“So where’d you go to school?”
He smiled. “On the East coast. Alabama.”
“Wow. Deep South. Where’s the accent?”
“Don’t be stereotypical. Just because I went to school there doesn’t mean I’m from there.”
“Where are you from then?”
“Colorado.”
“That’s a big leap.”
He shrugged. “No more than most. It was nice there. I miss it sometimes.”
“Colorado or Alabama?”
He smiled. “Both actually. The city makes it harder. You can’t see the stars, there’s smog, the water is dirty.”
“Give a lot, receive very little.”
“Exactly.”
We were sitting outside at one of the tables next to the cafeteria. It was nice out and my gear kept the cold from reaching my skin, plus the constant heat I was feeling from being near him…I was completely set.
He was facing the window that looked in and I was facing the grounds and the rest of the tables.
“Have you always been here?”
I nodded. “Born and bred. My parents are a tad overprotective.”
“They should be considering you are the only Slayer hybrid.”
I winced but continued to smile. “Ouch.”
He laughed. “Come on, it can’t be that bad. Once you get used to all the oogling and such.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever gotten used to that. Every time we get a new crop of students I have to deal with it all over again. After a while I stop noticing but…” I shrugged “Things could be worse I guess.”
“They could,” he agreed. He sat forward in his chair. “I think I should tell you that people are staring at us.”
“Really?” I joked. “Where?”
He pointed over my shoulder and inside the cafeteria. “Your brother is among them.”
I laughed. “You sound like an alien movie.”
“I like those movies.”
“End of the world your cup of tea, huh?”
He nodded. “But I’m serious. Everyone at his table is staring at you.”
“Let me guess. There’s a Native American girl and a red headed boy right?”
He raised an eyebrow and slowly smiled. “And the Vampire.”
I felt my whole body tense and I resisted the urge to turn around and look. Gregori must’ve picked up on it because the smile slowly faded from his face.
“Had a falling out?”
“You could say that, yeah. He transferred to New York and now he’s back.”
Gregori kept his eyes trained on me but I could tell he was sizing up Aidan from his peripheral vision.
“Want to talk about it?”
“Not particularly, no.”
“Want to leave?”
“Yes please.”
He grinned and stood up. He held out his hand and I took it without thinking. I felt that electric pulse shoot up my arm and directly to my heart. It sputtered and picked up it’s pace. Gregori helped me up out of my chair, not like I really needed it, but all of a sudden my legs weren’t as steady as they usually were.
He leaned in to whisper in my ear. “Bet you could really go for that shot right about now.”
I smiled. “I know what you’re doing.”
He pulled back, a sly smile spreading across his face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He released my hand and bent to pick up my bag. He handed it to me as I hedged out from around the chair. He guided me to the nearest trashcan by putting a hand on my lower back.
I tossed my empty coffee cup, trying not to smile. He was acting exactly how Michael would if he was here.
“You are something else, you know that?”
He grinned. “I’ve been told that once or twice. Now I’d be something completely different if I suggested we go through the cafeteria instead of rounding the building.”
“You’d do that?” I shook my head. “Why?”
“I told you before; I’m not a fan of Vampires. And your friend in there…”
“He’s not my friend.”
“Then you’re making my point for me. Shall we?”
I shook my head, still grinning. “If you insist.”
He held open the door and I walked inside, unable to wipe the smile off my face. My brother got up from the table and approached us. He wasn’t very subtle about it. Curiosity really was going to kill the cat.
“Sebastis,” I said.
“Hey,” he said, looking from me to Gregori. “Who’s this?”
“I’m a friend,” Gregori said.
“Way to be vague,” I said, looking over my shoulder at him.
He just grinned. “So you’re the brother?”
Sebastis nodded. “That’s me.”
Gregori held out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you. I heard you have mad PS3 skills.”
My brother cracked a smile. “Where’d you hear that?”
I suppressed a smile. “I’ll see you at home, Bast.”
I reached back and wrapped my hand around the wrist that was covered in leather and led Gregori passed my brother. I ignored the table I usually sat at but as we went by, Gregori slipped his wrist out of mine and took my hand.
I looked back at him briefly, trying to ignore the electric shock that traveled up my arm. When we got outside he disentangled his hand from mine.
“You didn’t have to do that,” I said softly.
“And I can honestly tell you he was jealous. It was pulsating off of him. I’d be surprised if the whole cafeteria didn’t feel it.”
I shook my head. “You are something else.”
He smiled. “Well, it’s been fun but I have an interview to get to.”
“How do you know?”
“Didn’t anyone ever tell you you can tell time by the sun?”
I laughed. “No. I don’t think I’ve ever heard that.”
“You should learn. There might not always be a clock where you go.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
He nodded. “Don’t let him bother you. He’s not worth it.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
“Good.” He started walking away backwards. “Good luck tomorrow.”
“You already said that.”
“Still…good luck. I’ll be watching.”
That made me smile. “Ok.”
He turned around and walked away, taking his comforting warmth with him.
You can do this. Just concentrate.
Yes thank you, Michael. Shh.
He chuckled in my head. The arena was set up much like our tests. There were long blue mats stretched out in front of us, one on each end. I was facing away from the audience. Jamie stood across from me, his mother giving him last minute pointers. I’d told my mother that I would be fine, I didn’t need any advice.
I had my ear buds in my ears and Audioslave was doing their best to puncture my eardrums.
You’re going to go deaf you know.
I smiled. Shut up, Michael.
Oh come on, Georgiana. You know you like my commentary.
Not when I’m trying to focus.
Fine. He laughed. I love you. You’ll do great.
Thanks so much.
Michael’s presence in my head disappeared and I closed my eyes, trying to focus. There were hundreds of people behind me and even though I couldn’t hear them, I knew they were there. My family was out there somewhere in the crowd. My friends too.
I didn’t know if Aidan was out there and part of me didn’t care. The other part couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking, if he was wishing me luck.
When the song ended I pulled the ear buds out and paused the music. I’d felt the heat steadily since we were told to line up in our places. There were quite a few of us so there would be two sessions. The members of the Guild who were there to observe sat in the front two rows. The heat level was at Arizona so I knew he was nearby.
So when I turned around I wasn’t surprised to find him sitting in the front row next to Lena. I smiled and shook my head. He was a nut but a nice nut. My brother jogged down to my spot to take my iPod and I smiled at him.
“Hey,” he said. “Give me that.”
He took the iPod and then wrapped me in a hug.
“Good luck,” he whispered.
“Thanks, little brother.”
He pulled on my ponytail before taking off. I caught Gregori’s eye for a split second and he winked at me. I just smiled and turned back around. We had numbers stuck to the back of our gear and I was number 24. I wiggled my fingers and popped the joints. I’d already warmed up in the smaller arena before coming out but I was getting antsy. I rotated my neck and closed my eyes again.
Tell me this will end well.
It’s going to be just fine. Just relax, let your body do the work.
“Welcome to round one of Slayer demonstrations,” my godmother’s voice boomed through the arena.
I opened my eyes and looked at her. She stood at the far end of the mats, over in the corner out of the way.
“I welcome the delegates of each Guild and I hope your past week here with us has been comfortable. I know this is your second to last stop on your tour of the schools. And I hope our students have been welcoming. Now, I’m turning the mic over to Hektor who will be calling out the maneuvers for the students to execute. None of them know the maneuvers they are going to perform and the second round will be given a whole new set.”
The only thing I knew is that they’d split all of the maneuvers and we were to perform half while the second round would be performing the other half. They were tucked away in one of the other smaller arenas.
“Slayers. Take your mark.”
I stepped up on the mat and took a deep breath. I was hoping he’d start out easy but if I knew Hektor, he wouldn’t.
“Begin.”
I fisted my hand over my chest and gave a short bow as did Jamie. Then we awaited orders.
“Defense Alpha.”
Not too bad. Instead of running we walked until we were seven feet apart. I took a deep breath as Jamie rushed towards me. I remained focused on him, watching his every move, predicting each movement before he did it. I preformed the measure perfectly, a series of rushed punches and kicks. Jamie got sloppy towards the end and I managed a blow to his stomach. He stumbled back but according to the maneuver I wasn’t to advance.
When he turned to look at me he was surprised. When he was finished with the series of movements he stepped back into position and it was my turn to advance.
The thing about Jamie that I noticed was he looked for specific cues. The only problem with that was I had a former Vampire as a partner and I’d learned to hide mine. He blocked only half of my movements and I was afraid he’d have quite a few bruises by the time I was done.
“Enough,” Hektor called.
All movement on the mats stopped and we jogged back to our marks. The lights on the audience were turned off so all I saw was darkness. I took my mark and turned back to face Jamie. He was breathing hard and I gave him my “I’m sorry look” and he just gave me a brief smile and shook his head.
“Attack J.”
We rushed each other and I felt like a blur.
And that’s what the majority of the event was like for me. Until Hektor called for Attack H, my last maneuver. I was never good at this one and I knew it was going to hurt.
I managed the flip at the beginning and the series of punches and kicks after. But unlike Aidan and Michael, when Jamie rolled out of his tumble, he improvised. He kicked me in the stomach, something that wasn’t in the maneuver. My best guess was that he was tired of being beat on by a girl.
But where he kicked me…that was not good. My old wounds were long healed but when I applied too much pressure it still hurt, bad. It felt just the same as Jason was sliding the knife into my gut.
I stumbled back and fell, my arm wrapping around my stomach. According to the rules you were supposed to back off if your partner appeared seriously injured, but Jamie didn’t. He advanced on me and I couldn’t do much but defend and try not to react.
“What are you doing?” I hissed.
He wrapped a hand around my throat and hauled me up.
“I won’t have you ruining my future.”
Oh shit. I got a good stance, my mind franticly trying to put this maneuver back on track. I fisted my hands and double punched him in the chest. He flew back a few feet but he came running back. Oh he wasn’t stopping. I ran forward and dove between his legs. I kicked up at just the right spot and he went down, both hands hugging what would give his parents grandchildren.
“Enough,” Hektor called.
I stayed laying there for just a second, trying to catch my breath. Then I tried to stand up but my muscles were all fatigued and my stomach felt like it was on fire. After three tries, I managed it and Hektor gave me an apologetic smile. He couldn’t call an end to the demonstration until I was back on mark. I walked back with as much finesse as I could muster; not showing on my face just how much my stomach ached. I stood statue still until Hektor drew conclusions for the first round. I fisted my hand over my chest as did Jamie who looked paler than usual. That gave me a little stamina.
When I stood up straight my stomach muscles tensed up and I sucked in a deep breath, doubling back over. My brother was there instantly.
“Are you ok?”
“I’m fine, Bast. Just need some ice.”
He followed me out of the arena to one of the smaller ones then made me sit down on the first bench we came to. I took off the top part of my gear and looked down. My mother and father came in then and I just waved them off.
“I’m fine…”
“That boy is stupid beyond belief,” my mother said.
My brother was probing my stomach and I winced, smacking his hand away.
“God Bast. Don’t do that. Just because your girlfriend works in the infirmary doesn’t mean you know what you’re doing.”
“Is she ok?” Sophie asked from the doorway.
“Your boyfriend is trying to kill me,” I said.
“And yours is liable to kill me if I don’t look you over,” Sophie said.
She’s right.
“Soph, really I’m ok. I don’t need to be babied. He just…”
“Lay down on the floor,” she demanded.
“This is so embarrassing,” I said.
I laid flat on the floor and Sophie began to probe and feel around.
“You should go to the infirmary,” she said. “You might have some internal bleeding.”
“It’s called a bruise, Sophie. I’m fine,” I said.
Some of the other “injured” Slayers started to filter in with their fussing families. Luke came in with my bag, holding out my shirt I’d worn over here. I quickly slipped it on and got up.
My parents had drifted off to check on the other students, ones they were familiar with. Sophie and my brother were arguing over whether I should go to the infirmary or not.
“Want to get out of here?” Luke whispered.
“Yes.”
He took my hand and started towing me towards the door. Michael was probing my emotions since I’d silenced the mind talking after his comment. When he gathered that I was fine he disappeared, waiting for me to open everything back up.
The intermission would last for about thirty minutes while the Guild members went over the tapes, looking at their favorite fighters and such. So it was easy for Luke and I to slip out.
“Ice cream?” he asked.
“Yes please. Can we lock the door too?”
He smiled and nodded.
~ * ~
A/N: Optional Music Suggestion: What You Want by Evanescence and Devil’s Been Talkin’ by NEEDTOBREATHE.