She watched as the coach looked down at his watch and then up into the foggy dawn sky and then said, “We need to be quick for this next lesson. We have .25 hours until the sun rises and we will die here on this field if you do not listen carefully.”

She looked back in horror as the words came out of his mouth. Suddenly she vaguely remembered that Benji had mentioned something to her about not going out into the sun without a special lotion. She hadn’t given it thought up until that moment, because, well, she didn’t have to, but now this was a matter of life and death and she was working against the clock.

“I will teach you how to apply Hex Lotion,” the coach said, reaching into a large black duffle bag that sat at his feet. Then he pulled out a handful of white tubes of lotion and threw them at all the young vampires, each catching them at lightning speed.

She looked down at the nondescript bottle and began to twist off the cap as she heard the coach yell in a stern voice, “Don’t open it until I say so. This is not a toy and you must never mess around with Hex Lotion. It can only be applied five minutes before the sun rises, not a minute sooner and not a minute later.”

She quickly re-screwed the cap back on and then looked down at her purple watch in an attempt to set the timer—but it still read “error code.” Holding the bottle down by her side, she waited for the next set of instructions from the coach. The group stood there silently as he continuously checked his watch and looked up at the rising sun.

“We have three minutes before we can open the cap. Now, listen up! You only have one shot at getting this right so heed my words and don’t make a mistake.”

Rachel couldn’t take her eyes off the coach. She hung on his every word, her heart beating out of her chest with nervousness and excitement.

“Two minutes!” he yelled out. “Place both of your hands on the bottle – one holding the tube and one on the cap, ready to unscrew it.”

She prepared herself trying to get the exact grip the coach explained.

“One minute! Everyone must be ready, this is not a drill.”

Standing there in a near panic she waited, counting down the seconds until he would speak again.

“OPEN!” he yelled, as he and the rest of the young vampires began unscrewing their caps.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” Rachel was saying under her breath as she fumbled with the cap. “I’m gonna die, this can’t be happening.”

“Shh!” the girl next to her said. “Be quiet, he’s telling us what to do!”

She looked over and gave her an apologetic look and then tuned to the coach.

“Quickly squeeze out a dime sized amount onto your palm and rub it between both of your hands. That is ALL you will need,” he stressed.

“When you have done that, begin applying it to your skin. Don’t miss a spot. Any spot you miss WILL singe off once the sun rises.”

She watched as everyone began lathering up. It was similar to putting on suntan lotion, she thought, yet very different. She knew any spot she missed would singe off, unlike a missed spot of SPF. She rubbed frantically her arms, legs, face, ears, behind her ears, her eye lids, nose, lips, scalp, legs, knees, feet and toes, making sure not to miss a speck of skin. She then looked up and waited for the coach to give out the next instructions.

Then, all of a sudden she felt her skin become hard, almost like a helmet. She held her arm out and watched the transformation take place. Her skin glazed over and turned a bright shade of white. She could see the lotion taking effect. Thankfully, she didn’t see any part of her skin remaining as the color transformation took place in front of her eyes.

“Help!” yelled out one of the young vampires. “My finger, it didn’t harden! What do I do?”

The coach just stood there, shaking his head and then looking up at the quickly rising sun. “There’s no time, say goodbye to your finger.”

“No! Wait! Stop!” he yelled back. “Fix it!”

“What is done, is done,” the coach said back in a calm, deep voice.

“Come, please help!” he said, but the coach just stood in place and waited.

Within seconds the field was overtaken by his shrieking, then a loud singing noise, followed by smoke and the sight of his finger disintegrating right before them. The group of young vampires watched as his pinky finger was singed off by the light of the sun and then as if by magic, the stump healed itself in front of their eyes.

“Let this be a lesson to all of you,” the coach said. “One misstep and it could mean the end.”

Rachel stood there, and her eyes and her mouth hung wide open. She couldn’t believe what had just happened. Nobody said a word for what felt like days as they all stood there on the field, silently reflecting. Everybody kept to themselves and nobody dare look around. The mood of the group grew tense and somber.

“We will end here for the day,” the coach said. “Be back here at 6AM tomorrow morning.”

Before she could even think about what she was about to say, Rachel said, “Wait!”

Everyone turned and looked at her. All of a sudden she felt like she had a million eyes on her. All she could feel was panic, but she had to ask this question, she didn’t want anything bad to happen to her.

“Um, how long does the lotion last?”

The other young vampires looked at her in agreement, shaking their heads. It felt good to her that they also seemed curious.

“Yes, I forgot to mention, it will last all day until the sun goes down. It will NEVER last you more than one day so make sure each morning you have the tube ready to go five minutes before sunrise,” the coach said. “You are dismissed.”

Chapter Four

“Over here!” a voice yelled out to Rachel as she walked alone with her head down off the giant and sunlit field.

She looked up to see Matilda, standing at the bottom of the marble steps, right where she had left her a few hours before. She raised her hand and waived, “Coming!”

For a moment, she had forgotten that Matilda said she’d meet her after practice, but was now thankful she was there. She had so many unresolved question that she needed to ask her.

“Hey, Matilda,” she said, looking at her white, hard skin shining in the sunlight.

“Hi Rachel. How did your first day of training go?”

“Was fine, I guess,” she said in a quiet tone.

“What’s wrong?” asked Matilda.

Letting out a sigh, Rachel said, “I didn’t sign up for this, you know.”

Matilda looked at her quizzically. “You have no choice. If you want to survive you need to take this training course. How else do you plan to learn everything we do?”

Rachel looked back at her, suddenly feeling the tension between them. “I mean, I just want to go home. I don’t want to do this anymore.”

The two of them walked inside as they continued speaking, into an empty sitting room adorned with golden wallpaper.

“You asked for this. Don’t you remember? You asked Benji to turn you.”

“Well, had I known I’d end up here, with all of this, I never would have.”

“You would have died then,” Matilda said, reminding her of that night.

Rachel stopped speaking and looked around. She saw some old family photos placed around the room in ornate golden frames. She picked one up and looked at it closely. It was a picture of Benji as a small boy, dressed in a suit and tie holding a bouquet of red roses. She could feel herself getting choked up and suddenly a tear started rolling down her cheek.

Matilda reached out and put her hand on top of hers. “Don’t worry. You will be fine. It just takes some getting used to.”

“Stop saying that!” Rachel said, as she took her hand away. “I can’t do this alone. I have nobody here. Where’s Benji?”

“You caused a great rift between the vampire nations and now he’s cleaning up your mess. Thanks to you our entire coven needs to prepare for war. Benji is out there right now, rallying all our fellow covens to come to our aid before it’s too late.”

“I don’t understand?” Rachel asked. “Where did he go and when will he be back?”

“We don’t know when he will be back. It depends how much support he is able to rally, if any. You got us into a deep mess here,” Matilda snarled.

“I feel terrible. I want to go and see him now,” Rachel said.

Matilda laughed, “You’re kidding right? You’d be killed in an instant if you went out there. You are just going to have to sit and wait here and be patient. Eventually, he will come back. Besides, you need time to train. You don’t even know what it’s like to be a vampire yet. You’re a newbie. If you went out there now, like you are, in this state, I doubt you’d make it very long. You’re just going to have to learn to be patient. You’ll live here with us and you will train and you will wait for Benji. You’re lucky there’s even a room available. A vampire just graduated yesterday.”

“My room? What are you talking about? I’m not going to live here. Especially without Benji. I want to go home,” Rachel snapped back.

“And where is home exactly?” Matilda asked. “Everything you once knew was gone. Don’t you get it? You’re not human anymore. All your old friendships, all your old relationships, are all going to be different now. This is your home now and we are your new family.”

Rachel thought about that and was reeling from the implications. “This place, my home? These people, my family?” It was all too much for her to take at once. It seemed surreal.

Matilda suddenly stood and began to walk away. Rachel got up and followed her in a daze, unthinking. The two walked single file back through the castle and to the point after the drawbridge where the paths divided. Matilda started walking on the path that said, “North Wing.” The hallway was dark and damp, with a musty old smell in the air. The carpeting that lined the floor looked as if it had been there thousands of years, with hideous emerald green flowers on it.