Chapter 02:

She paused in front of the stone steps that lead to the front entrance of the school, scuffing her torn sneaker against the concrete once more. She was delaying the inevitable by telling herself that the action would make her appear innocent and vulnerable if anyone saw her. In reality, bile was rising in her throat, her heart was thumping wildly, and her palms were clammy from nervousness.

Sinking her teeth into her bottom lip hard enough to jolt her foreword she slowly ascended the stairs, hoping she didn't trip. It was still high school after all, even if she was there to kill half the population. Being a sixteen-year-old murderer didn't make the hiccups in the awkward stages of teendom any better. And she was after all a murderer.

That word seemed to tear into her gut, but it was the truth. Ginger didn't really enjoy the killing. For that she had to flip off the caring switch or CS as she called it, but for those hours of prodding, slicing, and breaking open she was fine as long as it was off. The knowledge she gained was intoxicating...the perk. It was why she continued to strive to be a part of this field. Afterwards though, after all the blood, the muscle tissue, the broken bones, when the cleaning was done and that switch automatically flipped back on, well that was when she couldn't leave her apartment, or eat, or do any type of normal happenings for awhile. If anything being an ugly teenage psychopath had caused more problems for her.

Who wanted to be holed up in bed all day wracked with guilt? Not her.

It didn't help that she had no family or friends since she'd been hiding from the system. Having to work for her room and board provided by a crotchety old bastard that ogled her ass, post-sixteenth transformation wasn't a walk in the park. Bubba, the potential Chester, never touched her, luckily, and he took the work, cleaning with other odd jobs, under the counter. Since she couldn't legally get a job without someone finding out about her, it worked well.

There was also no way she would do foster homes again after the second family burned. She'd been twelve years old, but could still remember the horrible screams and the black smoke she'd almost suffocated in. That had also been when her obsession with H.A.S.P, her desire for Lucca, their leader and her savior from that fire had started.

Ginger bowed her head. Her hand cradled around the curve of the fancy Venetian bronze door handle as her auburn hair fell, covering her face.

Lucca had been a twenty-year-old God to her after he'd rescued her from the fire. The memory of being cradled in his arms that feeling of a home that she could have had still haunted her. She'd been hurt when he didn't take her with him and instead dropped her off at a grocery store that had been on his way to a hot date's house telling her to call the cops. She'd never been angry at him for that though since it was where she'd run into the fortyish something Bubba. It hadn't been too hard convincing him to let her live in his apartment building however it had been a challenge keeping it from the other inhabitants.

After a few months she'd gotten into a routine of grocery shopping, cleaning, and other errands she'd run for Bubba. She'd been shopping for spaghetti ingredients per Bubba when she saw Lucca again buying gum of all things. He hadn't recognized her and she'd been too timid to go up to him, so she followed him to what turned out to be another 'hot date'. It actually ended up being Lucca ripping into a female vampire with serrated silver tipped knife, designed to slice smoothly into the thoracic cavity, through the pericardium where, upon entrance, it would cause a reaction in the blade, and slivers of wooden chips would explode into the heart.

When he was done and gone Ginger had stayed for hours looking at the slowly decaying body, the younger the vamp the slower the decay upon a real death. By the time she'd finally been able to move what was left of the vampire female had absorbed into the grass, or at least that's what seemed to have happened. It was then she threw up until nothing came out but gagging noises. So even in the beginning she wasn't a hardened killer and still now she had her moments of nausea.

She'd gone back to the apartment complex trying to figure out a way to get Lucca out of her system, any normal person would have been afraid, reported him to the police, but after a few more days she'd turned her fascination to what that female had actually been. Everything she knew about vampires was mostly bad at the time, and taking a few trips to the public library only confirmed it, though she completely ignored the sexual appeal section, so she decided she was going to help him. Ginger followed him for at least a year before she finally found out he was a part of H.A.S.P.

They were a very hush-hush organization who seemed to communicate electronically except for one meeting a year where they all gathered. At fourteen she'd petitioned to join, including a picture of herself, but no background info. Six months later when no response came she sent the same thing, only this time with info about Lucca saving her, and still no response had been sent. At fifteen she'd finally managed to do the deed, to kill. She'd started with the witches and worked her way up to the inhuman strength and speed of the vampires. With the pictures she'd provided of the killings Ginger had thought it was a no brainer to let her join, but still there was nothing.

Somewhere along the lines, as she grew older, that childlike awe she had for Lucca turned into a sexual burn and she promised herself after the school massacre she'd planned that she was going to confess to him. She'd sent them one last letter three months ago, letting her know the measures she was taking to join them and later she'd tell Lucca it was all for him, surely he'd run into her arms. Especially after that birthday transformation she'd mentioned.

It still baffled her, what happened on her sixteenth birthday. Her awkward looks had literally vanished over night. Milky white skin with a soft pink glow replaced her once splotched red freckled cheeks and body, her light blue eyes had darkened to a midnight blue, and she seemed more hip-py, if that was a word. Chesty too, but luckily not such a big change in that department, though she still had to bind them when she went hunting. Every time she looked in the mirror she had to double check it was her because she was so eerily beautiful, but three months ago she wasn't at all.

Ginger had never been one of those girls who was beautiful but didn't know it. From toddler to teen she'd been an ugly duckling through and through, but then someone had cast a spell, or so it seemed. People always stared at her, but for the first half of her life it had been because she was an unappealing carrot head with polka dots. They stared now because she was far too appealing and that made her nervous, made her clumsy, especially when a male winked. Or maybe it was the fact that her sex drive had also quadrupled over night. She didn't want to be a hormonal teenager.

"Do you plan on going in?" a deep voice questioned, startling her out of her thoughts.

With her head still down, her nostrils flared at the woodsy masculine scent, and she clenched her teeth at the burn between her legs that came every time she smelled someone that pleased her. It was instantaneous, she didn't even have to know what he looked like, the smell was enough. That was another thing that had changed about her after that birthday. Her sense of smell seemed heightened and the opposite sex was like a drug, but she'd decided early on she was saving herself for Lucca. Didn't mean it was easy.

Ginger took a deep, shaky breath before lifting her eyes. He was huge, divinely gorgeous with charcoal colored hair, the deepest green eyes surround by inch long eyelashes, and so very clearly not human. Disgust welled in her, how could she have been attracted by the scent of a wolf again? She was human, he wasn't, it defied everything, but her stomach still churned with lust. Her body trembled with the effort to resist the animal and shame caused her to drop her gaze to the floor as she felt dampness seep into the crotch of her panties.

This can't be normal, not this type of reaction, she thought to herself as she once again pondered the idea that something was seriously wrong with her.

When she managed to look back up, she caught him sniffing the air, and she knew then he could smell her arousal. It had happened before, with a wolf, with a vampire, with a witch, and with a few other species she was unsure about. Those that had heightened sense of smell would always sneer and comment on it and she was waiting for the wolf in front of her to do the same.

It surprised her however, when he cleared his throat and a red flush spread across his face. "You're new?"

She gritted her teeth, not really wanting to converse with him, but if she wanted to blend she needed to curb her dislike and her desire. Plastering a smile on her face she addressed him in what she hoped was an infatuated tone. "What gave me away?"

"Your reaction to the building, honestly it is a lot to take in. Especially to humans, but it's not so bad," he smiled, shifting his school bag from one shoulder to the other.

"Humans?" Ginger paused at his slip. She knew the school accepted humans, but she was also aware that humans were supposed to be ignorant of any supernatural beings.

"Um, who are you employed to?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"What family do you work for?"

Shaking her head and giving him a confused look, may not have been the best idea. "I don't."

It was definitely the wrong thing to say as his eyebrows indented into a scowl and he examined her.

"Ethan, who is this?" a shrill, very high pitched voice snapped from behind him.

"Lyssa-I think admissions may have made a mistake. She doesn't work for a family and she's human," he turned, informing the girl.

If Ethan was a six foot and night, then Lyssa was a five-eight and day. Her hair was gold, not blonde, not wheat, but a shimmery gold. Ginger had a feeling if she cut the long locks she'd be rich. Her eyes reminded her of a buttery syrup color and when they turned to take her in, Ginger knew that this girl was also wolf.