26: Feral

"Training?" I asked for about the fifth time this morning.
Sebastian, evidently quite annoyed by his uncontrollable sighing, nodded, once again. "Yes, Phoenix. Training. The Game of Successio is no joke. We have a month to get you acquainted with the way the games work and the... *creatures* you'll be up against."
"So," I began, glancing around as I continued to follow Sebastian past the dining room and out of the door, "where are we going, exactly?"
Sebastian did not answer though, instead, he kept on walking with this gloomy frown on his face- a look which never once disappeared since he woke me up this morning.
I was then led towards the back yard, passed a grand patio on which there stood a few scattered outdoor chairs, passed the beautiful garden area and towards the pond. It was then, finally that he began to utter a few words... or rather, only one, single word.
"Aperio." With that, he dipped his hand into the pond, waved it around, and then slowly, began standing up.
Soon, the unsettled waters began to overflow from the pond, onto the lawn, coating the green surface in its sheen of shiny transparency. I stepped back as more water began flowing out of the pond, covering my shoes, but Sebastian shook his head and took my hand in his as he pulled me close to him.
"Ever hear of witches?" He asked as he glanced down. I nodded, glancing down at the ground too, shocked at what was beneath us- a large room hidden under ripples of transparent and ripping water. "Well, vampires and witches have a strong alliance followed by the fae folk, people of the sea... you understand. This, is a special gift from them."
And just then, the ground beneath us disappeared and I let out a loud, bone-chilling scream as I closed my eyes, awaiting the impact of the fall. To my embarrassment, I realised just before we gently landed on the ground that not only were we transported softly towards the ground, but the ground was, in fact, closer than I ever assumed it to be.
By now all eyes were on me, some (most) in amusement and some (few) in distaste at my lack of ‘civility’- as if they even had an ounce of civility themselves.
“Lovely. Just when I thought we could get through today without any attention being drawn to ourselves.” Sebastian uttered, and then sighed out lowly as he bent his head down low and rubbed his temples.
I on the other hand, attempted to cover my bright red face with my hands as I felt the embarrassment swallow me whole.
“Wow, what an entrance!” I heard a familiar voice say from behind me. I turned around to be met by both Aaliyah and Felicity who beamed brightly at me.
“She’s clearly inexperienced when it comes to magic,” Sebastian uttered with an eyeroll. I scoffed at him and then returned my attention to the two vampires in front of me.
“You guys are here for training as well?” I asked.
Both nodded, and then said, “Yes, we are. It’s mandatory for all those participating in the Game of Successio to be here training… though there is one person who chose to ignore the whole ‘mandatory’ part of it. Xavier’s ditching as always,” Aaliyah said with a chuckle.
Dinner and now mandatory training. Xavier’s actions always seemed to scream “fuck you”. It was, however, understandable, and I admired his bravery.
Soon, Liam joined our little group discussion and I saw how Sebastian began to stiffen beside me which, in turn, made me smile devilishly. He’d been awful to me this whole morning, and I was going to enjoy watching his discomfort.
“Phoenix!” Liam called out and then smiled a dazzling smile which only made my own smile deepen.
“Liam, I thought you’d have ditched too.” I uttered.
Liam shook his head, no and told me that he preferred to waste his days in here than be alone in the palace with no one but Xavier. Again, it puzzled me that the two could ever have been “friendly” towards each other.
Liam then came closer towards me, still holding my eyes with his, and for a second, I couldn’t help the burning feeling in my chest and the heat beginning to flare up in my cheeks. But I brushed the feelings off the second I felt them. The last thing I needed was a crush on someone I needed to have a ‘casual relationship’ with.
“So, Phoenix…” he began nervously. I tilted my head, aware that he was *never* really nervous around me and wondered what he was about to ask me. “The vampires usually train in partners, so would you like to-”
But before the poor soul could even finish his proposal, Sebastian’s fist made contact with his face, sending Liam flying into a shelf of weaponry which was literally on the other side of the room. The entire room had now grown silent and everyone, including myself, had their eyes on Sebastian whose eyes were now a deep shade of red.
For a moment, he just growled and heaved until I touched his arm, trying to snap him out of his deeply feral state of mind.
“The hell was that for, Sebastian?” I whispered to him.
His eyes immediately turned back to their crystal blue colour and he suddenly straightened up and cleared his throat before saying, quite sternly, “Nothing. Now then, if you all will excuse us. My Mistress Phoenix and I will be partnering up.”
With that, he took my hand in his and began leading me through the large room with me following after him, more confused than anything. It seemed my relishing in his misery would be cut shorter than I expected.
As Sebastian began leading me through the room, I began taking more of it in. The floors were coated in what seemed to be vinyl flooring, contrasting to the luxurious floors of the palace. The room itself seemed to be divided into another twenty separate rooms, each enclosed with glass windows so that onlookers could see inside. Two rooms were filled with blinding light, coating the two people in each of the rooms in a bright sheet of light which flashed here and there.
“Those are the celestial rooms, designed to train the nobles for the celestial part of the game, especially now that none of these second-generation nobles have any experience with how the games work.”
He then made the both of us stop in front of a room void of any of the realm or elemental features of the others. The only thing inside was a shelf filled with its share of knives, swords, axes, daggers, steel bamboo-stick like weapons and steel flails. My eyes widened at the shelf, but I made no effort to speak, trusting that the likeliness of Sebastian to answer me was lower than ‘not likely’.
“As you can see,” he uttered, pointing to the other eight rooms such as these, “these rooms are not particularly popular, reason being, vampires know their own capabilities. They’ve trained for centuries with their own kind, they know how to embrace their feral sides. You, however, have been a vampire a little over a week. So, we’ll start with honing in on your skills. As you might have guessed, you will not be able to use any of your werewolf abilities. No changing.”
I did not guess this, not at all. In fact, I’d forgotten the fact that I was only *half* vampire for a split second, and now that he pointed it out, my anxiety shot up beyond what it ever could have been. In fact, now I wondered whether I’d even be able to get through the first round of the game with the inability to even use my werewolf side, the side I’d spent sixteen years honing and embracing.
Sebastian caught the anxious look on my face, sighed deeply and gripped at my shoulders, pulling me out of my thoughts and straight into the pale blue of his eyes. “You do not need to worry. For the next month I *will* make sure that I give you the skills you’ll need to make it through the games and claim the throne as your own.”
I nodded, trying my best to believe him, but unable to truly listen to anything he said as the doubts began racing through my mind. This could very well have been the last month I spent with Sebastian if I was not careful.
Sebastian then let me go and said, “Now, grab one of those silver poles. I want to see what I have to work with and where we have to begin. I’m guessing you don’t have any experience with the art of battle?”
I said nothing, now insulted by what he suggested with his tone of voice. Instead, I grabbed at one of the silver poles and stood opposite of him, pole upright and in front of me. Contrary to what Sebastian assumed, I was the Alpha’s daughter and so when it came to fending for myself, I was well-equipped.
“Right, let us see if you can-”
But he cut himself off by swiping the silver pole towards me, hardly giving me even a second to think. Luckily, I had fast enough reflexes to dodge the pole by ducking down and sliding forward.
Sebastian smiled and nodded, impressed. “Not bad. How about-”
And another swipe at me, this time from the top. Immediately, I used my wolf instincts to dive into a back-flip, dropping my own silver pole in the process. And when I landed on my feet and hands in a crouched position, I let out a low growl.
Sebastian raised a brow and then said, “I thought I said no-”
But I was tired of listening to him, especially after his awful behaviour. So, I launched myself off of the ground and pounced onto him, knocking him onto the floor. Sebastian then chuckled and smiled. “I see. Fine, Phoenix, I’ll entertain you, but only to put you in your place.”
I raised a brow at him, and then then he suddenly pushed at me, sending me flying to the other side of the room into the shelf. I then fell onto my knees and realised that I was bleeding from my arms down to the floor. Sebastian was stronger than I imagined, and I reminded myself then, that I needed to be more careful.
Sebastian stood up and asked, “Are you sure you want to test me, Phoenix? I don’t think this will end well for you.”
I growled in response and retracted my claws as I got up from the floor. Sebastian smirked and removed his shirt, immediately catching me off guard. His skin was so beautiful and smooth but here and there I could see evidence of scars on his skin and even though I hated to admit it, he had a very attractive body… and it was very distracting.
Sebastian made the next move, launching himself into me, knocking me to the ground and knocking the wind out of me.
“Come on Phoenix. You can concede.”
But I was not giving up, not when we’d just begun to have fun. I smashed my fist onto the ground and roared out before I launched myself off of the ground and launched a kick into his stomach using all the strength that I could muster. It sent him colliding with the wall and suddenly, the glass of it shattered, sending him falling out of the room.
And so began the stares of others who glanced shocked at the both of us. Sebastian, however, ignored them as he leapt off of the floor and began storming towards me with eyes red and nostrils flaring. He was clearly not impressed with me. But unlike previously, I managed to dodge him perfectly and then used my leg to swipe at his sending him crashing to the floor. I them raised my elbow, jumped up and then launched it into his stomach. He cried out in pain but never stopped fighting back and managed to grab me and pull my body under his. He let his fist collide with the side of my cheek making blood pour through my lips.
I used my own hands to block my face now as his punches grew harsher and harsher before gripping one of his fists in my hands and throwing him off of myself. I was now beyond myself, driven by something dark and animalistic which flared up as I caught sight of one of the metal poles which had managed to roll to the corner of the room. I raced towards it, grabbed it in my hands and then whacked at Sebastian as he stood up. To my surprise, the entire pole shattered against his body and tumbled down in pieces. For a while, I just stared at it in shock. Not even I could break the metal pole with my body… Sebastian must have been one of the strongest opponents I had ever had, and he proved it when he tackled me through another of the glass windows sending us both flying through and allowing a rain of glass to cascade us both. With immense speed, he placed his hand around my neck and began squeezing at the flesh. I immediately placed both my hands against his and attempted at prying them off as I attempted kicking and struggling underneath him. But no matter what I did, he could not be moved, and his grip grew tighter and tighter around my throat.
Liam attempted to come to my aid, but he too was unable to outmatch Sebastian’s strength and was instead knocked to the floor. Everyone stared in horror, including myself. My eyes began fluttering closed as the air in my lungs became scarce, and I wondered if Sebastian would kill me before the Games did.
“S-Sebastian…” I uttered out without even thinking. And it was then that his eyes began to widen and blue began returning to his red eyes.
“Phoenix?” He yelled out as though he’d been out of control of his body this whole time. And then suddenly, his hands were off of my throat and I was gasping for air, sucking it in greedily and with all my might.
“Phoenix I’m so sorry.” He uttered from beside me. He attempted to touch at my shoulder, but I flicked his hand away and then continued to catch my breath. Once I’d calmed down, my eyes rested on his worried and shame-filled ones. It was clear that he regretted all that he’d done. But whereas he was filled with regret, I was filled with astonishment. I’d never seen a vampire act in the way that he had, and the sight had me terribly excited.
“W-was that all you had?” I coughed out and raised a brow.
Sebastian’s regret-filled face then turned to one of confusion, anger, and then he chuckled, a sound which set the whole room into another state of silence. I’d forgotten, now, that to others, Sebastian was a stone-cold, robotic vampire and that the sight of him laughing was one exceptionally rare. Sebastian soon realised the attention he’d brought to himself and then cleared his throat before saying deeply, “As you were.”
Immediately, the whole room rushed back to their own training leaving Sebastian and I sitting outside of the horribly broken training room.
Sebastian looked up at me and tilted his head before reaching out and touching at the skin of my neck. I winced immediately at the stinging pain and he retracted his hand.
“You’ll have to forgive me Phoenix. It’s not often that I turn that… feral.” I said softly. But I smiled in return. “You’re apologizing because you hurt me during a training session. What am I, a baby? It’s going to take a lot more to startle me.”
But that was a clear lie, because as much as I was fascinated by Sebastian, I was now undeniably frightened as well. I was afraid that Sebastian would be the death of me, but at the same time I wondered what made him so different to all the other vampire and so… feral.
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Stay safe, stay healthy, sending my love!