Xavier did not reply. Instead he started to fight Lee and ordered Stikes to stay with me. Stikes appeared instantly in front of me and told me not to do anything else stupid. He also told me to get ready to fight. I did not understand what he meant, but when I looked at him, when I was about to ask, he glared me to shut up and just do it. So I did.
I watched as the guy who left me all of a sudden, leaving me for just over three months now, fighting to protect me. Obviously, there was more I did not know. Who was Xavier really? Who was Stikes? Was he human? As I looked at the fight, I noticed that I knew almost nothing on all three of them. But the one that annoyed me the most about not knowing was that I knew nothing about Xavier.
The fight lasted for a long time. There were obviously at the same level. Xavier had good agility, good strategies which worked a few times, but Lee seemed to have caught on to what he was planning. I looked at Xavier, with his long nails and sharp teeth. He moved fast like Lee, he even looked like him, but without the evil aura around him. He was a half-monster, obviously. So I had fallen in love with a half-monster, a kind of species who want to kill what I am.
While I continued to watch, hoping Xavier wouldn’t get hurt anymore, since he got two deep cuts on his right arm, I couldn’t help but wonder why he didn’t kill me. I didn’t suspect a thing. I was an easy target for him.
Xavier seemed to have cut Lee for the fifth time, this time in the center of his forehead, but they both fell on their knees. I was worried I missed something so I pushed Stikes aside and, expecting a glare or some evil yell to get back behind him, he let me go.
When I reached Xavier, he looked up an laughed. I got mad. He was fine. I looked over at Lee. He looked in pain and frozen in place.
"Kill him Kassandra. Kill him now. I’ve hit him enough time top have taken away his powers and mobility for awhile."Xavier replied, having stopped laughing and returned serious.
I did what my half-monster wanted me to do and took out my sword and sung it right between his two visible eyes, and he fell flat on the ground. His eyes remained open and were full of hatred.
Xavier looked at me and shook his head.
"Stikes was right. You do things on impulse. I easily manipulated you into running towards me and then you were near enough to kill him for me." He explained, laughing again.
I was an idiot. Again.
After he stared at me, still on his knees for awhile, his laugh and smile disappeared.
"Don’t get all mad. I came back for you." He replied.
I did not answer.
"Or do you not love me anymore?" He paused. " You know now, right? I am not human." He asked this, but he did not look into my eyes. He looked at the ground in front of him.
"No." I started. "I still―I don’t understand why you did not kill me."
He looked at me shocked and got up on his feet. He walked towards me and grabbed my hands.
"I did not kill you, Kassandra, because I love you. At first, yes, you seemed to be only another Royal Bloodline to seduce then kill. Especially since you were the kind that was still unable to detect us. But, that changed the more I was with you. At some point, I even got the others like Lee asking why you were still alive...I couldn’t kill you." He explained.
"So you left me because―" I started.
"Because it was that or me having to kill you. I knew there would be another assigned to kill you when I told them I was resigning from the group, which is why I sent Stike to watch over you, but I couldn’t even think about killing you and I wanted you to have a slight chance of staying alive without me. Obviously, the without me part did not work, but I kind of prefer it this way. I was stupid thinking that running away was better, to think that they would waste there time chasing me instead of you..." He explained.
"Group?" I repeated.
He nodded.
"Most of our kind have formed a group that is designed to kill Royal Bloodlines and Half Royal Bloodlines. At the time I agreed with what they believed they should own and the rights they should have." He explained.
"Xavier and I have been one of the few to have opposed the group, and unlike the others we were not hunted down because of it. There were to busy trying to kill you and two other Royal Bloodlines. So this permitted me to teach you." Stikes replied.
What he just said confirmed what I thought. He was a half-monster like Xavier, but they were different. They were helping Royal Bloodlines and half-Royal Bloodlines.
"Why would you teach someone who is apparently your enemy?" I asked Stikes.
"Because I have met someone who was precious to me that was of your kind. Although she was killed by one of the three leaders of the group." He paused. "I did not want to see that happen again. So when Xavier asked me for my help, I agreed."
"So what now?" I asked.
Xavier smiled, "Time to train you more and then plan to kill the three leaders and any others who won’t join us."
Yup, still loved him, despite him being a half-monster. I wondered if that made me a monster?
"I’m glad you still love me now that you know. When I was with you, I used to tear myself apart inside, thinking about when you would figure it out, when you would run in fear...I thought of maybe just telling you, to get it over with, but I couldn’t make myself do that." He explained.
Well, at least you know the monster loves you.
I thought.
When the three of us returned, Aunt Alexandra was waiting at the door and ran and hugged me right away. Then she looked at Xavier. "Glad you smartened up, darling." She replied. I presumed she knew what he was then. So again, I was the last to know. Big surprise.
All four of us decided to plan our plan of action from here on out. I barely said anything, since I really had no idea what to do. I listened as Xavier came up with ideas that was immediately put down by Stikes with a good number of reasons. Although Xavier was not the only one to have his ideas brought down, since he did the same to other ideas that Stikes had instead.
Alexandra would stop by and listen for awhile, but would stop after realizing that they still have not agreed to a decision. Honestly, I felt like doing that aswell, after listening to this for about three hours now.
I was about to walk away, go to my room and listen to some music, when Andrew proposed an idea that Stikes agreed right away to.
"Alright, so for the next three days, we will train Kassandra. During those three days, each of us will take turns into spying out for enemies sent from the group, because we know that they’ll find out we killed him, since he won’t return. Also, we will have to figure out a route to get where we want to, with the least chance of being spotted, which leads us to phase two of our plan. Two days are given for us to make it to the groups place, which is luckily not to far away from here, and we will try an lure out Alexander, the least important of the three leaders of the group. That should take us about half a day, but we will leave a whole day for this task. Next day, we will pretend that I want a return to the group. They will likely accept, since they think I am a good quality half-monster. From there on, I will get the information about what they are planning to go, maybe even what they are planning, and I will give you this information about this at night, at about 2am/3am. Then, hoping there is a time where Alan, the second group leader, goes out and then you two can kill him. We will plan that plan of killing him later. Then, I will figure out a plan to kill Renard, the first leader of the group. If I fail, you will not receive the check-up rendezvous at 2am/3am. Then Stikes will retreat with you somewhere safe, leave you there, then it will be his turn to try and kill him, which is still to be planned." Xavier explained.
Stikes nodded.
I didn’t like the part that if Xavier failed, it would mean his death. This Renard, the leader of the group, must be very powerful for them to plan an extra plan...But then again, they could just be wanting a back-up incase something would go wrong. They wouldn’t fight a battle that is un-winnable would they?
They looked at me.
"Do you agree with this, Kassandra?" Xavier asked.
I hesitated, but eventually nodded.
"Good. Your training will start with Xavier tomorrow, since I will be planning the two non-determined plans in our whole scheme." Stikes explained with a smile.
The next day, at 6:00am, I started my training with Xavier. When I walked in, it was odd to find him there instead of Stikes, but I wasn’t complaining. He greeted me with a warm smile, unlike Stikes who would stand there perfectly neutral then all of a sudden come up with a joke or a complain.
"Alright, so you could sense half-monsters now right?" Xavier asked.
I remembered the fact that I could not sense Stikes, and not even his for awhile, since he stood in front of me that day, and I thought he was a look alike until he spoke.
"Most of the time." I replied.
He looked at me funny, and repeated what I just said.
"Yesterday, I couldn’t tell that you and Stikes were a half-monster. Your scent seemed to be dimmed down and practically gone or undetectable." I explained.
He did not answer for a minute.
"That’s quite odd. We could be hiding the fact that we are half-monsters by hiding our scents with a certain herb, but we both didn’t yesterday. I knew he was from my kind, since he had the same scent." He paused. "Maybe you haven’t perfected that yet." He added, half-distant.
"When Stikes tested me on that, I guessed them all perfectly."
No reply. Instead he smiled another warm smile and said that it didn’t matter and then he got to the lesson of the day. The lesson, it turned out, was when I have to fight without a sword. I mentioned that Stikes said that I wasn’t at that level yet, and he replied with a "Well you have to be at that level now." He explained that if there was another mishap, and that both of them would be killed, that I would have to know how to fight without a sword, since the three leaders of the group are quite strong and even faster then they are. I couldn’t picture anyone else faster then these two, but if he told me that, I would have to believe that since I wouldn’t know better.
He told me to concentrate on my actions while using a certain from of PK that most of us had, and that thanks to Stike, I knew I had. What was I fighting against for this training? My boyfriend. He told me to use all my force on him, and that he will be strong enough and that I won’t kill him. In the beginning I didn’t believe him. I struggled with my actions, but managed to do them, but lightly. Xavier knew what I was doing and replyed something like "Just use all your strength already Kassandra."
I decided to do one good full power push towards him, and he got pushed back violently and when flying into the wall. I quickly stopped. I guess that was too much for him.
While I watched him wince in pain and get up, I couldn’t help but think of a certain movie who used this kind of effect almost all the time. They called it the Force, but Stikes said that they called it PK.
"Kassandra, that was mean." He said with a grin.
"Sorry." I quickly replied.
He shook his head.
"Don’t be. I asked you to. You did it. I just wasn’t expecting that much power... I got pushed from other Royal bloods but none could do it this strong... Do it again." He stated.
"What? But I might hurt you ―" I started.
"Do it."
I mumbled "fine whatever." And it seemed as though he heard that since he sort of laughed.
I concentrated again, and I successfully pushed him again to the wall.
He got up eventually again, and nodded with a smile.
"You are some tough Royal Blood." He paused. "And you just started learning and probably haven’t mastered your power yet."
After that, he said that I would have to try and use my PK for other things to, like bringing a branch or some objects to throw at the enemy, pull them closer, and such. The pulling closer was the hardest. I had to not pull the objects close to me to fast and powerful, otherwise it would knock me out instead. In fact, the first time I tried, I pulled a soccer ball and it hit my head with way too much power and I was knocked out for awhile. I awoke with Xavier cussing that he should have mentioned that before and that his teachings suck compared to Stikes. I laughed and his face softened, relieved I got conscious again.
At the end of his teachings, I got the hang of most of it. Stikes came in, to take his place, but he mumbled something to Xavier. He looked slightly annoyed, but nodded.
"Alright, Kassandra. What happened, you look like hell."
I was back with Stikes as my coach and I saw that line coming.
"I used Pk."
He nodded.
"Speaking of that, use that on me. Your strongest push. Now."
I protested.
"Now."
"Fine."
Like Xavier, he went flying to the wall.
He cussed and then looked at me questiongly.
"Xavier taught you how to be that powerful in a day?" He paused. "Maybe he should teach you everything else."
"No. The first time I used my Pk full force he went flying like you did. He said that was abnormal."
He nodded. "It is."
The he changed his face and smiled his cold smile that meant I was about to get a level hard lesson again. "Now, I will teach you how to do holds and other strategies to use against us that makes us unable to move, paralysed, etc."
During this training with Stikes, the doorbell rang. Stikes had left to go upstairs and to get the door, and I followed. At the door was Xavier and Alicia. Xavier sighed and replied "She’s a Royal Bloodline and wishes to see Kassandra. She wouldn’t stop harassing me about how she had to see her. She even attacked me when I told her no." He stated, pointing at his shoulder with a deep cut.
Stikes smiled. "Hello Alicia, it’s been awhile. What are you doing here so far from Florida?"
"You know her?" Xavier asked.
He nodded. "She was once my student. I had to teach her how to fight since she was being hunted down a lot by the group. It seems my training payed off since she’s still breathing."
I knew her as well. She was a firend I happened to meet during my vacation in Florida two years ago. She looked much older now and way taller.
"Hello Alicia." I greeted.
Xavier mumbled something like ‘she knows her to?’ and shook his head and then said he was leaving and going back on the look out.
Alicia came in and the three of us sat at the dinning table in the kitchen. She took of her sunglasses and put them on the table.
"I have awful news. I over heard in Florida that the group has been putting priorities into killing which Royal Bloodline from first to last. You are first and I am second. Kassandra, you shouldn’t be going outside anymore. Appearently they found you a couple of days ago outside not to far from here. They know your around here and you should leave now." She explained.
"How did you find out about this?" I asked.
She explained how she was near her window in the kitchen, after sencing two half-monsters near by. She decided to go outside and slowly track them down, like she did for the others, but when she got near them they were discussing that, so she let them live a bit longer. After they had changed subjects and managed to not smell her, she killed both of them. She said that they probably did not smell her because she wasn’t in the direction that the wind was blowing...
"Why would you risk coming here to tell us this?" Stikes asked.
"Well I would have loved to use simple technology like a cell phone or a computer using e-mail, but those can be easily retraced. I did not want to give out information that I found out and that I was warning you about it. Then they could easily trace the fact that both of us know each other." She explained.
"Are you returning to Florida now, or are you staying?" I asked.
"Well, the half-monsters have been getting more and more present in Florida then here, and I have no plane tickets to get home, and I was hoping to stay here with you all, if that’s alright."
We both looked at Stikes, and he nodded in agreement. "That would be best."
Stikes told me that he would continue teaching me the holds and all that tomorrow, since it was time for him to take Xaviers place again. Once he left, I showed Alicia to my room, and now hers. The four rooms were already taken by Xavier, Stikes, Aunt Alexandra and me, so she had to stay with one us, and so I offered. We brought the couch that folded into a bed to our room, and then she sat on it and stared at my rrom. (The couch was just in the room next door, so it wasn’t to hard.) She seemed to have a problem with it.
"This room has no style." She shook her head in disappointment. "When I met you in Florida you seemed to have a good sense of what is good and bad."
"I don’t care about how my room looks. Also, even if I did, I couldn’t considering this isn’t really my house."
Xavier walked through the door and met up with us in our room.
"So she’s staying huh?" He asked.
We nodded.
"You know, if you want a room to yourself, me and Kassandra can share a room..." He continued.
Alicia looked wide-eyes. She didn’t know about me and him.
"Y-You’re dating a half-monster?"
I nodded. "And no, we won’t do that. Aunt Alexandra would freak."
He nodded. "Oh right." A pause. "It’s not like I would do anything to you...Endless you’d want me to."
I ignored him.
Alicia eventually pushed Xavier out, claiming we needed to talk, but once he left, she didn’t say anything. She sat on her bed and looked at me with annoyance. I asked her ‘what’ but she only replied by repeating what she had said before about me dating a half-monster. I eventually explained that I didn’t know this until just recently. I told her about Xavier originally being there to kill me then he ended up leaving to keep me alive and to keep from him killing me. Then I explained Lee and how he had returned. It took her a few moments before she replied. When she did she only replied with a ‘oh’ but seemed to be still against it. I asked her why she would be against it, considering he is different then the others who want to kill our kind. She replied that he might only seem nice and she explained that maybe he hadn’t really left the group. I interrupted her by saying that he had asked Stikes to look after me when he left, and if he was still in the group why would he ask someone to do that when Stikes had betrayed the group. She didn’t answer the question, but it was clear that she still wasn’t convinced.
"What about Stikes then? Is he still horrible?" I asked.
Alicia shook her head. "No. He trained us and told us his kind’s weakness."
"Xavier is training me now as well."
No reply.