“Alright, I’ll try,” I groan.
“Good,” she says and I can practically hear the relief in her voice. “I have to get going. Work has been killing me this week.”
“K,” I sigh, wishing for once she would be able to sit and chat for a while. “I won’t keep you.”
“Keep your chin up, beautiful girl. I know it’s hard but remember I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I say as I end the call.
With nothing else to do, I spend the rest of my day texting Jacinta, falling in and out of an exhausted sleep, and snooping through Nurse Cathy’s phone which manages to give me hours of entertainment as it seems Nurse Cathy is having one hell of a dirty affair.
----------
Monday morning is like Deja vu, I get up and eat a quick breakfast before Mr. Richards ushers me out to board the jet, which is precisely where the Deja vu ends. A shocked gasp comes flying from my mouth as I step inside the jet to find Marcus waiting patiently.
His eyes narrow on mine as I make my way deeper into the jet and settle myself into my designated seat. “So glad you could finally join us,” he scolds as he makes a show of checking his watch.
“No problem,” I smile, though I know my sarcasm isn’t lost on him as his eyes narrow even further.
I sit down and patiently wait as the jet prepares for take-off with an un-easy feeling in the pit of my stomach. I have no doubt this has something to do with the retaliation Alistair and Jackson warned me of. If only I could figure out what he’s up to and beat him at his own game.
That feeling follows me the whole flight, right up until we land at today’s Academy. Mr. Richards stands from his seat and as professionally as ever, ushers me off the flight. I watch him from behind and notice the tension in his shoulders and the extra effort he puts into holding himself and realize he’s putting on a show for Marcus. God, what a suck up.
I double my stride and quickly catch up beside him. “What’s Marcus doing here?” I ask quietly.
Mr. Richards hastily looks over in fear and visibly relaxes when he notices Marcus is still on board the jet. “As far as I’m aware, Marcus is here to over see and evaluate your work,” he explains.
“Seriously? That’s bullshit and you know it,” I scoff.
“Bianca, it’s really none of my business why he’s here and quite frankly, I don’t give a crap. All I know is that if you make me look bad in front of a High Council Member again, I promise you, I will make your time at Headquarters a living hell.”
“Too late, Richards, It’s already a living hell,” I smile innocently as I give him a wink.
“Good, I’m pleased,” he snaps.
“What crawled up your ass today?” I question. “Usually you only get this snappy after I’ve screwed up the seminar.”
“For your information, you’ve already screwed up. You didn’t show at the meeting on Friday night, which of course, made me look bad and now Marcus is here, which could only mean, you must have screwed up even further. So, forgive me if I don’t find your presence particularly endearing today.”
“Dude, you must be seriously overdue for a vacation, either that or you really need to get laid.”
Richards stops at the assembly hall’s door and turns on me with venom in his eyes, which after spending the majority of the year with Rylan, it’s nothing to be frightened of at all. In fact, it tends to bring out a little smile of my own. “Get your ass inside and give the best god damn seminar your infuriating little self can possibly give and the get your ass back on the jet,” he orders as his face begins to turn red with anger.
He storms past me into the room and I try my best not to break into laughter.
I follow on behind, taking in the room that looks identical to the one back home and of course, all the other ones I’ve visited lately.
I take a seat upon the stage and look out at the junior class to see all their young eyes staring back at me. I watch as their teachers attempt to quieten them down and notice out the corner of my eye, Marcus slipping into a room by the side of the stage. Five minutes pass before he comes back out and gives the Academy Principal the nod to get started.
The principal gets up and introduces us to the juniors, making sure each and every one of them understands what an honor it is to have a visit by a High Council Member. Marcus gets up and introduces himself with as much charm as ever while making himself out to be an absolute hero. He talks a little about our mission before finally introducing me.
The juniors applaud and I watch as a young girl in the front row, clutches her friend's hand as her eyes light up in excitement. I give her a small smile before getting to my feet. I walk out past the podium and down the steps so I’m directly in front of the students.
I get straight into my speech, delivering it with as much of my Bianca Moore bravado as possible. Especially after I told Mom that I would try not to get in trouble, for her sake and Millie’s, so why not put a little effort in?
I’m wrapping up my speech when I see Marcus get to his feet on the stage behind me. He makes his way down the steps and stands right beside me, placing a hand on my shoulder and looking out at the students with a huge smile. “We have organised a surprise for you all this afternoon,” he boats as the room burst into excited gasps and snickers.
I so desperately want to join in with their excitement, but I know he’s up to something, some kind of payback.
“Bianca here, has recently suggested that the best way to gain interest in the combat program is for ones like yourselves to see the skills and talent in action,” he starts. “So, what do you say? Would you like to see the only first ranked female The Guard has ever seen give a brief demonstration?” The room erupts into excited cheers and has boys all around jumping out of their seats, throwing their hands up and volunteering.
Where the hell is he going with this?
Marcus waves off their offers of help and asks for someone to help clear away the podium to allow proper viewing of the stage. He indicates with a wave of his hand for me to go and stand on the stage, so I do so with a little hesitation due to the look of complete satisfaction in his eyes.
I stand front and center, watching and waiting for whatever it is that he has planned. “Alright, everyone please take your seats,” he says and waits patiently for the rooms undivided attention. “Now, let's allow you to make the rules here,” he says to the students as he pulls a sheathed dagger from his pocket. “Being a top ranking student, should Bianca be allowed to use a weapon or should we see the true talent that lays beneath and see if we can make it difficult for her?”
As one, the room all call out that it should be made difficult. Anxiety slowly begins to trickle down my spine. What is he doing? I look over to my group of handlers and even notice Richards on his feet, watching over the scene before him with questions in his eyes. He catches my gaze and clearly must see the confusion reflected in my own eyes. He shrugs before looking towards Marcus.
“Shall we meet Bianca’s opponent?” Marcus ask as the door to the side of the stage opens before two men of The Front Line appear. Great, I’m facing down two fully trained weapons of The Guard. The two men step out from the door way when I realize they won’t be my opponent.
No, it’s not possible.
Why would Marcus do this?
A vampire stands snarling behind the two men with his wrists and ankles bound and his fangs on full display for everyone to see. My first thought is for these children. Why would Marcus bring a vampire into the middle of the Academy? An academy filled with hundreds of children. Why the hell would he endanger their lives like this? I mean, is this even legal?
I realize I’m going to have to kill this vampire and it’s going to have to happen in front of all these students, students who are way too young and innocent to witness such brutality. It just isn’t right. But I have no choice, either I kill the vampire and rob them of their innocence, or I can fail. The vampire will kill me, rob the children of their innocence and most li
kely kill a few other people before someone is able to get close enough to kill him.
I hear the students gasping in fear as the vampire comes into view. I see the question in their eyes. Do we run? Or is this a standard demonstration? I notice a few of the students with excited looks on their faces, probably not grasping the true seriousness of the situation and most likely thinking that vampires aren’t all that bad if a High Council Member brought him into a school. My eyes lock with the young girl in the front row who not moments ago was excited about seeing her hero in action, but that excitement has changed to fear and my heart shatters for her.
I notice Mr. Richards looking on in horror as he breaks away from our group and makes his way forward, but what’s he going to do? He comes closer to the stage and stops just shy of the steps, completely confused and unsure of how to handle this. After all, this is Marcus, A High Council Member, he can do whatever he pleases.
I distantly notice a few of the staff members silently getting to their feet with white faces and opening the emergency exits. I watch on as their principal pulls out a phone and immediately begins dialling a number, though I doubt Marcus has noticed, he’s too excited as he studies the vampire who I’m sure he’s brought here to kill me.
“Let’s get the show on the road, shall we?” Marcus announces.
The two guards hesitantly step away from the vampire and releases their holds on him. I turn to face the vampire who stares me down like he hasn't had a drop of blood in weeks, which, I’m now positive he hasn’t.
What the hell am I going to do? I’m in a skirt suit and high heels. What does he expect me to do? Deliver my speech to the vampire?
The Vampire doesn’t even give me a second to work out my plan of attack before he flexes his arms and legs and breaks out of his binds. He slams into me the very next moment and I stumble back into my heels. I hear the screams of the children around and want to throw up, knowing the fear they must be feeling and hope to God that the staff members in the room have the brains to start evacuating the children.
I instantly push back but with my lack of training over the last few months, my weight loss, and these ridiculous heels, it’s not the best mix for bringing this monster down. The vampire snarls as I throw a punch. He quickly blocks it and follows it up with one of his own which knocks me right back into the wall. Crap, this guy is strong.
I bring my knee up and nail him in the stomach, but it doesn’t do much, so I try again and this time get him in the junk, which, being a vampire, shouldn’t actually affect him, but a male can’t help the natural reaction. I hear a few cheers of support around the room, but don’t have the time to dwell on it. I use my two seconds to get some space from the vampire and get my back off the wall. I hastily look around the small space for anything that can be used as a weapon and come up with nothing. I briefly wonder what happened to the dagger that Marcus had before though now realize it’s most likely well and truly hidden away.
The vampire is back on me in an instant and the students gasp and scream as one. He lashes out and I jump back in my heels. Crap, my heels. I bring my leg up in a round house kick with as much force as possible which has him falling backward and my skirt tearing right up the seam. My heel flies off my foot with the momentum of my kick, but I quickly reach for my other heel to use as my weapon. It probably won't kill him, but it will definitely slow him down. Hopefully enough so I can break his neck. A grin creeps across my face knowing Daniel would probably make a comment about my torn skirt right about now.
Damn it. Hundreds of lives at stake. I need to focus.
I hear my support group calling out for me to ‘watch out’, helping me along the way as if I’m not standing right before the monster that’s trying to kill me. He recovers from my kick with his red eyes focusing in on the heel that I now hold in my palm. He snarls in outrage and lunges towards me.
I try my hardest to duck out of the way, but he is too fast. He’s on me in no time. I feel my body falling to the ground with the vampire on top of me. Almost as if it’s in slow motion, everything becomes very clear. I know the ground is coming up fast and from this angle, it isn’t going to be good. I clutch my heel in my hand with whatever strength is left in my body and bring it up with as much force as possible. I use all my might as I bury the pointed heel deep within his neck and tear the wound wide open. I see his eyes widen in shock, but don’t have a second to react as my body finally connects with the hard surface of the stage.
My head bounces off the ground and my vision blurs. A dark shadow crosses over my sight before a weight is lifted off me. Dizziness begins to cloud my mind and the sounds of the students screams haunt me as everything goes black.
Chapter 4
I wake with a gasp to find a body hovering over me. Crap the vampire. My arm snakes out from beside me as I punch him in the face with everything I’ve got. I desperately try to get up when hands grab me from all angles. What the hell is happening? What’s going on? I thrash against the hands. I have to get up. I have to kill the vampire. The poor kids. How long have I been out?
Crap. How many kids did he get to first?
“Bianca,” I hear a soothing voice say. “Calm down. You’re at Headquarters. You’re in the infirmary.”
What?
I blink a few times and actually take in my surroundings. Familiar white walls, familiar sounds of machines beeping, familiar bodies of Dr. Mandoza, Brett Norrington, and Mr. Richards. Thank god. I let out a breath realizing I’m ok as my gaze flicks back to Brett holding his nose. Oh shit. I just broke the leader of The Guard’s nose.
“I’m so sorry,” I gasp.
“Don’t worry about it. I should have known better than to hover over someone who was just attacked by a vampire,” he says with regret as Dr. Mandoza rises from her chair and starts checking out his nose.
“How are you feeling?” she asks me as she looks back over her shoulder.
I quickly take a mental study of my body, apart from my head, I feel fine. “Alright, my head hurts, but apart from that I’m ok,” I say.
She gives me a knowing look and calls out for the nurse to bring in some pain killers. “That’s expected. You have quite a nasty bump back there,” she tells me as she gets back to addressing Brett’s nose. “Hold still,” she scolds. “This may hurt.”
I turn to Richard’s. “What happened? Tell me he didn’t get any of those kids?” I ask, searching his face for the truth.
“No, the kids are safe,” he tells me. “I saw you going down. I don’t know what possessed me to do it, but I just jumped and pushed him off you. He had your shoe all mangled in his throat, but he was still going in for the kill. I pushed him towards the two men who brought him in. They had no other choice but to take him out.”
“Thank you,” I say in absolute shock. “Why did you do that?”
“Honestly, I’ve been sitting here trying to figure it out myself, but I just can't. You infuriate me like you wouldn’t believe. All I can come up with is after putting up with you for the past three months if anyone gets to kill you, it’s going to be me,” he says.
“Thank you,” I say. “I really appreciate it, maybe I might even try being a little nicer now. Guess I owe you one.”
“Indeed you do, Bianca Moore,” he says. “Now that you seem to be ok, I need to get some reports done,” he says then stands and quickly exits the room, leaving me with Dr. Mandoza and Brett who still has blood seeping from his nose.
After quickly fixing himself up, Brett comes and takes the chair by my side, which Richards just left. “Bianca, I’m so glad to see you’re ok, but if you’re up to it, I’d like to ask you a few questions.”
“Go for it,” I tell him.
“Don’t worry, there won't be many, I’ve already got enough reports and statements from the witnesses, so I guess what’s not making sense is why Marcus would have done such a thing? Because I know I sure as hell didn’t approve that demonstration,” he says.
With a sigh, I tell him ev
erything about the meeting I had with Marcus over the weekend and how I had reacted.
He lets out a disappointed sigh and apologizes on behalf of The Guard. “Marcus has got out of hand,” he says, shaking his head. “I’ll be calling a full council meeting and I think you should be there. It’s about time we discuss your involvement in this project,” he tells me.
“Seriously? Is there a chance I could go home?” I ask in shock.
“Yes, Bianca. A vote will need to be held, but it’s likely that in your situation, you may end up on the first flight back home,” he tells me.
“Wow,” I say as my hand automatically reaches up for the bullet chain that hangs around my neck.
“If you wouldn’t mind,” Brett says as he looks up at Dr. Mandoza, “I think it could be beneficial to Bianca’s cause if you were there to support her and answer a few questions in relation to her health.”
“Of course,” she says immediately with a beaming smile. “Anything. Bianca needs to be back at that Academy.”
“Thank you,” I say as a tear rolls down my cheek in relief. I grin up at Dr. Mandoza as she returns my smile with a knowing gleam in her eye. After all, returning home is the only thing I have talked about since the moment I left.
Jacinta, Millie, Trey and Daniel, Hell, I’m even happy to see Nora. Holy cow, this doesn’t seem real. Finally. I actually have a shot at going home. I could be with my friends and family. I could be there when Rylan gets off his suspension. Wow. I sink back into my pillow as my mind goes over every last possible thing that could affect my chances at this council meeting.
----------
Two days later and after a nasty concussion, I’m finally freed from the infirmary, only to be ordered to my room for a quick shower and to be present in the council chambers meeting hall in the next ten minutes.
I rush through my shower, not nearly getting the satisfaction out of it that I had hoped for, especially after sitting in an infirmary bed for the last two days.
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