amara nightfire and mageling
 

Ana sighed and played with one of the ribbons of the blue faux corset she was wearing as she watched the crowds of students go by. Three hundred-odd years, and the only thing about going to school that changed was that things were taught earlier and earlier.

Crossing her legs, she sat back on the bench and continued to watch the happily chattering hordes.

'And not one of them knows that a vampire is in their midst...' she thought to herself. Absently, she glanced at the skin of her forearm. Still smooth and pale, which was good. 'Little good being a daywalker does me if I burn to a crisp if I'm out too long... Speaking of time...' She took out her cell phone just as it started to vibrate, alerting her of the time.

Gracefully, she stood up, slinging her black messenger bag over one shoulder. Time for history. With any luck, today would be the day that the professor covered the witch trials that took place in Salem; that would give Ana an excuse to not pay attention.

Being turned in 1692 had its perks.

Bain made his way through the crowd of students slowly approaching the destination of his first class. Some of the students that were in his direct line of path skirted out of his way when he came walking past. There had always been something about his presents it may have had to do with his appearance, he was six feet tall and though slender he was well built, but then again it may have been his attitude that seemed to make most people stay clear of him not that he minded. He enjoyed not being bothered by mundane things that seemed to plague so many others lives.

His black hair shifted slightly as a gust of wind whipped by him and his piercing blue eyes studied the building he was now approaching. It looked dull but then again so did most things in this world. He silently made his way to his first class, history.

Ana walked into the room with plenty of time to spare, sighing to herself in relief. At least she was out of the sun. Tucking her auburn hair behind one of her ears, she sat down gracefully in one of the seats. Opening her textbook, she absently scanned the chapter, making note of the small discrepancies in the material.

She glanced up when some of her new classmates walked in and discretely stopped breathing. So many humans in an enclosed room would test her control. Then one of them caught her eye.

Talk about tall, dark, and handsome. Running her fingers through her hair, she pulled some down so she could look at him through it. Tall, slender, dark hair...

'My, my...' she thought, 'if I didn't know better, I would think he was one of us...'

Tucking her hair back behind her ear, she looked down just as his blue gaze met her dark one.

'Such lovely eyes...'

She didn't get the chance to watch him more, though, because the professor walked in to start the clas.

Bane made his way into the class room. His piercing blue eyes scanned for an open seat. He paused midway in his scanning when his gaze met a darker one. For half a second he studied the owner of the eyes before walking to take a seat on the opposite side of the room. There was something odd about that gaze that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Figuring that he was just being paranoid in his new surroundings he sat down just as the teacher entered the room.

He leaned back in his chair and prepared for another boring afternoon of wasted time. as the teacher began talking he let his gaze pass over everyone in the room stopping here and there to watch as some students whispered or passed papers and pencils around. Finally his gaze rested on her. she seemed different then the others somehow, but he decided to pass it off as nothing of importance and returned his gaze back to the teacher as the lecture continued.

Ana sat with her head propped on her left hand, only half-paying attention to the lecture. The professor seemed to know what he was talking about well enough, and Ana was able to ignore any minor mistakes he made. Every so often, her gaze would wander to her tall, dark classmate.

He sat hunched in his chair, apparently not really listening to the lecture either. In fact, he seemed a bit disctracted, although Ana wasn't anywhere near interested enough at that moment to try to figure out why. His slender, wiry limbs were clothed snugly in what she identified as cotton; both denim jeans and t-shirt.

She tugged on her corset top absently, playing with one of the satiny ribbons. She knew the deep sapphire bodice suited her pale complexion and tried to stay away from any shades of red. A vampire wearing red seemed so cliche. She grinned at her own hypocracy, looking down at her blood-colored nails.

Finally, the superfluous class ended and she stood up fluidly, gathering her books. Taking her first breath since the class began, she prepared to go through the crowds of humans. She wasn't prepared, however, to run headlong into one of her classmates.

"I'm sorry," she promptly murmured, glancing at the face of the person she hit. Tall, dark, and handsome. Oh dear.

Bain stood slowly as the lecture ended. He made his was slowly to the door, he had almost made it without any human contact when she bumped into him. he stood firm not even rocking back on his heels as she made contact with him. tilting his head slightly he stared at the girl who had caught his attention earlier. Her pale skin stood out against her sapphire colored bodice. She seemed more… solid then most girls he had come across.

He raised one eyebrow as he looked down at her. “its alright” he said in a deep voice. He moved back a step giving her room to pass. His blue eyes never leaving hers.

Goodness, that voice! Combined with his delightfully muscular frame, it was enough to make Ana shiver and blush, were she still capable of such a thing. Her gaze seemed locked with his, and she couldn't help but notice just how lovely his blue eyes were. She was glad he held her gaze, though, because it meant her eyes wouldn't keep jumping to the veins in his neck.

She smiled to herself when he stepped aside to let her go first. A gentleman? There weren't many of those left in this day and age.

"Thanks..." she started politely, and then trailed off, indicating that she didn't know his name. After all, it wouldn't do to keep calling him 'tall, dark, and handsome.'

Other students weaved around the two as they stared at one another. When she thanked him she let the word draw out indicating that she was seeking his name. he inclined his head slightly to her.

“Bain” he replied to her silent question. “And you would be….?” he studied her frame as he waited for her to respond. She was beautiful and the sapphire corset she wore out lined all her curves in just the right places. Silently he approved of what he saw but it wouldn’t do to do more then just look for the time being.

"Bain?" she repeated, more to herself than anything else. An interesting name. She was aware of him looking her over, but didn't think much of it. She knew men found her attractive, it's how she found her meals half the time.

"My name is Ana," she replied. "I'm sorry for running into you, I must not have been watching where I was going."

Of course she wasn't watching, she was much more intent on escaping before the scent of all the humans with their delicious blood sent her over the edge, but he didn't have to know the reason for her rush. If only he knew he was talking to a monster...

Now that she wasn't looking at his eyes anymore, she had to restrain herself from watching the pulse in his neck. She looked around for something, anything to keep her eyes from watching his pulse. Her eyes found their way back to his face. He seemed distracted, like he was trying to figure out some difficult problem that he didn't have all the pieces of. Briefly, she wondered what he would look like when his guard was down and he was smiling, but she pushed that thought from her mind. Now wasn't the time for thoughts like those. She would think those thoughts when she pulled her blackout curtains closed for sleep.

“its alright Ana” he replied to her keeping his voice low as the rest of the students cleared out. He watched her with interest as she seemed to be looking everywhere but him. he smirked at her but quickly hid it behind his cold mask when her eyes returned to him. a silence seemed to settle over them and his eyes flicked to the clock on the wall then back to her.

“perhaps we should head to class before it starts” he inclined his head toward the door indicating for her to exit first.

Class? Ana looked at the clock. How had so much time passed already? Weighing her options, she mentally shrugged. She could afford to skip excersise science. It was just a glorified gym class, something she could easily pass. Not having to breathe worked wonders.

She stepped out the door first, absently giving him a polite 'thank you' as she went. Then, without really knowing why, she stopped to wait for him in the hall.

"What class do you have next?" she asked when he had caught up to her.

Bain watched as she moved out of the door gracefully. She held herself well and he wondered how long it took her to gain such grace or if it just came natural to her. he followed her slowly out of the room, once out in the hall he had expected her to make her way away from him as most do yet here she was waiting. He raised an eyebrow at her and began to walk in the direction of his next class.

He looked at her from out of the corner of his eye. “Bio” he said simply returning his gaze to the forefront.

"Bio?" she asked. "Is that for your major, or just general education?"

Wait, why was she so curious? By all accounts, she should already be gone, with him nothing more than a minor annoyance. Fluidly, she moved her bag from one shoulder to the other, barely noticing the weight of her text books. After all, what was twenty pounds or so to a vampire?

She walked with him towards his biology class. It wouldn't take her long to get back to the gymnasium for her excersise science class, so she could afford to walk with him. She could feel the stares of some of the other students on her, and suspected that a few of the stares weren't for her, but for Bain.

“its for general education” why was she curious? He looked at her again through the corner of his eye looking her over once again. she was defiantly a… curious creature then again what female wasn’t.

he walked slowly not really in any hurry to get to class and he wondered if she felt the same way about her classes and if that was why she was still walking with him. he was unused to such attention in new places.

He found his way to his next class and stopped in the doorway turning to look at her. “I guess this is where we part.”

"Seems so," she replied when they stopped. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Bain. Forgive me for taking so much of your b... time."

Oh god. She had nearly used the word 'blood'. She usually only used that phrase when she finished her 'meals', some leftover remnant of the eighteenth-century, no doubt. 'Thank god I caught it in time... I would have blown my cover, and where would that leave me? God, I'm over three hundred years old and still almost slipped up...'

She barely listened to his reply before she slipped into a passing crowd. Instead of heading towards the gym, though, she went in the opposide direction, towards the apartments. She needed to think a bit, and her apartment was the best place for that. She tried to stay in the shadows of the buildings, only venturing into the sun when she had to. Even still, by the time she got to her loft apartment, her skin was turning a light pink, already starting to burn.

Setting down her textbooks, she made sure her blackout curtains were closed before throwing herself onto her bed. She looked around her apartment at all of the trinkets from over the years.

Gowns and outfits from every era, masques and marionettes from Paris, dolls from Russia little pieces of hardware from throughout the evolution of technology... Even a little model plane hung in one corner, made from rice paper and balsa wood.

For a moment, she closed her eyes and wondered what it would be like to not have to move every few years. As it was, she was young enough that people noticed fairly quickly that she didn't age. She sighed. Perhaps she'd go back to Paris after she was done here... She certainly missed the Paris runways, since her brief modelling stint. Of course, she'd had to leave when one of the other models figured out what she was.

A dead co-worker wasn't exactly conductive to a career, after all.

Sighing again, she laid back and closed her eyes, letting her body shut down. Perhaps a few hours' sleep and a quick hunt would set her back to rights. Yes... She'd be back to normal after some rest...

He looked at her odd when she trailed off. What had she been originally going to say? “yea… see ya” He narrowed his eyes as she slipped away quickly seemingly distracted. There was something off about her… but he pushed that thought to the back of his mind. maybe he had just been reading her wrong.

He made his way into the class room as the teacher began giving his lecture. He took a set quickly and leaned back in his chair hardly paying attention as his mind wandered back to Ana. She was strange but she seemed nice and she was beautiful which was a plus. He shifted in his seat leaning forward. Had she been interested in him? is that why she had followed him to class? Clearing his head he pulled out a pad of paper and a pen and began to take notes.

Ana wasn't sure what time it was when she woke, only that it was dark. Not that the dark meant anything when one had blackout curtains... She got up and grimaced. She'd have to straighten out the boning in her corset later. Such things weren't meant to be slept in.

Going over to the window, she peeked out through the curtain. Darkness. That meant it was late, at least nine.... She grinned to herself. Perfect. Time to hit the party circuts.

Still smirking to herself, she looked through her closet for something appropriate to wear. Eventually, she settled on a black mini skirt, fishnet tights, and black boots. Then she pulled out one of her real corsets, a black-and-red lace piece with whalebone constraints and ribbon lacing. Normally, she didn't wear red --cliche as it was-- because it clashed with her hair, but tonight it would suit her purposes.

She dressed carefully, making sure to play up her pale skin and dark eyes, and then left her apartment.

She saw many familiar faces as the prowled the nightclubs. Most of them were students from her classes, though she did see one other vampire. She left that club quickly, acknowledging that for the night, it was his territory.

Finally, she found some promising hunting grounds. The beat of the music pulsed through her body, like the heartbeat she no longer had, and she could tell most of the clubbers were already drunk or high. Looking around, she spotted a lone young man in the corner and went over to him. From the looks of it, she'd found a drunken fast-food employee-- he hadn't even bothered to take off his nametag.

'That was almost too easy,' she though as she carefully sank her fangs into his neck. He'd been ridiculously easy to seduce. She finished quickly, only taking enough to sate her hunger, not nearly enough to kill him.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Michael," she purred. "Forgive me for taking so much of your blood."

She stood up gracefully and straightened her skirt. Then she turned and started making her way back through the crowd, and then stopped dead when she recognized someone. Tall, dark, handsome, and looking like he'd been dragged there by an overzealous roommate.

Right there, looking right at her, was Bain.

The day had been boring Bain had attended all his new classes and had spent the day getting to know his surroundings. He had had no further interruption from any of his classmates and had made it back to his dorm room when the sun set only to be dragged back out to the night clubs by his new roommate. Bain scowled at his new roommate as they had made their way from one club to the next. The other male had yet to shut up and Bain was oh so close to cracking in his skull.

He sat quietly as a female that had been drinking to much came to sit across from him in the night club he was now currently in. he looked at her from the corner of his eye as she flirted with him. he glared at her hoping she would get the message that he did not want company but she seemed to be oblivious and kept talking about nonsense.

He turned to look for his roommate, who had left him there to dance with another drunken female. As soon as he found him he was going to strangle him. he was pulled out of his dark thoughts however when he saw her, Ana from earlier. She turned in time to meet his gaze. He stood up much to the dislike of the woman who had been trying to talk to him and left her sputtering as he made his way through the crowd toward Ana.

He was pleasantly surprised to see her there and even more so to see her in that outfit. He stopped only inches away from her and smirked. “fancy meeting you here” he kept his deep voice in a teasing manner. She was the first person he had recognized and honestly she was the only one, well besides his roommate, that had actually talked to him. not counting the drunken woman left behind of course…. So he was happy to have hopefully found a way to make this night a little more enjoyable.

Ana very nearly sighed in relief. He hadn't seen. Good.

"I never took you for the partying type," she replied, just as teasingly. "I didn't expect to see you having fun at all, actually." She grinned teasingly, making absolutely sure there was no blood left on her teeth and that her fangs didn't show.

She couldn't afford to slip up now.

He smiled in spite of himself. “actually I’m not” he turned his head to look in the direction of his roommate. His face took on a frown as he studied his roommate who was dancing provocatively with a girl he turned to look back at Ana “I was dragged here” he stated flatly.

“so what brings you here?” he question slipping his hands in his pants pockets. He wasn’t quite sure what to say to her but he knew he didn’t want to sit alone in a club anymore.

Ana followed his gaze to Bain's roommate. Aleady he looked buzzed, and she carefully mirrored Bain's look of disgust.

"He dragged you here, then?" she asked. "I was just here to... clear my head. It helps, somewhat."

Mostly true, at least. she ran her tongue discretely over her teeth, to make sure there was no leftover blood. Hopefully, Bain hadn't seen her tap the drunk in the corner...

He looked at her strangely as he raised one eyebrow at her. “this helps you clear your head?” he asked unbelievingly indicating the loud music and the amount of people that were usually packed in a club. He shook his head

"when I want to clear my head I usually take a quiet walk… but whatever floats your boat I guess.” He looked up as he said this as if thinking. he looked back down at her “I’m going to get going would you like me to escort you back to your place?” he wasn’t sure if she had even been leaving but he thought he mine as well go out on a limb and see anyway.

"Perhaps 'clear my head' wasn't the most apt phrase to use," Ana agreed. "What I meant was that I needed to... relax. Unwind."

She was surprised at his next question.

"You want to walk me back? How kind of you. What about your roommate, though?" She gestured to the aforementioned roommate, who was currently getting beers for some girls. Ana concealed her disgust. Pig. He was going to make the girls drunk to get laid... Such a creature wasn't worth the energy it would take to seduce him, even if he wasn't Bain's rommate. Speaking of... If Bain was serious about walking her back, she would need to feed at least once more before he did.

Bain looked back toward his roommate and watched as he was buying some beers. He scowled at the male, how pathetic that he had to get women drunk to sleep with him. “it looks like he’s going to be a bit longer” he raised his hand and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers as of trying to get rid of a headache “and I honestly don’t have the patience for this. Besides….” he turned his gaze back to her and smirked. “I think he’ll be fine on his own”

"If you think so, then perhaps you could give me a few more minutes?" Ana asked, thinking quickly. "I believe using the ladies' room is a good idea." If only he knew the double meaning behind the words.

Without waiting for a reply, she slipped back into the crowd, looking for at least one more person to feed on. Every so often, she would glance around, making sure Bain wasn't following her. Thankfully, she found her prey quickly. This one was drunk enough that she didn't need to seduce him.

She tapped him quickly, taking a bit more than usual in her haste. She didn't bother getting this one's name like she usually did. "It was a pleasure meeting you, sir... Forgive me for taking so much of your blood..." she murmured. Then she stood up gracefully, straightening her skirt, and turned around. For one wild second, she thanked her lucky stars that she'd chosen a human close to the restrooms.

For the second time that night, Bain was uncomfortably close to her, pushing through the crowd.