---

---

Eisbeulf University, 08:55 AM

Bagel in mouth and two hands on the handles of her bike, Irvette Reimer was making good time for waking up late as she sped down the road towards the main campus. The university campus sprawled across a few miles as the town, although quaint and sparsely populated, was quite large geographically as it was rumoured to be adapted from an abandoned cathedral. While Irvette wasn't sure as to whether or not that was a good thing--a school built on top of an ancient structure was prime site for hauntings--she didn't count herself a supernatural-believer anyway. Besides, she figured, ghosts are incorporeal and thus unable to harm humans anyway as they exist on different planes of existence.

Oh how glorious science could be sometimes.

---

The professor for her first class--Mathematics--was busy writing something on the board as Irvette walked in, swallowing the rest of her bagel and almost choking on the piece as she sat down at a seat towards the left side of the lecture hall. Taking out her notebook and pen, Irvette smoothed down her windblown hair and uncapped her pen before taking a second to look at the people around her. None of her friends were in this class unfortunately--none of them even had classes on Monday, damn the lot of them--and since the semester had only just begun Irvette hadn't had much time to meet new people. Irvette turned towards the boy on her left and smiled a greeting.

“Hey! Irvette Reimer, what's your name?” she asked with a friendly smile.

Toby Yazawa was snapped out of his own thoughts at the sound of an unfamiliar female voice. He had been trying hard to ignore the students around him, isolating himself from them. As long as he kept his distance, he could minimize the risk of hurting them... and becoming a monster that had completely lost his mind to the violent instinct. The venom was petrifying more than just his once-mortal body into an almost-undestructable killing machine - it was also freezing his thinking to that of a seventeen-year-old for eternity. Immortality would often cause the person's morality to dull over time, their view towards the value of life becoming more cynical the longer they lived on.

Unfortunately, he wasn't invisible and couldn't truly hide away from the few curious stares thrown at him at times; worse, a quick glance at the person next to him told him that it was of the opposite sex, and there was something about this girl that almost made him close his self-control. He was still having some trouble trying to control his bloodthirst, even after taking close to a whole year away from school to adjust to his 'new' life. His life as a vampire. He still had a couple of months more before he would be able to get out of the 'newborn' state, and hopefully he could have better resistance towards his natural temptation for human blood, that no blood of other animals and creatures alike could ever match with the unparalleled lure of fresh, human blood.

He couldn't differentiate if it was Irvette's scent or voice that incited him to have this irresistible desire to lunge for her neck. His fingers dug into the stack of papers his hand was holding onto, the pages crinkled as he tried to restrain himself from pouncing on her - in front of all the other humans in the classroom. Well, he could turn off his sense of smell to stop inhaling the intoxicating scent that was coming from her, but it would look suspicious if he sat too still. He had to put some conscious effort to maintain the rhythmic rise and fall of his shoulders, to keep up with the human act. As he turned his head around slowly to look at her, none of his inner turmoil was written on his smooth, porcelain face. At first glance, he didn't look much different from his peers, but if anyone had stared at him hard enough, they might be curious how oddly poised he was, almost as if he was more of a marble statute than a person. Well, he was pretty much dead inside out. A wolf wearing a sheep's skin, he thought sarcastically.

"Toby Yazawa," he was surprised how his voice came out so calmly while his mind was still locked in a mental struggle between quenching his lust for her blood and the little bit of humanity he had left within him. "Nice to meet you." There was a strange, ethereal undertone in his voice that he couldn't get rid of. Another annoying side effect from the transformation.

“Nice to meet you too, Toby,” Irvette said, grinning. Step one complete, now onto step two: consolidating bond as friends, or at least classmates. “Say, what are you majoring in? First year, right? I'm doing bio for pre-med. I'm from the US, if you can tell.”

"...Yeah," Toby replied, somewhat distracted. "I'm in Computer Science, for programming. Pretty much the opposite of what you're studying, huh." He permitted himself a small smile at the slight amusement at the difference between their courses before he shrugged, sweeping his scattered stationery closer to him, to put a bit more space between himself and Irvette.

Irvette's grin faltered when she realized just how handsome her seatmate was. Pale skin accentuated his features, and Irvette found herself staring at his dark eyes. Was it just her, or did they seem to almost be red?

Catching herself, Irvette averted her eyes with a sheepish smile. “Sorry. Um, you're just... really pale,” she admitted, hoping Toby wouldn't take offense. Irvette had told the truth, partially, and apologized for staring. Still, she wouldn't be surprised if the boy wanted to avoid her from now on.

Toby stiffened - this girl was too observant for her own good. He did try to wear contacts to hide the scarlet hue in his iris (most people just didn't have red eyes, and he wasn't even an albino), but his super-enhanced eyesight amplified the flaws on the lenses, which in turn would make him half-blind and uncomfortable. "I... I guess I just can't get much tan," was the only lame answer he could think of as he looked away to face the front. "It runs in my family; my mu-- sister is the same too." No matter how much he kept telling himself to stay away from everybody, including Irevette, his body continued to do the complete opposite, drawing this girl deeper into the trap of his nature.

He let out a soft sigh of relief as the professor turned around and began to address the class, starting the lecture proper. He had said too much to her, to a mere stranger who shouldn't come anywhere near him, or even be a part of his 'new' life. As long as she didn't try to talk to him again and leave him alone, everything would be fine... hopefully.

He was about to find out how wrong he was, that this was only the beginning to something more than he could ever dream of...

---

---

Eisbeulf University, 11:00 AM

“And that’s that,” the professor said, closing his binder. Mass shuffling ensued as students hurriedly followed suit, packing up as well.

“Nice meeting you, Toby,” Irvette said, flashing her tablemate a smile before exiting the classroom hurriedly. Irvette had made plans to meet up with friends for lunch the previous day, and the increase in pace was more because she was excited than because she was running late. Her friends had been occupied with schoolwork the entire weekend, and Irvette was looking forward to getting together with them again.

Walking briskly to the bike lot, Irvette unlocked the chain and wrapped the cord around the side of her bike before swinging her leg over the bike and starting off for Eisbeulf’s quaint cafe, Lait Écrémé. The ride was over in around 15 minutes, and Irvette locked her bike against the railing towards the side of the cafe before walking in. Spotting Adrie, Irvette grinned and walked over.

“Adrie!” she said, hugging her friend. “It feels like forever since I’ve seen you!”

“Just under a week actually,” Adrie said but hugged her friend back. Unlike the ever-forgetful and late Ceto, Irvette knew she could count on Adrie to be early even when it really didn’t matter. “How’ve you been? Shift’s today.”

“How could I forget?” Irvette asked in amusement as the door to the cafe burst open to reveal a harried-looking asian girl named Ceto.

“Not late! It’s still twenty seconds before eleven-thirty!” Ceto said, sliding into a chair. “Wow, I’m early.” Irvette gave her friend an amused smile.

“Alright, whatever you say,” Irvette said with a smile. “So, are we still on for movies this Friday?”

“Oh. Em. Gee. Of course?” Adrie said excitedly. “Duncan James is, like, amazing. We have to go see him.”

“If little miss bookworm here is in, then I am too,” Ceto said in amusement. “I still don’t get why you’re so obsessed with him—and do not say it’s because—”

“Because his favorite author is Valerie!” Adrie said, gushing. “How can one not love a similar mind who also loves Valerie? We were meant to be—that is, if he ever realizes that I exist.”

Ceto rolled her eyes at Irvette who was trying and failing to smother giggles beside her. “You think having our most level-headed friend break down for some average-looking movie star is funny?” she asked, dramatically tilting her head back and covering her forehead with the back of one hand. “Clearly I’m surrounded by fools.”

”Says the most forgetful friend. You’re getting a watch for Christmas, by the way,” Irvette said, laughing. The conversation continued for the next hour, and then the next, until it came time for Adrie and Irvette’s shift. Ceto’s departure was, thankfully, less dramatic than her arrival, and Irvette shared a laugh about it with Adrie in the changing rooms in the back of the cafe.

---

@tsukune

---

---

Other than the little hiccup with the girl called Irvette, the rest of the lesson went smoothly without further fuss. Everything was going well so far... Maybe he would be able to live a normal human life even with this cursed condition for eternity. Still, he knew he couldn't be complacent and let down his guard yet. Keeping the vampire's natural thirst for blood in check would be a struggle he had to deal with for the rest of his long, immortal life. Also, he had to be wary of those who were like Irvette, with observation skill too sharp for their own good.

For one, he had to hold back his insane speed and strength - gathering up his books as slowly as he could, and trying to blend in with the other students as they all walked out of the room. Everyone around him seemed to be occupied with their own friends and personal commitments to spare a thought for him.

Today was probably a good day for him. Even better that he didn't have any classes in the afternoon, which meant that he had the rest of his day off... away from the humans, and do some hunting to silence the itchiness in his throat.

He continued his slow stroll out of the university grounds and headed to his car - a typical Subaru model. He had decided against going to school in a sports car, since he didn't want to attract any more unwanted attention on him, on top of his... ungodly appearance. Slipping into the vehicle, he reclined back into the leather seat and let out a sigh, when the mobile in his pocket vibrated against his thigh.

He pulled the phone out, his brows furrowed at the message:

Bet you're near your limit. Also, bears are in season.

Toby scowled. While he knew he wasn't stable enough to be left alone, but this overprotectiveness from her was rubbing the shadow of his rebellious, human teen self the wrong way, making him feel a little suffocated.

...Damn it.

---

Hidden a little way in the coniferous forest on the outskirts of the town, the Subaru car pulled up before a white modern cottage. Toby stepped out of the vehicle and looked up at his... home. With his only family from hereon.

"...How long are you going to stand there gaping like an idiot?"

He was snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of a stern female voice. His sight fell on the willowy figure of Meg Yazawa at the door, with her arms crossed before her chest. He blinked, and she flashstepped to stand right in front of him. She was at least a head shorter than him, clad in figure-hugging dark green jumpsuit.

"A-Ah, Meg--"

"It's rude to call your elders by first name," Meg commented with narrowed eyes. "After all, I'm your lifesaver, and the only one who can guide you through the darkness to find your light."

Toby averted Meg's stare. "Sorry, sister."

"Sister? Shouldn't you be calling me 'Mum'?"

Toby frowned at the lady. "You look too young to be a mother, even if you're... Nevermind," he trailed off, realizing what he was about to say.

Meg gave him a smirk, then turned around to walk back to the house. "I'm not so petty to get angry over something trivial as age, when time no longer mattered to our kind." Glancing at him from the corner of her eye, she added, "Let's go and get some dinner... before the night falls."

Toby scratched the back of his head, annoyed. Meg was as cryptic as ever - he wondered how much she had seen living for more than a century, to make her give off such an indifferent air in her manners and speech.

Would he become more like her as time went by?

---

@Dusksong

---

---

Eisbeulf University, 11:00 PM

“Bye Adrie!” Irvette called, waving goodbye to Adrie as the girl opened the door to her car.

“Let me drive you sometime, won’t you?” Adrie called to Irvette as the girl unlocked her bike from the rack. “I feel like an abusive friend, making you bike home so late at night every day.”

“You could always join me,” Irvette called back. Adrie rolled her eyes before starting her car and waving goodbye. Waving back, Irvette slid on her helmet and kicked her foot on the sidewalk, breezing through the crisp night air of Eisbeulf.

While both Adrie and Irvette were heading back to the Eisbeulf dorms, they lived on opposite sides of the campus. The Eisbeulf campus sprawled across the northern side of town with dorms scattered south of the main campus. These dorms stretched from east to west, and Adrie resided in the eastern dorms while Irvette and Ceto lived in the western ones. Irvette had a whole dorm room to herself, but in exchange she’d been given a dorm on the fringes of the campus right next to the outskirts of town that faded quickly into forest. In fact, on some rare, early mornings Irvette had woken up to the soft footsteps of deer passing by her window before the break of dawn.

Tonight, however, the woods were dark and foreboding, seeming almost to lean towards the girl. Scraggly branches reached towards Irvette as she passed, the tips of the branches stretching to touch her. Against such opposition, Irvette shied away from the forest, walking on the other side of the lane towards the familiar outline of her dorm room.

Rather than being situated in entire buildings, the single-person dorms at Eisbeulf took residence in little cabins that didn't have much else other than a bed, desk, and rudimentary bathroom that somehow managed to connect with the town's sewer pipes. Irvette's room remained relatively empty save for the clutter of clothes near the closet and the stacks of books by her meager but growing bookshelf. Her desk remained at the constant threat of collapse, the numerous textbooks and papers piling up high despite the terribly thin wooden legs of the structure.

Irvette was searching her backpack for the keys when a rustle in the woods caused her to snap up, eyes wide. It's probably just a deer, she reasoned to herself, going back to searching for her keys. The graceful and silent animals seemed to approach only in the dead of night and leave with the dawn, although Irvette had never met on at night yet. Still, a prickle of fear remained, creeping slowly down her spine and stirring up goosebumps on her skin. Her eyes flicked up again, dartingly quick, catching a quick movement in the shadows of the forest.

Irvette's breath caught, her hand clutching tightly around her keys. The metal edges dug into her skin in pricks of pain, but the girl was preoccupied with what she'd just seen--thought I'd seen, she corrected herself. As a person who liked to stay up-to-date with all the going-ons, Irvette had seen the reports about bears in the area. However, she also knew that bears rarely ventured this close to the university, and her nerves were alight with electricity.

It was just a stray bear, Irvette told herself harshly, hands shaking as she hurriedly unlocked the door to her dorm. Just a bear, Vee. Nothing to freak out about. You're fine.

Still, Irvette felt the same prickle of unrest stay until long after she'd closed the curtains and turned off the lights, and it wasn't until long after she got into bed that she finally drifted off into oblivion, prickle and all.

---

@tsukune

---

---

Eisbeulf University, 8:58 AM

Day Two of college class was no different from yesterday, but at least the attention on Toby wasn't as intense. Maybe he needed a few more days to be able to blend in with the students here completely. He should be grateful to Meg for giving him a chance to go through the rest of his human routine he that was cut short due to an unfortunate incident that happened to him a year ago. Taking the usual seat near the top-end of the lecture hall, the young Asian man settled down with the laptop all booted up and ready before him on the table, but his mind was on the hunt with Meg last night:


In the end, Meg had him in her vice-like grip to prevent him from going after whatever Meg had felt with her 'power' and dragged him home. The lady vampire seemed vexed for the rest of the night, so Toby was glad to get out of the house as soon as he could. Facing a bunch of ignorant humans was much better than being anywhere near an irritated Meg now. He wondered what could have made his normally nonchalant benefactor so riled up all of a sudden, and for hours.

Though, that same girl next to him from yesterday was a different story altogether. Thanks to last night he now had more self-control over his hunger for human blood, but this one was oddly intoxicating. It was taking him all the mental power he could muster just to ignore her very existence. Not helping when her scent was testing the limit of his sanity.

---

As she'd woken up with the first blip of her alarm, Irvette arrived in her math class fully awake and alert. She had been rather on edge lately, especially at night. Although she figured it was just her being paranoid, Irvette always felt like she was being watched at night, like something was following her and hunting her down like in some thriller film.

It's just the first year spooks, Irvette told herself, reminding herself that it was just paranoia. Still she couldn't shake the feeling even though she did her best to ignore it. At least I still sleep fine.

Plopping down onto her seat, Irvette pulled out her notebook and pen, uncapping it and spinning in before looking at the boy next to her. "Morning Toby," she said brightly. "Ready for a morning of math?"

Speak of the devil. Toby didn't even need to look up from his laptop screen to know who was speaking to him. There could only be one person with that overpowering sweetness that almost made him lost his cool yesterday. And he prided himself for having better self-control than his century-old 'mother'.

"Morning," he responded back without looking at the speaker, determined to keep his unblinking eyes straight ahead at the screen. Though, he couldn't help trying to crack a joke at Irvette's next question. "Who wants to be ready for Math this early in the day? Unless you're a nerd for numbers." Then he smirked to himself.

"True," Irvette said, laughing lightly at the joke. The professor entered then, sliding the whiteboard down to begin scrawling down numbers for his lecture.

Toby was certainly not ready for class - the page on his screen had nothing to do with Math. Calculus was the least of his worries when Meg's queer reactions were still fresh on his mind. His companion wasn't kidding when she commented about how busy this supposedly quiet town seemed to be these few days. He didn't bother to hide the news article on his laptop monitor, because he was more concerned about this than some number theories he probably wouldn't need them in his daily life - for eternity.

Finally turning to Irvette, he asked her in a low voice, only enough for the girl to hear him, "Do you know... anything about last night?" He paused for a moment to choose his words carefully. "I heard there's a beast of sorts on loose in the residential area..."

"A beast?" Irvette echoed, eyes wide as she turned to the boy who'd shared the news. "No, I haven't heard anything about that. Is it... here? In Eisbeulf?"

Irvette's mind swirled back to the night before -- the ominous atmosphere, the rustling bushes, the creeping feeling that someone or something was following her. Was it... the beast? Irvette thought, thoughts skipping to the worst possibilities before she stopped herself. It shouldn't be -- why spare me then? She thought, refocusing on Toby.

Toby continued to watch Irvette closely. Seemed like she knew something - from the fleeting moment she looked away before she refocused on him again - but he wasn't sure.

"Mhm," he replied, still not taking his eyes off her. "Some said it's a bear. It's strange how wild animals are moving away from the woods to the town areas, isn't it?"

"Definitely out of the ordinary. Has anyone figured out why they're leaving the woods?" the girl asked, frowning. "Usually animals are smart enough to know to avoid areas where humans dwell."

See, Irvette. Nothing to be afraid of, it's just a lost bear wandering around. Nothing more, she thought to herself, trying to ease off the nervousness she felt. It worked, to a certain extent -- the nipping nervousness she felt receded to a light tapping that only bothered her when she thought deeply.

Toby couldn't help thinking back about Meg's words last night. He had a feeling that she wasn't talking about the bears or wildlife in this area. It sounded like something else, something more than just animals--

Hang on.

He remembered Meg telling him that the two of them were the only vampires in Eisbeulf. None of the covens would come here - or rather, they wouldn't want to risk coming here. For one, this town was packed with people around Irvette's age... A perfect place to feed on these young bloods, or even turn them into a powerful army of newborns. Those would be enough to get the dreaded Volturi coming down and ending this quiet town with a bloodbath.

Just like what had happened with the Cullens. Every vampire knew about their story, the battle at Washington for turning a girl Bella Swan into a vampire, and even giving birth to a hybrid - half-immortal - child.

He wondered why Meg was bold enough to bring him, who was still a newborn (until the end of the month), to this place. Maybe their allegiance wasn't with the Volturi? Some Asian vampire organization he didn't know?

He realized how little he knew about the woman who had saved his life, even if she granted this curse on him. Well, he had a very long life ahead to find out.

...If he and Meg could live long enough without getting eliminated by the Volturi.

Noticing Toby's brows furrow, Irvette turned to him and opened her mouth to ask if he was okay. The frown on the boy's face completed a portrait of conflict that made the girl hesitate to interrupt. Something from home? She wondered briefly, figuring that the boy needed some space to think. Focusing her attention on the professor, Irvette put her pen to paper.