Alyx Giovanni's Story

Built majestically upon the top of a mountain range, surrounded by evergreen pine forests and valleys is an old castle, beautiful and elegant; particularly at sunrise when the warm rays first hit the spiral of each tower. Quiet for a short while the hidden landmark is once again open as a boarding school.

On this particular day the sun is shining bright and warm and the sky is clear; but the shadows are cold and there is a slight chill to air. Students of all shapes and sizes have approached the school, wearing their fresh uniforms, trailing baggage behind them fit for a long term at school. For some; more baggage is being sent in preparation for the entire year.

Unknown to the students, there is a slight change to this school year. A species that hasn't yet set foot in the school is mingling within the crowd, disguised by the general mob of uniforms and mayhem.

Warren High Boarding school has undertaken a project. One that will change the lives of all the students involved.



A warning bell rings out and it causes the students to file into two seperate assembly halls after a few straddles check in at reception.

In one hall, fresh-faced human children are seated. Nervous, eager and hopelessly naïve. Human teachers crowd behind them, listening just as eagerly as their students.

A woman, intimidating in both stature and beauty stands before them, icy eyes wondering over the sea of heads. Amanda Vogue, head mistress of Warren High, a mysterious figure built upon fear and rumours. Terrifying visually, from her masculine suit to her snarling, bow shaped lips. She wore the word terrifying like a shade of lipstick.

She never usually gave a speech this early, but things were different this year.

"Good afternoon and welcome, my name is Amanda Vogue, but you will all address me as Head Mistress." She began, giving a few figity students a longer stare than others. "At the start of the school year it is tradition for students to settle into their shared rooms on arrival and meet their fellow students before starting lessons the following day, however, I want to let you know a few important things first. Number one, there are no dropouts, runaways, rule breakers or clowns at this boarding school- you're here to learn and here you will stay. Number two, this school is special, it has traditions, secrets, I expect students of this school to be respectful of these things. Last of all, this is a respected facility and it is a privilege to be here, I assure you all that this will be an experience you will never forget..."

After addressing the human students Amanda Vogue made her way through a short corridor until she came to a second large hall. She hesitated outside the doors leading in before letting out an aspirated sigh and pushing open the doors. It unleashed a chaos of noise. Students of all kinds littered the hall, loud and obnoxious, snarling and laughing. She took her place at the front of the hall and after realising that no one had noticed her enter, let out a horrifying shriek. The hall quickly fell silent. The older students who'd been at the school for a while sat round respectably, the new students jumped in their seats. Startled.

She stared at them all, letting her glamour slip slightly to reveal some skeletal before giving a slightly different speech.

"Im sure you've all heard the rumours circulating about the 'human project' the school has taken on. Therefore I will address this first. It is true, that approximately half of the new students joining this year are human. This is an opportunity to prove to the council that this school raises students of the highest calibre no matter the species. It is a project we take very seriously, any student who is seen to jeopardise this great opportunity will be punished and expelled. I expect you all to make the new students feel welcome.
Now I am Amanda Vogue, Head Mistress of Warren High Boarding school..."

She continued to list similar introductions to the monster students as she did with the human students, Aware that her words were falling on a few deaf ears. The up coming year was to be a difficult one. She was a wolf, running a school for cat and mice.

Emily Bennett~

A sigh escaped through her parted lips as her parents neared towards the gates of her new school. She lowered her head and blonde locks of hair soon followed as she flickered her eyes up to stare at the scenery. Emily stayed silent for most of the ride - Mainly because she absolutely hated change, especially when it is unexpected. Her father glanced at her in the rearview mirror and spoke. "Cheer up, honey. I'm sure you'll do just fine." Emily quirked her lips up then lowered them back down to size. Her mother seemed to be happy as the car came to an instant stop. "We're here. Do you want us to come in with you?" Her mother asked. Emily shook her head no as she grabbed her luggage and got out of the vehicle. She stared at the building and felt a little odd about this. She wanted to get back in the car but saw that her parents were already gone.

Emily mustered up a little bit of strength and walked right on into the school, seeing that everyone was scurrying to get somewhere.

She decided to walk along with them, dragging her rolling luggage bags behind her as she entered what seemed to be the auditorium. She sat down in the back, scrunching down in her seat as she listened to the speaker, who name came out to be Amanda Vogue. 'Cute.' Emily thought to herself while smirking a little bit but just shook away the thoughts because Amanda was probably much older than she was. When the speech was over, she instantly jumped up and headed towards the receptionist desk.

Emily was the first one there and she stated her name and was given at least three sheets of paper. "Thanks." She said with a smile, seeing that her room number was 202. As she walked towards her room, getting nearer and nearer, her stomach churned as she hoped that no one was in there - To her surprise, no one was.

She was somewhat relieved to see that she was first in the room as she chose the spot with the most space and started unpacking her clothing along with a notebook full of songs, her journal and sketchbook and her mechanical pencils.

Alyx Giovanni~

Alyx was sitting lazily in the main hall, his leg was dangling over the edge of the chair he was sitting in. His blue eyes danced across the room, scanning the new and familiar faces. He saw his brother pass by and just turned his face up in disgust then rolled his eyes, not really wanting to be bothered by him right now as he had his sights set on his prey, victims or whatever else he wanted to called them. A smirk came over his lips as he jumped up from his seat, walking towards the auditorium to hear that bitch, Amanda, give the same speech as last year - He could bet on it.

While entering the auditorium, he sat beside his brother but still didn't talk to him, for obvious reasons. Alyx sat there with his arms folded over his chest as he listened to Amanda's speech, which was the exact, same one from last year. Why couldn't she come up with something else to say? He looked at her then mocked her. "Now I am Amanda Vogue, Head Mistress of Warren High Boarding school..." He laughed then got up from his seat, walking back into the main hall.

His eyes flashed over towards Damian then walked over there towards him. "Another year here? Can you believe it?" He questioned towards him while leaning up against the wall, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Hey, watch this..." Alyx said towards Damian as he went to one of the human girls and stared at them directly in the eyes and concentrated, his voice echoing throughout her head as he spoke. "Grab those two blue duffel bags over there and take them to room 191 and sit them on the first bed you see. Thank you." He finished speaking then turned around, walking back towards Damian then leaning back up against the wall, watching the female do his dirty work for him. "Piece of cake." He mumbled.

Alyx didn't bother getting his materials for class and whatever else because he had already gotten them earlier. "I'll catch you around, Damian." He smiled towards him as he walked off, wondering who can his next victim could be.

"Another year here? Can you believe it?"
Damian turned his head to see Alyx approaching him. While they were hardly the best of friends, they new each other well enough and got on fairly well.
"Barely." Damian grinned in response, "I'm surprised they let me back in after the mess I made last year."

"Hey, watch this..."
Damian watched as Alyx went over to one of the human students and used compulsion to get her to take his bags to his room. He shivered slightly; mind control magic had always freaked Damian out, and he wasn't too keen on seeing humans treated like inferior beings, but at least Alyx was using it in a relatively harmless way. Damian chuckled slightly when he remembered that the staff were taking bags to dorms, so Alyx was wasting his time.

"Piece of cake."
"Yeah, but it's been a crumb for everyone else." Damian chuckled, "Staff are taking our bags to our rooms, and you spent your energy getting someone else to do it."

Damian gave Alyx a small wave as he left and went to back to wondering where his room was. Alyx knew where his was, so the information had to be available somewhere. Damian looked around, but nowhere looked particularly conspicuous. So, instead of doing the sensible thing and asking at reception, he decided to sniff his room out. His luggage would have been taken to his room, so if he just followed his own scent then he would be able to find his room.

His nose led him to a room labelled "Room 192". Alyx had said that he would be in room 191, so it looked like they were going to be next-door neighbours for the year. However, Damian's own room was his most pressing concern, so he opened the door and took a step inside. He wasn't the first there; inside was a tall young man with blond hair and blue eyes. Damian was sure he'd seen him before, but had never had any close interaction with him.
"Hey," Damian smiled as he slumped down onto the bed nearest the window, "I'm Damian. Looks like we're gonna be roommates for the year. You're..." Damian paused for a moment while he tried to recall his roommate's name, "Zane, right?"

Emily Bennett~

Emily eyes jolted towards the door when she saw that it had opened and she became instantly nervous as she dropped her notebooks and other materials. 'Shit.' She thought to herself while eying the female that had entered the room now. "Hello there." She said a proper and polite tone then got on her knees and started picking up her materials then getting back up to her feet. "Hey Anne. I'm Emily." She said with bright and wide smile as she sat her stuff down in the bottom dresser.

Emily could tell that Anne wasn't much of a social person because the room suddenly fell quiet for about five minutes. Emily hummed a tone to herself then stopped when Anne spoke again. "Yeah, the scenery is very beautiful indeed. And the inside is magnificent. I plan on going out there later on and do some drawings. Want to come with?" She asked her. "I mean, you don't have to draw but it would be nice to have company." She shrugged her shoulders while plopping down on her bed as well.

She let out a well-deserved sigh and saw that she was finally done packing. She leaned back on her bed and looked up at the ceiling. "I was a little skeptical to come here but now that I am here, I feel good." Emily sat back up and glanced towards Anne. "So, we obviously have another roommate..." She directed her head towards the empty bed. "But maybe she'll be here when we get back." She said with a soft smile while digging through her bottom dresser and grabbing her sketchbook and a pencil.

"Ready to go and explore the outside?" She asked Anne, waiting for her response before leaving the room. "Oh, by the way, did you see two guys that look alike running around here? I just want to make sure that it wasn't my first day jitters getting the best of me." She said with a laugh while waving for Anne to follow her while exiting the room, walking down the stairs and standing the main hall, turning around to see if Anne was following her. If she was, she would stand in the middle of the hall and wait.

---

It was for the umpteenth time since he'd left his home, bidding his family and friends goodbye, that Bram Kappel thought about what a big mistake he'd made by coming here. Here, of course, was Warren High, which he couldn't even describe as a school. Something about ancient stone castles tucked away in mountains, looming over pine forests and valleys for as far as the eye could see didn't exactly read "school" to him. He hadn't wanted to come when the letter first arrived inviting him to attend what could very well be the inspiration for Dracula's castle, had redoubled that opinion once he'd actually left for home, but what he wanted and what he knew was for the best were two completely separate things. Surely this place would be good for him, would give him more independence and a nice, shiny reference for any University applications, but he'd have to survive Secondary school first. Or perhaps just until the next break, he wasn't very picky.

Bram's attention was forcefully drawn from his own thoughts when a voice broke through the nervous chatter of students, cold and demanding attention. He recognized her, the headmistress, sharp, predatory eyes gazing over the room. She was an intimidating woman, Bram decided, all sharp angles contained in a carefully put together suit, and she practically oozed intimidation, drawing the eyes of the students with any sort of self preservation instincts like moths to a flame. The speech was rather short but standard, if only- perhaps it was just Bram over thinking things, but something seemed off about it. Secrets and traditions… Where was he, a Gothic horror novel?

She left then, disappearing with a click of heels against the stage. It took a moment for any of the students within the room to realize that they could leave, and it appeared as if they all rose as one, murmurs of conversation slowly but surely rising to a cacophony of noise. Bram, however, stayed seated, bags balanced precariously on his lap as the others filtered out of the room. He hadn't spoken to any of them and, in fact, not a single word had left his lips since the plane ride from Holland. It wasn't that he wasn't social- no, that was part of the issue. He wasn't fond of being alone in a crowd full of strangers, had never even been to summer camp before, so this entire experience was alienating and disconcerting.

After a majority of the crowd had dispersed, presumably to find their dorm rooms, Bram finally stood, slinging his backpack over one shoulder and picking up his suitcase with the opposite hand. It was heavy- of course it was, he'd packed for an entire year- but he could manage as he strolled out of the Assembly Hall and into the halls still packed with lingering students. It was only once he'd wrestled his dorm assignment out of his bag and glanced over the number did he realize that he had not idea where to go. Bram bit back a sigh, closing his eyes for a moment. Of course. Now he would have to talk to someone or else he might wind up in the dungeon he was sincerely convinced that Warren High had.

It was when he was looking around, searching for the most likely candidate, that a certain scene caught his attention and for all of the wrong reasons. A rather tall blonde boy was approaching one of the small groups clustered together, clinging to one another in the face of the unknown, a smirk spread across his face.

"Grab those two blue duffel bags over there and take them to room 191 and sit them on the first bed you see. Thank you." Bram froze, shock more than anything stilling him. Had he just…? Had that guy honestly just gone up to a random girl and told her to put his things away? And then just walked away, leaving his bags behind? Honestly? And she was- she was doing it. She was actually doing it. Bram's lips twisted into a scowl. He shouldn't have been surprised- of course there would be bullies at an elite boarding school, but to be so blatant about it. If there was one thing Bram couldn't stand, it was something like this, older students throwing their weight around, intimidating fresh blood into doing as they pleased. As passive as he was, that just wasn't on.

With all of the righteous fury of someone who'd dealt with their own share of bullying, Bram followed after the blonde, catching him by the shoulder despite the older boy having a few inches on him.

"Hey, klootzak," His English was stained with a thick accent, the words almost having to be forced out in their unfamiliarity. It didn't quite help that he'd never bothered to learn any English swears in or out of the classroom and was stuck more or less using his native Dutch. "I don't care who you are, you can't just push people around like that."

Alyx Giovanni~

He continued to laugh as he couldn't help but watch the female struggle with his bags. His eyes narrowed towards a male that was approaching him as he heard the word that he had called him. When the male was finish talking, he smiled towards him then extended his hand. "Hi, I'm Alyx. Not no klootzak or whatever you just said." A small smirk started to dance across his lips. "In America, we do things a little different. You see someone weak and vulnerable, you do the best you can to take them out." He lied. It was the most vampiric thing he could say at that moment and time. "But hey, you words were very touching..." He sniffed the air and smelled that he was indeed human. 'Filthy.' He thought to himself.

"You know, I am extremely sorry and will get my own bags." Alyx said while circling slowly around the male, stroking his chin with interest. "Say, how would you like to be the best of friends?" Another smirk came across his face as his eyes narrowed towards his brother, who was going upstairs and probably towards his room. "Maybe we can chat some other time." Without the male being able to respond, Alyx walked off and caught the female at the stairs. "Give me my bags, filthy vermin." He snatched his bags away from her and carried them to his room, throwing them in then leaving as he followed his brother's scent.

Alyx went towards his brother's room and didn't bother knocking before entering. "Hello brother..." He glared at his roommates with disgust. "Others." His concentration then went towards his brother as he sighed. "Can you believe one of the human guys talked to me? Ew. I feel like going to a Sauna and just staying in there for days." He joked while walking all the way in the room, jumping on his brother's bed while smiling. "So, what you guys talking about?" A look of interest was placed upon his face as he glanced his bright blue eyes at everyone.

"Um, hello. I'm Vincens, your guys' roommate."
Damian turned his head to see another tall, blond young man entering the room. This school certainly had no shortage of good looking, tall, blond young men. He was pretty sure that he was Alyx's twin, but he hadn't see the two of them together very often, so he wasn't sure. He seemed a lot less forward than Alyx. Before he could ask whether or not they were related, Alyx had appeared in the doorway and invited himself into the room.
"Hello brother..." Well that answered his question, "Others."
The rest of Alyx's speech rather annoyed Damian; he didn't like the way he looked down on him and Zane nor the intense disgust he held for humans.
"We'd only really got to introductions." Damian answered, "Nothing special." Damian stood up from his bed and began moving towards the door, "It's pretty stuffy in here, so I'm going outside for a bit for some fresh air. See you all in a bit."

Damian closed the door firmly behind him and let out a deep breath. It was obvious that something awkward was going to happen in there, and he had no intention of being a part of it. He returned to his usual, slightly slouched posture and returned his hands to his pockets. As he set off down the hallway he caught sight of a rather angry human who seemed to be in the right place for Alyx to have just talked to him.
"Hey!" Damian greeted him as he walked over, "You don't happen to be the guy Alyx just talked to, do you? Tall guy with blond hair and blue eyes, not the friendliest of people, was probably following some hum-" Damian coughed slightly in a poor attempt to hide his slip of the tongue, "Girl with a couple of blue bags. Anyway, I'm Damian, nice to meet you."

Zane

Zane glanced around at the two new comers as the few people gathered traded introductions Zane then and sniffed the air taking in the fresh scents. "Ah... Vampire's... Nice to meet you Vincen..." He spun on his heels to face Vincen and Alyx as he had a smirk spread across his face. "My name's Zane... It's a pleasure too meet you Vincen." He glanced over at Alyx and scowled, he already did like Vincen's brother. "A human teacher? Really? Well guess the Head Mistress is serious about this whole human and monster bonding." The demon began laughing and then smirked as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Well I think I'm going for a walk aswell. I mean I think we can drop our Glamours at 5:00 right? I want the night..." He smiled as he went through his trunk and pulled out a jacket and tossed it over his shoulder as he walked towards the door. "Also Vincen nice to meet you, hope we'll get along swimmingly, your brother. Show some respect least I tear your organs from your body and feed it to my hellhounds." Every word aimed at Alyx seemed to drip with venom as he dropped his glamour for a moment revealing the demon beneath as Zane opened the door and stared at Alyx before slamming the door and then his hair turned blonde, his horns receded and his eye's turned light blue as he started walking down the hallway as he headed in the direction Damien went.

From the moment Bram had stopped him, the other boy had been a whirlwind of words and motion, turning to him with a smile plastered on his face, hand held out in an abrupt gesture. Bram stared at the outstretched hand blankly, eying it like one might a trap so obvious that it's embarrassing to look at. Whatever he'd been expecting from the other boy, this Alyx, this certainly hadn't been it. If anything, that little introduction seemed to hint at the fact that he was more of an asshole than Bram had first surmised.

"In America, we do things a little different. You see someone weak and vulnerable, you do the best you can to take them out." Alright, so, yes, Bram had been completely right; he was something of an ass. Even if the lie about Americans hadn't been so blatantly and painfully obvious- he was Dutch, not stupid, thanks very much- the little phrase revealed more of the other boy's mentality than anything up to that moment. Bram had to repress a snort of disgust; this was boarding school, not the battlefield. What was all of this nonsense about taking people out?

However, before he could even reply, the blonde was bouncing off to a new topic just as quickly, circling Bram like he was prey, not a fellow student at Warren High. His apology was just as disingenuous as before, a fact so blatantly obvious that not even the slight language barrier could mask it. The offer of friendship seemed just as fake as Alyx gazed at him like he was a particularly interesting specimen, ripe for study. Then, without much else besides a quick goodbye, the other boy was off, traipsing up the stairs as if nothing had ever happened leaving a very confused Bram behind. What had just happened…? He wasn't quite sure, running the brief but perplexing encounter through his mind, searching for any real meaning behind it, and deciding that it wasn't worth the bother. After all, in such a large school what were the chances that he'd see the other boy again?

It was only when he'd finally given up understanding what had just happened, adjusting the suitcase in his grip, that he was approached by yet another quick talking student. This one was certainly… interesting to look at, if only for his hair, long and a color that Bram was quite certain came in a bottle rather than having any association with natural hair colors. Not that he minded, plenty of his friends back home had experimented with dye of unusual colors, it was just slightly out of place in his idea of an elite academy.

"You don't happen to be the guy Alyx just talked to, do you? Tall guy with blond hair and blue eyes, not the friendliest of people, was probably following some hum-Girl with a couple of blue bags. Anyway, I'm Damian, nice to meet you." It took Bram a moment to understand what he'd just said before he nodded. Well, at least this one- Damian, he mentally corrected- made sense. Or, well, at least he wasn't talking down to him.

"Unfortunately, I am. Bram Kappel. It's nice to meet you." He bobbed his head in a little nod before pausing. He wasn't quite sure why the other boy was here, pleasant or not, and asking him questions. Obviously he wasn't looking for the blonde, or else he wouldn't have known what had happened.

"Why do you ask? Can I help you with something?" Well, he could wonder about it all day or he could ask now and, given his general track record for bluntness, the second option was a no-brainer.