Indulge (13 page)

As I launched myself upward, Bennett widened his gait and jumped right on top of me, sending us crashing to the floor with incredible force. I hadn’t expected it and the attack caught me off guard. I slammed onto my back, the weight of his body falling like a mountain on top of me. For a skinny guy, he weighed a ton.

He attempted to swipe at my face, but I flung my arm in front of me and blocked it. My right hand was latched around his left, pinning it to the mat with as much force as I could. A vision of breaking Ana’s arm flashed in my mind, but I pushed it back. I couldn’t afford the distraction nor could I allow that anger to take over me. Who knew what could happen.

Bennett smiled, thinking he had won. His long legs, tried wrapping around me. I knew he was trying to pin me to the mat, so he could make his final strike. I couldn’t let him win. I twisted and elbowed him in the face. As his head jerked from the blow I then lifted my legs, wrapping them around his head. I locked my ankles and straightened, pressing me thighs together with as much force as I could.

His bright, white head quickly turned red. I smiled triumphantly, waiting for him to tap out. He wasn’t going to beat me and he needed to realize it. I was in total control and I relished in it. I was indulging in the power and loving every second of it.

“Regain control, Bennett!” Eli shouted from the sidelines.

I could feel Bennett’s body tighten on top of me. Was he ready to give up? Could I really be beating Eli’s best fighter? I couldn’t help but let a small laugh escape me, a fangy smile stretched across me sweaty face, stray strands of hair plastered on my cheeks.

I was celebrating too early. Bennett stretched his long legs and pushed himself upward. I could feel him rising. I tried to press him back downward, but I had no leverage. He lifted himself higher, starting to stand and was taking me with him. My back was lifting from the mat and I growled aloud. I still had a tight grip around his neck and I didn’t want to give it up.

“Nice recovery!” Eli encouraged Bennett from the sidelines. Whose side was he on, anyway?

Bennett’s red-faced smile pissed me off. I released my grip on his head, putting my weight on my hands and flipping back into a standing position. He was closer than I had expected and couldn’t deflect his hand as it landed firmly on my throat.

I gripped his wrists and hissed through clenched teeth as my neck was crushed in his hand. Arrick had performed the very same move on me before when we first arrived at the Château, except it was nothing compared to what I was feeling now. Bennett’s grip tightened and my vision began to swirl as he lifted me off the ground, my feet dangling in the air.

“Congratulations, Claire. You’ve just been defeated,” Bennett said, his eyes swirling with victory.

Placing me back on my feet, he released me. I chocked as I regained my breath and shoved him hard in the chest when he tried to pat my back.

“Get away from me,” I wheezed.

“You put up a good fight, but you’ve learned an important lesson,” Eli said, stepping on the mat. “Now you know the most vital area to defend.” He approached me and lifted my head. Tears of rage fell down my face, my mouth still clenched in frustration. “Relax,” he said patting my chin.

Eli surveyed my neck, but I ignored him as I watched Bennett fall into a chair. His pale face was still slightly red and sweat dripped from his head in large beads. At least I hadn’t made it as he easy for him as he had expected, but I was still thoroughly pissed he beat me. Doing his best to avoid my gaze he squirted water on a small towel and laid it on his face as he tilted his head backward.

A growl rippled through my chest and Eli clenched my shoulders. “Calm down. You did well.”

“No, I didn’t. He beat me.” I tried not to say it too loud. I didn’t need to see Bennett gloating. I probably wouldn’t be able to contain myself if he did. Apparently, I was a very sore loser. I had never realized how competitive I was before, yet I’d also never wanted to be as good at something as I did right now.

“Of course he did.” Eli pressed his fingers against my throat and I winced, but allowed him to continue his exam.

“Listen to me,” Eli grabbed me chin forcefully, making me have to meet his gaze. “You can never be good at anything, unless you have been defeated. Do you understand?”

I shook my head. That didn’t make any sense to me at all. Eli sighed. “What are you thinking right now? What is your sole focus this very second?”

“Honestly?”

He nodded.

“I want a rematch,” I said, glaring at Bennett.

“There’s your answer.” Eli walked off the mat and handed me a plastic bottle filled with blood. “Do you know why the neck is the weakest part of a vampire?”

I shook my head and popped open the top of bottle. I brought it to my lips and drank greedily. Fighting really did work up my appetite.

“There are nerves on each side of the throat,” Eli took his fingers and pointed to a specific spot on either side of my neck. The area was sensitive, but already less so, since he was examining it. “The nerves are connected to your fangs and your central nervous system. As you are turned into a vampire, these nerves grow rapidly throughout your body. Which is why your senses are so heightened. For example.” He grabbed my hand and spread my fingers apart. “Imagine your fingers represent the nervous system of a human. Now place your other hand on top, all ten of your digits in-between each other.”

I did as instructed and looked at my hands.

“So, a vampire’s nervous system is two times a humans?”

“Even more so. That’s a crude analogy, but you get the point.”

I nodded. “And a Blood Guard?”

“Considerably more than that,” Eli said.

I raised my eyebrows in shock. No one had ever explained it to me like that before and it made me a thousand times more curious about what I could do.

“Alright. Break time is over. Claire, I want you to try and land the same strike on Bennett. This time he will try to evade. Understand?”

I nodded and focused my senses, tapping into my core.

The last hours of training were spent with Bennett and me taking turns landing different attacks on each other. Aside from the throat, I learned other nervous system points in the body. The throat proved most effective, but the others were still useful. There was one along the spine, near the base of the skull; another in the chest just under the rib cage and the last one was in the armpit. I didn’t much like that one, nor did I enjoy having to stick my fingers in Bennett’s hairy, sweaty pits, but that nerve temporarily numbed the arm like it was asleep.

I was glad for training to be over and rushed out of the room when Eli dismissed me. I wasn’t looking forward to tomorrow’s training. He said I would learn how to fight with an injury, which I wasn’t so happy to hear about. But I knew it would be an incredibly useful skill. I could have used that training when I was fighting Ana and Luka. I used to think it was sheer luck that I beat them that night, but after tonight I thought that maybe it wasn’t. Maybe I tapped into the core of my power without even realizing it.

The more I connected with it, the more I focused my senses, the stronger I felt. I didn’t want to lose this power and I didn’t want to feel weak ever again.

I made it to the end of the hallway before Bennett called out to me. “Hey, Claire!”

Trying to ignore him I quickened my pace, rolling my eyes. I didn’t know what he could possibly want to talk about nor did I care. I had things I wanted to do tonight before the sun came up and talking to him wasn’t one of them.

I rounded the corner, planning to rush to my room with vampire speed before he could catch up with me but he caught up with me. “Hey,” he greeted me.

“Hey.”

“Nice job tonight.”

Did he seriously want to do this? “Yeah, thanks.” I tried not to wrinkle my nose when the smell of his sweat wafted in the air.

“It’s been a long time since I had that hard a time pinning someone. I can’t believe you’ve never had any formal training before.” I didn’t say anything and Bennett heaved a heavy sigh. “Well, I just wanted to say nice job.”

I stopped and turned to him. He sounded like a pitiful dog, so I decided to throw him a bone. “Yeah, you too.” I gave him a half smile and continued my march down the hallway.

Bennett trotted up next to me. “Maybe we can train together sometime?” Was he hitting on me? I really hoped he wasn’t. “I can teach you some moves that Eli doesn’t teach in class.”

But whether or not he was hitting on me, that definitely piqued my interest. “Really?”

He laughed. “I thought that would get your attention. How about after training tomorrow night?”

“Yeah, sure.” I didn’t know what he could teach me, but it obviously wasn’t fighting moves that were class appropriate.

“Cool. Alright, see you later.” He smiled, flashing his crooked-toothed grin and turned around, dashing down the hallway.

I was glad to finally be rid of him, but he was proving to be more useful than just a pain in the ass training partner. What moves could he teach me? Being Eli’s star pupil, I guessed he had to know something good. He couldn’t have gotten that far otherwise.

I took the fastest shower in the history of my life and tried to think of a good place to conduct my first experiment. I needed some place secluded. If I got caught I could either get in a lot of trouble or most likely hurt someone.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized there was only one place I could go. The lighthouse. I had been wanted to explore it since I first arrived in Naos, and now I finally had an excuse. It was definitely secluded enough that I would have plenty of privacy.

I dressed quickly and pulled on a hooded sweater before dashing outside. I knew it would be possible to leave unnoticed so I headed in the direction of the garden first. If anyone asked I could say I wanted some peace and quiet. My mother did it all the time, so I knew they wouldn’t find the excuse unusual.

I made it to the garden in minutes and passed the guard with ease. I had expected to be questioned more, but as soon as I told him, he simply told me to carry on and warned me that the sun would be up soon. Like I didn’t already know.

I jogged at a steady pace through the garden, toward the eastern edge. All I had to do was hop the hedge and I could dash through the open field toward the lighthouse without anyone noticing.

My feet squished against the soggy earth and the scent of dampened plants hung in the air. They must have just been watered. It was strange how water seemed to amplify the scents of flowers and foliage. I sniffed the air and could name almost every flower I smelled, except for the ones I didn’t know of course, but I still remembered the aroma from the time my mother and I spent here talking.

She told me about my birth and how it was possible for a vampire to have a child. I still didn’t quite understand it. To me it sounded like a miracle from Nyx.

“Nyx blesses the Vampire, allowing a tiny bit of their humanity to filter out of their being and create new life. It is one of the greatest of her miracles. I could not think of a greater miracle in the world than to have a child. To have you.” I remembered the conversation as my mother poured her heart out. The emotions inside her were so fresh and raw.

She had struggled immensely when I was taken from her and fell into a deep depression. She admitted that the only thing that got her buy were Arrick’s reports on me. Knowing that I was safe was the only thing that had kept her sane.

I’d wanted to ask her about losing a piece of her humanity. To me, that sounded like a high price to pay, to have a child. But my mother was still so very kind and loving that I didn’t think Nyx had taken too much of her humanity. Besides, what would be the point of allowing a vampire the miracle of child birth, if you were going to take all their humanity to do it and create a monster? It didn’t make sense and would totally defeat the purpose.

“How many have been born like me?”

“In our region, you are the first.”

“So, there are others like me in other regions?” I wasn’t sure whether or not I was happy about that. As selfish as it sounded, I liked being one of a kind.

“Most regions keep it a secret, so it is impossible to know for sure, but we trust that Nyx chooses wisely. She would not choose a vampire that did not have enough humanity to sacrifice.”

I was glad to hear that. “And that’s why I was born human? Because your humanity was used to create me?”

She nodded with a smile and kissed my forehead. I still kind of felt like a science experiment, but I couldn’t ignore the awe I felt. Nyx herself had a hand in my creation. That had to mean I was meant for something special. Right?

“Thanks for having enough humanity to spare,” I said smiling up at my mom like a little girl.

A happy little laugh escaped her. “I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Sometimes I see so much of myself in you. I don’t feel like I sacrificed anything at all because it is alive in you.”

As I recalled the memories I reached the eastern edge of the gardens and hopped the hedge with the smallest of effort. I was really starting to enjoy this new power and used all my efforts to focus my connection. With practice, I hoped the connection would come naturally and I wouldn’t even have to try anymore.

I squatted down on the outside edge of the gardens and surveyed my surroundings. I didn’t see anything, but that wasn’t good enough. I wanted to be certain. I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing, pushing my consciousness outward.

I stopped at the first sign of life. The guard at the garden entrance. I pushed further, stretching as far as I could, and nothing. I was in the clear. I smiled and sprinted toward the lighthouse. It was only about a mile away and would only take me minutes to get there, giving me plenty of time to do some experimenting before I needed to head back inside.

The ground became rocky and I slowed my stride as I approached the towering lighthouse. From up close, it was much taller than I had thought. The sounds of the waves crashing on the shore below traveled upward noisily, filling the air like a thick fog of noise and mist. I could barely hear myself think, but at least I knew I could make some noise if needed and no one would hear me. Yet again, that could also be a bad thing.