~x~ Chapter 65 ~x~

I was a little late in getting to the music room. Trying to find my way around was harder than anticipated. I'd tried to memorise my way around last night during our tour using the pictures and various details on the walls to help my navigation of the place but it wasn't so easy after all. By the time I reached the music room my head was hurting from trying to find my way around.

"I was beginning to think that you'd reconsidered spending a full hour with me, chick."

"It is an absolute nightmare navigating this place." I complained as I closed the door behind me. "I do have a name you know. Chick isn't going to cut it."

"I rather like that term until I find a more suitable nickname for you."

"Why do I get the feeling that I'm not going to like whatever name you come up with." I sighed in exasperation, throwing my hands up. "We're going to set some rules for the next hour. No unnecessary invasion of my personal space, you get five strikes before I walk out on your ridiculously flirtatious ass, and please keep your sometimes inappropriate comments to a minimum. After all the attention I seem to have attracted in the past couple of weeks since being dragged into the academy I'd rather be able to relax just a little bit while I'm here. This week is meant to be a holiday for us after all."

"And I have heard that despite the suspension Eric Cooper is graduating and he will be back when you all return for his graduation day." Axel pointed out.

I cursed and ran a hand through my hair. "Thanks for the heads up, I hadn't thought about that. But I'll deal with that when the time comes. Even if it is graduation day for the seniors doesn't mean that I have to be anywhere near him."

"From what I've heard, that's probably for the best. I am as much a flirt as he is but I don't approve of his actions and behaviour. He brings shame to us charmers."

"Charmer is a light term for what you are. In old England people like you would be known as 'rakes'." I drawled playfully.

"And you would, without any doubt, meet the majority of us, darling."

"You don't actually have some secret gentleman's club like they used to back in the day, do you?"

The answer was clear in that lady killer smile he sent my way. I felt lust and curiosity bubble. I may be a relatively sensible girl but it would be a lie if I said that I wasn't the least bit interested in the truly mischievous world of the true charmers of the world. The scandalous stories I would occasionally read about in romance novels were intriguing and it certainly wouldn't hurt to one day have a little peek into that sultry side of the world if given the chance. Judging by the look Axel sent me, he was more than ready to introduce me to the kind of activities required of those who were associated with the 'club'.

"Well, maybe if you play your cards right and I'm of a legal age, I just might let you introduce me to that world, mister charmer." I teased, playfully running my finger along his jaw line with a light touch.

Desire, amusement and merriment glowed in his eyes and the smile he gave me was a promise of just that. I had no doubt that he could and would play his cards just right. I wasn't a saint. I liked the odd opportunity to indulge in fun and enjoyable activities and though I wouldn't know just how fun sex could be, I certainly wasn't averse to finding out when the time was right for me.

Desire skittered across my skin as his hand caught mine and his lips gently pressed a feather light kiss on the pulse on my wrist. "It would be a pleasure for us both," he whispered, his breath fanning against my wrist.

Giving him a devious smile, I withdrew my hand and took a step back to break the heat the coiled around us.

"So, you mentioned an hour of music. The clock is ticking and if you dare to keep me away from dinner there will be pain and I promise you it would not be the pleasurable kind."

He chuckled and when he blinked I noticed that he somehow instantly contained his lust and desire. I was impressed. I had to give him that.

The following minutes were filled with his new song ideas that he'd compiled last night and earlier today while us dhampir were occupied with the activities the Guardians had set up for us. I'd thought that Louise was capable of turning out new works at a rapid rate but it seemed that Axel was truly deserving of his title as a prodigal musician. He had almost ten completed pieces and there were more than just ballads. He had several upbeat tracks that I suspected were perhaps performed by other bands and artists out there.

By dinner time, I felt lighter and more refreshed than I had done since I'd first arrived. As playful and flirtatious as Axel appeared, he was certainly serious about music. His passion for it was more attractive than his flirtatious behaviour.

"You look a little better than you have done all day, chick." He commented as he played the last note of the fifth song we worked on.

"I feel a lot better. I do love singing after all. Not a lot calms me better than music, food and a good sparring session. I love the way it gets my heart racing in a good way."

"There are other great activities you can do to get your heart racing in a good way, darling," he drawled.

"Oh I know but I'm not prepared to test that just yet." I teased back. "You're a handful but apparently a manageable one. You don't push far too much too forcefully."

"That's the way it should be," he sighed. "I don't doubt the experience with Cooper was terrible. He was the worst of his sort. But rest assured, I will do my best to make you forget about all of that."

"Thanks but I think I can easily forget it in due time. It didn't go far enough for me to leave traumatic impressions, thankfully."

"I wish the same were true for Arabelle."

"That's the girl he ruined, isn't it?"

"It wasn't easy but I think she got the help she needed and she's in a much better place now. But the trauma is still there and I don't think it will ever go away."

"How did Ozera manage to get her out of the academy?"

"He told James and I what was happening and when it got too far we did what we could to hide what had really happened to avoid any further humiliation for her and got her out of there. She's lucky that Drew was there and noticed what was happening to her. If he didn't, I don't want to imagine what she might have done."

All sorts of scenarios ran through my mind and I shuddered. "Thankfully, it didn't come to that and she got the help she needed."

"Indeed," he agreed. "I do want to ask though. Are you really okay with what happened with Eric Cooper?"

"Okay isn't quite the right word to use." I sighed. "I'm not scarred or traumatised. But I am angry. Angry that he dared to use compulsion to cloud my judgement like that. That's no better than trying to turn me into little more than a mere puppet. The idea that it might have succeeded sickens me. The things he could have done, could have made me do… That's what angers me most. So no, I'm not okay. I will probably stay angry for a while longer. But since he's not in my life anymore I don't have to worry about him trying anything else."

"But he might on graduation day."

"He's on the Headmaster's radar as well as Guardian Belikov's. I don't think he could. Even if he was back, apparently he's wearing some kind of a device that prevents him from using Spirit to enhance his compulsion so I think I'm relatively safe."

"It wouldn't hurt to be extra careful, Kylie. He isn't the type to give up and his next move won't be anything like what he's tried so far. He might be a bastard and I might hate him but even I would be wary of him."

"Thanks for the advice." I smiled gratefully. "I'll make sure to be careful."

"A girl's first time should never be one of humiliation. Sexual games should never be played with that intent. And I would hate for you to have to endure something like that."

"Boy, you really don't like him."

"No, I don't. Personally I think that he deserves to be castrated but that's my own opinion."

"Maybe if you start a petition we could make it happen." I joked.

"I can see why the four of them are so taken with you so quickly."

It took me a moment to understand who he was referring to.

"Those four haven't gotten so close to a newcomer in such a short span of time before. You certainly are different to others in all sorts of ways, chick."

"Oh you have no idea." I grinned. "And you're certainly not a simple playboy. My opinion of you is changing for the better, mister charmer."

"Is that right?" he smiled sultrily and before I knew it his arms were wrapped around my waist and he drew my body up against his still seated one. "So if I played my cards right, could I perhaps hope for a kiss?"

"I wouldn't hold your breath, mister charmer." I laughed. I held my hair to one side with one hand and rested on his shoulder with the other. Leaning down, I pressed a soft kiss on his cheek. "Thank you for this hour of music and the chat. It has been a pleasure and we should definitely do this again some time."

"Soon. Perhaps tomorrow. I will no doubt have more pieces for us to test out to see what will be appropriate for the charity gala in a couple of weeks and having you here makes it so much easier."

"Alright, then tomorrow it is." I agreed and detached myself from his arms. "But I still don't know if I can attend yet or not. I need to check with my manager first to see if I'll be free that day."

"You still haven't contacted her?"

"I haven't really had the time to. Between Trace throwing up tantrums and crazy academic work since the dinner that night, I haven't had a chance to talk to her. I'll leave her a message now and see what she says."

"I hope she says you're available, darling."

"But if I can make it to the event, we're going to have to change to key so that my voice isn't that obvious. I'm coming to realise that perhaps more people in the vampire community have heard Vampire Guardians and Risqué's songs than I would've thought. I'd rather have them not know that it's me just yet and I'm presuming that there will be other students from the academy there at the event."

"Most likely. There are others of royal lines at the academy you're in now. Changing the key won't be a problem. It'll be a piece of cake."

"With your talent, I'm sure of that." I grinned. "I'd better get going. If the food is as good as it was last night, I definitely don't want to miss it. And if the guardians are up for it I wouldn't mind having a quick sparring session with Maxwell and Jenson."

"After the day you've had, you want more exercise?"

"What? I don't like to get rusty." I protested.

"One evening's break won't make you rusty, chick."

"It's relaxing for me, okay." I said defensively.

"You had better go before I decide to make you stay, chick."

"You try to keep me away from food and you will regret it." I scoffed. "Trust me. That is a sight you don't want to see."

With that said, before he really could distract me and keep me any longer, I gave him a wave and left the music room. As I tried to find my way to the dining hall, the songs we'd been working on never left my mind and I found myself swaying to the beat of each song. I never would have imagined that I would meet the composer let alone under such circumstances. He was a royal Moroi to boot. Just how bizarre and small was this world? Or perhaps there was such a thing as fate and I was always meant to find my way back to this world.

"You look like you had a lot of fun," a voice spoke from beside me, shocking me out of the music.

"Ozera!" I chastised, smacking his shoulder. "Seriously, you have got to stop sneaking up on me like this. I'm supposed to be a badass. Imagine if I died of a heart attack one day because you snuck up on me. Now that would be humiliating."

"I promise to keep that in mind," he chuckled. "So I take it Axel behaved himself."

"He did, surprisingly. I thought that he was going to be insufferable but he's been great actually." I told him. "I can see why you guys called him a musical prodigy. He's passionate with just the right amount of self-confidence and slight arrogance. He deserves that title."

"We weren't sure how it was going to go. Usually, when he sets his eyes on a girl he becomes almost impossible to deal with but it's good to know that he didn't push too much. Axel promised us that he would behave himself."

"I don't think he would be too pushy even when on a chase. I think he knows just how forceful he should and could be with a girl depending on the girl herself. I get the feeling that he can somehow tell what a girl can handle. He adapts himself to each girl which is nice of him as opposed to being a complete bulldozer."

"Bulldozer… that's a strangely appropriate term."

"It's perfect for Eric. Not to mention jackass and all other sorts of swear words." I added.

"There's not enough swear words in the world to describe that guy." Drew grumbled.

"Agreed." I grinned.

"We don't often find things we agree on, do we?"

"That's because we're both too stubborn and love to argue against one another. It's part of what we do even if at the end of it we find out that we were actually arguing for the same side." I shrugged. "I had a couple of friends out there that I did that with quite a lot."

"I'm glad to see you looking a little better. The others won't say but the girls were getting really worried about you. They didn't know what to do. You were looking tenser than they'd ever seen and didn't know what they could do to help. If there was even anything they could do to help."

"Unfortunately, it's just my paranoia that's stressing me out so I think nothing much but time can fix that. And a good music and sparring session of course. The fact that nothing has happened yet is good proof that I'm being silly and my senses are more strung up than I realised. With the whole Eric Cooper thing and then that thing with your mum at the dinner party, everything has just been happening so fast. I really need this summer break just to catch my breath."

"Let's hope nothing mad happens."

"One can only hope." I sighed. "I mean, I'll be busy, that I know for certain. But being busy with a tight schedule is different to having somewhat bad surprises spring up on me left right and centre."

"I'll be sticking around for the first couple of weeks of the holiday. I wanted to get a little extra training in with Jenson and Guardian Belikov."

I stopped walking and simply stared at him. "Are you mad? You're on holiday and you want to take extra training sessions?"

"I'm not the only crazy one. You're planning on cramming your holiday full of work too."

"But that's different."

"No it's not. We both like what we're going to be busy with. The main difference would be that I won't be earning money from the training."

"But you'll be gaining something more valuable instead. Fighting experience. Aunty Jules was and probably still is one of the best trainers around. I mean, my mum was really good in her own way but there was something about the way Aunty Jules could change a move at the very last minute. We used to nickname her the Queen of Feints."

"I wanted to take advantage of the fact that most people will be heading home for a couple of months. Things will be quieter and hopefully their schedules will be too."

"And if I'm around, we could get started on that deal of ours. I'm sure my manager would love you forever if you got me back up to speed with dancing routines."

When we got to the dining hall, the others were already seated. Els spotted us first and gestured for us to hurry up. Dinner was as fantastic as the evening before. The food was absolutely delicious. I thought about Axel mentioning that he was often asked to come here to perform. If I were him, I'd accept the job just for the free food here. I knew that I was good at cooking but it was mainly simple home cooking rather than the luxurious styled food we had here. If I had the choice I would definitely trade the food we had at the academy for the food here.

After we all finished eating, we headed out onto the terrace and relaxed with the stars watching over us. Surprise settled over everyone as gentle notes from the grand piano by the bar began to drift from within the room, out onto the terrace, and far out to the sea. We all turned to see Axel seated on the piano stool. He was wearing a simple navy blue shirt that was tucked neatly into black slacks. His top buttons were undone and his sleeves were rolled up. His hair was tousled from what I could only guess the countless number of times his hand ran through those tresses as he was composing today.

Glancing around the room, I could practically see every girl in the near vicinity of him lose their balance. It was impossible to ignore the natural effect he had on the female population. A part of me looked forward to getting the chance to know him more. He was definitely more than what he appeared and from the sounds of things he didn't allow strangers to get too close to him for varying obvious reasons. To be given the chance to know Axel beyond his outer cool playboy exterior was going to be a lucky experience.

At the end of the second piece he played, Quinn got up and took a seat beside him on the stool. The pair gave each other a mischievous glance before plunging into a passionate duet that was oddly a combination of a competitive duel and yet a highly compatible dance. It was as though a competitive dance couple were constantly in competition with each other and yet it was that competitive spirit that drove the dance to be all the more enchanting.

I could see the joy and excitement flowing from the two pianists as they battled against each other. It seemed that family connections and old flirtatious pasts wasn't all that bound the four boys to Axel. It was evident that music bound Quinn and Axel together as friends.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jacks suddenly stand and pull Roxy into a dance. A heartbeat later Dan did the same with Ingrid and I nudged Drew to ask Els for a dance. I was happy just sitting out here watching my friends have fun and it was brilliant to see the girls loosening up around the boys. It had only been two weeks and yet everything had changed somehow. Song lyrics began to run through my mind and I hastily got my phone out to write them down. I would send them to Louise when it was a more acceptable hour for the human world and see if she could work with the lyrics.

I smiled as I saw other students dance to the tune that Quinn and Axel were creating. So far so many things had happened in the past two weeks that I forgot that even us dhampir students were given a chance to let loose every once in a while. That it wasn't all about training and putting our lives on the line but that we could still have these little moments. And it was important to make the most of these moments whenever they occurred because in this life, it was hard to predict when your life might just been torn away from you at the snap of someone's fingers. Things were far too unpredictable with this life of ours, especially for us dhampirs.

This was one lesson I had learnt six years ago upon my parents' passing.

That the things you loved most could get ripped away from you in an instant and you wouldn't even see it coming.

Before I could get too caught up in my own thoughts, for the billionth time so far since I got dragged back into the vampire community, a pair of stunning sapphire eyes connected with mine almost taking my breath away. Drew took hold of my hand and I barely had enough time to pocket my phone before he was suddenly twirling me towards the others.