent, he knew Alice required it to concentrate. He folded his arms and watched his apprentice work her stuff on the dead body.

Alice nodded at the vague words of Gahlagæer as she concentrated. She dind't want to repeat her mistake with the dog, that had all kinds of undesired consequences.

After several more minutes of searching through the ether, the trail finally ended and Alice came across the essence of the dead girl, the conscious being. Instead of employing an automated spell, Alice would approach the girl and take hold of her directly this time.

Ignoring the other beings around her, Alice approached the girl and without warning extended a cage of pure will around the spirit. Before going anywhere else, Alice was sure to confirm the identity, probing the memories of the thing within her cage. It was her.

Smiling slightly to herself, Alice noted the others paying more attention and decided it was time to leave. Holding onto her new prize, the young necromancer surged through the gates of the ethereal and back into the physical world, the dead girl's soul not within the body.

Opening her eyes, Alice grinned slightly.

"Now to get things started again..."

Gahlagæer watched with interest. Last time she had tried this she hadn't been very experianced. Now that she had been under his apprenticeship, he felt that this time she would be successful. He knew know that she would take greater care in inserting the soul into the body.

Gahlagæer just smiled and silently watched.

The final stage was all that remained. Alice had the correct soul and she had the corpse, all she had to do was restart the organs and insert the consciousness. Eyes still closed, Alice mumbled incantations, causing a bright aura of light to engulf Alice and the corpse, locking them both into an arcane shield, protected from outside forces.

With that done, Alice placed one hand upon the girl's head and the other over her heart, releasing the necessary energies into the corpse as her spelled words dictated the effects the energy would have upon the organs.

Within seconds the first heartbeat echoed through Alice's ears, her senses finely tuned to the workings of the now living body. Continuing the energy flow, the young necromancer ensured the heart beat at a steady rythmn whilst the brain came back online, electrical charges coursing through the neurons.

Now that the body was coming back to life, Alice took hold of the somewhat confused consciousness and ever so gently released the arcane cage, completing the process. Almost immediately rapid eye movement could be seen under her eyelids, indicating some sort of brain activity.

Confident the body was now able to sustain itself, Alice ceased pouring energy into the girl and paid close attention, noting the heartbeat remained regular and colour began to return to her form as blood was pumped around the body.

Smiling to herself, Alice stepped backwards through the shield and shrunk it to merely surround the girl before adding physical properties to the barrier, preventing anyone from getting in or out.

"Now we wait till she wakes up."

OOC: She's all yours now.

Gahlagæer continued to watch and wait, so far so good. Then it was finally done, he watched life return to the girl. WHen Alice stepped back, he looked over at her.

"You have done well," he said.

The girls eyes snapped open.

"And now she wakes, her joints will be stiff for a few moments and she'll be rather confused."

The girls breathing became rapid, there was fear in her face.

Alice watched as the girl awoke, confusion and panic evident upon her face as she attempted to comprehend where she was and what was going on. Returning to the world of the living after a year of whatever happened in the places of the dead was bound to be surprising, to say the least.

Stepping into the now living girl's view, Alice flashed a soft smile.

"I know things must be strange for you... but you're alive again. It's been a while... but you're back now."

The girl didn't seem to know what Alice was talking about initially, her limbs twitching as she attempted to sit up.

"Do you understand me?"

The girl looked up at Alice, the fear turned to anger. She finally managed to sit up, her face turned to a scowl.

"What did you do to me," she demanded. "What the fuck did you do to me."

Gahlagæer stepped forward and touched the girls head. A green light emitted from his hand and she appeared to calm.

"Calm down dear," he said. "You have been given a second chance, a chance for revenge."

While she calmed down, her eyes were still on Alice.

Aliced kept her gaze upon the young girl, not particularly concerned with her anger as she was screamed it. Of course it was expected that young woman would be confused, angry and generally not feeling too pleasant, she'd been dead for a year afterall.

"I've brought you back, so you can get a little justice for your murder. I assume that doesn't bother you too much?"

There was a little sarcasm in Alice's voice, yet she was unsure if the girl before her would realise such considering her current state of mind.

The girls face returned to a scowl, hatred burning in her eyes but Gahlagæer kept her calm.

"Burning hatred, I sense alot of it," he smirked, looking down at the girl.

"Them, they..." the girl growled.

Gahlagæer nodded and looked toward Alice. "And how do you feel?"

Alice couldn't help but release her breath as it became evident the girl was fine. Obviously she had a few things to settle with certain people but she appeared to be in a good living condition once again, thanks to Alice's efforts. She'd succeeded.

"Good. I finally did it..."

Whilst Alice was attempting to remain rather calm, it was obvious she was thrilled with her accomplishment. Any self respecting necromancer would be able to raise the dead and now Alice could claim such an ability.

"It's been a long time coming..."

"Yes it has," Gahlagæer said with a smile. "A job well done too and with a potentially problematic subject such as she."

Gahlagæer then looked down out the girl as she passed out.

"Of course resurrection can be hard on ones mind, nothing any necromancer can do about that." He gave a cruel smirk. "Resurrection is indeed cruel."

Alice nodded.

"Indeed. I doubt it was a pleasant experience for her..."

Of course there was much more for Alice to learn before she'd be somewhat of a 'qualified' necromancer, yet her first successful ressurection was certainly a milestone, one she would not forget anytime soon.

"Are you just going to let her free?"

Gahlagæer looked down at the unconcious girl.

"I haven't really thought about that," he admitted. "Since she'll need to readjust to life she'll have to stay here for awhile."

His eyes returned to Alice.

"And of course she now owes her life to you, it's for that very reason that necromancers servants are often people they've resurrected."

The idea of having some girl as her slave wasn't really that appealing. She had no need for one and growing up in Assington, had never really been exposed to slavery, it was a strange concept to her, to own another person.

"Hmm, I don't think I'll worry about that. Although I would be interested to see who she wants to exact revenge upon?"

Alice imagined whoever it was would get a hell of a surprise when they saw the dead girl once again, of course it would probably be too late for them by then.

"Well that is if they're still alive," Gahlagæer pointed out. "I wouldn't know who they were, I just took her body."

He walked over to the unconcious girl and leaned over her.

"You can feel it just standing here, all that hatred and revenge just flowing through her veins. After the dog incident I doubt Professor Bräck will be too pleased about someone else being killed at the acedmy, besides right now she is too weak."

Zero went and sat down on his bed, placing his hands on his lap and looked toward Arpad. "Well Gahlagæer wanted me to ask you something and I hoped to find you before he left but he already has," he explained. "Want to join his inner circle? It's really more of a club than anything."

Looking back at his roommate quizically, Arpad thought for a moment. "What exactly do you guys do?" he asked, curious about the activities of any group before considering joining.

"Well we hang out, create spells, drink, try to create spells but end up sdummoning a giant mutated tadpole with a thirst for human flesh," Zero explained. "Well you'll get to deal with some magic that you won't learn here."

Zero then smirked at him.

"Believe me you'll regret not joining."

"Of course."

What the girl did now wasn't really Alice's concern, the only thing that mattered to her was that she's successfully raised the dead. Of course there were other goals to strive towards to now but she could at least savour the moment a little.

"Well, I'd say I have a class to get to about now. I'm sure you'll find something to do with her."

"Well I'll give her a room here and see where we go after that," Gahlagæer said, looking down at the girl. "Who knows, she may decide against revenge and want to do something completely different."

But for now, he'd go and get one of his own servants to take her to one of the guest rooms for her to regain conciousness. Instead he would take Alice back to the academy.

"You will find later that servants are very useful. However, that isn't necessary whilst you are at the academy, I do believe you have necromancy now."

In a flash, Gahlagæer had retuened with Alice to the academy. They were now stood in the necromancy classroom.

And just like that Alice was back at the academy, standing within the necromancy classroom. Some students were already there and gave her a somewhat surprised look as she merely appeared there with Gahlagæer out of nowhere.

Whilst the young necromancer had learned some basic teleportation spells and techniques, she wasn't able to simply transport herself anywhere she wanted. Alice needed to know a place quite well, to have some sort of beacon she could anchor her mind to and focus upon in order to teleport somewhere. Or if she could see, that was the safest manner in which to do it, that way she wouldn't risk teleporting into someone.

"Thanks. At least I'll be able to pick up something useful in this class."

Gahlagæer just smirked at the other students in the classroom who were whispering amongst themselves.

"Oh of course, just be wary of the headmasters teachings," he then said. "Now if you'll excuse me I have places to go, people to meet."

And with that, Gahlagæer vanished into thin air once again.

With Gahlagæer gone, Alice gave a stern look to some of the students giving her strange looks before scouting the classroom in search for the one person she could possibly call a friend, Mierin. After a few minutes of looking around she spotted the Callisdrunian vampire and took a seat next to her.

"Hey."

Elrohir wandered into the classroom with a huge grin on his face, as he sat down behind Alice, the lights in the classroom flickered. A few moments after that, Robin entered. His white hair was stood up in all directions as if he'd been given an electric shock. Walking over to Elrohir, he promptly punched him in the face and went to sit down elsewhere next to the vampire girl with the visions.

Alice turned around slowly as Elrohir fell to the floor, clutching his face. She took one look at Robin and chuckled slightly. She didn't like either of them but her distaste for Elrohir was greater, there was something about him that was creepy to her. He was a smug brat in her opinion.

Not offering any concern or assistance, Alice simply turned around and awaited the arrival of the headmaster.

OOC: Where is everyone?

OOC: I was waiting to see who was left.

IC:

As Elrohir got back to his seat, Professor Bräck came strolling in. He placed a sack on his desk, something inside rattled. His eyes crossed the room, noting Elrohirs black eye and Robins afro.

"Today I shall be demonstrating something very useful," the headmaster said, his eyes seeming cold and distant. He overturned the sack and human bones fell out into a pile on his desk. "Who can tell what?"

Iris awoke sprawled out in the grass; her book lay next her, pages flapping in the light breeze. Mumbling to her self she sat up and pulled the leaves out of her hair and picked up her book, a quick glance around revealed that class had started again and that she was quite late. Scrabbling to her feet Iris set off at a brisk jog and soon arrived outside the Necromancy classroom, carefully she slipped inside and in took seat at the back of the room right next to the door.

Professor Bräck eyed Iris. "I do hope you being late won't be a regular occurence Miss Darhaven," he said coldly.

Ruari slid further down in his seat, as far up the back as possible, emitting Please don't look at me! rays -- or so he hoped. He hated this class. He was at this school because he'd raised the dead, right? So this class should be a snap, right? Wrong. He hadn't seen any of the things the others talked about in any netherworld: no spirits trying to get through, no demons, no dangers, nothing. Just Granny. And she'd just been there all of a sudden, seconds after he'd sort-of-maybe wished she hadn't died.

He supposed he could try wishing those stupid bones Prefessor Brack was chortling over hadn't died. But since he didn't know what -- or rather, who --they'd been when they were alive, it'd be a bit difficult.

Maybe if I wished I were dead, I'd die, he thought hopefully. Though it did seem a rather extreme way of dodging class. In any case, it wouldn't work, because the Professor would probably turn him into extra homework -- "Now, who can raise Ruari?"

Trying to look like a good, co-operative student whom nobody should pay attention to, did you get that, Professor?Ruari picked up a pen and began to doodle. He decided to draw another episode of Attack Rabbit!, the comic-book superhero he and Callum had invented a couple of years ago and resorted to in moments of boredom ever since.

Wonder what would happen if Attack Rabbit met a female vampire rabbit . . . ?

Isis responded quietly, “Sorry Professor, I'll try to not let it happen again.” Sighing inwardly she turned her green eyes to the desk in front of her letting her long black hair fall over her shoulder in a sort of curtain shielding her from the student sitting next to her.

With that little problem out of the way, Professor Bräck looked around the class awaiting a reply. So far no one seemed to want to say anything. At the back of the Cassandra, the vampire with the visions was having another.

“I see bones flying, hitting students,” she announced. “The skull will draw blood by biting, chaos will take over.”

“Thank you for that wonderful premonition Miss Lacuna,” Professor Bräck said rather coldly. “Can you leave your visions at the door next time.”

Cassandra shook off her vision and looked toward the headmaster. “Umm… sorry Professor,” she apologised. “It just happens, I can’t control it.”

Professor Bräck’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the girl. “On another note, this lesson we’ll be starting on reanimating skeletons,” he then said.

He waved his hand around and the bones on the desk began to move and reform the skeleton.

“Now when I’m done with you, you will all be able to do this easily.”

In front of the whole class he got the skeleton to do the can can.

Iris wached the skeleton dance with a slight bit of apprehension, the girls premotion had nothing to do with the feeling, it was more that any thing that might require her to do something infront of the whole class scared her to death.