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Chapter Four- Breathe

"Here we are again just face to facing each other another day. Who wins, well who cares it always ends up the same"

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Keller was in shock. The glass of the window had shattered as she and the girl flew through the window. Both determined creatures they continued to grapple mid-fall, Keller felt her shirt tearing at the shoulder just as she pulled a chunk of the girls hair from her scalp. Keller landed first, shocks of pain jolted from her tailbone across her back and down her legs. Even in pain she was still Raksha Keller, the fierce predator and she used the force of the fall to propel herself backwards and into a crouch, all her weight resting on the balls of her feet.

The vampire who had landed mostly on top of Keller was thrown sideways by the roll and landed in her own crouch a few feet away. She eyed Keller hungrily but deciding to play it safe the girl picked herself up and ran away. Keller didn't chase her but instead watched as the girl jumped a brick wall at least six feet high before disappearing into the mountains and forest.

By the time Keller had regained her wits a crowd had formed.

"Are you okay?" someone asked. Keller ignored them and stood up brushing glass shards from her pants. More people asked questions that Keller couldn't answer, "What happened?" "Who was that?"

"What's going on here?" Principal Wormwood's voice broke through the crowds excited whispers. Students parted ways to let the man through, his face was worried and fearful until he spotted the girl at the center of the commotion.

The worry lines creasing his face dissolved and turned to an expression of confusion and annoyance.

"Freakin shifters" he mumbled under his breath. If Keller hadn't been one of said shifters she might not have heard him. "All right everyone clear out go to your dorms, now!" he shouted louder, ordering the crowd to disperse. Keller tried to stealthily slip away but Wormwood caught her by the arm, "You just wait one second missy". He was only a witch not very strong, Keller could have broken his grip and his arm but she chose not to rather opting for a delicate hiss through her clenched teeth.

"Let go of me now" she demanded. Wormwood raised a questioning eyebrow and squeezed harder on Keller's arm. "I said let go of-" Keller grabbed his hand with her free one and was about to forcibly remove his hand from her arm but she was interrupted.

"I'll take the matter from here, Sir" Quinn interjected, using one of his strong, cold hands to hold back Keller's and pushing the principal back with the other.

Wormwood looked like he was going to protest but thought better of it and stepped away. "I'm sure the matter will be taken care of appropriately and with the proper punishments?" he asked. Quinn nodded and the principal turned away, trailing his secretary.

The courtyard had significantly emptied now only a few students remained rushing to their dorms, with the exception of Keller, Quinn and another girl whose name Keller didn't know.

"Maybe we should go somewhere private and talk" Quinn suggested to Keller, she was about to agree with him when two more people entered the courtyard.

"Keller! Keller, are you okay?" Galen ran out the doors to the girls dorms towards Keller. Behind him was Lonan Altair. That explained why Galen had complied and hidden so well, Lonan had most likely taken him and hidden him.

"Yeah I'm fine, are you okay?" Keller asked examining Galen for any wounds.

"I'm safe now, thanks to you" Galen replied taking Keller's hand. "Thank you" he said in barely a whisper. Keller was speechless, praise was something she didn't often receive unless it was coming from Lord Thierry and she couldn't recall anyone ever thanking her. She was just doing her job. And now here she was being thanked by the prince of shapeshifters himself, she couldn't speak.

Galen moved closer to her, Keller could the air pressing between them as they breathed. For the first time she noticed his eyes, in the daylight they had sparkled brightly full of joy, but in the dark they were something different, the moon reflected off the irises giving the normally golden eyes a green tint.

Oh geez. Thought Keller. That was very sappy.

"Heh, Hem" Quinn coughed, "Hate to interrupt… whatever this is, but we have some business to attend to" Quinn tapped Keller on the shoulder. She took a healthy step away from Galen wondering what had come over her.

"What business is this?" asked Galen turning towards Quinn, his normal polite tone an princely manner returning.

"This girl" Quinn replied icily motioning to Keller, "Almost exposed the Night World to a very large group of humans, she needs to be dealt with". Quinn maintained an ice cold stare at Galen the whole time.

"The girls name is Keller, and she was protecting me, if you're going to deal with anybody deal with whoever let a vampire with a crossbow onto the campus" Galen's voice stayed calm and steady the whole time he spoke. Keller was astonished.

"Look, I don't know who you think you are-" Quinn began.

"Galen Drache" Galen replied, Quinn clenched his fists then paused thoughtful for a moment.

"Let's not play the lineage game" Quinn said speaking directly to Galen, then turned to look at Keller,

"You may go, but one more slip up and I won't care how many royal friends you've got. Understand?" Quinn took Keller's silence as a 'yes' and left.

Once Quinn was gone Galen turned to Keller, arms folded and face impassive. "Care to explain?"

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Morgead leaned over the roof ledge watching the crowd beneath him disperse. He was crouched forward so all of his weight rested on the balls of his feet watching everything that had happened below him. It had been a shifter and a vampire fighting over something, Morgead could really care less but he couldn't tear his gaze from the scene below him.

Not the students or the shocked looking shape-shifter being abused by the schools principal, no Morgead was watching something else. The waves of flaming red hair that stood out against the rest of the crowd as the girl made her way to where the shifter had hit the ground.

Morgead saw Jez look angrily around for a moment before walking towards the boys dorms where Morgead was perched. Before she entered however she looked up, in the darkness human eyes wouldn't have been able to spot Morgead but Jez saw him, she caught his gaze for a moment and sent him a smile.

Morgead smiled back as his heart began to pound. This had been happening more and more frequently when he saw Jez. Her smile, her hair, her walk, everything about her made his pulse speed up and his hands shake.

Nothing like a near death experience to make you realise how much you love someone.

Seeing Jez lying there bleeding, cold and broken had brought something out of Morgead. It was then just before the blue light had exploded everything that he'd figured it out. Jez was his soulmate.

"What is there a naked girl in the other building with her curtains open or something?" asked Jez slapping Morgead on the shoulder, startling him enough to almost throw him off the side of the building.

Jez possibly didn't feel the same way about Morgead as he did about her.

"Ha, you almost fell you pansy!" she laughed.

Yeah, she definitely didn't feel the same way.

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"I'm disappointed with us" Jez grumbled beside Morgead, both teens dangling their legs from the side of the building. "The first big excitement of the school year and it had nothing to do with us" she continued, Morgead was staying oddly silent.

"Mmm, we must be losing our touch" Morgead mumbled disinterestedly, his fingers tapping at the stone ledge. His silence terrified Jez.

Damn he's making this so hard. She thought to herself meanwhile she was praying that he wasn't looking inside her head. She wasn't as good a telepath anymore, not since… the accident. She'd been grappling with whether or not to tell Morgead what she'd discovered all summer, and then seeing him today she'd decided against it, he'd kill her if he found out.

But he'd never have to. He would never know that she was half human. She had discovered this during her near death experience, memories long forgotten and supressed had crystalized and she had discovered her heritage.

"Kill the freak!" The shouts echoed in her mind. Jez shook herself and the thoughts away.

She was a freak, half vermin, vile. But she could change that. She'd stopped feeding for three weeks straight over the summer and she realised if she didn't use her powers she could live just fine… as a vermin.

Instead she'd chosen to feed extra, the more she did, the more she hunted, the more her human side was supressed and she was a true vampire.

"Jez, JEZ!" Morgead shook her, "Are you listening to me? What the hell are you talking about?"

"What?" Jez answered fuzzily.

"What the hell do you mean you're half human?" That was when she realised, she'd been projecting.

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Mary-Lynette peeked out from behind her bedroom door watching the commotion, two girls eyeing each other up like lions and their prey. Others had spilled into the hallway to watch while Mare remained safely behind her door should there be any danger. The crowd moved along the hallway blocking her view, she knew what had happened the second she heard the glass shatter and was among the first few into the courtyard to see the girls hit the ground.

By the time she got outside, however, one of the girls was gone and the other was stood frozen in place, shards of broken glass scattered around her feet. A crowd gathered around the girl Mary-Lynette positioned herself on the outer rim.

The principal showed up and the crowd dispersed as quickly as it had formed, but Mare stayed where she was, looking across the courtyard and into a pair of dark eyes. She couldn't contain her shock and let her mouth drop open and eyes widen. He spotted her too his firm mouth slipping into a grin.

"Jeremy!" Mare exclaimed rushing across to him.

"Mare!" he called back just as excited.

"I can't believe you're here! Why are you here?" she asked taking his hand in her own before dropping it in embarrassment.

"You know I went to Oakley" he replied his grin widening. Jeremy was one of Mary-Lynette's oldest friends, they'd gone to school together as kids before they'd both gone off to school. Mary-Lynette had had a crush on him once upon a time, remembering this causing a blush to creep upon her cheeks. "Did you want to go get something to eat? The cafeteria's open" Jeremy suggested.

Mare nodded and they made their way to the cafeteria, unaware of the eyes watching them.

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"I told you to tell me if you had any more of these!" Phil yelled at his twin sister oblivious of the people looking at them as they passed, as Poppy clutched at her stomach. Little creases appeared on her forehead as she waited for the pain to ebb away.

"Last year Phil!" Poppy shouted in reply, "I haven't had any since the night of the game" she argued. It was true, after the gas leak she had felt no more pain and she'd had her dream summer spending time with her friends, and relaxing, and dreaming about the hottie who'd rescued her from falling off the railing.

"Poppy I just want you to be safe" Phil said more calm now he put a reassuring hand on Poppy's shoulder and she straightened up the pains supposedly over. He reached over to hug her, "I'll be in my dorms if you need anything okay?"

"Yeah" she replied, "And I'll tell you if I get anymore stomach pains". She patted his shoulder. He looked reassured for about twelve seconds before his face turned grim. One of those ridiculously handsome Oakley boys was eyeing his sister.

He was dark headed and tall, he had a bad-boy James Dean quality to him, if Phil was a girl he'd call him hot, and he was sure of this as the female version of him A.K.A Poppy straightened and looked at the boy. Phil thought he might throw up as he watched his sister make googly eyes at the boy. And then the worst happened… he walked over to them.

"Hey" he said, his voice was husky and deep. "Poppy right?" he asked Poppy who was grinning like a kid in a candy store.

"Right" she answered, "Sorry I never got your name, you know because of the gas explosion".

"James" he answered holding out a hand for her to shake, she took it delightedly and when their hands touched their eyes connected in the most disgusting romantic moment Phil thought he'd ever seen.

"Heh hem!" Phil coughed loudly. Poppy jumped away from James her cheeks flushed.

"Sorry Phil, I uh…" she trailed off.

"How about I walk you to your dorm?" James offered, "I'll take good care of her" he said to Phil, Poppy snorted. Phil nodded.

"Remember what I said!" he reminded Poppy before walking off and leaving his sister to make goo-goo eyes with James. He took a detour around the courtyard towards the boys dorms, people had milled about talking and laughing, carrying suitcases and other various luggage.

Someone –a girl- bumped roughly into him.

"Excuse you!" she yelled at him rudely. Phil turned towards her, her hair was long and dark, skin tan and her blouse was cut low enough that Phil could see- well he didn't want to think about what he could see. She put a hand on her hip and looked at him waiting for a response. Phil refused her one turning away from the vile girl.

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Ash had spotted her on the edges of the crowd. He was very sure that this girl was the one he had met on the night of the game last semester. His fingers curled to fists as he watched the werewolf creep over to her.

How could she not smell him, his stench wafted to Ash from where he stood.

He grabbed her wrist long bony fingers curling around it, she pulled away blushing. Ash could smell her blood and the direction it was running in the presence of this boy and he was not happy. Her heart was beating faster than it should have been.

He had never felt this way about a girl before. Ash thought he might puke.

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Another chapter finished, should be another soon… I hope.

Chapter Title: Breathe – Nickelback

Does anyone pay attention to the song titles? Who would you cast in a Night World movie? Who do you really want to see in my story? Who should I kill off if anyone? Answer these questions in a review!