Loving the leech (Guardians of Red Moon city #4)
14. Progress

Kaylin’s POV

A couple of weeks pass, and the arena fight is approaching by leaps and bounds. Someone postponed it three more weeks after I came to the council because more vampires will participate; these haven’t had time to train hence the added time. Please don’t ask because I honestly have no correct answer to why the council decided to take mercy on these vampires. It doesn’t affect me anyway; in the end, it has only made me a dangerous weapon that has skills I’ve never been able to learn before. Salazar has taken responsibility for all my training, and there’s nothing more he has to teach me.

At least that was his answer when we talked about it yesterday. Tomorrow I’ll stand inside the arena fighting for my survival, and I’m nervous even though my mentor doesn’t think there’s any reason to be. I can’t answer if it’s because he has a big ego. After all, he’s the one who trained me, if I’m invincible, or if it’s rather about him seeing a potential in me. What I’ve noticed is that my power of fire has gotten stronger, while the others are fading away. Salazar can’t explain why that’s happening. But it seems like fire is my most potent one and eventually going to be my only power.

Joseph has gratefully stayed away since my first days here, so have the other vampires, and I have Salazar to thank for that. He ordered that I shouldn’t have to be nagged at no matter what they think of me. Joseph was against it, but he left me alone after Salazar slammed him against a wall. However, it’s now that the panic begins to radiate inside me; I don’t know how to cope with this. Less than twenty-four hours left, and I’m panicked.

“Stop thinking about it, Kaylin,” a voice says behind me.

I turn around and meet Salazar’s relaxed form. He doesn’t like me hesitating on my abilities, and I know that. But is it peculiar that I worry? I still don’t know if we’re allowed to use our powers, how many others I’ll face, or how big this event will be. As I understand it when Salazar explained is that it’s infrequent that all forces are blocked completely; it’s almost always at least one that’s allowed. There hasn’t been a force-free fight in over four hundred years, so getting one like that is hardly likely. You may think that it’s the council that decides such things, but in fact, it’s the Oracle that does.

No one knows her real name or anything in principle; the current information is that she lived for thousands of years and is an Oracle. She’s the one who decides what to do inside the arena and what forces are allowed. The council stands for the rules, the environment in the arena, the playing music, which opponents will be participating, and what potential extra challenge you need to undergo. Salazar has said that neither he, Igor, nor Mark plans to throw in any different challenge for me, but he doesn’t know what Joseph and Felicity are planning.

It’s a disadvantage when it comes to such things; although Salazar decides and is the one who makes the decisions when they vote, it’s an unspoken rule that any challenges must not be discussed before. Believe me; I also think these rules are mysterious, so you’re not alone if you feel the same way.

“You shouldn’t worry so much,” my mentor continues. “There’s nothing more you need to focus on than winning tomorrow. What are you thinking?”

I know that the leading and most important rule in all kinds of martial arts and situations that I’ll find myself in is to show no weaknesses whatsoever. But now I have no choice; I don’t have my beloved here or anyone else from the Everton clan; I have no one else to talk to. And that’s why I bring down my walls, to be honest with my mentor.

“I’m afraid,” I whisper, looking shamefully down at my hands lying on my lap.

Salazar says nothing but walks up to the bed I sit on and sits down next to me. He puts one of his big hands on mine and lifts my head with the other. His blue eyes hold kindness and empathy that I didn’t think I would ever see from the council’s chief member.

“It’s okay to be scared, little Kaylin,” he says, caressing my cheek softly. “I have been privileged to see you evolve during your time here, and I’m proud of you. You have such great potential and strength within you that you don’t see for yourself, but it’s obvious to others, and that strength makes you a huge threat to your opponents. When you walk out of that arena in a couple of days bloody as hell but alive, then I’ll meet you up, and I look forward to announcing you as the winner in front of everyone!”

I look at him smiling while my eyes fill with tears, but not with sadness this time, but with joy that someone believes in me. One of the tears falls on my cheek, and he wipes it off with his thumb. Salazar is actually a big teddy bear deep down; you sure know what kind of person I’m talking about, that older man you’ve met at some point in life that exudes “grandpa” vibes; my mentor is that type.

“Thank you for everything,” I whisper, and then he does something I never can prepare for.

He puts his arms around me and hugs me like a parent embraces his child. I can’t hold my tears anymore when he’s this soft; he lets me cry out against his chest and caresses my hair tenderly. We sit there in what may be years, but in fact, only is a few minutes. I let go and embarrassingly wipe away my tears.

“I have something for you,” Salazar says softly, getting up.

He moves to my bedroom door, receives something from the person on the other side, and then returns to me. My eyes are big as saucers when I look at the beautiful outfit I get the privilege of wearing tomorrow. He holds a white leather garment similar to the one Alexa Vega wears in “Machete Kills,” with the difference that mine isn’t as revealing. My breasts won’t look like they’re going to jump out of the bodysuit, and it won’t seem like I’m solely wearing underwear, given that there’s even a pair of short shorts. I take the clothes from him and caress the leather gently. It’s beautiful!

“Thank you very much!” I exclaim happily, hugging him, to which he laughs.

“I thought you deserve something magnificent after all the hard work you’ve put into your training,” he replies, smiling. “Besides, you deserve to look like the impressive warrior you truly are!”

I don’t know what to say, and therefore instead let my smile show everything. Salazar nods at me before walking out the bedroom door. I look at the suit once more and feel my smile getting more significant. The others have no idea what they have to wait tomorrow!

Elijah’s POV

Several weeks have passed since the council came here to pick up Kaylin. Since then, saying that everything has been chaos would be an understatement; the whole house is upside-down. William is obviously the one who reacted worst to her not being here, given that she’s his beloved. But the rest of us have also been affected by her sudden departure from what we call our home. You can’t understand how we feel because you haven’t met Kaylin or us, but I’ll try to explain it as best I can... Imagine that you’re outside in an icy winter cold for a long time and then get into a warm house where they serve you hot chocolate.

You sit down in front of the fireplace with the cup and a blanket over you; at that moment, you’re happy and feel joy. That’s how it feels when Kaylin is here with us, warmth and charm that never passes away. Now that she’s not here, the darkness and cold spread inside the walls like a virus no one wants to suffer through. William is literally losing his mind, sitting in his bedroom, talking to someone who isn’t there. I’ve never seen my best friend behave like this before, and in the name of truth, it scares me. None of us know how to help him because the only cure for his inner madness is also the only one we can’t get him.

We can’t do much more than hope that Kaylin will survive in the arena because I don’t know whether William will ever be able to recover without her. When Jennifer returned from the stadium, she was completely changed and didn’t want anything to do with William; I fear it’ll repeat. Now it’s not like I take for granted that Kaylin will do the same, but on the other hand, I can’t know either. We’ve known her for a short time, and even though we’ve gotten close in the meantime, that doesn’t automatically mean we can blindly trust her to remain who she is.

I hope, pray and plead that she’ll come back whole, even though I know it won’t happen. When you get out of the arena, you’re not the same; I know that because I fought for my life in there myself many years ago. It was tough even then to survive in there, and given all the new modern technology available, there’s also the possibility of an even worse hell than what I suffered through.

“Elijah!” Ozzandra shouts. “We’re having a meeting.”

I get up from the desk chair and get out of my office. The corridor feels cold and trapped as if the council sucked out all the joy when they took our princess. I slowly walk down to the ground floor and meet the others in the kitchen, scattered.

“I’ve got the information,” Ozzandra says, smiling proudly. “My contact has announced to me that Kaylin is still alive, training, and determined to survive!”

William stands up quickly. His former dark and gloomy gaze are now full of life.

“Is it the truth? Can you trust your contact?” he asks.

“It’s safe to trust him; in fact, he had a message for us from Kaylin herself,” Ozzandra replies. “She asked him to tell us that she’s okay, that she’s training hard and will come back to us. I asked him to tell her back that we’ll be there for her tomorrow.”

William smiles big with twinkling eyes, tears close to falling. Ozzandra laughs and hugs him.

“She also asked him to tell you she loves you,” Ozzandra whispers, and William breaks in her arms. “My boy, you’ll get your beloved back, I promise.”

We let them have their moment and don’t talk. When they interrupt the hug, we laugh together and hang out just as if nothing happened. However, I have a feeling that I’ll spoil that mood with my question...

“Who’s training her?” I ask, and Ozzandra hesitates before answering.

“Salazar.”

Again, the joyful mood disappears, and the darkness that previously existed here replaces it. Confused? Let me explain; Salazar is the most violent and hating vampire in the whole council, not only the board; considering he’s like our king, that Kaylin survived this long is a miracle.

“He has already ruined her,” William says before leaving.

I quickly follow him and see him standing under the willow tree in the garden. His eyes gaze up at a jet-black sky with sparkling stars; small wet streaks adorn his cheeks. This must be hard for him, and I’m not even going to try to get into how he feels; because I simply can’t understand it.

“Salazar has destroyed the innocent and beautiful that Kaylin was,” William quietly says. “She’s already become someone else, someone I don’t know.”

I remain silent and think about his words. He sounds so sure, but how can he know? The change is in the air, and we all know it’s neither surprising nor difficult to see, but his opinion is something I don’t understand myself.

“How can you know that?” I ask.

“I can feel it in me,” he replies coldly.

“But you can’t take for granted that she has changed negatively; it might as well be that she has become stronger as a person, that she dares to speak up properly. Even though everything feels dark and heavy at the moment, it doesn’t automatically mean that it’ll feel that way all the time. Kaylin is strong, and I trust her ability to take care of herself.”

“Kaylin’s not strong enough to survive in there!” he roars, and that’s when I realize that there’s no point in trying to change his outlook; he won’t listen anyway.

“You’re a cold-blooded person, brother,” a voice says behind me.

William and I turn around; Benjamin stands there with a disapproving frown over his features.

“What the hell do you know about having a beloved?” William snorts.

“You’re right, I don’t know what it feels like to have a beloved, but I also don’t need to know that to understand how I should treat her,” he replies just as ice-cold back. “I know I’ll never distrust her; I’ll never show her the disloyalty you’re doing now when you don’t trust Kaylin to know what she’s doing. I’ll love my beloved for who she is, whether she changes or not. You’re a selfish son of a bitch who can’t stand to see someone else’s pain other than your own. It was the same when dad died. When mom needed us most during that period, you betrayed her and locked yourself in your room, leaving her with only one of her sons when she needed both of us. Hell, you don’t deserve to have a beloved at all, especially not a girl as awesome as Kaylin! I should take her as my own.”

William is on his legs in seconds. He holds a firm grip on Benjamin’s neck with his hand, fangs bared and growls echoing through the forest.

“Never dare to say that you can or should take my beloved away from me!” he growls.

“Treat her like your beloved then!” Benjamin growls back. “You’ve improved, but basically, you’re still the selfish bastard you’ve always been! Since Kaylin disappeared, all you’ve done is sit in your office and sulk in your self-pity instead of trying to do something about it. I know you didn’t fulfill the bond because you haven’t bitten her with her permission, but at least try to think of someone other than yourself for once and send positive, strong energy to her! If you don’t see clearly what’s going on and realize what might happen, what the hell are you even doing here!?”

William’s past anger blows away. He lets go of his little brother and falls on his knees with tears on his cheeks. I haven’t seen him like this before. Kaylin is his anchor in life; it’s never been more evident than it is right now.

“I never wanted to hurt her,” William loudly cries. “It’s my fault she is where she is! I’m responsible for her pain, and I’ll be responsible if she dies. You think it’s self-pity, when in fact, it’s about me having to prepare mentally for the possibility that I might lose the love of my life tomorrow! So don’t come here and say that I’m selfish when you have no idea how much my heart pains me by just the thought that my love can disappear for good...”

Benjamin looks ashamed, and so do the others who have come out after. None of us have thought about how William feels in this, not seen his pain and horror over the fact that Kaylin may die. Vivienne slowly walks up to William, kneels, and hugs him. He cries against her chest, and she caresses his hair with tightly closed eyes, but we can all see her shining tears falling ruthlessly on the ground. Like so many times before, none of us know what to say or do because there’s nothing that can ease the situation we’re in.

If I could, I would take Kaylin’s place tomorrow in order for two of my best friends to spend the rest of eternity together in each other’s arms. But unfortunately, there’s yet another rule that exists; one person can’t replace another inside the arena. When the verdict comes that someone is going in there, it’s unbreakable; it doesn’t matter what circumstances it’s about.

“It hurts so fucking bad!” William screams. “Kaylin, forgive me, please... I love you!”

His words confuse me; I’ve never heard him say that to anyone other than the family he loves them. I don’t even think he said that to Jennifer when he was together with her, and given everything that happened to her, William’s fear of how Kaylin will be is understandable. My gaze drifts over the garden until it lands on the dark sky, a sky that I know my best friend’s beloved is also glancing up at. Kaylin, you probably can’t hear me, but hang in there; we’re with you all the way!

A/N:

Hello everyone!

Kaylin’s been training hard, and her nervousness is understandable...

❀ Who do you think Ozzandra’s contact is?

✿ How big are Kaylin’s chances of surviving now?

❀ Do you think she’ll be able to use her abilities in the arena?

Please let me know your thoughts since they help me develop in my creative process! Thank you for reading. Lots of love.<3

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