• Chapter 3


    Lance had his hands held up with a smile on his face. “Hey, calm down. It’s only me.” He said with a chuckle.
    Night got off of him and put the kunai in the folds on her shirt. She gathered her things and started walking towards the weaponry room.
    “Hey, wait up!” exclaimed Lance, running to catch up until he was walking besides her. “That was the fastest reaction I’ve ever seen. Where did you learn that move?”
    Night shrugged, adrenaline still pumping through her veins. “I was never taught. I had to teach myself. Especially since vampire hunters have been cocky now-a-days.”
    Lance nodded. They walked in silence until they arrived at the weaponry class. Lance opened the door and held it open for her. She walked in with a dip of her head.
    “Mr. Doki, we’re here.” Announced Lance.
    Mr. Doki nearly jumped out of his skin and from what night could see Doki might actually make that possible. Doki was a tall demon with a black and white long sleeved shirt, a pair of plain black jeans, and some type of top hat that matched his shirt. He had long white hair and seemed to be shivering from nervousness.
    “P-Please don’t s-sneak u-up on m-me again!” he stammered.
    “Sorry about that Mr. Doki.” Apologized Lance.
    Night waved at Doki but his reaction wasn’t what she expected. His eyes grew wide and his shivering seemed to worsen.
    “B-But I w-was told that s-she is a w-wolf d-demon. N-Not a vampire!” he exclaimed, gesturing to Night’s crimson eyes.
    Night narrowed her eyes and growled. “Just once! Just once in my life I wish that people would stop judging me for what I am!” she snarled.
    Doki grew deathly pale and made a loud gulping noise. Lance stared at her in shock. Night put down her things and decided to take a look at the blades that leaned against the wall. Doki kept a wary eye on her, while Lance followed her and watched her examine each blade.
    Night came across some katanas and pulled one out. It had a black hilt, a black blade, andit had a blood-red chain hanging off of it. She motioned for Lance to give her some room and when he was standing by Doki did she start swinging the blade. She moved as if she was dancing, thrusting the blade in the air. She spun, she jumped, she did many tricks which were completely graceful. When she was done, Doki walked up to her. His shivering had almost stopped and a small smiled was on his face.
    “I’m surprised that that katana allowed you to touch it.” Said Doki. “It usually leaves burn marks on the wielders hands.”
    Night shrugged and put it back against the wall. “It didn’t feel right for some reason… I can feel an evil, ghastly aura emanating from it.”
    “Ah, yes. That particular katana was once used to collect the souls of the people it slain.” Explained Doki. “But I was told by my Sensei that a certain someone would be able to tame the restless souls that reside in that blade.”
    Night gave him a weird look. “So you’re saying that I’m that person?”
    Doki shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe. Why don’t you keep that blade with you at all times? If you haven’t noticed, several students were wearing weapons.”
    Night nodded, remembering Emma having twin blades strapped to her waist. She took hold of the hilt of the katana and felt the same ghastly aura from it. She was half tempted to put it back but she didn’t. Doki gave her a blood red sheath.
    “That blade came with this sheath.” He explained. “Well, class is over, so you two might as well go to your next class before you’re late.”
    He ushered Lance and Night out the room and closed the door behind them.
    “So that katana has a really dark past… Will you be able to handle it?” asked Lance.
    Night put the katana in its sheath and strapped it on her side. “Yeah, I’m sure. Since I have a dark past as well, this blade and I are a perfect match.” Said Night softly. She waved good-bye and ran through the hallways. On her way to her third period class, she literally ran into Emma, the Academy’s b***h.
    “Hey! Watch where you’re going loser! You could hurt someone.” She sneered.
    Night jumped back up and her hand hovered over the katana. “What do you care?”
    “You’re right, I don’t.” she said laughing. She walked off in the direction Night was heading. Night growled and said, “******** Ho!” in the wolf language.
    Night got back up and ran past Emma. She found the classroom and entered. The classroom looked like a gym and a weight room put together. A large jaguar was standing in front of a crowd of students.
    “Ah, yes. Come in.” said the jaguar. It motioned for Night to join the students. NiNie and Vash were standing off to the side and so Night headed towards them.
    “Hey Night! Are you ready to learn how to change into an animal?” asked Vash.
    Night nodded and noticed a small boy clinging to Vash. Vash noticed Night looking and chuckled a bit.
    “Oh, sorry. I forgot to introduce you Night.” He gestures to the boy and he smiled slightly. “Suto, this is Night. Night, this is Suto.”
    Night waved and was about to say something when the jaguar started to speak again.
    “All right, I want you to spread out and keep facing me.” Immediately all the students separated from each other, giving each other about two feet of space.
    “Now close your eyes.” Said the jaguar and all the students closed their eyes. “look deep inside you. An image of an animal should appear.”
    Night searched hard within her and an image of a black wolf with red streets in its fur appeared in front of her. It dipped its head and howled. She barely heard the jaguar tell everyone to open their eyes. Night opened her eyes and jumped back a few feet. The jaguar was standing right in front of her with a smile on his face.
    “Night job Night. It seems that you, NiNie, Vash, and Suto were the only ones successful.” He commented.
    Night turned her head and noticed that she was on all fours in a wolf form. She had black fur with blood-red streaks running through it. She turned to look at NiNie and saw that she was a pure black cat with ice blue eyes. Vash was a white tiger, while Suto was a golden furred lion. All four of them ran up to each other and jumped around.
    The jaguar smiled. “Well, class is dismissed. Tomorrow we will try to get the rest of you your animal selves, while Night and the others go to the treadmill to see how fast they can run.” He flicked his tail and everyone left the room. Night, NiNie, Vash, and Suto left together.
    “Well, lunch is now….” Began Night.
    NiNie nodded with understanding. “Go feed. We’ll see you later.”

    Night was searching the woods for prey but she found Lance instead.
    “Hey? What are you doing here?” she asked. Lance smiled and took a step towards her.
    “I was out hunting too, but the prey don’t seem to be running.” He replied. Night frowned and looked around, even the forest seemed quiet. “I don’t like this… It’s too quiet… Even the birds are quiet.”
    Lance frowned and listened to his surroundings. “Yeah, you’re right. Even the bugs aren’t making a sound.”
    Night sniffed the air but she couldn’t smell anything but the forest. Her ears twitched at the sounds of leaves ruffling, but she trained them to hear further than that. She closed her eyes and allowed her mind to travel, searching for whatever the cause of the lack of wildlife. In her mind’s eye, she saw a creature that looked like a sphinx but looked more like a basilisk.
    Night’s eyes snapped open and she ran into the forest. Lance ran after her, asking her what she saw, but Night wouldn’t answer.
    Night stopped in front of a clearing and on the other side was denser and darker. She could smell the creature but she couldn’t hear it.
    Lance caught up and looked around. “What is that stench?”
    Night growled. “Shush! That thing’s hearing is more acute than ours. If it knows we’re not normal animals it will kill us.” She whispered fiercely.
    Lance nodded and shifted into a brown wolf while Night shifted into her wolf form. She crept forward and sniffed the ground; acting like a normal wolf would. She wearily looked around and snorted. She shook her head and howled. Lance trotted up to her and touched her with his nose.
    Suddenly a strange hissing sound could be heard along with a loud roar.
    Night looked at Lance. “Grawr…growl…grr…hrr…” she said to him in wolf. Lance nodded. “Grrr…grawr…” he replied.
    Night had told him to go back into the forest and to wait for her signal. Lance had told her to be careful and not to get away.
    Night smiled and watched him trot back into the forest. The hissing got louder and a large tree fell on the far side of the clearing. The trunk nearly squashed Night but it missed her.
    The creature roared. Night looked over the tree to get a good look. Its tails were three snakes, it had a lion’s head, a rooster’s head, and a human women’s head. It had the body of a lion but was covered in feathers.
    The lion’s head roared again but the women’s head opened its mouth and let out a blood curdling scream.
    Night shifted to her human form and tried to cover her ears to block the sound.