by Sarah Carter
“Whatever. I should get some real clothes on.”
“Do you want me to leave?” Damien inquires, with a grin.
“Yes. It’s not a free show all the time.”
“Damn. I was hoping,” Damien chuckles. He stands up and extends his hand. Claire takes it. “Alright. I’ll come back in fifteen minutes. Is that enough time?”
“Yeah. I’ll get dressed and brush my teeth.”
“Okay. Be back in a flash,” Damien says. He leans over and kisses her. “See you in a bit, baby.” She smiles and Damien leaves.
Going to her suitcase, Claire looks through it. “What should I even wear? This is ridiculous.” She finally settles on a button-up and a pair of jeans.
As she walks to the bathroom, Claire sees Alex coming down the hallway. “Are you getting ready?”
“Master Blakely is here,” Claire responds.
“Oh. I didn’t know that. How do you know?”
“Damien told me,” Claire replies like it was the stupidest question.
Alex looks at her. “You saw him already?”
“Yeah,” Claire mumbles. “He came to tell me.”
“I see,” Alex exhales. “I was hoping to spend some alone time with you this morning.”
“I can’t. Damien is coming to get me any minute to go see his dad.”
Nodding, Alex says, “Okay. Can I see you later?”
“Alex,” Claire slightly snaps. “There’s something huge going on right now. I don’t even know what I’m going to be doing in fifteen minutes, let alone later.”
“Sorry,” Alex exclaims, putting his hands up. “I’m just worried about you.”
“Nothing’s going to happen to me,” Claire sighs. “Damien wouldn’t let anything get out of hand.”
“You don’t know him, Claire,” Alex hisses. “You’ve known him for less than a week.”
“I know him pretty damn well, actually,” Claire replies. “He cares, Alex. Nothing will happen to me.”
With a skeptical look, Alex asks, “What do you mean he cares?”
“Damien likes me. He’ll protect me.”
“I knew it. I knew it. Do you like him back?”
“I don’t know,” Claire whines. “Alex, now is not the time for this.”
He steps up to her. “Do I not mean anything to you? What we did?”
“Alex, enough,” Claire shouts. “How am I supposed to know how I feel when you’re down my throat? I love you. I do. More than you know. You’re one of my closest friends. You know that.”
“But I’ll never be more than your friend,” he mutters, looking away.
“Not right this second. I have something huge going on in my life. Gigantic. It’s something totally intense for our whole race.”
Looking at her, he says, “What? What do you mean by that?”
Claire shuts up. “I can’t say. Maybe once I talk to Master Blakely. He’ll make the decisions now.”
“Please, ask him. I need to know what’s going on with you. I’m worried sick.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Claire sighs. “I really need to brush my teeth, Alex.”
He steps aside and waves to the bathroom. Claire walks in and goes to the sink. Alex stands at the doorway and shuffles his feet as she brushes her teeth. When she’s done, Claire walks up to him. “How are you doing? Feeling?”
“I’m fine. Honestly, it’s like nothing ever happened. All I remember is kissing you and then waking up here. I mean, I was super hungry, but that was probably because I was unconscious for three days.”
“I was too,” Claire agrees. “So, something that’s kind of funny—Damien says he’ll pay for my defense if I beat up Phil.”
Alex starts to laugh. “Like I said, I’d sell the Ducati for that.”
Claire smiles and laughs. “No, you have to keep the Ducati. So if I go to jail, I’ll have something to look forward to when I get out.”
“Okay,” Alex says, chuckling.
They stand there looking at each other. Finally, Claire says, “You know you’re one of my best friends.”
“I know,” Alex replies. “No matter what, Claire, I’ll always be your friend. Nothing will change that.”
“Good. I would never want to hurt you. I hope you know that.”
“Yeah, but I have a feeling I will be anyway. I wish I had said something sooner.”
“That may have made a huge difference, but it’s been six months. Six months is a long time.”
He rubs his face. “I know. I wanted to say something every time I talked to you, but I just couldn’t get it out.”
“I want you to know, I don’t regret what happened,” Claire declares. “I wish I had been in a serious relationship, but we can’t change that now. I just want you to know that I don’t regret it being you.”
“That’s sweet,” Alex whispers.
“It’s the truth.”
“Are you ready?”
Startled, Claire turns to face Damien. “Yeah. Let me put my toothbrush away.”
“Sounds good,” Damien says. “Good morning, Alex.”
“Good morning Master Damien,” Alex responds coldly.
“We have a meeting with my father right now. I’ll find out from him if you can be told what’s going on. We may need your help.”
Turning around, Claire says, “What would we need his help with?”
“The testing. I would rather it be him than some other odd person.”
“What kind of testing are we talking about?” Alex inquires.
“Hopefully I can tell you in a little while, but we really have to go.”
Claire chews on her lip. “I’m so nervous.”
Damien laughs. “He doesn’t bite. Don’t worry.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“Come on, babe. Let’s go.” Damien gestures to her room.
Quietly, Claire puts her toothbrush back in her bag and they start to make their way through the hallways. Finally, they come to the meeting room that they were in before. This time there’s one additional figure—Damien’s father. He stands up as they enter.
“Miss Livingston. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Hi,” Claire whispers.
“I’d shake your hand but I hope you understand why I can’t,” Mr. Blakely says.
Claire nods. “No one is touching me right now. Well, except for Damien.”
“Damien,” his father growls.
“I’m being monitored too,” Damien retorts. “Nothing will happen to me. Nothing has happened yet and we’ve been all over each other.”
“Damien,” Claire yells.
“What?” He shrugs. “It’s true.”
“You don’t tell people that,” she hisses.
Mr. Blakely laughs. “You’ll get to know this about my son. He doesn’t have much of a filter sometimes.”
“Obviously,” Claire mumbles.
“What?” Damien says. “What do you think we’d be doing, playing tiddlywinks?”
“What’s tiddlywinks?” Claire asks, confused.
“Wow, does anyone else feel really old right now,” Mr. Blakely laughs.
Claire’s grandfather chuckles along with him. “Yes, we’re really dated.”
“I don’t get it,” Claire whispers, a little angry.
“I’ll show you later,” Damien murmurs. “Come, let’s sit down.”
He walks over and pulls a chair out for her, and Claire sits down.
“So,” Mr. Blakely says. “Let’s have Dr. Galliger start.”
“Claire’s readings are off the charts. When you’re stationary and not doing anything out of the norm, your energy levels are the same as everyone else’s, but as soon as you do anything physical, they shoot up. Your strength is incredible. The more surprising thing is that you can control it. I would never have guessed that anyone could do that.”
“Her strength has increased as she got older,” her grandfather interjects. “It has plateaued, but when she was little, she wa
s completely normal.”
“Interesting,” Dr. Galliger mumbles. “Anyway, we’ve been monitoring her with Damien. When they’re…kissing…her pheromone levels fluctuate, as do her energy levels. Though we’ve seen when she shuts her energy down, as she calls it, we can’t get any sort of reading. At first we thought there was something wrong, but her vitals were perfectly normal and strong. Our computers just couldn’t find her energy. She literally does shut it down. That’s incredible.”
“Yeah, but grandpa says that he knew of other Neturu that could do that.” Claire turns to her grandfather. “Right?”
There is a pause. “Not really. I didn’t want you to think you were even more different than other people.”
“How could you not tell me?” Claire yells.
He puts his hands up. “I thought I was protecting you.”
“I can’t believe this has been going on my whole life and I had no idea.”
“You should cut yourself some slack on this,” Mr. Blakely says.
“Thank you,” Damien says. “You actually have to listen to him.”
Claire narrows her eyes at Damien.
“What? It’s true.”
“We’d like to continue on with some tests,” Dr. Galliger says. “We were hoping today we could work on a few things in particular, especially your energy levels when you’re fighting. Then we want you to actually pull energy from someone.”
“Can it please be Alex if you won’t let it be me,” Damien asks. “As much as I’d prefer it not to be him, he’s better than some random guy.”
“Are you talking about Mr. Lennox?” Mr. Blakely asks. Damien nods. “We’d have to explain to him what’s going on.”
Claire interjects, “I’d like to tell him anyway. He’s one of my best friends and it would be nice to have someone to talk to about it who knows my history.”
“It shouldn’t be a problem,” Mr. Blakely says. “He’s held by his guard agreement.”
“Oh, good.” Claire smiles, relieved. “Thank you, Master Blakely.”
“Please,” he replies. “Call me Drake. You’re dating my son. We can be on a first-name basis.”
Staring at him, Claire says, “You called me Miss Livingston.”
“Good point,” Mr. Blakely laughs. “I’ll call you Claire from now on, if that’s alright?”
“Yes, that’s fine, Master Blakely.”
“Drake.”
“Master Blakely,” Claire counters, trying not to smirk.
Mr. Blakely chuckles. “This isn’t a request. You are to call me Drake.”
She starts to laugh. “Alright, I won’t call you anything.”
This sends Mr. Blakely roaring. “I can see why my son likes you.”
Smirking, Claire says, “We keep each other on our toes.”
“Alright. We should eat breakfast and then start the testing,” Mr. Blakely states.
“I just need coffee,” Claire responds. “I’m a morning coffee drinker.”
“She wants a bagel too,” Damien adds on.
“Just a bagel?” Mr. Blakely retorts.
“And hash browns,” Claire replies. “With ketchup.”
Mr. Blakely nods “Then that’s what you shall have.”
Everyone orders breakfast and they talk more about her energy levels and her past. Claire tries to explain every detail about the few times that she did shift. She explains how she really wants to see if she can go to shima now.
When breakfast is done, Mr. Blakely says, “Well, shall we get started?”
“Yes,” Claire answers. “Can I go get Alex?”
“Of course. We need him for the tests.”
“Great!” Claire exclaims, standing up. She looks at Damien. “Let’s go.”
“Come to the gym when you’re ready,” Mr. Paulson instructs. “We’ll begin some of the tests.”
“I’ll change too then. Come on. I want to tell Alex.”
“Alright, let’s go,” Damien says. “We’ll see you in a little while.”
Everyone nods, and Damien pulls Claire from the room. “I’m excited to tell Alex,” Claire declares happily.
“About us?” Damien chirps, giving her a smirk.
“He actually knows that you like me,” Claire murmurs, looking away.
“How does he know that?”
“I told him,” Claire answers timidly. “He didn’t understand that you’d protect me, so I told him why you would.”
“And his reaction?”
She shrugs. “The first thing out of his mouth was I knew it and if I liked you back.”
“What was your response?”
“I told him I didn’t know and he needed to back off. He’s always in my face about everything. I’m getting tired of it,” Claire states.
“So am I. He’s your friend, though, and so you need to deal with it accordingly.”
“Yeah, I know,” Claire sighs.
When they get to the commons room, Alex is on the couch watching TV. As soon as he sees Claire, he stands up. “So?”
“I’m a succubus,” Claire declares.
Alex just stares at her. “What?”
“I’m a succubus,” Claire repeats. “An energy vampire. I drained you of all your energy and took it into myself. I couldn’t hold it and started shifting uncontrollably.”
“And you know this for sure?”
“Yes,” Claire replies. “We’re doing tests right now. I’m actually off to perform some more. They wanted to know if you’d help.”
“How?”
“We’d like for you to push and pull your energy with Claire,” Damien says. “I can’t do it and I don’t want it to be anyone else but you.”
“Will it hurt me?” Alex inquires slowly.
“You weren’t hurt that last time and I completely drained you then,” Claire responds. “So, no, I don’t think you’ll get hurt, but you don’t have to do it if you’re worried.”
Shaking his head, Alex says, “No. I’ll do it.”
“Thank you,” Claire retorts. “I was worried I’d have to do that with a stranger.”
“Of course, I’ll help you in any way that I can. Where are we doing this?”
“I think I’m working on my fighting first. We’re meeting in the training gym.”
“I’ll go change. I’ll meet you out here in a few minutes.”
Claire nods. “I’m going to get ready, too.”
“I guess I’ll wait here,” Damien murmurs, looking at Claire. She narrows her eyes at him.
“Just stop,” she whispers harshly. “I’ll be right back.” He gives her a devilish grin. Claire huffs and turns around to walk away.
She changes into her exercise shorts and sports bra top, but she wishes she had brought more appropriate workout clothes.
Finally, she’s ready and standing with Damien and Alex.
“Let’s go,” Damien chirps. For a second he reaches for Claire’s hand and then stops. Claire steps away from him as they walk down to the training facility.
When they get there, everyone is standing by the exercise mat. Claire walks up to them. “I’m ready.”
“Excellent. Claire, I’d like to introduce you to two people.” Mr. Blakely gestures to two guys. They both are over six feet tall and built. “This is Lucas and Mark.”
“Hello,” Claire waves. She looks at Damien’s dad curiously.
“I said I’d bring my personal guard. Well, that would be these two gentlemen.”
Claire smiles broadly.
Lucas looks at Mr. Blakely. “Master, I thought we were here to try out someone to join the guard.”
“You are. That would be Claire.”
Lucas looks at Claire. “You have to be kidding me.”
“What?” Claire snaps.
“You can fight?” Lucas asks.
“Oh,” Claire replies darkly. “You have no idea.”
Chapter 12
“You want to go up against us?” Lucas inquires slowly.
“The
real question is do you want to go up against me?” Claire retorts.
Lucas raises an eyebrow. “Do you have any idea of what I’m capable of?”
“You have no idea what she’s capable of.” Her grandfather walks up next to them.
“Mr. Hardrick—I didn’t realize you were here,” Lucas says quickly, bowing his head.
“Claire is my granddaughter. I’d never put her in a situation that she couldn’t handle.”
Mark crosses his arms and looks at her. “How much do you weigh?”
“135,” Claire replies., “pure muscle.”
“I outweigh you by nearly a hundred pounds,” Mark declares.
“And I could probably bench press you,” Claire snidely remarks.
He furrows his eyebrows. “You aren’t serious.”
“I’m deadly serious.”
“Claire is the strongest Neturu I have ever come across,” Mr. Blakely says.
“Really?” Mark and Lucas say at the same time.
“We’re going to put these electrodes on you guys while you fight her,” Dr. Galliger says, as he walks over to them. A girl next to him is holding a tray. “We need to monitor you.”
“Why?” Lucas asks.
“Enough questions,” Mr. Blakely says.
Mark and Lucas shut up quickly.
“Please, take your shirts off,” Dr. Galliger says. They do and Dr. Galliger starts to apply the discs.
“Which one of you is first?” Claire inquires with a grin.
“Does it matter?” Mark retorts.
“Who’s the better fighter?”
“Me,” Lucas replies.
She smiles. “Then we’ll start with you.”
“Are you sure you’re up for this?” Lucas asks.
“Yeah, it makes me a little nervous,” Damien interjects. “I’ve seen these guys fight.”
Claire waves her hand at him. “Please, I can do this.”
Mr. Blakely nods to Mark. “For now, start with Mark, if you don’t mind. We’ll take it by levels of difficulty.”
“Okay,” Claire says. “What are the rules?”
“Rules?” Mark counters, sounding confused.
“No head shots, no pressure points, no breaking of limbs…” Claire draws out.
Mr. Blakely laughs. “No serious injuries please. Pressure points are allowed.”
“Sounds good to me,” Claire says.
Mark steps away from everyone on the mat. Claire follows him. He takes a stance and stares at her.
