"This is where I leave you," Caesar said, the two of us once again standing outside Hugo's door. "I have other duties that need tended to, and Hugo is your responsibility now. He will be able to show you to combat training at the appropriate time, and I will see you then."
"You train with us?" I asked.
He smirked. "I don't train with you, I train you. Until then, do your best not to get killed. This castle is not one to wander about freely. Hugo knows the safe areas. And before I forget, here is your key to our quarters."
"Thanks, Caesar. For everything," I said, pocketing the key he presented me.
"Don't thank me yet," he said. "Good luck."
And then he was gone. I felt uneasy without him; I had grown accustomed to his presence and he offered a certain measure of protection against the threats that lurked here at every turn. I knocked lightly on Hugo's door, resolving to convince Hugo to join Caesar and I against the Romanians. One of Vladimir's newborns, Caesar had said. Hugo's loyalty to his creator would complicate things. But I wouldn't let him be a victim of this war, not if I could help it.
Hugo opened the door, a grin on his face. "Welcome back, amiga! You were gone a while!"
"I had a couple questions that Caesar answered before I returned," I said.
"I like Caesar. He's always been super nice to me. Not like everybody else," he closed the door and glanced around, as if afraid of being overheard. Then he whispered, "They scare me a little."
"It's okay to be scared," I told him. "Sometimes fear is what keeps you alive."
He nodded sagely. "I understand. Hey, do you want to see what I can do? The masters are always encouraging me to practice and now I have someone to help!"
"Sure," I said, smiling at his enthusiasm.
"Okay! There's a special room they have for me to practice in. They said it's to make sure I don't burn down the castle. But I don't see how I could." He wrinkled his nose. "It's stone."
I laughed. "Good point. But better safe than sorry, I suppose."
I wish this damned castle would burn to the ground.
"Yes, probably. I'll lead the way, c'mon!" Hugo said, darting out of the room. I ran to follow him, growing accustomed to my new vampire speed. Caesar had a tendency to walk everywhere, but this was not the case with Hugo. I grinned. I loved the speed.
"Here we are," Hugo said, stopping abruptly. "You're supposed to have a key to get in, but…" he patted down his pockets. "Ah, oops, I must have left it in my room." So off back to his room we went.
"Where did you last see it?" I asked, watching in bemusement as he flashed around his room in search.
"I don't remember," he said before darting around again, muttering as he searched. "Mamá me mataría por esto."
"It's alright, Hugo. It happens," I said kindly. "Would you like some help searching?"
He stopped, staring at me with wide eyes. "Help? Si, if you want!"
"Have you tried the key holder?" I asked, pointing to the small rack that hung on the wall. There were two keys on it.
"Ah," he said, smacking his palm against his forehead. "Caesar always puts them there. I always forget."
I attributed his forgetfulness to being stuck perpetually as a child, rather than any fault in his vampire memory. "That's okay, Hugo. It's why I'm here."
He took the larger of the two keys from its place. "It's this one. The other is for Caesar's room. He says I'm welcome any time. But I don't want to bother him, so I've never went."
We left his room once more, returning to the locked door. "If he's invited you, Hugo, I don't think you would be bothering him if you ever stopped by."
"Don't want to annoy him," Hugo said, sticking the key into the lock and turning it. The door clicked open. "I like Caesar. But even he scares me. Just a little."
"He does have a perpetually annoyed look to him, doesn't he?" I asked, a grin climbing up my face.
Hugo nodded, his curls flopping around. "Si, he does. Maybe he just doesn't like many here. He doesn't look annoyed when he looks at you. Are you his mate? Is that why? Caesar told me about them in passing. I don't want one. They sound gross."
I laughed. "No, Caesar isn't my mate. He's just a friend to me."
"You're my friend too, right?" Hugo asked, his curiosity about Caesar and I apparently sated.
"Yeah, Hugo, we're friends," I said, ruffling his hair.
He grinned. "Good. Let me show you what I can do! It's real cool!"
"Whenever you're ready," I encouraged, shutting the door.
"Don't be scared, I won't hurt you," Hugo promised, his eyes bright in the darkness. He snapped his fingers. The unlit torches around me sprung to life, fire appearing from nothing and brightening the once-dark room.
"Whoa," I breathed. "Hugo, that's incredible."
"I can do this, too, look," Hugo said, cupping his hands. A flame grew within his palms, hovering just above his skin.
"Will fire burn you?" I asked curiously.
He shook his head. "No. That was the first thing the masters tested. Though I suppose it could, if someone took my head off."
"What else can you do?" I asked.
"Caesar said I could burn a vampire alive if I wished. But I don't want to do that," Hugo said, shuddering. "Sometimes I use my gift to burn vampires here, though. But not to kill them. Just so they leave me alone."
"What do they do to you?" This wasn't the first time he had mentioned the other vampires of the coven being antagonistic towards him.
He frowned, the troubled expression aging his young face. "They don't like that the masters treat me different. So they try to take my arms, or my legs. Sometimes even my head. But they only try that during combat training, when they can get away with it. Caesar always stops them before they can take my head, though. No one else ever does."
"I'm sorry," I said. "I'll do my best to keep you safe, Hugo."
"Gracias," Hugo said, brightening. "Say, do you have a gift? Caesar does. His is neat. But not as cool as mine." He stared entranced at the flame that still flickered in his palms.
"No," I lied. "I don't have a gift. At least, I don't think I do. I'm still pretty new."
"Don't give up, you may have one! The masters treat those that have gifts nicer," he said. "So try to have one."
"I'm not sure that's something I can control," I said with a grin.
"Maybe not. Gifts sure are neat, though. I feel like a superhero," Hugo said, closing his hands and extinguishing the flame that danced within them.
"Do you want to keep practicing?" I asked him.
"Nah, not right now. We can do it later. I've been reading a comic book that Hiram brought me last time he visited me. He says I'm his greatest accomplishment," Hugo said. We left the room, and Hugo hadn't gone but a few feet before turning to lock the door.
"Who's Hiram?" I asked, feeling slightly bad that I was probing Hugo for information. Compared to the rest of them, he was innocent.
"The masters call Hiram our secret weapon. He can find people with gifts, like me!" Hugo said.
"Do you know when you'll next see Hiram?" I asked. I needed as much information as possible to pass on to Demetri, who would be the only one able to find him.
"I don't know. He comes and goes often. The masters aren't pleased with him right now. His gift doesn't tell him what sort of gift someone has. Just that they have one. He brought back a human last trip whose only gift was to make people kinder."
"Was?"
"The masters killed him," Hugo whispered, eyes wide. "And they sent Hiram away and told him not to come back until he found something truly useful. That was two weeks ago."
So their sensor wasn't nearly as powerful as Eleazar. That, at least, was a relief. But Hiram had still managed to find Hugo, whose power could be absolutely devastating if his nature wasn't perfectly cheerful. It was only a matter of time before Hiram found someone with a deadly gift and personality to match.
We arrived back at Hugo's room. He immediately grabbed a Spider-Man comic from his desk and plopped down on his sofa, burying his nose in it. "Hugo," I said, after we had spent some time in silence.
He looked up, pushing a few stray curls out of his eyes. "Huh?"
"The combat training, what's it like?"
"Oh," he grimaced. "I suppose I would like learning how to fight. But not like how they teach it. Caesar is good at his job, but he can't watch everyone at once. So it ends up being really brutal if you can't fight well, like me. You learn a little and then they toss you in the ring."
"The ring?" I echoed.
"Well, it's not a real ring. Most of training, once you get past the beginner lessons, involve everyone standing in a ring with two to four people fighting. It's scary. Caesar banned me from anything more than one on one fights after the person that was supposed to be my ally ganged up on me with the two we were fighting."
I swallowed nervously. "That sounds intense."
"It is. Caesar says some have a knack for it," Hugo said. "I don't."
"It's alright, Hugo. Not everyone is cut out for a life like this," I said.
Hugo stared at me, eyes piercing. "Why are you so different from the rest? You and Caesar?"
"Not everyone is cruel, Hugo," I said softly. "This isn't the only way of life. My family, the Cullens, drink the blood of animals. They don't harm humans."
"We can do that?" Hugo asked, eyes round.
"Yes. Maybe you could try someday, if you wanted," I said.
He wrinkled his nose. "No. Humans never did anything for me."
I was startled by the words that sounded as if they had been stolen straight from my own mouth. "Me neither."
"Was your Mamá mean to you, too?" He asked, hugging his knees to his chest.
"No," I said, everything about this boy suddenly clicking into place. "But my dad was."
"My dad left when I was little. I don't remember him. Mamá drank a lot. She said it was my fault he left," he said.
"My mom died in a car accident when I was three. I was there, and my dad always blamed me," I told him. "We're not so different."
"You said you live with the Cullens. What happened to your dad?" Hugo asked.
"I escaped, and the Cullens found me. They took me in. Last August my dad kidnapped me. I had to kill him," I said.
Hugo looked at me in awe. "You're really tough."
"So are you," I said, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder. "We're made of tougher stuff than anyone knows."
"Si. If only everyone else could see that," Hugo said, grinning largely.
"We'll make them see," I said seriously. "Someday, they'll all see."
Hugo smacked his fist into his palm. "We'll make them see," he echoed.
I let him go back to reading his comic book. Once he finished, he turned on the television, seeming to understand the exclusively-Romanian channels.
I checked my watch. "What time is combat training?"
Hugo didn't look away from the TV. "1800 hours."
6:00 P.M. Half an hour until I would witness their savage fighting methods and take part in it myself. "We'll need to leave soon."
"Lo sé," he said. He didn't so much as twitch until 5:55, when he turned off the television and stood. I wondered how he knew what time it was. "C'mon, we won't be late. We're fast now, recuerda?"
"Lo sé, Hugo," I said. "I remember."
We left his room, running down the dank, dim halls of the castle. I followed after Hugo, who obviously knew exactly where he was going. We emerged from the castle into the large, grassy clearing that I had stood in when I had initially arrived; however, instead of being empty, it now held upwards of fifty vampires of all sizes and builds. The group was primarily men, but I spotted a few women milling about the crowd.
Hugo stayed glued to my side, obviously on edge around these vampires. "Don't worry, Hugo," I murmured, silently telling myself the same thing.
"Welcome back, newbie," Doyle said, smirking as he ambled up to me. I bit back a growl. "Seems we have the same training period. I look forward to ripping you a new one. Who knows, maybe I'll take your head this time."
Hugo grabbed my wrist when I stepped forward, almost eye to eye with Doyle, who was barely taller than I but built like a tank. Doyle's gaze fell on Hugo, and he smirked. "Hey, fireworks. Don't worry, once I'm finished with newbie here, I'll gladly move on to you."
"Back off, Doyle," I snarled. He had gone too far by threatening Hugo, whose grip was tight around my wrist.
"And if I don't?" He sneered. "I remember removing your arms once today already. I'd be happy to do it again."
"I'd appreciate if you didn't pick fights, Doyle. You'll have plenty of time to do that during sparring," Caesar said, striding on to the field.
"Course, C. Didn't mean to offend. Got to scare the newbies into shape somehow, right?" Doyle asked.
Caesar remained impassive. "True leaders operate based off respect, not fear."
Doyle's smirk faded. "Fear works just as well, I've found."
"Perhaps," Caesar said, walking off.
"You got lucky," Doyle hissed at me before stalking away.
"Hugo, you're crushing my wrist a little bit, bud," I said.
Hugo released my wrist, looking a little embarrassed. "Sorry."
"It's okay," I assured him.
"Fall in!" Caesar bellowed, his deep voice travelling easily over everyone else's.
"Over here," Hugo whispered, grabbing my wrist once more and tugging me into line with everyone else. Silence had swept over the field.
"Welcome to combat training," Caesar said, back at normal volume. "For some, this is nothing more than part of the normal routine. For others, it is your first time stepping foot in the ring. And for a very small percentage of you, it is your first time swinging your fist at all."
A few vampires chuckled. Caesar waited for them to quiet before continuing. "Whether you are experienced or fresh from the change, we are all here to train towards one goal: bringing down the Volturi once and for all."
A roar of approval swept across the field. Reluctantly, I joined in. Several others, wide-eyed and appearing confused, remained silent. No doubt they were newborns like I was, just awoken from the change. Again, Caesar waited for the din fade before he spoke. "Most of you are fighting in the ring. You know who you are. The rest split off, you'll be working with Sam on the basics. Once you've mastered it, you'll join everyone else in the ring. Fall out!"
"You know who Sam is, right?" Hugo asked, nodding towards the bulky vampire who had also helped during control training earlier. "I'm in the ring. I'll meet you after." He tossed me a small smile and scampered off.
I made my way to the small group that clumped around Sam. Altogether, there were nine of us. I recognized only two from control training earlier.
"That everyone?" Sam asked, eyes flicking over the group. "Good. Follow me."
He led us to the far end of the field and ordered us to stand in a straight line. "Odd number," he mused. "Wait here. I'm pulling someone from the ring to help here."
Sam disappeared, leaving us to wait in uneasy silence, stealing glances at one another. In the time it took for Sam to return with a dark-skinned vampire I didn't recognize, two of the newborns had started to scuffle. Sam and his companion stepped into the scuffle, throwing the two apart.
"Enough!" Sam snarled, glaring dangerously at both of them. "There will be plenty of time for that later. For now, line up." The two newborns bared their teeth at one another but obediently shuffled back in line. "We'll start by practicing the moves I show you. Then, I'll pair you off to see how well you do at applying what you've learned. Understood?"
"Yes sir," about half of us chorused.
Sam narrowed his eyes. "I said, understood?"
"Yes, sir!" This time, everyone spoke in unison.
"Good. Andre will demonstrate the moves. I will watch your forms and critique. If you wish to keep your limbs come sparring, I suggest you take what I have to say and apply it," Sam said, clasping his hands behind his back. "Andre, begin showing them beginner moves."
Everything Andre demonstrated was surprisingly easy. Punches, kicks, dodges, headlocks. Nothing I hadn't either done myself or witnessed. Sam circled me as I practiced a kick, sharp eyes searching for error. He found none, nodded in approval, and moved on, berating my neighbor for his clumsy landing.
"Enough," Sam said after some time. Across the field, there was shouting and angry snarls. I couldn't see what was happening within the ring of vampires. "Now that you seem to have grasped the basics - some more firmly than others - you will practice. I will pair you off based on skill. While I do so, Andre, go and get Caesar so he can have a look at this lot for himself."
Andre merely nodded and ran off towards the ring. Sam paced around us, assessing the group. "You two," he said, and the two vampires indicated stepped aside. He did the same for two more pairs. There were three left: me, a man with red hair of moderate build, and another man who looked like he could squash me with his pinky.
Andre returned with Caesar, who was surveying us with his arms crossed. Sam pursed his lips. "You two. Cullen… you go with Andre." I didn't like the smirk on Andre's face.
"First two," Caesar ordered. "Face one another. Everyone else back away. Win by headlock, neck grab, or forfeit."
The rest of us edged backwards, allowing the first two to face off against one another. "Begin!" Sam barked.
The fight didn't last long and the next pair was called. This fight lasted longer, until Caesar had to step in before the winner removed the loser's head completely. The third pair marked the first win by forfeit. Sam looked disgusted, and I knew that, when my fight came, I couldn't forfeit.
Fourth pair. This fight seemed to last the shortest of them all. With my fight looming, I felt myself running over everything I had ever learned from Jasper.
"Fifth pair," Sam said.
Andre stalked forward, looking utterly at ease. I took my place in front of him, standing lightly on the balls of my feet, and let out a breath.
"Begin."
I rolled out of the way as Andre lunged forward immediately, a snarl twisting his face. I snarled back. Andre swiped for me and I ducked under his arm, slamming into his torso and tossing him away. Within me, something clicked. My vision seemed to sharpen. Jasper's voice echoed in my head.
"Never turn your back on your enemy."
Andre landed a punch, sending me flying backwards. I rolled back to my feet, hissing. Andre feinted to my left and I only just managed to dodge his blow.
"Try to anticipate where Afton is going to go and adjust accordingly," Demetri said.
"That feels difficult," I said.
"It is. Good luck."
I smirked. Andre was in a crouch, growling at me. He darted forward again. This time, I knew where he was going. I slid under his kick, grabbing his leg and pulling him down.
"Never go for the obvious kill. They'll be expecting that. And you will lose."
I was on my feet in a second, not waiting for him to recover. My fist collided with his jaw in a thunderous uppercut. I sprung after him, grabbing him around the throat and slamming him to the ground.
"Win!" Caesar said sharply.
I released him and stepped back. Andre shot to his feet, cursed, and snarled at me.
"Impressive," Sam drawled. "It's not often we encounter natural fighters. I think you're ready for the ring. What say you, Caesar?"
Caesar inclined his head. "Keep working with this group, Sam. The rest have a lot to learn. Cullen, come with me. Time to find you a place in the ring."
⊱ ────── {.⋅ V ⋅.} ────── ⊰
Hello, all! Hope you're doing well and enjoyed this chapter of Penance. I know I'm having a blast writing it for sure, and it seems from the comments that you all are enjoying it just as much. Thanks a bunch for your reviews and I hope you keep them coming, because I love hearing what you have to say and always feel encouraged after reading them! What do you think will happen when Rowan joins the ring? Let me know in the reviews your theories about the coming chapter.
I got a lot of reviews this past chapter, so huge thanks to all of you! Unfortunately I can't reply to every single one due to my own time constraints but know that I appreciate you all! That said, here are a few responses to what you had to say about last chapter:
Lady-Queen99: Thank you! I like Hugo too, he's a ton of fun to write. Hopefully Rowan will be able to convince him to stay out of it or defect. I'm glad you like the idea of Caesar being one of the oldest vampires. He is not the Caesar. That's just his name. Thank you for reviewing!
HannahStewart-chan: Thank you! I'm doing my best to update frequently, I hate keeping you guys waiting. I'm glad you're enjoying Hugo! I love him. As for whether or not Rowan will have motherly feelings towards him... that's still to be seen. It's still rather early in their relationship, after all. I'm so glad you like Rowan as she is! As most people, she's better at some things and worse at others. For example, she's more of a natural fighter because of her time with the Cullens and the Volturi but her control leaves something to be desired. Thank you for reviewing and you stay safe as well!
MsMarvelPrincessa: I mean, I guess that's one way to start reading a story! I'm glad you're enjoying it, regardless, though I hope you've gone back to read all of Tenebrous in order to get the full picture! Rowan being with the Romanians seems to be making everyone anxious for some reason... I guess no one will chill until she's safe. In the meantime, enjoy the action and drama, I guess? XD
Luceoscura: Aw, thank you! I'm doing well! I hope you are safe and healthy also. Glad to hear you have internet again. Lots of people seem to really like Caesar, so I'm glad he's a hit. Will he continue to be trustworthy? That's something that remains to be seen. And what, are you saying Rowan isn't already strong and awesome? Kidding. I'm glad you hate Vladimir, Stefan, and the former queens (and even Doyle) so much. Means I'm doing a good job at writing villains. As for Hugo, he's precious. But no, I have no plans of him being with Jane. As for his fate, that I can't say. You'll just have to wait and see. Thanks for reviewing!
Anyway, that's about all I have to say about this chapter. I hope you all are looking forward to what's to come, I know I have some shocking twists that none of you will see coming which I'm quite excited about. So stay safe and healthy and I will speak to you in the next update!
Translations:
Lo sé - I know
Recuerda - remember
Mamá me mataría por esto - Mama would kill me for this