Introduction

~*~*~

Secrets. We’ve all got them. Some of us have little secrets, and others like me have very, very, very big secrets. I’ll tell you my secret, just as long as you don’t tell anyone. My secret is that I’m a wolf demon. Demons are a more evolved branch of humans. They are faster, stronger, and smarter than average humans. Also, some of us have ‘copied’ animals or elements, like water, fire, earth, and gained their most prominent attributes.  Demons live until they are killed. My specific breed of demon can be killed by decapitation or being shot directly in the heart. Unfortunately we have been pushed to the brink of extinction so we have to keep these qualities hidden, and any others we may have.

My name is Ceil and I’m 16 years old, or so I look; I’m almost 260 years old. Though for every 10 years, we mature by one year. That means that I’m the equivalent of a human 16 year old. My family moved to Florida before I was born, we just recently moved to Dania Beach. My parents originally moved to escape persecution in the last country they were in. While escaping they had to leave my sister behind and she was killed by the humans.

In my 160 years I've seen a lot of things. In the beginning, I had to stay in my wolf form for most of the time. I almost never saw the light of day. When I did go out villagers would throw stones at me and force me into the swamps. Eventually I obtained my human form but still I had to hunt.

Because I’m substantially bigger than a wolf, I have to eat large game. When the alligators became an endangered species, my parents would not allow me to hunt them, because they were the only available food source that was large enough for us I had to hunt humans. In my inexperienced youth, my kills were slow and sloppy. Many times I was discovered and had to run for my life. Though now things are different. I don't need to rely on meat like I used to and when I am pushed to the point to where I have to hunt, I cover it up pretty well. Though some times, the animal instincts get the best of me.

Through all that, and my sister's death, my parents are convinced that we have to live with the humans peacefully; they say that they don't want to be shown up. They always tell me stories of other creatures, like us, that already live among the humans; they even prey upon them and still are still believed to be non-existent by the humans. Though we demons have had a history of being... not so discreet. They told me about vampires, ghosts, sea monsters, and a lot of other "mythical" creatures.

Throughout my life I’ve wondered about those creatures, always hoping I’d meet someone like myself. Of all the creatures my parents have told me about, none have caught my attention like the vampire. I always said that if I was going to get married I would marry a vampire. My parents prayed I wouldn’t. They have always favored humans and want to be like them; they want me to be like them.

My parents have always given me a mixed message. They want me to act like a normal human yet they keep me sheltered from the world.  I’ve been home schooled for every year of my education. Though their efforts of keeping me sheltered are all for naught. Our financial situation has become increasingly grim and my parents can’t afford to buy new books and supplies for me every year.
Tomorrow is my first day of public school. My aunt hates that idea and wants me to live with her. My aunt was against my parents’ marriage so they haven’t been on very good ground because of that. She says that my dad didn’t deserve my mom. It was the classic rich girl poor boy scenario. Both my parents said that they would rather we live on the street than I live with her. I disagree with that, highly! But being the youngest I have no say in what happens to me.

(Chapter 1)
~*~*~

There she was, beautiful in every single way. She was wearing a light green dress, it matched her eyes perfectly. She was covered in diamonds that reflected the neon lights. I could tell that she had bought everything just for tonight,  though for all that she looked sad and upset. It figured. No one had talked to her, they just stared at her in surprised disgust. I don’t even know why I had invited her, everyone hated her. I think that was the thing, everyone else hated her; but I didn’t. Still that didn’t give me the right to make a fool of her just because I wanted another birthday gift.

The moment she had come I had been aware of her. Now, after I had taken advantage of almost every girl at the party and I was hammered out of my mind, I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. I couldn’t tell what I was feeling, the beer had numbed my scenes and perception, but I could tell that after a while I pictured what her blood would look like flowing out of two puncture wounds on her neck. I can tell you her dress wouldn’t fare so well.  

~*~*~

It had been a long day, I was glad to get home. Once I turned onto my street, I could smell the blood. This wasn’t animal blood, not even human, I could tell it was demon blood. My heart sped up and my slow walk turned into a run. Fear gripped at me like an icy cold hand dragging me toward my house.

I turned sharply, almost ramming straight into the rock gate around my house. I kicked through the gate and broke through the front door. The first thing that caught my eye was a pool of dark, shining, blood coming from under the door leading to the kitchen. My muscles tensed and I hesitated to see what was behind that door. When I turned the doorknob my heart stopped and I screamed. All I could think was ‘Deon.’

~*~*~

I woke up to the clatter of pots and pans coming from down stairs. ‘God, they do know that I can hear that!’ I thought. Remember when I said any other qualities; well mine are a pair of wolf ears, the sight of a wolf, sense of smell, and a tail. Yep I’ve got a TAIL. How cool is that? Anyway I got up out of bed and stretched. I looked down at my stomach. ‘Well I’ll be the only girl with an eight pack, I thought.
I sighed and walked through the maze of my clothing and other odd objects to get to my bathroom. I filled the sink with water and dunked my head in. My hair retains water like a super duty sponge. I gave my head a good shake to get most of the water out. I looked in the mirror and laughed out loud. The shorter layers I had had arranged themselves in spikes so my head looked like the end of a mace. I combed it, and my ears, so the spikes at least pointed down then pulled the longer hair back into a pony tail.

I got dressed in jean shorts and a black t-shirt, just managing to throw a baseball cap and sunglasses, to hide my eyes; today they were bright yellow, into the mix. Last night I had put what I needed for school into a messenger bag I found in the back of my closet. It was a light bluish grey and had a few orange patches. It was big and had pockets. Lots and lots of pockets.

I grabbed it, opened my door and ran down stairs. My mom had something cooking in a frying pan and my dad was cleaning. My dad looked up from the plate he was scrubbing and smiled at me.

“Morning.”

“Morning.” I answered.

“Today is the first day of school… ok that sounded weird.” He said nervously. His tone didn’t say that he was nervous, but that he was constantly combing his hair back with his hand. “Ya know when you get older your not going to have a bald spot, your going to have bald stripes.” Mom burst out laughing.

“And one day you’re going to be roasting over an open fire.” I knew that was time to shut up and eat my food.

After finishing all I remember is mom looking at the clock, swearing like a sailor, and picking me up and tossing me out on my but just in time for the bus. The doors of the bus opened to reveal a glob of goo with a huge brown blob on the side of its ‘head’. This blob, I realized, was the bus driver with a very large mole. I didn’t speak to it; I just got on the bus. I was met with about twenty five kids all glaring at me. ‘Ok, I can tell already that this school isn’t the friendliest place on earth.’ I thought and found an empty seat somewhere in the middle of the bus.
I wasn’t even sitting and the bus jerked into motion. Now being the new kid I knew that no one would sit by me for the rest of the ride. But little did I know that one time I was wrong would change my life forever. I guess it was one of the last stops, instead of one kid there were three. The oddest thing about it is that there wasn’t a house in sight, just a bunch of trees behind them.

The tallest had black hair and sapphire eyes. The only girl in the group was a few inches shorter than the tallest and had long wavy brown hair and bright emerald eyes. The shortest was the first to get on the bus. He had golden-blond hair and, surprisingly, dark lavender eyes. All three of them didn’t say anything. The shortest one walked down the bus and stopped at my seat. He sighed and sat down next to me. The two other kids sat down on the seat across from us.
For a while the three talked to themselves for a while. I tuned them out and stared out the window. Florida was so beautiful; I loved the green of it all. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the girl point at me and the boy scoffed at something. The boy sitting next to me turned to me. “You know they don’t allow hats or sunglasses at school.” He said, “You must be new.”

“Gee, how’d ya guess?” I said. I knew that eventually I would have to take the hat off and the sunglasses. I took the hat off pushing my ears back so that they blended into my hair. I was a little hesitant to take off the glasses though. Finally I took them off and the guy beside me flinched for a second.

“Those are contacts right?” he said. ‘Contacts? You can get colored contacts? Cool, let’s go with that.’ I thought

“Yah. Yours are too, right?”

He nodded. “What’s your name?”

“Ceil.”

“Deon.”

“Well it is nice to meet you Deon.”

Deon smiled “It is nice to meet you.” His smile was cocky, devilish almost though his tone was nervous. Something was wrong about it all, but the sudden stop of the bus kept me from thinking about it. Simultaneously all of the kids on the bus stood up and were in a mad rush to get off. Deon and the two other kids were lost in the crowd. I didn’t know where to go so I let myself be shifted in the flow of the crowd. In about five minutes the crowd had thinned and I was left all by myself. The school looked like all of the other schools I’d seen, grey cement blocks, flag pole with the state flag, and the flag of the country.

I decided to explore the school, being late was the last thing on my mind. In the first room I opened there were a few people huddled around a table chatting over papers. There were two women behind a desk and one of them looked up at me.

“Can I help you?” she said.

“Oh, yes, I’m new here and I don’t know where to go.”

The women looked down at her watch. “Well your already late, I’m going to have to write you a pass.”

“A pass?”

“Yes, this way you won’t be tardy. What’s your name?”

“Ceil Ambrose.”

“Welcome here Ceil, your going to go down that hallway, take the door on your first right and go down some then turn and then go to that thingy on the wall and your first class will be there.”  ‘Well this woman is a master with adjectives.’ I thought and put on a fake smile.

“Thanks.” I took the pass and went down the hall and, following the only real instructions I had, opened the first door on the right. All I could see were countless doors, presumably leading to classrooms, and posters with sayings like ‘Hugs not Drugs’ and ‘Friendliness is the fastest way to success.’ “Oh god, gag me.” I muttered and rolled my eyes. Seriously those things are so stupid. Honestly, do YOU listen to them?  So I walked down the hall looking for the turn that would lead to the thingy. Whatever the thingy was, it was a thingy so I was sure to find it. I mean, how much more specific can you get than thingy? So I was about halfway down the hallway of endlessness and still no turn leading to the thingy. Maybe, just maybe the woman put down a room number on the pass. I looked down at the scrap of paper. GOD FORBID there be a room number, just a teacher’s name, Mr. Wilbur. That’s pure breed American right there.

Right when I was about to give up and go home, “What are you doing here?” I turned around to see Deon. He looked uncomfortable and uneasy. He had a look on his face that told me he didn't want to talk. I didn't care though.

“Looking for my classroom. And you are doing?” I replied; I knew I had a cocky gleam in my eye; I always did in these situations.

Deon held up the bright pink slip of paper in his hand. “Bathroom.”

“Oh. Well if you know where that is here you might be able to help me out.”

Deon looked almost like he was going to puke. “S-Sure. Do you know the name of the teacher?” he replied, his voice was uneasy.

“Wilbur.” Immediately after I said that, Deon's already pale skin drained of any remaining color.

“That’s my teacher. If you can wait for a second I’ll show you where the room is.”
I exhaled and put my hands behind my head. “That can be arranged.”

“Fine, just wait here.”

I swear when that guy has got to go, he can run like hell. He pretty much cleared the hall in about five seconds, a little too fast for normal. Not that it really mattered to me, I could run fast too. Well yes, I am a demon. Ok, Ok I was just too distracted to notice. There. Happy? Good.

A couple minutes later I was woken up by Deon. No I did not fall asleep! Ok maybe a little drowsy but not asleep. Ok, fine! I was asleep, what more do you want from me!? Waiting for someone to come back from the bathroom isn’t exactly the most exciting thing in the world. I looked up, my ears almost went up too but I caught myself in time.

“Something wrong?” he asked

“No.” I stood up and brushed myself off.

“You weren’t too far off. It is actually two rooms down.” Deon said walking over to the door and opened it. I followed him in. Now the first things I noticed were that, one, Mr. Wilbur was bald. Very bald. Significantly bald. Shiny bald. Second, he was an English teacher. Finally, third, right now the kids had done something to tick him off. A lot. Let me translate this for you, number one: Good sign, bald teacher = nice teacher (according to my mom) two: Good sign, I like to write, three: VERY BAD sign, yelling at kids = immature kids +annoyance. Mr. Wilbur smiled at us.
“Ah, you must be Ceil.” I nodded. “Good, take a seat both of you.” I looked at Deon and he shrugged. I took a seat near the projector. I looked around the classroom with the disciplinary lecture playing in the background. The posters were useful, stating things like editorial marks, parts of speech, and commonly misspelled words. Then my gaze went to the projector, and then to the wall. I saw that the teacher had typed up something that was titled "The Perfect Paper". I scanned through it and raised my hand. "Oh, yes. Ceil."

"Are we supposed to edit this for spelling mistakes?"

"No." Mr. Wilbur looked quizzically at me.

"Well you misspell, forgotten, actually, in fact, casual, publish, wrought, would, and a few others I’m not saying so I don't embarrass you." Mr. Wilbur looked at me, stunned. He turned to the projection.

"By George! She's right!" He said and the class erupted into laughter.

"An English teacher that can’t spell!" someone squeaked. We all laughed louder.
I smiled my patented cocky smile. I knew now that I had established the fact that I was now the residing smart ass. The girl next to me turned her chair so she was facing me.

"You've really got guts." she said. Her tone was a mix of happiness and surprise. "I'm Arulet. You should come find me at lunch, I'm sure we'd get along great." she said before a loud snapping sound echoed around the room.

"That's enough!" Mr. Wilbur roared his face was red and flustered. The room immediately calmed down. Everyone was silent. I knew I was safe, Mr. Wilbur couldn’t touch me. Instead he glared at me telling me that he didn’t appreciate the humiliation. In response I smiled and tilted my chair back.

For the rest of class I zoned out into my own thoughts. “Ceil? Hey Ceil!” I snapped back to reality and looked to my right. Arulet was looking at me, “The bell wrung. I’ll take you to your next class.”  I jumped up. “Ok.” I said. Arulet giggled.

“What?”

“You seem so shocked.”

“Well this is my first day of non home school. Ever. I think I have a right to be a little shocked the first day.”

Arulet stared at me with wide eyes. “Serious?” I nodded. “Ok then. What’s your next class?” I reached into my bag and took out a folded piece of paper. My next class was art with Mrs. Reed. I gave the paper to Arulet. I watched her eyes flicker over the page as she read. She looked up to me and smiled. “That’s my next class.” She said. Arulet grabbed my hand and dragged me out.

I followed her blindly. Answering the occasional question about myself, where I’ve lived, about my favorite things, and about my family.

“So, I saw you came in With Deon.” Arulet said.

“Yah what about it?” I asked. Arulet laughed.

“You sure are native. Deon doesn’t talk to anyone except his two lackies, he doesn’t respond to anything you do to him. Such a shame that he is so beautiful.”

“You like him?” I asked. Arulet looked at me like I said ‘Really? The sky is blue? I didn’t know that.’

“Of course I like him! Every girl in the school likes him! Even the twelfth grade girls. Unfortunately he loves to play hard to get. He even ignored Rosalyn when she asked him to her family’s beach house. By the way, Rosalyn is the hottest girl in school. The proper response is to envy her.”

I looked at her meekly and nodded. I have a hard time understanding human emotions but I try. We were silent for a while before she asked another question.
“So, what about you? Do you like him?” This question took me totally by surprise. I thought about it for a moment. I did like the way his golden hair contrasted with his dark violet eyes. The way he acted towards me made me suspicious and because of that I didn’t really like him. Something inside me told me to keep an open mind though. “I don’t know. He acts a little weird, that isn’t a plus with me.” I said.

Arulet nodded, “Don’t worry he’ll grow on you.” She paused when we came to a door that had been smudged with every color of acrylic paint. “This is the art room. “

The walls of the art room were covered with paint splotches, with the occasional painting or clay mask. There were black desks along the walls to my left that were lined with canvas, clay, paints, pencils, and some finished products. To my right was a huge white board with all sorts of scribbles on it. On the wall opposite me there were five clay wheels. When I stepped into the room my feet crunched on the tarp. I looked down and saw that it was splattered with paint and clay.
Arulet pushed me to the side as a woman with long auburn hair stepped in the room. Her hair was tied back with a large puce ribbon. She was wearing an apron that matched the walls and the tarp, covered in paint and clay. Even beneath the apron I could tell that this woman was very pretty.

“Hello, Mrs. Reed.” Arulet said happily.

“Hello Arulet.” Mrs. Reed said then turned to me. “You must be Ceil.”

“That would be me.” I said. Mrs. Reed smiled.

“Welcome to my class. All of the other students are having trouble getting their lazy selves here. In the mean time, take a seat at the wheel. I have a feeling that’s for you.” She said.

Mrs. Reed walked over to a large painting in the corner of the room that was obscured by the door. She pulled over a paint tray and a stool and began to paint. Arulet was following suit and taking a seat at one of the stools. She had a large clump of clay on the center of her wheel and a small dish of water in her lap.
I pulled an apron over one of the hooks and threw it on over my head. When I got over to the wheel I saw that Arulet had already gotten some clay for me.
“You sit down and put the water in your lap. Make sure to wet your hands periodically.” I nodded and followed her instruction.

Mom is an artist specializing in sculpting so she had taught me how to use a clay wheel. I put my foot on the pedal, making the wheel slowly spin. I cupped my hands around the clay and watched it form a bowl. I slowly moved my hands in and out to give it an unusual shape. I was completely hypnotized by the clay that I didn’t notice someone watching me over my shoulder.

“You’re pressing too hard.” I looked up and saw a boy leaning over me and staring at my hands. He had tanned skin and dark brown hair to match.
“Really? And who may I ask is giving me this advice?” I always got so formal when I’m doing something like this.

“Oh, my name is Theo. I’d shake hands but I can see that yours are busy.” He smiled. “Anyway, you need to lighten up your hands; the clay will get distorted otherwise.” I took his advice and lightened up my grip. I paused for a moment and noticed that I was pressing so hard that rivets had appeared in the clay.  The bell rang again, and this time, all though I was startled, I knew what to do. I went over to Arulet and said, “I have Biology next. Where do I go?”

“That’s my next class, just follow me.”

Arulet took me down to a room that had cheesy cartoon cut outs of microscopes and insects. I was pretty spacey and didn’t catch the teacher’s name. I knew that we were talking about animal instincts. I was shocked. Because I had a set of recognizable animal instincts myself, I knew the answer to every question. It was kind of obvious, though. When animals are hungry, they look for food. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know that.

We were paired up for a lab experiment and I was seated next to a guy named Alex. He was blonde with matching blue eyes. Contradictory to that, he had large glasses and a mouth full of braces that made him constantly stutter.
After an hour of boredom, we were free for lunch. Before I knew it, I was strapped to Arulet’s arm and being dragged through the cafeteria with her friends, occasionally nodding and saying “Yah, uhun. Wait? What?” I knew I was with the wrong crowd, all of Arulet’s friends were on the cheer team, but for today I would stay with them.

We decided to eat lunch outside even though it was raining. Actually, I should say drizzling. I blindly followed the girls to an empty table and sat down. They talked about the newest line of clothing at Hollister and asked me what I thought. I stated plainly that I had no interest in clothing. They looked at me like I had ripped their “Holy Bible of the Fashion” into pieces. Arulet quickly came to my rescue, using all of the excuses in the book. As if they didn’t think I was weird enough, as if the school didn’t think I was weird enough; a bird flew by.