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...

"The vampire that held you prisoner is dead, Marie. You no longer have to play games with us. It is safe to return to our fold." One of the others said. 
"As soon as the freak child is dead we will all be safe to return to our lives." The center man said, glancing at Jack. "Just look at the damage she has done to your natural born child."

"Jolene was one of us." Tristan said coldly, his tone making it clear how he had felt for the red head. He turned and marched out, the door slamming in his wake.

Marie turned up her nose at the mention of Ebony. "Katie is my natural born child. She is my family, and so was Cyrus!" She hissed. "I cared for the mistake as any mother was expected to do, and how does she repay me? By becoming the very thing I tried to keep her from!" She glanced at Jack as she said this. "She is the reason my husband is dead."

"I'm sorry." Tobias was standing in the doorway of the room Katie had retreated to. "I know this is a lot for you to take in, but we really must leave. It isn't safe for you here any longer."

"What did I tell you?" Jack said from his position near the middle of the long table. "The vampire over powered her. She doesn't know what she's saying. What hunter in their right mind would let something like this get out? You all saw the blood sample. The creature is deadly. It could potentially enable the vampires to walk in daylight amongst other things."

"I have to go back for my father's ashes." Katie said softly. "And my sister..."

"No matter who her father was, Katie is still half human! You have no power to issue her death sentence!" Marie insisted, slamming her open palm down on the table where the council sat.

"Your sister is gone, kitten. She left with the white haired teacher the day class girls turn to mush at the mere sight of." Tobias told Katie gently. "I need to take you away from here... Your sister will return, with her father and more hunters."

"Katie is half hunter and half vampire!" Jack roared, surging to his feet. "You have not seen the samples! The girl is a walking time bomb! You are lucky you had no idea what was going on or we would be hunting you too!" 

"We shared a father, Tobias." Katie said, pulling nervously at her fingers. "But...it doesn't surprise me about Julian. I know she liked him."

Marie slowly turned to face her ex husband, her green eyes filled with a silent fury. "Go ahead." She told him simply. "Katie is pure perfection. Ebony was a mistake in a moment of weakness, one I had to look at every goddamn day!" She added. "You think your wolf can protect her?" Marie glanced to Julian, noting how icy his hair was right then. "You put much trust in the dog of a witch."

Tobias almost didn't want to tell her. It was perhaps a little too much on top of everything else. "She did?" He asked, thinking Julian a way to hurt Ebony, if the need called for it.

Jack was actually smiling. For once he was winning. He'd thought this game through much better than he'd given himself credit for. "Is that so?" He asked as if he were mocking her.

"I know ebony. She talked about him all the time." Katie said with a sisterly smile. "She wouldn't have done that if she didnt. Even if she was complaining."

"I will kill Ebony myself, if she raises even one finger to Katie." Marie warned, proving how little feeling she actually had for her youngest child. "Let your wolf violate her, by all means... It merely saves me a job when his mistress kills the girl for me."

"Well, a good thing he swept her away then, isn't it?" Tobias confirmed. "You know, the rumour is the two of them were doing far more than a student and teacher should." He added, using a hushed whisper like he was divulging some great secret, when in truth he only wished to keep Katie smiling like she was.

"What did I tell you?" Jack said, turning back to the table of hunters. "She is far too gone. My verdict is execution by fire." 
"Wait. What?" Julian was having a hard time keeping silent now. He was beginning to see that Jack had lost his mind. 

Katie grinned. "I thought so too." She laughed. "But it would be nice to be adored that way." She admitted. "Not Evans way."

Marie was oddly quiet when Jack declared this, even as the rest of the guild all chattered in quiet whispers. It was like she had expected this of Jack all along. "Is he not also at fault for keeping an untrained hunter within his school for so many years, within the reach of vampires who could easily guess what she was? If he is such the dutiful hunter, was it not his responsibility to report her presence to you from the moment she enrolled?"

Tobias was smiling rather sadly now as he laid his cool hands over Katie's. "You are adored, kitten." He breathed, longing to kiss her, but afraid he had yet to regain full control of himself since tasting her blood. "Whatever your sister may have been up to... I seriously doubt a man such as Julian feels anything in return."

Jack laughed at her. "The moment I recognized what she was I began to train her. She may not have realized it. But it was happening. She is my daughter after all. Sorry, Marie. You don't have a leg to stand on here."

"I hope you're wrong." Katie said softly. "Some of the things he says and does...I'm betting you are. I'm pretty good at match making you know."

Marie's green eyes were almost dancing as the ruby red lips her youngest child had inherited curled into a smile. "I see, and that's what you were doing when you allowed one of them to feed on her and toss her over a balcony?"
The whispers among the council members got louder when this information was passed onto them.

"You take credit for this budding romance?" Tobias chuckled. "As far as I am aware, it is rather frowned upon for teachers to have relationships with students, is it not?"

"There was little I could do when dealing with a psychotic unregistered vampire and his offspring." Jack snapped. "Julian was already down and there was certainly no help coming from you."

"You know how adults are. They never understand love." Katie said with a deep blush.

"Enough!" An elderly female council member finally shouted. "We have heard enough from both of you." She added. "Until the eldest daughter is retrieved, and we hear her account, no sentencing will take place. Seeing as you killed the vampire, leaving only your word and the half account of the wolf... It is hardly enough to kill another hunter."
"Preposterous!" It was an equally elderly man this time. "We have indeed heard enough, enough to see that the vampires have been playing games all along! Marie should be cast into the fire for failure to resist the thrall of the one she was sent to hunt!"

"And what if there is no such thing?" Tobias breathed, again finding himself barely able to resist Katie's pure innocence.

The room erupted then, showing just how divided the table truly was. Julian turned and left, thinking it a good time to go and find Ebony. He was glad she hadn't been around to hear the mad ravings of either of her parents. 

"Can you imagine how terrible the world would be without it? No one would ever smile. For any reason." Katie said as I'd the thought horrified her. "Think of my parents. If a hunter and a vampire can fall in love...and they are enemies as you say...then it must be real because...it's so powerful and beautiful. "

Ebony had found her way up to the roof, as she always did. The young woman seemed to crave the open air, lest she feel trapped like a bird in a cage. She was lay on the ground staring up at the night sky, slender arms folded behind her head. Unlike her idealistic sister, Ebony didn't believe in love; how could she when had never even had the love of her own mother?

Tobias found himself smiling all over again. "It would seem age had jaded me the world somewhat." He breathed. "Thank you, kitten, for opening my eyes to the beauty once more." The vampire brushed his lips lightly to the back of Katie's hand, pausing only to breathe in the scent of her smooth skin.

"Wow. That room got loud." Julian said as he laid down beside her. "It's probably a good thing you left. Not to worry, child. There will be other dances for us to guard."

Katie pulled her hand back timidly. "I'm sorry someone closed them." She said softly. "Love is such a beautiful thing, Toby. I can't believe that people are missing out on it!

Ebony didn't reply for what would seem like an eternity. The dark haired girl was still rather wounded from the way Julian had kissed her simply to shut her up. "I wouldn't count on it, you did a pretty fucking shitty job of guarding the last one." She snapped.

Tobias couldn't deny that it did hurt that Katie had pulled her hand back, like she was afraid of him. "You should get dressed." He breathed, talk of love a little too painful now.

"Again, your job. Not mine. I was going on a date. Remember?" Julian asked, his tone thin and filled with warning. "It's not like you cared about those people anyway. Any of them."

"Toby...my clothes..." once again Katie was wringing her fingers, not wanting to bring up the horror the headmaster mad mad of her room. "All my clothes were...I can't go back...even if you didn't say there were people after me."

"You're right, I didn't." Ebony responded just as thinly, keeping her gaze on the sky above. "It's always been my job to pick myself up anyway, even when it's a vampire ripping my throat out."

Tobias nodded his head, an apology of sorts. "You can take some of the female night student's clothes, if that's okay with you?" He suggested softly. "Just until we can buy you some more."

"I thought I trained you better than that." Julian sighed. "What's the first thing your supposed to do when a vampire attacks? You didn't follow through with anything. It's like you wanted to get bitten."
 
Katie nodded, humiliated to once again be on the verge of tears. "Will you tell them I'll give them back?" She whispered.

"Maybe I did." Ebony replied with a quiet snort. "It's none of your business anyway. Don't let me keep you from your date." She added.

Tobias reached out and brushed Katie's cheek lightly when he saw how upset she was becoming. "It is their pleasure, I assure you." He breathed.

"You keep saying that." Julian chuckled, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. "Are you jealous or something, child?" 

Sky blue eyes met Tobias' and Katie gasped. She hadn't been prepared for the red rim she would find there. "I...I really need to call my mom." She breathed. "She can bring me some clothes..."

Ebony didn't know Julian had even briefly turned his gaze on her, or that he would be able to see the silent tear that slid down her temple where she lay. "Jealous?" She snorted. "Of what? Some ancient hag you neglect your duties for?"

"Kitten... It isn't the best time for that." Tobias insisted gently, even he had no idea what had happened to his eyes.

"Are you calling yourself my duty?" Julian asked. Before even he had realized what he was doing he was straddling her, holding her arms over her head. "I think I like the sound of that." He purred, bending his head to nibble at the fresh bruise Tobias had left her with. "How intriguing." 

Katie was shaking her head, stumbling back toward the door. "I...I have to call my mother." She said more insistently this time. Hot tears were clinging to her lashes, even though she was trying to stop them.

Ebony was surprised by the sudden gasp that slid over her parted lips as Julian pinned her beneath him. It only got worse as his lips brushed the bruise and the young woman's whole body responded with her back arching off the ground. Katie had been right about everything; it hurt Ebony so much when Julian teased her because she had been hiding from her feelings for him.

Tobias was upon Katie in a second, his powerful arms sliding around her and hugging her tightly to his lean frame. "Please don't cry." He breathed into her sweet smelling hair. "It will only make me cry, and that isn't something you want to see." He added with a soft chuckle.

Julian couldn't help himself. He pressed his lips to hers. Her body against his was was far more than he could handle. He'd been good for too long. Already his fingers were working on her clothing. 

Katie didn't know how to respond to this. Her fingers shook as she rested them on Tobias' powerful shoulders. Her emotions were once again stealing control, reminding her of all that she had lost.

The moment Julian released his hold on her wrists, Ebony was also helping him out of his own clothing. It was as she was tossing Julian's shirt aside that the air around the both of them suddenly became unbearably cold, for the young woman at least. It was only seconds later when she seemed like no more than a statue, unmoving and not even breathing.
"This is what you ignore my calls for, a tumble with a child?" Frost was stood on the edge of the rooftop as she watched her lover where he had been so desperately undressing his young charge. The witch who sometimes aided the guild was a beautiful woman with ice blue eyes and long flowing waves of white blonde hair.

Tobias was staring down into Katie's gentle eyes for some moments, wishing he understood his blind devotion to this girl. Slowly he inclined his head, barely brushing his lips to her own. He wouldn't steal a kiss, that was wrong, he was seeking permission however.

"Frost, how good of you to interrupt." Julian growled. He couldn't move anymore than Ebony. He was silently seething with rage. 

Katie had been dreaming of his kiss since the moment she first met him. She couldn't help but return the kiss, a soft sigh escaping her.

Frost knew Julian too well to not recognise that look in his wild eyes. The witch was crouched beside them both now, looking Ebony over with vague interest. "The mother shunned you, so you're taking a bash at the daughter, is that it?" she sneered, even though Frost of all people was able to tell Julian's true feelings.

Tobias' fingers had settled upon Katie's slender waist, afraid to hold her too tightly and send her fleeing. She was so warm, and the sound of her strong heartbeat was almost the vampire's undoing.