He held it higher than my comfortable kicking level, so it was harder to reach and maintain my balance after the kick. I could hardly get any strength behind the kick. It was really difficult. I tried harder, and after some time, just when I thought I saw a bit of improvement, he pushed at my kick and I fell.
I stared up at him.
“Get up,” was all he said.
I hauled myself up and started again. I kicked it high enough and managed to stay well-balanced. If I hadn’t been concentrating so hard, I would’ve grinned at this little victory. And then he did the same thing, and pushed me with the kicking shield. But this time, though it was a close call, I didn’t fall.
“Punches.” He placed the shield in front of him.
That was easier than punching the bag. At least I had the satisfaction of feeling it curve under my strike.
“Faster.”
I got into it. But when I accelerated and strengthened my punches, he pushed me again—harder—and this time I flew down on my back.
“Hey!” What was his problem?!!
“Don’t just lie there, get up!”
I glared up at his emotionless dark-green eyes, and got up.
“Kick.”
I did, and to me it seemed much better than the previous day.
“You hit like a girl.”
Something about his tone. I don’t know what happened, but the anger hidden by all the fear I’d been feeling exploded. My leg was already in motion, but I just automatically switched targets. Andrei Belun’s head, even higher than the shield, suddenly seemed so much more attractive. It happened before I could stop it. He couldn’t dispute my technique; with more strength than any of my previous kicks, my shoe smacked him on the left side of his face.
Adrenalin shot through me—that was a great feeling!
“I am a girl,” I hissed.
A second later, I realized what I had done.
Fear flooded through me. Fangs. Oh, no, there would be sharp, terrifying fangs.
I took a couple of steps back, horrified. God, what had I done?
Belun stood watching me. The corner of his lip tilted a bit, almost in a grin. That couldn’t be possible. Why the hell would he be grinning just after I’d booted him in the face!?
“Take a mat and do two sets of push-ups and sit-ups, or as much as you can.”
He didn’t fly over and sink his long canines inside my neck, or rip off my head.
Grateful to still be alive, I rushed to do as I was told. Halfway through my push-ups, he left. I saw his black sport pants leaving the room and he didn’t come back. Finished, I hurried back to my room not wanting to further test my luck.
“Hey you, I’ve been waiting for you.” Julia grinned when she saw me. She looked like she had a secret.
“There’s something waiting for you in your room.”
I raised my eyebrows and opened my door.
Next to the closet were two clothes racks filled with clothes.
“I…I don’t understand.”
“Well, I realized that you wouldn’t waste your time leafing through those catalogues so I took the liberty of ordering for you.” She leaned in the doorway, smirking.
“Of course, I don’t expect you to like everything; but they’re your size and you probably can find something suitable until you order your own. Everything is already clean.”
I was completely in shock.
“I don’t have words….Thank you so much….” I hugged her. “I really do need clothes, but you’re so right, I wouldn’t have bothered with the catalogues any time soon.”
“I know, honey, but then you wouldn’t have a nice dress for tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow night?”
“A reception party, I already mentioned it to you.”
I found something in my memory that corresponded, but listened to her again.
“A formal reception to honor the capturing of Original Vocati.”
“The guests will all be vampires, I take it.”
“Yes,” she smiled. “It’s going to be cool, trust me. Their receptions are always grand, and I’m looking forward to seeing some friends again. There will be lots more of your age group there, which will be good for you.”
The thought of socializing with vampires of my age didn’t exactly seem like something that would be good for me. But clearly I was making progress with my fear; just the day before I would have completely freaked out over the prospect.
Julia left me alone to enjoy my new clothes. My God, I’d never had that many clothes at one time! And she had chosen well—I liked them all. There were six or seven pairs of skinny jeans and some pants of different colors, and some waist jackets and coats that suited me really well. A bunch of t-shirts, button-up shirts, blouses, then sports gear—just what I needed.
I looked at my new bags, grinning. A black shoulder bag, a clutch bag—which I assumed was for the reception—and the dark purple sports bag. I loved them! They were all designer, and I remembered Julia showing them to me the night before. Oh, she was good! Now I had sports equipment that was actually my size. Along with daily clothes, there were five beautiful dresses. The red one was not exactly my style or color, but the rest I couldn’t have chosen better myself.
There was footwear, too. Gym shoes, a pair of new black Converse, two pairs of heels and two pairs of boots—one of them black with an elegant heel, the other a chestnut Ugg boot. Man, she’d got it all! And just when I thought that was it, in the bathroom I found a cosmetic bag with all the girly necessities: brushes, make-up, lotions, crèmes, perfumes, shower gels, etc. I was shocked.
I went into the common room. She was lying on the couch watching TV.
“You really thought of everything!”
“Am I girl or am I not?” She flashed that arch of beautiful white teeth.
I sat next to her, eyeing the book on the table.
“What are you reading?”
“The Solitaire Mystery, by Jostein Gaarder. He’s Norwegian writer. It’s interesting, you’d probably liked it.”
“I stick to the classics.” I said.
“So did I, but there’s only so many times you can read some books. Why waste it all when there’s some great contemporary literature.”
I couldn’t argue that, but still can’t say I found much greatness in the sea of trash and kitsch.
“Was it less horrible today?” She was surprised by my smile. “What’s with the sly look?”
“After a few days of torture, I kicked Andrei Belun in the face.” My face shone with joy. I didn’t know I was capable of such evil.
“And survived.” I added.
Julia laughed, shaking her head in disbelief. “If that was what you needed….”
I nodded, maybe a bit too eagerly, but screw it. I did need that. Exactly that. Confronting my torturer. It was the seal on my three-day bout of fear for my life, and the first time after more than a week that I had felt at least a glimmer of happiness. It was over sooner than I had hoped, but hey, it was better than nothing, right?
Later, I returned the clothes I had taken earlier that day to Lena, happy that I had my own stuff now. I heard voices near the hall but didn’t see a soul. It was peaceful and quiet. I wanted to go out and breathe some fresh air, so I got my coat, and headed out.
The view was different from that of the gym. I could see out into the forest, but the outline was wider. All quiet and calm—and cold. I felt different from two days ago, or even two months ago—my life had changed, and so had my thinking. In retrospective, I wondered if Nietzsche would have reevaluated his position on God if he had met a vampire. I hadn’t. But that didn’t stop me from meeting my own limitations, over and over. What were my fellow students doing now, my parents? What kind of story was being served up to them? I needed to find that out soon.
Someone behind me coughed politely.
I spun around, filled with fear. Set stood a couple of feet away.
“I didn’t mean to scare you.”
/>
“I spaced out. What are you doing here?”
“Taking a walk?” He grinned.
He seemed pleasant enough, but earlier today I had felt something off about him. His eyes, deep and dark, never reflected his grin. I could easily imagine them watching some brutality unflinchingly. And now, they were watching me in the same peculiar way as they had earlier that morning.
“Mind company?”
I did, actually, but that’s not exactly something you just blurt to a vampire, alone in the woods. So I just shrugged and moved on. Of course, my previous thoughts had been permanently interrupted; in fact, I couldn’t contemplate anything with him walking so close to me.
“So, how’re you holding up?”
“You’re the first one to ask me that.” First vampire, I thought.
He laughed. “That’s not an answer.”
“It’s a day-to-day struggle for survival, I guess.”
“Tomorrow’s a special honor.”
I didn’t answer.
“Hope you’re not going to bail, because I chose my best suit.”
We stopped, and the corner of his mouth was tilted in a crooked smile. I had always found that sexy in boys.
“What kind of dress are you planning to wear?” he asked, getting closer. “So I’ll be able to find you easily.”
His closeness was alarming. None of the vampires had ever gotten so close!
“Nika.” There was a strong voice behind me.
Set retreated to his previous position, squaring his shoulders a little with a nonchalant bob of his head.
“Belun. I wasn’t aware this path was so busy.”
“Neither was I,” Belun answered, focusing on Set’s eyes.
Then I knew why I hadn’t recognized his voice—he had never said my name before.
“It’s late and you have training early tomorrow,” he said. I gave a tiny apologetic smile to Set and started back.
“Didn’t know that anyone was working tomorrow,” said Set.
“Now you do. Goodnight.” Belun walked directly in my path, so I had to stop and wait until he had passed before I followed.
What just happened? After a while I broke the silence.
“Why is nobody working tomorrow?”
“Free day,” Belun said, and then added. “But not for you. You need to train.”
“Instead of having my head ripped off?”
He looked confused.
“As punishment, I mean. You’ll build me up until you finally break me.”
“Punishment for what?”
I felt his gaze, even through the dim evening light. I was silent, and a little confused.
“Because of the kick, you mean?”
I nodded. “You’ll torture me until I sweat blood.”
“You lack motivation. Your technique is acceptable for a beginner, and as we saw, you have strength when well-motivated.”
This was the longest sentence he had said to me.
“That wasn’t strength. It was anger.”
“Whatever. Tomorrow at nine. Good night.”
He left me at the door of my dorm and left before I could say anything.
Chapter 5
The Reception
“Where you going so early?” Julia eyed my morning tea.
“There are those who have to train today,” I said in a sulky voice.
“He’s no joke, right? You could always complain to a higher authority, you know, ‘cause today, my dear, is a vacation day.”
“Right, and where would that leave me?”
“If it’s any consolation, he won’t bother you for long. There’s a Council meeting before lunch, and Belun has to be present.”
“Great. When is the reception?” I muttered.
“It starts at six. You decided what to wear yet?”
That made me think of Set’s question from the night before. But he was her team leader; I couldn’t just spill that in a chat.
“I see myself in black.”
She smiled approvingly.
“Your team leader….”
“Set?”
“Yeah, how’re things between him and Belun?”
“Not sure, but I’d say they have history. I’ve seen some animosity a couple of times between them, but nothing more than that. They are both on the Council, so my guess is political disagreements.”
“Maybe.” That was new information. “So, are you meeting someone special tonight?” She gave me a secretive look, and winked but said nothing. I didn’t feel I could pry.
I put on my new sportswear. Brown yoga pants, with a pale yellow t-shirt and orange hoodie. And new Nikes. I felt better—who said clothes don’t make the man? Okay, that was me, like a zillion times before—but in these clothes my self-esteem jumped about thirty-five percent, and that seemed like it would be enough to help me survive another day in this place.
Belun was waiting in the gym.
“Good morning.”
When did we start being so polite?
“Good morning,” I replied, hiding my nervousness.
“We’ll be running.”
And go running we did—ninety minutes of torture on the same forest path that I had taken the night before, which made me think of our strange little meeting. However, I couldn’t decide which part was stranger: encountering Set or Belun. Suddenly I realized that Belun hadn’t had any right to shoo me to bed. It’s not like there was a curfew in the compound, and I could meet whomever I liked after hours. Not that Set and I had planned to meet, but still. Belun had taken me to my dorm as if I was disobedient child! And it’s not like he was that much older than I, well, at least not in the way of physical appearance—I mean, he looked like a college senior. Oh crap, what had I been thinking! He was much older, like centuries older!
I stole a glance at him, but he instantly turned his eyes on me. I looked away, feeling like I had been caught doing something wrong.
“C’mon, don’t lag behind.”
“I’m doing my best!”
“Hardly.”
I frowned and tried to speed up.
Of course we walked back, I couldn’t jog anymore. When would this torment end?
“So, has it started?”
“Has what started?” I asked, surprised.
“Sweat to blood transformation?”
I barked a weird sort of laugh. “Why, you making a new race behind the Elders’ back?”
“Warriors are not a sub-race.”
“I’m not here to be a Warrior. I’m an Inquirer.”
“I’m not making you into a Warrior, just a physically capable person.”
I was silent. Clearly he thought I was a total idiot.
“Are you coming tonight?” he asked.
“Do you like the soft aroma of a good A Negative?” He didn’t reply; actually he didn’t open his mouth again. Training over.
Great. Half a step forward, five steps back.
This time for breakfast I ate cereal and fresh orange juice. The dining room was almost empty, so I ate fast and returned to my suite and relaxed on the couch—God, I’d missed that.
I flipped through the millions of satellite channels and found nothing interesting, as usual. Annoying. The more I flipped, the stupider it got. At some point, I fell asleep. Then I felt something blink; and then a thousand more fast blinks. Suddenly I was in the middle of millions of blinking eyes, all watching me intensely. I tried to yank myself awake, only to find myself in another dream—I was actually captured in one of those many eyes!
Julia’s hand shook me awake.
“Nika? Hon, you okay? Sorry to wake you, but it looked like you needed it.”
I nodded in confusion, looking about me. She brought me a glass of water. After a few minutes I spoke.
“Are you satisfied with your job here? Is it worth the sacrifice?”
“So that’s what this is all about.” Julia smiled and sat next to me.
“Maybe. I don’t know.”
“Wha
t kind of sacrifice do you have in mind?”
“You know marriage, kids, dog, and house. That whole thing.” I thought I saw a sharp line cutting through her eyes.
“We all have our reasons for being here and not somewhere else, honey. Would you choose to live in ignorance after you knew better?”
I shrugged. I still didn’t feel like this was my real life, so making the decision to reject it wasn’t completely unappealing.
I would have been lying if I said that, after zoning out for the rest of the day, I didn’t enjoy the party preparations that followed later that evening. It helped me to remember that I still was a teenager, no matter what my situation, so the party frills, preparations, and whatnot, were still part of my DNA.
I selected a satin black dress. It was sleeveless, hit just above the knees, and looked like a fancy tunic dress from the 70s. A black string belt cut the dress at the hips, giving it a phenomenal shape that smoothly slid over my body. With black stockings and black evening pumps, I looked good. I really did. My reflection actually surprised me, because I hadn’t had a chance to pay any attention to my looks since I’d become a college student, what with all the lectures and exams and stuff. Who said that college life was all fun? Plus, I’d never had such beautiful designer clothes before.
Gray-blue eye shadow, mascara and colorless lip gloss. I skipped the foundation and blush, thinking that I’d look like a clown in that sea of pretty pale faces. I curled my hair a bit, enough to make it wavy, and to fell nicely on my shoulders.
“Wow.” Tibor and Blake said in unison when I entered the common room.
I had heard them come in while I was getting ready. It was satisfying to see their raised eyebrows.
“You look beautiful, Lamb.”
“Very pretty,” Blake offered.
“Hey guys, thanks.”
They looked dashing, too. Tibor wore a dark gray suit with blue skinny tie, part of his gray dress shirt escaping the belt—purposely, I assumed. Blake was tie-less in a black suit and dark gray dress shirt. While Tibor’s hair was messy as usual, Blake had carefully arranged his hair into a 50s look. They both were very handsome. And Julia was mesmerizing in a strappy champagne-colored knee length cocktail dress. Her blonde hair was swept up in a Grace Kelly chignon. Jeez, it felt like we were going to prom.
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