“Oopsie,” a voice cawed, followed by a group of giggles. “See, girls, this is why we don’t allow half-breeds. They're always unstable and clumsy—definitely not High Guard material.”
I knelt and picked up the mess, as I ignored my tormentor. Someone once said, “If you ignore the devil, he’ll flee.” It was a good statement, but in my case, it only got worse. I glanced up at the long-legged slender blonde. Well, she was Awakened, so I felt her pain. I couldn’t help wondering what she’d been through—it was worth asking.
“Did a demon kill you too? Or are you just naturally a bitch?” My voice definitely indicated the amount of venom I wanted to inflict on her.
She took a step toward me, and I quickly stood up to face her eye-to-eye. The girl appeared to be a year or so older than me, and we were matched in height. Her blue eyes locked on mine, and almost immediately, I braced myself for anything.
“Careful with that mouth in here. I think we got off on the wrong foot. So, let me help you with that.” She took a step back and spun around so fast her motion was nothing short of a blur.
The next thing I remembered was her right foot hitting the back of my left foot and pulling it straight out in front of me. I gasped as the plate and I separated ways as I hit the floor with a thud. The mean girl and her crew burst into laughter, which fueled a fire within me. As I scrambled to get up, a hand grabbed me underneath my arm and lifted me effortlessly to my feet.
“What’s going on, Leigh?” Jacob demanded, his tone sharp and controlled.
I jerked away from him and brushed the remains of breakfast off myself. The girl's laughter stopped immediately, and they all took a step back as Jacob placed himself between Leigh and me.
“I don’t mean any harm to your basic little charity case, Jacob.” Her honey-laced, venomous voice was more than I could stomach.
Jacob frowned. “If you want to pick on someone, how about going a few rounds with me then.”
She took a step forward, then placed a finger on his lips and did a swipe right, like she was on Tinder, or something. It was weird. “I’d love to go a few rounds with you,” she said.
Jacob slapped her hand away from his lips and narrowed his gaze. His hands drew into fists as he leaned closer to her face. Leigh’s brows lifted, and her eyes immediately dropped to the floor as if she had been confronted by her Alpha. She lavishly turned, and her hair fanned out in a wave behind her as she gathered her friends and walked off.
“Are you all right?” Jacob held my arm and stared into my face.
“I’m fine,” I lied. There was no sense in crying over spilled food. I’d never had to experience bullies before, but Leigh was one hundred percent a bully. It wasn’t my pleasure to have met her. “Who is she?”
“That’s Leigh Caldwell. She’s one of the top contenders for the High Guard.”
“Jessie?” Jen ran over to us. “Are you okay? What happened? I heard there was some commotion. The last thing I saw was you when I waved you to our table.”
“I’m fine, Jen. Really. I just met Leigh.”
“I can get you another plate.” Jacob offered as he took the dirty plate from me.
My attention snapped to him, as he stood hopeless in his attempt to rescue me from an otherwise ill fate with Leigh. I really needed my distance from him to calm those emotions and sooth my semi-jilted feelings. “No. Just leave me alone.”
I brushed off the remaining crumbs and tried to head back to my room to change clothes. I wasn’t going to class looking like a mess. It was bad enough that almost everyone saw what happened. This day felt like the first day as a freshman in high school. Back then, I was clumsy and always unsure of my direction to class, not to mention I had the awkward feeling of new surroundings.
“Jessie—” Jacob called out behind me. “Wait—”
The last thing I wanted was for him to make a scene, so I stopped before my life got any more embarrassing. “What?” I seethed.
Jacob shook his head in confusion as his eyebrows drew into a frown. “I’m just trying to help you, Jessie. What’s the—I don’t get it.”
“I don’t get it either, Jacob.” I looked anxiously around the room. Everyone seemed like they were back in their own world, and I wasn’t the top viewing channel at this point. With my gaze narrowed, I brought my attention back to him. “Look, this—” I pointed from him to me, and back again “—ain’t gonna happen. You know, it would’ve been nice of you to have at least informed me before you kissed me.” I sighed and shifted my weight from one foot to the other; it had always been my way to control my inner rage. “You already have someone out there, somewhere. Look, your dad already told me it wasn’t me, that it couldn’t be me. I don’t need the heartbreak, okay?”
“Jessie—I—” Jacob’s mouth flew open, but he had no real answer. His eyes drifted downward, as his shoulder slumped forward. Slowly, his gaze lifted to mine.
“Just do us both the favor.” Those were the last words I spoke to him before I stormed off to my room to change clothes. “Leave me alone.”
I had enough to deal with in my unnatural borne life— a bully-bitch crew of three, a new life to get used to, and now to top it off—a wannabe boyfriend who I could never have. My life just kept getting better and better. After I had cleaned up and changed clothes, I managed to make it to my first class on time. Thankfully, I had a map of the school to help, and Jen to direct me.
Once inside the classroom, much to my liking, there were seats available in the back of the class. Perfect, I could do my recluse thing, and be quiet. I grabbed a chair and settled in while the remaining students, including Leigh and her group of two, took their seats. Lucky for me, she sat in the front, probably to keep an eye on the teacher.
The classroom door opened, and of course, now I knew why Leigh sat in the front row—Gordon, Jacob’s overly handsome brother was our teacher. I didn’t see that one coming—nope, not one bit.
“Good morning, class. My name is Gordon Wester, and I’ll be your Weapons and History teacher for the summer. This summer, we’ll be focusing on war.” Gordon grabbed a stack of books and passed them to the first person in the row, making sure there were enough books for everyone. “Can anyone tell me who was the greatest warlord in the history of the world?”
Leigh’s hand flew straight up. “Genghis Khan.”
Gordon, “Tell me why.”
“Genghis Khan went from a nobody to becoming the greatest leader of one of the largest empires the world has seen. He used the best parts of his enemies to help him,” Leigh added.
Gordon stepped back behind his desk, and his gaze drifted among the students present. “I’m looking for something deeper here. Genghis Khan was a great warlord, but what is the meaning behind being a great warlord? Who knows this answer?”
“Sun Tzu.” My mouth opened, and the words flew out before I could stop them. “Sun Tzu was a general, but he used tactics to win the war. He believed that wars could be won not by fighting, but by breaking the enemy’s resistance.” I supposed my nerd-like useless knowledge had paid off, and the fact that I read my dad’s copy of The Art of War.
“Tell me why?”
“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting,” I replied.
“Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War. It has been the most important and famous military treatise in Asia for the last two thousand years. A warlord, by definition—” Gordon turned around and picked up the chalk “—is a leader who can exercise military, economic, and political control over a subnational territory within a sovereign state by their ability to mobilize loyal armed forces.”
“How can you win a war if you don’t fight?” the ginger boy who sat across from me asked. He seemed a bit nerdy like—well, like the old me.
“Why does the world have spies? To gain valuable intel about a country. A nation? Once you know what you’re dealing with, and you know your abilities, you have the tools to defeat your enemy.” Gordon paced back and forth, waiting for an a
nswer.
“Exploit their weaknesses, then take over,” Leigh replied.
“How can you take over a nation that doesn’t want to be taken over?” Gordon put a large question mark on the board.
“Give them what they think they want,” I answered boldly without thinking. This was not me—I had never been this forward in class. Even to confront Leigh the way I had—that wasn’t me either.
Gordon clapped his hands together in a round of applause. “That’s it. Thank you, Miss Connelly. For your summer assignment, I want each of you to write me an essay on war, and how you, if you were a warlord, would stop the enemy from taking over. For your final grade, I want you to write me a warlord’s speech.”
As I kept my attention forward, my thoughts drifted in and out while Gordon continued his discussion on the types of wars. My heart had been torn between the push to keep Jacob away and at the same time, the wanting to be close to him. I mean, what girl wouldn’t want him? He did save my life, and that meant something. However, it wasn’t enough to dismiss the kiss. I closed my eyes for a moment, remembering his lips on mine—that was never supposed to happen. Jacob already knew his destiny, and he went against the rules—which put my heart in danger of being broken. He knew better—I didn’t.
Wars. I felt a war brewed within me over Jacob. Maybe honesty would’ve been my best choice, then I realized he probably already knew I was attracted to him. My best option would be to just keep him at a distance until I got a better grip on my utter attraction to him.
Before I realized it, Gordon had clapped his hands together once, then looked at the clock and dismissed the class. I gathered my book and notepad, then rallied behind the students as they left the class. Luckily, the ginger boy caught Gordon’s attention by asking him a question. At first, I had a feeling, since Gordon did spy me heading toward the door, he would want to talk to me about Jacob. But I was done with all of that and had decided to move on.
The next few classes were okay. I had Math class with Jen, and then Biology class with the Ginger boy, whose name was Craig. Since I was terrible with last names, I forgot his by lunchtime. Lunch—food was all I had on my mind, since the breakfast incident. I never did get anything to eat since then, and everything on the buffet looked delicious. I may have overdone my plate a bit. The saying, ‘Your eyes are bigger than your stomach’ might be true in my case.
Jen and her friends, whose first names I remembered as Donna and Brenda, greeted us with a new surprise. I didn’t notice it at first, but I paused a moment to look around the lunch area. It did seem to be a balance of boys vs. girls. I supposed it also brought up a new question.
“Have you guys met your, uhm—” I didn’t remember the correct terminology.
Donna, the golden-blonde-haired girl with dark brown eyes, chuckled. “Mate? It’s okay Jessie, don’t be afraid, just be yourself around us. And no, I haven’t met him, yet.”
“Some of the girls have met their mates already. Like Jilly and Thomas over there. They met last year when they first came into the Sanctuary. Aside from fighting demons and whatever, Jilly plans to finish school and become a doctor like Dr. Wester. She has the same gifts when it comes to healing, and modern-world healing technology.” Jen took a bite of her sandwich, smiled, then chewed.
“Why do you ask?” Donna inquired.
“Just curious, I guess.” I shrugged and tried to act as though it didn’t matter. The truth was, it did matter. Inside, I hated myself for pushing Jacob away earlier this morning, but it was for the best. I didn’t need that drama in my life—the side chick, that wasn’t what I wanted to be, ever.
“We’re all told the same thing: it will happen when it happens. But that doesn’t stop us from flirting with or drooling over cute guys!” Brenda said. With golden-tinted tanned skin, dark brown hair, and hazel-colored eyes, Brenda looked as though she had stepped right off the front page of a teen magazine, maybe even Vogue. She was utterly beautiful and had a sassy little twist that made me believe we could become friends.
“I know, right?” A tall, lean, boy around our age group grabbed a chair and joined us at our table with his plate of food. “You bitches wish you knew how to flirt with a cute guy.” He dramatically waved his hand in the air, then paused and looked right at me. “And who might this lovely lady be?”
Jen chuckled. “Tristan, this is Jessie.” She motioned from him to me. “Jessie, Tristan.”
Immediately, Tristan stretched his hand over the table toward me as his light brown eyes held mine. “Charmed.” I placed my hand in his, and he gave me a gentle squeeze. “You’re—different.”
Tristan was an exciting story all in himself. He was, like most guys here, very handsome and tall. I guessed it had to be something in their gene pool—well, they did come from a long ancient line of people. But the guys were all just as beautiful as the women. Tristan was tall, with his black hair cut close on the sides and longer on top with bleached streaks. He was the first guy I’d seen with a neatly trimmed Van Dyke-styled beard. Most of the other guys here kept their faces clean-shaven. Even his eyebrows were perfectly trimmed and groomed. Suddenly, I felt a bit jealous because his eyebrows looked better than mine.
I chuckled, then felt the heat slap my cheeks hard. “I’m different—like, what do you mean?”
He pulled his hand back and continued to focus on me for a long moment. “You’re an ancient soul. Actually—” His attention quickly drew to his plate, and he grabbed a fork, then dived into a red strawberry “—one of the oldest souls in this place.” He bit into the strawberry and chewed slowly.
Donna touched my hand. “Remember how we talked about people with gifts? Tristan can recognize souls from previous lives.”
“Really?” I glanced back to Tristan. “So, who was I?”
He held one finger up as he finished chewing his food, then wiped his mouth. “You were a very close friend of mine.”
I lifted my brows. “In which lifetime?”
“All of them.” Tristan gave me an inquisitive glare. “Funny, you never remembered me, but as fate would have it, we always meet. And—I’m always pulling your ass out of some drawn-out love triangle drama.” He shook his head. “It never fails.”
At that point, everyone chuckled, except for me. I half-laughed, but secretly wondered if what Tristan said was true. His attention gracefully drifted back to his plate, and he continued to eat. The curious me wanted to know more about my past lives, but the real me knew this wasn’t the best time.
“As far as being different, you’ll soon discover it.” Tristan looked up at me with a forkful of food. “It has never been my place to tell you who you are.”
“Tristan’s always been a little more dramatic than necessary,” Donna added as she took a sip of her drink.
“Girl, speak for yourself. Donna?” Tristan began.
“What, Tristan?” Donna’s voice held a hint of annoyance.
“Go find a date,” He slipped out quickly before he took another bite into his food.
Donna rolled her eyes even as a chuckle escaped her lips. “If you’d stop hitting on all the boys, maybe I’d find one.”
Tristan pulled his head back and laughed. “This, ladies, is why I hang out with you. All of y’all need help.” His gaze snapped to me. “Except this one—and I bet she already has two guys fighting over her right now. OH, speaking of dates—have you seen the new guy?”
“What new guy?” Jen spoke up after her long silence.
“He is a scrumptious piece of hotness.” He shook his head. “Y’all can’t do anything with that, better leave him to me.”
At that point, everyone at the table laughed, including Tristan. It was nice to be free of my conflicting thoughts for a while and just laugh. As the talk simmered down to a mild chat, I noticed Tristan kept a close glance on me as if he knew more about me than I realized. Often enough, I glanced in his direction and just gave him a warm smile. If he was my best friend in a past life, then it was probably true that
he’d be mine again in this life.
Another interesting fact that I had learned while having lunch with the girls is that they were all from different cities and states. Each one lived with their parents until age fifteen and was sent here to continue school and training at the Sanctuary. The students could go home during the holidays for a week to spend with their families. In the summer, they could return home or spend it at the Sanctuary, taking extra classes to graduate early or train for the High Guard. It wasn’t a bad deal.
The day went by fast, and I was exhausted after my last class. All I wanted to do was go to my room and take a nap, but that idea failed when I remembered I had Guard Training with Gordon at five o’clock sharp. I checked my watch: I had exactly forty-five minutes to change clothes and meet him downstairs in the gym.
Once I made it to my room, I quickly changed clothes and put on a pair of gym shorts and a light t-shirt, then wore my sneakers. A quick brush-through of my hair which I pulled back into a ponytail—and I was ready to go. My heart dropped a little when I thought back to the effort Dr. Wester had put into finding not only clothes for me but a semi-complete wardrobe. Despite my problems, I had a lot to be thankful for, and to these people who had helped me. With that thought in mind, I promised I would return the kind gesture to her. I investigated my closet and found a brand-new gym bag and a blue and white backpack there. I overlooked the fact that someone came into my room while I wasn’t here, but I was thankful for what they left. The situation was oddly confusing, but well, at least they had a key, and it wasn’t a break-in. I smiled and fought back a tear that threatened to fall. The least I could do was try to fit in and do my best. I grabbed the gym bag and shook it, and the sound told me my dueling blades were in there. Then I was off to meet Gordon at the gym for some kick-ass training.
Bloodborne Awakened (Borne of Blood Book 1) Page 8