The Vampire Vigilante
Chapter 8

The sound of something banging on my door jarred me awake. I snapped my eyes open to look at the clock. My vision was still blurry, so I rubbed my eyes a bit to focus.

6:00? What the hell?

I stumbled out of bed and walked to the door. I yanked it open, glaring at whoever was on the other side. There was a woman standing there against the doorframe in all black. She was tall standing at about 6′, had freckles over her cheeks and nose, and appeared to be unimpressed with my laziness of coming to the door so slowly. She had short red hair that was in loose curls all around her face. She was picking at one of her nails when our gazes met.

“King Donovan has instructed me to train you,” she stated with a Russian accent, “Get dressed. We hit the training field in 10.” With that she walked away down the hall. I stared at her as she walked away. She had deep emerald eyes, extremely masculine all over even for a woman, and truly scared me just a bit.

I closed the door with a thud, pissed off that someone would interrupt my sleep. I trudged to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. I pulled my hair up in a ponytail before putting on a black sports bra and tank top, followed by some black leggings. I slipped on the combat boots I had found the other day and stumbled out of the room. I went down to the kitchen to grab a water before I ran outside.

When I got to the training area, the red-haired girl was standing by a dummy waiting for me. She had her arms crossed and seemed to stand even taller.

What the hell have I gotten myself into.

“So,” I started, putting my empty bottle of water in a nearby trashcan, “Your name is?”

“Rex,” she answered, “And we begin now.” She threw the dummy at me and I jumped to one side to avoid it. I looked at her in shock.

I guess formalities are out of the question with this girl.

“I don’t know what you want me to do,” I replied, “Don’t you have a guidebook or something for me to practice with?” She threw her head back and laughed. “Most of the soldiers here I trained. I don’t go by a book. We just fight.”

Okay then, have it your way.

I threw the dummy back at her with a little bit of force which took her by surprise. Of course she caught it with ease, but I noticed her right eyebrow twitched up with curiosity.

Out of nowhere I heard the sound of something coming at me through the air. I turned right in time to see a huge dummy flying at me from who knows where. I kicked it right in the throat at the perfect moment and the head went flying to the right while the body hit the ground with a thud.

The sound of more coming at me from all different directions was brought to my attention. I slowed down time in my mind to see the closest on my right, the next on my left, a third from the other side of Rex, and the last from straight above me. I jumped and grabbed the one on the right mid-air, pulling it’s head from it’s body. I propelled myself off of it, reaching for the one on the left. I grabbed it’s head and flipped in the air with it, slamming it into the ground with a loud cracking noise and breaking it into several pieces.

Head included.

I jumped over Rex and kicked the one behind her so hard it flew across the castle wall and into the meadow, disintegrating in the air. I then caught the one from straight up and held it by the throat with my right hand. I crushed it’s throat and let it fall to the ground. I crossed my arms and glared at Rex.

Maybe this won’t be so tough.

Rex nodded her head in approval while she raised her eyebrows. “Impressive. What do you think about hand-to-hand?”

Please not with her.

“Um, who will I be fighting?” I asked nervously. She smiled. “We will start with the easiest and go up from there.” I looked to the fighting area to see a smaller guy standing there, wearing all black like Rex was. He waved giddily and I smiled and waved back. I stepped up into the arena and took a good look at this guy.

He had light brown hair cut short. He was a little shorter than me, about 5′5. His eyes were a regular grey color but he was beaming with excitement, making them shine.

He stuck his hand out to shake mine. “Hi! I’m Andrew. It’s nice to meet you, Melody.”

“Nice to meet you,” I replied, reaching for his hand. He then took my arm and twisted it, sending me to the ground on my back with a grunt.

“What the hell?” I yelled, “That’s not fair!” He laughed. “You need to be prepared for anything!” I jumped up and crouched down in a stance to face him. I turned the heat up on my tattoo and made my eyes shine just a little to intimidate him. His smile turned into a frown while his mouth dropped open. I then ran towards him with incredible speed and slid towards his legs, taking them out from under him. Once he was on his chest on the ground I went from sliding to standing up. I then put my right forearm against his shoulder blades with a touch of force and held his arms down with my knees. I let my fangs slide out as they scraped the nape of his neck.

“Alright, I give!” he exclaimed. I got off of him and brushed myself off. I put my arms behind my back, watching him as he got up and dusted himself off. I regulated my eyes back to normal and smiled at him. He laughed as he put a hand behind his neck, rubbing it. “Note to self: don’t piss you off.”

He jumped down out of the arena as another soldier came up. This one was a woman who looked to be around 30 years old. She had short blonde hair pulled back into low space buns. She had a dark complexion with grey eyes that stared me down, ready to fight. She was about 5′7, standing eye to eye with me. I cracked my neck and took stance.

We stood there for what seemed like forever, when I realized she was going to play on the defensive. I looked her up and down, trying to find a weak spot. It was hard to do since they wore these black outfits that covered every inch of their body.

I finally decided to slow it down for a moment and examine her as I backed up against one of the ropes. She left her hands down at her side instead of around her organs, leaving her abdomen and face defenseless. She crouched down low, anticipating a high attack. I jumped as high as I could after coming down on top of the ropes behind her. She spun around but not fast enough; I used the ropes to propel myself at her, taking her head in my hands. The force of my body took her to the ground as my feet landed beside her ears to keep her hands from coming to her face.

About 5 seconds. Not bad, but you could do better.

“Check!” Rex called out. I got off of her and held out my hand to help her up. As she reached out her hand, I could see a glimmer in her eyes and knew she had something up her sleeve. When she grabbed my hand, I felt her muscles flex and knew she was going to try to take me to the ground and get herself a win.

But I was a step ahead of her. When she pulled to take me down, I rolled forward and took her arm with me, putting her in an arm bar. She screamed in pain. I held her like that for a few seconds, enough to cause some pain but not break any bones.

“Emily!” Rex yelled, “What the fuck was that?” I let her go and stood up, dusting myself off. Emily jumped up and glared at me, pissed that I had won not once but twice. She jumped down out of the area and stomped off. Rex jumped up into the arena and looked toward Emily as she rounded the far corner. “Don’t worry about her-she’s a terrible loser.” I looked over to the area where Emily had went. “I can see that.” I looked at Rex and noticed her eyes were now looking at me up and down.

“Your eyes are green,” I stated, “Why is that?”

“That’s another conversation for another time,” she answered, getting out of the arena, “But just so you know, I’m not much different from you. However, you are stronger than you know.” I watched her as her eyes darted behind me. I saw several more soldiers waiting to battle.

Shit.

I was starting to get a little tired, but I knew I had to keep going. The next couple of hours went on like the other soldiers I had fought; they tried but eventually failed at beating me. A few of them got some good shots in, but it just pissed me off and I ended it with a simple move.

By time we were finished, it was lunch. Rex threw me a water bottle as I stepped out of the arena, my legs shaking underneath me from the strain I had just put them through. Sweat dripped down my face and chest. I was exhausted.

“You did good today,” Rex said as we headed inside the ballroom area, “I was surprised your stamina kept up with everyone.” I chuckled. “It wasn’t easy, I promise.” As we walked through the ballroom, things were becoming more and more decorated. The light purple, sheer fabric was draped along the ceilings and windows. There was a large table against the right side of the room and there were workers pounding and drilling gems into it. The thrones were covered with white sheets, more than likely to preserve them until the night of the ball.

We walked through the hallway past the kitchen and into the dining room where a buffet lunch was prepared. We each grabbed a plate and sat down at the table across from each other. We ate and drank in silence until Rex spoke up. “I guess I can start with a little story of my own.” I looked up from my plate at her.

“When I was little,” she started, “I was separated from my parents. I don’t know who they were, but apparently they were powerful and descended from a Royal family over in Russia.”

Hence the accent.

“I was adopted by a family here in the states,” she continued, “They were wonderful. They treated me like a princess. We didn’t have anything fancy, just a house in the hills. We lived there for a while before my step-brother was called to arms in the late 1900s.”

Late 1900s? So this girl isn’t my age. How does she still look so young?

“You will find out in time how old I really am,” she said, interrupting my thoughts, “We as Royals age just a bit different than regular vamps. Anyway, my brother got called to arms when the whole Malachi bullshit erupted with you and your parents. I’m sure you didn’t hear about it, being locked up and what not.”

Harsh.

“So when he got called to arms, my parents decided that with me being different I could come help,” she said, “So I came to help King Donovan’s father and here I am.”

“You never decided to back and try to find your real parents?” I asked, taking a bite. She shook her head. “No, I decided it was better to let them be wherever they were at. They had their own battles to fight without me being in the way.”

“Rex,” I said, swallowing my food, “I don’t think you would be in the way. I don’t know what kind of special abilities you have but I bet they are kick-ass.” She laughed. Not a chuckle, but a whole-hearted laugh. “Alright, I didn’t think I would enjoy your company. But you are pretty funny.” She took a drink of water. “I can see why King Donovan is so fixated on you.”

Ah, shit. Here we go again.

“I don’t think he is ‘fixated’ on me,” I spat out.

“Oh come on,” Rex said, throwing her hands up, “Get your head out of your ass. Everyone can see it! Ever since you showed up all battered and bruised he has spent every waking hour figuring out how to bash Malachi’s brains in. I’ve spent many years with him, and I have never seen him this pissed off at someone.” I hung my head down low, scraping my fork against my plate as I moved my food around. My appetite was gone.

“And,” she continued, shoveling more food in her mouth, “Have you seen the way he looks at you? I mean, my god! I don’t have a thing for guys but I promise if someone looked at me that way...” She dropped her fork on the floor with a clink, “Panties. Off.”

I was taking a drink of water and nearly choked. I looked at her in shock as I coughed. She threw her head back laughing. “I know-me being gay is totally unbelievable, right?”

“No,” I sputtered out, wiping my mouth, “What the hell you just said. I haven’t gotten those looks, and I don’t know why everyone keeps saying that.”

Oh, yes you have. And you’ve dreamed about them too.

Rex put her hands up in defense. “Okay, touchy subject. Sorry.” She then took her plate into the kitchen and came back to grab a tart for dessert. She was almost out of the dining room before she turned around. “I’ll give you tomorrow off since you worked your ass off this morning. But Thursday it’s back to work.” I nodded as she left.

Thank god I could rest some tomorrow.

I took my plate to the kitchen where I saw some of the chefs huddled around in the corner. I sat my plate in the sink and slowly peeked to see what they were looking at.

It looked like a long list of food. One of the chefs turned around and smiled. “Oh, Miss Melody. We are just going over the menu for the Midnight Ball. Would you care to give your input?” I glanced over at the menu to see there were all kinds of appetizer meats, vegetables, hors d’oeuvres, and desserts. I shrugged my shoulders looking over the menu. "Anything that you can grab and go would be perfect. Everything you cook is amazing, so I'm sure there won't be any complaints." The chef beamed in pride. "Thank you." I smiled and then patted his shoulder before I left.

Everyone is so nice here.

I decided to head up to my room to take a shower. All of the sweat on my skin was getting sticky, so I felt like a hot shower would be perfect. I walked into my bedroom, closed the door behind me, and locked it.

Of course, there is a note.

I picked it up and opened to read what was inside.

Good work today, Melody.

Please let me know about the ball so that I can have Maya take you dress shopping.

-Erik

So we are on a first name basis now?

I couldn't help but smile seeing the note. But there was no way in hell I was going to that stupid ball.

I put the note in the bedside table along with the others I had received and got in the shower, contemplating on what the hell I was going to do with this Midnight Ball.

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