Episode 1: Welcome to Wheldrake College: Part 2

Sometimes dreams do come true...

Gwen Nicole Duval watched the red of her alarm clock turn to a sweet time for her to wake up, reaching out before the sound assaulted her ears and clicked off the alarm. She didn't get much sleep from the night before. Today was the first day of classes at Wheldrake College, the best college for med students in the state of North Carolina, among many other things, and the best thing about all of it was the fact that she was doing it all alone. She hadn't and wouldn't dare ask her family for any help. They couldn't understand her dream of becoming a doctor, not when the Duvals happened to be one of the most powerful families in the world.

But she didn't want to live in the shadow of her twin sister, McKenna, or her family any longer. She wanted to be free from the duty her bloodline had imposed on her, and they trained her and McKenna to stay in the family business from birth.

Gwen wanted to save people's lives, but most of all, without the help of her family.

She lay there in the silence of the morning until her roommate unmuted the TV he had been watching all night. She might have lived in a one-bedroom apartment in the bad part of town, but it was hers, and she didn't mind the noisy neighbors above her or the drug dealer across the way. His name was Devon, and he had been a nice man. He helped Gwen move a few of the heavy things into her apartment and told her, "I'll keep an eye out for you."

"Ah, thank you," Gwen smiled at him. What a nice man, the face tattoos are a bit much, but still very nice.

"You know he is a drug dealer, right?" Rupert asked after Devon left the apartment.

"He is?"

"Yup."

"Well, still, he is a nice guy."

"Sure, if that is what you want to believe."

She brushed her teeth after her cup of coffee, changed outfits at least six times before giving up, and wore a golden and blue corset, which made her look too much like a pirate, but she couldn't think of anything else to wear.

"Rupert," she asked, standing in the short hallway between her bedroom and the bathroom, "do I look stupid?"

"Not at all," he said, looking her up and down. The corset had two tails coming out of the back of it, and the undershirt she wore matched it perfectly. The black boots almost up to her knees might have been a little overboard, and outside of wearing a sword on her hip, she looked fine. She didn't have a sword to wear and wasn't sure the college would allow it. She did look like she was about to go fight against the English Navy, but no one at school would forget her.

"I feel stupid," she mumbles. "I'm going to change."

"You don't have time," Rupert said from the couch. You are going to be late." The one thing she hated more than looking stupid was being late. Everyone would be staring at her anyway, but more so if she came into the classroom late. She sighed, not having the time to change.

"They found two bodies near the campus," Rupert said.

"Okay?" Gwen asked, trying to gather everything into her book bag. "Why does it matter?"

"Because they were both almost empty of their blood," he said.

"Oh, then I don't care," Gwen said, tossing her book bag on her shoulder, staring at the door for a second. She almost couldn't believe she was going to school like every other normal person in the world. She was going to be like everyone else, even if her outfit was a little extravagant for the first day of classes. She smiled big at the idea of it all until Rupert said -

"Could be vampires."

"Could be, but not my problem," she said, heading for the door.

Rupert shrugged, "There is also a note from your dad on the counter. It came last night while you were asleep."

"Great," Gwen said, stopping to look at the pile of mail on the counter. Rupert had gotten the mail for her last night after she had gone to bed, making sure the letter was on top of it all. She ran her finger along the old tea-stained paper with the family sigil in the red wax. It wasn't out of the norm for her father to send a handwritten letter in this manner. To him, it meant more than all the wealth they had gathered over their lifetimes to take the time to write the letter.

The Duvals had to race around the world gathering all the knowledge they could about vampires, werewolves, Lovecrafts, and witches among many other things. Knowledge was power in their line of work and for her father to take some time to sit down to pen a note to her, meant all the world to him.

Not to her.

She didn't want a letter written with handmade paper, ink, and wax. She wanted to be normal like everyone around her, and they didn't receive letters in the mail from one of the richest families in the world. They got bills on cheap paper.

She picked up the old paper and unfolded to read in perfect black ink and handwriting, you can still come home and put this foolishness behind you. Her amber eyes flashed with rage at the words. She took a deep breath letting the anger fade a little.

"I can't believe him," Gwen hissed, balling up the letter and tossing it at the trash can.

"He still wants you to come home?"

"I'm not going back home," Gwen said, opening the door, "ever again."

"Have a good day at school," Rupert shouted from the couch, turning the channel on the TV.

"You too," Gwen said, shutting the door and locking it. She turned around to see Devon smiling at her from the other side of the building. She waved at him. "Good morning."

"You too, girl," he said, watching her climb into an old Ford. She was still steaming from the letter, but was trying her best to calm down. The car, a dark sage, started up only after begging to be put down. The car's hum was on its last leg with Gwen pulling out of her parking space. Her father would die of a heart attack if he had to ride in such a meek car, and the idea made Gwen smile a little. She had gotten the hand-me-down all by herself, just like she was going to school on her own.