Chapter 7

From behind the door the three girls walked out with guilty smiles. I'd noticed them around fifteen minutes ago in the middle of my spar against Joe.

"How did you know we were there even though you were fighting Guardian Maxwell?" The way they were peering so intently through the small windows in the door made it hard for me not to have noticed it. They were certainly not as discreet as they had perhaps hoped but I refrained from telling them that.

"You beat him without breaking a sweat…"

"Are those the things that increased your strength and speed?"

"No wonder you beat Drew Ozera."

"And I'm hungry so let's go." I urged as I towed them out of the training room. From the number of questions they seemed to have, we could be in the training room for forever! "See you later Guardian Maxwell."

"I'll see you in class tomorrow Valentine." Joe nodded with a professional glance to which I returned with an easy going grin.

"You guys are a bit early." I commented casually.

"We thought you might want us to get you early so you could have a shower." Roxy smiled. "We didn't expect you to do so well against a teacher. We figured you'd be absolutely exhausted and in need of a little rest before dinner."

"I'm not too bad." I shrugged. "Didn't sweat much."

"We can just about manage to land hits on Maxwell but it's hard. You beat him seemingly without breaking a sweat." Els commented. "How are you not dead on the mat?"

"Some of us can't even land a hit." Ingrid grimaced as she seemed to recall something unpleasant.

"You have difficulties in combat class?" I asked as I turned to face her while we walked.

"A little. I end up in the infirmary pretty much all the time." Ingrid sighed. "It's absolutely ridiculous! They even have a room set up for me, it's like they're waiting for me to go back some time soon. Of course they're right, I reckon to go there at least once a week."

"Would you like some help? I could partner up with you tomorrow and give you some tips?" I offered with a small smile. I remembered the days when I used to be the one with the personal room at the clinic because of how hard my training was with my parents. And then there were also the occasional times when my magic went way out of hand and I ended up injuring myself somehow. One way or another, I used to end up at the clinic a lot more than most other students in any of the year groups. "We've got a joint session tomorrow right?"

"You'd do that?" Ingrid asked with sparkling eyes.

"Of course!" I told her. There was no reason for me not to. In the process of helping her, I could probably work out some other various techniques that would be suitable for anyone under almost any circumstance.

"We have those joint lesions three times a week. Saturday's are the worst." Roxy grimaced.

"Wait… I thought you said we have no lessons on Saturdays!" I squealed in shock.

"No, we had nothing that particular Saturday. We get that break once a month." Els explained. "Maybe we should've been more specific…"

"Ya think?" I scoffed. "Well anyway, I'll pair up with you tomorrow Ingrid and see what you can do."

"Thank you so much Kai!" she screamed as she hugged me. Walking through the dining hall was worse than that first breakfast had been a couple of days ago. Everyone turned to inspect me. Taking a small glance around I noticed some of the seniors were staring and grimaced.

"Why are people staring?" I whispered.

"My guess is, word got around the whole school that you beat Ozera. Seriously that's a total achievement." Els told me.

"Thing is Kai, we should've explained the social standing around here. Those four Royals, they're not just royalty by name among the students. They excel in pretty much everything. They manage the perfect balance between school and mucking around. Those four have been together since… well pretty much since forever due to their parents. Lots of people respect those four and anything that happens to them, pretty much everyone will know; especially if it's to do with fighting. Those four are like the guardian prodigies or something. They're even stronger if they're allowed to use magic." Roxy explained with a hushed tone when we reached an empty table.

"Well anyone would be considerably stronger with magic." I scoffed. "So they're staring because?"

"You beat all four of them in less than fifteen minutes. Beating the Dragomir twins would've been gossip enough, but beating Ozera after fighting the Dragomirs is major stuff. You're a new kid, beating Zeklos would've been surprising though perhaps not as shocking. You practically beat them consecutively with the twins making the fight with Zeklos even harder. Everyone will probably be thinking you cheated somehow." Els said.

"Wow, basically I should prepare for rumours to be flying around." I grumbled. "That's such a pain in the ass. And here I was hoping to keep a relatively low profile."

"That's what happens." Ingrid shrugged. "It may or may not die down."

"Well it better." I rolled my eyes. "Being stared at by vampires is quite creepy." I cast a glance around the room and everyone still stared disregarding the fact that I knew. I groaned as I poked my food around the plate and tried to ignore the stares. "Maybe I should've pretended to be crap and lose."

"Really?" they all stared at me expectantly.

"Okay maybe not." I sighed.

"I thought you might be one with the pride." Els grinned. "You wouldn't have been able to fake it."

"Probably not. You're right." I nodded. It was true though. Although I may not have used my full strength and abilities during my fight with the Moroi royals, I sure as hell wasn't taking it that easy on them either. I was surprised by how skilled they actually were. I didn't realise that there had been so many Moroi who took the training seriously enough to rival a dhampir in training without the use of magic. I knew for sure that even if I wanted to, I wouldn't have been able to fake a defeat, not with the way that they were fighting me. It naturally pushed me into using my instincts and my reflexes seemed to naturally kick in and so faking wasn't an option.

Looking around again I noticed that none of the jocks were around. Either they were avoiding me or they somehow knew what was for dinner. Just looking at the plate made my stomach flip in distaste. I shoved it away and sighed.

A couple of minutes later the whispering began.

"How did SHE beat them? I bet she cheated. There's no way a new kid could've beaten Dan let alone blindfolded. I mean she has extra classes for crying out loud. There's just no way." I heard someone whisper. My pride twitched and I tapped impatiently on the table. The other three stared at me and cast me a sympathetic glance, obviously having heard what was said.

"I mean seriously, just look at her, she's just average." My tapping grew a fraction heavier.

"The teachers probably just pity her for being new. I heard that she's just an orphan!"

"I heard her mum is a bloodwhore."

"I heard - " I slammed my hand on the table as I stood up and purposely let the chair scrap against the floor creating a wretched scratching noise. Everyone grew silent and I noticed the Guardian on duty watch the scene warily as though waiting for me to snap.

I took a few deep breaths before finding my voice. "Sorry, I'll see you guys at the dorms later." I told my friends stiffly before storming out at a walking pace. The whispers remained at bay and everyone stared as I walked past them.

The rage coursed through my limbs and as soon as the doors closed I sprinted to a training area which was in the forest. It was the one I used to run to when I was a kid back then and relief surged through me when I saw it was still the same as before. I grabbed the leather gloves from my pocket and pulled them on before jumping up to grab onto a branch fairly high up I swung onto the branch and randomly flipped from tree to tree. I spent the next hour letting off steam and by the time I was done I was panting. Sitting up against the trunk of a tree, I stared up at the stars until my stomach rumbled in hunger and I headed to the H.E. classroom to make some food. I hastily whipped something up and took it back outside to eat. I sat on a tree as I stared up at the sky while I ate slowly, basking in the cool breeze of the early hours of the morning.

"So you're the source of the tantalising scent," a voice chuckled and I caught the hand as it reached for my food.

"Get your own Ozera." I smirked glancing up at him. He was one branch higher than I was and he was eyeing my food with a hungry gaze.

"Aw don't be mean Valentine, just one bite?" he persisted as he jumped down and sat on the branch in front of me. We were lucky some of the branches were thick and sturdy, especially the one that we were on. I sure as hell didn't need the branch breaking while I ate.

"No, you want something to eat? Cook your own."

"I'd rather eat school food than my own cooking," he scoffed.

"Is the school prodigy actually incapable of something?" I teased. "Alright fine, I made more than I planned to anyway."

He began picking at the food on my plate instantly as soon as he had my consent and we were quiet for a few moments as we both ate.

"So how come you're not with your newfound gang?"

"Gang?" I stared at him in confusion before I realised what he must've meant. "Oh you mean Roxy, Els and Ingrid. You can't classify that as a gang unless we start bashing up the school." I laughed. "You can't exactly call your posy a gang either."

"Well then how would you classify us?" he arched his brows.

"The Jocks." I stated without hesitation.

"And your group?"

"Um… I'm not sure, I'll get back to you on that." I smirked. "So why's a jock talking to little old me?"

"You're hardly little or old." Drew scoffed. "Considering you beat me, you're going to be the topic of conversation for at least a week. How'd you get so good anyway? You weren't even using half your strength today were you? You'd barely broken a sweat."

"You didn't have to put yourself down so much. As for your question, I've been training hard since I was tiny. If you had been allowed to use magic I'd be torched in no time. I mean really, how could I fight against flames fireboy?"

"How did you know I was a fire user?"

"You're quite well known in this school so I had information about you guys shoved into my head during the tutorial about this school."

"As for your question, you fight by dodging."

"Have you ever tried anticipating the direction or move of an element? You could wrap me up in it and there'd be no way out without help." I scoffed. "So why are you here?"

"I could ask you the same question. This is where I normally head to if I need to cool my head."

"I was wondering around trying to cool my head and I found this place." Well that was a lie but he didn't need to know that. If I'd told him that I was already familiar with the grounds, he'd be suspicious for sure. He seemed like the observant type somehow, if I wasn't careful, he'd catch me out on my great lie sooner than anybody else. And I wasn't sure whether it would be a good idea for a major royal such as him to know that the Ivashkov line wasn't actually as gone as the world had thought. I wasn't sure what he could possibly do even if he did find out about it, but I wasn't desperate to find out either. It was better to put up my guard rather than to slip up.

"Why'd you need to cool your head?"

"Right back at ya." I smirked.

"I asked first."

"Who's the loser of the fight?"

We tried to stare each other down for a moment before he smirked. "Been a while since someone had the guts to keep up with me the way you do, especially since you're a girl."

"Not my fault if I'm not a sheep."

"A sheep?"

"Someone who follows the crowd simply because they're docile." I stated. "And what does being a girl have anything to do with keeping up with you?"

"Most girls can't form a coherent sentence around me let alone argue with me."

"What does that have to do with me though?" I asked dumbly. I really couldn't see why my gender would've affected my ability to back chat him. It didn't make any sense.

"You really are intriguing aren't you?"

"Is that meant to be a compliment?"

"Perhaps."

"You still haven't answered my question."

"You don't give up do you?"

"No. Do you?"

"No."

"Well then I guess that makes the two of us." I smirked. "Now answer the question jerk. What could've gotten your pants tied so tight that you needed a breath of fresh air? You seem like the type to get whatever they want."

"Do you know the meaning of the phrase: 'Mind your own business?'" he asked with a light voice but I could sense the frost in his tone.

He must've been the quiet type of person when it came to what he really thought. I realised that he was probably one of those popular people whom everyone adored but never understood or tried to get to know. Perhaps being popular had its draw backs too. Like having to remain the way people liked you for example. I couldn't imagine trying to keep up with all the hassle. I certainly never bothered with such a thing back at High School. Everyone just went along with my personality and those who tried to take advantage of me always learned immediately after that it was a foolish idea and after some demonstrations were made, no one tried to bully me again. Besides, my head would probably explode from the stress of trying to be the way people expected me to be. I suddenly found myself wondering what type of secrets this particular guy held.

"I'm nosy. Sue me. Now spill."

"Want to tell me why you're out here when you should spend your time socialising?"

"I want to avoid getting detention on the first proper day." I smiled tightly.

"Something happen?"

"Like I've already said, you're quite popular at this school and I'm the new kid who beat you; think about it."

"Rumours already?"

"They can bitch about me but talking about my parents is stepping way over the line." I nearly growled. If any of them had known who they had been unknowingly talking about I had no doubt they'd all be kicking themselves by now. However, even if they didn't know who my parents were, it still didn't give them the right to talk about them that way. Calling my mum a bloodwhore was just plain out of line.

"They were bitching about your parents? Ouch."

"You're lucky you don't have to go through that shit."

"Quite," he nodded in agreement. "They wouldn't dare to."

"So now that I've told you why I'm here, your turn."

"You don't give up do you?"

"Not a chance."

He gave a defeated sigh and gave me a meaningful glance. Our eyes locked and for a moment I forgot how to breathe. His eyes were incredible and absolutely stunning in the moonlight. The blue of his eyes shone with a gleam and for a moment I thought that he saw right through me. For a moment I understood why people respected him.

He wasn't a typical jock; he understood people and I knew at that moment that although he liked his popularity, he didn't crave it like most others did. He was just one of those charismatic people who captured it without effort.

We remained staring at one another for a while before I started feeling flustered and broke eye contact first. It was the first time for me to be the one breaking eye contact with a guy. But then again, Drew Ozera was no ordinary guy. He was a grandson of Lissa Dragomir and Christian Ozera. I couldn't remember clearly the family relationships or how things worked but I vaguely remembered that Lissa Dragomir and Christian Ozera had a couple of children and by some agreement between the two parents they decided that a couple of the kids would go with the Dragomir name in order to sustain the royal line while a couple of the others went with the Ozera name. So by default, Drew Ozera was definitely blood related cousins with the Dragomir twins. I couldn't really remember how many kids they had exactly or how many blood related cousins this guy had. The point was, if he had half the spunk Christian Ozera had, he was definitely trouble.

"It might not seem like it but there are some crude jokes that seem to spill from Nick's mouth that I don't want to hear. I'd rather not hear about his sexual analysis of people." Drew said with a stiff voice.

"So the jock group is actually divided. You being one leader; O'Connor being the other. He's the leader of the jackasses whereas you're the leader of the Elite." I stated simply having worked out the structure of their group. "It works."

Now it all seemed to make better sense. The royals or better known as the Elite now were only associated with the likes of Nick because there was simply the general group formed up of all those Moroi who attended training classes. I'd found it odd that someone like Drew Ozera was sitting on the same table as Nick. I'd felt from the start that he seemed better than that and had been surprised when I saw him sitting on the same table.

But now that I thought back on it, he didn't participate in any of Nick's conversations at the table either. None of the four royals did. Perhaps Nick was going to find that he wasn't as popular as he liked to have thought.

"And you're the leader of your group."

"Hardly. How could I be the leader if I just got accepted by the other three?" I scoffed. "And me being nosy again, what were elite Moroi punks doing in San Francisco?"

"It was Dan's birthday, that's another reason why he was the main one to get drunk. We told him not to drink so much since we've always known that he was lightweight." Drew sighed.

"Man, to get attacked by Strigoi on a birthday… that must've sucked." I grimaced. "His seventeenth, right?"

"Yes."

"At least no one was seriously injured, maybe a little thrown about but that's it."

"But his pride got hurt. He didn't even do anything, he just passed out from the liquor and Jackson got knocked away before he could do anything. Fighting the real deal is nothing compared to the training we get in this place."

"I know." I muttered not expecting him to hear it but considering how the night was so quiet and he was so close, I should've known that he'd catch it.

"How are you so experienced? Learning combat since you were tiny couldn't possibly have prepared you for something like that."

"Get your nose out of business that doesn't concern you before you get too deep and regret it Ozera." I said bitterly.

"I think you can risk calling me Drew."

"Nah, too much hassle, Ozera sounds better." I lied. I didn't want to call him Drew because it somehow seemed too intimate and considering how he was deemed as a god at this school, calling him Drew seemed to be something that would cause even more rumours and disruption to my life.

He gave me an amused grin before shrugging. "Last question: why did you have silver stakes?"

"It wasn't the first time I'd encountered them." I stated simply.

"When was your first time?"

"I thought the question before was the last one."

"Bad habit, are you going to answer?"

"Don't see why I should." I smirked.

"So you've got a low down about me huh?"

"Pretty much, I know that you're a fire specialist, an academic and combat prodigy, a royal and most people here respect you."

"That all?"

"Anything else I should know about?"

"Do you want to know anything else?"

"I dunno, you tell me." I fired back.

I had no idea where this was going. Was he simply trying to make me uncomfortable and find out my secrets or did he genuinely want to know about me. I'd dealt with jocks before and more often than not I knew that it was better to withhold more personal information rather than share it. Sharing secrets required trust and I definitely didn't know Drew Ozera well enough to trust him with anything personal. "I'd better get going; if I'm caught with you any time soon there'll be hell to pay for especially among the girls. Since I cooked, you're in charge of clear up." I said cheekily as I gave him my empty plate and cutlery.

"Try not to walk into any trees on the way back," he teased.

"I do not walk into trees." I huffed and stomped off. Who knew that I would be having a conversation with the school god on the first day? Life at this school was definitely going to get interesting. That was for sure.

9