Raini closed the door to Carson’s car after he dropped her off at school. She leaned down into the window. “Thank you.” She gave a small smile. “I’ll wait for you.” She said before she stood up. He closed his mouth and drove away to park the car. When he returned to her side, she took his hand and walked with him into the school. He could tell that something was off because she was wearing the ring Logan had given her when they had become engaged.

As they walked down the hall, it seemed like all eyes were on them, but Raini didn’t care she was trying to avoid the gaze of a certain president. Carson was the best cover, but she did feel bad about using him this way. 

Missy walked into the dusty house with nothing more in her hands than the two bags of perishables. “Please tell me we’ve got a lot of work to do around here and I can’t go to a sleep over tomorrow night,” she called out to Nate, who should have been somewhere in the house. She wasn’t worried when she didn’t get a reply, he’d had a long night last night, so he was likely sleeping, working somewhere he couldn’t hear her, or even not home. Instead she simply walked into the kitchen and put everything in the fridge or freezer where it went. She walked upstairs to her room which overlooked the wilderness encroaching on the back yard and collapsed on the bed. She did not want to deal with anything right now. Raini was nice enough, a good, whole hearted girl, but there was no way she would ever understand. Missy was reluctant to actually get close to her for that reason. Close to anyone.

Raini walked back down the road toward home and watched the people as she passed them. She heard the revving of an engine and refused to look as it stopped at her side. “Raini.” She rolled her eyes and stopped. “What do you want, Carson?” She turned and looked at Logan’s little brother. “Want a ride?” Raini sighed and stepped up to the passanger door and slid into the seat beside him. “Now what do you really want?”

“I just saw you and you looked like you needed a ride.”

“Yeah. Drive.” Raini turned her head away from him and looked out the window as he began to drive. Carson and Raini were the same age and Carson had made it clear that Logan was too old for her and that he should take his place as Raini’s mate, but since Logan’s death, Carson hadn’t pushed his advances on her. He tapped his finger on the stick and hummed to the music. Raini rolled her eyes and sat back into her seat. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” He turned on another street and her eyes turned to the window where they passed the cemetery. She closed her eyes and turned away from it and kept her face down. “Raini…”

“Carson, I’ll take you up on the offer of a date, but let me think of something you need to do for me first. Thanks for the ride.” She climbed out the car and went into the lodge.

Missy was so startled by the mere calling of her name that she jumped nearly a foot in the air and dropped everything in her arms. Fortunately, she had been unloading the mixes, soups, spices and boxes into a cart, so most of it was contained, but several items spilled accross the isle. She whirled to see who it was, then relaxed visably, panting slightly from the surprise. “Oh hey Raini, you scared me.” She bent down to start picking things up and toss them back in the cart.

Raini laughed and helped. “So I noticed.”

Missy smiled back weakly. “So what brings you here? Your house empty of food too?”

Raini chuckled again, unloading her small armful into the cart. “Hardly. There’s enough there to feed an army. Nah, I just came out for a breath of fresh air, just thought I would step inside here for a minute to get warm again.”

“Oh.” Missy seemed almost disappointed, as though she saw Raini as some sort of goddess that hadn’t come though on the bait that she would step down from her grand throne. If that made any sense. But she brushed it away. “So you’re headed back out then?”

“I can hang around for a bit.”

Missy looked absolutely relieved. “That would be nice,” she admitted, flashing Raini a smile. “You’re  a good friend, you know that?”

“Thanks….” Normally Raini would be more gracious about it, but the way Missy had looked at her, the tone she had used… She wasn’t so sure that Missy wasn’t playing a game, that she wasn’t conning her or something. Missy was just odd- Raini was quickly coming to the point that she felt like she could trust Missy for the most part, but believing her was another matter entirely. Her intentions might be good, but the charade she carried around everywhere was built on a far less solid foundation.

“Hey,” Raini said, changing the subject suddenly. “How would you like to spend the night at my place? Maybe tomorrow night? You could just come over right after school, and I could show you around town a little bit or something. And after dinner we could, you know, watch movies, paint nails, braid hair… You know, just girly things. I haven’t done it in forever, and it kinda looks like you could use a girl’s night. What do you say?”

Missy started pushing the cart, griping the handle anxiously. “It sounds like fun, but I don’t know… We’re really busy trying to get unpacked and all, and I don’t think my brother would like it too much right now… Can I talk to you about it tomorrow?”

Raini felt a little twinge of frustration twist through her, but she just smiled and nodded. “Sure, and I’ll double check with my folks, but it shouldn’t be a problem.”

The two talked a little, mostly about trivial things, like favorite foods, and various guys from school, who the preps were and why they were so stuck up or whether the weather was agreeable or not. After Missy paid for her groceries with cash Raini helped her unload it all into the trunk of Nate’s Jaguar.

“Nice car,” Raini commented, eying the dashing, sleek silver decal that laced across the black paint.

“Now’s when I say ‘family heirloom’, but they don’t usually fair so well over the generations. Can’t cover this one up. But they’re a lot more common back home than they are here, I’ve noticed. I don’t think he’ll be getting a replacement of nearly the same class.” There was an echo of longing in her voice, but Raini couldn’t see any of it on her calm face.

Missy turned to her suddenly, tearing her watery blue eyes away from the vehicle. “Now, can I give you a lift anywhere, or were you out running?” she asked with a sweet smile.

A smile that was perfectly hollow, and she didn’t care how many people could just see though it.

A smile that wrenched at Raini’s heart, even when she felt like she had nothing left after loosing Logan. “I was going to run. So I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t forget to ask about the sleep over.” Raini gave Missy a smile and a wave, then started jogging off.

Raini pulled into the large lodge drive way. The Sanctuary had been our new home since the distruction of our last one. As its name suggests, it was our Sanctuary and we opened it to Lycans. Lions, bears, tigers, falcons, dragons and many others had taken refuge in the place and many had made it their home as well. These alliances were precious to Raini because they had protected them and had helped them keep an eye on the Coven of the cold vampires. Raini smiled at the two “security guards” Justin and Lucas, both Lycans, one a bear (Justin) and one a wolf (Lucas). Raini made it across the large opening room where it broke off into a café, a reception desk, and a lodge with large comfy couches. During the day it was the café, but once that closed, the garage in the back became the bar.

“Hey Raini, your dad’s looking for ya. News travels fast you know.” Mercedes, a fellow pack-mate, was sitting in the reception desk chair, subbing for her mother who was probably taking care of the nursery right now. “Thanks.” Raini said walking up to a large door next to the building elevator and opening it revealing a much larger elevator that could be used by the pack only. She stepped inside and closed the outer door and road it to the top floor.

Mercedes had hated her the moment Logan had made claim on Raini, which was really love-at-first-sight. Her mother had described it as a magical occasion when she was first presented to the pack.  Each pack member was bringing gifts for the occasion. When Logan had stepped up to give his gift, he knelt down and kissed Raini’s forehead making an oath that a normal human three year old wouldn’t understand. But Logan had and he did everything to keep that promise and he did it to the very end.

She made a quick stop at her room and walked into the nursery where she had expected to find her mother tending to the little pups. “Your father’s looking for you.” She said spooning applesauce into one of the twin’s mouths.

“So I’ve heard.” Raini held out her finger to Kayla and watched at the twin baby began to suck on her finger. “Where is he?”

“Out back working on the pool with Kyle and Lucian.” Her mother said softly.

Raini closed the door behind her and bounded down the large steps. She looked out at the pool and saw her father supervising Kyle and Lucian’s work. Lucian’s arm was buried in the tank below the ground while Kyle was in the water burying his arm at the other end. Lucian, whose hearing was better than most, looked toward Raini as she walked toward them. “Oooh, someone’s in trouble.”

“You want to lose that arm?”

Lucian made a fake scared face and then returned his focus to what he was doing. “Stupid human woman, had to wear her ring into the pool.”

“Shut up and do your job. I’ll be back. Raini, follow me.” Raini looked at her stern father whose large muscles couldn’t intimidate her. She followed her father across the lawn to the garage/bar. Raini remained silent as her father closed the door behind himself. She climbed the stairs to the actual bar area and sat in on the bar chairs.

“You know what I’m going to talk to you about. So tell me why you did it.” Raini knew to keep her mouth shut and wait for him to finish. “You know that this is the only way we can protect the pack and having this alliance will do just that, I need to make a relationship with them to ensure the pack’s safety.”

Raini clenched her fingers and held back the tears. “How can you expect me to do something like this?”

Her father placed a hand on her shoulder. “Logan he….”

“NO!” Raini turned and threw her father’s hand aside. “They killed Logan and you don’t seem to care how I feel about his alliance with them. The reason I picked a fight today was because I found the guy who cared the scent that was all over Logan. I wanted blood for blood.” Raini stormed away from her father. “You got what you wanted. A long life with the woman you love and mine was ripped away from me, but those cold blood leaches.” Raini jumped over the railing landing on the floor below. “You don’t understand and couldn’t possibly.” Raini threw open the door and ran out into the woods, her fast legs carrying her.

Raini stopped when she felt a sudden need too. She sucked in her breath and bellowed it out. She looked at her surroundings and found the sun beating down a small church. Raini’s eyes flickered over the old stones and the stain glass windows. She had seen it when she had gone out for her runs but had never gone inside. She bit her tongue thinking her curiosity had gotten the better of her. Hey, Curiosity had killed the cat and as far as she was concerned she was a canine.

She jumped up the small steps and opened the doors. The large creak the door made, only added noise to her pounding heart. She looked down the aisle to the altar at the front. A figure stood beside it and was facing away from her. Raini walked down the aisle and looked behind her as the door closed. She looked up cautiously at the figure and approached the front. The figure turned toward her, but Raini couldn’t see his face with the shadows of the chapel covering his face. “I’m sorry I came in without knocking.” Raini said loud enough that her voice echoed down the aisle. A deep laugh caused her to freeze.

“You think you need to knock on a chapel door?” She was taken back because of his words; she wasn’t religious in any sense so she would never know. She stood in the aisle as the man moved toward her. “I didn’t expect to see you here.” When his face caught the light, she sucked in her breath. “Come to apologize to me, or to God.” He only walked closer and closer until he was standing right next to her. He looked down at her. “People don’t pray her anymore.”

“I don’t pray. I… I had just seen this place before, but have never seen the inside.”

“You are the first visitor this place has seen in almost a year. I’ve come to make this my home since I have no other place to go.” He raised a hand and touched his covered left eye. She stepped around him. “I don’t understand these churches.”

“Hope. People need hope and faith to survive. And the love they receive is from God.”

“I don’t believe in love.” Raini pushed past him and walked out the church. “I stopped.”

Raini picked up her running and found herself in town near one of the open shops. She popped in and ran into someone she didn’t expect. “Missy!”

Missy stood outside the building, leaning against the wall. Her right hand was tucked inside a pocket of her skirt, but her left hand dangled freely, fingers twitching to some unheard music, and occasionally tapping on the black case hanging off her shoulder and pressed to the bricks by her elbow. A passing warlock gave her a glance, but didn’t attempt to start a conversation when he saw the way she stared at the clouds with surprising irritation. Besides, who knew what she was- definitely not human, and those could be the scariest of beings. But that didn’t stop her from being pretty.

Her eyes met Raini’s the moment she came outside. Missy pulled open her satchel and from within a binder she withdrew the photograph she picked up in the cafeteria. When Raini was close enough, Missy offered it to her, image side down. “You dropped this, thought you might want it back. You’re pretty ruffled. Try to start a fight?”

Raini took the photo, glanced at it and breathed a huge sigh of relief. “Thank you so much for keeping this safe for me.”

“Any time.”

Raini inspected Missy for a moment. The girl didn’t give anything away. It was kinda eerie how suddenly stoic she was. “Hey, you okay?”

“Yeah,” Missy replied. A slight smile drifted across her face. “I’m not the one that picked a fight with a couple vampires.”

“Wha- How’d you know?”

Missy’s smile faded and she looked away. “I’ve got a highly trained sense of smell… and you just look agitated, stressed out. Scents plus stress plus knowing things aren’t going well between you and them, it’s not hard to put together the pieces.”

Raini could tell Missy wasn’t telling her something, but she got the feeling that if she pressed the matter, the new girl would completely clam up against her, and even simple “Hello, how are you?”s would become terse and difficult.

They started walking away from the school. “So do you drive or take the bus?” Missy asked.

“I drive. I love my car too,” Raini added. “You?”

“I walk.”

“Do you want a ride?” Raini studied Missy for another moment as they walked. She still hadn’t made eye contact again. What was she hiding?

“No, I’m good. It’s a short walk, and my brother will be picking me up anyway once he gets off work.” Missy glanced at Raini with a smile. “I’d ask you about your family, but I don’t want to talk about mine.”

Raini’s mind flashed to Logan. “Yeah…”

“Hey, I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, drifting away.

“Hold on-” Missy was suddenly lost in the crowd. There wasn’t even that many people here, where’d she go?

~~~~

Missy walked down to the end of the school building where her brother was waiting in his convertible, the roof back. “How was the first day?” he asked, leaning over and unlatching the door for her.

She shrugged, setting her case in the back seat and settling in the passenger. “Better than expected- I actually made a friend. Her name’s Raini, and she’s a lycan. Wolf, but I don’t know what species yet. Doesn’t get along with cold vamps well either.”

Nate laughed as he pulled away from the curb and started driving down the road. “Sounds like you in two days. So, how’d the bet go?” he jibed.

“A cold came and bugged me while at lunch with Raini, and a warlock eyed me after school on my way over here, but that’s about all. The food is terrible there, I’m going to need to start bringing my own lunch every day…”

He chuckled. “I think the food will be the least of your worries.”

Missy looked at him. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“You just have a knack for making enemies,” he answered evasively.

“Something no doubt I picked up from you,” she retorted.

“No, I don’t think that.” His voice was soft.

“Neither do I.”

Raini listened to the overly loud bell and got up from her seat, but her bag caught the back of the chair jerking her arm causing her to drop her books. “Ah crap.” She bent down and began gathering things up. She stuffed it in her bag not caring about the mess. “Hey, let’s meet after school outside the west doors. I’ve got my art class now, so I’ll see you later.” She pushed past several elves and ran to class. She was so focused on getting away from that cold vampire that she didn’t hear Missy call behind her. Missy picked up a white paper that had slid out of one of Raini’s books and Raini didn’t pick it up. Curious of what she had left behind, Missy picked it up and looked at the picture of a young man. He was the picture of perfection and it only made sense that he wasn’t human. His dark blue eyes pierced through the picture and made it difficult to notice his dashing smile, dark skin, and light brown hair. “I wonder who this is.”

Raini sighed as she finished her Figure drawing class. Nothing could be more boring than drawing feet. She slipped her new sketch book in her bag and pulled out her old one and began flipping through it. Logan had been the object of her sketches for a long time and even in her younger years his blue eyes were what drew her in. She couldn’t admit to him, that because of him she wanted to draw. She smiled and flipped to the last page where her favorite picture was, but found that it was gone. “Where…” She had a sudden flashback about when she had dropped her books earlier. “No.” She pushed her books in her bag and ran out of the room hoping that the picture was still on the cafeteria floor.

She pushed the chairs and tables aside and couldn’t find it. She then knelt down and began looking under everything. “Missing something?” Raini stopped and looked up at a pair of cold vampires. Raini’s heart stopped. “Nothing in particular.” “We’ll help you.” One knelt down and began to help when she caught his scent. It was one she couldn’t forget. Her eyes turned a dangerous silver and she looked at him. “YOU!” She yelled tackling him to the ground. It had been this vampire’s scent that was all over Logan’s body that night. “YOU KILLED HIM!” Raini slashed at the cold vampires face, but was dragged away by the other. “You crazy –“ He didn’t even finish his sentence before she elbowed him in the nose.

A crowd of creatures gathered together and began to stand and stair and she began fighting the two. She simply didn’t care about the other vampire; she was ready to kill the one with the scent. Raini was thrown down on a table knocking the air out of her. She laid there for a second, but it was one too long. The two vampires had regained their stance and were ready to fight as a team. Raini turned over and felt her change begin, if she died here, she would be taking them to the grave. Raini’s wolf ears popped out and her tail snaked out the back of her jeans. She growled at them and prepared to jump, but something grabbed her from behind and pushed her up against a wall.

Raini looked up and remained frozen. The tall man looked down at her with one eye. Well, two really, but she couldn’t see it behind the hair that hung in his face. But it was that one eye that held her in place. “If you don’t calm down I’ll be forced to do something that I don’t want to do. As Student Council President it is my duty to protect all students. Now take a deep breath and calm down.” Raini then realized her breath was quick and her heart was skipping beats. She looked away and began to take slower breaths. “You’ve calmed down, that’s good.” His hand touched her cheek and brought her back to facing him. “Now explain to me what happened.”

Raini’s anger rose again, as she looked at the vampires behind him. “Oh, shove off!” She threw his arm out of her way and took her bag from one of the bystanders. Raini made her way to west doors, far away from the cafeteria.

“Hey, I get it.” Missy flashed her an awkward smile. “I’m guessing there was some sort of mess between them and you guys. Had to relocate. Hoping to salvage the conditions. Don’t correct me if I’m wrong.” She looked away. “I know how it goes. That’s… Pretty much my story.” Missy wouldn’t say anything more than that.

“Let’s just hope this class doesn’t have as creepy a professor.”

~~~~

Human Behavior was, in Missy’s opinion, one of the stupidest classes she could have taken. “I mean, really, how different can they be? They’ve got the same basic needs, and it’s not like our brains are all that different either. I think that class is a waste of time,” she complained to Raini on their way to lunch after class. “If it weren’t required, I would drop it right now.”

The two of them chatted idly about classes and a little about what they hoped to do with the knowledge they obtained there (or what they would rather be learning), and after buying food, they found a slightly secluded table tucked out of the way in the northern corner of the cafeteria.

“Hey, Missy,” a smooth voice called out, sliding into the empty seat beside Raini, staring straight across the table at Missy. Missy started, and Raini looked at him in irritation. “Couldn’t help but to notice that you seemed a little… upset in Keito’s class today. Anything I can do to help?”

Missy’s deer-in-the-headlights look disappeared, replaced by a harsh glare. “No, I’m just fine, thank you. I don’t need a boyfriend right now.”

Raini was irked period, having a cold vampire sidle up to her so quickly, even if he seemed to only have it in for Missy.

“Boyfriend?” he echoed with a laugh. “Man, you’re getting ahead of yourself girl. Hey, just if you need anything, shoot me a text.” He winked, pulling a business card out of seeming nowhere and flicking it at her before standing to leave.

Missy’s hand shot up and caught the card between two fingers delicately, her blue eyes icy cold. “Don’t think I will.” She snapped her fingers, which tossed the card to the table where flames started licking at a slight fingerprint where her hand had held it. “You can leave now.”

He chuckled. “Nice parlor trick,” he commented before leaving.

Raini turned to her expectantly. “So you have control over fire?”

Missy shook her head. “No, like he said, parlor trick. I’ll teach it to you sometime.” She didn’t feel like talking any more, and took a bit of her salad.

“It’s a long story. Do you have human behaviors next?” Raini asked hoping that she did. “Yeah.”

“Good. I’ll tell you on the way to class.” As they began to walk to class, Raini passed by a group of cold vampires and Raini couldn’t help but glare. When they passed them she heard Missy calling her. “Raini, what was that all about?”

“Their the reason I’m here. I need to make an alliance between the cold vampires and my pack. My dad needed me to do it, but…. it’s hard.” Raini became quiet.