Chapter Five
A bubbly blonde soon enters the Director’s office not even bothering to communicate with the Director, who just waves us off clearly preoccupied with writing her list of things that need to get sorted, before we can do the ritual.
The blonde introduces herself as Becky and then proceeds to rapidly lead us in the direction of our rooms. Pointing out things like the cafeteria, indoor gym and power practising rooms. She moves so rapidly that I honestly can’t keep up with what she’s saying or where anything is.
From the confused looks on the guys’ faces they can’t either.
“I really hope there are map’s in our rooms like the Director said,” Hunter whispers in my ear as he swings his arm around my shoulder and pulls me in close to his side, I smile up at him. My blood crusted attire obviously doesn’t bother him now that it’s dried.
All of us are still on high alert and keeping an eye on our surroundings.
The Director clearly thought that there should’ve been only two vamps at the so called entrance exam and I have to admit that if there were and we had our gifts unlocked like everyone else then it would’ve been pretty damn easy to defeat them.
That raises questions in of itself though, like where are they getting these rogue vamps?
Do they get them from some kind of supernatural prison or what?
The biggest question that is plaguing me is why were there so many damn rogue vamps after us?
It’s certainly not a promising sign for us and our time here.
“The Director said that you were on a time crunch so I haven’t got the time to give you the full tour but I do need to show you the weapons and history hall.” She says and instantly I perk up.
Two of my favourite things are weapons and history.
It occurs to me though that there is a hell of a lot of history that I don’t know anything about.
I know the vague details about what happened with the centres and soulmates but that’s it.
I want to learn the history of the other species as well and how all of us interconnect.
I have to admit that it excites me that we get the opportunity to learn this here. At least I hope we do.
She leads us down a hallway wide enough that me and the guys could walk side by side and not touch the walls.
There are no other doors down this wide length of hallway and at the end are two enormous intricately carved wooden doors that stretch twenty feet up towards the high ceilings.
Becky mutters something I don’t quite catch as we approach and the doors swing open effortlessly without her touching them.
That’s a handy trick.
All of my thoughts are cut off as I stare in wonder around the truly cavernous room. It seems like that’s a common theme for this training academy but then again it is a castle so I’m not sure what else I expected.
The front of the grand room is set out with rows and rows of shelving units with different weapons placed in them. I’m about to comment that it doesn’t look that secure when Becky answers my unspoken comment.
“These are the weapons that you can sign out for various classes or personal practice. Although they don’t look very secure I can assure you that every single one of them has protections spelled onto them and they’re not only on the weapons themselves but also on the cabinets.
If you try to take one without the instructors express permission you physically won’t be able to move it but you will get a pretty nasty shock in order to deter you from trying to take it in the future as well.
” She explains and my eyebrows hit my hairline.
I guess it makes sense, this is a training academy not some normal main stream human school and although there are students here that are human they have all been exposed to the supernatural and I’m assuming are trained with the rest of us.
I also assume that they deal with the slightly easier arrests or complaints and get to deal with purely human affairs as well like Erin and her team did when they were keeping Brent under surveillance.
Actually now that I’m thinking about it I wonder if they make the human students go through the rogue vamp initiation shit that they made us go through?
I’m hoping not since the Director seemed so horrified when I said we were only human.
Not only that but as far as I’m aware the human students that are here are here because of their exposure to the supernatural.
I’d be willing to bet that nine times out of ten it was a situation that exposed them to it.
“Feel free to have a quick look around. At the back where the white tile turns to carpet is the history side of the academy. It doubles as a library and holds displays of various important artifacts and weapons from our history. Those weapons you will never be able to use or touch as they are all extremely powerful and ancient. Some of them are even cursed so it’s not a great idea anyway.
Having said that the protections they are under are pretty much impossible for you to break unless you were the one that cast them. ”
As the guys all start exploring the weapons that we can play with I immediately make my way towards the ones that we can’t.
The closer I get the more a strange tugging sensation overtakes me.
I shake off the feeling and weave my way through the various displays.
Each more interesting than the last and I feel like I’m going to be spending as much time as possible in here.
Right at the very back of the room are giant dark wood bookshelves built into the back walls and seven or eight towering bookcases big enough to need ladders to reach the top shelves set in front of them.
Which then means that the display cases are set into the large unoccupied space between the weapons and the library.
I stop in front of a display case holding an ornate shield dotted with ruby red gems and If I didn’t know any better I’d swear it had dried blood still on it from whatever last battle it fought in. The small plaque doesn’t give much more information.
“The cursed shield of Athena, those who lay a finger upon it are said to experience the most excruciating death.”
“Pleasant,” I mumble out loud.
Surely it can’t mean Athena the Greek goddess of war? And if anyone who touches it experiences an excruciating death how in the hell did they get it in here?
Not seeing Becky around anywhere to ask her I decide to move on and carry on exploring before we’re taken to our rooms.
I’ve been trying to ignore it but the tugging sensation is becoming more and more insistent.
I’m helpless to stop myself as I start in the direction that it’s pulling me.
I’m not even able to stop and look at the displays that catch my eye.
It’s like now that I’ve acknowledged that the tugging is there, it’s given it enough strength to make me do as it pleases.
Which sounds terrifying but in actuality I feel no ill will and my intuition isn’t pinging so I don’t actively try to fight it.
I’m pulled into the very far corner of the building, out of the designated display area and into the library.
The corner is dark and dusty and clearly unused.
I’m half expecting to end up in front of some sort of a book but instead I find myself standing in front of a seemingly out of place display case.
Inside are two beautifully made curved swords.
They seem to be made out of some sort of black material and at a guess I’d say it was something natural like obsidian but I’d assume it’s actually made of something stronger and more durable.
The blades look visibly sharp and the hilts look like they were made to fit someone’s hands specifically, with indents and impressions where the wielders fingers should be.
They are mesmerising and I get an overwhelming need to touch them, wield them and use them.
Which is an absolutely crazy thought but a thought that will not leave me.
As I stand there admiring them I swear I can here an almost chanting coming from somewhere.
I lean closer towards the case and place my hand on the cool glass, completely forgetting about the protection spells on it.
It’s too late to move my hand now though and I jolt as a spark a thousand times more powerful than the sparks I feel with my guys travels up my arm.
The feeling is not painful but it is overwhelming in the strength of it.
My eyes slam closed and I’m instantly pulled into a different time and place entirely.
I have a birds eye view of the ground below where a fierce battle rages.
The surrounding landscape is like nothing I have ever seen before.
Everything is brighter even bathed in blood and gore.
The colours sharper, some I don’t even have a name for what they are.
The trees are truly giant, bigger than anything I’ve seen on earth and have what looks like windows and doors built in to the trunks and even branches, with walkways stretching between them.
It would be incredibly pretty if it wasn’t so obviously war torn and damaged.
Before I can fully appreciate any more of the differences I’m propelled rapidly to the middle of the battle field where it’s made even more abundantly clear that we are no longer on earth.
Mixed in with the vampires with their fangs out, the various animals that are clearly more than just animals, the spells and energy blasts being thrown around from various different sources, are winged creatures and beings that I can only describe as fae with their elegant features, pointed ears and multihued hair and eyes.