AN: I'm impressed by authors who can post multiple times a week. How do they fit that into their schedules? Like- they have to have time to write it, edit it, AND post it multiple times PER WEEK? Damn, I wish I was that efficient.

"This is stupid." I grumble for about the fifth time in the last thirty minutes.

I've tried on three dresses, two suits, countless matched pairs of blouses with skirts, and now I'm standing in front of my mirror in a romper that's cutting off the blood supply to my legs.

"No it's not. Your first impression is the one that sticks, therefore you must look as good as possible." Beth states matter-of-factly, she even nods her head to agree with herself.

Earlier this morning, she barged into Eric's apartment with clothes in her hands and a determined expression on her face. She even knew where my room was in the apartment which baffled us both. He swore to me that she's never stepped foot into his place before, so we both shrugged off our suspicions since she's pretty harmless.

But that was before she coerced me into trying on items from her wardrobe. Now I just think the witch likes to torture other supernaturals with strange fabrics that itch and smell like foreign herbs.

"Neither of us looked our best when we first met." I state knowing fully that she had no idea what I was wearing.

"Well," Beth huffed, "that wasn't our official first meeting with everyone so it doesn't count."  She's dressed to the nines in a pale blue silk suit which will be ruined by the isle's heat.

I look at the clock next to my bed and decide to stop humoring the witch.

A deep sigh escapes my lips, we're about to be late.

'I really need to work on my time management while here.' I think to myself as I pry the romper off of my body. When it's safely on the floor, I throw on a grey sweater with my comfortable white sweat pants and race out of my bedroom door with Beth on my heels steaming mad.

Not that it really matters.

With little thought, I also grab one of Eric's hats and slap it on my head backwards since I have no time to fix my hair into something presentable.

At first I race out of the apartment building dragging Beth, but then I let her take the lead since I have no idea where I'm going. She pulls us towards the main building that is quite literally a castle. I can't hide my admiration for the building either. The stones are a sparkling white that shouldn't be possible and the size itself makes me nervous. Someone could get lost in this building for days.

I slow my pace down but Beth picks hers up and pulls me inside the castle behind her.

After taking many turns down various hallways, we reach a thick wooden door with the words 'Student Counsel' embedded into it. The ink is a swirling silver color and I take a step back not wanting to touch it. I've had warnings about the substance ingrained into my very being and I'm not going to ignore my internal apprehension either.

This entire trip has taken me out of my comfort zone, I'm not sure how to deal it all anymore.

Beth, who I thought would be breathing hard after the run, gazes at me calmly and places her hand on my collar bone.

"This is the first test my friend. Do you trust me?" She asks.

I shake my head but don't say anything as I step closer.

Beth's hand slides down my arm and she takes my hand in her own. She gives it a slight squeeze before letting go.

"You have to touch the words to open the door."

I want to snap that she could easily do this part but then I bite my lip when I remember this being a test.

I place my shaky hand onto the words lightly and watch as silver ink wraps around it. On instinct, I place my other hand on the door to push myself back only to have that one also getting wrapped in the silver ink.

Nothing happens besides my being bound, there's no silver burn, but that doesn't stop my internal panic.

I feel the ink tighten painfully and expand down my arms. I try to shake the ink away but it has no effect. It's almost like it's alive in a way.

In no time I'm almost entirely covered, I open my mouth to scream but quickly close it in fear that it'll go in my mouth. I thrash around but nothing stops the ink from reaching my eyes.

The ink burns as it forces its way past my closed eyelids.

All sense of gravity is lost as I try to fight by shaking my shoulders and arms.

"Stop." A male demands.

I obviously don't listen. The ink burns like something awful and my hands are bound, I can't claw at my eyes to get it out. My breathing is erratic and I don't even want to question out how I'm able to breathe right now.

"Open your eyes." I hear a female say.

I blink my eyes open and the ink rushes out of them as if I've been crying.

"Welcome Bex." I hear the same female voice say.

"Where am I?" I ask ignoring the pleasantries.

Somehow I've ended up in an all black room with a spotlight only on where I stand, ink free. I hear laughter all around me, so I turn to see where it's all coming from only to see nothing but black.

"We have a few questions to ask, once you answer them you'll be free to go."

I hear a thud and spin to see the same door, but this time it has a silver knob.

"First Question. Do you believe yourself to be a child of Lilith?" A deep male voice asks.

"Yes." I answer without doubt that I am the Moons child. My eyes are on the door.

"Why?" He continues.

"That's none of your business." I counter ready for a fight and turning in the voices direction.

I get nothing but silence.

Directly across from the male, a female voice rings out full of authority, "Second Question. Do you follow our Goddess' rules?"

"I guess." Is my answer when I really want to ask, 'What rules?'

"Why?"

"Why not?" Is my smart ass reply since I have no other response.

Again, only silence answers me back.

To my left, someone clears their throat.

"Third Question. Do you believe yourself worthy of being on the Student Counsel?" It's from the same man who commanded me to stop earlier.

Instead of answering, I cross my arms over my chest and stay quiet. For some innate reason I don't like this particular voice, maybe it's because he told me to stop fighting an unknown substance invading my body.

Maybe it's because I don't respond well when out of my element.

Maybe it's because I know that I don't belong.

"Bex, do you feel that you are worthy enough to be on the Student Counsel permanently?" The male revises his previous question.

Tears unwillingly well up in my eyes and I feel the urge to run. Even in the center of the room, I feel like I've been backed into a corner.

I don't belong here. I just don't belong. What's wrong with me?

"Bex?" A voice asks, in my meltdown I can't identify it.

I wrap my arms around my midsection and seal my mouth shut. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the door that will take me away from here.

Straightening my spine, I walk with purpose towards the door determined to get out. The door only seems to get farther and farther away so I pick up my pace.

"Do you believe yourself worthy of being on the Student Counsel?" A soft voice asks. I can hear the sympathy and I resent them all.

I lunge for the door and grab onto the silver knob, it doesn't burn me. I twist the knob and push at the door. When it's open I turn around to the room with the one spotlight in the middle and whisper out my truth.

"No."

Turning back I walk out the door and stumble into another room. Several heads turn in my direction making me tense up from the sudden attention.

"Move it wolfie." Is all I hear before I'm suddenly pushed forward.

The action catches me by surprise but my reflexes move me out of the way without embarrassing myself.

Before I can turn back to the aggressor, Beth is suddenly in my face beaming.

"I knew you'd make it! It took a little longer than we thought but- yay!" She cheers.

I feel my eyes get wide when I finally notice the room we're in. In the center is a huge round table that's divided by sections like a pizza almost. In total there are six slices. The rest of the room is covered in charts, chalkboards, and calendars.

My eyes land on Eric, and I see that he has an empty seat next to him. He's not paying attention to me though, he's actually staring at someone else.

Turning my head I see none other than the vampire that saved me.

Granted, she tried to give my dehydrated self salt water and then literally dropped me off at the nurses office.
That's the small stuff, the bigger picture is that she saved me and is the one who just pushed me into this room.

I'll have to thank her later for the saving and then chew her out for the pushing.

I notice that Beth moved back to her seat while I was spaced out so I move to where Eric is.

The section he's in is obviously made for wolves. The wood in the table is carved and dyed with weres in various forms howling at the moon during a hunt. There's even stains of red around some of their teeth.

Whoever made this has my respect for how they embodied such savagery into a beautiful art piece.

I nudge Eric with my elbow to get his attention. He blinks a couple of times before raising an eyebrow at me.

I don't even have to ask him out loud if he's okay. A simple look it all it takes for him to know. I shouldn't care, but I'd do.

He nods his head slightly and looks away from me.

I feel eyes gazing upon me but I refuse to look around like a wide eyed doe to figure out who it is. It's enough that I've arrived late and didn't show up at all to the first meeting.

Someone clears their throat and then a ghost "stands" up. He's sort of levitated in the air with his legs crossed.

"Hello everyone, I'm David. Welcome to the second meeting of the Student Counsel. Technically the first now that everyone's here."

I feel everyone eyeing me now. All of them probably know by now that I was a dumbass. I just look at the ghost in curiosity. He's a lot less transparent than I thought he'd be. It's obvious that he died older in his life but there's no telling when because his clothes are modern. Just a simple T-shirt, jeans, and vans.

Ghosts can change their clothes? How?

"Let's go around in a circle and reintroduce ourselves." David suggests.

"How about only the new people introduce themselves? If they last long enough, we'll tell them our names." Katy, the panther shifter counters. She sounds like introducing herself is the last thing in the world she wants to do and others at the table nod in agreement.

I can understand where their coming from, I'm pretty sure they have to go over this process a lot since not even half of the people are permanent members.

David looks like he wants to object but floats down anyway. The Student Counsel is a democracy and he's been outvoted.

Before I can even open my mouth, the brightly colored vampire that saved me pops up. She's wearing a fuchsia strapless body con dress with a nice floral cardigan. Her sharp nails are painted neon yellow.

The first thing she does is smile with her arsenal of war, her fangs, which makes me smile back because she doesn't scare me. Her nails are deadly sharp but they won't deter me from fighting her if the need arises.

I can't say the same about some of the members though, who lean back just a little. Nothing serious, but all the predators noticed their change.
The vampire's smile stretches a bit wider.

"I'm Verena." She purrs.

My shock is instant upon hearing her name and I'm not the only one. Eric tenses up beside me and takes in deep breaths.

Verena is the only vampire that can scare little witch children into learning their basic protection spells. She's killed off entire family lines and somehow always gets away with it. Not only that but she's not well liked by any of the other supernatural species. List a tragedy and it's likely that she's there screwing someone over. The blood baths she's caused are legendary amongst us all.

If she wasn't shackled to her maker after just being reborn in the 1600's, there's no telling how the Salem witch trials would've gone down.

She's said to have a complete disregard for anything living.

And yet, she saved me.

"Yes, well, welcome. I understand why some of the others weren't here during our first official meeting, but why were you absent?" David, who I'm guessing is the group speaker, asks.

Verena doesn't look at all embarrassed about being called out by the ghost. In fact, she has the complete gall to eye him in complete annoyance before opening her mouth to speak.

"Well, I was resting up after saving wolfie over there from her ill planned deep sea dive. It took a lot of my energy and I just couldn't find it in me to make it over here." She answers casually while waving her pointed nails in my direction.

Instead of slouching back in my chair like a shy coward, I stand up and give the vampire her due.

"I wasn't able to speak three days ago but now I am. Thank you for saving my life Verena." I speak in my sincerest voice and locks eyes with her so that she understands how serious I am.

I see something flash in her eyes before she breaks the eye contact and waves off my thanks.

"Well it took you long enough. You're so ungrateful wolfie, don't look a second time for me to save your flea bitten ass." She snaps without true malice.

Instead of responding to her, I turn my attention to the group.

"I'm Bex for those of you who haven't heard."

AN: I feel like this is an awkward place to stop but also it feels like a good place at the same time. Verena is pronounced (VAIR-ehn-ah).