Night and Day

"Funny, seems to me like games are what you excel at." Ebony replied thinly. She too was aching, but Frost's magic was already corrupting her feelings. Love had been twisted into nothing more than animal desire.

"You wouldn't be a danger if you drank a little each day." Glenda replied. "Take care of yourself, and there is no danger."

"Are you going to fight or just talk?" Julian asked her, already pulling out his own gear. "Remember what I told you about magic. Don't use it. It's a crutch."

Katie shook her head. "I won't do that again." She swore. "Rats are fine. Why won't anyone listen to me?" 
"Why should they?" Jack Saunders appeared in the center of the room, wearing a wicked smile. "You're a freak after all. A real vampire would die from feeding on rats." He turned his head toward Glenda and gave a theatrical bow. "Hello again, mom."

"It's all that holds me together." Ebony breathed, grabbing whatever she could lay her hands on before leaving the room. It was the truth. After all, who did she have to talk to when everyone she knew and loved had turned their back on her?

Marie was quick to turn and face her ex husband, whilst pushing her daughter behind her. "I should have known you had stayed under your rock for too long!"

Julian tumbled into bed that night, exhausted and in pain. Ebony and beaten him at his own game. He said nothing to Frost as he closed his eyes. Today had been a good day.

"I heard what your little freak did." Jack said, still smiling. "The vampires are talking about it. Her power is growing. There are those who are deciding to lock her up for everyone's safety."

Frost was watching Julian in dark, tracing her icy fingers against the bruises and flesh wounds that Ebony had left him with. The blonde witch was smiling, glad she finally had a game that amused her.
Ebony had climbed into the bathtub when she had finished with Julian. Her knees were hugged up to her chest and she sobbed into them. She didn't care how much bruises she had, or that her lip was split. None of it hurt as much as the longing she had for that damn wolf.

"Then perhaps we should lock up your pathetic spawn!" Glenda snapped. "She made a spectacle of herself in the day class dining hall this morning! Exposing them to magic? She had no right!"

Julian grabbed Frost and yanked her beneath him. That night he made love to her roughly, treating her more like an object than anything precious. When he was done he got up and pulled out his cigarettes, taking them outside.

"The world should be exposed to it! And soon enough it will!" Jack roared. "This little secret world of supernatural creatures is about to become something very public." He promised. "And that little freak is going to help me do it!" He added, jabbing a finger at Katie.

Being the dark creature she was, Frost had more than enjoyed it. Julian even had fingernail shaped scrapes down his back to prove it.
Ebony had vacated the bathtub some time ago, and lay on her bed still wearing the towel she had wrapped herself in. The ice shard in her heart was causing more and more pain the longer she went without even a simple touch from Julian, before the month was up she would be to the point of reaching into her chest and pulling her own heart out simply to end it. That was Frost's plan.

"And what purpose will that really serve?" Marie asked thinly. "You want to create panic and fear among the normal people of the world? Is that what this is all about? You know what will happen! Witches will be the first to go, it will be the dark ages all over again!"

Julian slept outside and felt better for it. The further away he was from everyone else the better he felt. His desperation to get away was starting to show even in his dreams. He'd lost Ebony and now he dreamed of nothing but a wintery death.

Jack tapped the rim of his glasses for effect and nodded. "That's the idea, my dear. This world will be thrown into insanity and I'll love every moment of it."

"Hey..." Ebony prodded Julian with the toe of her boot, and it wasn't exactly gentle. "Do they pay you to sleep on the job, dog?" She remarked.

"And then what? You'll be the king of nothing!" Marie hissed, no longer recognising the man she had once planned to spend her whole life with.

Julian sucked in a gasping breath, his dream of dying almost too real. "What? What did I miss?" He sat up, rubbing his forehead. 

"That's where you're wrong. With her blood I'll be more powerful than any being ever has been. I'll be the king of everything!"

"You were supposed to be teaching me a lesson." Ebony replied, her fingers fussing nervously with the edge of her skirt from where she stood looking down at Julian.

"Let me guess... You and your spawn?" Marie sneered. "That's why you got her away from the guild, isn't it? You sent Ebony here just to set this whole thing up!"

"Last night you said you were done with me." Julian said, brushing his fingers through his hair. He looked around him, trying to remember how he'd gotten back to the school.

"I'm not the one who invited Ebony to join the night class. We were doing just fine on our own when Glenda showed up, offering to teach her to use her gifts if she'd watch over her sister." 
Katie turned on her grandmother, betrayal in her eyes but she said nothing.

"Because last night you were holding back." Ebony replied, despite the bruises she had. "I may just be a silly little girl to you... But I at least thought you respected me enough to not insult me that way."

"Is this true?" Marie turned her gaze on her mother. "You brought her here?"
Glenda merely smiled thinly at her daughter. "One of us had to take steps to safeguard Katherine from this monster. What better way to protect from one monster, than with another?"

"You weren't working very hard either." Julian snorted. "You were distracted and worried about the syrup in your hair. I have no time for girly nonsense."

Katie said nothing. Instead she simply turned and walked out, slamming the door hard enough to shatter a ornate plate she had on the wall. That done Jack dissapeared, a smile on his face.

"And I have no time for dogs thinking about when they can get home to their master." Ebony responded, the heel of her boot pressing painfully against Julian's shoulder as she lifted it up to press against a wound she knew she had given him the night before.

"You dared to blame me for what happened?!" Marie hissed at her mother. "This whole mess... It is all your fault!" Jack had done his job well; the infighting would distract from anything he may have planned now.
"Whoa, where's the fire Princess?" Tobias still looked rather tired as Katie ran into him, but aside from that he seemed perfectly fine.

Julian narrowed his eyes at her, not liking the creature she had become. "You know you're becoming a lot like the other witches." He hissed, grabbing her ankle and tossing her to the ground.

Katie wanted to be happy to see him but the familiar shame was already filling her. "I...I need to go." She muttered, trying to get around him.

"Funny isn't it... How many witches had their heart broken?" Ebony asked as she picked herself up. "You did this! You abandoned me! You wouldn't fight!"

Tobias was quick enough to catch Katie's arm before she could get very far. "Do I disgust you?" He asked her simply.

Julian couldn't even answer her. Frost's enchantment over him wouldn't let him. He was dying to tell her just how much he was fighting for her but there was nothing he could say. "You're going to be late for class, girl." He said simply, turning away so that she couldn't see the weakness in his eyes. 

Katie looked down at the arm that held her and then up at Tobias. "It's not you." She whispered, trying to pull away. "It's me."

"It's your class." Ebony responded rather softly. "You're supposed to be teaching the night class how to defend against hunters." She added.

"And what is it you are so ashamed of?" Tobias pressed, needing her to say the words out loud. "What has you running from me like I'm the devil himself?"

"Damn." Julian turned, cursing under his breath. He'd forgotten that Glenda had given him the extra class for the taking control of Ebony in front of everyone the day before. "I have to go." He muttered, turning to run for the door. "Damn you, girl." 

Katie stared hard at the ground, sniffing softly. "I...I fed on you." She whispered. "I hurt you...I can't live with myself."

Ebony would be waiting in the gym with the rest of the night class. She didn't need the lesson, and none of the vampires knew she was a hunter, but she had no other classes to attend that period.

"Which part though, because if you think you hurt me..." Tobias paused and smiled. "I'm still here, aren't I?" He added.

Julian was not kind to the night students. He didn't have to be. He trained hard with them, showing each of them how to survive in the hands of the hunter. This class would be tougher than any other and the vampires loved it. Even after the class was over they headed out, still talking about the wolf and what he had taught them. 

"Look at you...You're swaying where you stand." Katie admonished, hating herself for catching his eye. "You tricked me. You knew I didn't ever want to feed and you tricked me into doing it anyway. Why?"

Ebony had accidentally broken the nose of the one the male students, and of course no one would accept that perhaps he should have 'been prepared' for it.

"Because as much as you hate what you are, I don't want you to die!" Tobias growled. "You foolish little girl!"

"It's a good thing he's a vampire." Julian said, watching Ebony as she avoided other students filing out. "Despite what they think, it was a good hit."

Katie cringed at his words and looked away. "You don't have people calling you freak." She whispered. "People aren't dying because of you."

"He should've seen it coming, if he was paying attention." Ebony remarked once there were just a handful of students left near the doorway.

"No, you are alive because of me, and for some reason you resent that fact." Tobias replied thinly. "You have so many people who love you, Katie. Why can't you accept who you are?"

"You move fast for a human. He wasn't expecting it." Julian said, hunting for his bag. He was once again going to have to head back to Frost. He could already feel her pulling on his chain. 

Katie didn't answer. She didn't want to. Instead she shook her head and stared at the wall. "I have to go, Tobias. I have bathrooms before lights out." She breathed finally.

"Would you have fought for me if I was just that... Just a human?" Ebony shamefully found herself asking once they were alone.

"Katie... If you don't give me a reason to stay... I'm giving up on this school." Tobias breathed. "I'm going back to my family home."

"I don't have a choice." Julian whispered. "It wouldn't matter what you were." He didn't look at her, he didn't want her to see the shame in his eyes. 

"What kind of reason to you want, Toby? After what I did to you you really want me to ask you to stay? You left me before." Katie said softly, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Did you ever want me?" Ebony whispered, thinking back to how volatile they had been around one another.

"I would give you my blood all over again." Tobias replied firmly. "I would give you the last drop!" He grabbed Katie and spun her round to face him again. "How many time do I have to tell you? I love you, you silly girl!"

"You know I did. I love you. I already told you that." Julian whispered. "I have to go. I am being summoned back to her. Goodnight, child." He paused in front of her and took her face in his hands, pressing his lips to hers. 

Katie didn't know what to say. She simply stared at him. Then suddenly she began to smile. "Say it again." She breathed.