The younger trainees saw the funny side of it when they had to try and scale the great walls of the mansion to get into all the nooks and crannies while the warriors bellowed at them for fooling around. Sure, it was dangerous to be messing about on a ladder that reached fifteen feet into the air, but they had to get their fun from somewhere, something to brighten up the monotonous days.
At first, the boys complained about the lack of training, even though they knew that they had to pitch in to make their new home liveable. There was no way to function as it was now. However, they soon changed their minds when their muscles ached at the end of each day. None of them realised quite how strenuous simple hard work could be.
Ash didn’t mind the work at all. Growing up as she had, her family had a whole workforce to attend to their every whim and need. Her mother had despaired at her when she chose to go and work at the small diner in the centre of Brandestowen. She had thought that it was below a girl of Aisline’s lineage. But, Ash didn’t give a monkey’s about things like that. She didn’t see herself as better than anyone else and didn’t object to pulling a hard days’ work. Not that working back in the diner was anywhere near considered hard work, not when she was rewarded with strawberry milkshakes that were to die for and cheesecake that melted in your mouth. She’d have worked there for free just to indulge in her favourite childhood sweets.
Not that she was bothered by any type of manual labour, but she wished that things would quickly get back to normal. If things were back to how they were before, they’d all be back to training every single minute of every single day and maybe people would stop treating her like a piece of precious china. Aisline was seriously getting fed up of the sympathetic looks that were being thrown her way whenever she entered a room. It was a jolt every single time, reminding her of what she’d been through. When someone looked at her in that particular way, it brought back all the memories of that night and they were memories that she would rather bury in order to get on with her life.
In the end, she had to speak to Kayleigh about what had happened to her or she would have gone nuts. It was all too much for her to cope with on her own. The memories kept on hitting her so hard, crushing her confidence. It was like a physical hit to the stomach every time something reminded her of what happened. There was no way she could keep it to herself for a second longer and hope to stay on the right side of the sanity trail.
Kayleigh had been fantastic about everything. Once Ash had started talking, it had all come flooding out. The words tumbled out of her mouth like a torrent and she was unable to hold it back any single detail. Kayleigh knew it all. Everything. Sure, she had given an initial report to Master Warrior Kelton the day after they moved into the new mansion, but Aisline had made sure to keep the details to a bare minimum and tell him only what he needed to know. With Kayleigh, the dam broke free and everything came rushing out.
The shock on Kayleigh’s face when the tale had been told was evident. None of the other warriors had the first idea of what really happened to her. Aisline never wanted them to find out the extent of what went down and made Kayleigh promise never to divulge what she had told her. They didn’t need to know the sexual degradation she’d been put through, the horrors and the torture. It was bad enough that they were treating her with such care because the physical evidence of the beatings constantly reminded them what she’d been through. If they found out the how deep the emotional and physical scars went, Aisline couldn’t even imagine how they’d treat her.
Kayleigh understood, in a sense, how she was feeling and went out of her way to help find Aisline jobs where there would be less warriors around to treat her with kid gloves. It made life a lot easier for her, getting on with the task at hand without all those eyes boring into her back, checking on how she was coping. She and a couple of the other medical staff were busy preparing the rooms that the warriors and trainees would be sleeping in. They still needed quite a bit of work, but at least the boys would be out of the ballroom and have some semblance of privacy again. The furniture would have to be updated, but that would come at a later time.
The humans were obviously still going to be living onsite with them and luckily, they loved the new place as much as the rest of them. Ash spent plenty of time hanging out with Louisa-Mae, who was one of the human blood donors. She’d seen her around plenty of times before, but she’d never had an ‘appointment’ with her or actually spent any quality time with her. It was really good to be around someone her own age, especially a girl her own age. Louisa-Mae was a really sweet girl with a wicked sense of humour and it sure helped to break up the monotony of the mindless work they had to carry out.
Ash didn’t want a single piece of furniture replaced in her room. It was perfect the way it was. She loved the old fashioned elegant style. Even an uneducated eye could see that the stuff in this mansion was worth a fortune, but that wasn’t why she wanted to keep it in her personal space. Aisline loved the romantic style of the four-poster bed and beautifully refined drapes. She was far from being a girly-girl, but there was no way that she would willingly part with any of this stuff. It was too good to replace it with some cheap, modern tat. It was easy to imagine coming back to this sanctuary after a hard days training and revelling in the beauty of her own small piece of heaven.
After two weeks of solid cleaning, the place was starting to look amazing. To see all the changes happening before their very eyes made them all appreciate that they had done this themselves. It gave the staff and the warriors a huge sense of accomplishment. Plus, seeing it finally all coming together would mean that things were due to get back on track and that they’d be able to once again get stuck into training. They were way behind on schedule, due to this unfortunate change of circumstance, but Kelton and the rest of the warriors would get them working again at double speed.
Training. That was what they were there for. To train. To serve. To protect. There was no way that they could go for any longer without releasing some of that tension and focusing on what they should be doing. The call in them to train and fight was too strong to ignore. The warrior mark demanded it of them and there was no denying it.
Kelton had left the overseeing of the clean-up of the mansion to Kayleigh and several other members of staff. It was hard work and although he didn’t want to leave them high and dry, there were so many other things that he needed to do and he couldn’t be everywhere all at once. He had to make sure that there were still crews out on the streets, keeping the Mortuorum mess to a minimum, while still making checks on the Matris civilians to ensure their security systems were up to scratch.
While dealing with everything else, Kelton’s main concern was still to find Merion.
He couldn’t get the thoughts of the guy out of his head. It was unfathomable to think that a warrior that he had counted on for countless decades could betray them all like that. All Kelton could think about was getting him hands on him and wringing the life from him.
That feeling didn’t change for him even after he had visited with Merion’s wife and child. She had no idea where he was or the extent of what he had done. Merion had fallen off the edge of the earth. The poor woman was inconsolable. That simply angered Kelton further that Merion could betray his family, his blood, as well as his brothers at the Sons of Satrina. Kelton had sworn to protect his race and he would do so until his dying breath, but Kayleigh would always remain the top priority in his life. He would never put her in danger or cause her unnecessary harm, as Merion had with his wife and family.
Kelton was currently out walking the grounds. He needed a little fresh air to revive his weary mind. They had done all they could for the time being inside and he had checked on the warriors that were out on the streets, and now he was looking to what needed repairing to get the exterior up to scratch. He grinned to himself as a plan started to formulate in his mind. It would be a practical addition to the place and a perfect punishment for Denver. Hell, he thought he’d even pull Jackson in on this one. He ha
dn’t yet had the time or energy to put a suitable punishment for either boy in place, but they had to learn that they couldn’t step out of line like they had and think they’d get away with it. Chuckling to himself as he walked back round to the front of the mansion, Kelton knew that this was going to be perfect.
He had arranged for the entire student body to finish up what they were doing and assemble in the main hall a couple of hours before sunrise. It was time for them to allocate them permanent rooms and start getting things back into some kind of order. Things had been up in the air for the last few weeks and they needed to knuckle back down to work. The warriors had already cleared and set up the areas that they’d picked out for the training room, and if Kelton was being honest, the gym space was out of this world and the sparring rooms were even better than what they’d had previously. This move was working out to be much better than he thought it would.
They were a rowdy bunch. When Kelton walked into the room, he could tell they all thought they were speaking in muted whispers, but the sound reverberated around the room, making it difficult for him to think straight. Kelton bellowed for some order and the entire room immediately fell silent. Once he knew that he had their undivided attention, he called out each class and told them where to assemble for further instruction. Kelton had already spoken to the other staff members and they had the lists of allocated spots that had been prearranged. There was no way that they could call them out one by one; it would take all night.
Everyone was ecstatic to know that they were finally going to get somewhere that they could call their own. It was taking a toll on them all, sharing that one big space. Tempers were starting to flair and in-house squabbling was the last thing they needed at the moment. It seemed the perfect time to calm the mood, get everything in order and give everyone some space and quiet.
“What? We’re sharing?” Jackson said in a surprised tone. He didn’t mean to sound argumentative, but he had been used to having his old room all to himself at the old academy. He was kind of assuming that his luck would have held out and that he’d be on his own here, too.
“We’ve tried to sort out the space the best way we can. So, for now at least, that means sharing. So suck it up, Princess.” Master Warrior Verynai grinned evilly before turning to the next trainee in line.
Jackson liked having his own space, but it could have been a lot worse. Luckily, he had been assigned to share a room with Trey. That was about the best he could have hoped for. Trey had been one of his best friends since he’d started his training with the Sons of Satrina. He was also incredibly laid back and one of the quietest guys there. Plus, sharing a room with Trey was going to be a hell of a lot easier than sharing a space with a couple of hundred snorers, not to mention the other unmentionable gassy noises.
Jackson made his way up the sweeping staircase. Even as a man, he could appreciate that this was something right out of a fairy tale. The rowdy teenagers seemed oddly out of place here amongst all the elegance and sophistication. The whole mansion was impressive, something more suited to aristocracy than sweaty warriors. On one hand, it was the perfect space for them, but on the other? It was a shame to waste something so good on a bunch of unappreciative teenagers.
Stopping at the top of the stairs, he checked the numbers on the door. They were newly screwed into place small brass numbers on each door that actually blended in rather well with the traditional feeling of the mansion. Jackson turned to the left and carried on down the seemingly endless corridor until he came to the number that he and Trey had been assigned to.
Knocking on the door, just to be polite, he waited for a response. There was no sign of life from the other side of the closed door so Trey clearly hadn’t been sent up yet. Turning the door knob, he let himself in.
The room looked like something you’d find in a hotel. It was a lot bigger than his old room and there seemed to be plenty of space. At least they wouldn’t be falling over each other in a cramped room. And, by looking like a hotel room, he meant the old style flowery wallpaper with matching curtains and throws on the beds. It truly was a throwback to another era. The most updated thing in the room was the tiny en-suite avocado bathroom that had probably been put in over forty years ago. At least it all seemed to be in good working order, though. That was all he could ask for.
It was a clean and dust free space. In all honesty, clean was just a bonus. He would have happily crashed in there with all its dirt and dusty glory, he was that tired. After the last few days of shifting heavy pieces of furniture around and polishing everything in sight, he was ready to fall asleep in a cellar full of rats.
Dumping his bag on the floor, Jackson flopped down on the bed in an undignified heap. He was even too tired to bother getting changed. This house was ridiculously huge and they’d all been working flat out to make it liveable. Calling it a mansion really didn’t do it justice. Just when they thought they’d finished up, they rounded another corner and found another wing that had yet to be discovered. The halls in this place seemed to go on forever with their twists and turns. The carpets had decades of dust that continuously clogged up the vacuums and kicking up clouds that made him sneeze continuously.
Even though he was nearly as exhausted as he would have been after a day of hard training, it was a different kind of tired and he was having a hard time falling asleep. Rifling through his bag, Jackson grabbed his iPod and hit shuffle. You Me At Six blared to life with ‘Bite My Tongue’ and he closed his eyes and shifted to get comfortable on the lumpy pillow.
He didn’t hear the door open but cracked his eyes when he felt that he was no longer alone in the room. Yanking out the earphones, Linkin Park bla st r ed out into the room. Trey had tried to tip toe into the room, thinking that Jackson was asleep, and he jumped out of his skin at the sudden noise.
“Hey, roomie.” Trey grinned.
Jackson laughed, “Yeah, you’d better not snore.”
“Don’t ask me. How would I know? I’m asleep!”
“Where are you going?” Jackson glanced over as he saw Trey getting out a change of clothes.
“I’m going to see Ash.” He glanced over his shoulder. “You should come with.”
“How is she?”
“You could ask her yourself if you came with me.”
“How is she, Trey?” Jackson notched the glare up a little.
Trey sighed. “A million times better already. But, you’d know that if you weren’t avoiding her.”
“I’m not avoiding her.”
“Of course you are. When was the last time you actually spoke to her?”
Jackson shook his head. “It’s difficult, man.”
“Well, why don’t you come down with me now? Make it less difficult between you.”
“I can’t.”
“Sure you can.”
“Don’t push it, okay? I can’t do this yet.”
“I thought you were her friend?”
Jackson rubbed his eyes. “I am. I just… I can’t right now.”
Trey didn’t say anything else but he threw Jackson a look that spoke volumes. Even if he thought he was hiding his feelings well, Trey knew that Jax wasn’t doing a very good job of it. If anyone could see through the bullshit, it was Trey. He knew the both of them too well.
It had been a good couple of weeks since Jackson had spent any kind of real time with Aisline. Since that night in the medical wing when she’d first been brought back to them, he had avoided being alone with her. He may try and say otherwise, but it was clear to Trey what was going on. They had gotten themselves into an awkward situation and he just hoped that they’d be able to work themselves out of it, for everyone’s sake.
It was pretty damn obvious to anyone that spent any time with the two of them that they were made for each other and their feelings for one another were crystal clear. For some reason, they both wanted to deny those feelings, hence the difficult situation. But, for their sakes and for the sake of those that were working with them, Trey hoped that
they’d be able to sort it out and soon. He didn’t want this turning into a big thing when he’d have to end up taking sides. That wasn’t how he was. He wouldn’t chose. They were both his close friends and he hated this awkward silence.
Maybe sharing a room with Jackson would be a good thing and he’d be able to talk some sense into him. Who knew? It was worth a try.
Chapter Nine
Breakfast was even more rowdy than usual. All the guys seemed to be in high spirits, looking forward to getting stuck back into training again. Jackson couldn’t help getting caught up in the mood and laughing mindlessly with the rest of them. The only dark cloud on his horizon was the fact that there had been no sign of Aisline in the dining room.
Jackson had thought a lot about what Trey had said and he knew that he was going to have to man up and make the situation right again. They couldn’t carry on this way. How were they ever going to repair their friendship if they couldn’t even be in the same room as each other? They’d both have to work hard to get past this, but it was clearly going to have to be up to Jackson to make the first move.
Just as he was about to abandon what remained on his place, Jackson felt a hand clamp down heavily on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Master Warrior Kelton looking down at him, his face serious, with eyes bleak and unsmiling.
“You need to come with me.”
Shit, Jackson thought. That sounded serious. With a few sympathetic glances from the other guys around the table, he quickly followed on the heels of the warrior. It got even more ominous when Kelton stopped to add Denver to their ranks. Great.
“Follow me.” Was all that Kelton said as he led the two boys through the large house and outside into the cold night air. Jackson was surprised that Denver also followed obediently and without question or complaint.
Then it dawned on him. This must be the punishment that he’d been waiting for. A chill ran through him.
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