Inferno listened to what the human was saying silently, still trying to figure everything about their situation out. He was rambling, and a gleam of amusement glinted in her eyes as she humored the fleeting thought of him being slightly uneasy around her, as she did have very, er, odd eyes.

When he told her that he didn’t know exactly why he was there, Inferno raised an eyebrow. The whole thing was weird. She didn’t receive a letter, but at the same time, the message that was sent out to the supernaturals was telepathic, which probably couldn’t get sent out to humans. “It was probably the smartest choice to follow the instructions in the letter. Who knows what would have happened if you decided to ignore it.” She grinned, her voice serious, though she was just playing around. Nothing would have happened, she was sure.

Growing bored as she listened to all of his questions, Inferno stepped backward into a shadow and shadow-blinked into the tree she was sitting under a little while before, sitting with her legs crossed on one of the bare branches closest to the ground. She rested her heand on her hands, and her elbows on her knees and she gazed down at the human.

“To answer yours questions, one, I don’t really know. The number changes quite frequently. Some creatures, like me, are staying here for the entire year. But some go in and out, coming every couple of days and what not. Most of the students who come every now and again are students who have been at the school for something like three years or so. Two, the dorms on our floor are for first years, and the floors above us, where there are more classrooms and studios and other rooms than dorms, are for the older students.”

She chuckled as he hesitantly asked his third question. “It isn’t offensive, or anything. It’s like asking you what race of human you are. There are probably hundreds of knds of creatures here. Dragons, Kitsunes, Werewolves, other were-creatures, wyvens, vampires, Fae’s, demons, angels, half-human half-animal students, pheonixes, and many more.” She listed. “And yes, a few times there were mages here, humans with either supernatural blood or who have been blessed with abilities. The woman at the front desk is some type of reptillian. Probably a Drakon.”

Inferno swung her legs, bored. “I’m a Hellhound myself.” She informed him. “I was sent here to quote ‘Learn to control my abilities’.” She scoffed. “My parents thought I needed help with them, which is stupid. I can control most of my abilities perfectly fine, though. It’s just my stamina that I need to work on.” She allowed the shadows to curl around the trunk of the tree like vines, and flickers of flame weaved around her fingers, lighting up her grinning face in the shadows of the tree.

“Pretty cool, right? Now I just want to find out why the Headmaster invited you to the school.” She said, hopping down from the tree. She flicked her hand, extinghusing the flames and making the shadows dissipate.

Inferno tilted her head to the side, an amused smirk spreading across her face while she listened to Vito start ranting again. It is very interesting that they would allow a human into the school. Just a plain one, without any supernatural abilities. She thought. The wind swirled from behind the male, once again bringing his scent toward her. And once again, she smelt no indications of any abilities or powers.

“I guess it’s possible that you have some supernatural blood in your family line. It would explain why they invited you here. But it’s odd. I would think they would tell you exactly what your family linage contains when you got here.” She pondered. “Maybe the power was passed down through your family, but remained dormant throughout the years. Maybje we can work on finding out what exactly your family blood contains and what abilities you should have, and then work on unlocking them and bringing them out to the surface. Did I really just offer to basically help this human? But, she felt way to curious about the predicament that he was in to pass up the opportunity to find something out.

She nodded. “A Hellhound, spirit guides. I’m one of the few that have Umbrakenesis, or the ability to control, summon, and manipulate shadows at will. I can do the same with fire. The only downside is that I can’t summon or speak to spirits of the dead like most other spirit guides can. I can only sense them and sometimes feel them.” Most Hellhounds had three abilities: Speaking to ghosts, fire, and shifting between humanoid form and Hellhound form. She got shadows instead of the spirit part though.

She chuckled as he questioned her about the name of her species. It was quite funny to see how a human who probably thought that the many supernturals were myths and legends just days before get thrown into the world of weird and mythiolgical creatures that have lurked in human stories for milenia.

“You really don’t know much about supernaturals, do you?” She grinned. “Sure, Hellhounds aren’t as well known as creatures like vampires and werewolves, but there are definitely some of us you should know. Cerberus is a Hellhound, you know. The three-headed hound that guards the gates of the underworld for Hades?” She found it funny how humans like the Greeks and Norse made up elaborate stories to explain their appearances in the world. She knew of Cerberus, that he was a real Hellhound, kept alive be the sheer amount of people knowing of him, and subsequantily sharing their souls and minds with him, stopping him from fading out of existence.

“All Hellhounds can shift between out humanoid form and our original Hellhound form.” Inferno explained, staring down at him. “So no, when I say Hellhound, I mean literal canines from the Hellscape, the territory we were born in raised in. If you went there though, your blood would boil and your skin would melt off your bones. And I’m not joking about that.” She grinned at the male’s uncomfortable face as she said that, laughing internally.

Inferno rolled her eyes, jumping down from the tree, landing on her feet easily, and without noise. A couple eaves swirled to the ground after her, spinning in the light breeze. “We aren’t that different from you humans, other than the whole shifting and supernatual abilities.” She said. “We have a headmaster. I know where his office is. It’s pretty small, near the center of the academy. The files probably wouldn’t be there, as the school keeps records on all of the students that go here and it couldn’t possibly fit there, but it’s a starting point.”

Thinking for a moment, she watched as a pair of bluejays hop along a branch, flapping their wings and ruffling their feathers as they squawked and chirped at each other. “I guess we could ask the Headmaster why he invited you here, but we’d still have to look through the files if any of your ancestors went here to figure out what kind of powers you might have inherited from them.” She said.

She shrugged at his question about her abilities. “I have no idea. Sometimes it’s just like that. My older brother, Cole, he can see ghosts, summon them, and make them take on physical forms, but his fire is weak. Sometimes creatures get some of the abilities that their parents have, but not others. Kind of like how humans get their physical traits like eye or hair color or your hight from your parents, the same thing goes for powers. We get some abilities but not others.” She explained. “Most Hellhounds only have Pyrokenisis and are able to spirit talk. I guess I got the natural fire abilities, and I got my shadows from some distant ancestors. I haven’t heard of any other Hellhounds having the same power as I have, and have heard and read that it’s extremely rare to inherit.”

Humans. They make up stories to explain why we exist. Stories they label as legends and myths and stories. She thought, chuckling. “I always found it interesting how you humans made up stories for us. Yes, Cerberus is real. He’s a powerful, but old Hellhound that usually is either sleeping in his den by the fire lake, telling stories to younger Hellscape creatures, or eating.” Her lips curled into an amused smile as Vito continued to ask her questions. This one really is curious. Maybe he isn’t so bad.

“Cerberus, I believe, had a birth defect or something. No one, not even him, knows exactly why he has three heads, or why he’s pratically the size of a giant. Obviously, not all of us are that large, nor do we have three heads. We tend to share the same size as our parents.” She continued, tapping her fingers against her leg, a small tic she had. Her eyes wandered to the sky, and she narrowed her eyes as she saw the sky began to darken with dark gray and black rain clouds, but she continued to answer the human’s questions. “The Hellscape is a territory in the supernatural world where creatures like Hellhounds, demons, smoke, fire, and other heat or darkness creatures. That’s where we’re strongest, yes, but we can do anything we can do there out in the other territories. I can shift anywhere I want.”

Thunder boomed across the sky, causing Inferno to flinch. She hated loud noises, and come thunder come rain. And she hated being cold and wet. “Yeah, let’s go inside.” She growled, glaring up at the sky. She grabbed his arm and pulled him into the Mess Hall, which was errily empty, making sure to grab the plate and book from the place under the tree. She entered an empty hallway, leaning against the wall and looking over at the human. “Anymore questions?”