Chapter 3
Hiylo! Sorry it's been sooo long guys! I have lots to update so the next two chapters or something like that are going to be in rapid succession so, be happy!
Tossing and turning in bed, Storm was unable to sleep and regrettably she slid out from under the covers and put her feet on the shockingly cold floor. There was no use staying in it when you weren't sleeping anyway. Her muscles though were still not used to walking or moving seeing as she had been in bed for two and a half hours or so. Sitting down in a chair in front of her desk, she pondered this new person she was supposed to train to be a killer while messing with her computer she had pilfered from humans a few years back.
Irvine was a strange vampire, one that she had not seen the likes of before. He was an intriguing puzzle so far seemingly tough and hardened on the outside but on the in, was totally different. No other vampire she knew would've granted mercy to those children. The only ways a half blood came into existence was when a human offered the vampire massive amounts of money or gave them a free meal. Irvine gave this gift willingly and freely to them without a thought.
He was different all right. He was a vampire for sure but he did not act like one, or at least not in the heat.if you could call what happened earlier a battle, not cold, hard, and ruthless, an uncaring being with a heart as cold as ice. Now this wasn't true for a lot of vampires, but for those joining the Blood Pack it was very common. Except for the healers. The healers, except for one, more often then not were kind and cared for all.
Storm also wondered what his power was. Every vampire had a different one or in the case of a healer, a different strength of power since healing was rare but it came in all different levels. Some could heal only minor cuts but others. Others could heal a wound and bring you back to life when you were but an inch from it..or heal your soul. These ones were very rare indeed and the Blood Pack had two, both leaders of the healers. There were about 12 in all gathered from throughout the world on missions taken by occasional members.
Since she had only been here though for a little while and, as Chiru plainly pointed out, she was standoffish, wanting to be left alone by almost all except for a few people so she did not know to many of the other's powers. Chiru's power was three ice "spells"; blizzard, blizzara, blizzaga, blizzard being the weakest and blizzaga being the strongest. Raven's power Storm wasn't so sure about plus she knew she would eventually find out. (Irvine I can find out about) she thought, staring at the computer screen. She had hacked into Mikar's private files once before and could do it again to look at anybody else's but she had decided not to make it a habit.
***
Smiling she leaned back in her chair. The leader had apparently changed all the passwords but she had been able to override them and now it was done. The thing wasn't the easiest of nutshells to crack, the nut seeming as if it had a metal casing around it not a shell but it wasn't impossible to break. Her eyes scanned the page reading every word rapidly, taking in every detail into her brain:
Name: Irvine Sisco
Age: 167
Current Accomplices: Storm Nightshadow, Chiru Starstrike, Raven Obscura
Status/Rank: New Member
Power: Conjuring Energy Sword
Family/Friends: None
Past Occupation: Mercenary
Specialties:???
Hurriedly exiting out of the program after she heard a knock on her door, she got up and, looking down, noticed her state of undress usually dressing in a large, loose shirt for bed. Slipping on some loose pants on the floor, she opened the door.to be greeted with Irvine.
" What is it?" Storm asked with a little bit more than a hint of grumpiness from lack of sleep.
" I saw your light on." The reply came, stated very plainly that even her sleep-deprived brain could discern.
" My light is on? And that's why you're here? Okay. What are you doing up?"
Raising a brow, his voice becoming a little annoyed, " I couldn't sleep."
" Neither could I. Come on in if you want."
He shook his head whether to wake himself up or say no she couldn't tell. " No. I can't. I'll see you tomorrow, Storm." When he said her name she felt a shiver go up her spine. (Huh? What was that all about?) " Storm?"
Shaken, she came back from her thoughts, " Er.What were you saying?"
" Just said that you'll have to take it easy on me training tomorrow. I'll be tired."
" No chance that I'll do that, Irvine."
* * *
" Storm, you up?" Chiru said outside the door.
Opening her eyes, Storm stumbled out of bed and opened the door. " I'm up. Be there in a few minutes." She grumbled.
"All right."
Slipping on a black tank-top and loose blue pants, she hurried out of the room not really wanting to do anything but sleep but that was out of the question she knew. Checking the kitchen slash cafeteria for them and noticing that all the other Blood Pack members were already up she wondered how long she had been asleep usually being the first one up and about even if she had stayed up late. The gym now was the most logical place to check since it was obvious that they were not in the cafeteria. To try and get her muscles woken up and working, she ran to the gym instead of her morning Zombie Walk as she thought of it.
Hearing noises, as if someone was being thrown physically around, she walked into the gym; she saw Raven and Irvine already sparring, Chiru looking for flaws in Irvine's stances and techniques until it was her turn. Turning, the girl saw Storm walk in the gym and she nodded at Irvine and gave a thumbs-up sign that only Storm caught. Storm, smiling, walked up behind the taller of the two men and tapped his shoulder. Irvine turned around without missing a beat and threw a punch that Storm blocked with the speed acquired by fighting slayers.
" You'll have to work on speed definitely. Chiru says your fine sparring with Raven. Continue."
And they resumed their mock fighting, Storm and Chiru both watching now, giving out suggestions and pointers to Irvine when he faltered. Storm took notice that Raven liked to come in fast, utilizing his small, lithe, yet powerful form to hit pressure points rather than bruising his opponent over and over again until he was down while Irvine was quick but certainly not lithe and liked to come in for powerful punches and kicks and occasional throws but Raven, proving quicker usually avoided them and then would use Irvine's over-committed weight to over-balance him so that he'd fall flat on his face. At these times, Storm couldn't help but giggle at him. She thought of Irvine as a serious, cocky, arrogant man and then seeing him getting pushed around by someone shorter than him. It just tickled her to no end.
She decided that Raven seeing as he was a surprisingly good hand-to- hand fighter would train Irvine in that department. Not knowing what Chiru could contribute to his training yet, Storm was caught between asking her what she was good at or waiting to see. Deciding it was faster to ask her instead of having to wait, patience not being her strong suite, Storm spoke up, " Chiru, what do you want to do with him?"
" I don't know, I guess I'll teach him how to handle a weapon." Chiru said.
" Which one?"
" I don't know yet. I'll think about it I guess."
Storm sighed a little bit inwardly. Chiru was a little brash and didn't like to think things over but relied more on the spur of the moment and such. It was a trait that was a little dangerous but she usually came through. As far as Storm could tell, it might not be the best of qualities but it also wasn't a bad thing because it meant that Chiru could think on her feet.
" What are you going to teach him?" Chiru asked Storm curiously.
Storm stumbled as she thought about her answer, " I---have absolutely- --no idea what I'm going to teach him. Maybe spells or something like that."
" Yeah, that's simple enough for him I think." She gestured at Irvine.
" Now that was not very appropriate." Storm said. Chiru looked at her briefly and nodded but Storm caught a twinkle in her eye, like the woman had just had a sudden epiphany but Storm thought nothing of it.
Sweaty and tired, Raven and Irvine stopped and both went to a bench, separating without a nod or anything resembling one. Storm went to the water dispenser and poured two cups of water. First going to Raven and giving it to him, he drank slowly but when Irvine got his, the water seemed to disappear in a few mere seconds. Even though they were sparring they'd have bruises and such but since they were vampires the black and blue marks would fade in a few minutes so it was no worry. Still, Chiru looked at Raven and Irvine was checked over by Storm just for anything. Sparring was a form of fake battle but you could still get hurt badly if the right techniques were put into play.
Irvine would have a large bruise on his cheekbone which was already starting to puff up a little but Storm wasn't worried it would do anything else. If so, they could always get it checked over by a healer. Boredom playing on her features and upon her voice, Storm spoke, " Okay, you two seem to be fine. Irvine, I would like to see your power."
Nodding wordlessly, still panting a little, he stood up and stretched out his hand, palm up. A golden glow, a growing mist gathered over his hand and then took form, growing increasingly brighter and lengthened to a "hilt" on one side of his hand and grew into a "blade" on the other side. Storm watched as he held it and then, immediately sat down, drained. An energy sword. That was the only explanation she could up with why he had gotten so pale and sickly looking after he had conjured it up. It was made purely of his own energy, and having so little from sparring/training so long with Raven he had very little to begin with. Storm had to give him credit. Staying up all day (A/N- Daytime is when they sleep so it's like night for them. Nighttime is their day. Got it?), fighting for at least, she looked at her watch, 2 and a half hours, and calling up his sword was very tiring and he had not voiced one complaint.
" Alright. You can call it back." The sword instantly disappeared into thin air. He was panting and sweating bad as Storm had noticed but twice as much as before.
Chiru spoke up, getting a little worried maybe, " Are you okay? I think we should let him rest Storm."
" He looks fine to me." She said with a nonchalant, uncaring shrug.
Startling everyone as he spoke, Raven said in a low voice, " Let him rest."
Irvine shook his head and stood up. " I don't need a rest. I'm fine. What's next?"
"Well," Noticing Chiru glaring at her, she faltered but snappily came back at Irvine. " We need to think about what next, alright with you? Go to your room and.do something. I don't care." Storm received a glare from Irvine now.
Standing straight with his shoulders back and his arms crossed, glowering, he asked her, " What's stuck up your ass?" (A/N- I have always wanted to hear him say that ^_^) " I'm not a slave. I'll do whatever I want so don't tell me what to do."
Rounding on him, angry and tired, she argued hotly, " As long as I'm second-in-command and a part of this operation of training a low-life like you, I'll tell you anything I damn please and I expect you to listen or I'll kill you right here, right now."
" You know nothing about me! And I'd like to see you try!"
Raven laughed, " Disgusting. They sound like they're married!" At that, he walked off. The arguing two instantly stopped and stared at his retreating back. Chiru was smiling at his sudden humor and was trying to restrain giggles. Storm glared at Irvine and he returned the favor, ice- blue eyes met purple and the tension in the air had rose another 10 notches.
Chiru was still in the room, waiting for the battle of wills to blow over but seeing as it was not stopping anytime soon she decided o put a stop to it on her own. She stepped in between them and pushed Storm backwards and then shooed Irvine back too. " Okay, people stop with the glaring. It's annoying to those of us not included. Come on, kiss and make up." They both stopped and looked at her like she had grown two heads in a matter of 1 millisecond. " Then don't make up. Fine. I'm leaving. I'm hungry. Kill each other if you want." At that, the girl turned away sullenly.
Storm was the first one to blink, turning away from him as he continued to watch her. " Where are you going?" He asked, not worried or anything; why would he be worried? Just curious.
Not even bothering to answer, she waved her hand at him and continued to walk off into recesses of the gym. Coming to a door, she turned into it and walked in. It was an indoor pool that also had a locker room connected to it. Walking into the locker room, she got her bathing suit and changed, knowing thankfully Irvine had not followed her in or else she knew she would've tried to drown him for his insolence earlier and his arrogant nature. Walking back to the pool, the water heated, it stretched the length of the whole cavern that was about 80 feet long and 30 feet across. Storm sighed as she walked in over the steps. The water acted as a cooling balm to her temper. She also enjoyed the feeling of water running over her skin as she swam, soon thoughts of training an impossible man, of working with a morose one, and everything else left her as if the water was washing away her worries.
A/N- I don't really like this part but that's okay! Sorry to leave you on a non-exciting cliffy but there will be more very soon!
Hiylo! Sorry it's been sooo long guys! I have lots to update so the next two chapters or something like that are going to be in rapid succession so, be happy!
Tossing and turning in bed, Storm was unable to sleep and regrettably she slid out from under the covers and put her feet on the shockingly cold floor. There was no use staying in it when you weren't sleeping anyway. Her muscles though were still not used to walking or moving seeing as she had been in bed for two and a half hours or so. Sitting down in a chair in front of her desk, she pondered this new person she was supposed to train to be a killer while messing with her computer she had pilfered from humans a few years back.
Irvine was a strange vampire, one that she had not seen the likes of before. He was an intriguing puzzle so far seemingly tough and hardened on the outside but on the in, was totally different. No other vampire she knew would've granted mercy to those children. The only ways a half blood came into existence was when a human offered the vampire massive amounts of money or gave them a free meal. Irvine gave this gift willingly and freely to them without a thought.
He was different all right. He was a vampire for sure but he did not act like one, or at least not in the heat.if you could call what happened earlier a battle, not cold, hard, and ruthless, an uncaring being with a heart as cold as ice. Now this wasn't true for a lot of vampires, but for those joining the Blood Pack it was very common. Except for the healers. The healers, except for one, more often then not were kind and cared for all.
Storm also wondered what his power was. Every vampire had a different one or in the case of a healer, a different strength of power since healing was rare but it came in all different levels. Some could heal only minor cuts but others. Others could heal a wound and bring you back to life when you were but an inch from it..or heal your soul. These ones were very rare indeed and the Blood Pack had two, both leaders of the healers. There were about 12 in all gathered from throughout the world on missions taken by occasional members.
Since she had only been here though for a little while and, as Chiru plainly pointed out, she was standoffish, wanting to be left alone by almost all except for a few people so she did not know to many of the other's powers. Chiru's power was three ice "spells"; blizzard, blizzara, blizzaga, blizzard being the weakest and blizzaga being the strongest. Raven's power Storm wasn't so sure about plus she knew she would eventually find out. (Irvine I can find out about) she thought, staring at the computer screen. She had hacked into Mikar's private files once before and could do it again to look at anybody else's but she had decided not to make it a habit.
***
Smiling she leaned back in her chair. The leader had apparently changed all the passwords but she had been able to override them and now it was done. The thing wasn't the easiest of nutshells to crack, the nut seeming as if it had a metal casing around it not a shell but it wasn't impossible to break. Her eyes scanned the page reading every word rapidly, taking in every detail into her brain:
Name: Irvine Sisco
Age: 167
Current Accomplices: Storm Nightshadow, Chiru Starstrike, Raven Obscura
Status/Rank: New Member
Power: Conjuring Energy Sword
Family/Friends: None
Past Occupation: Mercenary
Specialties:???
Hurriedly exiting out of the program after she heard a knock on her door, she got up and, looking down, noticed her state of undress usually dressing in a large, loose shirt for bed. Slipping on some loose pants on the floor, she opened the door.to be greeted with Irvine.
" What is it?" Storm asked with a little bit more than a hint of grumpiness from lack of sleep.
" I saw your light on." The reply came, stated very plainly that even her sleep-deprived brain could discern.
" My light is on? And that's why you're here? Okay. What are you doing up?"
Raising a brow, his voice becoming a little annoyed, " I couldn't sleep."
" Neither could I. Come on in if you want."
He shook his head whether to wake himself up or say no she couldn't tell. " No. I can't. I'll see you tomorrow, Storm." When he said her name she felt a shiver go up her spine. (Huh? What was that all about?) " Storm?"
Shaken, she came back from her thoughts, " Er.What were you saying?"
" Just said that you'll have to take it easy on me training tomorrow. I'll be tired."
" No chance that I'll do that, Irvine."
* * *
" Storm, you up?" Chiru said outside the door.
Opening her eyes, Storm stumbled out of bed and opened the door. " I'm up. Be there in a few minutes." She grumbled.
"All right."
Slipping on a black tank-top and loose blue pants, she hurried out of the room not really wanting to do anything but sleep but that was out of the question she knew. Checking the kitchen slash cafeteria for them and noticing that all the other Blood Pack members were already up she wondered how long she had been asleep usually being the first one up and about even if she had stayed up late. The gym now was the most logical place to check since it was obvious that they were not in the cafeteria. To try and get her muscles woken up and working, she ran to the gym instead of her morning Zombie Walk as she thought of it.
Hearing noises, as if someone was being thrown physically around, she walked into the gym; she saw Raven and Irvine already sparring, Chiru looking for flaws in Irvine's stances and techniques until it was her turn. Turning, the girl saw Storm walk in the gym and she nodded at Irvine and gave a thumbs-up sign that only Storm caught. Storm, smiling, walked up behind the taller of the two men and tapped his shoulder. Irvine turned around without missing a beat and threw a punch that Storm blocked with the speed acquired by fighting slayers.
" You'll have to work on speed definitely. Chiru says your fine sparring with Raven. Continue."
And they resumed their mock fighting, Storm and Chiru both watching now, giving out suggestions and pointers to Irvine when he faltered. Storm took notice that Raven liked to come in fast, utilizing his small, lithe, yet powerful form to hit pressure points rather than bruising his opponent over and over again until he was down while Irvine was quick but certainly not lithe and liked to come in for powerful punches and kicks and occasional throws but Raven, proving quicker usually avoided them and then would use Irvine's over-committed weight to over-balance him so that he'd fall flat on his face. At these times, Storm couldn't help but giggle at him. She thought of Irvine as a serious, cocky, arrogant man and then seeing him getting pushed around by someone shorter than him. It just tickled her to no end.
She decided that Raven seeing as he was a surprisingly good hand-to- hand fighter would train Irvine in that department. Not knowing what Chiru could contribute to his training yet, Storm was caught between asking her what she was good at or waiting to see. Deciding it was faster to ask her instead of having to wait, patience not being her strong suite, Storm spoke up, " Chiru, what do you want to do with him?"
" I don't know, I guess I'll teach him how to handle a weapon." Chiru said.
" Which one?"
" I don't know yet. I'll think about it I guess."
Storm sighed a little bit inwardly. Chiru was a little brash and didn't like to think things over but relied more on the spur of the moment and such. It was a trait that was a little dangerous but she usually came through. As far as Storm could tell, it might not be the best of qualities but it also wasn't a bad thing because it meant that Chiru could think on her feet.
" What are you going to teach him?" Chiru asked Storm curiously.
Storm stumbled as she thought about her answer, " I---have absolutely- --no idea what I'm going to teach him. Maybe spells or something like that."
" Yeah, that's simple enough for him I think." She gestured at Irvine.
" Now that was not very appropriate." Storm said. Chiru looked at her briefly and nodded but Storm caught a twinkle in her eye, like the woman had just had a sudden epiphany but Storm thought nothing of it.
Sweaty and tired, Raven and Irvine stopped and both went to a bench, separating without a nod or anything resembling one. Storm went to the water dispenser and poured two cups of water. First going to Raven and giving it to him, he drank slowly but when Irvine got his, the water seemed to disappear in a few mere seconds. Even though they were sparring they'd have bruises and such but since they were vampires the black and blue marks would fade in a few minutes so it was no worry. Still, Chiru looked at Raven and Irvine was checked over by Storm just for anything. Sparring was a form of fake battle but you could still get hurt badly if the right techniques were put into play.
Irvine would have a large bruise on his cheekbone which was already starting to puff up a little but Storm wasn't worried it would do anything else. If so, they could always get it checked over by a healer. Boredom playing on her features and upon her voice, Storm spoke, " Okay, you two seem to be fine. Irvine, I would like to see your power."
Nodding wordlessly, still panting a little, he stood up and stretched out his hand, palm up. A golden glow, a growing mist gathered over his hand and then took form, growing increasingly brighter and lengthened to a "hilt" on one side of his hand and grew into a "blade" on the other side. Storm watched as he held it and then, immediately sat down, drained. An energy sword. That was the only explanation she could up with why he had gotten so pale and sickly looking after he had conjured it up. It was made purely of his own energy, and having so little from sparring/training so long with Raven he had very little to begin with. Storm had to give him credit. Staying up all day (A/N- Daytime is when they sleep so it's like night for them. Nighttime is their day. Got it?), fighting for at least, she looked at her watch, 2 and a half hours, and calling up his sword was very tiring and he had not voiced one complaint.
" Alright. You can call it back." The sword instantly disappeared into thin air. He was panting and sweating bad as Storm had noticed but twice as much as before.
Chiru spoke up, getting a little worried maybe, " Are you okay? I think we should let him rest Storm."
" He looks fine to me." She said with a nonchalant, uncaring shrug.
Startling everyone as he spoke, Raven said in a low voice, " Let him rest."
Irvine shook his head and stood up. " I don't need a rest. I'm fine. What's next?"
"Well," Noticing Chiru glaring at her, she faltered but snappily came back at Irvine. " We need to think about what next, alright with you? Go to your room and.do something. I don't care." Storm received a glare from Irvine now.
Standing straight with his shoulders back and his arms crossed, glowering, he asked her, " What's stuck up your ass?" (A/N- I have always wanted to hear him say that ^_^) " I'm not a slave. I'll do whatever I want so don't tell me what to do."
Rounding on him, angry and tired, she argued hotly, " As long as I'm second-in-command and a part of this operation of training a low-life like you, I'll tell you anything I damn please and I expect you to listen or I'll kill you right here, right now."
" You know nothing about me! And I'd like to see you try!"
Raven laughed, " Disgusting. They sound like they're married!" At that, he walked off. The arguing two instantly stopped and stared at his retreating back. Chiru was smiling at his sudden humor and was trying to restrain giggles. Storm glared at Irvine and he returned the favor, ice- blue eyes met purple and the tension in the air had rose another 10 notches.
Chiru was still in the room, waiting for the battle of wills to blow over but seeing as it was not stopping anytime soon she decided o put a stop to it on her own. She stepped in between them and pushed Storm backwards and then shooed Irvine back too. " Okay, people stop with the glaring. It's annoying to those of us not included. Come on, kiss and make up." They both stopped and looked at her like she had grown two heads in a matter of 1 millisecond. " Then don't make up. Fine. I'm leaving. I'm hungry. Kill each other if you want." At that, the girl turned away sullenly.
Storm was the first one to blink, turning away from him as he continued to watch her. " Where are you going?" He asked, not worried or anything; why would he be worried? Just curious.
Not even bothering to answer, she waved her hand at him and continued to walk off into recesses of the gym. Coming to a door, she turned into it and walked in. It was an indoor pool that also had a locker room connected to it. Walking into the locker room, she got her bathing suit and changed, knowing thankfully Irvine had not followed her in or else she knew she would've tried to drown him for his insolence earlier and his arrogant nature. Walking back to the pool, the water heated, it stretched the length of the whole cavern that was about 80 feet long and 30 feet across. Storm sighed as she walked in over the steps. The water acted as a cooling balm to her temper. She also enjoyed the feeling of water running over her skin as she swam, soon thoughts of training an impossible man, of working with a morose one, and everything else left her as if the water was washing away her worries.
A/N- I don't really like this part but that's okay! Sorry to leave you on a non-exciting cliffy but there will be more very soon!