by Megan Duncan
In a way, I guess I could say I was. Before Ana tried to kill me I felt willing to do anything to protect Nicolae and the rest of Palace Noire. Even now, I was willing to do anything to protect the ones I loved from The Dark. But would I be willing to do anything to stop them? I could only imagine how horrific things could end up, and I how far I was willing to go to protect the ones I loved.
What really frightened me was that deep down I knew the answer. I would do anything. My thirst for revenge still bubbled deep inside me and I gave it another push back. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep it at bay, but for now that was all I could do.
Chapter_10
I wasn’t sure how long I had sat there lost in my thoughts, but it was nice that my parents let me think without interruption. At least until the sound of Renek’s armor clanking from the end of the hallway grabbed my attention. I looked up to see him enter the room and I smiled. I was getting better at focusing on my surroundings.
Renek’s expression was emotionless, his brow beaded with sweat. I tried to sneak in and get a sense of his feelings. He was most likely bringing my father his report and I would have to leave for training any minute. I didn’t want to miss any details.
His eyes flicked toward my direction and I quickly looked away. Did he sense my prying? Of course he did. He was the Captain of the Blood Guard. No doubt he had been trained to sense a vampire searching his mind and emotions.
His attention stayed locked on me as he took a seat next to my father and handed him a long printed document. I didn’t want to meet his gaze, but I knew I had to. Having Renek suspicious of me or not liking me wasn’t something I wanted. I needed as many people on my side as possible.
If I tried to apologize then, my parents would know what I had done. I wasn’t sure how they would feel about it. Society here didn’t express their emotions the same way they did at Palace Noire. I hadn’t weaved a single ribbon of emotion or sensed anything from anyone since I had been here. Everyone had been so open there was no need to.
That gave me an idea. If no one in Naos did this, then maybe I could find some valuable information. Maybe I could discover some secrets and clues that no one else could.
My heart fluttered with excitement, pumping in my chest like a hummingbird. There had never been a vampire like me before, so maybe I could do things with this ability that had never been done before.
I stepped out of my seat, trying my best not to cause the legs of the chair to screech across the floor. My parent’s attention remained on the reports that Renek had brought in, so I looked eyes with Renek.
I did my best to connect with him and convey the sincerity in my words. “I’m sorry.”
“What’s wrong, Claire?” my mother asked, only half paying attention.
Renek’s gaze stayed fixed on me. “I was just excusing myself to go to training,” I answered. She only nodded in response.
I looked to Renek one last time before leaving. His eyes were softer than before and I hoped he accepted my apology. Hopefully, he would think I was just a curious new vampire, testing out my abilities. And that was the truth, technically. Mostly.
It was bad enough that Eli was waiting for me when I arrived in the training room, but he also wasn’t alone. He was talking to a thin guy, who standing next to Eli, looked like a toothpick. He had stark white hair that was cut close to his scalp.
The guy smiled at me as I entered the room, his mouth crowded with teeth. Set deep behind his pointy nose were the lightest blue eyes I had ever seen, giving him a ghostly appearance.
“Finally decided to join us?” Eli asked.
“Sorry, I got wrapped up talking…”
Eli cut me off. “I don’t care what you were doing. Just don’t be late again.”
Great. That’s all I needed was to piss him off.
I took my stance on the mat as instructed and waited for Eli to begin training. Tonight I was going to learn how to land debilitating blows to my enemy. It may sound demented, but I was really excited about tonight’s training. The next time I faced an enemy, I didn’t want them to get away. Not again.
“Claire, this is Bennett,” Eli said, pointing a thumb. Bennett took a stance on the mat across from me and gave a crooked smirk. “He is going to be your sparring partner tonight. As I said last night, you are going to learn how to land an attack on any enemy. You are already capable of avoiding an attack, but you also need to learn how to weaken your enemy when the opportunity presents itself. You won’t get many chances, especially if you are fighting someone more advanced, so you need to make every one count.”
“Why aren’t I training with you?” I asked. Bennett’s eyes flashed with annoyance. “No offense or anything,” I said to him. He just shrugged in response.
“Bennett is one of my most talented pupils in this area. His percentage rate for landing attacks is leagues higher than any of my other students.” I saw Bennett’s chest puff up in pride. He didn’t look like much, but I guess I would see how good he was. “Now, let’s get started. Bennett is going to first show you one of the most effective strikes.”
Bennett nodded to Eli and then focused his ghostly eyes on me. A shiver danced across my skin and I prepared my body for the inevitable attack. My breath was steady and my senses focused. I saw him jump and roll to the right and spring into action, diving over him as he lunged at me. He groaned in frustration. Apparently he thought I was going to be easy; sadly for him that just made me try that much harder.
We swung and dove, twisted and turned, narrowly missing each other as he tried to attack me. I flipped backward to avoid his long leg as he propelled it toward my stomach with swift force. The tip of his sneaker grazed my thigh as I landed on my hands and turned myself upward. Eli would critique our movement as we bounded across the mat.
Bennett’s frustration grew more and more the longer it took for him to catch me. I smiled widely at him, displaying my fangs and egging him on. It wasn’t my fault he wasn’t as bad ass as he thought he was.
Screaming in frustration, he ran full-pelt at me. I watched him steadily, confident that he was going to make a forward attack. Could he be any more obvious? I waited to the last second and readied my stance to jump upward, allowing him to fly right under me, only he predicted it.
As I launched myself upward, Bennett widened his gait and jumped right on top of me, sending us crashing to the floor with incredible force. I hadn’t expected it and the attack caught me off guard. I slammed onto my back, the weight of his body falling like a mountain on top of me. For a skinny guy, he weighed a ton.
He attempted to swipe at my face, but I flung my arm in front of me and blocked it. My right hand was latched around his left, pinning it to the mat with as much force as I could. A vision of breaking Ana’s arm flashed in my mind, but I pushed it back. I couldn’t afford the distraction nor could I allow that anger to take over me. Who knew what could happen.
Bennett smiled, thinking he had won. His long legs, tried wrapping around me. I knew he was trying to pin me to the mat, so he could make his final strike. I couldn’t let him win. I twisted and elbowed him in the face. As his head jerked from the blow I then lifted my legs, wrapping them around his head. I locked my ankles and straightened, pressing me thighs together with as much force as I could.
His bright, white head quickly turned red. I smiled triumphantly, waiting for him to tap out. He wasn’t going to beat me and he needed to realize it. I was in total control and I relished in it. I was indulging in the power and loving every second of it.
“Regain control, Bennett!” Eli shouted from the sidelines.
I could feel Bennett’s body tighten on top of me. Was he ready to give up? Could I really be beating Eli’s best fighter? I couldn’t help but let a small laugh escape me, a fangy smile stretched across me sweaty face, stray strands of hair plastered on my cheeks.
I was celebrating too early. Bennett stretched his long legs and pushed himself upward. I could feel him rising. I tried to pre
ss him back downward, but I had no leverage. He lifted himself higher, starting to stand and was taking me with him. My back was lifting from the mat and I growled aloud. I still had a tight grip around his neck and I didn’t want to give it up.
“Nice recovery!” Eli encouraged Bennett from the sidelines. Whose side was he on, anyway?
Bennett’s red-faced smile pissed me off. I released my grip on his head, putting my weight on my hands and flipping back into a standing position. He was closer than I had expected and couldn’t deflect his hand as it landed firmly on my throat.
I gripped his wrists and hissed through clenched teeth as my neck was crushed in his hand. Arrick had performed the very same move on me before when we first arrived at the Château, except it was nothing compared to what I was feeling now. Bennett’s grip tightened and my vision began to swirl as he lifted me off the ground, my feet dangling in the air.
“Congratulations, Claire. You’ve just been defeated,” Bennett said, his eyes swirling with victory.
Placing me back on my feet, he released me. I chocked as I regained my breath and shoved him hard in the chest when he tried to pat my back.
“Get away from me,” I wheezed.
“You put up a good fight, but you’ve learned an important lesson,” Eli said, stepping on the mat. “Now you know the most vital area to defend.” He approached me and lifted my head. Tears of rage fell down my face, my mouth still clenched in frustration. “Relax,” he said patting my chin.
Eli surveyed my neck, but I ignored him as I watched Bennett fall into a chair. His pale face was still slightly red and sweat dripped from his head in large beads. At least I hadn’t made it as he easy for him as he had expected, but I was still thoroughly pissed he beat me. Doing his best to avoid my gaze he squirted water on a small towel and laid it on his face as he tilted his head backward.
A growl rippled through my chest and Eli clenched my shoulders. “Calm down. You did well.”
“No, I didn’t. He beat me.” I tried not to say it too loud. I didn’t need to see Bennett gloating. I probably wouldn’t be able to contain myself if he did. Apparently, I was a very sore loser. I had never realized how competitive I was before, yet I’d also never wanted to be as good at something as I did right now.
“Of course he did.” Eli pressed his fingers against my throat and I winced, but allowed him to continue his exam.
“Listen to me,” Eli grabbed me chin forcefully, making me have to meet his gaze. “You can never be good at anything, unless you have been defeated. Do you understand?”
I shook my head. That didn’t make any sense to me at all. Eli sighed. “What are you thinking right now? What is your sole focus this very second?”
“Honestly?”
He nodded.
“I want a rematch,” I said, glaring at Bennett.
“There’s your answer.” Eli walked off the mat and handed me a plastic bottle filled with blood. “Do you know why the neck is the weakest part of a vampire?”
I shook my head and popped open the top of bottle. I brought it to my lips and drank greedily. Fighting really did work up my appetite.
“There are nerves on each side of the throat,” Eli took his fingers and pointed to a specific spot on either side of my neck. The area was sensitive, but already less so, since he was examining it. “The nerves are connected to your fangs and your central nervous system. As you are turned into a vampire, these nerves grow rapidly throughout your body. Which is why your senses are so heightened. For example.” He grabbed my hand and spread my fingers apart. “Imagine your fingers represent the nervous system of a human. Now place your other hand on top, all ten of your digits in-between each other.”
I did as instructed and looked at my hands.
“So, a vampire’s nervous system is two times a humans?”
“Even more so. That’s a crude analogy, but you get the point.”
I nodded. “And a Blood Guard?”
“Considerably more than that,” Eli said.
I raised my eyebrows in shock. No one had ever explained it to me like that before and it made me a thousand times more curious about what I could do.
“Alright. Break time is over. Claire, I want you to try and land the same strike on Bennett. This time he will try to evade. Understand?”
I nodded and focused my senses, tapping into my core.
The last hours of training were spent with Bennett and me taking turns landing different attacks on each other. Aside from the throat, I learned other nervous system points in the body. The throat proved most effective, but the others were still useful. There was one along the spine, near the base of the skull; another in the chest just under the rib cage and the last one was in the armpit. I didn’t much like that one, nor did I enjoy having to stick my fingers in Bennett’s hairy, sweaty pits, but that nerve temporarily numbed the arm like it was asleep.
I was glad for training to be over and rushed out of the room when Eli dismissed me. I wasn’t looking forward to tomorrow’s training. He said I would learn how to fight with an injury, which I wasn’t so happy to hear about. But I knew it would be an incredibly useful skill. I could have used that training when I was fighting Ana and Luka. I used to think it was sheer luck that I beat them that night, but after tonight I thought that maybe it wasn’t. Maybe I tapped into the core of my power without even realizing it.
The more I connected with it, the more I focused my senses, the stronger I felt. I didn’t want to lose this power and I didn’t want to feel weak ever again.
I made it to the end of the hallway before Bennett called out to me. “Hey, Claire!”
Trying to ignore him I quickened my pace, rolling my eyes. I didn’t know what he could possibly want to talk about nor did I care. I had things I wanted to do tonight before the sun came up and talking to him wasn’t one of them.
I rounded the corner, planning to rush to my room with vampire speed before he could catch up with me but he caught up with me. “Hey,” he greeted me.
“Hey.”
“Nice job tonight.”
Did he seriously want to do this? “Yeah, thanks.” I tried not to wrinkle my nose when the smell of his sweat wafted in the air.
“It’s been a long time since I had that hard a time pinning someone. I can’t believe you’ve never had any formal training before.” I didn’t say anything and Bennett heaved a heavy sigh. “Well, I just wanted to say nice job.”
I stopped and turned to him. He sounded like a pitiful dog, so I decided to throw him a bone. “Yeah, you too.” I gave him a half smile and continued my march down the hallway.
Bennett trotted up next to me. “Maybe we can train together sometime?” Was he hitting on me? I really hoped he wasn’t. “I can teach you some moves that Eli doesn’t teach in class.”
But whether or not he was hitting on me, that definitely piqued my interest. “Really?”
He laughed. “I thought that would get your attention. How about after training tomorrow night?”
“Yeah, sure.” I didn’t know what he could teach me, but it obviously wasn’t fighting moves that were class appropriate.
“Cool. Alright, see you later.” He smiled, flashing his crooked-toothed grin and turned around, dashing down the hallway.
I was glad to finally be rid of him, but he was proving to be more useful than just a pain in the ass training partner. What moves could he teach me? Being Eli’s star pupil, I guessed he had to know something good. He couldn’t have gotten that far otherwise.
I took the fastest shower in the history of my life and tried to think of a good place to conduct my first experiment. I needed some place secluded. If I got caught I could either get in a lot of trouble or most likely hurt someone.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized there was only one place I could go. The lighthouse. I had been wanted to explore it since I first arrived in Naos, and now I finally had an excuse. It was definitely secluded enough that I would have plenty of privacy.
I dressed quickly and pulled on a hooded sweater before dashing outside. I knew it would be possible to leave unnoticed so I headed in the direction of the garden first. If anyone asked I could say I wanted some peace and quiet. My mother did it all the time, so I knew they wouldn’t find the excuse unusual.
I made it to the garden in minutes and passed the guard with ease. I had expected to be questioned more, but as soon as I told him, he simply told me to carry on and warned me that the sun would be up soon. Like I didn’t already know.
I jogged at a steady pace through the garden, toward the eastern edge. All I had to do was hop the hedge and I could dash through the open field toward the lighthouse without anyone noticing.
My feet squished against the soggy earth and the scent of dampened plants hung in the air. They must have just been watered. It was strange how water seemed to amplify the scents of flowers and foliage. I sniffed the air and could name almost every flower I smelled, except for the ones I didn’t know of course, but I still remembered the aroma from the time my mother and I spent here talking.
She told me about my birth and how it was possible for a vampire to have a child. I still didn’t quite understand it. To me it sounded like a miracle from Nyx.
“Nyx blesses the Vampire, allowing a tiny bit of their humanity to filter out of their being and create new life. It is one of the greatest of her miracles. I could not think of a greater miracle in the world than to have a child. To have you.” I remembered the conversation as my mother poured her heart out. The emotions inside her were so fresh and raw.
She had struggled immensely when I was taken from her and fell into a deep depression. She admitted that the only thing that got her buy were Arrick’s reports on me. Knowing that I was safe was the only thing that had kept her sane.
I’d wanted to ask her about losing a piece of her humanity. To me, that sounded like a high price to pay, to have a child. But my mother was still so very kind and loving that I didn’t think Nyx had taken too much of her humanity. Besides, what would be the point of allowing a vampire the miracle of child birth, if you were going to take all their humanity to do it and create a monster? It didn’t make sense and would totally defeat the purpose.