Chapter 4
The next "morning" was pretty much like the first day of school would be, you worry about what'll happen but you're pretty dang tired and pissed off because the summer's over. The good with the bad I guess. Anyway I woke up to a knock on my door by, guess who, the one and only Endago. He looked just like he did yesterday and I scowled at him when I opened the door. I was still in my school uniform—eww. He didn't give me a second glance and led me out of the building. I rolled my eyes at his tough guy act. I totally pissed him off yesterday and he was mad at me, it always happened like this. My dad always tried to pull off this act so I was used to it.
We passed many fledglings outside. They looked like perfect boys and girls, no Goth here everyone. They looked like normal school boys and girls only they were attending classes at night instead of the day. They were a lot older than me and looked like they should be in college.
"Hey Endago," I said curiously, "What grade does this school go through?"
He grunted once then answered, "The second year of college is required but you can stay till you have a bachelors degree."
Surprised I made a face. Wow, this school went far.
"But," He said interrupting my thoughts, "After high school you're a vampire and you leave campus to work."
Our talk was stopped short when we entered a large building on the opposite side of the castle as the administration building was. This consisted of four rooms and was very modern. After going in the door to the right, I learned, were the "Locker" rooms. To the left of the door was the weight lifting room. And strait ahead through a double door was the actual gym. Apparently we also had a track, football field, soccer field and baseball field. It hadn't occurred to me that I had no idea where the school was but now that it hit me I didn't really care. As long as I was out of the reach of my parents nothing mattered. Endago pushed me off to the girls locker room where I was met with eight other girls. They were all giggling and talking. Most of them looked really girly but I didn't pay much attention.
There was a locker with my name taped onto it. How embarrassing, I ripped off the nametag and opened it. Inside there was a PE uniform. Great more uniforms. I have to say when I put it one it was okay, not like the public school's uniforms but still I would be able to work out in this. There was a yell from someone who sounded like Mrs. Morales. They yelled at us to hurry up and get into the gym and, since I was already done, I left. There were a few girls outside already and they looked really scared. Pft, whatever, I leaned against the wall, lounging. One by one girls trickled out of the locker room and faced the tall lady with a kind smile but mean voice. She led us out into the big room and I could see mats set everywhere. I looked at them curiously.
"In a minute you will be tested, you might want to stretch," She said with a smile and left us in piece.
My stupid flexible body was only so flexible as long as it wasn't sore and I started by touching my toes. I felt the muscles on the back of my legs stretching. The others were going similar exercises but weren't as flexible as me. I went on until I felt everything in my body was able to wiggle like Jello. Then to my demise guess who walked in, the one and only Endago, I let out a groan as I saw him and all the girl looked over at me. He led a group of boys in also and stood in front of us, or to be precise right in front of me. He looked down at a clipboard at our names.
"Madeline weir!" He called out first and a girl about the same height as me but smaller and skinnier arms came out of the group. Endago went to the mat and stood across from Madeline. I felt her fear conspire to a ultimate height and then Endago said almost smirking, "Try to hit me." She gulped and aimed a weak punch at him. Within a second she was on the mat on her back.
"Next is," Endago practically screamed as Madeline scrambled off the mat, "Emily."
The same happened to her he kept calling out names, "Brianna, Amanda, Octavio, Lauren."
There were only a few that could barely stand up to his wrath including, John, Mariah and Nathan. Ambar barely got past fighting him and then came my turn. I stepped up to the mat meeting his gaze firmly. I wasn't afraid of him like the others had been and I could see that he felt my anger at him. Finally all the years of punching kids in the hall who pissed me off paid off. I lunged forward a little cocky and he sidestepped easily. How often that move had been done on me. I swiveled around and managed to hit him square in the back. I felt crunching as I hit his stone body and felt tears of pain trying to escape from my eyes. Fighting the pain I aimed a punch with my other hand but Endago grabbed my wrist and I was dangling about a foot from the ground. Stupid, he was way taller than me, that's no fair.
My fingers were bent back, probably where I had broken them. My arm started to tingle from blood rushing toward the ground. He thought of putting me lightly down at first but then decided to throw me against the wall. The impact hurt but not as much as my hand did. I sat there a moment stunned at what had happened before I got up again.
I had missed what he first said but I caught the gist. We were to go back to our rooms and later we would have someone come give us our class schedule. I was about to leave when he called to me.
"Christine," I turned back to him cradling my hand.
"What?" I demanded in a worse mood than I'd been the entire time, my hand hurt and I had just gotten beat up.
"You should, uh, go see Kensle."
I thought for a moment, it was a good idea only one problem, "I don't know where Kensle is," I said plainly.
Endago looked uneasy, "I guess I'll show you. I already know what you'll be assigned to."
I looked at him curious, loosing my anger for a moment, "What?" I asked genuinely curious.
He didn't look at me but I studied his face. He was thinking hard about whether to answer me or not. "No," He finally answered I'll tell you later.
We walked across the empty campus. I was guessing class was in session but I could never tell. The full moon was still up and I felt calm in it. We went back into the main castle building and into what seemed like an infirmary. I recognized Kensle at once. Wait was that a bad thing? I don't want to be seeing the doctor too much.
Endago forced me to go up to him and explained in murmurs what had happened then turned to me and told me to put out my hand. I did so and winced as the gravity took effect on my fingers.
Kensle looked at them thoughtfully then put his hands so they cupped around my hand, "Shhhh," He whispered to me but smiled. I felt power course through his hands into mind and my finger straighten on their own. Within a minute or two of just standing there the pain had ceased but Kensle looked very tired.
"Are you alright?"
He nodded but I could see he was holding back something but before I could question, Endago pulled me out of the room. This was not so much appreciated this time. He did not talk as we went back to my room. I wasn't so sure what had happened but when we got there he thrust a book into my hand and turned and left. I was standing out in the hall in front of my door looking bewildered and annoyed. I opened the door silently and went inside. It was pleasantly light and I studied the book once my door had closed. The Mysteries of the Arts of Ancient Vampire Tradition. Whatever, I shrugged, something to do. Not that the title made sense to me or anything. I sat on my wonderful luxurious bed. I stuffed the pillows behind me and opened the book.
The art that the ancient vampires is a mystery that the
vampire world has never fully understood, their method of
martial arts training is greatly used throughout the world today
but in no case whatsoever is ever used in combat. The wonder
of how these traditional moves ever came to be is one that even
the philosophers can't tell. There are only a few well known
vampires that use and train using this fighting style. Perhaps
because they have conquered all and learned to master it is the
amazing ability to fight without consumption. These vampires
have been scarce throughout history and greatly regarded and
became leaders.
I looked at the book uncomprehendingly at the book. Why the hell would this have to do with me? I don't care what the hell these vampires did in the past. Even though I didn't care it was the only thing to do in this room so I kept reading, getting more and more interested in it. The vampires use to have a technique where they would use only their hands to kill other vampires unlike now where they use stakes and other things. Before I knew it I was halfway through the book and there was a knock at the door. I got up feeling my legs starting to stiffen. At the door was Endago.
"Why are you here?" I asked annoyed.
"First off, that's not the way to treat your mentor and second I thought you would like your schedule."
I frowned but let him in. He looked at the book on my bed, it was laying open and down.
"You been readin'?" He asked.
I looked over at my book, "Obviously," I retorted.
"Do you like it?"
This question caught me off guard. I was never known to be the person who spends her free time reading books. I hated school, always skipping out on class except for gym that's why my only passing class was in gym. It was the only one I liked. Coach Morales was the only reason I didn't drop out of school for good. The only thing school gave me was friends and a lecture from my parents every night about the importance of school. Blah blah, whatever.
"Yeah," I admitted trying to pull of the "It's okay" act. It didn't work. Endago gave me a little smile and set an envelope on the dresser. I immediately grabbed for it and ripped the envelope in half (I was never good at opening envelopes especially not in a rush).
There were two pieces of paper and a handbook. I tossed the handbook to the side and stared at the first piece of paper that declared that I had the privilege of being mentored by Endago. I grunted and tossed that one aside. The next had my schedule.
First period: Vampire history with Mrs. Vendak
Second period: Biology with Mr. Mastle
Third period: Geography with Mr. Rowe
Forth period: Knowing your enemy with Mr. Vaccaro
LUNCH
Fifth period: Physical education with Mr. Bayne
Sixth period: Geo/Trig with Mr. Warrick
Seventh period: Literature with Mrs. Green
Eighth period:Weight training with Endago Benta
I laughed when I saw Endago's last name. He didn't give me a second glance. Then I notice something written on the bottom of the paper.
All freshmen are to spend an extra hour with their mentors after school and may be required to take early classes in the morning.
Hey what the hell. Endago could get on my nerves but it probably meant I'd get to be doing something really cool.
"Oh by the way," Endago said after I had finished reading, "You're a warrior in training."
"What's a warrior?" I said out loud.
Endago seemed speechless, "We fight with weapons and other obj…"
"I know that," I interrupted, "But can't all vampires do that?"
"Well, yeah, all vampires can fight but certain vampires are more cut out to be warriors than other so they are trained more in that skill."
I was starting to understand this… wait a minute no I wasn't. I stared right at him and he gave up.
"You get to hit stuff," He said.
"Oh!" I said finally getting him, "I like to hit stuff." He laughed a little and I smiled. For some reason I liked hearing him laugh. My hand started to ache again but not badly. But suddenly the pain spiked. I winced and grabbed it, moving my fingers to make them feel better.
Endago's face turned serious again, "You okay?" He was genuinely concerned.
"Yeah," I said through my teeth, "I'll be fine."
He didn't look convinced but left it alone, "You will be training with me to become a warrior," he said, "I want you to come to practice early tomorrow. A little before dusk would be okay, oh also I thought you might like these," He handed me a shopping bag. I looked at him skeptically. A man shopping? When did all this happen? I took it anyway hey what the heck no way I'd turn down free clothes. To my surprise when I looked inside they weren't that bad, not like what I would expect a boy to pick out. There was a light blue, short sleeve underarmor top and black shorts with a stripe of color down the side that matched the shirt.
He looked embarrassed, "I uh, had my daughter pick them out."
I laughed and he blushed more. Oh well they were nice clothes and maybe in the future he would get more so I didn't have to spend my money. Then something occurred to me.
"What do I do about money?"
"Why of course because you're a vampire and the older vampires tend to have a lot of money you will be put on the list to receive money from them. They like to help out the ones who are rejected from their families." He stopped realizing he had made a mistake.
I forced out a smile, "That's okay, I hate them anyway."
My face had turned to anger, red, hot boiling anger.
"Anymore questions?" He asked quietly like I might break any moment.
"No," I answered and felt him leave. Everything was coming back now. I collapsed on my bed and finally tears started leaking out of my eyes. I did hate them, they stopped loving me when I turned into a vampire but that didn't mean I stopped loving them. With life pulled away from e by force I had a new idea about family.
I think I laid there for quite a while but I was hungry. I changed into my school uniform and made my way downstairs, amazed that I remembered the path. The cafeteria was obviously marked by big a big royal blue plaque on one of the doors to the left of the infirmary. Nothing was very different about this cafeteria as apposed to a public school cafeteria. Well that is if you ignore all the vampires eating on wooden tables and the fact that we're in a castle! At the edge of the room was a place where staff was serving lunch. They were clearly marked with "freshman," "sophomore," "Junior," and "Senior." The room was only about the size for 150 people, which was barely half of one of the classes I had at the public school. The usual schools cheer signs were everywhere, boy were they dumb, just like at my other school.
I made my way over to where the "freshman," line was. I recognized a few faces as I walked through the cafeteria. I could only put names to two of them, Madeline and John. Madeline looked zoned out and I didn't stop to talk to them. The freshman line was serving spaghetti and I felt my mouth water.
I took it and sat down by myself. I dug in. It was the best thing I had ever tasted. The sauce was thick and wasn't bitter. There was a slight sweetness in it that I savored. I had a glass of water to drink that didn't so anything for my already soothed throat.
It seemed like tiredness was spreading from my hand. What an odd feeling that was, let me tell you. But somehow it was happening and I needed to sleep. I couldn't believe I was already needing to sleep it was barely lunch time but I slumped back up to my room where I found the book Endago had given me half finished. I sighed looking at it then picked it up. Curling up on the bed, in pajamas I must add, I grabbed the book. It was just as interesting as it had been the night before and, thank god, didn't have more than 150 pages. It took me approximately two hours to finish and I could feel exhaustion trying to overcome me. It wasn't the edging sense of exhaustion it was the "It's five AM in the morning and I've already stayed up for 24 hours yesterday," feeling. I set the book down once I had finished the last page and curled up under the silky covers and feel asleep almost immediately. But first I remembered to set the alarm clock to 4:00 in the afternoon. It felt weird to be getting up in the afternoon but I just wanted to sleep and didn't care.
