WitchCraft and Vampyres by Brittany Nickerson (year 7 reading list .txt) 📖

It was a normal day of school, well if you call setting some girls hair on fire normal that is.

It wasn't entirely on purpose...ok...maybe just a little. The other girl had pissed her off, so she deserved it. She called her out and made fun of her in the middle of class. She knew that herself was different; She didn’t need to be told she was different. She dressed different, acted different, and she only had one friend. So she sat there in humiliation and anger, and felt her body start to heat up.

"Oh no." Darija whimpered and looked up. The mean girls hair went up in flames and she started screaming. The whole class in shock, only when the teacher shouted for someone to call 911, did they move and started shouting. Darija ran out of the class room and headed towards the exit.

She skidded to a halt when someone grabbed her by the shoulders.
"What are you doing Darija?" they asked.
Preparing the explain herself, she turned around.
"Oh, it’s just you." she said sounding relieved recognizing who it was. It was Moriarty, nicknamed Shade, for reasons that will be explained later.
“Yea it’s me, who’d you expect?” he said giving her a brief hug.
Darija inhaled his sweet scent of Bod before he moved away. No, he wasn’t her boyfriend. As badly as she wanted him to be, he wasn’t.

She loved everything about him, from his crazy bad-boy, I-don’t-give-a-shit attitude, to his gorgeous body. He has short light brown sort-of shaggy hair, ice blue eyes, and was tall with average muscle build. Ok, maybe he wasn’t your average dream guy, but he was hers.

Their friendship had started when a boy had pushed Darija down a flight of stairs when she was in fourth grade. She had a bloody nose, but did not cry. Shade helped her up, asking if she was alright before going up and punching the kid square in the stomach. The kid doubled over and started crying before staggering back to class.

Shade was a year older, but since then, they had been best friends. He was there when her cat got ran over when she was 12, and he was there every time a guy used, abused and threw her away. Now 17, She realized that he is the only one for her.

“So what are you doing out here anyway?” Shade asked.
Darija looked at him and noticed his sly fox-like smile.
“I set a girls head on fire.” she whispered tugging at the hem of her sweater.
Shades smile faltered. “Come on, we need to go, now.” He said grabbing me by the arm.
“What do you think I was doing?” she protested.
“Never mind, come on.” He said pulling her towards the door.

We walked out of the school and into the parking lot to his old beater truck.
“You still have this thing?” She asked getting in and ignoring the scream of the siren as the ambulance drove in.

“Hey, hey, don’t be dissing my girl.” He said patting the dashboard.
"I never should have asked." He loved that truck more than his own mother. She wouldn’t blame him; his parents abused him as a child. But that’s not the point; the point was to get away from there as quickly as possible.

“What the hell were you thinking?” He demanded as we pulled out of the parking lot.
“She pissed me off.” Darija muttered looking out the window and sinking down into the seat.
“So!? What if someone saw you?” he demanded.

Jeez, he sounded like my grandmother.
“No one gets away with pissing me off.” she said. “You know that.” She looked at him and he glanced at her smiling.
“Yea, I know that, and I wouldn't know if you weren't my best friend.”

She smiled, but her heart sank a little. 'I’m his best friend, but will he ever think of me as more?'

Just then a figure in a black robe stepped out in front of in the road.
“Shit!” Shade exclaimed stepping on the brakes and whipping the wheel around. The old truck screamed when it swerved and then flipped. All Darija remembered was Shade yelling, the sound of broken glass and blood trickling down her face…

Chapter Two
Darija walked though the front door closing it behind her. Taking off her shoes she turned to take off her jacket, but then she smelled him before she saw him. Liquor. She grimaced and hung her head awaiting the daily "welcome home" from dad.

"Where have you been you little shit?" he snarled as he stumbled through the threshold seperating the entrance hallway from the living room.

"School. Just like yesterday, and the day before" She mumbled.

"Giving me lip girl?" he asked grabbed her jaw forcing her to look him in his red glazed over eyes. The overwhelming smell of liquor caused her eyes to water. Almost every day since the day she was born had been like this. He blamed her for her mothers death. His reasoning was that if she hadn't taken so long to come into this world, her mother wouldn't have given up in the last hours of labor. 

"Answer me!" he shouted.

"No, sir" she replied with tear welling up in her eyes.

"Make dinner before you go and do your school work." He grumbled before stumbling into the livingroom.

------------***------------

After dinner was prepared, Darija made her father a plate and walked into the living room. Her father slouched in his chair with a beer bottle slipping from his fingers as his arm hung over the edge. As she leaned down to place his plate on the table, her cat came tearing into room like the devil himself was chasing after her.

Startled Darija jumped and the plate tipped from her hands landing on her father.

"What the fuck?!" he screamed, lunging up from his drunken state.

*WHACK!*

The sting on her cheek was instant and burning after he backhanded her.

She fell to her knees starting to cry.

"You're as worthless as a box of rocks!" Her father yelled as picked the food off himself and he flung it at her.

"Clean this shit up!"

When she didn't move right away, he grabbed her and shoved her towards the mess on the floor.

"I said clean it up!"

Darija began to feel hot starting from the pit of her stomach moving up her torso, filling her out and ending in her fingers. 

"Fucking pathetic." her father grunted. "Never should have had you."

Thats when Darija felt it. The rush, and her heart pound with adreneline.

She turned to look at her father and thats when it happened. His shirt caught fire.

"Wha?!" He shrieked in confusion. He tried batting the flame away, but it only burned brighter and consumed him. 

Starting to panic, Darija ran upstairs and grabbed her pre packed suitcase she hid under her bed in case her dad did something extreme.

She ran downstairs and scooped up her cat. Taking one last look as her father flailed around in the living, setting it ablaze, screaming in pain, she whispered, "I loved you,...once." and she ran out the back door and down the street.

Several blocks later she came to her grandmothers house. Her grandmother opened the door, took one look at the tear stained girl, and welcomed her home with open arms.

* * *
Darija tried opening her eyes but was unable to.
“Where am I?” She screamed sitting up and reaching out.
“Shh, shh.” Someone said. Then a pair of arms grabbed her and held her close. A familiar scent of summer and Bod washed over her. It was Shade.

"What happened? Why can't I see?" Darija asked against his chest.
"Ssh, it's ok." He said hugging me tighter.

"When I rolled the truck, the windows in the doors shattered and when you hit your head some of the glass got imbedded into your skull and smaller slivers into your eyes. The doctors got them out, but the blood that had gotten into your iris had dyed them red... Here let me un-wrap your head. "Shade let go of her and started undoing the bandage around her eyes.

A million questions were going through her head.My eyes were red? Who was that in the cloak? How long have I been out? Where...am..I?

"Ok, last layer. Now when I finish, slowly open your eyes, we don't want you to get blinded by the sudden burst of light."
"Okay." she whispered as she mentally prepared herself.


Shade undid the last layer and she began to slowly open her eyes, letting the light slowly pour in.

After a few minutes Darija was able to open her eyes fully. She looked around. She was lying in a bed, Shade sitting next to her; a door to her right and window to her left, a closet in front of her and walls were bare.(Ugh! How plain!)

She looked at Shade and smiled. He had a few scrapes and scratches but nothing serious. Then she noticed a slight glow around him. The glow was a purple-blue color and flickered around him like fire.

Then there was a knock on the door and Shade stood up and answered it. The door opened to reveal a man about 25-28 years old, lightly pale, slicked back black hair with a few little strands hanging loose and bright forest green eyes.

Darija looked at him and her jaw dropped a little. He was devilishly yummy. *cough* I mean handsome.

"Ahh, you must be Darija." He said walking up to her and bowing his head. Before she could stop him, he clasped her hand and placed a soft kiss on the back of it. The feel of his lips sent a bolt of electricity down her back and quickened her heart beat.

"Yes, I am." She said looking away. She could feel her face start to heat up.

He smiled as he stood up straight again. He backed up and glanced at Shade and said. "If you'll excuse me, I would like to talk to her for a moment in private."

The flicker of color around Shade mometarily turned from a dark blue to a bright green before returning to its previous state.
He nodded and turned around leaving the room.

Then the man turned to look at Darija. His eyes bore into her and she felt frozen in place. She suddenly became very drowsy, and then he looked away.
"My name is Vladimir Delacroix. You can call me Vlad or Professor, whichever, is up to you." he said looking out the window.

What the hell? She smiled meekly and tried looking outside to see where she was.

"I own this,... what should I call it,... Private School." he gestured around him before clasping his hands behind back.

"Private School?" She asked disbelievingly. "Why am I here?"

"Because you have a special "talent." Vlad replied casualy glancing at her. "You see, this school, is no ordinary school. It's a school for the talented and out of the ordinary."

"When you say talented, you mean my pyrokenisis?" She asked looking down at her hands.

"Exactly, but believe it or not, you are not the only one, there are a few others here that have your same talent, whether it be weaker or stronger." He said turning around to face her. She avoided eye contact in case he should do that trick to her again.

“Now I don’t want to overwhelm you all at once, but you’ll be staying here for teaching.”
“What do you mean I’ll be staying here? What about my grandma? What about my things?”