The school's layout was simple enough; Izzy found an exit quickly and easily. The glass doors at the front of the school had been chained shut, presumable to prevent squatters such as herself, but the lock seemed to have been broken by... something. Regardless, she could see the daylight of the late afternoon, and the gentle bustle of unkempt grass just outside the door. She pushed her way past the rusty door with a little effort, and out into the sunlight.

Whereupon Izzy promptly burst into flames. Fire engulfed her, and a debilitating agony unlike anything she had ever known consumed her. Izzy dropped to her knees, looking at her hands as she watched her skin melt away, revealing the muscle and bone underneath. Her mind was filled completely by the pain of immolation, but for some reason, a single thought rose up sharply and clearly over it. [i]Of course, sunlight is the natural enemy of vampires.[/i] Where did it come from? Why was she thinking this? It felt alien to her, as though it was not a thought of her own mind.

She was moving, she suddenly realized. She was receding back into the school, being dragged by the collar of her shirt back indoors. She craned her head around to look, and saw the young boy dragging her with all of his effort. He, too, was engulfed in flames, but he seemed too preoccupied with moving Izzy to notice. He was not any stronger than a boy his age should have been, so it took some time, but they eventually returned to the blessed shade of the school building.

The moment they were indoors, the flames vanished, as if by magic. Izzy looked at her hands. Skin, nails, even hair, all still there, without so much as a blister to show for it. Not even her clothes were damaged, beyond the bloodstains that had appeared on them three nights ago. The boy, just like her, seemed none the worse for wear despite being set on fire, and just as well his uniform was undamaged as well. The boy was giving Izzy a distinctly annoyed look, as though he was about to scold a misbehaving child. The way he looked at her, with his big golden eyes, seemed familiar for some reason.

"Stupid girl," ah, there was the scolding, "I take my eyes off you for one second, and you go running into daylight. Do you have a deathwish? Honestly, if you were any less than my kin you would have evaporated in a second."