John Caldwell, or General Caldwell as he was known by the other members of his unit, had never seen himself as one to be teaching children. Even if he weren't a vampire teaching human children, he could never quite blink at the idea. After all, he had never been fond of children. Or at least he couldn't see himself giving direction to them. Adults were easier to direct-he had decided early on in his teaching career-because with them if they were going to screw up in their lives they would be at that point where he might not be the cause of it.
But here he was forty-five years into his teaching career and he hadn't done too bad. Only a few of his students had turned into criminals. He had also learned to tame his thirst for their blood over time. Even when a certain girl with a special scent had come along. She was the true test of his powers.
Getting back into the present John paused for a second to attempt to remember the young woman's name. It had something to do with a bird, he did know that much about her. She was beautiful. Although John knew just by looking at her that something tragic was bound to happen to her. She was too beautiful. And like gold, nothing beautiful can stay. He could now remember the day he read the newspaper article about the poor young woman's death: Body of Local Teen Found In Creek. She had been the girlfriend-or rather ex-girlfriend- of one of the other vampires that lived in Forks. The whole town of Forks, Washington was thrust into a silence because the daughter of the sheriff had died. The other vampires eventually moved away because like everyone else in Forks, even if they had no ties to her there was something. Something about her that made you drawn to her.
John could now feel a part of him tearing up inside. He had to control himself. Today was the start of the new school year. He didn't want his students to think he was a big sap. If there was anything he had learned it was that if the students' first glance of the teacher was of the teacher crying over something then they would automatically assume that they could get away with anything if they made up a sad enough story.
Soon students started to pour in. Usually batch, it seemed. None of them had the smell that she had. That was until a boy who looked twelve but was almost twice the size of his classmates although they were a couple of years older than him. He was different. If he is one of them, then why isn't he over at the reservation? John thought to himself as he looked through the forms that came with every new school year, he didn't want to get too close to the student if he was one of them.
"Okay class," he started, "I'm Mr. Caldwell and I'll be teaching you all history this year. Now I don't know just how much your past teachers have let you get away with but I'm going to be straight-forward when I say this, I'm not your sympathetic teacher. Want sympathy? Then the guidance counselor is in the room across the front office. Do I make myself clear?" John could already smell the fear in the group of teens. Except for him. John could've killed himself over the mystery of the student.
The room was silent for a few minutes, it shouldn't have been but for some reason John got great joy from the silence. Most teachers would be using this time to get to know their students but he know everything about them. That was his power as a vampire, he could read people like books. He could take just one look at someone and suddenly know everything about them. Social security number, date of birth, location of birth, what school they went to, where their parents worked, if they even had parents, their whole history. This had been a trait he had inherited from his thirty years as a human, maybe not to the extent it was now but he could easily read people.
In his forty-eight years as a vampire there have only been two people he could never read; that one young woman and him. John looked up at the clock. He had already blown too much time. He could think about the boy in his planning period, he had decided.
"Sorry about that, class. Zoned out for a few minutes. Okay for today we are just going to set down the basics. See what you know, if you will. Any questions before we start?," he asked already sensing the upcoming joke.
"Yeah. Ever heard of a tanning bed? I know Forks isn't the sunniest place in the world, but dude you are white!," some Asian kid shouted from the back. John let out a sigh. It was a known fact that he would have to deal with punks like this kid but there was part of him that could've killed the kid and never blinked.
"Yes I have I just don't see how my coloring might draw someone in. And you can call your other peers 'dude' but as long as you are in this classroom I would prefer that you either call me sir or Mr. Caldwell. Got it?," John paused to let the other students make their comments before he set his focus back on the lesson, "Glad to know that I made myself clear. Does anyone else have anything they are just dying to share with me?"
The rest of the day went by pretty uneventful considering it was the first day of a new school year. John was slowly itching up the courage to look up more information on the boy. After all, he couldn't find out anything about the boy by using the technique he used for everyone else. So he had to do something.
The first thing he could do was step into the office without having the secretary hit on him again. She had had countless boyfriends, a couple of husbands-the first of which she married at the young age of sixteen-, and judging by her sex life it was a miracle she just had the two children, two boys ages 4 and 7, and not more.
She had this odd talent of seducing men despite her average looks and plain personality. So when John had already turned down two of her offers today, she was getting hasty in her attempts, now practically throwing herself at him. As much as John hated to turn her down yet again, he sensed he would do it again.
"Um Ms. Lewis, could you grab me the record for Kyle Clearwater?," he asked trying not to look at her too hard. It wasn't that she was hard to look at but she was the type of woman that just one look and she was planning the wedding.
"Sure. Give me a sec.," she said, winking at him in such a fashion that a normal man would be falling head over heels for her. John shook his head and sighed at the thought. But at least she was doing this for him. Not too many people would do something that could very easily cost them their jobs.
"Thank you.," he said as soon as he had the file gripped into his hand, "I'll have it back by tomorrow morning. Just need to check something." Once again his eyes switched from Ms. Lewis and the photo of the principal that hung evenly aligned with the rest of the school's awards on the nearby wall.
oooooooooo
"Shit! I've grown like 5 inches since last week. Dr. Bronen, are you sure these medications are helping?," Kyle Clearwater exclaimed after he had gotten the results for a recent medical exam he had taken. A year ago when Kyle was thirteen, he was diagnosed with a rare growth disorder with a name that to him looked like all of the letters of the alphabet crammed into one word. This new medication was supposed to greatly calm down the growth but it was obvious that it was doing just the opposite.
"Kyle, calm down. It takes a few weeks for the pills to kick in. Tell you what, if there isn't any change by the time of your," Dr. Bronen paused to look through his appointment book, "December fourteenth appointment, we'll try something else. Okay?"
Kyle growled under his breath. He was tired of the doctors telling him that things were going to get better with medications. He was fourteen years old and he was turning into a giant. Finally he let out a quick sigh that underneath it you might be able to hear him say 'Fine'. At first he didn't really mind it because at five feet, two inches he was incredibly small for a 13 year old boy. Or at least he was to his other family members and the other thirteen year old boys that went to his school.
Kyle would've gladly used the word 'classmates'-if it had truly applied to him. Kyle was smart. He had practically skipped middle school after a fluke test at the beginning of the 8th grade showed that he needed to be moved up a couple of grades. But he didn't plan to get his GED and be one of this prodigies that graduated from college before they were twenty. He was still a kid despite his mature advantages.
"Hey Ky, you want me to drive you home or do you have someone picking you up?," one of the assistants asked Kyle as he walked out of the doctor's office. Sarah Black was the eldest daughter of Jacob Black so with Kyle's father, Seth Clearwater, and Jacob being so close it was only obvious that their children would be close.
Sarah was alright. At seventeen she had a pretty good figure, Kyle guessed. She was very attractive with her long black hair and skin tanner than Kyle would ever dream of his being but he could never have anything. For him it was like making out with his sister. His older brother Randy might have been able to have flings with girls on the reservation, Forks High, and North Seattle Community College and never blink about it. Even the ones he had known for as long as he had known Jake Black's kids.
"No thanks, Sarah. I can walk home. Its not that far from here."
"Okay. Well if you ever do want me to drive you anywhere just let me know.," Sarah said flashing her signature smile. Kyle now knew why he never tried anything with her. She was too polite. Kyle loved polite girls, especially when they were attractive like Sarah but she was almost too clean for him. She said stuff like "Yes, ma'am" or "No, ma'am" while he was more casual like "Yeah" or "No".
"Thanks, Sarah. I'll be sure to let you know.," Kyle lied. He actually didn't go anywhere too much and when he did he had one of his brother's friends drive him. At first some of them were bugged by having to drive their best friend's kid brother around. In fact it was only when he had started growing rapidly that Randy's friends drove him around more.
After a few more words between himself and Sarah, he finally started to get back home. It felt fairly good outside and he didn't have too much homework to do, so Kyle thought he would take his time walking from Dr. Bronen's office to his home on the other end of the reservation.
His heart was racing as he ran. That was another thing that came with this condition he had. Kyle's heart rate could go from normal to sky high in a second. The funny thing was, he would be calm the whole time. While some people would be having a severe heart attack and on the brink of death, he could just be out jogging like he was now.
The teen could see his house now. It wasn't too shabby. Enough for four people to live in and have a couple of hobbies. His mother, Diane Clearwater, was waiting on the front porch for him. She was one of those women that if you looked at how they looked now and how they looked in high school-with the exception of maybe a few small wrinkles-you would've thought that they had had countless plastic surgeries over the years. But Diane wasn't like that. She didn't believe in lying to people by having stuff done to improve her looks. She just had good genes.
"Hey Ky, how was the first day of school?," she said patting her son on the back as the two entered the house.
oooooooooo
"So Sarah, did you manage to find anything different out about Kyle?," Shaun Black asked his sister as he lounged on an old chair in the living room of his small apartment. Shaun looked very much like his father except his face didn't have the tightness to it that his father's face had at Shaun's age.
"Yeah. He's already grown a few inches since last week and he's also gained about five pounds since last week. Which may or not be related to his transformation but I figured that you and the other pack members might want to know about it.," Sarah said taking full advantage of being the girlfriend of the head doctor's son by telling confidential information with someone who wasn't employed at Dr. Bronen's office.
"I see. Well I guess I'll have to tell Viper to get his tattoo needle ready.," Shaun paused to laugh, "I'm sure he'll be happy. That needle is like a second girlfriend to him." Viper was fond of his tattoo needle. In fact he was the one who came up with the Quidel clan marking, a wolf with flames around it. The detail of the tattoo was amazing considering Viper was only twelve when he did it into his and Bryan Uley's arms. And like so much else about Viper, nobody knows how he got such a skill.
"Well see you later, bro. Mom and Dad are probably worried sick about me. And you know how Dad gets when he's really pissed off. Youch!" Shaun laughed at the way Sarah did her eyes to emphasize the 'Youch!' but he couldn't blame her. Before Shaun could say anything else, she was gone.
oooooooooo
The Oracle Clan wasn't your average clan. Or at least not average in the terms that the Olympian Clan had been average. All the vampires in the Oracle Clan lead their own lives, had different last names, and everything. Nothing like a family. The only thing that might have made them a family was that they all lived under one roof and respected each other.
John Caldwell knocked politely on the door although he knew Julia Curtis, his 'mother', would let him in. That was a pet peeve of his. Or more like a trait carried on from the OCD he suffered as a human.
"Oh hi John, school's out already?," the woman said with a slight laugh in her voice, "That's the one bad thing about being a vampire. It gets harder and harder to tell how much time has passed." Standing at the door frame Julia Curtis looked like a combination of a stereotypical 50s housewife and the kind of woman that you saw modeling for exercise equipment. In other words, she seemed sweet but gave off this vibe that made you almost tremble at the sight of her.
John quickly surveyed the living room perform permanently settling on a well-worn, crazy colored couch that William Curtis brought to the house when he first moved to the house in the early 80s. Julia had a hyperactive tendency to move the furniture several times during the day to rid the house of spirits. The other members of the clan found this idea stupid but John was both annoyed and moved by it.
"So Julia, when should the others be home?," John asked now grabbing a random magazine from a pile on the coffee table. John gave a slight laugh after realizing that he talked to Julia as if she were his wife instead of his mother. Given the fact that technically-had they both still been human-she would only be fifteen years his senior. So in a way they were in fact more like husband and wife than mother and son. Unless if you believed in incest of course.
"Well Bill is giving a lecture at Washington State about the dangers of drugs so it should be a few hours before he gets home. Aaron is out hunting with a few friends. There's no telling when and if he'll be home in time for dinner tonight. Evan had to go over for an emergency hockey practice. Turns out the coach will be out of town for a few days and Evan and the team have this superstition that they can only win if Coach Lamb is coaching them," she paused to catch her breath, "And Jessie and Maggie are off doing.....something. I have absolutely not clue what they're doing. So how was the first day of school? Does Evan need to beat any punks up for you?"
"No. Thank God. There was this Asian kid in first period that I could've given a good smacking too but nothing major.," John paused suddenly remembering the file in his bag, "Oh yeah and I managed to get a student's file out of a over-flirtatious secretary. So if you don't mind, will you bring my dinner to my room so I can focus on memorizing this file before tomorrow morning?" Julia gave a quick nod and started fixing dinner, something that was very unusual given the vampire stereotype.
While they didn't eat a lot, John and his other coven members ate like regular humans did. In fact unlike the previous vampires that had lived in Forks, the Caldwells (as they were known at the moment) were just cold, ageless humans who had a stronger appetite for blood and meat than the average person.
John skimmed over the file. It wasn't much considering most of it you had to have a school official sign off for you to see it but it filled him up pretty good. Kyle James Clearwater had been born on March 31, 2040 to Seth and Diane Clearwater. He had an older brother that was simply listed as Randall C. Clearwater.
The teen had skipped a couple of grades and had developed a growth disorder at age thirteen shortly after reaching puberty.
"Growth disorder, my ass.," John grumbled fixing the file back into its original form before sliding it into the manila envelope he had received it in.
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