the Power of Destiny Hunt

Tristan sat down and took out his notes, pretending to pore over them as he always did. His mind, however, was nowhere near the letters on the page or the chatter in the classroom. It was with each member of his "study group", following them to their classes and assignments, wishing them all the luck he could.

"Good morning, Tristan." He looked up to see Destiny, smiling down at him. "Still too busy for my study group?"

He smiled ruefully, hoping it didn't look too forced. "Afraid so. Good luck, though."

"Thanks." She didn't stop smiling, but the smile changed. It wasn't friendly and polite anymore. It had turned cold, almost predatory, and her voice held volumes of implication. "We'll need it."

She sat and got out her own notes. Tristan watched her out the corner of his eye, focusing on the distortion more felt than seen. She'd taken pains to try and hide her ability from him: that was obvious in fleeting images, muffled sounds, and vague sensations. But ultimately her efforts failed. Tristan's ability to discover was greater than her ability to deceive.

A presence, lurking in darkness and silence. It stole something green and bright, drained it away and consumed it. Tristan shivered.

Destiny Hunt was a vampire.

Before the Bell

Kyle did his best to keep everything except surliness out of his expression. He couldn't act out of the ordinary, in any way. But it was a relief to know why he got into so much trouble. Now he just had to learn to control it...

He looked up and realized that he was nowhere near the geology classroom. He was in an empty hallway on the other side of the school, and just around the corner he could hear two guys talking quietly.

Kyle sighed. Not again.

He turned the corner and strode to the two teens. "Excuse me."

The freshmen jumped apart guiltily. "We were-- We were just--"

He didn't change his expression. He had a reputation not just as a delinquent, but as one with a hair-trigger temper. If he could intimidate these two into stopping whatever trouble they were planning, he could rest a little easier. "Just what?" Then he saw one of them hiding white squares in his hand, and scowled. "That'd better not be what I think it is."

"It's not. It's...tea."

"Tea."

"Yeah. We get headaches."

"Headaches? Kid, that is the worst excuse I have ever heard." Kyle sighed. "Listen up, both of you. If you throw that away right now, I won't tell anyone what you were about to do. But if I catch you doing it again, I'll have to tell someone. I can't let drugs stay at our school." The two freshmen immediately tossed the squares into a trashcan. "Now get to class."

The two bolted. Kyle turned around and headed for geology--and almost immediately bumped into the principal. Mr. Clemens leveled a stern look at the junior and said, "Good morning, Mr. Bolton. Care to explain what you're doing here?"

Kyle sighed. "Frankly, sir, I'm starting to wonder."

Mr. Clemens's eyes narrowed. "I received an anonymous tip this morning about some drug dealing that was going to happen. Would you have had anything to do with that?"

Allison came almost literally out of nowhere and said, "Sir, I saw it. They started to trade the packets, but Kyle stopped them."

"Oh." Mr. Clemens seemed a little flustered by this turn of events. "Well, my apologies, Mr. Bolton."

Kyle nodded, trying not to smile. "It's okay, sir."

"Get to class, you two. You only have a minute."

"Yes sir." The principal left and Kyle smiled. "Thanks, Allison."

She waved it off. "Don't mention it. Mr. Clemens can be such a jerk."

Kyle shrugged. "He likes an ordered school, and thinks that I'm the source of all the disorder. Not really his fault."

"It's not your fault either."

He sighed. "I don't even have an alibi. I'm always at the scene!"

She shook her head. "You'd think someone would realize that if you were the one causing trouble, you wouldn't stay at the scene of the crime. Or at least that it's physically impossible for you to cause all of it." She looked at her watch. "We should hurry. The bell's going to ring pretty--"

BRRRRIIIINNNNGGGG!!!!!

"Dang it."

Morning Meeting

Early the next morning, the five of them plus Chira met up in front of the school for a final check. Tristan folded his arms. "Okay, does everyone have their assignments?"

They nodded. Each of them was going to talk to one of the other candidates and try to convince them to come. Working together, they'd be able to get to everyone. Jared would spend most of the day getting everyone's mailing address and home number. If he could, he'd get emails and cell numbers as well.

Chira started snuffling in the grass as Tristan said, "A word of warning: stay away from Destiny and Blair. I don't know what they can do, but something about Destiny's off, and Blair's been spending a lot of time with her lately. Maybe I'm being paranoid, maybe I'm just mistaken, but I think last night proved that we have no idea what we're getting into."

Kyle started turning red and tried to shrug it off. Thanks to his ability, he'd wandered outside sometime during the meeting and almost gotten hit by a drunk driver. Luckily for him, Chira had had enough presence of mind to first yip the alarm, then get him out of harm's way.

And then the wyverns came. "So just be careful. Okay?"

They nodded again. Jared glanced over his shoulder. A group of teens had gathered around the flag post, and they kept looking at him. "I have to take care of something. See you at lunch."

He saw the others off, then waded into the middle of the knot and looked his key informant in the eye. "Okay, Greg. Whacha got for me?"

Greg handed him a thin manila folder. Jared started leafing through it as the taller teen said, "A few students watched Hunt's house like you asked. Hunt and Ross were the only people who went inside, and Ross left around six."

"No sign of her parents?"

"Not even their cars. The only other living things they saw were two big dogs."

Jared pulled out a trio of photos. "Breed?"

"Best as we can tell, some sort of Irish Wolfhound-German Shepherd mix."

Jared nodded, looking at the pictures. The two brindled gray-black dogs looked playful enough, gamboling around Destiny like puppies, but their shoulders were higher than her waist. Add in a husky, powerful build and the potential hazard became obvious. "Okay. I want to know next is who owned the house before she came here and what happened to them." He pulled some papers from a pocket and passed them around. "Also, I need the contact information for these people. Addresses and home phone numbers at the very least, more if the information can be found. I'd like it by lunch, but after school's fine."

The informants nodded and split up. Jared glanced at his watch and headed for class. He had about two minutes to get to computer programming, and Mr. Sanders was not a forgiving teacher.

Everyone, Meet Chira

"Whoa, girl, it's okay." Tristan rubbed Chira's shoulder, trying to calm her. She yipped at the roof again, straining at the leash so hard Tristan was afraid she'd snap it. "Chira--"

Jared walked out. "Try rubbing her belly." Tristan obeyed, and Chira forgot her agitation to purr and nuzzle his shoulder. "Cool, it worked."

Tristan stared. "You mean you weren't sure?"

"What the heck is that?" someone else demanded. Tristan turned. Megan stood in the doorway, staring at the pink marsupial.

"This is Chira, my pet." Tristan scratched the animal's shoulder. "She just kind of attached herself to me during lunch. Ow! Chira, no biting!"

Jared frowned. "Wait, everyone can see her?"

Kyle stepped out, saw Chira, and went back inside. Tristan smirked. "Apparently."

"Then what can I do?"

"The only way I can really describe it is charm and persuasion. Though if I wanted to go to extremes, I could call it emotional mind-control."

Jared thought for a moment. "Let's go with persuasion."

Tristan shrugged. "Your ability, your name."

Allison stepped outside and blinked. "Tristan? What's that?"

"This is Chira. For some reason, we are the only people who can see or hear her."

Allison frowned. "Was she in the lunchroom today?"

"Yeah. And before you ask, yes, she was the one who sent those chairs flying."

She thought on that, then shrugged. "Okay."

He frowned, puzzled. "Just okay?"

"Yeah. It's obvious she's not going to hurt anyone on purpose, so why worry?" She shrugged again. "So are we going to do homework or not? I wasn't kidding about that geometry test."