Once Defiant

Chapter One

Sixteen Years Later, August First

I walked into my new homeroom, of my new school, in my new town, in a new year of school I've taken four times already.

When I walk in, it's always the same reaction on the first day.

Rummaging through the minds of all the guys: "Who the Hell is that beauty?"

When the girls see they have competition: "Great. A new bitch to ruin my life."

I walk up to the teacher at the desk, and I'm grateful she put me in the back. I plugged in my iPod, listened to Pierce the Veil, and pulled up my hood, wanting to avoid attention.

My name is Blake Harris, and I'm thirty two and still in high school. Funny, right? Someone so old still hasn't dropped out. Well, I don't really have a choice.

Sixteen years ago, a bastard named Marquis and his brainwashed minion Jordan tried to get me to join what was going around in Seattle as a gang war. They were both the most beautiful men I had ever seen.

Marquis was a tall man, but he was very pale with bright brown eyes and blonde hair. His skin glistened in the bright moon, and he kept taking to Jordan in the lowest of voices. I only caught words like "great addition" and "Purity".

Jordan was not as handsome, but he was more modern. Nonetheless, he was beautiful. He had dark brown hair and glowing green eyes. His smile was childlike, and I couldn't have imagined him being much older than me. He kept grinning at me, as if trying to comfort me.

Then, Marquis spoke in a voice like silk, but I'm still not sure if he was talking to me or Jordan. "Ahh, lass, it would be such a waste of a Purity..."

Jordan, in his sweet, seductive voice, replied, "Mmm. But such potential, Marq. This Purity... beautiful, limber, and... just so much potential."

At the time, I was flattered and enjoying the attention, when I was an attention-crazed whore. But then, it all happened so fast.

Marquis had nodded to Jordan, and in an instant, he, Jordan, was behind me, nibbling at my ear, down my jaw line, and into my neck. Before I could reject him, I was feeling so good. I felt like my brain had melted, and I was a free spirit. My body heated up and I was too seduced to resist.

Then, he bit me.

At first, he bit me and started sucking my blood -- which, by the way, is the best feeling in the world. By far. I moaned, trying to tell myself to stop, but words wouldn't come out.

Then, he injected his venom into my neck, inducing agonizing pain into my system. I screamed, kicked, and begged for it to end. Marquis had picked me up over his shoulder, and then, I blacked out, with the feeling of the world closing in on the spot Jordan bit me at.

I came back to reality week later, and the pain finally subsided. I was alone in a windowless room, with only me, the table I woke up on, and a door. I got up, and tried to push my way through the door, and despite the strength I had, it wouldn't budge. I focused all my energy on the door, and, to my sudden surprise, the door crushed under its own weight, as if it were a tiny collapsing black hole.

In the next room were Marquis, Jordan, and tons of others. Marquis, who was beside me in a second, wrapped his arms around my waste, leaning in for a kiss, but I pushed him away with extreme strength. He disregarded that, and explained what he was, what I was.

I didn't believe him at first, so he said, "Walk outside, see for yourself." He had motioned towards the only other exit of the room.

I walked into the clear sun, and suddenly, I was in agonizing pain. My throat was ripping itself apart, and I was so thirsty. Then I knew it was true.

At first, I couldn't help but hunting a few humans, but as I got used to it, I was a full blooded vampire, and Marquis was my mate. We raised an average sized coven, until Alexei got involved. Alexei was the leader of the vampires. However, Marquis never told me about Alexei... much less telling me there were vampire laws.

Alexei killed our coven, but through her Telepathy she had inherited through her mortal mother, she could tell I was not aware I was breaking laws.

Alexei helped me train, helped me gain self-control. She taught me how to drink from animals, and to live amongst the humans. She was finally done, and she set me free on the world.

"Remember the laws. Go to school like a normal sixteen year old. Don't worry, you'll be fine." She was always so kind to me. However, there was something she was always hiding from me.

I lived amongst the humans for a while, but I noticed something strange -- every time my emotions flared, something would happen. After I got suspicious, I set out to find Alexei.

She told me that certain vampires had "potential," or extra abilities. She said, out of theory, that I could bend energy to my will. If I were angry, I could collapse anything under its own weight. If I were happy, I could fill anything up with so much kinetic energy that I could scatter its atoms.

After Alexei helped me train my ability for about six months, she set me free again.

And that's how I got to where I am today.

The teacher, called Ms. Genevieve, droned on about how the base of a three dimensional shape was equal to the height of the shape if the volume cubed was multiplied by half of the length of the shape. As if we were supposed to know this the first day back at school, I maximized the volume of my iPod, turning her dull tones into faint buzzes to my sensitive hearing.

The bell rang, and I was the first out of the room, before anyone else could register the ringing of the bell.

I stood at my locker, replacing Geography book for my English II book, when someone slammed my locker closed. My anger spiked, and I had to control my energy output before turning to the predator.

What stood before me almost made me laugh out loud.

Almost.

The girl, with her perfectly curled blonde hair, (with the strong odor of an extremely overpriced artificial hair coloring) bright blue eyes, (or, contacts concealing her dirty hazel eyes) and designer outfit (that she got, by the smell of them, yesterday at a thrift shop for less than ten dollars.) smiled at me with the fakest smile I had ever seen. I took out my earbuds and said, "What?"

She was taken aback, either by my bell-like voice, or by the rudeness in it.

"My name is Jackie Belle, and I see you're new," she said, holding onto her 'I'm a nice girl, just don't get in my way' act. "I'm head cheerleader, president of Student Council, leader of the Drama club, FCA, and FFA, and my family sponsors the NSD, JROTC, and GSA programs." She smiled another fake smile.

"Good for you. What do you want, a medal?" I asked, wanting to get away from the Queen Bee.

She gaped at me, clearly at a loss for words. She finally said, "Just... if you... need anything... ask me." She forced a smile and walked off, and I laughed silently to myself while walking to English.