by Karen Swart
Chapter 3
After I finally convinced myself to get up and start a new day, we went to breakfast. Lotan had been watching me since last night, but made no attempt to confront me or anything. That made two of us still trying to forget my Custos dragging me away like a little girl. Idiot.
Then it was time for “Class,” as the girls put it. Basically, we all gathered in a theater type room, with Vulcan talking in the front. We began with a few laws that we needed to get into our skulls. One law that said a male and female pair goes out in the field had me thinking for a while. Yesterday, I couldn’t help but notice that all the girls had a guy Custos and the boys had a girl Custos. Why on earth would they do that? Wouldn’t two girls get along much better than a grumpy old guy and a seventeen year old girl?
“May I ask a question?” I asked Vulcan, interrupting him while he was explaining a law to us.
“Of course, Kas. Go ahead.”
“Why do you pair girls with guy Custos, and vice versa for the boys?” I asked, watching Kali turn around, looking at me with interest. Okay, so I’m not the only one left in the dark here.
“You are the first one in many years to ask that question. Out in the field we have various demons to destroy. Some are more powerful than others, some so powerful a single Fallen cannot withstand them. Many years ago, before the human’s 1300’s, we had a huge problem with two types of demons. These two types still exist, and have become even more powerful than in those years.”
“They are able to trick a Fallen into either killing their partner, or taking them into the underworld, never to return or be seen again. We lost many before we could find a solution. For example, your mother and father are a fighting pair. They go out into the field and fight together. If such a demon should cross their paths, one will be able to protect the other from the demon. That is why we pair you with counter sex Custos. When you go out into the field with them for your final training, they will be able to protect you. You, in return, would be able to either protect them or act to protect them.”
Okay, so clearly we are up against two demon types that not even the Fallen could take on without each other’s help. Damn, that makes sense.
“What would happen if a fighting pair crossed paths with two of these demons at the same time?” Juno asked, so serious that I almost had a déjà vu moment from Chax. Oh yes, I forgot they are both vampires, not ‘people’ people. I wonder if they need to do the blood thing.
“None have been able to defeat both of the demons at the same time. They either die or are taken,” Vulcan replied, looking at her with the same serious face she had on permanently. Man, that’s a bummer. So, pray you never get the two demons in one spot together, or you and your partner are so dead.
“What do we call these demons?” Lada asked, leaning over the seat in front of her, very interested in the subject.
Vulcan looked at us for a minute. “The female is called a Haplai and the male Chiddigul,” he finished and kept his eyes on us. Some caught their breaths, a boy whistled, and another girl made a choking sound. I looked at Lada, not understanding what the big deal was. Yeah, sure we were dead if we were alone or came across both of them. But at least we had a chance to take them on and get the hell out of there.
Vulcan then turned around and finished the law he was busy with. The rest of the class went by very quietly, everyone thinking over the discussion we had just had. I just shrugged and paid attention to Vulcan for the rest of the morning.
After we finally finished, we retired to the grub spot to get some food. Everyone walked in silence. Okay, so the discussion had everyone dumbstruck or something? I was just taking the first scoop of food and almost had it in my mouth, when Lotan spoke behind me, scaring the jeepers out of me.
“Can I speak with you, Kas?”
Dropping the scoop of food, half in my plate and half out of it, I was instantly irritated by the guy. Hell, didn’t he notice everyone was in a dark, gloom and doom moment? I turned around to face him, and only when I saw him up close, did I notice blue finger marks around his neck. Oh crap, I didn’t mean to hurt him like that. Regret and shame taking place of my irritated moment, I replied to him, “Sure, let’s take the small table at the back. Will that be okay?”
“Yes, that will be fine,” he said. Nodding to Nanini and Lada, we walked to the small table at the back that was always open because nobody liked it. In school, this used to be my spot. I took a seat and Lotan took the one opposite me. We sat in silence for a moment.
“I’m really sorry about yesterday. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” I started, just to break the ice.
“Don’t worry. I have looked much worse than this before. I should apologize for scaring you like that. Didn’t mean to; I’m just used to all the rest going at me full steam that the bite back thing is pretty much built into me. Sorry, it won’t happen again,” he said looking at me the entire time. He had the most beautiful blue eyes.
“Of course you have to do it again. Who else is going to teach me how to take down an Impon?” I said to him, smiling, and in return got a smile from him.
“Well then, I promise to start with small bites,” he joked, taking a bite out of his steak.
Laughing at his comeback, I put the first bite in my mouth and enjoyed it. We talked through lunch, exchanging info and getting to know each other. I must admit, he was really nice, a totally different person than yesterday in the arena. No dangerous smiles, just good ones. When we finished, we walked back to the kitchen and dropped our plates in the wash bin.
He led the way out of the grub spot, and headed for the entertainment room.
“So, you got Chax, hey?”
“Yeah, scares the hell out of me.”
“No kidding. Arianna used to be his Apprendo. She says that was the worst time in her life, but that she also wouldn’t be what she is today if he didn’t do what he did then. He’s considered to be the best Custos in the Exsilium, and his Apprendos are a sight in the field.”
“Well, in that case, I’ll make sure to make enough memories to brag over in a few years,” I replied, making him laugh.
“Greetings, Kas,” Seth said, and I turned my head to the front to see him leaning on the wall next to the entertainment room.
“Hi, Seth, you’re early today,” I replied
“Yes, thought I might catch you before Chax starts his training. Would you mind if I borrow her for a while, Lotan?” he asked, smiling at me. My heart skipped a beat.
“No problem, see you later, Kas,” Lotan greeted and walked into the room.
“We’ll have to walk and talk, I’m afraid. Lord Chax is meeting me in the lobby,” I said, gesturing to the front.
“Yes, of course. I’m glad to see you are still in one piece and walking. I was worried that you might not have survived him.”
“Believe me, if it wasn’t for Lily and her amazing hands, I wouldn’t be walking here next to you.”
“I’m glad you had some help getting on your feet. I take it the training was as brutal as Chax himself?”
“Oh yeah, he really needs a new hobby. He totally sucks at this one,” I replied, making him laugh a little.
“Indeed, he is not a person you invite to a dinner party or something. He’ll most likely kill the happy mood in the first minute,” he said, making a face, and had me laughing.
“I can just see that. Nope. He’ll spoil everything,” I replied as we reached the corner leading to the lobby. We both stopped, knowing full well Chax was waiting at the front door.
“May I ask for some of your time tonight, after supper?” he asked, looking at me with a sexy smile.
“Definitely, I’ll see you then,” I replied, giving him a smile back. Come sore muscles and everything, I wouldn’t miss out on this.
“Good, then I’ll see you tonight. Vale, Kas,” he greeted, and with a smile, turned around and walked back. My heart was beating at a dangerous pace and it took me a minute or two to recompose myself. The moment I walked
into the lobby, Chax was on my case.
“I thought I made myself clear yesterday, or did my arrangement with you interrupt a moment in your life?”
“I don’t need to declare my life to you. Are we training or what?” I asked, so pissed off at him I felt like smacking him. How dare he pull rank in my personal life. I’m not his daughter, thank God.
Pissed off as usual, he got up, took two steps and grabbed my arm hard, shifting us to his training area at home. The moment we hit the ground, he released me and walked over to a bench, removing his jacket.
Rubbing my arm, I watched him as he turned and walked back to me. My body went into full alert, and I prepared myself on the balls of my feet. No way in hell am I taking his bull today. He reached me and in a freaking fast movement, grabbed my arm again. The next moment we were standing in absolute darkness. He let go of me, and disappeared in silence. I stood there, preparing myself for anything. This guy is so not going to drop me today.
“Shifting takes a lot emotional energy from a Fallen,” he said, somewhere to my left. I turned my head and tried to pinpoint his location.
“To be able to shift anywhere in the world, you can’t hesitate or be afraid. There will be no time to anticipate a safe place. You shift in the moment,” he went on, this time on my right. Oh crap, he was stalking me and shifting while at it.
“So, to help you get over it, you will avoid me by shifting,” he continued, somewhere further away in front of me. Oh hell, he is really going to do it! Turning in a slow circle, I tried to listen to any sound he might make. But I only got a freaking push from behind that had me landing on all fours, my knees digging into a hard surface that felt like rock.
Holy Crap, I’m in a freaking cave or something! The next moment he grabbed me around my shoulder and threw me straight into a wall, my head hitting it full force. A scream escaped from my mouth. Slowly, I got up and braced myself against the wall.
“Let me guess, your mother spanked you as a little boy, and now you’re taking it out on anything female. Or is this your idea of getting a girl’s attention?” I said, trying to provoke him into giving away his position. The air hummed with movement, and I was slammed into the wall, his whole body trapping me, my face squished against the wall.
“Don’t try and analyze me. I suggest you start avoiding me or there will be nothing left for Seth to look at tonight,” he growled, and for some strange reason I got goose bumps. Imagining my hellhound, I transformed just to feel him transform with me. The moment I felt the transformation was completed, I pushed myself away from the wall, only to hit a solid chest at my back.
“Maybe you need some motivation,” he whispered into my ear, and felt his breath on my neck. Every freaking vampire movie I had ever watched came crashing into my mind and I panicked. My emotions went haywire, and I shifted out of his embrace to somewhere else in the cave.
“You are such an ass!” I yelled at him in a deeper voice, a growl escaping after the last word. He just laughed. I felt the air move in the cave so I shifted to another spot, trying to avoid him.
“Well done, some inspiration for a change. Almost thought I had a problem for the first time in my existence,” he said, and the air moved again. I did the same thing, ending up smacking into a wall, and then dropping to the floor. Damn, that hurt really bad. Lying on the floor, my head pounding from the impact, he was on top of me, grabbing my hands and pinning me down.
“Now you need to feel with your mind, to ensure you don’t end up smashing into a wall, giving them the opportunity to kill you,” he instructed, his face pressed into mine. I just struggled beneath him, trying to get out from under him. I tried to shift, but I just couldn’t.
“Get. Off. Me!”
“Concentration is everything in our world,” he replied, and then I felt his breath on my neck again, goose bumps breaking out everywhere his mouth moved. Concentrate for heaven’s sake, Kas. But no luck. He kept breaking my concentration. After a while of brushing his mouth on my neck he stopped, finally getting his huge body off me. I laid there on the floor, gasping like a fish out of water, trying to calm down, but failing miserably.
I felt his hand on my knee and the next moment, light exploded in my eyes. I had to use my hands to cover them from the impact. Tears started to roll down my cheeks, stinging my bruised cheeks along the way. It took me a while before my eyes could open in the light. I looked around to see I was at his house, on the grass outside, all alone. I got up slowly and then looked at my knees. Blood covered my jeans. Then I looked at my hands, which were cut and bleeding as well. I lifted my head and turned around, trying to find him but had no luck, so I walked up to the house, looking for him.
I went into every room I could find but he was gone. Just freaking great! First he beats me up, and then leaves me here all by myself. This guy is such an ass! To hell with him, and I closed my eyes and shifted to my room in The Hellhouse. Luckily the others were still busy with training so no one was there to see me all covered in my own blood. I walked over to my closet and grabbed new clothes.
I stormed into the bathroom, and started undressing at a very slow pace. Every part of me was bruised; my knees, hands, and face were bleeding like there was no tomorrow. Its official. I’m going to kill him. At this rate I won’t even have skin left at the end of training. Finally out of my clothing, I turned on the water and got in. I braced myself against the wall, letting the water run down my back, and then my knees and hands.
I watched as the water swirling at the bottom stayed red from my blood. After a while it started to clear, so I got to the very hard part of washing myself. Crap, the soap stings like salt! I hope he gets his ass kicked in the field! Damn, this hurts. After the shower I slowly dried myself off and got back into new clothes.
Seething in residual anger, I walked down to the entertainment room, planted myself on the couch and switched over to MTV. I sat there and tried to watch, but the only thing stuck in my brain was the part where he was breathing on my neck, moving his mouth over my skin. Why the hell would I find the whole thing so amusing? There was no way in hell I was going to let him do that to me again. He can play his sick games with some other girl.
“Kas, are you okay?” Seth asked from behind me.
Yeah, just what I need, the guy I’m interested in seeing me totally messed up. “Yeah, I’m fine,” I said, keeping my face on the TV.
I heard his footsteps move to my front and quickly tried to avert my face, but was stopped by his hand. Slowly, he turned my face to look at him, and the moment he saw my face, his changed into complete anger. Closing his eyes, he just stayed like that for a while. I’m going to kill Chax for this!
“Is it that bad?” I asked. I never looked in the mirror; I was too pissed off at Chax.
He lifted his head and looked at me. “Come with me,” he said, lifting me up with him. He took my hand and led me down the hall and around a corner. A few doors later, he stopped and opened one. We walked inside to what looked like a medical room of sorts.
“Sit on the bed,” he instructed, pointing to the bed. I walked over to it, hopping on with my legs hanging over the edge to the floor. He went to the wall unit and removed some cotton and a bottle of some liquid, then turned around, standing in front of me. Looking down, he dabbed a few drops from the bottle on the cotton and then looked at me. “This may sting a little, but will speed up your healing,” he explained, and I nodded.
Slowly and so gently, he dabbed the cotton on my cheek, looking at me the whole time without saying a word. He went to my chin and lifted my head a little, making me look him in the eyes. “How did this happen?” he asked, searching my face.
“His idea of teaching shifting is taking a girl into a dark cave and then motivating her into shifting,” I replied, my eyes locked to his.
“Yes, I believe Arianna mentioned something like that to me once. There are more suitable ways, but Chax clearly has no feeling towards his Apprendos.”
“At least I got it right f
or a while, at least until he pinned me down and I was unable to get out from under him,” I said. He closed his eyes again, locking his jaws. He stopped nursing me and then opened his eyes and looked at me. No words followed. Slowly, he moved in towards me, gently placing his mouth on mine. My heart started to pound insanely, and I opened my mouth to take advantage of my first kiss.
Our kiss deepened, and he moved his arms around me and pressed me to him. I moaned and kissed him harder, desperate for more. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him to me. This was everything I had ever dreamed about. My body was humming and my heart pounding so hard I could feel it hit my ribs. We kissed for a long time, and when we finally broke apart, we were both breathless. He leaned his head to mine, still holding me, savoring the moment.
“May I be your escort to the autumn ball?” he asked me, still holding me close to him.
“Yes, that will be great,” I answered, lifting my head to look at him. We started kissing again, this time devouring each other. After a while we stopped, and he helped me off the bed. Holding my hand, he led me to the stairs going up to our rooms.
“I will release you from our prior arrangement for tonight. Go get supper and then get some rest in for tomorrow,” he said, his eyes dancing with delight.
“Okay,” I replied, and we quickly gave each other a good-bye kiss. He released me and turned around, still smiling all the way. I turned around, and headed up the stairs, feeling absolutely great after such a bad two days. I came into the hall and passed everyone with a huge smile. Some looked at me like I was insane, and others just stared.
I walked into our room to find Nanini and Lada inside getting ready for supper. “Hi guys,” I greeted them, and planted myself on my bed. They turned around and looked at me, confusion written all over their faces.
“Why on earth are you so happy when it looks like you had the crap beaten out of you?” Lada asked.
I just smiled and lay back on my pillows. No way was I going to tell them I made out with Nanini's Custos. I’ll tell them later when my heart stops beating so fast.
“Oh hell, you made out with someone. It’s written all over that smug look on your face!” Nanini said, and started to jump on the spot.
“Maybe,” I replied, still smiling.
“Please tell me it was not the nutcase?” Lada whined, her face full of disgust.
“Are you crazy? I’ll kill him before I ever make out with him. He’s an idiot!” I replied, totally shocked to find the feeling of his mouth on my neck all of a sudden. Oh, that’s so gross!
“Was it Seth?” Nanini asked, jumping onto my bed, excited.
“Yes, and he asked to take me to the ball,” I replied, still freaked out a little over the weird mouth feeling.
“Way out!” Lada said, getting up and smacking me on the shoulder. “You two are made for each other,” she finished.
“What was is like?” Nanini asked, and I turned to look at her with an Atlantic-wide smile on my face.
“It was wonderful. No dream could even beat it,” I replied, and then we went all crazy for the rest of the night. The girls hammered me over Seth, and I must admit it made me so excited to see him again.
We finished supper and hung out in the entertainment room. We played a round of pool with Lotan and another boy, who was interested in checking out my bruises the whole time. After a while we all went upstairs and grabbed a bed, me drifting into sleep with Seth on my mind. Damn, that guy can kiss.
