• Past: Chapter 1: Juri

    I fell with a crash. I still didn’t know what had hit me, but I could feel blood pouring freely from my side, I had to get up. Even before looking down I could tell what had happened by the blast of pain that shot through my body, making me cry out in pain and a wave of dizziness that assaulted my senses… I had been shot.
    Looking around for the assailant, but in an alley at this time of night, there was not much light to go by. I did catch one thing, a shadow looming over me about five feet away…with something glinting in the hand that was pointing at me, smoke still coming out of the barrel.
    I was standing now, leaning heavily against the cold brick wall, but I was standing. “Wh-...what do you want from me?” it took a lot more energy to speak than it should have; I needed to get help and fast. All the man did was smile in a way you would think only the devil himself could, and said the only words that could send me into a paralyzing fear…”I know what you are.”
    That was all he had to say… but how did he know? By the tone of his voice, that cold confidence that dripped venom when he spoke, I could tell that he was not speaking random babble. He knew Juri Kalahari was a vampire.
    At the point that I though my life was over, my days of hiding finally coming to an end, I see a blinding light streak across the alley and tackle the giant of a man…wait, tackle? Shielding my eyes from the light I could see that inside the silver fireball was a wolf. What is a wolf doing in New York? After pinning the man down and savagely ripping the man’s throat out with its daggers for teeth, the wolf looked at me and said “come ladie”
    “Gah! A talking wolf?” I had slid down the wall now and was crawling backwards with one hand, the other one clasping my bloodied side. “Its okay lad, I won’t do to you what I did to him.” the wolf spoke with a cool intelligence, and with a slight Irish accent. “I just want to help you get to where you need to go.” The voice of the wolf somehow calmed me, and I had stopped trying to escape the steely and benign gaze of the wolf. “Where do I need to go?” I had some curiosity now. I never really had a place to live, I could go into sunlight like anyone else, but anything I would do would show off my unusual talents. “There is a place… where people such as yourself, may train and stay away from the rest of the world. It is called the midnight academy.”
    ]Present: Chapter 2: Midnight Academy
    “Ah! Welcome Mr. Kalahari, how was the trip?” Mr. Luria was the dean of the academy and I had received a letter from him by the wolf that saved me. “Terack…” that was the name the wolf had given me after I had walked out of the hospital a day later, only now he was smaller and not in a ball of silver flame, he now looked like a big dog… with sharp teeth. A sixteen year old with an over sized dog almost as big as me could attract some attention. “Don’t worry, the trip is quick.” That was all Terack said before I fell asleep on the subway. Now I was talking to the dean of a mysterious school in the middle of nowhere.
    “Well, here is you’re key… you will be staying in dorm number two. Its getting late, might want to get there quick.” He said this with a smile. “Thanks Mr. Luria.” I said, returning the smile. Man, it really was getting dark.
    The walk to the dorms was short, but the darkness seemed to engulf me even more every step of the way. The dorms were up on the third story of the building, after the lobby and commons. “Here it is… dorm number two, here goes nothing.” I took out the key and unlocked the door. It swung open with just a slight groan from the hinges. “Anyone here?” I knew no one was in the room but vampires have better senses that most. All there was in the room was two sets of bunk beds, one closest to the window and one on the opposite wall. The bunk closest to the window had a suitcase on it and looked as if it had been recently disturbed. The window was also open, the curtains lightly waving in the crisp autumn winds. I eased towards the window, wondering if I should do this… ah, what the hell. “Anyone from dorm two, your roommate is here.” I didn’t shout, but I said it loud enough that even if they were in the woods that surrounded the school they could hear me clearly.
    I heard rustling from outside one of the other dorm windows, so I went back to the wall opposite and leaned against it, Terack behind my legs.
    A girl appeared from the window, planting on the sill. “Oh hey sorry I was in dorm five and-…wait, you’re a guy! A guy as a roommate?” a look of confusion crossed her face, but then she blushed. Was she embarrassed? Or was it something else? Only time will tell. Until then, all I let out was a small smile. “Yes, I am Juri, and this, is Terack.” Saying this, Terack left the shroud of my legs and licked her hand, he seemed to like her. For once, after all the trauma that had happened this past weekend, this was the only time I saw his fur change before my eyes.
    Starting out, Terack’s natural color is an almost midnight black with a white patch before his nose, coupled with white paws. But now, his fur turned silver so bright that it made his paws look a light gray. It instantly reminded me of the fireball I first saw him in. “w-… wow, he must really like you.” I said, smiling. Better time than ever to find out why she was blushing. “Wow, I feel lucky… by the way, my names Lidia.” Lidia, now there was an attractive name for an attractive girl. She had shoulder-blade-length almond hair and ice blue eyes that could piece walls with their look. “Nice to meet you Lidia, I hope it’s not too awkward to bunk with a guy.” I put on one of my more flirty smiles, and proved myself right. She turned away, smiling and turning a bright crimson. “No, not at all, it gets pretty boring in all girl dorms; maybe this will shake things up.” She looked me in these deep ocean blue eyes and smiles; at least she wasn’t to shy.
    I head someone approaching the door; Lidia must have heard it too, because she was looking around me. As I turned toward the door, another girl came in. this one looked about twelve to no more than fourteen years old. This one had straight black hair, almost as black as-”Ahh… This is going to be interesting, two girls and one guy.” Her voice had broken my thoughts, it was warm and gentle, but had a slight icy edge to it.
    Until now, I had not noticed the suitcase neatly leaning against the other bunk. My suitcase was still right next to the door. “Alright, I have some ground rules, some good, some very bad…” The girl was now at her bunk with the suitcase on the bed with her. I smiled “I don’t have to sleep on the floor do I?” Lidia giggled at the comment, but the girl only smiled. “No, you don’t, but your wolf does. He smells pretty bad.” Terack lowered his head when she said that. Lidia lightly wrinkled her nose “he doesn’t smell that bad…” she smiled and petted his silver ears. “Yeah, sorry about that, we had a long trip.” I sniffed the air “smells like…dirt and…dried blood.” I looked down, hiding the look of pain behind my cloak of dirty blond hair.
    “Right, my other rules are don’t touch my stuff without asking and don’t get in my way when I need to feed, understand?” “Sure thing, by the way… my names Lidia, and this is Juri…Juri?” I was still looking down, lost in flashbacks. ”Huh? Oh yeah, don’t touch stuff and don’t get in way when hungry…got it.” I decided to let my flashbacks assault me another time. “Nice to meet you both, my name is Crystal.” Wait, is someone…crying? It sounded like it came from dorm five. “”Uh… Crystal? Do you mind watching Terack for a second? I need to go do something.” Saying this, I looked at Lidia and nodded towards the door, she returned the nod and got up. “Uh… sure I guess…” Crystal looked sad, and being the kind of vampire I am, I could ‘taste’ her emotions. It was an icy bitter taste…which only proved her look. “You sure you will be okay?” the taste was now a little sweeter, but still a bit chilly. Either she did not want to be stuck with a wolf, or she did not want one of us to leave. “Yeah, go see who needs help.” So she did hear it… before Lidia and I left, I saw Crystal sit on the windowsill, silently petting Terack.