Hunger, it was always the hunger. How do you keep your hunger down?
Control.
Control over the hunger. It was just that. Ignoring the delicious sounds of teenagers' heartbeats.
Control the hunger. It was all about that.
Teenagers…. Naive, horny, irresistible teenagers. The easiest prey, perfect for when you are hungry.
You are not here to eat. Focus Scarlett.
Scarlett Black has been a vampire for eight years and is now forced to go back to school. She is forced to control herself in front of so much food—all for a puppy.
Peter owes me a big favor.
And here she was, sitting on a bench waiting for the principal.
When the bell rang, the student ran inside... Great! Now, she couldn't even look at her prey.
Scarlett took her hand mirror and looked at her reflection to fix her make-up.
She was looking at her lips when someone sat down next to her.
There was a pretty girl there; her hair was dark, and so were her eyes. She was so nervous that Scarlett didn't need to hear her heartbeat.
"It's never easy to be the new girl, isn't it?" Scarlett said, never looking away from her reflection.
"I'm sorry, what?" the girl spoke shyly.
"I can hear your heartbeat from here." When the vampire heard the girl laughing, a smirk appeared on her lips.
It was always funny because humans were easy to trick.
"It's not even the first time that I'm new in school," the girl said with a small smile. But it's always stressful to start over, with no friends, trying to make a good impression, right?"
No...
"Of course," Scarlett said, looking at the girl. I totally understand what you mean; it's my first day, too." The girls seemed surprised at her words.
"But you seem so calm." Scarlett took a breath.
"What can I say? I prefer to eat wolves instead of being eaten by them," she said with a smile, and the girl smiled back.
"I'm Allison Argent" Argent... Scarlett smiled even more, showing her perfect white teeth.
The Argents were an ancient family of hunters, and they were the cruelest. Every supernatural creature hated hunters, but the Argents were the worst of them all. They were cowards who could do anything to murder every supernatural creature. And now Scarlett was willing to do anything to kill them all, starting with the little doll sitting next to her.
She couldn't believe her luck. The day had just begun, and she had already found one of her targets. Now, she had to find the puppy.
"Scarlett Black," the vampire said with a big smile. Before Allison could say something, her phone rang, and she picked up immediately.
"Mom, three calls on my first day is a little overdoing it."
What? Mummy Argent is becoming a wolf mummy. She could have started laughing at any moment.
Hunters, strange people. How was it possible for them to not understand how being a supernatural creature made everything better?
"Oh my God, I didn't actually forget a pen."
Scarlett's gaze moved to a man walking towards them. Allison must have noticed him because she quickly hung up to shake the man's hand.
"Welcome to Beacon Hills," he said, shaking Scarlett's hand. "I hope you'll like it here."
"Actually," Scarlett said, picking up her bag from the bench. "I already feel at home," the principal smiled before escorting them into the building.
Beacon Hills High was an ordinary high school, not that Scarlett had expected anything different. But looking closer, that school had three interesting students: a huntress, a lost puppy, and a vampire who was looking for revenge.
The principal kept talking and talking, and it was so boring, so Scarlett decided to focus on finding the puppy.
To vampires, werewolves didn't have a different scent. She would just have a feeling. It would have been easiest if they'd smelt like a wet dog. What a shame!
But there was something that she could have smelt from a long distance: Werewolf's Blood.
Werewolf's blood was the most delicious thing in the world. Vampires loved their blood… it was like a drug to them. An amazing drug!
Scarlett, Allison, and the boring principal walked into the classroom. Her first lesson was English.
Lucky me, she thought, rolling her eyes.
But at the exact moment, Scarlett stepped into the room, her fangs started to fight to come out. She couldn't believe it—he was in that room… the puppy was there.
A smirk appeared on her lips. So what's the name of this good boy?
The principal was still talking. Would he have ever stopped? Scarlett looked around the room; all of the students seemed normal. Come on, boy, where are you?
"These are two new students: Allison Argent and Scarlett Black." Allison's heart was biting fast. The girl was really tense. Was she sure she was an Argent?
When their introduction was done, both girls walked to their seats, which were next to each other. Scarlett smirked, ignoring the boys' stares. She was used to that.
Peter always told her that she was stunning, and being a vampire helped. Vampires were charmers by nature; that was how they attractd their victims. And in the daylight, it was the perfect moment.
In fact, vampires didn't burn under the sun, even if it was very exhausting being under it. During the day, it was the perfect moment to choose their prayers, who would have died in the evening… most of the time.
When Scarlett put down her bag on her desk, she looked behind her seat, and there was a strange boy. He had a buzz cut and big brown eyes, and he was looking at her with his mouth ajar.
When he noticed her staring at him back, his heartbeat went quicker. Scarlett smirked again, listening to his heartbeat. It was always fun to make human blood run faster in their veins, especially for teenagers.
Moving her hair off her shoulder, she sat down. Maybe she could have chosen someone in that class to eat that evening.
Her gaze traveled to the nervous Allison, who set beside her. Immediately, a boy turned around and gave her a pen. The fun fact, Argent never asked.
Hello puppy, Scarlett thought with a smirk.
She looked at his happy face when the Argent girl accepted the pen with a smile.
Teenagers were so predictable, a pretty girl entered in the room and they started to drool.
They were so delicious.
For six hours, she had to listen to teachers talking about something—not that she cared anyway. Scarlett tried to talk with the puppy, but people started talking to her, or she simply couldn't find him.
She was so bored. She didn't remember school being like this, and the students were even worse. They talked nonstop about nothing! Hair, sports, nails, cars, boys...
They were driving her crazy. Thank God she could run away during lunchtime. She ran into the woods, ate a guy, and was ready to go back to school and pretend to care.
Now, though, she needed to find the puppy and talk to him. She needed to get close to him and make him trust her.
Scarlett was in the corridor, and she started to look around. Why there were so many students in school?
She didn't want much; she just wanted a naive puppy to trust her, a puppy who had a crush on the little Argent girl.
Scarlett kept looking around her until she saw the puppy with his strange haircut and his weird friend who was sitting behind her in English.
He was a friend of the puppies.
With a little smirk, the vampire started to approach the two boys, but someone stepped in front of her.
It was a short girl with long strawberry-blond hair, green eyes, and a big smile. She was dressed nicely, and her posture made it clear that she was very confident.
"I love your shoes. Where did you get them?" Scarlett looked at her confused, then looked over her shoulder to see the two boys walk away.
Great, Scarlett thought, looking at the girl again, who was waiting for an answer.
"In a shop… in a city… here in America," Scarlett answered, nodding with her hands on her hips. She really hoped that the girl was satisfied with her answer, but she had to talk with the puppy.
The girl was studying her with her gaze before smiling and saying, "I'm Lydia."
"Scarlett," she answered, looking for the puppy. Before she knew it, Lydia linked her arms and started to walk. That was definitely too much contact for Scarlett to like.
"You know," Lydia said, "I really like you and your look; we could be friends."
That girl has a strange way of choosing friendships if her method was based on how much shoes were pretty.
Scarlett wasn't good at friendship, but she was pretty sure it wasn't the right way or the safest way in her case.
"It's your first time in Beacon Hills?" Lydia asked while waving her hand at students who passed by.
First time…
"I lived here many years ago," Scarlett answered. "But not for long."
Well, she lived in Beacon Hills as a living for a few weeks before being turned into a vampire. She was found and "raised" by the Hales, who taught her how to live as a vampire, well, not exactly. She couldn't kill who she wanted with them.
However, no one would have missed her anyhow; she was in foster care pretty much all her life, jumping from family to family. But with the Hales was different, they helped her. She lived with them for two years before the Argents burned down the house with them in it.
"Don't worry," Lydia's voice dragged away from her thoughts. "You'll be fine."
Scarlett rolled her eyes, trying to find a way to get away from that situation.
"Do you like shopping?" There was nothing better than entering a shop, killing the shop assistant, and taking everything she liked.
"I love it," Scarlett answered, smirking.
Lydia seemed satisfied with her answer, and without letting the smile leave her face, she said, "Maybe we could go together sometimes."
Scarlett couldn't stop noticing that a lot of people were looking at them, and by her attitude, she was starting to think that Lydia was quite popular in the school. "And maybe I could introduce you to the team."
Great, more people, Scarlett thought. People were good when she was about to eat them.
"They are… oh wow!" Lydia exclaimed suddenly, making Scarlett's fangs almost pop up. That girl could scream…
"That jacket is absolutely killer," Lydia proudly says, looking at Allison Argent, who is very confused. "Where did you get that?"
Lydia looked at other people's faces. Everyone seemed interested in what she was doing, but she didn't seem very smart. Right, the classical Queen Bee.
"My mother was a buyer for a boutique back in San Francisco," Allison answered, nodding shyly.
"And you," Lydia said, pointing at the both of them. "Are my new best friends?" Scarlett had to suppress a laugh… but maybe Lydia wasn't so useless. In that way, the vampire could have gotten closer to the Argent girl, and she could have killed her and her family sooner so she could have quit school.
"What's your name?" Lydia asked.
"I'm Allison," the girl answered; it seemed like she wanted to end that conversation soon.
"I'm Lydia, and this is Scarlett," she said, pointing at Scarlett.
"We've met this morning. Hi Allison," Scarlett smiled at her. If she had to pretend to be nice, she would have done that, and Allison seemed relieved to see a known face.
Suddenly a blond guy, who seemed the classical popular teenager, very handsome and a total jerk, hugged Lydia from behind before kisser her on the lips.
Scarlett decided to look away from the couple, so she decided to study the Argent girl. She seemed so uneasy that Scarlett started to think that that girl couldn't be the right Argent.
The girl started to look everywhere but the couple and Scarlett noticed her gaze landed somewhere else. The vampire followed her look and she couldn't believe at what was happening before her eyes.
The Argent girl was looking at the puppy, who was looking back at her with dreamy eyes.
Scarlett smirked; that would have been fun.
"He is Jackson," Lydia said proudly. "My boyfriend."
No shit, Scarlett thought, unimpressed.
"Jackson, they are Allison and Scarlett." The guy smiled, trying to be charming. Scarlett smiled falsely back.
Even if she loved meeting teenagers who were full of themselves, it was time for her to do what she had come to do.
"Do you like parties?" at Lydia's question, Scarlett stopped. High school parties were the best.
Teenagers couldn't stop trying to get in a girl pants, that meant that you needed to be alone, make out, and eventually something more if he was worth it and then have dinner, it was perfect.
"There is a party this Friday," Lydia said. It was clear that she wanted them to come, and Scarlett was seriously thinking about going.
"I can't," Allison said. "Friday is family night." Scarlett looked at Allison; it was so clear she was lying. She wasn't good at lying. Was that girl really a huntress?
"You sure?" Jackson's voice made Scarlett look at him. "All the team will be there."
"You mean like football?" Allison asked as if she was trying to change the topic. Maybe his daddy didn't let her go to parties; too dangerous.
Jackson smirked and looked at the girl like she said something stupid:
"Football is a joke here," the guy surely was on the team. "The sport here is lacrosse."
What kind of sport was lacrosse? Did someone play it? She remembered that that school used to have a basketball team. Peter had shown her many photos of him playing on the team.
Cocky bastard, she thought with a smirk.
"We won the championships the past three years." Jackson was really full of himself.
"Because of a certain team captain," a player and even captain, she should have expected it; Lydia didn't seem the type to go out with a simple player.
"We are practicing in a few minutes." He wasn't offering what Scarlett thought he was offering, was he?
"You two could come." Scarlett was really praying that the Argent girl would say no.
"Actually…" Allison started to say, and the vampire looked at her with hope. She had to spend time with her, and it was awful, but with those two, it would have been worse.
"Perfect," Lydia interrupted her. "You are coming?" It seemed that Scarlett couldn't retreat at that point, so she turned up her lips into a smile that showed her perfect white teeth.
"You know, lacrosse is my favorite sport." Lydia seemed satisfied with Scarlett's words. She turned quickly to see if the puppy was still there, and lucky for her, he was, with his strange friend who was talking and waving around his hands.
"Well, guys," she exclaimed, looking back to the three students in front of her, "I need to take something from my locker, so I'll see you at the field."
"Do you know where it is?" Jackson asked, placing a hand on Lydia's hip.
"Oh, don't worry," Scarlett said, looking for a moment behind her shoulder. "I'll find it," she said, waving at them as she started to walk to the puppy, who had the same stick Jackson had. She was sure he was on the team, too.
Let's have some quality time together, puppy.
The two boys were laughing, and the strange kid was walking backward over her. It was her chance.
Scarlett walked quietly over them and let the boy bump her with his back. She casually let her books fall down. Immediately, the strange one turned around and flushed red when he saw her, while the puppy looked at them with wide eyes.
"I am so sorry," Scarlett exclaimed, kneeling to take her books, and the puppy's friend immediately followed her.
"No, no, I am so sorry," he said quickly, picking up everything he could reach. "I'm so careless, totally careless! I'm so careless that sometimes I don't even know who I am." Then his eyes became even wider. "Oh God… I know who I am; I perfectly know who I am."
She looked at him from the corner of her eyes; he was so clumsy. He surely wasn't used to talking to girls since his heart was biting like crazy, and his cheeks were still red. Scarlett felt almost hungry; virgin teenage boys were the easiest prey, and they were delicious.
"Then who are you?" she asked, looking him in the eyes.
"Stiles," a strange name for a strange guy; why wasn't she surprised?
Scarlett was still studying him, and he was becoming nervous under her gaze, so he looked quickly at the puppy and said, "And he is my best friend, Scott."
So that was his name. She suddenly remembered a guy that she ate had a dog named Scott. What a coincidence…
Scott smiled shyly, and her gaze came back at Stiles. So he was the puppy's best friend. That guy could have been useful for her purpose.
She took the books from his arms, and his heart skipped a bit—too much contact. She bet no girl had ever been this close to him. She hid a smirk—he would have been very useful.
"Well, Stiles, thanks for helping me with my books," she said, tightening the grip around her books. "And sorry again, I'm new. I was trying to figure out where to go."
"We could help you if you want," the puppy said for the first time. He smiled at her, and Stiles nodded eagerly.
"I really don't want to be a bother," Scarlett said, but Stiles interrupted her.
"You aren't." Both the puppy and she looked at him. Scott was smiling knowingly, and she was looking at him with fake surprise. Being close to those two wouldn't have been a problem.
"Where do you have to go?" Scott asked nicely, looking back at her again.
"At the lacrosse field," she answered, knowing that it would not have been a problem for them.
"We are going there too," Stiles exclaimed happily.
"Really?" she asked, faking surprise, and both boys nodded with a smile. "Well, that must be my lucky day," and it really was. Things were going exactly as she and Peter had planned.
"I'm Scarlett, by the way." Her smile was wide at this point. "And it's really nice to meet you."
It definitely was…