Nightschool chapter 3

"Well, well," Teresa said, grinning and ignoring the scowl on Nicholas's face. "If it isn't Mr. Will-Date-Anything-With-A-Pulse." She walked over to him, holding a stake against her cheek. "She your girlfriend or midnight snack?"

The girl in question had shrunk behind her boyfriend.

"Don't see her running, do you?" Nicholas asked through his teeth. "You Buffies need some glasses."

"You Nozzies need to get a tan!" Teresa shot back.

"Hey." Cassidy set a hand on her shoulder. "The treaty."

She stiffened and looked in the other direction, shrugging him off. "Well, no time for chitchat." She took a few steps away from them. "We're Hunting some real vampires."

"Reports of ripper maulings around here," Cassidy said, not looking at the vampire he was talking to. "Seen anything?"

Nicholas scowled deeper. "Go %$@& yourself."

Cassidy looked at him, eyes calm. He turned away.

"I guess you don't want help when they're ripping your girl to pieces."

"I can take care of my own!!"

"Who are rippers?" the human asked, eyes wide, voice small.

Nicholas glanced back at her, concern replacing his scowl.

He turned her around.

"We have to get out of here," he said, his hand still on her shoulder.

"Wait!" She looked back at the others. "What are they going to do to her?"

The new vampire blinked at Cassidy and Teresa, who were hovering over her.

"She must be new…" Teresa said thoughtfully. "She doesn't know to be afraid." She reached out a hand toward the girl.

"Do you want to find out… why you should be?"

The human jumped in front of her.

"Don't touch her!!!" she said too quickly.

Teresa raised her eyebrows and clicked her tongue. "Girl, you still here? Scoot on home before you're someone's dinner."

"What's your problem?!" the other girl yelled.

Teresa stared blankly. "My problem?"

The girl struggled for words. "I… I know who you are! Big frigging deal! Being the law doesn't give you the excuse to be a bitch!"

Her hands flew up to cover her mouth, her eyes wide.

Teresa glared, one eye twitching. "What did you just call me…?"

"Oh, here we go again," Cassidy muttered from behind her.

"I-I… well…" the girl started, voice shaky.

She frowned, suddenly taken over by a surge of determination.

"You heard me!" the self-proclaimed vampire rights activist snapped. "And don't try to scare me, I know you can't do anything because I'm human!!"

Teresa tightened her grip on her stakes. "No, no, no," she said, grinning crazily. "I'm not supposed to. Big difference from can't. There are loopholes I can drive a truck through, okay?!"

"They aren't breaking any treaty laws, so leave them alone!!" the girl yelled back at her.

"This one tried to bite you, hello?!" Teresa pointed at the vampire girl, who was still sitting on the ground next to them and staring at the human, drooling.

"She can't help it, she's hungry!" the girl said.

The African American girl and Cassidy sighed in unison, knowing that they wouldn't stop for a while.

"Did you leave your basic survival instincts somewhere?!" Teresa yelled at her. "What's wrong with you?!"

"Ten?" Cassidy said.

"Yeah?" the African American girl asked, not looking at him.

"Jaq and me are gonna finish the sweep," he said. "You watch things here, 'kay?"

Ten blinked and looked at him. "Wait, what?"

The other two had already fled.

"Hey, why am I stuck dealing with the catfight?!" she yelled after them.

She turned to Nicholas. "You going to do anything or what?!"

"Are you crazy?" he scoffed. "I'm not getting in the middle of that."

Ten sighed. "Great. Extra endurance testing today, I see." She looked away from the still-arguing older girls.

"And let me tell you–" Teresa continued.

"No, let me tell you!" the girl interrupted.

"Hey!! Shut it and listen!!" the Hunter threw back at her. "You don't have a clue!! What, you think this is real darkness you're dating?! This redblood? You have no idea what a real vampire is."

Ten blinked and squinted at the silhouette forming to the left of the feuding pair.

Two chalky skinned, almost ghostly-looking figures appeared, eyes glowing white in sockets of black.

Ten inhaled sharply, fear appearing in her eyes.

"Rippers!!" she yelled back at the others.

By the time they'd turned around, the younger Hunter already had two spiked chains out and was running toward the pair of vampires gone wrong.

She whipped the chains toward the pair, lunging at them.

The chains wrapped around the two, and her foot hit one of them in its overgrown jaw.

She stepped up on its chalky face and jumped off, chains tightening in her hands.

She skidded to a stop on the wet grass and turned around.

"Teresa!!" she yelled.

"On it!!" the Hispanic girl said, charging at them.

She jumped up, stakes at her side, and slipped in between them, one stake landing in one's neck, the other in the second's chest.

She skidded to a stop next to Ten, both girls watching as the rippers tore the stakes out of themselves and dove straight through the ground, leaving Teresa's stakes and Ten's chains behind.

The girls froze.

"They're going for the girl!!" Teresa realized, whipping around toward the human, who was still behind Nicholas.

The girl stared at her, not understanding until a pair of claws reached up at her from underneath.

The rippers sprung up, one holding Nicholas back, the other going for the girl's neck.

Nicholas managed to put his hand in front of her neck so the ripper bit down on it instead.

It opened its mouth, revealing a heavily bleeding wound deep enough to show bone.

One of its claws scratched out at the vampire's neck, making his head snap back and letting him go flying.

"Hey, dustbreath."

The rippers turned to see all four Hunters, ready to attack.

"You are hereby charged with breaking the treaty," Cassidy finished.

"Go!!" Teresa snapped at the others.

She and Cassidy tackled the two of them, and it became a blur of weapons.

Cassidy plunged wood into anything he could see. Teresa sliced out with her daggers. Ten whipped her chains around them, the spiked ends cutting through. Jaq was the only one unarmed, simply punching and kicking anything the others didn't get.

The human moved her arms away from her face and looked back at the Hunters, still shaking.

Ten was kneeling on the ground. Cassidy and Teresa were hovering over her, and Jaq stood off to the side.

"Get the other hand," Ten said to the leaders.

Teresa looked up and saw the girl looking at them, shaking like a leaf.

"So, want to see a real vampire?" Teresa asked. She gestured to the broken bodies on the ground. "Rippers. Nothing but ash, darkness, and bloodlust. They can't even talk anymore. Can't breathe, can't eat, can't even die properly. It's not even blood they want…" She looked down at the heavily bleeding scratch on her hand. "It's life. A taste, any taste… of what they once had." The cut stopped bleeding. She gently stroked the quickly healing wound. "Your boyfriend's future. If he still has one."

"Nicholas!!!" the girl cried, running off. She spotted him sprawled unconscious on the ground several feet away. "Nic…!!"

She knelt down and left up his deeply scratched face, tears pouring out. "Ohgod, ohgod."

"We take them with or leave 'em?" Ten asked.

"Tag a guard circle and leave them leave them for the sun," Cassidy said.

Teresa started walking away but paused, seeing the new vampire huddled a few feet away from the group.

She walked over and knelt down next to her, waving her hand in front of her glazed-over eyes.

"Wow, way deep under," Teresa muttered. "Guess this was her first show." She thought a moment. "Never seen a Hunter, never seen a ripper… huh. If she's that new, then maybe…" She pulled a compact from her pocket and held the mirror in front of the girl.

"Reflection?" Cassidy asked.

Teresa smiled a bit. "Yep. Can take her to Mona's, she'll fix her up." She snapped the compact shut. "Hey, girl. Good news. You can have your life back. Want it?"

Cassidy looked over at the human, who was holding Nicholas's head to herself.

Cassidy walked over and knelt down next to her. "Can you turn his head toward me?"

She looked at him, distrusting, her mascara running down her cheeks.

"Just want to check on him," he said gently. "I can't touch him. So you have to do it."

"Damn straight he can't touch me," Nicholas said weakly. "%$#&ing kill him if he does."

Cassidy blinked. "…It is my professional opinion that he'll be just fine."

"Nicholas!!" the girl cried. She squeezed him to her chest hard enough for an audible crunch to be heard.

"OW!!" the vampire yelled.

"Sorry, sorry!" she apologized quickly.

Cassidy stood up and walked back toward the rest of the group. "Okay, Hunters, sound off."

"Nozzie noob – ready to go and willing to look at her options," Teresa said, her arm around the blonde, who was now wearing her coat. The vampire blinked, dazed and confused.

"Rippers – all camped out and not leaving," Ten said, kneeling next to the chalky remains. She shook a can of spray paint and popped a bubble in her gum.

Cassidy turned toward the only person who hadn't spoken. Jaq was looking off at where the others had disappeared to.

"Jaq?" Cassidy asked. "How're Terrence and the others? Did they find anyone there?"

The other Hunter was silent a moment.

"Something's wrong."

The other three Hunters were sprawled on the ground, eyes closed, not moving.


I posted two! Just for the fans!