Evernight

(You may be looking for the Evernight (book series) or the location Evernight Academy)

Evernight is the first book in the Evernight series by Claudia Gray. It was first published in the USA, in May 2008.

Plot
WARNING: Contains spoilers

Bianca Olivier and her parents, Celia and Adrian arrive at Evernight Academy in the last few days of the summer break. Bianca is going to attend Evernight as a student, whilst her parents are working as teachers there. Bianca doesn't want to go to Evernight though, so on the morning of the first day of school, Bianca runs away to make a stand against her parents. She doesn't get far however, when she encounters a student named Lucas, who thought Bianca was being chased. They form an instant connection and Bianca decides to return to school and later meets her new roommate Patrice, as well as other Evernight students, such as Courtney, Erich, Raquel, Vic and Ranulf.

Bianca sees Lucas around the school but he keeps ignoring her. Finally, Lucas reveals he's staying away from Bianca because he doesn't want to get her hurt. Bianca and Lucas go on a date to Riverton, but break up after an argument over Bianca's parents. Balthazar, an 'in student' who likes Bianca, asks her if she'll go to the Autumn Ball with him. Bianca agrees but can't get over Lucas. Lucas interrupts her date and the pair rekindle their love and kiss passionately. However, Bianca bites Lucas and knocks him out, revealing she is, in fact, a vampire. The teachers take care of Lucas while Bianca's parents take her to their penthouse. It is revealed that Bianca's parents are vampires and so are most of the students at Evernight. Bianca is only part vampire but still needs to drink blood. Bianca feels guilty about attacking Lucas, who doesn't remember anything about the incident. The school's headmistress, Mrs Bethany, warns Bianca that neither Lucas or the other students must find out about vampires.

Lucas eventually does find out though, on the last day of school, when he witnesses Bianca biting Erich, in an attempt to get him to stop stalking and tormenting Raquel. Bianca is upset when Lucas leaves without saying goodbye and thinks he hates her. But on the first week of the new term, Lucas and Bianca have a private meeting in one of the storage towers. Lucas tells Bianca he doesn't care what she is and lets her bite him again. When Lucas starts gaining vampire powers, they tell the teachers that Lucas knows about vampires now. On a date, Lucas buys Bianca a beautiful jet brooch which Bianca has been having strange dreams about. Bianca's mother warns her that if she bites and kills Lucas he will turn into a vampire. Bianca will become a full vampire, too and although her parents want this to happen eventually, they want her to finish school first.

Lucas mentions that his ancestor attended Evernight, and Bianca tells her parents, thinking nothing of it. But it is soon revealed that Evernight never actually let in human students before, except a member of Black Cross, an elite group of vampire hunters. Adrian and Balthazar realise Lucas is with Black Cross and attack him but Lucas manages to escape. Bianca doesn't want Lucas to get hurt, so she follows him and finds him hiding in Riverton. Lucas explains that he has been with Black Cross all his life and that vampires killed his father. He was sent to infiltrate Evernight, to find out why Mrs Bethany suddenly decided to let human students in after all these years. However, he didn't count on falling in love with Bianca, who challenges his worldview that vampires are nothing but bloodthirsty monsters. Bianca decides she doesn't care that Lucas is a vampire hunter, as he has never tried to harm her, and tells him she'll run away with him. They are forced to pawn Bianca's brooch to pay for a hotel room and are picked up the next morning by Lucas' mother Kate, who is a Black Cross leader. Black Cross assume that Bianca was kidnapped by vampires as a baby and don't guess she is actually half-vampire. Bianca befriends some of the hunters, who are mostly decent people, but still hold the view that vampires are all monsters.

The Evernight vampires attack the Black Cross cell and Bianca reluctantly goes home with her parents in order to save her new friends, pretending that Lucas 'forced' her to come with him. For the most part, the vampires accept this, though Mrs Bethany appears to be suspicious. A while later, she receives a secret letter from Lucas, smuggled in with the help of Vic. Lucas has managed to get her brooch back and has sent it to her. He tells Bianca that he'll always love her and that he'll never give up hope of seeing her again someday. Bianca memorizes the letter, before burning it so that no one will discover her secret.

Trivia

 * It is the only book in the series that wasn't published in March.