Soul Bound

Chapter 2

~ Adria del Monte ~

The most important moment of my life has finally come. The moment my parents have raised me for, or at least the beginning of what they have raised me for.

Only one word rings through the room: "Yes". "Then drink," Elder says while handing me an ornate goblet I hadn't seen a moment earlier. Inside is a red liquid, too thick to be juice. I know what it is, and it scares me. It's the blood of a vampire.

Yes, the actual blood of a real vampire. I swirl it around in the goblet to see the different shades of red that it reflects. I look up to see my parents looking at me expectantly. I gulp and look back down.

Without giving myself any more time to hesitate about what I'm about to do, I bring the goblet to my lips. The blood tastes sweeter than I expected and it's warm. I can feel the thick liquid go down my throat and I almost gag at the after taste. It's bitter and tastes like metal afterwards.

Straight after I drowned the entire goblet, I feel a heat spreading through my limbs. It's pleasant at first, but after a while it becomes too hot and uncomfortable. The areas of my body that feel the worst are my head, my throat and my eyes.

The room becomes blurry, but I manage to stay standing. After a while the room becomes clear once again. In fact, it seems too clear and too bright. I can also now hear the whispers of people all the way in the back of the room.

And that's when the realisation hits me, I have become a real vampire hunter.

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We walk out of the room, my parents both very steady, but I am still a bit shaken with the new found power in my body. I have already tripped several times and almost broke a door off its hinges because of my new power.

Thankfully, we reach the car without me making a scene. I step into the car and my dad drives off without saying another word.

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We arrive at our house, where the staff is already waiting for us. My dad steps out of the car first and looks towards me and my mom."'I will see you both tonight. We will hold a party to celebrate your ceremony.". I don't bother complaining and curtly nod.

After that, my dad walks inside without giving us another glance. The guards hastily open the door for him, so that he can walk inside. He turns around a corner and disappears from our view.

My mom turns to look towards me, only to say: "Rest and prepare yourself for tonight.". Following those words, she also gets out of the car and disappears into the house.

I look at where she went into the house and contemplate what I'm supposed to do now. Luckily that gets decided for me when Miss di Caprio approaches and says: "Go to your room and rest like your mother said, Miss del Monte.". As tired as I am, I don't have any problem with catching up on the sleep I didn't get this night, so I just say: "Yes".

I walk up the stairs with a heavy body, which explains the noise I am making. When I finally reach the top of the stairs, I drag myself to my room. Too tired to change into appropriate sleeping clothes, I just flop down onto my bed and fall asleep.

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Hours later I wake up from the banging noise my mom is making on my door, which I apparently locked while being half asleep. "Open this door immediately, Adria!" she almost screams.

I hurriedly get out of my bed to open the door, because I don't want to experience the anger of my mom again. She is a scary woman when she is mad. My mother is standing in the door opening with her fists still raised to continue banging on my door."'What is wrong, mom?" I ask her.

"The party is almost starting, the first guests could arrive any minute now.". My eyes widen and I swiftly turn around to go find more appropriate clothing. My mom chuckles dryly while shaking her head.

She turns and leaves my room without another word. Half an hour later I'm downstairs greeting guests with the most polite smile I can muster.

When all the guests have arrived, my father clings a fork on his glass to get the attention. "We have gathered here tonight to celebrate the ceremony of my only daughter, Adria del Monte. She has become a full fledged member of our clan today. Let me make a toast to her!" he says while raising his glas. "Cheers!" is heard all throughout the room.

Even though I want to disappear into the ground, I raise my head even higher and recognize his toast for the honour that it is.

The rest of the night goes by without anything out of the ordinary. Just small talk and a lot of presents. Most of the presents are weapons, dresses and jewellery. My favourite is a very well crafted sunstone sword. The blade is entirely made out of sun stone, and the handle is made with gold and leather. It doesn't have a lot of detailing, which makes it one of the more usable gifts. The only detail is the little sun on the pommel of the sword. It's also the perfect weight and length for me.

After picking it up from the pile of gifts, I take it with me after the party, when I decide that I'm going to train for a bit before going to bed. I walk into the training room with the sword in my hand. The training room is basically divided into two parts; the gym and the fighting area.

Immediately I walk over to the fighting area and stand in position. My chosen opponent is one of the machines for now, as I couldn't find my mentor earlier this evening.

The machine turns on and I hear the mechanical whirring of it starting up. Without any warning it suddenly attacks. I block its first attack with my sword and slash at the machine. Sadly for me, I miss it. I stumble forwards, but manage to catch myself before I fall.

I curse at myself for being so clumsy with my new power. Because I know my body will have to get used to it first, I walk over to the gym to start training there.

I am not at all surprised when I find myself being able to lift several kilo's more than before. My speed is also way higher than before. When I feel like my control has become way better, I pick up my sword again. The machine starts whirring as I start it up again.

This time I see the attack coming. I block it with ease and do a counter attack. I am surprised when I accidentally cut the machine in half with one blow.

Suddenly I hear someone chuckling behind me. I swirl around to see who it is, but am relieved to see my mentor, Guyann. "Impressive Adria," she says while walking over to me.

She stands in a fighting position with her axe in her hands only moments later. "But can you defeat me?" She challenges me. I slide back into my fighting stance and raise my sword. For some reason my eyes seem warm, but I pay no attention to it.

Guyann seems shocked by something for a moment, but she instantly collects herself again. If anything, she seems even more determined by whatever she saw. Her grip on her axe becomes more firm and her fighting stance becomes wider and more steady.

Practically without any warning she lurches at me. Somehow registering her move, I block the blow of her axe. If I hadn't, there would have been a huge gash in my upper arm by now.

Choosing to go for a basic move, I hit her right in the nose. Her eyes water and she stumbles backwards. At once, I lurch after her. However her axe blocks my sword and she punches me in my stomach.

I almost double over at the pain that follows, but manage to stay on my feet. We circle around each other, making small attempts to find an opening in the other's defence.

Suddenly, with no warning, I feel the most energetic and alert I have ever been. Trying to find the source of this energy, I see the sun coming in through the window sill. It's morning already.

With the new found energy and power I attack once more. This time it's very easy to find a gap in Guyann's defence. My sword strikes hard and fast.

Guyann shirks into herself and tries to protect herself with her axe. But there is no blow and she looks up with wide eyes. My sword is hovering right before her face. I stopped it before I could harm her.