First Day of Class

D just glanced at the hand before looking back into the eyes of the monster whose lung he'd feasted on the night before. He was shocked that he felt no hunger and assumed that Larian's theory of him only needing to eat from a creature once had to be true. Wrinkling his nose as the wave of perfume hit him he responded without hesitation as always.

"You stink." He rasped out shocking not only the girl but those close enough to hear him.

Pena's face flushed instantly and she took back her hand. D expected her to get up and leave but she stayed there sitting beside him glaring. Shortly after her face suddenly calmed and she gave a perfectly practiced laugh. "Sorry about that I might have gone overboard with the perfume. I was down helping in the kitchen and they spilled a bunch of vinegar on me. I thought the perfume would be better than vinegar."

D sniffed again and detected the scent of vinegar under that of the perfume. "You'd be wrong."

This time the flush of anger and embarrassment lasted on a split second.

'This boy! I'm going to suck him dry the moment I get him alone. Damn that beast, thanks to it I need to feed already. Once I am back to full strength I'll find that thing and drain every last drop of blood in its body!' Pena kept the practiced cute smile on her face as she innerly plotted D's death not knowing the target of her ire was right beside her. She'd spotted him right away, he reeked of commoner. He was smaller than most of the others in the room and while others were chatting with their fellow classmates he was staring out the window. She knew a good mark when she spotted one, normally a pretty smile and a few kind words were all it took to get his type to come with her.

But so far her plan wasn't going as she expected but glancing around the room she didn't see any other good marks so resigned herself. She needed to feed soon and he was her best chance.

"Alright class everyone calm down. Get those raging teenage hormones under control at least for the moment. Let me introduce myself. My name is Larian and I'll be substituting for your homeroom teacher until they recover. They seem to have mysteriously come down with some strange sickness just at the last moment. Luckily I don't have class during this hour so I've been given the honor of covering for them." All eyes in the classroom were on Larian. Most were eying the good-looking teacher or the expensive outfit that wasn't the normal teaching attire with curiosity. All except D who was scowling at his benefactor.

D could already figure what mysterious sickness their normal teacher had come down with. A bad case of Larian's boredom and now D was likely to suffer from it as well though in a completely different way.

"Let's go around the room and introduce ourselves. Get well acquainted with one another." Larian made eye contact with the more attractive female students gracing them with a handsome smile. Many were flustered and flattered thinking they'd caught the teacher's eye, sadly they had but not the way they expected. 'Oooo look at that one. I bet she'd be perfect for D. Oh and look at that one she seems like the jealous type. I bet we can get some juicy drama out of her. Now how to get them… Well, that sneaky devil looks at the beauty he's got sitting beside him. I didn't think he had it in him.'

The moment D saw Larian's eyes settle on Pena and his face light up he knew there was trouble coming. "Ahh let's start with…...you!" he pointed to D. "Go on stand up and let everyone know who you are D."

The entire class turned to stare at D, many of those closest to him were glaring while Pena was frowning at Larian trying to figure out why he seemed familiar. D's chair scraped on the floor as he reluctantly stood up. "I'm D." He sat back down, or started to.

"No no D that isn't how you're supposed to do it remember?" Larian reminded D completely ignoring the fact the rest of the class could hear him.

Standing up again and letting out a long-drawn-out sigh. "I'm D. I'm Arch Mage Larian's apprentice. But I'm not some spoiled rich kid, I've gotten where I am based solely on hard work. I hope we can all be good friends." he droned out the prepared speech in his raspy voice before starting to sit back down. Larian cleared his throat and made hand motions for D to continue. Standing back up straight D continued. "I'm also single and looking for a lovely young lady to make my academic years ones full of happy memories." Somehow D managed to make the rest of his speech sound more bored and monotone than the first half. Larian for his part was happy D just went along, after all, he'd had a lot of trouble convincing the boy and clapped merrily like a parent watching their child's school play.

"Perfect. Oh darn D we forgot to find a casual way to mention your expertise with ward magics. Never mind we will figure some way of letting them all know. Now you the pretty dark-haired thing sitting next to D. Tell us your name and why you decided to sit next to my apprentice? Was it love at first sight?" Larian asked as his level of excitement made it seem like he'd burst in any moment.

Pena stood up obediently while blushing all the way to the tips of her ears. "My name is Pena and I'm the daughter of the ambassador from Melay. I…" She glanced down at D who had gone back to staring out the window. "I just thought he looked a bit lonely and might need a friend. After all, I am the daughter of an ambassador, making friends is what we do." Many of the other students seemed impressed by her manners just as Pena had hoped.

'Like I'm going to tell everyone I thought this loner was an easy mark for sucking the life out of. But if he can use magic maybe I should look for someone else. I can't risk getting caught not after all the work I've put in over the last year.'

Larian went around the room picking on the rest of the girls in descending order for how well he thought they would work for his various schemes for D's love life. Once he was done going through the ones he thought would be the best he skipped right over the introductions for the rest of the class. To D's shock Larian actually had a lesson plan and moved right into their main subjects while the rest of the class was still confused by the sudden shift. Their first class went mostly over the rules of the academy including the extra ones put in place due to the strange events from the last year.

Once that was done they went right into history lessons going over the recent history of Gelian and the various laws of the country. Pena wasn't the only foreign student in the class and even D who cared little for the class came to realize he was the only Gelian native in the room. Larian had mentioned that D was to be put in a special class for those not native to the area. Their lessons were tailored to those not as familiar with Gelian as others and thus would be a bit slower giving D more time to catch up. Or as Larian saw it less homework to get in his way of experiencing the important parts of school life.

Finally class was over and they were released to lunch. D wasn't really surprised when Larian asked him to stay. Once the others had left Larian shut the door and spun around practically bouncing. "So, tell me about the Pena girl. What do you think? I saw her looking at you quite a bit during class. I think you might have your first crush."

D thought for a bit before finally answering. "She tasted sweet."

Larian's head almost exploded in shock and excitement. 'That dog! I knew it was all a show not even a sour puss like D could win against puberty!'

"I can't believe you kissed already? Great job. But I think you are moving too fast. There are some other really good prospects in the class."

D shook his head. "Kissed? I meant her lung."

It took Larian a few moments to realize what D was saying. "Wait, that girl is the monster?! Interesting indeed. I didn't expect her to be so cute. This might be good, but I really think we should try for a normal relationship before we start in on a monster girl. You know that redhead that sits up front, I think she might be perfect for you."

"Shouldn't we do something about her? I could feel her hunger while she sat next to me." D rasped out sounding annoyed.

"Do something? Heavens no, I told you she is our excuse for being here. Now about the redhead…."

D zoned out knowing how Larian got.

**********

Pena sat on a bench holding her ribs annoyed at how fast she got out of breath just walking. Her lung hadn't fully regenerated yet and so far she'd not had any chances to set up any good opportunities to feed.

"Hey, are you ok?" Pena straightened up and looked up into the concerned face of the otherwise plain-looking boy. "Do you need anything? By the way, my name's Dean."

Pena put on her prettiest smile to hide the raging hunger she felt as she responded. "Thank you I could really use the help of a kind handsome man like yourself. Do you mind helping me to my room?"

Dean blushed at Pena's intense gaze mistaking the source of the hungry look in her eyes.