Destruct: The Guard Trilogy

by Sheridan Anne

  “If it isn’t queen bitch and her loyal dog,” Nora says, cutting in front of us and fixing Jacinta with a nasty glare.

  “Be careful Nora, dogs bite,” I warn, stepping forward in hopes she will get the hint to leave us the hell alone. Which of course, she doesn’t.

  “Is there something you need?” Jacinta says, feigning boredom.

  “Yeah, I need you to back off Trey, he’s mine,” she demands, hands on hips trying her hardest to look intimidating.

  I break out into a loud laugh, getting the attention from the other students around us. “Oh that’s funny,” I say, wiping at the tears my laughter has caused. “You have no chance in hell with Trey. Even if they weren’t together, he still wouldn’t touch you with a ten foot pole,” I laugh.

  Nora’s face reddens with anger and she fixes her gaze on me, then turns her attention back to Jacinta “You better watch it Jacinta or I’m going to make your life a living hell,” she warns.

  “Bitch, please. Are you done? I have a date with my boyfriend and now my lunch is getting cold,” Jacinta says, completely unfazed by Nora’s presence.

  I burst out into another fit of laughter as Nora’s control slips and she breaks forward towards Jacinta. I rush myself between the two and push Jacinta backward away from Nora’s advance just in time to see her sloppy fist flying millimetres past my face.

  Anger flares from deep inside me. Who the hell does she think she is to attempt to hit my best friend? Nu-uh, sister. My rage boils up and suddenly my own fist is rearing back and flying through the air before connecting with Nora’s eye. I hear the room around us erupt into noise as people everywhere call out ‘girl fight’. I try to get my second hit in, but strong arms circle my waist and hold me back as I try to get to her.

  “Bianca, stop,” Daniel says close behind me as I realize it must be him holding me back.

  “She tried to hit Jacinta,” I yell, the rage still boiling inside me.

  “I know, we all saw, but if you keep going you’re going to make it worse,” he says, dragging me out of the room with Jacinta and Trey frantically following behind.

  “Holy shit,” Jacinta says once we make it outside, grabbing my hand and checking me over for injuries. “I can’t believe you just hit her.”

  “She’s going to have one hell of a black eye tomorrow,” Trey says with a smirk as the realization of what I’ve just done hits me like a wrecking ball.

  “Shit. I’m going to be in so much trouble,” I groan, looking up at Jacinta, dreading what Rylan’s going to say about this.

  “No way,” Daniel says. “She threw the first punch, everyone saw it.”

  “Yeah, I know, but still,” I say getting up and pacing the small hallway.

  Everyone remains quiet as we sit against the wall waiting for some sort of authority figure to come busting down the hallway and drag me to Ms. Peterson’s office. The bell chimes for the end of lunch and with no teachers storming my way, we head off to our next class.

  We head into Combat Training and Rylan introduces us to Ben, Tessa’s substitute as she has officially been approved for personal leave, and at this stage, Rylan’s not sure when she’ll be coming back. Ben seems nice though, he’s older and has heaps of experience so he should fit in well with our small group. Though, anyone is better than Tessa right now.

  Rylan is just starting his session when the inevitable happens. Ms. Peterson throws open the doors, quickly scans the room and finds her target within seconds. “Bianca Moore,” she calls from the door. “My office. Now.” she says, turning on her heel and slamming the door behind her.

  “Crap,” I mutter to myself, turning and heading to the door.

  “Bianca,” Rylan calls as I push down on the door handle. “Come back here when you’re done,” he says. I glance over and meet his eyes, and I know he knows what happened. Anger dances behind his eyes and I’m positive I’ll be copping it big time from him. I give him a nod and head out into the cool afternoon towards Ms. Peterson's office.

  Ms. Peterson's office is huge and most certainly too much for what she needs, with her wall of books across from the bay window and her expensive glass desk sitting in the center of the room. This office has become sort of a second home to me over my time here at The Guard Academy with how often I’ve frequented this pretentious room.

  I push through her door without knocking and take a seat in the one I know she’s going to offer me. She sits across from me, tapping her long fingernails on her desk, scowl firmly in place. This woman has been waiting for her opportunity to kick me out on my ass and I worry that I’ve finally given her just what she needs to make it happen.

  I cross my arms over my chest and return her scowl as my heart begins to beats rapidly. “I don’t care what she said or what story she’s spun, it wasn’t my fault and there’s a room full of fifty kids to prove it,” I say.

  Her scowl presses into a thin line as she considers my words. “Alright then,” she finally says. “Let’s hear your side of the story.”

  I launch into my explanation, not leaving out a single detail as I explain Nora’s attack over lunch and after forty-five minutes of back and forth questions and answers, Ms. Peterson finally agree’ s that Nora brought it all upon herself. I’m finally let off with an after school detention, because, let’s face it, I probably shouldn’t have punched her and there’s no way I was going to walk away from this without some sort of punishment, but either way, I feel that’s a win for me.

  Ms. Peterson promises to follow up the incident with more interviews from the other students to confirm my story and sends me on my way to meet my doom in the form of a really pissed off, really sexy, combat instructor.

  I push my way through the doors of my combat class to find everyone paired up and busy fighting, still no sign of Tessa. I walk deeper into the room and find Rylan to get my instructions for the hour that’s left of training.

  Rylan gives me an annoyed look as I come closer, which I try my hardest to ignore. “Hey, uh, what should I do?” I ask, hoping I don’t come across as a nervous train wreck.

  “You’ll be sparring,” he says in a hard, dismissive tone, then pauses to narrow his hard eyes at me. “With me.”

  Oh crap.

  “Sure,” I nod, fixing him with a look and accepting whatever challenge he’s throwing at me, knowing it can’t possibly go well. He leads the way towards a sparring mat and steps up to face me as he pulls off his jacket. My greedy eyes roam quickly over his hard body before I rip them away and get my head in the game.

  “Ready?” he asks, his face an absolute mask. I give him my perfect bitch face and a slight nod. He strikes out immediately, sweeping my feet out from under me, putting me flat on my back.

  “What the hell?” I cry in outrage.

  “You said you were ready,” he says raising an annoyed eyebrow.

  I haul myself to my feet and launch myself at him, not waiting for the formalities of sparring, but he’s too quick to be caught off guard. He blocks my blows as if he was shooing a fly. “Come on, Bianca. I’ve taught you better than that,” he taunts.

  My blood begins to boil for the second time today. “Yeah, well looks like I’m not the only one holding back right now,” I growl, knowing he’s only giving me the bare minimum to get his point across.

  Anger flashes in his eyes. “You want to do this properly? Because I guarantee you won’t win,” he says with fire in his eyes, once again blocking my fist and striking out his own, putting my ass on the floor for the second time in as many minutes.

  My anger finally gets the best of me, I get up and face him. “What the hell is your problem?” I say hissing under my breath so the rest of the class doesn’t hear as I fix him with a glare just to let him know how pissed off I am.

  “My problem is that you go and punch some girl who can hardly defend herself and isn’t getting the same training that you’re getting, all for what? Running her mouth?” he says, trying his hardest to keep his temper under control. “Yo
u’re going to get yourself in trouble and end out on your ass soon if you don’t learn to control yourself,” he takes a long deep breath and runs a hand through his hair.

  I take a deep breath, getting my temper under control and look him in the eye. “You’re right” I snap, watching as his eyes cut to mine, as if I’m playing some sort of game. “But seems I’m not the only one who needs to learn some self-control,” I say, calling him out and making a point of the little show he’s just put on. “Now can I go?”

  My eyes begin to sting. Crap. Do not cry.

  Do. Not. Cry.

  He narrows his eyes at me, trying to figure me out, even though we both know he can already see straight through me. “Yes.”

  With that, I turn on my heel, grab my bag and leave.

  What a day.

  ----------

  I wake the next morning, not sure how my training session is going to go. I know I need to apologize to Rylan for acting like a brat just as Jacinta had pointed out to me all night long. Jacinta and I had stayed up most of the night discussing all the crazy events of the day, like how Nora had promised to destroy me during their fairy class and how the rest of the academy was a buzz after hearing about the fight.

  I just hope word hasn’t gotten to Millie yet, the last thing she needs is to hear about the fights her big sister has been getting into. Lastly, I told Jacinta all about sparring practice with Rylan, though she wasn’t too surprised after hearing it from Trey, which shocked me a bit. I hadn’t realized at the time that the rest of the class had been watching, though, I should have known better, the kids around here would do anything to get a juicy piece of gossip.

  I walk into the gym and find Rylan sitting on a bench, elbow on his knees, waiting for me. This isn’t going to be good. I pause at the door unsure how to approach him then remember, during class, he’s my instructor, but during these one on one morning sessions, he has become a friend who happens to know more about my life at the moment than anyone else. I take a deep breath to calm the butterflies in my stomach and walk towards him, sitting my perky ass on the seat right beside him.

  He keeps his gaze trained on the floor as I try my hardest not to notice the way my skin reacts to the closeness of his.

  We sit in silence for a short while before I finally get the nerve to speak up. “I’m sorry,” I whisper. I watch as he nods his head, acknowledging my apology. “I was angry and annoyed. I talked to you like crap and you didn’t deserve that.”

  Rylan takes a deep breath next to me and I know whatever he’s been thinking about is ready to come out. “What you did yesterday, was not acceptable, no matter whose fault it was. You know better and I know that you are better. It pissed me off, and yes, I should have handled it better, I was too hard on you. But…” he says leaning back to sit up straighter beside me, letting out a breath. “That day I told you I would help you, I said you had to keep out of trouble, and that was the type of shit I was talking about, so as long as you can promise me that shit like this won’t happen again, then I’m willing to give you a second chance. But just know, you won’t be getting a third.”

  My heart pounds in my chest as I take in what he’s saying, and I know I would be nowhere without him. I turn to look at him, catching his dark eyes with mine and promise him just that and in that instant, both he and I know that I mean it.

  “Let’s get on with it then,” he says.

  Chapter 13

  It’s been four weeks of training with Rylan, and my body has not only gotten used to the extra workload but it craves it. I’m now stronger and faster and I absolutely love it. I head over to the stairs in the combat room to grab my bag when I hear Rylan calling my name. I hang back and wait for the room to clear out before asking what’s up.

  “I’ve got something for you,” he says, indicating to the stairs, that I should take a seat.

  I sit down and watch as he pulls a piece of paper out of his back pocket and slowly unfolds it. “It took long enough, but the sketch of that vampire finally came through this morning.”

  His words are my undoing and my whole world stops with what’s on that piece of paper. I take a deep breath and reach out, taking hold of the paper. I glance down and pain instantly rips through me as I stare into the face of the monster that’s haunted my dreams for the past nine years. “It’s him,” I say, trembling. “That’s the monster who killed my father.”

  Rylan takes a step forward and sits down on the step beside me. “I wasn’t sure if I should have given that to you, if maybe seeing him would set you back, you know, with your nightmares and all.”

  “Well, to tell the truth,” I say, tearing my eyes away from the paper. “Since that day I told you about my Dad, I haven’t had a nightmare, maybe all I needed was to tell someone, but having said that,” I add, handing him back the piece of paper. “I don’t think it would be healthy to hold onto this.”

  Rylan lets out a quick laugh, looking relieved that I didn’t go into breakdown mode. He takes the paper and folds it back up, hiding the monsters face away from me. “I suppose your right about that.”

  “How’s the hunting parties going?” I ask, already knowing what the answer is going to be.

  “Not good,” he says, getting up and starting to pack away.

  Not feeling ready to make my way out, I get up and help him pack up. I feel his curious gaze on me and am thankful he decided to let go of whatever question is stirring in his mind.

  “Can you tell me about your sister?” I ask, needing to get my thoughts away from the face in my mind.

  Surprise is written all over his features and I’m pretty sure my question is about to get shut down. He turns to me, searching for something in my face and finds whatever it is he’s looking for. “Kaylee would be 27 now. She actually reminds me a lot of how you are with your sister. She would come and visit me on the Junior Campus to make sure I was staying out of trouble, though, I hated it at the time because all my friends thought she was hot,” he says with a rare and wonderful smile gracing his face as the memories start flowing. “She would always check that I was keeping up with all my classwork because she knew I was only interested in getting into Combat and needed to make sure I had something to fall back on just in case that never happened. I used to think she was so annoying,” he laughs.

  “She sounds a lot like you,” I say, watching as he grows thoughtful at my comment.

  “Yeah, that was until half way through her senior year when it all got too hard and she turned to drinking and partying. It all went downhill from there,” he says with sadness behind his eyes.

  “Do you miss her?”

  “Everyday.”

  “Have you ever tried to find her?” he looks up at my question with that same sadness in his eyes.

  “Yeah, about two years ago. I took a few months off and went searching, but apparently, she doesn’t want to be found.” He’s quiet for a few moments as I’m sure heavy thoughts of his missing sister circle through his mind.

  “I don’t know what I’d do if Millie was out there somewhere and I couldn’t get to her,” I say quietly.

  “Speaking of people you’re not able to talk to,” he says, suddenly declaring a change of topic. “Have you cleared things up with Tessa yet?”

  “No,” I scoff, shock running through my system at the very idea of ever speaking to her again. “Why the hell would I want to do that?”

  “Jesus, calm down. I’m not suggesting you become best friends and paint each other’s nails,” he smirks. “I was only asking because it’s your birthday next week, which means your navigation test is the week after that and Tessa will be required to accompany you. So, unless you want to have a very awkward 48 hours, I suggest you do whatever it is you females do to make that 48 hours a little more bearable.”

  “The only thing that would make my time with her a little more bearable would be my fist in her face.”

  “Don’t talk like that,” he says, a slight scowl on his face. “And besides, there’
s no way Tessa would let you get the drop on her a second time.”

  “Yeah,” I laugh. “I was pretty shocked I got that first one in.”

  He shakes his head at me as a sexy smirk appears across his face. “Are you going to talk to her?” he asks, all serious again.

  “Nope.”

  “Suit yourself,” he says as we finish packing away the room.

  I make my way over to the stairs and sling my bag over my shoulder before heading for the door. I hover at the door to the room and turn back to Rylan. “From what you’ve told me about you sister, she loved you something fierce, and I don’t think she would want you to give up,” I say with a small smile. “She’s pretty lucky to have someone like you.”

  He gives me a soft look as emotion runs wild in his eyes so I turn and leave the room to give him whatever privacy it is he needs.

  ----------

  I’m sitting in Guard History when a knock at the door has the room’s full attention. The senior year advisor, Miss Layton stands in the doorway, a bright smile covering her too perfect face. A scowl immediately comes to my lips as memories of her hands all over Rylan while throwing her head back in an awful attempt at flirting comes rushing through my mind. “Ah, Miss Layton,” my teacher, Mr. Williams says. “How can I help you?” he asks with a dirty smile gracing his lips.

  “I was hoping I could borrow Bianca for a short while,” she says, stepping further into the room. My head snaps up at the sound of my name, having no idea why she would need to speak with me.

  “Of course, Bianca,” Mr. Williams indicates to me, a look on his face telling me to hurry it up.

  I stand and collect my things and make my way out of the room with Miss Layton hot on my heels. She steps in beside me as she leads me to her office in the library. “It’s good to finally meet you, Bianca. I’ve heard a lot about you. Seems you’re somewhat of a celebrity around here,” she says with a smile so beautiful, it’s no wonder why Rylan and every other male around here is swooning all over her.