The light pitter patter of rain dancing on the rooftop and the occasion flash of lightning accompanied by its brother, thunder, played the beat of her soul. Kas sat on the edge of her bed, tapping her phone screen as she waited. Her eyes glanced up to the time, 7:28 AM.

“Jacko better get here soon,” she grumbled as she stood up from her bed and left the room. Her footsteps echoed on the hardwood as she entered the living room.

Izzy looked away from the TV and grinned at her friend. “Why are ya looking so anxious? Your precious little Jacko is on the way, you should be smilin', right?” she asked, powering off the television set.

Kas glared at her friend but threw back a half grin, “Oh I'm plenty happy about that, Iz. It's just…” she trailed off but tensed as a loud thunder crack roared.

“It’s just a little thunderstorm, Mate. I know how ya feel about em, but you know--"

“I do know. Ya don’t gotta remind me every time it rains. It aint changin' how I feel about it, alright.” Kas interrupted as she crossed her arms over her chest.

She glanced at her phone again, checking the time, 7:31 AM. She sighed out a groan as she flopped into the navy blue recliner chair.

“He's late…” Kas complained.

Izzy giggled, covering her mouth. “You are too cute sometimes, ya know that? It only been a fuckin' minute, Kas. Don't let your panties get into a wad. He'll be here soon, I'm sure of it.” A moment later two car doors slammed outside.

Kas quickly turned her head toward the front door and stared intently. “That better be him.”

“Who the fuck else is it gonna be? I'm pretty sure the ice cream man don’t make house calls this early,” Izzy teased and a smile formed on Kas' face. “There she is.” A smile matching Kas' appeared on Izzy’s lips.

Three hard knocks echoed across the room and in an instant, Kas jumped to her feet and answered it. Jackson and Charlotte stood together under an umbrella on the other side of the door.

“Oi! I shoulda known you would bring Pixiedust along,” she complained but shrugged.

“She is your doctor, after all,” Jackson replied. “Before I can authorize anything, you need an examination.”

Kas scoffed as she shifted her hips and crossed her arms, “No magic in the house.” She glared at Charlotte before eying Jackson.

He reached forward and yanked on her wrist, stepping back with Charlotte as Kas stumbled outside, “No more excuses.” He said as he looked over to blue haired girl next to him. “Alright, work your magic and let me know what you find.” Charlotte nodded, placing her hand on Kas' shoulder, muttering something to herself as she closed her eyes.

When her eyes opened she grinned at Kas and looked back to Jackson, “She has remarkable natural healing. She is far from well, but in the month she has been recovering, she has made tremendous progress.” Charlotte explained.

“So, what would you suggest?” he asked.

“She should be able to return to book studies but nothing too taxing… physically.” She answered.

Jackson smiled and turned back to Kas, “Good news, you can return to regular classes, but no combat training.”

Kas scoffed at him, “Fuck that! I’m good to go, Mate. Get me back in there.”

“Kassie… no. Why are you so eager to break your body again already?” he asked.

“Cause if I laze about anymore, I'm gonna end up killing somebody, and I’d rather put that energy toward somethin’ useful.” Kas explained.

“Ya know, she's not wrong, Jackson.” Charlotte said.

He placed his hand on his forehead and chuckled, “Alright, alright. One step at a time, champ. Let's just get you back to classes and see how you do. Then we'll talk about combat.”

Kas rolled her eyes and sighed, “Fine…”

Izzy laughed out loud from inside the house as Kas huffed in frustration. “Nobody makes ya bend that way like your precious Jacko, am I right. Good luck today, Mate.”

“Fuck off, Izzy!” she growled.

“You two done yet? I can't have you late on your first day back now can I?” Jackson asked and Charlotte snickered.

“Yeah, we're done. Lets go.” She said, reaching into her pocket. She clicked the remote and the garage began to open.

Jackson raised an eyebrow at her. “Uh, what do you think you are doing there, Kassie?”

“Going to class.” she answered.

“Not like that you aren't,” he replied. “Bella!” he shouted, quickly reaching to into Kas' hoodie pocket. He yanked the keys out and tossed them at Izzy, just as she stepped into the doorway.

“Yeah?” she asked and gasped as she caught them. “Oh, what am I doing with these?”

“Hold on to them for Kassie, will ya?” he asked.

“What the fuck, Jacko?” Kas demanded as her face grew bright crimson.

“Uh, yeah… what she said?” Izzy replied.

“Would both of you just relax? I’m driving her to the academy.”

“R-re-really?” Kas asked as her normally stern face softened slightly.

Izzy giggled as she stared at her friend. “Yeah sure, not a problem.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

The day seemed to merge as Kas blinked her eyes. One minute she was standing out front of her house, the next she stood in the elevator as it opened up into the hallway of lockers on floor fifteen. The pressures of this place seemed like less than before, almost like a weight had been lifted. Kas walked down the tiled floor with ease. Her sense of dread vanished from the air.

Before long Kas entered one of the classrooms. Her eyes widened as she saw a very tall, brunette woman standing at the front where Rennyn usually was. She paused for a moment but sighed in relief and continued in. Kas found a spot near the back of the class. She glanced at the whiteboard and in the top right corner there was a name; Professor Irish London. The name sounded familiar and for some reason Kas couldn’t help but listen to ever word the woman spoke, as if she wasted no words and it would be foolish not to listen.

She preached a lesson Kas had heard a thousand times but the authority the woman commanded with her voice alone had Kas in awe.

“As you all know, silver is the main requirement to permanently kill werewolves, among a great many other creatures. I could get into the science of it all, but the sad reality none of that is going to benefit you. Silver kills them, just know the more pure the silver, the more effective it becomes,” she explained. The lens of her black-rimmed glasses reflected the light above her into Kas' eye as she glanced over. Kas locked eyes with her for a moment but Irish kept scanning the entire class.

“Silver is a hunters best friend. Yes ladies, that gives you an excuse to wear jewelry in the field.” Irish smirked as she pulled a chain out of her shirt, revealing a small, shiny blade inside of a cross. “But please be discreet. Assume that monsters are keen to silver jewelry and hidden weapons.”

Kas absorbed every word the women spoke but her focus was broken the moment the first class bell rang. She quickly gathered her books and notes, shoving them into her book bag. She found her way back into the hall and walked to her locker. Kas opened it and jumped as it rained out small folded pieces of paper and sealed envelopes. Heat radiated from her face as she grew fifty shades of red. She picked up a hand full of notes and unfolded them. Her eyes scanned over several and stopped when she read the fifth Get well soon.

“Wha-what the fuck is this, some kind of sick joke?” Kas asked, raising a eyebrow at the pile of notes.

“Pretty cool, right?” Charlotte asked as she walked over from a nearby classroom.

Kas stared at her as here eyes bounced between the notes and her red-eyed friend. “What is all this?”

Charlotte chuckled and raised her own eyebrow. “Uh… they're Get Well Cards.”

“Yeah, no shit, pixie. Who're they from?”

“Pretty much the whole combat class and a bunch of other randoms,” Charlotte explained. “Once everybody heard about your recovery, they all joined in.

Kas huffed and began muttering to her self for a moment but snapped her back to Charlotte, “Why would anybody care about my recovery?”

“Have you never gotten a Get Well Card before?” she asked with her hands on her hips. “We're hunters. And we all worked hard to get here. We respect each other, got each others back.” Kas' face grew bright red and she remained quiet for a moment.

“Everything okay?” Charlotte asked as she waved her hand in front of Kas' face.

She shook her head and locked eyes. “Thank you, Charlotte.” Kas whispered as she grabbed her last book and slammed her locker. Her stride shifted as she stormed down the hall. She heard Charlotte say something as she walked away but she turned it out as she slipped headphones over her ears.

Down several halls and passed many classrooms, Kas found her next door. The sign next to the door read: Mythology, By Reiner Van Helsing. Her interest piqued as she read the name. The Van Helsing works always intrigued her, but mostly because of their fame for hunting both vampires and werewolves. She stepped inside and saw a very old man with long white hair. His face scarred over his left eye but a smile still found his lips. Kas did her usual as she found a seat near the back of the class. The old man sat behind his desk reading an old leather-bound journal. Her phone vibrated him her pocket. She checked and saw a text from Izzy.

[From Izzy – Hey mate! How r u getting on?]

[To Izzy – Well enough. Werewolf Bio had a new teacher. Sitting through Mythology now. I'll let u know how it goes at lunch.]

[From Izzy – Sure thing Mate-o]

A sharp ring sounded as the clock reached 9:35 AM. The old man closed the journal and placed on his desk as he stood up.

“My name is Reiner Van Helsing and I'll be teaching your mythology class for the remainder of the semester.” His gruff old voice scratched through the air. He snatched the journal from his desk and faced the class once again. “You should all have photocopies of the book in my hand. Volume One of the journal of Maxim Van Helsing. He is my great-great-grandfather and said to be the greatest Van Helsing that ever lived.” Kas listened as he began to lecture from the journal. Her consciousness faded in and out. She had read the journal a thousand times and had it memorized. So, paying attention seemed less important. The class lulled as time seemed to lose sense of its flow.

Reiner commanded the class to listen as he explained information and got lost in the retelling of his old adventures. His eyes narrowed as he paused for a moment.

“The one thing people most recognize the Van Helsing family for one thing, slaying the father of vampires, Dracula," He explained. “But that’s not entirely true. The truth is that Dracula was not the father of vampires. Ge was simply the strongest known at the time. We discovered later that Valac The Devourer is the father of vampire.”

Kas quickly sat up in her seat, curiosity getting the better of her. In an instant, her hand shot up as a million questions scoured her mind.

Reiner locked eyes with her and smiled. “Miss Bellrose, I believe you have a question. How can I help solve you--"

“Yeah, okay so… I’ve seen Valac The Devourer mentioned in the lore, but I couldn’t find any solid proof of him being the father of bloodsuckers. Do you have any more information on this?” she asked, interrupting him.

He didn't seem to mind as he never dropped eye contact with Kas. “When you meet the man face to face, it’s all the proof you’ll need.”

Kas' eyes widened. “You’ve met him…. And lived to tell about it?”

“I have, but don’t get too excited. It wasn’t as ‘epic' as you kids might imagine.” Reiner replied as he did air quotes.

“Maybe I could meet up and we could swap stories.” She offered with a wild smile.

“How old are you, kid?” he asked as he raised an eyebrow.

“I'm seventeen, gonna be eighteen soon though, but don’t let me age fool ya, gramps. I have some stories that could send an old vet like you into a crying fit.” She snapped back with a cocky grin.

Reiner chuckled and shook his head. “Alright, kid, you got me. I got a soft spot for sob stories.”

Kas brimmed with joy as Reiner shifted back to his lecture, returning his attention to the full class. Before much longer, the bell rang and Kas left along with the rest of the students. It was finally her lunch break. So, she marched toward the mess hall, all the while deciding on which of the twenty-three burger options to choose from. Just as she approached the entrance, her footing slipped and she stumbled, catching herself on the wall. She panted as beads of sweat formed on her brow.

I must really be out of shape if I cant even walk down the halls anymore. She thought, catching her breath. A warm, familiar, small hand landed on her shoulder from behind. Kas swatted it away as she spun around faced with Charlotte.

“Oh… uh, hey Pixiedust.” She greeted as she desperately tried not to reveal her troubles.

“Just checkin’ on you. I wouldn’t feel like I was doing my job if I didn’t check on you whenever I could.” She said.

“Well, I’m about to grab lunch. Walk with me.” Kas replied, quickly turning and making a b-line for the door.

Charlotte followed suit as she stepped between the doors. “So how are you feeling, really?”

“Nope, healthy as a Dingo, mate.” Kas snapped back.

“No Fatigue, trouble concentrating, mood fluctuations, or anything like that?” Charlotte inquired.

Kas sighed as she picked up her pace. “Nothing out of the ordinary.”

“So, you always brace yourself on a wall while painting for a breath? Kas, don’t lie to me. I can scan your body from a distance or by touch. You cannot simply will this away. You have exten--" Charlotte ranted

“Geeez, alright. Calm down pixie. I’ve been tired more after walking down the halls between classes. Ya happy now?” Kas spat out. She quickly typed the desired code for her burger, and a moment later a greedy paper bag dropped down.

Charlotte smirked as she reached over to the burrito machine and dialed in her lunch as well. “Happier. It’s a start, but I want pry for too much on your first day back.”