"Yes. This school trains those who will become vampires," the headmistress repeated. No one quite wanted to believe that she was right, or telling the truth. None of the human parents really wanted to believe that the vampires were real. Sure, everyone knew about them. Plenty of celebrities were vampires. They didn't interact too terribly much with the humans, though, not at an everyday level anyway. From what I understood of it, the vampires were a subspecies of humans, kind of like the shapeshifters. It was something you were born into. Vampires could breed, and their children were always vampires, just like the shapeshifters. Vampires could also be produced from the general population. Which is how the Choosing came to be. "There are four grades in this Academy, just like a normal high school. At the end of your final year, you will be initiated as a full vampire. At that time, you will no longer need to be constantly surrounded by full vampires to avoid rejecting the change. This is another point I must stress: if you leave this Academy for more than the time we allow for school breaks, your body will reject the change and you will die," I wasn't expecting the headmistress to be so blunt about it. I shouldn't have been surprised. It was important information.

"Isn't it true that their bodies can reject the change even if they stay here?" an angry parent demanded from the back. I could tell from his tone that he was taking the news about as poorly as my own father. At least my father had a really good reason to be upset.

The headmistress paused. She didn't want to talk about this subject. "Yes. It is true. It is a very rare occurrence. I must stress, that your children are safest in our care. I know it is not the news you want, but it is the truth, and it is best if you accept it now," she informed the upset parents. I think the kids were all in shock like I was. I should've paid more attention to the questions being asked, but they were all logistics questions, and that wasn't too important to me. "All of the others have left now. You may all go with your vampire escort to collect things for your children," the headmistress told us. I stood and went back to my parents. Mom pulled me into a hug.

"It'll be ok," she promised me. The trip home was in awkward silence. We had the biggest burliest non-shifter I had ever seen accompany us. I had a feeling they thought I was the biggest flight risk. Even my parents knew that I would die if I didn't stay with the vampires, now that I had been Chosen.

Mom woke my brothers as soon as we walked in the door. She let my father explain things to them while the vampire, mom, and I went upstairs to pack. "She only needs a few outfits for weekends," the vampire informed us. "Uniforms for classes will be provided at the Academy. School books and supplies will also be provided," he added. I gathered a few of my favorite books, underclothes, a couple of outfits, my phone and charger, laptop and charger, and looked around the room, wondering what else I would need. Mom placed a family picture in my bag and I grabbed the stuffed wolf I had slept with since I was born. "If anything was missed, it can be sent along later," the vampire reassured my mom. She nodded, but still looked worried. I hefted my bag onto my shoulder and went downstairs to see the boys. My brothers were just as furious with this situation as my father. Seth grabbed me and hugged me as soon as he saw me.

"We won't let the vampires take you," he insisted.

"She must go to the Academy or she will die," the vampire insisted, pulling me roughly from Seth's embrace. I yelped and wrenched myself from the vampire as Dave and Dan instantly shifted forms into wolves to snarl at the vampire. They pushed me behind them, towards Eric, who pulled me protectively into his arms.

My father snarled and all of my brothers stopped what they were doing to look at him. "Samantha will go to Aiela Academy. There is nothing we can do about that. We will tell the other shifters what happened, to make sure all of their children are tested. We will work out an arrangement with the school so we will be able to see Sam more than the other students get to leave the school," he told the boys. Dan and Dave whined. Eric hugged me even more protectively.

"Dad, you can't let her go with them-" he started. My father held up a hand.

"She will die if she does not," he reminded them. They finally gave up then. They looked so hopeless. They had taken the task of protecting me upon themselves. Now they couldn't help me at all, much less protect me.

"Say your goodbyes," the vampire instructed. "We must return to the Academy," he insisted. There were lots of tears as the goodbyes were said. My father would be coming back with us to coordinate with the Academy. Mom was the one who hugged me last.

"We'll see you soon," she promised me. "This will always be your home, no matter what happens," she added. I nodded.

"Thanks mom," I told her with tears in my eyes. I felt bad for how annoyed I'd been with her for the last couple of weeks. I knew I would miss them all terribly, now that I had to leave them. The vampire took my bag as we headed back to the car so we could go back to the Academy, my new home for the next four years.