By moonlight's shadow

Chapter 21

It was the first time in several nights that Snow had actually had a good night’s sleep without any of the usual nightmares that her slumber was plagued with. She knew that she was safe and she was protected. The aura, and the essence of Raphael had enveloped her body like a beautiful cloud to sleep on. It was not the fuzzy, soft and fluffy kind of comfort, but rather the comfort of the cold harsh winters which would stand till the end of time, and this knowledge made her feel secure. So when Snow woke up in her own bed with the morning alarm going off like anything she tumbled down her bed wrapped in the comforter from Raphael’s room and she was still wearing his shirt.

Along with Snow a parchment of paper also dropped on the floor. She picked it up from the comforter and opened the fold to find a short message scrawled in it, in beautiful masculine handwriting.

Thanks for reminding me several reasons to be alive Princesa. I would cherish this night till the end of times…..

Yours,

Raphael

P.S. Be at the training grounds at five am.

-- Headmaster King.

Yes, thought Snow, only this man could do something so romantic and touching and then put an end to all of it with just a glance and in this case sentence. Snow could not believe that she had been sleeping for the last six hours which was the most she had slept in the last three years. Her school uniform was folded and kept on the dresser beside the full length mirror. Snow thought if the man had slept at all or not but she consciously remembered falling asleep in his room and with his hand in hers. Her eyes went towards the alarm on the bedside table which showed 4.50 am and she had ten minutes to get ready and go to the training grounds. Heaven forbid, she had done something wrong and this was going to be a punishment session. But right now she did not have the time to spare for thinking about all this and she would have to deal with it when the time came. Snow dressed in record timing even for her and for the first time in her life since coming here, she could wrap her hair into a horse tail and this time she did not have to use any of the bands as well. It was as if her hair tied itself up of its own accord understanding her need for the moment. Snow looked at herself in the mirror and smiled.

But then suddenly she looked away. There was strange realization which hit her heart probably for the first time in her life that she was beautiful and she looked strangely gorgeous when she smiled. She had a dimple on one cheek which made it even more gorgeous.

She reached the training grounds with a minute to spare. Snow breathed out a sigh of relief since the punishments for being late were too brutal even for her with her increased power and capacity than the other students in the Academy.

“It is good to see that you are on time. I hope you have rested well Ms. White?” came the question from somewhere above in the auditorium.

“Yes Headmaster,” replied Snow.

“Good. You will need your rest for what I have planned for you for the next three days. And you are not going to get any rest as the punishment for what you have done yesterday evening,” said the Headmaster, as he leaped from somewhere overhead in front of her.

As Snow’s eyes widened at his words he smiled tightly at her and said,” What did you think that whatever your actions will be you will be let off every single time without any repercussions? Before you say anything I know what happened yesterday without any thing left out and that includes Ms. Patrick’s crimes as well. She has been goading you into action since the first day you have arrived here but still you act like you do not understand why she does that. I have been trying to teach you to calm and channelize your rage but it seems I have failed abysmally!!”

“No Headmaster!! There has been nothing of this sort. If anyone has failed to follow your words then it is me. I am the one who has failed you and the shame is on me not you. Do not blame yourself please….but I know one thing that our family motto has been always,” said Snow and she looked contrite.

“I told you Raphael. She is my blood. So the Patricks are going to rue the day that they made this choice of picking on my granddaughter,” came the voice from the doorway. It was the voice of Elizabeth White who had been changed into Nosferatu by the first Devil himself. The first female vampire born from the womb of darkness.

“Grandma!!!” said Snow, standing there with shock on her face. She never expected something like this to happen at all.

“Well I know that this is a surprise Snow but trust me I could not have been prouder of you. Trust me I took the first flight when I was informed that you have been challenged to your first duel and that too before the Hunt. Do you have any idea how much press coverage this is going to get? The sole heir of the White Dynasty fighting for the honour of her family when she could tolerate her dead parents being abused???” asked Elizabeth White.

“I have been what???” Snow almost shrieked in surprise, looking at her Grandmother and her Headmaster. Elizabeth looked at Raphael and then gave him a dirty glance.

“You have not told her yet? And you were talking to her about her punishment?” asked Elizabeth and she was not at all pleased.

“This might seem to be punishment to the rest of the students but for Ms. White this is training and I would improve her power and skills to fight Mr. Patrick better in the ring a week hence now. And before I explain you any further, kindly explain me Mrs. White, why are you here and how are you even here? No one could have possibly breached the wards that have been placed against the parents and the guardians of the students on the wall and the doorways of the castle!!!” said Raphael and he was not the least bit unfazed at the onslaught that was being put on him by the elderly woman who did not look a day over thirty. It was as if time had frozen her beauty in its tracks.

“You are still quite young Raphael. You need to know that there is always a way and there is always a price for everything. I shall make myself comfortable in the guest lodgings and then I shall discuss the plans for the battle with you later on. And Snow, the dignity and the honour of our family name rests on your shoulders. But still, no pressure,” said Elizabeth as she turned back and walked out of the same door that she had walked in.

“When were you going to tell me that I have been challenged to a duel?” asked Snow, when they were both alone. She did not grit her teeth in the apprehension that she might grind them off into pieces.

“I was hoping to not have to give you that piece of information Ms. White. I thought I would have a conversation with the challenger would pose a much better response and would save you from this entire nonsense of duel altogether. But it seems that ….”

“I know what it seems Headmaster. It seems that you do not trust me at all. It seems that I am the only one person who has no knowledge about this entire thing even though II am the first one who was supposed to know? It seems that I have been reduced to nothing else but a joke,” said Snow, as she looked at Raphael and once more her hair had turned white of their own accord. As pale as the moon, the first flakes of the snow falling in the winter. She looked breathtakingly beautiful in her white hair which shone as if in rage.

“Is that what you have learnt in the past three years? Is that what I have been able to say last night?” Raphael’s voice was nothing more than a whisper but it struck Snow’s heart as if an arrow had pierced.

“There are moments when we do not need to say what needs to be said. It can only be done. Well we already have wasted more than enough time allotted for my punishment Raphael. Can we begin?” asked Snow, and this time the smile on her face was that of a challenge. The Headmaster smiled back. That was his girl. She was not going to withstand any kind of nonsense under any circumstances. That was the thing that made her so special. But there was something else which made her special and she still did not know about that.

“Then why do we not start with fifty laps of the ground and then we shall be moving on towards some basic resistance training. Hand to hand combat. Sounds good?” asked Raphael with a sly wink at her making her grin from ear to ear.

“Sounds perfect,” whispered back Snow, as she opened her jacket to reveal her toned alabaster body and a black sports bra and full black track pants which clung to her hips and legs like a second skin. Raphael looked at her and groaned inwardly. This girl was going to be the death of him. In all these years of his life he had never ever found someone who could rise his ire and heat both in such a manner at the same time. But now that he had found her he was never going to let her go away from him.

Raphael knew that she was still unaware of the secret that he had come to know after his visit to Cleopatra. But that was only a part of the information, that is the riddle, he needed to find out the entire thing before it was too late. Snow kept on running laps at the human pace because the training ground minimized her powers as a vampire. But it still did not minimize her powers as a wolf and it was better that she did not come to know about them before the rise of the Blood Moon.

And thankfully the Blood Moon was not going to rise until the next two years but it was still all a haze that what was going to happen once she reached maturity and won the Hunt. Although women were not expected to win the Hunt but Raphael knew that she was going to win it.

The sorceress had told him that there were powers inside Snow which were lying dormant and would come out only if they were exercised properly but Raphael had expressed his concerns about the safety of the other students if the powers of Snow were unleashed. She had looked at Raphael in astonishment saying that magic was not like a volcano unless you had no control over it. It was going to take a long time even to have create a single spark in the hearth.

That was the first time that Raphael realized that Snow had magic running in her veins as well and her blood ran blue.