I DON'T ride a broom, I don't have a pointy black hat, and I don't have a big black cauldron sitting over my fireplace. No green skin, no warts, not even long finger nails, with red nail polish. That's what people imagine when they hear the word 'witch'. I'm just your normal-looking, 17-year-old girl, who just so happens to be a witch. Long, dark, chocolate brown hair, sapphire eyes, pale skin complexion, rosy lips, oval face...you know, the usual. Well, with an exception of the sapphire eyes.

I inherited my unusual eyes from my father with some of his little quirks. My hair and my face shape belong to my mother. I guess you could say I'm a mut because my father and mother are from different witch lines. My mother is from the Nightshade line, and my father is from Silver Raven.

Today was the day I was going to finally visit him, all the way down in St. Louis, Missouri. My mother decided to drive me to the airport, especially since it was so early in the morning. My flight was scheduled to leave at exactly 7:00 am.

"Thanks for driving me again, mom," I said, staring out of the car window intensely.

"No problem, hon. Are you sure you want to go visit him? I know you don't like it down there during the fall season," She said, frowning.

"No, I'm sure. He's my father after all, right?" I look over at her with a small smile.

"I guess you're right.." She said with a sigh. My small smile turned into a frown as well.

"Mom, I'll be fine. I'll e-mail you everyday," I said, forcing that small smile across my lips again.

"I know, but-"

"Mom.." I said, cutting her off from her complaints. I sighed. I think I said the word 'mom' a little too harsh because she flinched a little in the drivers' seat.

"I'm sorry Lilith, but you know how I am," She said, relaxing again. I rolled my eyes.

"Mom, please, call me by my nick name," I mumbled.

She didn't say anything after that. She knew better then to, because she knew I didn't like my name, and she knew that I had my father's temper. We arrived at the airport just in time to grab something quick to eat. Afterwards, we both said our goodbyes with hugs and a few words of wisdom. I hated when she did that. As I walked to the terminal, I could feel her ice blue eyes burning into my back. I glanced back once, just close enough to see tears on the verge of spilling onto her cheeks. I sighed and kept walking with my black book bag as a carry-on item.

The plane ride wasn't as long as I had expected. I had fallen asleep with my book bag in my lap, and my CD player on repeat. I walked through the terminal of the plane out into the waiting area where all of the peoples' families or friends would be waiting. I glanced around at all of the people, scanning their faces quickly to see if I could pick out my father. I felt uncomfortable around the bustling humans that walked by me briskly, or the ones that weren't paying attention and bumped into me, either on accident or on purpose, just to tell me rudely to move out of the way. All of a sudden, my stomach flip flopped and I felt someone behind me with a power so great, it rolled off of their body and danced along my skin. I turned quickly, my hand above my head, about to defend myself when the person's hand caught my wrist in mid-air.

"I see your mother hasn't been training you properly," he said, staring at my face with a grin plastered on his lips. I sighed, and wrenched my hand away from his grip. No one really noticed except for a little boy, who stared at us for quite sometime.

"It's nice to see you too, dad," I said, looking up into his face. He changed a lot. Of course, he had those deep sapphire eyes, but he cut his light brown hair a little shorter. It used to come down to his middle back, but now it was hanging over his eyes, and it was still long enough that he had it in a low pony tail. I noticed he was wearing his favorite black, long-sleeved shirt that was tight enough to show off his muscular chest and arms. My father was a freakin' show off.

After we hugged each other awkwardly, we walked out of the airport and got into my dad's black Mercedes. He offered to put my luggage in the trunk, but I threw it on the back seat.

"Lena, are you hungry at all?" He asked me, driving out onto the highway.

"No, not really. I had some pretzels and a bottle of water on the plane," I said. I was surprised he remembered my nick name. I saw his brows furrow out of the corner of my eye.

"That doesn't sound like much. Did you have any breakfast before you left?" He asked. This definitely didn't sound like my dad. I glanced down at the car clock. It was only 10:05.

"No, I didn't. Why all these questions about food?" I looked over at him with a confused look.

"It's just, you look a little pale. And you're my daughter. My only daughter. Why don't we stop somewhere and get something to eat?" He asked, looking over at me as well. I kinda felt bad for him then because I could see the pain in his eyes, but his face was hiding all of it. He looked away quickly when he realized he had shown some of his emotion.

We turned off on the exit and drove about a mile down the road before we pulled into a hidden driveway. It wasn't that long, but it seemed to take forever since I was last here. The house was still the same; big, not that ancient, but ancient, and that creme color that was a mix of pure white and beige with the same old, but new looking wrap-around cherry wood porch. He pulled up to the house and turned off the ignition. I looked over at him.

"Thanks for picking me up. You know I can drive, right?" I said, smiling.

"Yes. I have to show you something," he said, smiling back. We both got out of the car and I went and got my bags out of the back seat. My dad motioned with his hand to follow him around the side of the house. I followed, unsure of what he had prepared for me. When I finally got around the side of the huge house, I froze. There was my dad, standing next to a brand spanking new, big black Chevy truck. I loved trucks, and that's one of the reasons why I sometimes favor my dad. He seemed to know me better then my mother.

"Dad...it's awesome! Thanks so much," I said, running over to him with my arms open wide. He accepted my hug with a bright grin, then put me back down on the ground. I really did love the truck, and I was glad that he had thought of me. Though he really didn't have to buy it for me.

"I thought you would like it. It was on sale too," He said, nodding his head. I went over and checked all of the little details on the outside and the inside. It was awesome on the inside. It had black leather seats, with mixtures of different colored greys. Automatic windows, six-disc cd changer, FM and AM stereo, and an iPOD. I knew I wasn't going to need the iPOD. After that, we both went inside and like always, Kaine ran up to me in a bundle of black fur and flash of bright yellow eyes to rub against my leg. "I guess he remembers me," I said, rubbing his head.

My dad's cat was always affectionate towards me, but I didn't think he would remember me. I headed upstairs, forgetting about eating and just unpacked my clothes with the door shut.

My room hadn't changed either. Dark cherry wood floors, violet walls, and my black comforter with black sheets that had the same design on the pillows and on the middle of the comforter. It was a golden half moon, then a gold sun that fit right in with the moon. My different colored candles for different spells that I used were still on my medium-sized altar, near my dresser. Although it looked like my father had sometimes cleaned my room, everything seemed to be normal and in it's right place. I even brought my spell book that was handed down from my mother's generation. I put it next to my father's spell book that he gave to me on my altar. I had finished unpacking when my dad knocked lightly on the door. "Yeah?" I said, opening it a crack.

"You ran upstairs without eating anything. I was hoping you would join me for an early dinner?" He asked, looking towards the ground.

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that. I was just focused on getting everything unpacked and stuff," I said while coming out and shutting the door. My dad smiled at me and led the way downstairs to the dining room. I didn't really feel like chatting and eating dinner with him right now. All I wanted to do was sleep. Maybe have a good cry too, since I've been stressing over going to school tomorrow morning and not knowing anybody at all. We sat down across from each other at the table. I knew I should've ate something earlier, because my dad had made tacos for us tonight. Don't get me wrong, I love spicy food, but tonight wasn't a good night. The smell was intoxicating, though. "Mmm..looks good, dad," I said.

"Thanks Lena. I hope your hungry enough, because I made plenty," He said, taking the first bite.

I winced mentally, but took a bite anyway. As soon as I took a bite out of the first taco, I had a second one, then a third. I decided I was finished after that. I excused myself from the table, but I regretted it instantly when I saw the look on my dads face. That painful expression again, like he failed at doing something. He quickly looked away and started to gather dishes up to be washed. I helped him do that and I even offered to wash them, but he said he could take care of it. I had school in the morning anyway. I went to bed feeling bad, but it slowly slipped away when lethargy set in and I was out like a light in no time.

The morning came way to quickly. Luckily I had my dark purple shades over the windows so the bright fall sunlight wouldn't annoy me. I didn't need a shower, so I got dressed into my favorite pair of jeans and my long-sleeved black sweater that was made of thin material, but I didn't need a jacket for it. I loved it because it hid my hands and it stopped right at my neck, so it didn't look like a turtle neck. I slipped into my black suede boots, brushed my hair and teeth, said goodbye to my dad, who was sitting at the coffee table reading the news paper with messy hair and I was out the door just in time. My dad had graciously gave me directions to my new school so I was all set. Directions, book bag, school supplies, car keys..I went over the list a thousand times before I finally left.

The school was actually pretty close, considering how long it took to drive on the highway in the morning traffic. I parked in one of the student parking lots next to a sexy red convertible. Good. I wasn't the only one with a rich father. It wasn't really crowded at all, because I had to come in a bit early to sign or take home papers. I hopped out of my truck and went straight to the building that said in big bold letters, 'Main Office.'As soon as I walked in, I felt the warmth from the heaters caress my face and envelope the rest of my body when the door shut. I straightened my tussled hair from the wind, and greeted the lady at the counter. "Excuse me," I said.

"Hm?" The lady looked up with tired but friendly eyes. "Oh! You must be Lilith Mabel," She exclaimed while smiling brightly. I smiled back, but for the second time, winced mentally for the use of my first name. I guessed my father was bragging about me again.

"Yes, that's right. You needed me to pick up some papers?" I said. She nodded and rustled up some papers, then put them in a manilla folder.

"Here you go, dear. Oh, and here's your schedule," She handed me both, but still continued to look at me. I got uncomfortable.

"Such an unusual name you have. And your eyes are pretty," She grinned, but her face didn't show any friendliness towards me. It was confusion and...jealousy? I thanked her quickly and left. Her aura had grown to hate and regret as soon as she saw me.

I found out that class would begin soon because there were more students arriving outside in the parking lots. They chatted happily to one another while going to their lockers inside the other buildings, I assumed. Even though I had a lock and a locker, I wasn't going to use it at all. It was the least of my worries. I checked my schedule for first period. Chemistry. I hated chemistry back home, so it wasn't going to be any different. I walked into the building that was labeled 'A 1-5' and looked for room 20. I found it easily and was relieved to see more students piling into the classroom. I stood in front of the doorway while the students got into their seats and I was the only one standing. Right in front of everybody too. I looked for an empty seat and finally found one at one of the lab tables, but before I even got their I looked over at the person who I would be sitting next to. I froze where I stood, my sapphire eyes widened a little, and I clutched the manilla folder tighter to my chest. He was absolutely beautiful. No human could ever be that beautiful no matter how many plastic surgeries they had.

One thought and only one, had crossed my mind.

Vampire.