Temper: NIGHT

Today is the day. Those were the words that passed through Temperance’s mind as she stood by the window early in the morning. Today is the day. Sighing, she ran downstairs to find Shawn and Blake already waiting for her. “finally!” Shawn exclaimed sarcastically but with a smile on his face; Blake appeared near tears and was entirely speechless. “we’ve got to get going” Blake finally said in a chirpy voice because of his nerves, and Temperance smiled excitedly. Shawn groaned, “you’re getting too old you know” and ruffled her hair quickly. Temperance smiled softly looking into his bright olive-green eyes, “yeah..i know” she whispered. Yeah she knew. “Come ON then” Temperance shouted excitedly pulling on Shawn’s arm and edging towards the door. Blake laughed heartily and followed them out. “Im driving” he said snatching the keys from his son’s hand and sliding into the drivers seat. Shawn groaned, but instead of sitting in the passenger’s seat, he sat next to Temperance in the back. “So..” he murmured, “excited?” Temperance, although intimidated by having him so close couldn’t avoid her excited squeal, “yes!” she whispered. “Remember what I told you about that guy” Shawn added, preoccupation in his eyes, and temperance smiled reassuringly, “Yeah don’t worry”. “We’re here!” Blake exclaimed parking in front of the abandoned building. Temperance and Shawn snapped out of their reverie, and embarrassed, they both noticed they had been watching each other intently for some time. Awkward. Temperance noticed the long line of cars parked on the street. Funny, se thought to herself, nobody notices anything. Jumping out of the car, she followed the men inside and to her surprise there was a large crowd surrounding the grafittied wall. “Hey!” called a cheerful voice from behind and she turned to find Pamela smiling brightly at her, “Ready?” she asked excitedly her pale face turning pink. Temperance smiled nervously, “Yeah I guess..nervous though”, “As expected” a cold voice drawled, and Temperance found herself face to face with Gerard. “Pamela.. you should not be socializing this much before admittance. It’s..” he began glaring at Temperance, “..improper” he finished and tried to lead her away, but Pamela was stubborn. “Aww bloody hell Gerard! I am not going to be as anti social and idiotic as you. I am actually going to worry about my social life. Piss off will you?” she exclaimed staring at her brother disgustedly. Temperance tried not to laugh and because of her resistance, she emitted a funny squeaky kind of snort. Gerard continued to glare at her as he retreated and headed back to what seemed to be his parents. “Sorry about him. He can be a bloody nuisance.” Pamela apologized brightly, “You’re English then?” Temperance asked, she had not noticed the accent during their prior meeting, “Pretty obvious innit” Pamela smiled, and both of them laughed.

“Oh look there’s Zach!” Pamela said, waving to capture his attention. Temperance held back awkwardly trying to avoid looking that way, but eventually Zach himself was standing right next to her, apparently avoiding her as well. “Eh..hey Pamela. Temperance.” he had muttered her name softly and insecurely. Temperance just gave a small smile in recognition all the while staring at her converse. She adored her converse. Pamela, meanwhile, began a discourse of how her parents had been worried she wasn’t going to be a vampire. “I mean my fangs were just soo small…” Pamela laughed, “….eventually they grew in though..strange innit….so Temper, I can call you Temper right? Tell me a bit about yourself…” Temperance jumped at the sound of her name, “uh.yeah well..there’s not much to tell. My older brother is Shawn and my dad, Blake. ..my favorite color is green and I love my converse..” she said nervously. Pamela laughed and Zach stared at her intently, “I like converse too” he said in a barely audible whisper, and indeed, he was wearing a pair of black converse. “bloody true” Pamela laughed pointing down at her blue ones, “The Vampire Converse Crew!” she cried out and Zach snorted in laughter while Temperance suffered from a fit of giggles. The Vampire Converse Crew, how lame she thought. Pamela watched them with an indignant smile on her face, “it’s much better than Group Eleven..at least much more creative..” Zach and Temperance stared at her blankly, “suuure.” Zach said sarcastically. Then a familiar icy voice yelled for attention somewhere near the wall. The three of them turned to see the famed Harper. “Attention please!” she yelled, “We are going to sort you into groups of three then have you pass into the division grounds! You’ve already been registered!” The crowd hushed and Temperance spotted Emmett, a boy who had gone to her high school. Strange, she thought, I thought he was in tenth..only sixteen, probably left back then. Shrugging she focused her attention on Harper once more, who was walking around with other superiors indicating people where to go. Harper looked so majestic with her unretractable fangs, it was only ten in the morning and the fact that her fangs were still out, made her seem strange yet beautiful.

Eventually, Harper reached them. “I suppose you already know you three are together” she said eyeing Temperance the most, “Good. Go on, go to Stan. He’s the tall one by the wall. He’ll help you.” Stan was a nice guy, extremely good looking, even for a vampire, “Temperance Jay, Pamela Reeves, Zach..eh..Zach?” Stan recited cheerfully looking around at all of them. Zach had no last name, Temperance thought, strange. They all nodded and followed Stan as he edged toward the wall. He drew the same invisible “x” Shawn had drawn the other day, and they all ended up on the other side. “I’m informed that this is not the first time you’ve been here so let’s cut to the chase. I’m Stan McCord, your superior, and I’m in charge of you three. Any questions?” Stan said quickly, “Yeah. Are we gonna do some actual blood sucking? I mean, what do we have these bloody fangs for then?” Pamela asked, eyeing Stan seriously. “eh” Stan said taken aback, “Not exactly. Vampires have them for diverse reasons, and we’ll be teaching you how to use them…correctly.” Zach shifted as he stared at Stan and Pamela just nodded distractedly. “As you all know. Training is strictly for vampire’s only. It’s for a whole year and at the end of it, you must decide which path you are going to take. Any of you have any idea what you’d like to do?” “Night officer!” Zach and Temperance blurted out simultaneously, then looked at each other in shock before averting their eyes to their shoes. Stan stared at them, “Interesting…we simply call them the Night or Blankets….don’t ask. Night officer sounds..erm..retarded. They take care of security, rogues, and all the dirty work. All action. I preferred divisions exchange myself. A passive desk job. All the paper work and I play a big part in trainings..” Temperance and Zach were silent, and Pamela stared at Stan, “well I haven’t the foggiest.” She stated blankly but Stan smiled and nodded. “Well let me lead you all to your stations. In normal speech: Dorms. Though you won’t be needing it much as we don’t need sleep…” and he started to walk complaining to himself about the “lame ass” “old as shit” names that were used by the Division. Zach, Temperance, and surprisingly, Pamela were silent as they followed Stan through the grassy hill towards a group of small, dark cottages.