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Oh this was going to be great day. Not.

It was Tuesday and I had to go to school.

Not that I wanted to do that at all.

“You need to acclimate yourself to the new you and school is one of the best places to learn about things like that.” Aunt Cecily told me with that hard expression that instantly told me no amount of pleading or tantrums would change her mind.

After seeing her with that Carstairs woman, there was no way I was even going to try and argue with her when she had THAT expression.

Nope, no way, and all that. Survival you know. Not that she would have killed or really hurt me, but I did get the impression that a few spankings were in my future, or at least some really tough lectures.

It kind of shamed me that I didn't want to face either one of those things, but come on here. I was newly a girl, and I'd seen how she could really be first hand.

Nope, no way was I going to cross her just then.

“But...” I still had to try.

“No buts young lady.” My aunt told me simply. “School is important and you've already missed three days. You can't afford more than that if you want to keep your GPA up.”

Oh yeah, Cindy was just as smart as Craig had been, thanks to some skillful manipulations of records by people I didn't know that gave the new me pretty much the same GPA the old me had carried. And I was in many of the same classes Craig had attended.

There was one glaring difference in those schedules. As I went over it, I gasped and looked up in outrage. “HOME EC?”

“It won't define you, dear.” My aunt soothed. “Just help you get some skills that might be useful later on.”

“Cooking and sewing.” I grumbled.

“That and budgeting for a household, and staying within the family means to keep it going.” Cecily calmly told me. “Boys should be made to take that class.”

“But I'm not a boy anymore?” I tried one more tack.

“All the more reason for you to know these things, dear.”

Oh yeah. I was just doomed. Her last comment had kind of hinted that one day I would have a — gulp — husband and family. I just didn't want to go there at all so I took the easy way out and just nodded without saying a word.

No WAY was I going to let some guy do that kind of thing to me. Nope, now way, huh uh, and get out the ten foot poles so I could push things like that away. Without really touching them.

The first day of classes was just... the first day of classes.

Oh, I had to go to the office to officially get my class schedule, my locker and the combination to get into it, but after that it was almost shocking with how 'normal' it was.

Okay not with all the guys eyeing me and thinking bad thoughts, but none of them really approached me that first day. Sizing me up, I guess. On the girl meter, I thought my cousin Mary Jane rated a ten, and just then I was coming in a really good eight or nine. Sheesh.

I sooo wasn't ready for this.

“Hey!” Dana Stiles, one of the hottest girls in school approached me. “Come sit with me and my friends.”

Wow, I'd had the hots for her like forever, but now all I got from her was a kind of welcome and wanting to figure out where I was going to end up in the 'cute, sexy girl' hierarchy in school. And worse, beautiful as she was, she did nothing at all for me other than seeming to be friendly. Sigh.

No lesbian Coyotes. Remember?

Dana, hot and gorgeous as she was, just came across to me as a really beautiful girl who kind of made me jealous. Sheesh.

What next? Was I going to find myself throwing myself in front of guys?

Damn, these female coyote instincts are hard to handle.

“Sure.” I answered quietly, and a little insecurely. “Thank you.”

“Late bloomer?” She asked as we headed towards the table where all her friends — every one some guy in school's wet dream -- waited.

“Oh yeah.” I said.

“Happened to me, too.” She confided. “Up until I was sixteen, I was flat as board. You'll get used to it.”

“I don't know about that.” I answered.

“Oh you will.” She chuckled and that sound would have driven most guys nuts. To me it just sounded like humor. “It's kind of cool having all the guys that used to ignore you trying to get your attention now.”

“I noticed?” I answered then added. “The guys paying attention to me now thing, I mean.”

“We can use that to our advantage.” She winked at me and grinned. “Guys will get us anything we want with just a hint or a look.”

“Why?”

“Because we're beautiful and sexy girls.” She smirked. “It's kind of our right to use that, you know.”

“I don't know how?”

“That's why I invited you to sit at our table.” She shrugged. “All of us there are really good at manipulating guys and the way you look, you need to learn that.”

Wow. I was being accepted as one of the school's 'hot' girls and given the chance to learn how to use that. “Why are you doing this? Won't I be competition?

“Nope.” Dana grinned. “Trust me, there are plenty of boys out there just waiting to do whatever we want them to do.

“Besides,” she told me, “it's pretty obvious that you just 'blossomed' and that you aren't all that comfortable with it. If someone doesn't help you that could mean a lot of trouble for you pretty soon.”

And she meant it. Wow. Dana Stiles, about the hottest girl in school wanted to help me. And no, it wasn't some prank. I could tell she really meant that.

“Umm, thanks?”

“Come on.” She took my shoulder and led me to the table. “Time to meet your peers, Cindy.”

Wow, she knew my name already.

And she'd never given me as Craig a second look.

Talk about being confused.

Oddly, the perceptions I'd once had about the 'cool, pretty girls' were pretty well thrown on the rocks and stomped on when I met Dana's friends.

They weren't stuck up, or snobbish, just worried about what some guy might think they were willing to do if he got up the nerve to ask them out.

Being a really pretty girl isn't easy. People have preconceptions for them just like they do for nerds and jocks.

And truthfully, a lot of the really beautiful ones won't go out with guys most of time because of that.

Wow. Another revelation and now I was into Girl 201.

And I finally understood what confounded so many guys. Girls just wanted to be liked, and wanted for who they are, not what they look like.

It was so simple, but so outside anything else I'd ever thought of.

Okay, maybe I was up to Girl 301 there.

So maybe I wasn't all that happy about being a girl yet. But I was learning a lot. And could sympathize with the — yes — other girls.

Especially when the guys all stared at me.

I felt like a piece of meat in a butcher shop on display. For a bunch of really hungry dogs.

That was NOT fun.

But I have to admit, the attention was kind of nice.

Ohhh, lord, I'm such a girl already.

I found myself actually liking it when the guys gave me that kind of look, and actually kind of strutted for them. This is so embarrassing.

“So how was the first day of school?” Carly asked as I finally got away from that place, even if it was only to the parking lot.

“Interesting.” I answered, not quite sure of how to tell her about everything that had occurred to me that day.

“How so?” She was pressing and I could see from little tells in her face and posture that she was.

“Well...” I started, then hesitated before going on. “I made some new friends.”

“I saw that.” She was relentless and wasn't going to let her first question go, I could tell from her expression. “How do you feel about that? Being included in the group of pretty, sexy girls at school?”

“I don't know?” I answered then added. “But it's nice to have friends and to know that most of them are as uncomfortable as I am about guys staring at them all the time.”

“Good.” My sister nodded with a smile. “So being a pretty girl isn't all that easy is it?”

“No.”

“So what are your thoughts on that right now?”

“Umm, that perceptions color what other people think you should do, and most guys are kind of slimy at times?

“With the way they look at you, and kind of undress you in their heads.” I went on. “And if you look like I do, things could be easier one way, but a lot harder other ways?”

“Boys are boys, little sister.” Carly chuckled and hugged me. “Most of them are really decent people, they just don't know how to act towards a really pretty girl yet. They learn. You just have to be patient with them for awhile.”

“But I know what they're thinking!” I shot back. “From experience.”

“Yes you do, Cindy.” She quietly answered. “So you know they aren't some sexually crazed monsters, just people learning how to deal with things.”

“Well yeah.” I responded slowly. “But it is kind of creepy being on the receiving end of their looks.”

“Sure it is.” She laughed. “Just part of being a pretty girl, little sister. Pretty soon you'll be able to look past that creepy part and really look at the guy.”

“Oh, I can't wait.”

“You'll be surprised, and really like it once you do.” She assured me.

Yeah, right. Like I was ever, ever going to like guys that way.

But much as I hated to admit it, even to myself, some of the guys in school had been — kind of — cute.

Okay, time to curl up into a ball here and deny everything.

But the truth wouldn't just go away. Some of the guys I saw that first day back in school looked a whole lot different to me than when I was just one of the guys.

Worse, they looked good. In an attractive sort of way.

I could scream, but it wouldn't do any good.

Remember the thing about no lesbian coyotes?

I just want to die.

But I wasn't given too much time to worry about that. Oh no, that would have been way to easy.

Dana and her friends plucked me from my sister but she still hung around in the background and I found myself going into town again. This time with a bunch of girls who weren't relatives who knew what had happened to me. And Carly just grinned, waved and told me. “Have a good time.”

There have been times I really wanted to kill my big sister, you know?

On the other hand, it was fun. Actually fun.

“Hey!” Heather, a really well built brunette with a really cute face almost shouted across the store. “This would look GREAT on you, Cindy!”

“What is it?” I asked while moving to see what she was holding.

It was the same little red dress I already had and had no intentions of ever, ever wearing.

“Got it already, but thanks.” I told her.

“So try it on for us so we can see!” Rachel, blonde with big green eyes and a body to kill for if you were a girl put in. “Give us a preview!”

So, I ended up wearing the same kind of dress that had embarrassed me much yesterday.

But it was different this time. The girls were critiquing it, and how it looked on me.

“Ohh, I'm so jealous.” Stephanie, a cheerleader no less, told me as I finally came out of the changing booth. “That one was made just for you!”

They weren't teasing or trying to force me into anything at all. Just genuinely admiring it while it was on me.

So of course, I ended up trying on even more clothes that afternoon.

And it was kind of fun.

Okay, it was a lot of fun.

“You have a killer body, Cindy.” Dana informed me with a grin. “With your face and hair adding to that you're going to break a lot of hearts.”

“I don't want to break anyone's heart.” I countered.

“It happens, hon.” She simply told me. “You could just kind of ignore an interested guy without realizing it, or say no when someone asks you out. Just part of the deal.”

“That would break a guy's heart?”

“Boys are really fragile that way.” She told me. “They may be big and strong body-wise, but they're still pretty innocent mentally and emotionally. Girls like us are a learning experience for them and the really nice ones get to be with us if we want.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, it isn't something to play with, honey.” She honestly told me. “But is kind of cool.”

“But be careful with it?” I asked.

“Always.” She nodded. “Only total bitches destroy a boy's self-confidence.”

Having been on the receiving end of what she was talking about, I nodded with yet another new understanding. “I wouldn't want to do that.”

“That's because you're a good person, Cindy.” She answered.

Given what had been happening to me, I really hoped that was so.

Once were back out on the street I saw him again. That nasty guy Carmilla had warned me about. And yes, I now knew who and what Carmilla is. Which would explain her odd scent. Kind of like something dead but not.

Plus, she was a real mover and shaker in town. And she was for some reason, interested in me.

I'd asked Aunt Cecily about her last night. Her answer?

“That woman is trouble, dear. Stay away from her or anyone else who smells like her.”

But I hadn't approached her, she had found and spoken to me. And hadn't seemed like she was anything like my aunt was saying.

Anyway, back to the creepy guy.

He had friends with him, all of them giving off the same feeling. Carly spotted them, too, and quickly rushed up and pulled me into the local sears store. “That was close.”

“You know about those guys?”

“Yes.” Her reply was short, and vehement. “You don't want them noticing you.”

“What?”

“Look honey.” Carly looked me in the eyes. “Those people would kill you without a second thought just because you are what you are.”

“How would you know?”

“Because I'm a were, too.” She told me then grinned. “Which you already know. Plus I've been warned about people like that. Order of the Divine Heart they call themselves and they are dedicated to killing people like you and me.”

“Why?”

“Because in their eyes we're monsters.” She grimly told me. “And they are specially trained, and armed, to be able to handle fighting people like us, and kill us.”

“Crap.” I whispered, recalling my dream and the feelings I'd had when I caught a glimpse of that very normal, and innocent appearing family the first guy I'd spotted had been watching.

“Yeah, they're bad news, but the elders here in town can handle them.” Carly assured me. “They've been here before and gotten their butts kicked every time.”

“Then why do they come back?”

“They're fanatics.” She told me. “Someone points them, they go, like firing a gun at something.”

“Oh.” I nodded then had a sudden, unpleasant thought. Creepy guy number one had been looking right at me a minute ago, and had gotten his friends to look, too.

So now, I thought, I was a target, too.

I just let Carly think my shivers were from finding out what she'd told me just then.

And decided that I'd be damned if I was just going to be a target.

If those shitheads wanted me, they were going to pay for it.

Just how to go about that was something I hadn't quite figured out as of yet. But I fully intended to give them a real run for their money if they came after me. And there was that innocent child I had such an obsession with defending who was also one of their targets.

Okay, I really needed to take some time and think about things, maybe talk to some people.

This learning curve was a whole lot steeper than just dealing with boys. And a lot deadlier.

Not that I felt at all that good about my decision there.

In fact, I was more afraid than I'd ever been in my life.

Oddly, I was also more determined.

The Guardian wasn't a hard place to find.

I'd seen it countless times, been past it, and until recently never even knew it was a bar. Most of the bars in town were rowdy places the college kids went to.

Not the Guardian. It was a nice, quiet place to go have a few drinks, talk, and just relax. Though I was too young to even get in the door. But the place has a back door, and I knocked on that instead of trying to get inside from the street entrance.

A young woman answered the door, probably one of the barmaids and looked me up and down for a moment. “You're too young, even for the back door, honey. Come back next year.”

“I'm looking for Terry.” I told her before she could close the door in my face.

That stopped her at least but the amused look on her face told me what she was thinking. “Take your little girl crush to the malt shop, or pizza parlor, honey. He's way too old for you and someone else has a claim on him already.”

“Carmilla told me to ask for him.” I got in before she could close the door that time and her eyes widened just a little and her nostrils flared.

“Carmilla.” She carefully answered. “Short brunette with bright blue eyes?”

She's not short, she's a fiery redhead, and her eyes are green.” I answered. “And she smells a lot like you do, by the way.”

The girl, though I now knew she was much more than that looked at me for a few seconds then nodded. “Wait here, I'll go get him.”

Was every vampire that preternaturally beautiful? I wondered as the door closed behind her. I had only been a girl for a few days, but knew all too well what I looked like. Carmilla and the unnamed girl at the door left my girl sense feeling horribly inadequate.

I was mulling that over when the door opened again and a deep masculine voice full of humor interrupted my thoughts. “All of them tend to be like that.”

“What?” I looked up, then up some more. The guy was really tall, and with enough bulk — muscle, not fat — that he didn't really look it until you were up close.

“Vampires.” He shrugged. “Every one of them is a guy's wet dream come to life, so to speak. I'm Terry, by the way. Now what do you need me for?”

Part of me had very impure and embarrassing thoughts about that one, but I shoved those back into the not so dark corner of my mind they'd come from. Terry was a real hunk. Like romance novel picture caliber. Again I shrugged that off and looked up at him. “Carmilla told me to come find you if I needed her and that you'd get me to her.”

“Cindy.” He nodded without a question in that. “She told me about you and that you would probably be by soon. Come on, I'll take you to her.”

“She knew I'd come here?” I asked as I followed him to a big four wheel drive pickup.

“Yes.” He sighed. “And she knew that you'd be in trouble when you did. Have you talked with your family about this at all?”

“Not yet.” I admitted. “They probably wouldn't tell me anything anyway, they would probably tell me to just to hide right now. Or hide me themselves.”

“Good advice.” He nodded, but didn't berate me as he opened the passenger side door and helped me step into the cab. “With Hunters around it's always a good idea to stay out of sight.”

“They've already spotted me.” I answered quietly.

“Shit.” He grimaced as he got into the cab. “You really need to tell your family about this, honey.”

“I need some answers now.” I said without sounding doubtful at all. “I'd spend days working them out of my family unless I have some background to hit them with.”

“Whatever you say.” He shrugged. “Carmilla just asked me to get you to her when you showed up.”

“Works for me.” I fastened the shoulder harness, still having a few problems with the new protuberances on my chest. He noticed, and gave me a kind of sad look, but didn't say anything as I got the harness arranged comfortably.

“You're in too deep, girl.” He did tell me as we were driving across town. “You're a newbie and trust me, even old hands hesitate about going up against the Hunters. Get some sense here and let the Elders handle this.”

I wanted to, I really did. But something just wouldn't let me just stand aside. “I can't.”

“She told me you'd say that, too.” He sighed.

“Can she see the future?” I questioned in something like shock.

“No.” He chuckled and it was a really nice rumble from deep in his throat. “She just reads people really well.

“She knew something would happen and you just wouldn't be able to let it go or hide is all.”

“I only met her once, for a minute or so.” I protested.

“Oh, trust me,” He grinned. “That's all she needed.”

“But she's on my side, right?”

“Hon, she wouldn't have talked to you if she wasn't.” He assured me.

I sniffed at the air in the cab and then looked at him very carefully. “You aren't human.”

“Neither are you.” He laughed. “Both of us can smell, little girl. So you're the new coyote that has been causing such a stir with the Harpers.”

“And you're a wolf.” I whispered, suddenly more than a little afraid of him.

“One who won't hurt you.” He agreed while telling me that. “None of us would hurt you, honey. We are kindred of a kind, after all.”

“But wolves and coyotes...”

“Don't usually get along, I know.” He smoothly responded, then got quietly thoughtful for a minute or so. “But your kind, my kind, we're human, too. Your family and my family aren't competing for food here, Cindy. Or anything else. We all have what we want already, so there's no sense in pulling that 'I'm better than you game' and believe me, there are lots of things coyotes are better at than wolves.”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah.” He gave another of those really gut churning chuckles and grinned. “Why do you think regular coyotes are considered varmints in most places? They're smart, adaptable, fast, and not much phases them.”

“Oh.”

“Something to remember there, girl.” He tapped my nose gently. “You have a lot going for you, and with your martial arts training you already have a head start. Just don't get cocky and you might live through all this.”

I didn't have a comeback for that one. Who would when actually hearing that their life was in danger?

“Here we are.” Terry announced as we pulled up to a large house with Greek lettering on the front, though it was quite a ways off from other frats and sororities. “Just tell whoever answers the door that Carmilla is expecting you. I'll be waiting to take you home once you're finished here.”

Lord, I wasn't quite ready to admit to myself that guys were — well sexy and interesting. But Terry had just pushed me into a ten mile forward broad jump where that was concerned. I was both a little hot in the panties and worried as I left his pickup and headed up the walk to the front door of the house.

That man could arouse a dead woman.

Something he did rather regularly, evidently. Carmilla's scent was all over him.

The girl who answered the door was just as beautiful, and impersonal as the one who had met me at the Guardian's back door. She looked at me for a moment, then nodded. “Follow me.”

What was I going to do? Stare at the door once it closed on my face? I followed her.

The entry area looked really old fashioned, with very few concessions to modern things. Other than the electric lights disguised as old style gas lamps. And it was huge. With a gleaming tiled floor that I just knew was marble and not some cheap tile you'd get from Home Depot or a place like that.

The place was — opulent — without being over the top. A lot of money had been invested in just the décor in the entry hall. I knew expensive, and quality when I saw it, and I was seeing it there. Unpretentious but showing those who knew that there was a lot of money behind it.

But not the 'rubbing your nose in it kind of thing, just elegantly understated and right there in your face if you were paying attention. Just something that was everyday around the place and no big deal.

Wow.

Now I knew for sure I was in way over my head.

Instead of being led up one of the two massive staircases I could see, I was taken to a side hall and led downstairs.

Way downstairs.

The area I was taken to looked as if it had been built in revolutionary times with all the stonework and torches on the wall. Though the torches did have electric lights instead of fire.

I was brought to a heavy door and my escort knocked on it and respectfully waited for a response. I did wonder who could have heard that at all through the heavy wood when the door opened and that flame haired goddess I'd met in the park was standing there.

“Hello Cindy, and welcome to the Delta Beta Zeta house. You are safe here and always will be, I promise you.”

And for some reason I just knew that was true. No matter what the residents of this house were, I would be safe anytime I came here. Just because Carmilla had said it. She was very interesting, and I got the impression that she was LOT older than she looked.

“Come on in.” She invited me and I followed her into what turned out to be a pretty normal looking office.

There was a desk, a computer on it, file cabinets lining the walls and racks for computer disks against one wall.

But that wasn't what caught my attention.

There were other people in the office.

One, blonde and just as impossibly beautiful as Carmilla nodded to me, while the other, a brunette with kind of weird hair just smirked.

Carmilla took me to a chair and gently sat me down in it then gestured to the others in the room.

Waving towards the blonde, she introduced me. “This is Josephine, or Josie these days, my oldest daughter.

“This,” she grinned while waving at the kind of punk looking brunette, “Is Dani.”

“Both will help you through this and neither one is someone to be taken lightly, Cindy.”

With my heightened senses, I could easily see that neither girl was someone I wanted to mess with, and no one sane would either. Their posture and simple confidence told me that they were very good at whatever it was they did. Though Dani did smirk and wink at me.

I nodded without saying more than hello to both of them.

“Why are you helping me?” I asked point blank.

Because, child,” Carmilla simply told me, “You are much more important than you realize, and keeping you alive would benefit me and my daughters.”

“Is that the only reason?”

“No.” She shrugged and when Carmilla shrugs like that I could just see men falling down at the sight. I was sooo jealous. “The Hunters are enemies to us all. Having them in town is most... disturbing. I want that disturbance gone.”

“Just what exactly are they?” I asked. “I've heard that they are bad news and people to avoid, and that they kill people like us, as you told me in the park. But why is that?”

“That is a very long story, child.” Carmilla sighed and gave me a little smile. “It starts long ago, before Christianity and even before there were formalized gods.”

“What?”

“There have always been people who hate us, what your family call 'The Hidden'.” She answered softly. “Some who have dedicated themselves to killing us no matter what the cost.”

“But we don't really bother anyone.” I told her. “Do we?”

“Not usually.” She told me with a thin smile. “But sometimes in the past some of us did. It is a reaction to that which causes our problems with them now. The Hunters have had many names, but the one thing they have always done is hunt our kinds and kill us whenever they find us.

“And unfortunately there are always those among our kinds who justify that by their actions.” She sighed.

“Oh.”

“Once they were called Mithraens, later Templars, then the Inquisition, and now they call themselves the Order of the Divine Heart. But in all those guises, they have been the bitter, and deadly enemies of all our kinds.”

“Why?”

“Fanatics need no real reason, just a target.” She answered with a shrug. “And every member of the Order is a fanatic. They don't care about anything but killing our kinds, and collateral damage is something they consider a necessary evil to 'eradicate' us from the world.”

“That's just insane.” I told her, though there was a sick feeling in my gut that what she had just told me wasn't only right, but that some of those fanatics had found me.

“That may be.” She nodded then gave me a long, penetrating look with those too lovely emerald eyes. “But whatever, you have drawn their attention now. You need to be very careful until they are run out of town again, dear. Insane or not, they mean to kill you. And that is something I just can't allow.”

“Why? What do I mean to you?”

“A bridge, dear child.” She said quite simply. “Preserving you will gain me and my daughters good will that we lack in some quarters. “Keeping you alive is very important to me.”

“So I'm just some kind of pawn in a bigger game?”

“Ah, nothing of the sort, dear.” Carmilla laughed and gave me a fond look. “You, my dear, are something much more than a pawn in this particular game. What that is, however, is not for me to tell you. You will discover that in your own time, but you are no pawn.”

“Okay.” I nodded and tried to appear as if hearing that was nothing new but don't think I did it all that well given the snickers Dani let out. “So what do I do now?”

“Stay alive.” Carmilla told me with a thin smile.

“But I have something to do.” I countered. “That would have me fighting these Hunters.”

“Then learn, girl.” Carmilla flatly told me. “Your martial arts training will help, but you need to know more to defeat these enemies. Learn about stealth, and a little burglary wouldn't hurt either. Don't limit yourself. Learn anything that you can, and do it quickly.”

I just stared at her in shock.

“You are a Coyote.” She grinned. “Such things are in your nature already. Learn them if you wish to accomplish the task set for you and survive the doing.”

“But... I'm just a teenaged — girl.”

At your age, a female has been considered a woman for several years already in most cultures in the past and still is in many in this day and age.” She told me.

“It is time to put your childhood behind you, girl.” Carmilla's eyes bored into mine. “Or you will die.”

I had no answer to that one at all. Other than I wasn't quite ready to die, and would give anyone trying to make that so the best fight I could.

“Good.” Carmilla smiled at me. “You do understand.”

Yes I did, but that was no comfort at all.