Blue River Academy

The Meeting

I had a wake up call for Thomas at 7.30am. I got up showered and searched through my bag for clothes. Brushed my hair and tied it into a slick high pony tail. All whilst Thomas went to the kitchen and asked Rick to make us some bacon sandwiches to eat whilst we had our tour after the meeting. There was another knock on my door at 7:50am. I left my room where Thomas was waiting for me outside we walked down the hall to Theo’s room. He was late as usual.

‘Coming, just putting on my shoes!’ Theo shouted through the closed door. I looked at Thomas and we both sniggered Knowing that Theo was no where near putting on his shoes. We could hear him running sound his room throwing on clothes, Tripping over his feet whilst trying to put on his shoes. He came out a few minutes later, out of breath and beads of sweat speckling his forehead.

‘Lets go then. What are we doing just standing here? We don’t want to be late.’ Theo ordered closing his bedroom door and marching ahead down the corridor. We stood and watched as he stopped at the end of the corridor by the stairs. He turned to look at me and Thomas who were trying not to laugh.

‘What way is it? Just realised I don't actually know where I am going.’ He looked so lost. It was actually very cute. It is not often Theo looks like this.

‘Down the stairs.’ Thomas shouted ahead as we walked towards Theo.

Theo ran down the stairs waiting at the bottom for myself and Thomas to catch up. He let Thomas lead the way following him next to me. We went through the hallway and picked up our keycards from Angie at reception.

‘You will need these to get through the doors.’ Thomas exclaimed.

He lead us to down the hallway and we entered the study, it was a dead end. Thomas walked over to the wall at the end of the study. He took a book off the shelf, it was titled ‘The Supernatural Race’ it was given this name because it blends in. Why would the supernatural race want to read a book on the supernatural race? Thomas opened the book and inside was a scanner. He scanned his card then passed it to me. I scanned my card and then Theo scanned him. There was a secret door open next to the bookcase. It was a floor to ceiling painting of the legendary english alpha of the biggest pack that was just outside London. They were called The Greyfang Pack, that pack however no longer exists. They were killed hundreds and hundreds of years ago, according to the stories my parents told me and my brother when we were children.

We walked through the secret down and down a set of steps. They were lit with spot lights in the ceiling. As we got to the bottom of the steps there was another door. This door looked old, it was wooden and you could see all the bolts holding the door together. It was beautiful. Thomas opened the door which led to a room with a huge table with 10 chairs around it. The chairs are black with velvet material. They had tall backs and no arms. A massive Georgian chandelier hung from the ceiling, there are candles incorporated within the chandelier. They were all burning giving off little light. There are candle sticks on the table also with candles burning giving off some light. There were lamps on the walls lighting the room with more light. This was the council chamber.

We sat at the table and waited for the others. Camilla walked into the room a few minutes after we did. She entered through a door on the other side of the room along with the other council members.

‘Morning everyone, please can you introduce yourselves for the benefit of our new members.’

‘Hello, my name is Tristan. I am a werewolf and head of the council. Well, other than Camilla. ’ He said smiling at her. Tristan has short blonde hair and brown eyes.

‘This is Callum, He is my second in command. He is a vampire. Mace over there, he is a shifter and a specialist in planning and strategies. Thomas you have already met. He is in charge of all new students and giving inductions. You need to know anything about anything. He is your man.’ He spoke pointing first at a tall pale figure covered in tattoos. This was Callum. Next he pointed at a muscular red head sat opposite me. This was mace.

‘I am Valentine and this is Theo. We are both human. We are grateful to be received and welcomed in such a manor. Thank you.’ I smiled at the other council members.

As I finished speaking the door opened and two other men walked into the room. My mouth dropped. It was Benji my twin brother with another guy who was very handsome with high cheek bones and blonde hair with blue eyes.

I stood up. Shock written all over my face.

‘Benji?’ | screeched holding back the tears that were about to fall from my eyes.

‘Hello Val! Have you missed me ?’

‘You two know each other?’ The council exclaimed!

‘He..he is my twin brother. He went missing just over 2 weeks ago.’ I explained they all looked as shocked as me at this information.

‘I was taken and bitten by a wolf. I am a now wolf. I was sent here by my alpha to learn everything I can to become an alpha one day. He heard about you attempt at peace between the species and he thinks it is a amazing idea. He sent me to help, I have lived on both sides of the war. I know what works for each side and what doesn't. I also know what needs to change. As well as you do Valentine. This is for the survival of all our species.’

‘I thought you were dead Benji! You could have text or called.’

‘I lost my phone during the attack. I thought you were better off without me Val. You have so much to live for. You are strong and you are an amazing leader. I couldn't live up to Majors expectations of us, they were so high. To hard to achieve and keep maintained. It made me feel like I was always in your shadow, You could live up to his expectations. I couldn’t, I had to work twice as hard to get myself noticed. I feel like I have found my purpose in life. I want to help make peace. I have accepted becoming a wolf and honestly it is the best thing that has happened to me. I feel like I belong.’

I stood up from my seat and walked over to my brother, gaving him a tight hug. He tightened his grip around me and whispered.

‘I have missed you Val.’

A tear escaped from me and slid down my cheek. I was trying so hard to hold in my emotions in front of the council. I couldn't let me crying being one of the first things they see me do. I took a deep breath and pulled back releasing my brother and returning to my seat, in-between Theo and Thomas.

We began the meeting by talking about the new rules that we hope to put into place regarding the arrival of humans. Camilla headed the meeting supported by Tristan.

‘It is Forbidden to turn a human. If a human end up in a certain death situation. Then they can be turned. At least then Their life has in a way been saved. Does everyone agree to this? ’ Camilla spoke in a calm collected voice.

‘Agreed’ the group around the table spoke.

‘Any arguments are to be fort and settled in human form if with a human. Does everyone agree?’

‘Agreed’ said everyone at the table but Valentine and Theo.

‘It if forbidden to drink from any humans on campus, unless they have given their written consent and signed by both parties. This is done at their own risk. If there does end up being a death. No action will be taken against the vampire responsible if there is a document signed by both parties. Does everyone agree to this?’

‘I agree. It is their fault for getting into that situation.’ I agree. Theo agreed as well.

‘There will be no hunting humans under any circumstances unless given permission by this council. Such activities are punishable by imprisonment or any other suitable punishment given by this council. Does everyone agree?’

‘Yes!’ we all chimed happy with all the progress we are making.

‘Valentine, Theo. Is there something you would like to say?’Camilla asked. Trying to close the subject.

I stood up to speak feeling slightly nervous. I don’t normally get nervous, Im good at public speaking. The importance of these people around the table made me anxious. I was not yet one of them. I pulled myself together and began speaking.

‘I agree that arguments should be settled in human form however the humans need to learn to defend themselves against an attacker who isn't in human form. I think that this would be very beneficial for every human who is currently studying at the academy. It would also be beneficial for any humans who join in the future. It also benefits students that need extra combat training against an attacker.’

‘I think that is a wonderful idea. I think that all humans are capable of protecting themselves against an attacker who isn't in human form, given the correct training. We will set up a class for this.’

‘Thank you Camilla. I would like to be involved in teaching the class. I think that all of us have a lot to give. The students could benefit from us sharing our skills. Theo, do you have anything to add?’ I spoke softly.

‘I think the council members sharing responsibility for the class would be a good idea. We shall talk about it at the next meeting.’ Camilla still trying to close the subject.

‘No Valentine. You have just about covered it.’ Theo said confirming that I had done a good job with me speech. I sat back down in my seat.

We carried on talking about rules, coming up with new rules. Such as there will be no staring or poisoning other species. There will be

Next of the list was classes. What classes did I want my humans taking and what ones were the wolves, vamps and shifters taking. I chose all the useful classes. Combat, survival skills, strategy and species history. As well as the other classes such as maths, english and the three sciences. We were told that at the end of the term we would have a test, both on physical fitness and combat and written tests from all our classes. The students who fail will be sent home. I needed to make sure that all the humans passed these tests.

There vampires and werewolves chose the same classes as I did. We thought that it would be better if all the students stayed in mixed classes. They will not be doing species classes separately.

We finished the meeting. We went back up the secret stairs and through the painting door to the kitchen to pick up our bacon sandwiches made by Rick. It was 9am and time for our tour by Thomas, Benji and Jed joined us on the tour. As we walked around the academy I took in all the information I possibly could about the grounds, where buildings and classes were, Where the nurse was, Camilla’s office, the clothes shop and swap shop. Students, Who was in what class, what year and what dorm.

‘Thomas, are there any students or professors that I need to keep and eye out for?’

‘Not really, we have a few rebels but they don’t really bother us. They may go for your humans though. I will introduce you to the later via the student book in the office. This has every student in, their skills and weaknesses as well as heir issues.’ Thomas spoke as we walked down the hall with the paintings.

We bumped into Mace into the hall. He told us about shifters.

‘Shifters can shift into only one animal. They didn't get to choose the animal that they could shift into.’

Mace was the only shifter I have ever met. I didn't really know that they existed.

‘I am in charge of all the shifters on campus. The shifter population isn't very big at the moment. A few years ago there was a huge killing of shifters. They were targeted by witches as their body parts can be used for potions. They were hunted for their blood, fangs and hair. The main potion they were hunted for was the youth potion. It used shifter blood to make and a lot of it. Witches use to make it in bulk sometimes making 100 bottles at a time, draining 10 - 15 shifters at a time to make it, sometimes more. The other species realised what was going on and there was a huge witch hunt. There aren't many witches left now, you are lucky if you meet one in your lifetime. We have only had a few witch students attend the academy before. It is rare that we get them now days.’

‘Do you not think that the witches need to be brought into this plan?’

‘Yes I think they do. We will need to talk to Camilla about this.’

I didn't know witches were real. I have heard about them in stories and myths. I didn't actually think that they would be real. The witches need to join the plan. This will help with creating peace.

After this we walked down the hallway and ventured into the library. There were thousands of books. Books on everything from Vampire to werewolves to witches. I took out a book on each so that I could read up on them. Sort or prepare myself on how to handle them. We went past the office where we collected out uniforms and other books. We walked slowly back to the house. I went upstairs and changed into my uniform, I had a skirt with knee high socks with a white blouse and a blazer. These were the same as the other students. However I didn't have to wear my uniform if i didn't want to. Just for formal occasions. I put the books I didn't need away for the day and went to classes.

I need to catch Benji after classes today and try to get some proper answers.