Note: The page breaks aren't working... so if I do a line of dashes (like ------) then that means page break. I'll try to fix it later.
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A/N: Wow, I've forgotten all about this fanfiction. I honestly thought I hadn't even put any of it up yet. And now I haven't updated in over a month… Sorry! Gosh I still can't believe I actually posted this story and forgot I did. I was so shocked when I saw it in my story list.
Well, anyway, here's another chapter.
Reviews:
Rebecca Andrews – Are you saying I actually made sense? That's great, cause I don't when I talk! Wow, I was thinking I didn't do a good job on explaining. Hah. Thanks a ton for your review, it really makes me more enthusiastic about this story, which means more updates!
Bitterly Yours xoxo – Heehee, I love writing from the perspective of a wimpy vampire. Yeah, I know my writing style is pretty casual. In second grade it was really formal, but then in seventh grade a teacher really got after me for not being formal enough in an essay… Well, I'm sorry you don't like that it's casual, I hope it doesn't bother you too much. Oh that's a good point about the short chapters meaning it'll have a ton of chapters. Thanks a lot for reviewing! Yes it was helpful.
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Section Three
"Have you fought before?" she asks.
What in the world? Is it that obvious how inexperienced I am! "No," I mumble.
"Would you like a bit of help practicing?"
I stare, shocked. The word "help" is rarely heard in the vampire community, except to say someone doesn't need help. It's definitely insulting to be offered help. It shows she doesn't count me as a danger, or she wouldn't risk offending me this way. Why would she want to help me, anyway? It's a waste of her time.
"I don't think it's a waste of time. I don't like unfair advantages," Acantha argues.
D my loudmouth of a mind. I need to work on guarding my thoughts.
Even though the reasons she gives me are completely innocent, one thing I do know is that vampires in general can't be trusted. Sure, they can be honest if they want, but they have a habit of twisting the truth to their own purposes. I'm careful not to form any of this into words in my mind, because I don't want to provoke her temper if I can help it.
"Do you want my help or not?" Acantha asks when I take too long to answer.
Reluctantly, I nod. It's humiliating haing to accept help, but I know I need it if I want to live much longer. With Morgen kicking me out of the only city I've been to in the last five centuries, and my skills to adapt very much forgotten, I'm likely to get myself killed soon.
"Alright. I'll come back tomorrow night and we can start," she decides. When I just sit there and stare, still in shock, she prompts, "Seth?"
I twitch slightly. It creeps me out that she could know my name when I haven't told her. This is one of the reasons I haven't hung around other vampires for so long. I don't like knowing they can access all my memories, thoughts, and feelings.
"Yes." That's all I manage.
"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow night, then." She disappears.
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Back inside my house again, I pace around and around my bedroom. Boredom sucks, especially the kind that comes right before something you're dreading. In my case, the thing I'm dreading is practicing fighting techniques with Acantha tomorrow. She still scares me.
All my nervous, contained energy builds up. Finally I crack, aiming a kick at the stone wall near the window. A crack appears in the stone, which shifts outwards just enough to put pressure on the window. The window shatters. The closed blackout curtains sheild me from the glass.
It's raining heavily outside now. The drops come pouring through the window, soaking the curtains and making a small lake on the floor.
I catch sight of my reflection in the water pooling on the floor. It still hasn't faded all the way, like most vampires' reflections do after a couple centuries. I wish it would. I don't like seeing myself. My electric green eyes and light brown hair only serve as a reminder that I don't fit in with most of my kind. It tires me to change the color of my eyes too often, and I can't have them black when I'm around humans without arousing suspicion, I just keep them their original color constantly. I also slightly miss the time when they were green, because when I was still human there weren't the worries of being weak.
I pull my gaze away from the pool of water. I'm getting hungry… But no, I can't eat. I'm not a killer. I only feed when I absolutely have to, and even then, I'm careful not to cause death.
Settling down on the old, beat-up couch, I prepare myself for a long wait.
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By morning, I'm very sick of waiting. I've tried many things to keep myself busy, but none of them have held my attention more than a few minutes. I go to sleep, more to pass the time than because I'm tired.
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Finally, I wake up to see that the sun has just gone down. Good, that means I've skipped a whole twelve hours' worth of waiting by sleeping. I don't know when Acantha will show up, but the wait isn't quite so boring now that she could show up any minute. You'd think I'd be used to this life by now. Well, most nights I can at least go to the city and waste my time there rather than at home. The way Morgen's forcing me to stay away is really starting to annoy me.
A couple hours later, I'm startled by Acantha appearing just inside the front door. She looks just as frightening as she did last night. I'm still not used to black eyes with not even a hint of color.
"H-hello," I say.
She doesn't give a greeting in reply, instead saying ,"Are you ready?"
I gulp and nod.
There's no more warning than that. I find myself on the floor. It takes me a moment to realize what Acantha did – lash out with her power.
"You need to always be ready for an attack," she scolds.
I feel incredibly stupid. She was probably going easy on me then, and still I couldn't take it.
I pick myself up off the floor and face her again, bracing myself for an attack. It comes, and again I'm not strong enough for it.
It takes hours before I finally manage to stay standing through an attack. Acantha is pleased, but I'm ecstatic. She's still obviously not using her full power, but it's a start!
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(A/N: This is where I left off over a month ago, so if my writing style suddenly changes or something, that's why.)
Acantha spends every night for a week helping me become less vulnerable to attacks from other vampires. Once I can take a good amount of power flung at me, she teaches me to use my own power to attack. This part is much harder for me, because it's just not in my nature to attack.
"Try it. Attack me," Acantha orders, standing across the room from me.
"But—but you're not my enemy! How can I attack you!" I yelp.
She rolls her eyes. We've gone over this a thousand times already. "You're so slow! I don't know why I'm wasting my time teaching you. You'll never learn, and you'll never be strong enough to survive," she says bluntly.
My mouth drops open. She's been blunt before, but not purely rude like this. How can she say that? I thought I was getting stronger, and now she's telling me it's hopeless. How could she get my hopes up and then tell me there's no point in trying!
I only realize the anger is building up when it releases itself in an attack at Acantha. She grunts and takes a step back.
"Oh, no, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that!" I apologize quickly while hurrying over to her.
She straightens and starts laughing. It surprises me, this being the first time I've heard her truly laugh. "What are you talking about? That's exactly what I was trying to get you to do!"
After a minute I say, "Oh yeah."
"That was good for your first time," she says.
"But I've done it before, in the last two nights," I protest.
She looks at me like I'm being incredibly stupid. "Yes, but this was the first time you put all your effort into it. You didn't mean your earlier attacks, so they weren't as successful. Try again."
I do, and again, and again, for hours. By the end of it, I still can't attack very powerfully unless I'm angry. Acantha tells me I'm fairly powerful when I can make myself really attack her. I don't know if she's telling the truth or only trying to encourage me.
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When I wake up the next night, I hurry and find a meal out in the countryside. I didn't eat yesterday, and I can't go for very long without food, as much as I'd like to.
Acantha hasn't come by the time I return to my house. I wait outside, wandering around but staying close enough that she can tell me when she arrives.
But she doesn't. I wait until midnight, and she's still not there. She comes at different times every night, since she has a life besides teaching me, but she tells me when she's going to come. This time she said to expect her at eight at night.
By this time, I'm starting to get worried. She's never blown me off before, and it doesn't seem like her to do that. She wouldn't forget, either.
I squeeze my eyes shut and gather up the courage to will myself to New Mayhem.
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A/N: Yay, I finished! Uh oh. I just realized I had planned for something else to happen at this point, not to have him go to New Mayhem. I think Seth decided to go there without asking me :P. Oh well, this way works too.
I'll try to keep up with this story now that I've started on it again. Sorry again about the long wait for this section. Read and review please!