Night and Day

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Katie Rivers stood on the bleachers, staring at the evening sky. She hated night. Darkness gave her a sense of unwelcome anxiousness that she would much rather ignore. She was a bubbly person filled with light and joy that was hard to surpress. 
"There they come." Ann Talley, another of the cheerleaders whispered with glee. She was talking about the night students, of course, those that only showed up at night. 
It was the first night of the year and all the students were gathering on the field for the annual "meet and greet" that kicked off the year. 
Katie stood on tiptoe on the bleacher to see, frowning at the sudden cloud of darkness that was preventing her from seeing anything at all. The night students were a mystery to everyone. They avoided the day class and no one really knew why. Rumor had it it was because they were from rich families. At least ones that were richer than all the others. 
The little blonde was looking so hard to see she slipped on the cold metal and lost her balance. The ground behind her began to come up fast and she shut her eyes. There wasn't even enough time to scream. This was going to hurt.

Raife Saunders scowled at the giggling girls that were watching the night students arrive. "Stuck up and stupid." He growled, not sure if he meant the girls or the night class. He hated them both. The cheerleaders were whores and hr had no words for the night class. This wasn't his first year with them. He knew something wasn't right. He just wished someone would listen. 
Sighing deeply he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one. He was bound to get in trouble sooner or later. Why not start the year off right? 
He watched Katie Rivers as he took a drag and wondered where her sister was. Probably under the bleachers tying shoelaces together he concluded with a laugh. When Katie fell and hit that cotton ball head of hers, he'd know for sure...

"You're a bad liar." Katie whispered, gently pushing his wrist away. "On of your girls told me you have people to do that for you. Gran even says it."

The man chuckled, letting go of Julian and turning back to the wall. "I have rounded up my students. You have nothing more to deal woth than the wolf. You two have a nice evening."

"My girls?" Tobias echoed. "Katie... I didn't think you were one to listen to gossip." He added, seeming genuinely sad.

"The mutt said one of your students was hunting the stray... perhaps you should check on her?" Marie suggested, trying not to seem quite so eager to talk to this vampire.

"Nurse talks about you all the time." Katie said softly, trying to take the needle away from Tobias. "She always tells how it was her you chose to feed from because her blood was sweet." She left out the part where Nurse said he took her to bed as well.

"Oh?" The master vampire stopped, raising an eyebrow. "What student would that be?"

"Sweet isn't the reason." Tobias corrected firmly. "Convenient is more like it. She was there, and was a pathetic girl with a crush."

Marie shook her head. "I didn't see her. You'll have to ask him." She replied, nodding her head in Julian's general direction.

"Okay...wait..." Katie held up her hands as she turned to him, crossing the distance between them in two desperate strides. Then all at once she was throwing her arms around his waist and hugging him tightly. "This is how I wanted to greet you when I saw you again." She whispered against his chest. "I've missed you so much, Toby."

The vampire turned his head and glanced at Julian who was glowering at him. "Perhaps he is referring to the one calling herself, Little Red?" He asked, raising a perfect eyebrow. "I hear it's been a while since the nightime class has had a witch in their midst. It will be interesting teaching her as well." He added, again heading for the gates.

Tobias slid his arms around Katie and buried his face into her golden hair. He had missed her more than anyone seemed to realise. "I thought I could do what you needed... But I was just too weak.."

"A witch?! Did you know about this?!" Marie hissed, giving Julian a shove once the vampire had left them alone once more. "And why is she calling herself 'Little Red', who gave her that idea, huh?"

"Gran is going to kill you if she finds you in here." Katie said after a long moment of staying in his arms. She was already bracing herself for that terrible moment when he would leave again. "Thanks for the offer for blood but...I'll be fine. Really." She told him, pulling back to look into his warm golden eyes.

"Hey now...I didnt...do you think..." Julian could barely get a word in edge wise. "It wasn't me and do you think if I had known your mother brought in a witch I would have been pitching a bigger fit?" He finally managed to shout.

"She doesn't have to know." Tobias breathed, leaning down to steal a feather light kiss from Katie's lips.

"No, I don't think you would! Witches get you off, don't they?! You probably already had her anyway, that's why she picked up the name from!" Marie shot back. Just as he accused her of loving vampires, the red haired woman could do the same to him about witches.

"You should go." Tobias had hurt her before. She wasn't about to let him break her heart again. She pulled away and grabbed for her t-shirt, realizing then that she hadn't been wearing it the entire time he'd been there. 

"I hate witches." Julian said, curling up his nose at Marie. "I only screw one because..." He stopped himself and grinned wickedly. "Nice try there, Red. You almost got my secret out of me. Now stop stalling and hunt or go to bed and leave it for the real hunters." He snorted.

Tobias dropped his golden gaze to the floor, her rejection making him see a little clearer. "I guess it really is the right thing for me to have left then. Just... don't do something stupid like dating that idiot Ethan again, okay?"

"Real hunters?" Marie echoed. "Does a real hunter leave a little girl behind to take punishment from the council in his place? You know damn well how severely they beat failures, and she was still your student." Her red hair caught in the breeze as she shook her head. "I hope fucking Frost was worth the damage you caused!" She added, walking away before Julian could defend himself.

"Its Evan and you can't tell me what to do. You made it perfectly clear how you felt about me." Katie snapped, yanking her shirt over her head. "You didn't even try to stop me from leaving. How long did you wait before you called Nurse over? Yeah. She told me about you." She finally managed to get the needle away from him and retreated to the far side of the room, deciding it was time she went back to trying stitching. 

"I had no choice!" Julian howled, the familiar shame washing over him. "You don't understand, you bitch! Fuck you!" He roared, already feeling the pull to rejoin Frost. "Catch the beast yourself. I'm bored with it. And you." He snarled, turning to leap into the darkness of the trees.

Tobias saw that Katie still cared enough about the other boy to correct him. "And you never once thought that perhaps she way lying?" He asked, remaining where he was by the window.

Marie stopped walking once she thought herself far enough away and simply sat down by the narrow river that separated the day and night dorms from the school building. She hated this. She hated feeling things since Cyrus was gone. Worst of all... she found herself hating that she had no idea where her youngest child even was.

"I did." Katie grimaced, frowning at the needle that was sliding neatly into her skin. "But then she started introducing me to...what did she call it...your harem?" She glanced up at him, shaking her head. "Is that a vampire thing. I saw it in a movie once and I think maybe she was just making fun of me but...Toby...I..." She was trying hard but her chin was quivering violently. "I think I was just looking for a reason to hate you. I'm sorry. You didn't come here to be yelled at." 

"How do the two of you manage to work together every night?" The tall vampire had found her. He stood before her, his mismatched eyes sweeping over her. "Your yelling would wake the dead. Glenda has an odd sense of pairing if you ask me."

"I came here because I was worried about you." Tobias confirmed. "I came because your blood scent was all over the campus, and it worried me that your doting grandmother didn't seem to care there was an unregistered wolf here."

Marie exhaled loudly without looking up at the vampire. "She does it because she hates me." She assured him. "That's all there is to it."

"Oh! You don't know then. Mom is alive. The hunters took her to get her ready for...you know...and she just started breathing again. Anyway, Gran has her and the werewolf teacher out keeping a watch on things. It wasn't that big of a deal. Besides, there was another night student that stepped in to help. I was fine." Katie said, trying to sound optimistic. 

"I believe that is a mother's way. Mine was always the same way. The frocks that woman put me into..." He chuckled. "My name is Malik. I only now realized that I never bothered to introduce myself. I apologize for my rudeness."

"She... started breathing, just like that?" Tobias asked, clearly skeptical. "No one questioned it?" He couldn't help it, the idea of a new night students that he knew nothing of had his teeth on edge.

Marie finally looked up, her usually bright emerald eyes rather despondent as their met Malik's. "Why would a master vampire have need to waste his time teaching?" She blurted without really thinking, or offering up her own name.

Katie lost her train of thought and stabbed herself, a fresh line of blood sliding down her hip. "Darn it." She muttered, shaking her head. "I swear...Gran said a Master vampire showed up at the hospital that same time. I think he had something to do with it. It worries me that she hired him to work at the school but you know..." She kept talking as she looked around for something to dot at the blood, once again losing track of herself. 

"I believe in the school. Even though it was set up for nefarious reasons, it can still be used for good things. It is shaping the minds of our young vampires for instance, teaching them not to simply use our human brethren as food." Malik explained. "Or perhaps the shorter version is that I am old and as your oldest child put it...bored out of my freaking mind." He chuckled.

Tobias didn't dare move any closer. He had thought he had a handle on his desire for Katie's blood, but it wasn't going so well now the scent of fresh blood had appeared. "Master vampire?" He echoed as he rubbed at his head, desperately trying to focus on anything but Katie's blood.

"You know my children?" Marie asked, though instantly she realised if he knew Glenda well enough, he would know who was a part of her family unit.

Katie reached for a shirt with the wrong hand and ended up ripping open the stitches she'd just sewn. They tore and more of her blood began to seep out. "Oh for..." She shook her head, wishing she was more adapt at this as her mother was. "You know...Gran says they are the ones with red and gold eyes. Malik told me there's only three left and they don't even bother with council stuff." 

"Oh yes. Your elder daughter is a true delight. Her bubbly personality is truly something rare for our kind. The part of her that is our kind." Malik said softly. "She likes to read history books. Did you know that? 
"Your youngest...I am still studying her. She is a curious one indeed. The only thing I know about her is that she likes to read books about weapons and mythical creatures."

Tobias couldn't just stand by and watch Katie bleed like this. He took in a deep, if unneeded, breath. It was like he was trying not to inhale the scent that would drive him crazy. "And how is it your grandmother convinced one to become a teacher?" He asked, concentrating intently as he took the needle from Katie and began sewing up the wound with swift movements.

"Ebony? You know where she is?" Marie asked, loathe to discover she was finding it rather hard to simply hold her tongue in the presence of this vampire.

"I don't really know." Katie said, offering Tobias a grateful smile as she watched him work. "I get the feeling he's known her since she was really young. Maybe knew her mother...a family thing? Seems kind of off to me too but every time I ask Gran changes the subject really fast and Malik starts asking me about history books that I like. He told me that he was in the Trojan wars. How awesome is that?" 

Malik didn't seem to want to answer this question. "You're getting tired, Marie. Don't bother hiding that yawn. Go to your bed and rest. Just know that Ebony is doing quite well for herself...as it were." The master vampire got to his feet and held out his hand. "Come, I'll walk you to your room."

"Does he spend much time with you?" Tobias asked, worried that perhaps even a master vampire couldn't resist Katie's blood.

Marie had lifted her hand and allowed Mailk to pull her to her feet before she even realised it. "No... Unregistered wolf, remember?" She told him, stifling another yawn. "And since Julian ditched me to go fool around with his witch, I have to keep the students safe."

"He asked for a blood sample if that's what you're getting at." Katie asked, guessing what Tobias was fishing for. "Gran let him have it. I'm not sure what good it did him." She shrugged, breathing deeply when he stepped away and handed her the needle. "Thanks." 

"The beast is dead." Malik told her. "The one called Little Red took care of him while you and the wolf argued. I made sure she cleaned up after herself. It was part of her tutoring lesson you see."

"You just handed over your blood?" Tobias asked incredulously. "Katie... you of all people should know what bad idea that is." He breathed.

Marie narrowed her emerald eyes at Malik when he told her this. "You're tutoring a night student witch to be a hunter?" She asked suspiciously.

"I didn't! Gran did." Katie said quickly, shaking her head. "She said that since she was my elder she knew what was best. It sounded odd though...It Gran hates talking about herself like she's old." She added with a frown. Tobias' fingers were still on her bare hip. It was making it hard to think. Oddly, she kept praying that he would steal a kiss from her again.

Malik simply smiled, again seeming to be unwilling to answer all her questions. "Nearly dawn already? Where do the hours go?" He asked, shaking his head as he looked toward the sky.

"The old battleaxe is keeping many secrets from you, kitten." Tobias breathed, his thumb lightly tracing against Katie's slender hip.

Marie groaned. She felt like a young girl again, enduring her hunters training. She wasn't a vampire, so she was expected to teach classes to the day students, while at the same time having to patrol the campus throughout the night. To say she was exhausted was an understatement.

The familiar heat was back and Katie couldn't take it any longer. She stood on tiptoe and pressed her lips to his. The kiss started out as timid and gentle but didn't stay that way for long. Her fingers were sliding into his hair and she gasped softly against his lips. It had been far too long.

"No worries, my darling. One day off won't hurt anyone." Malik reached over, his fingers brushing her forehead. The next thing Marie would know she would wake up in her own bed and the sun would be setting.

Tobias' fingers were gripping Katie's hips tightly as she kissed him, pressing her against her bedroom wall as he battled with his control. It wasn't just the bloodlust he was fighting now, he was struggling with the man in him that wasn't to tear at her clothes and taste every last inch of her.

Marie woke up slowly, for a brief moment almost forgetting that she wasn't home and waking up next to her husband. Reality quickly set in and she simply lay there staring up at the ceiling. Had everything from last night been true? Was there truly a master vampire who had taken the time to put her to bed?

"Katie!" There was a insistent pounding on the door that had the little blonde pulling away from Tobias. Her cheeks colored a vivid red. 
"Just a minute, Ann." She called to the door, adjusting her shirt and turning to catch her breath before she opened the door. She didn't dare look at Tobias. 
"You're not going to believe this!" Ann gushed. "Someone attacked Evan tonight."

"Well, slut. How did you sleep?" Julian asked from where he was perched on her windowsill. "You missed your classes. Your mother taught. It was humorous to say the least. She didn't even get pissed off. Oh and we missed something. Your vampire daughter's idiot boyfriend was attacked last night too. Her fault I'm sure."

Tobias lazily draped himself on Katie's bed as she opened the door, making certain he was well with Ann's line of sight. His golden hair was disheveled as he was wearing a grin as he listened to the news about Evan.

"You would know sluts better than anyone." Marie growled, turning her back to Julian as she simply rolled over. "I don't care what happened to him. He probably deserved everything he got."