“Head’s up!” Alvin called.Jenny hit the beach ball over the tennis net toward Alvin, who punched it back toward her. The sun was beating down on the group as enjoyed one of the last days of summer break before both UC Sunnydale and Sunnydale High classes started back up. Tiffany was building a sandcastle near where Mark was sitting drinking a Pina Colada from a coconut. Lilith had positioned her chair beneath a palm tree a short distance away, and had her face buried in a history textbook. She really wasn’t messing around when it came to preparing for classes.Lilith had been unavailable a lot over the past four months. The summer days Jenny, Mark, Tiffany and Alvin spent on the beach or shopping in LA were often without Lilith. She claimed she was just busy, but she’d signed up for the same number of classes as Jenny – a regular full-time schedule made up of pre-requisites – so Jenny had her doubts about this excuse.Jenny and Lilith had been attached at the hip ever since Lilith ar
“These are the things we want,” Professor Malaquias said, pacing across the front of the lecture hall. “Simple things. Comfort, sеx, shelter, food. We always want them, and we want them all the time. The id doesn't learn it doesn't grow up. It has the ego telling it what it can't have, and it has the superego telling it what it should want. But the id works solely out of the pleasure principle. It wants. Whatever social skills you've learned, however much we've evolved, the pleasure principle is at work in all of us. So, how does this conflict with the ego manifest itself in the psyche? What do we do when we can't have what we want?”Sitting in front of Jenny, Lilith was taking vigilant notes. She was sitting with Ray, who had, for the past week, abandoned his original seat with Kyoya and Hahn. Jenny noticed Ray lean over and write something in Lilith’s notebook that caused her to smile and elbow him.Jenny tried to peek, but Lilith glanced backward and turned the page, smirking. “Ooh
‘Mom! Help!’Ally rushed into the room, ready for a fight. She froze, looking around the dark room for a threat. The shadows dancing across the walls were from cars outside, but there was no sign of a monster. The pink bed with Disney ‘Sleeping Beauty’ bedsheets had a child-shaped lump under the covers, shivering.Ally yanked the covers off. She was tense, certain that a monster must be lurking around the corner. ‘What happened?’ Ally asked.‘I had a nightmare,’ Esther said. Ally’s thirteen-year-old sister stared at her with wide, tearful golden eyes. Her dark brown hair was messy – sticking up in all directions from being in bed. ‘I want Mom.’Ally breathed a sigh of relief, climbing onto the bed. She had only been the slayer for a month, but the pressure was nonstop. She loved it – but it could be frightening. Not so much because Ally was worried about herself. She loved the thrill of the fight. The danger of death only made it more exciting.No – what Ally worried about was that th
“You hate my friends,” Lexy said.James rolled his eyes. “Oh, that’s rich. Here we go. We have the same friends. I just said that I don’t trust Melanie. Not even that I don’t like her.”“Well, she’s meeting us outside the cemetery, so get over it.”“Great. Not really how I would’ve pictured having a third person enter this relationship. Your soulless bestie spends every waking second with us.”“You miss when I was sad and alone and only had you.”James scoffed. “That’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever said. And lately, that’s becoming a list with a lot of contenders.”“Oh – I knew it,” Alexandra said. “You think I’m stupid. You look down on me for not finishing high school.”“I didn’t finish high school either! I grew up in Madhya Pradesh in the eighteen-fifties! I think you’re stupid for trusting a vamp without a soul. You do remember what it’s like to not have a soul, right, Alexandra?”Alexandra glared. She was just about done with James’s attitude toward Melanie. It wasn’t fair. Me
Previously on: 'The Chosen One'Ext. the Bronze“Hello,” the girl said. She was wearing shorts and a crop top, her black hair pulled into a tight topknot. She looked unphased by the vampire rushing her, elbowing her attacker in the face while smiling at Lilith. “You must be Lilith. I’m Allysson. Can I borrow that?” Allysson snatched the stake from Lilith’s hand, stabbing the vampire in the chest as he ran at her from behind. He exploded into ashes. Allysson tossed the stake back to Lilith. “Thanks for your help,” she said, smirking. “Couldn’t have done it without you.”Int. Frigga's Apartment"You know – and it just – I don’t fit here," Zackarias said. "But you do because of course you do. You fit everywhere and it’s so frustrating and-""Shut up. You think I fit here?" Allysson scoffed. "You think I like that half my clothes are second-hand or stolen and the other half are from last season? I make it work because that’s what people do.""Okay, you’re both upset," Frigga said desperat
Esther looked around the abandoned mansion, wide-eyed. “This is sick.” The living room was massive, Victorian-styled, with beautiful burgundy furniture and a fireplace. Everything was caked in dust.“Thank you again, for letting us stay here for the night, Melanie,” Allysson said.Melanie narrowed her eyes. “You know, there’s only one furnished guest room. You could go back with Lilith and let the twerp stay here. You don’t trust me?”Allysson glared, meeting her friend’s eyes, her chin held high with a familiar look of pride. “I’ve never claimed to trust you, Melanie.”There was a pause. Esther thought that she was about to witness a fight, but instead, Melanie’s expression turned to amusement. “I wouldn’t expect you to.”“So – you guys are vampires?” Esther asked. She looked from Melanie to Alexandra, to the new guy, James. The group had left the Bronze to come here after Allysson picked up some of her belongings at the UC Sunnydale dorms. Apparently, she was staying with Lilith and
Previously on: ‘The Chosen One’Int. the BronzeZackarias pushed Lilith’s hand off his arm. “What I want is to find my sister so I can talk to her and then to get the fuck out of this town.”“I think you should stay,” Lilith said, stepping still closer, backing Zackarias into the wall. Her expression was intense, although she was still smirking. “I bet Allysson wouldn’t mind reuniting.”Ext. the Bronze“I sort of hoped you’d be happier to see me,” Zackarias said. ‘I don’t feel bad for him, he’s a monster,’ Lilith thought, gritting her teeth – or rather, Allysson’s teeth. “I mean – I know things are weird but – I just thought – I don’t know what I thought. I’ve just really missed you, Allysson.”“Well, this is goodbye,” Lilith said in Allysson’s voice, forcing her expression to remain hard. “I’m sorry.”Int. Abandoned Factory“I’m not worthless,” Zackarias said, glaring. Was he about to cry? “I’m not! You told me that.”Allysson said nothing, glaring with as much hatred as she could mu
Previously on: ‘The Chosen One’Int. Orion’s Mansion, LAZackarias had accidentally broken a treasured art sculpture from his father’s collection. He and Allysson weren’t supposed to be in the lounge where their father held his fancy meetings and get-togethers – certainly not while Orion was out, and they were under the care of the mansion’s many servants. They were running around, playing tag. Then Zackarias bumped into the fragile glass sculpture, shattering it. After he ran away, Allysson chased him back to his room to tease him. Zackarias knew she’d blamed the whole thing on him and that was why he was punished, and she was not. It wasn’t fair.There was a knock at Zackarias’s door. He forced himself to sit up, in case it was his father. He grabbed his textbook from school and pretended to be reading, not wanting to be in more trouble for laziness. “Who is it?”The door opened. Allysson was standing there with her hands behind her back. “Zackarias?"Zackarias glared. “What do you