Truth- Shadow goddess seris(COMPLETE)

Chapter Nine

I was fuming as I walked into the locker room to change for my combat class. I needed this, I needed to vent and get all this anger and frustration out before I blow up on someone. And no one wanted me to blow up, it usually wasn’t very pretty. Or very nice. I was innately a b***h, but when I’m mad and have no outlet. I turn into a raving b***h. 

“Rose!” I heard Ryker shout as I exited the locker room. “What happened? You and Professor Cassius never came back.”

“I went to see my uncle to get answers. Found out this is an academy for supernaturals. But it makes me wonder why I’m here.”

“You don’t know what you are?” 

“No. I highly doubt I am anything other than human.” I shrugged. 

“No way. I’ve seen you move. You’re not human, but you’re not a vampire either.” He told me. Thank f**k for that. I added mentally. 

“So what are you?” I asked, peering over at him through the corner of my eye. 

He seemed wary for a minute before taking a big breath. “I am a vampire.” He said, wincing as he waited for my response. 

I shrugged. “Okay. But you’re going to have to show me that speed one day. Looks like fun.” 

His shoulders sagged and a relieved breath whooshed from his lungs. “Deal.” He beamed. 

“Did you really think I’d just up and dump you because you were a vampire?” 

“I wasn’t sure. You were raised human. Knowing we exist and actually seeing are two completely different things.” 

“You already get enough hell for your eyes. What you are shouldn’t matter either. I swear the more and more I learn about this world the less I want to be in it. Everyone seems so cruel and cold hearted.” 

“Not everyone, and I’m going to prove it.” He winked. “But right now I have to go. Professor Phoenix likes to separate boys and girls.” 

“You’re kidding right? I have to fight a bunch of girls?” I groaned. 

“Oh, no. He just likes us to keep separate before class. It causes less of a distraction.” 

I nodded and made my way over to the group of chattering, giggling and snort laughing girls. I had to suppress an eye roll as I made my way to the far end of the group, crossing my arms over my chest in annoyance. Why were girls so perky and giggly? It made no sense. Did guys here like that fake Barbie s**t? Too bad. For me at least. I refuse to be a fake. Refuse to be anyone other than who I am. 

Heavy footsteps brought me out of my thoughts as my eyes landed on yet another impossibly good looking man. Damn it, why are all the guys here hot? Did they all descend from Greek gods or something? This crap just wasn’t fair. And the professor is worried about distractions. Ha! He is a distraction. I bet he’d be fun as hell to spar with though. 

This man was huge, like at least seven foot tall, huge. He had muscles for days. His chest muscles rippled and bulged from under his black wife beater. His arms were almost as big a round as my head.  His skin was a deep bronze making his silver eyes almost shine. He had high cheekbones and a squared jaw, a straight nose and almond shaped eyes. He had a scar across his right eye, and one spanning the length of his cheek. His long brown was tied at the nape of his neck by a leather string, the ends hanging down alongside his hair. He was perfection incarnate. Damn this school and it's too hot for their own good men. 

As I looked over the group of girls beside me I noticed they had all fallen silent. All of them all but drooling over the professor as he made his way over to us. Some had their hands clasped in front of them as they bounced up and down on their toes. Big goofy and crooked grins were plastered on their faces. I had to cover my mouth with my arm and bite my cheek to keep myself from laughing. Could they be more obvious? I bet a lot of them only requested this class because of him. And I can’t wait to see all of them get their asses kicked. 

I cast my attention back on the god before me. His face was grim as he looked over the group, obviously noticing the majority of his class was a bunch of gaggling girls. And more than obviously ones who have never lifted a finger, much less fought anyone or anything before. I snorted a laugh as he shook his head at the girls and turned to the guys. My smile brightened as I saw some of them drooling over him as well. And who wouldn’t? This man was obviously beautiful. 

“So.” He began. “I see this class will be a hard one. Most of you have never thrown a punch in your life, while the rest look like you’d rather flirt and cast googly eyes my way.” He glared over at the girls. “I want all of you to line up. Guys on one line, girls in the other. You will all take your turn at trying to fight me. I want to see where your skill lies and where we need to start with your training.” 

Everyone moved into their perspective lines as we waited for him to call us up one by one. He took his time. Walking the length of the lines taking us all in one by one. I didn’t know if he was doing it to choose who went first, or if he was just trying to see what a disappointment this class would be. Even I had to admit he had his work cut out for him. And I for one couldn’t wait to see everyone make a fool of themselves. 

“Red eyes. You’re up first.” Phoenix barked as he made his way back to the front of the class.

“He has a name.” I growled, narrowing my eyes at him.

 The professor stopped, turning to look at me with a raised brow.  “Does he now? Why don’t you come up here and take his place. Then you can tell me his name and show me what you’ve got.” 

“Gladly.” I sneered, squaring my shoulders and shoving my way to the front to stand in front of him. My eyes locked on his stunning silver ones. This man might be one of the most beautiful people I have ever seen, but that did not give him the right to be an ass. 

“Who are you? And what is red eyes name?” He asked, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“My name is Rose, the headmaster’s niece. And red eyes as you so rudely called him, name is Ryker.” 

“Very good. Now come at me.” He demanded, his tone going firm. 

“Yeah….. no. I know how this works. You get me to come at you and you analyze how I move. Which foot I step with before I punch, if I hold more of my weight on one side more than the other. Any sign of past injuries you can use against me. Then you will take my offensive move and turn it to where I am put on the defensive.” I arched my brow. “Sound about right?”

“Smart.” He smirked, then launched himself at me. I smiled, my blood pumping as he attacked. As he was right up on me, I smiled, dropped to the ground and swiftly turned my body, my leg jutted out. He didn’t have time to escape his fate and he hit my leg and went flying, landing flat on his back. I jumped back to my feet and out of his immediate range and started bouncing foot to foot like I was in a boxing match. 

“You’re fast.” Phoenix said, excitement lacing his words. 

I laughed, this time launching myself at him. I saw him watching me, so I shifted my weight to my left side and coiled the muscles in my legs like I was going to kick him. As I got right up on him, his body ever so slightly tilted to the right to match where he thought I was going to hit. Then I punched. I hit him square in the abdomen (Since that’s really all I could reach.) Phoenix grunted, his arm crossing over his abdomen, his face contorted in shock. 

“You faked me out.” he chuckled. 

“Come on professor. Give me a challenge.” I urged, a bright smile on my face. This was so much fun. 

“I’ll give you a challenge.” His smile is almost as big as mine. And damn if he didn’t have dimples. Dimples. 

This time I stood my ground as he attacked. He had brute strength on his side, and I could use that against him. I was small and fast, and could easily maneuver around him to avoid any hits. But this all depended on how fast he was. He reached me with his fists rising. But his leg was coiled. I smiled as he went to throw his punch but swung out with his leg instead. The blow intended for my shoulder. I ducked, spinning away from his hit with grace. 

Surprise crossed his features but he didn’t stop. This time though we both launched at the same time. We collided in a flurry of fists and kicks. Neither one of us was able to get a blow in on the other in such close proximity. This went against everything I was trained for. Don’t get too close, don’t give them an opening. One lapse and I could die. But this wasn’t real, this was fun. I grunted as he actually got a hit in on my arm. It hurt like hell, but I was over the moon about it.

“Good job professor.” I smiled. “You are the first person able to get a hit on me in the last two years.” 

We both stopped our sparring. We were breathing heavily and sweat coated our skin. Don’t drool, don’t drool, don’t drool. I begged myself. Because damn did this man just keep getting hotter and hotter. He was beautiful all by himself. But add those dimples and his body slick with sweat. And swoon. He was perfect. 

“You’ve been trained.” He noted, wiping sweat from his brow. 

I nodded. “I’ve been training since I could walk. I’ve mastered every kind of hand to hand combat I could and have mastered weapons. I can use any weapon you put in my hand without fail. I actually could have taken you down without breaking a sweat, but this was more fun.” I chuckled. 

The processor crossed his arms over his chest and chuckled. “And how would you plan on doing that?” 

“Well, I could show you. And you wouldn't even have to move.” 

He swept his arm out in front of him telling me I had the floor. I looked over to Ryker who was smiling like a mad man. I shot him a wink, before moving to the professor. “Are you sure about this?” I asked. He just nodded. “Okay.” I shrugged, before lashing out and hitting that pressure point just right. Not hard enough to kill him (Which it could) but just enough to paralyze him for a few minutes. 

The professor crumpled to the ground. I shot forward, stopping his head from hitting the hard floor before bursting out into laughter. “I tried to warn you.” I managed to get out between hysterics. 

“What did you do?” He asked, actual fear in his eyes. My face fell, all signs of amusement and fun forgotten. 

“Hey, don’t do that. You’re fine. It was a pressure point. You’ll be okay in a few minutes.”  Relief swept through him, but I could still see the wariness and unease in his eyes as he looked at me. “Ryker.” I called, keeping my eyes on the professor. 

“Is everything okay Rose?” He asked, dropping to my side. 

I nodded. "Everything is fine. Can you stay with him until the effects wear off? I think it will be better if I leave.”  I got to my feet and started walking away. “Rose.” Ryker called. “Wait, stop.” 

I tuned and shook my head. “I will see you later Ryker. You can come by my room later if you want to talk.” 

I darted from the room and into the locker room to change. I took things too far, I never should have used the pressure point. It always scared people when they knew I could drop them with one touch. And I didn’t really blame them, it would scare me too if the roles were reversed. I sighed, dropping my head into my hands. “Stupid.” I groaned. 

“No, It was smart.” I looked up to see Cassius walking towards me, his usual smirk gone. 

“It was stupid and reckless. I never should have used the pressure point. What are you doing here anyway? This is the women's locker room. I could have still been changing.” 

“I knew you weren’t.” He pointed to his ears. 

“Right, enhanced hearing.” I murmured. “I have to go.” I said standing and breezing passed him. 

“Rose.”  I turned to look at the professor. “Don’t let them scare you into not using your talents. You will need all the advantages you can get here.” 

I nodded my thanks and let the door shut between us. I wasn’t sure why he was warning me. Or what he was warning me of, but somewhere deep inside me I knew he was right. Nothing was normal about this place, so why would such an unusual place be safe? It didn’t make sense. If anything, a school of supernaturals made things that much more dangerous.