Chapter 22
"No way…" the keeper whispered in disbelief.
"We won!" I screamed and threw my arms into the air. "Try to cheat your way out of this loss now!" I dared Pete as he collapsed onto his knees. There was a very specific reason why we couldn't just win by one goal. There've been times when close ties between the two teams have been tampered with and Carlton High would somehow be deemed the winner. But with a loss of four goals, there was no way they could cheat out of this.
"Kai! We did it!" Tyce bellowed and grabbed me into a hug before giving me a smacking kiss on the lips.
"We won!" I screamed again.
"Three cheers for Rokfurd High's best captain ever!" the coach bellowed and the cheers proceeded from a mass crowd of people around me. "Well done Kylie, couldn't have done it without you kiddo."
"Cheers for taking that risk all those years ago and letting me on your team coach." I smiled. "And hey, give it up for the preview of the upcoming school production of Burlesque!" I cheered and jumped up in glee. I was so happy that I almost forgot about my leg injury so when I landed again, I squealed in pain and collapsed.
"Right, now we're definitely going to see the doctors." Tyce stated and was about to pick me up when Drew was all of a sudden there and I was in his arms before anyone else could pick me up.
"Ozera! When did you get onto the field?"
"I'm hurt that you didn't notice me," he smirked down at me and his face was so close to mine, I could feel his breath fanning my face. "Congratulations on your glamorous show and win Kylie," he whispered and gave a gentle kiss on my forehead which caused me to blush. Looking around, it seemed that only Tyce noticed the small interaction and Tyce gave me an encouraging wink.
"Kylie!" I heard an all too familiar female demanding voice shout and I watched in surprise as my manager and Juan ran towards me.
"Ms. Manager!" I beamed.
"That was brilliant Kylie! You really showed those boys. Real sexy and skilled," she winked. "And who's the gentleman carrying you Kylie?"
"Oh! Ms. Manager, meet Drew Ozera, he's a new school friend who tagged along to give me support for the game."
"Chica, it is good to see that you are still kicking and screaming. When I saw those boys collide into you, I swear my heart stopped at the thought of you never being able to play soccer ever again." Juan clamped my hand over his chest and I could feel the erratic heartbeat.
"Oh Juan, I'm sorry." I smiled.
"I'll let the boy take you to get that leg treated. Don't forget to head to the club for the after party tonight."
"Pfft, there's no way I'd miss it Juan." I rolled my eyes. "It'll be the most important party after all. We finally thrashed Carlton!"
"We're proud of you chica," he chuckled and kissed my forehead.
"Thanks Juan." I smiled softly and blew him a kiss as Drew walked away from the two adults towards the side of the field.
The nurse cleansed my leg once more and put a cast on my leg but thankfully I could still walk on my own. It was a little uncomfortable but it was okay. Getting an injury was definitely worth saving Tyce's leg from possible permanent damage.
"Why did you do that?" Drew asked me as we walked over to my car.
"Do what?" I arched my brows in confusion.
"Save Tyce. That attack wasn't aimed for you, and yet you took it."
"Ozera, I'm a dhampir, Tyce is a human. You do the math."
"Would that attack have really been that fatal?"
"To a human's leg? Yes." I nodded. "And even if it wasn't, it's better if I took the blow. There are healers at the Academy after all so it could be healed, but for Tyce? He'd have to heal naturally and that would take months. I want to leave with everyone in high confidence Ozera."
Drew stared at me for a moment before a smile spread across his face. "We should probably get going. The others are going to be waiting at the flat."
"They are?"
"The Guardians are going to be nice. They've realised that they can't take the star away from the party after all."
"Oh, right…" I blushed again and realised one issue.
"I'll drive, you sit shotgun. You can't drive with that leg of yours right?"
"If you crash my baby, I will kill you." I glared at him playfully but threw him the keys and walked to the passenger side of the car.
As soon as I set foot into the apartment, several party bangers went off and cheers echoed throughout the entire flat. "You were amazing Kai!" the girls screamed and hugged me before I even managed to walk through the door.
"There's something wrong with this picture, I'm being attacked in my own home." I joked and detangled myself from Els, Roxy and Ingrid.
"You really are a legend! You're going to leave a legacy in two schools Kai, that's pretty amazing." Els teased as she pushed me into my own apartment.
"I have to say Valentine that that was impressive. Your dedication to your team is admirable." Guardian Brent ruffled my hair. "I can see why you broke out of the school."
"Brent, you're not meant to be encouraging the girl!" Guardian Black chastised and smacked the back of his head. "Though I do have to agree that your loyalty is something worth praising."
"Thanks." I smiled shyly.
"Enough talk! Ana and Louise told us that there's an after party so you're heading straight for the shower before we dress you up!" Roxy pushed me towards my room.
"No way, I'm dressing myself thank you very much." I scoffed.
"But -"
"No buts, I'm in charge of my own wardrobe for this one." I said stubbornly and was about to head into the shower before being stopped by Lady Jill Drozdov.
"Would you like me to heal your injuries for you?" she offered kindly.
"Um… if you wouldn't mind, could we wait until we head back to the Academy? I mean, it'd be weird for everyone else if they notice that my leg is suddenly completely healed." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly.
"You could still wear the cast Kylie," she told me softly. "It would be best if we heal it as soon as possible."
"Well, I'll follow your judgement since you'd know better than I would." I smiled and sat down as she took the cast off and proceeded to heal my leg. "Thanks Lady Drozdov."
"Don't worry Kylie, and congratulations on your win."
"Thank you." I beamed before hastily running to the shower. Twenty minutes later I stepped out of the shower and got dressed into a lace wide scoop neck shirt which hugged my body with three quarter length sleeves, a simple white cropped short sleeved blouse, a pair of smoky patterned harem pants which hid the cast and a pair of ankle boots. I waved my damp hair as I stepped into the main common room. I noticed that the Moroi boys were dressed in casual but more party like clothes and I could only guess that they'd gone shopping. I blinked in surprise at the outfits that the four of them wore. All four were wearing almost the same thing; they were all wearing simple black slacks, black shoes and slightly unbuttoned button downs. The four of them wore a shirt which was in correspondence to their elements and I felt my lips tug into a grin at that. The girls however weren't changed at all. "Okay, you three have to dig through my drawers for something to wear." I demanded as I went into the kitchen to get a coke.
"Are you sure?" they asked shyly.
"Yes, so go." I waved and they rushed into my room to get changed. The girls took at least ten minutes trying to decide what they were going to wear and once they were done, I told them to leave the make-up until we got to the club. That way, they could experience Ana's magic.
Somehow, we managed to split the travel arrangements so that I drove the other three girls in my car while the Guardians drove the four Moroi guys in their sleek SUVs. The drive to Juan's club took longer than usual because of the rush hour but when we finally reached my old work place I could see some of the Guardians frowning in disapproval.
There was no doubt that they disapproved of my working in a club, but hey, what could I say? I helped Juan out a lot especially since I was a fast learner and it wasn't as though I was doing anything immoral while working at the club. All I did was to serve drinks and sing and dance on Saturday nights or other special occasions. Sure there were occasions when our dress was a little risqué but that depended on the workers and what they felt comfortable with. None of us were ever forced to wear something we didn't want to.
Since the guys had already been there before, they knew the way in through the front entrance and I dragged the three girls with me through the backdoor so that we could enter the changing rooms where I knew that Ana and Louise would be waiting with make-up bags at the ready.
"Gee Kai, what took you so long?" Ana complained as soon as I stepped through the back door.
"Sorry, Ana, but traffic was a bitch." I shrugged with a cheeky grin.
"How's your leg?" Louis asked with open concern.
"I'm managing." I nodded. "But hey, you know me, I've always had a surprisingly high tolerance for pain and I sure as hell am not gonna let something like this stop me from having fun at this party."
"Of course not, after all, you finally beat Carlton High and showed them who's boss!" Louise and Ana cheered.
"Got that right." I winked. "Anyway, Ana and Louise, feel free to go nuts with the make-up on these three."
"I'm so excited! I've been brimming with ideas since yesterday when we first met you three!" Ana squealed in delight as she eagerly grabbed the hands of the three dhampir girls.
"I'm going to head out into the main part of the club and say hi to everyone. I'll see you in a few minutes… or maybe half an hour…" I trailed off in amusement when I saw Ana fawn over the girls.
I simply shook my head in exasperation and excused myself from the chaos.
"Kai! We beat them!" Drake hollered as soon as he saw me and my entire soccer team flocked towards me.
"Yes Drake, way to state the obvious." I smirked cheekily and squealed when I felt them pick me up.
"Kai, once again, great job on the collaborated choreography," the coach told me with double thumbs up.
"Thank you, I'm glad you liked it." I laughed.
"Even gay guys would enjoy watching a routine like that," he scoffed and rolled his eyes.
"Well, now that's a compliment." Cher giggled as she stepped up to me. "Well done with kicking Carlton's ass. Thank you so much, Kai, for coming back for this."
"I would never be able to forgive myself if I didn't partake in the match in anyway. It would be as if I was abandoning my team and I would never be able to live with myself." I shook my head and pulled her into a hug. "Thanks a bunch for always being a splendid cheerleader and dancer."
"Yeah, we heard that you even had to quit your job, Kai. Is your new school that strict?" Cher asked in disappointment. "I'll miss hearing your songs and seeing them reach the top of the charts."
"Oh trust me, I'll miss that as well. But, I may not have to quit entirely. I think I've managed to coerce my Headmaster into giving me some sort of a leeway." I grinned. "All that's left is the discussion between my Headmaster and Ms. Manager."
"Trust you to be able to charm a stranger into giving you a leeway." Cher laughed.
"Well, I wouldn't exactly say that the Headmaster is a stranger." I told her sheepishly.
"Oh?" Cher frowned in surprise.
"Kai." Quinn called out and I turned around to see the four royals stepping towards me.
"Uh, Kai? Who the heck are these hotties?" Cher demanded with a low whisper.
I simply grinned at her. "Guys, meet the best cheerleader in the world, Cher. Cher, this is Drew, Quinn, Jacks and Dan."
"I saw you earlier, you were the one leading the last three dance routines right?" Dan commented with a smile and I could see his eyes appraising her. Cher was wearing a simple red glistening bodycon that hugged her body in all the right places and it didn't take a genius to notice all the eyes that were attracted to her. Moroi boys were certainly no different, Cher possessed everything any boy would lust after, a full chest, an hourglass figure and soft features. That was still the main difference in appearance between dhampirs and humans. Dhampirs were often worn, their skin often tough and calloused. Humans on the other hand still held the delicate looking features that would drive a Moroi hormonal boy mad.
"Yeah, do you dance?" Cher asked with a flirtatious voice.
"Well…" Dan trailed off and snuck a glance at me.
"So long as you stay more sober than you had last time, I couldn't really care less. This is a party after all." I winked at him.
"Hey Kai." Tyce hollered from the bar and beckoned for me. "I demand a rematch."
"Tyce, just admit it already, you're a sore loser when it comes to drinking games." I laughed as I walked up to the bar where Juan was serving for tonight.
"Not a chance. Come on, have one more match with me. It'll be our last one after all. Well, at least until school is over anyway and you can visit more often."
"Fine, just one, but how about later? Surely you don't want to get smashed at the start of the party?" I suggested.
"You may be right about that," he nodded.
"Kai!" Ana and Louise called out to me as the pair of them came towards the bar along with the three dhampir girls.
"Nice job with the eccentric party make-up as always, Ana." I grinned when I saw the makeover that the other three girls had gone through.
"Well, now that you're gone, I need to practice as much as I can if I have any hopes of getting into a beauty school," she sighed.
"Hey, you have an entire school of beautiful girls who would love to have a makeover from you." I pointed out.
"Yes, but most of them are very fussy. And is that Cher I see flirting with Dan over there?"
"Yeah, they saw each other and bam they started flirting."
"He's not going to do anything is he?"
"No, he promised me that he won't and he knows the consequences of what would happen if he broke the promise." I reassured her. If Dan was a good friend of Drew's, then I was fairly sure that Dan would very likely be a man of his word. "By the way, can one of you two take care of my baby while I'm gone? Just a simple check up on it every once in a while would be fine and could one of you take it back to my garage as well since I won't be driving it tonight."
"Of course we can take care of your baby, Kai. She is gorgeous after all." Louise giggled.
When we heard someone tapping on the microphone and the music stop, we all turned to face the stage. I was surprised to see several members of the soccer team standing on stage, each with a mic in their hands.
"Alright everybody, now since we were lucky enough to have the best captain Rokfurd High has ever had back for the most important match in history, it's only right for us to make a speech." Drake began.
"Now, we'll take this right from the start." Bret continued. "The start began, from when our dearest Kai, entered Senior High and we were all surprised to discover on the second day that she had specifically applied for Rokfurd High because of its reputation in regards to soccer and its arts department."
"She had chosen not to go to a neighbouring school, but instead picked Rokfurd High along with two very charming ladies by the names of Ana and Louise. It is thanks to Kai, that Rokfurd High currently has one of the youngest make-up artists who is selected with work on movie sets and music videos. And we also have a very talented composer in our school."
"Now, on the second day of the year, when she turned up to tryouts in sporting kit, we'd all thought that it was some big joke and none of us took her seriously. She was turned down and the only position we would offer her was the position of being the manager. But she never gave up. She nagged and pestered our poor coach almost to the point of insanity and finally, coach gave her a chance to prove her abilities after one week of her incessant harassing."
"Hey! I resent that!" I called out. "I wasn't that cruel to our poor coach."
"You say that now." Bret winked. "But trust me, you were awful."
"But, Kai gave us all a run for our money and even the seniors were gobsmacked. None of us could stop her once she had the ball, not even when it was five against one. And so, the coach took a risk and let her into the team."
"None of us had expected for her to be able to physical keep up with our heavy training schedules and we were even more surprised when she gave extremely valuable suggestions when it came to tactics. It was unbelievable how much she knew about soccer."
"Not only did she improve our skills and tactics, she also changed a lot of our old snobby attitudes. We used to be nearly just as bad as the Carlton High jerks, but Kai changed all of that and we soon became well respected soccer players."
"Without Kai, we wouldn't have gotten this far."
"And without Kai, I wouldn't have been able to continue on with my passion for soccer." Tyce told everyone with a heartfelt voice. "So here is a toast, to the best soccer captain any school could only dream of having."
"And it is truly an honour, to have you as the captain of Rokfurd High's soccer team," the coach added and raised his glass of beer.
I felt tears stinging my eyes and I raised my glass as beads of tears rolled down my cheeks. "And here's to the best team I could ever wish for!" I cheered and everyone raised their glasses for the toast.
After that was all party and nothing else. Towards the end of the night which was during the very early hours of the morning. Tyce challenged me to a drinking match and I beat him after downing ten shots. I had to admit though, that by the tenth shot, I was feeling giddy and not entirely sober.
"Alright everybody, let's finish the evening with a bang!" I hollered into the mic. "Ladies, you know who I'm talking about, join me on the dance floor for one last song. Here is my gift to all you lads for being some of the most amazing people of Rokfurd High!"
Cher along with three other members of the cheerleader squad joined me, Ana and Louise on the dance floor. Juan threw me, Ana, Louise and Cher some headsets with mics so that we could dance and sing at the same time without anything to hinder us. We all got into our positions on the dance floor and the score for 'Lady Marmalade' by Christina Aguilera came on.
The four of us sang our hearts out and tantalised the boys to the point of no return with our sensual routine and I could see that all the Guardians had come in to catch a glance at the show that us girls were putting on. I'd decided that since it was my last night at the club, I might as well lay all the cards on the table. Most people in Rokfurd High already knew that I was the lead singer of the duo named group Vampire Guardians/Risqué so it didn't really matter either way whether I sang or not. It was only on a normal club opening night that I had to be careful, but since this was a private party, I knew that I was pretty safe.
I was even more surprised to see that my band mates had decided to join the show. They had even brought their instruments with them. What was the best was that they knew the pieces off by heart so there was a mixture of live and track performances.
The next track that we played was 'Sway' by the Pussycat Dolls and that made the club even more rowdy than before. Then we sang 'Waking Up in Vegas' by Katy Perry and after that we took a short break.
"Guys! I didn't know you'd be here. This is the best surprise ever!" I squealed in delight and threw my arms around my band members.
"Seriously Kai, what's this about you quitting on us for almost two years at least?" Rick demanded and poked my chest in irritation.
"Yeah Kai, when we got the call from Krista, it was all very confusing." Andy grimaced.
"We're still wondering whether we need to get new jobs or not." Matt frowned and brushed a strand of hair from my face.
"You three boys don't need to worry about that anymore." Ms. Manager shook her head as she stepped up to us. "It's good to see that you're still on the ball, Kai."
"Cheers, Ms. Manager." I grinned. "So I take it you've spoke to my Headmaster?"
"Yes, and we've come to the arrangement that this will be difficult and probably be more time consuming but it will be worth it if we can keep you as an artist. You will fly here for certain days like for the rehearsals in preparation for a recording and things like that," she explained. "We'll work everything in the schedule based on Thursdays and Sundays."
"I don't care what I have to do so long as I still get to keep the job." I scoffed.
"I could imagine you stirring up quite the argument once you found out that you'd be unable to do the job." Ms. Manager commented.
"I was certainly disappointed, but I understood the reasons behind it." I told them vaguely. "But none of that matters anymore because I can still keep the career!"
"Have you let Louise and Ana know yet?"
"No because I wasn't certain whether it was going to work out or not."
"I would've said yes no matter what the proposal was if there was the slightest chance of keeping you as a singer." Ms. Manager scoffed.
"Well then I guess I can let the two know about it now." I told her with a beaming smile. "Hey Louise! Ana! Guess what, you guys are still hired!" I shouted to them over the noise of the crowd.
"Really? You're joking!" they screamed in delight and ran over instantly.
"Nope, it's been arranged, so whenever I have a concert or a video or I have to make an appearance, I'll be calling for you Ana, and Louise, I'll be depending on you for Risqué's songs."
"That's amazing!" Ana cheered.
"That's definitely great to hear. So does that mean that the new song I wrote a few days ago is still usable?" Louise asked with hope shining in her eyes.
"Hey, even if I wasn't going to be the one singing it, I would've made sure that someone else could so that your amazing compositions would be shown to the world." I scoffed. "Anyway, Drake! I need you help with the next number."
"What do you need captain?" he arched his brows as he slid a drink to me across the bar.
"I need you to rap the parts in the song 'Buttons' by the Pussycat Dolls." I told him simply and grabbed the girls again. In the middle of the song before the instrumental part where we would really show off our dancing, we each grabbed a boy who was closest to us to dance around sensually. Cher had grabbed Drake, Ana had grabbed Bret, Louise had grabbed Dan and I had grabbed Quinn. It was lucky that we'd all managed to grab boys who could improvise naturally and so the routine wasn't awkward at all. Before it reached the instrumental part we gently pushed the boys away.
The next one was also the last and everyone suggested 'Show Me How You Burlesque' by Christina Aguilera. It was another song from the movie 'Burlesque' and it was also one of my favourites. With that song finished, everything died down a little bit as some people tried to sober up a little. I guess that my alcohol high was still active since I was still feeling the energy running through me.
"Do you think that you have enough energy for one dance?" Drew whispered in my ear as he rested his hands on either sides of my body on the bar.
"Well, it would depend on the type of dance." I smiled cheekily at him. When I heard the tune come through the speakers of the club, I glanced at the DJ and he simply pointed at Drew which meant that it was Drew who chose the song. "I guess I can manage this one dance."
I noticed that people cleared a small space at the centre of the dance floor as Drew led me by the hand. The music was a beautiful instrumental with a good mashup of various songs. I glanced at Drew in curiosity but he simply smiled innocently at me.
When the dance finished there were people who applauded and members of my soccer team gave me teasing nudges and winks while gesturing at Drew. I was sad when the time for me to leave the human world and return to the crazy vampire world again but I knew that I had to say goodbye properly at some point.
"Do your best at your school, Kai," everyone told me and I was pretty sure that I had managed to hug or kiss everyone goodbye in that club at least once. When I finally made it out of the club, I could see Els, Roxy and Ingrid stumbling quite a lot from fatigue.
"Kai, tell us the truth. Are you actually the lead singer of Risqué?" the three girls asked in perfect sync.
"Yes." I told them simply.
"No wonder you're so amazing." Roxy grinned and punched my lightly on the arm.
"Thanks, but I'm not the amazing one, you all just overestimate me." I retorted.
"I don't think so, Kai. You were damn hot out there." Quinn commented. "We could all tell that you could move well from combat class, but none of us realised that you could move like that. It was modest, but definitely very risqué."
"Well, that is what I named my band after all." I grinned.
"The cars are parked a few blocks down to avoid attention." Ali told us.
"I suppose so, I can definitely imagine a whole row of black SUVs catching some attention." I shrugged. I didn't really think anything of the location of where the cars were parked, not until I actually saw where they had parked them. "You parked them in the darkest part of the city near the woods and an abandoned factory? Are you crazy?" I hissed and my awareness shot up a few notches. Whatever alcohol that was left in my system was instantly gone.
"Is there something wrong with that prospect? It is one of the first drills, to make sure everything is placed at an inconspicuous place." Guardian Black frowned.
"That would normally be the case that is unless the place in question is a well visited place by Strigoi." I glared at them.
"We made sure to scout the area properly and we've left two guardians in charge." Guardian Brent point out.
I took a deep breath and began sniffing the air. What I smelled made my blood run cold and I licked my suddenly dry lips tentatively. Why was I so worried you may ask?
It was because I smelled something foul.
I smelled blood.