Ash to Dust

3_: New Life

Raven was running toward her classroom, her new necklace banging between her breasts. It was a Pentacle, her Pentacle, made in silver with the third and fourth points in gold, so that it show which branch of the organization she belonged to. Alice was hot on her heels and they were already late, actually, she was late as Alice still had a week or so before her change.

First day of new classes and I'm going to be late, awesome!

During the morning, she was to meet the teachers and trainers that should help her to learn about her lycanthropy. Control her beast, her emotions, life as a Were and fight as a Were. The afternoon, instead, was dedicated to make acquaintance with the Pentacle teachers and Masters.

They reached the door just in time, before the teacher closed it. He was tall and broad, and you couldn't see an ounce of fat in that body. He scanned them from head to toe and jerked his head toward the seats, without saying a word. Raven and Alice found a couple of free seats in the back, near a blonde girl who took one look at her and after recognizing Raven, turned away with her nose almost pointing to the ceiling. They sat down and watched as the teacher scanned the class.

"Ok, pups. Let's get some things straightened out. First, I don't want to see anyone shift in my class without permission. Second, whoever I see picking on someone else for whatever reason wins a fight against me. And third, I don't want to see any 'abra-kadabra' here. I don't expect you all to follow this rules straight away, but I do expect you to either learn to obey them, or learn to withstand the pain that will come."

"Sounds tough." Alice said, leaning into her. "I hope not to end up a Were."

"Yeah, you are just envious."

"I also do expect you to pay complete attention to the lesson!" The teacher said, looking straight at them. Yeah, damn Were hearing. Raven thought, then she nodded and started to listen to the big man behind the desk, his name was Brus as she found out later in the lesson. Even though she didn't really need those lessons, she needed them to understand how she was supposed to act around.

She was almost dozing off when she felt someone stare at her back. Turning around, she found two blue eyes just a couple of seats behind her. They belonged to a nice guy with such an annoying smirk, that Raven felt instantly the urge to pound it away.

"Hey, do you know the jerk back there with that smirk?" She whispered to Alice. She glanced back and shook her head lightly.

Controlling herself, she turned again to listen to Brus, and tried to ignore the stupid guy for the rest of the morning. By lunch time they had met quite a few nice Weres and started making some new friends, the strange guy laid forgotten in the back of their mind.

But as it often happens, problems were not far away. Just when Raven was walking to her afternoon class, after Alice left her, she came face to face with Mr smirking-punch-me-face and two friends of his, they all had that smile plastered on their faces.

"So, our latest arrival is already making herself known for arriving late. Don't you think you should be more respectful?" He said, clearly trying to provoke her, and managing incredibly well.

"I may have to double check the school rules, but I'm fairly sure I don't have to give a shit about your opinion on the matter." She answered with narrowed eyes. "In fact, I would advise you to bring those smirks of yours somewhere else, possibly before my beast decides to try and erase them herself." Raven said, being particularly proud of her remark on being Were. And the sudden disappearance of his smile, of course. He looked her in the eyes for a few seconds, like he was deciding the eventual outcome of a fight.

"Be careful pup, think when you choose your friends because hell and heaven are not that far away, and there is no coming back. Watch that nice ass, before something much bigger than you bite it and take a piece of it." And with that he turned on his heels and left Raven fuming alone.