By moonlight's shadow

Chapter 25

Snow white walked with deliberate slowness and Akira and Sonata walked beside her and they were looking like the three War Goddesses. The heels of the boots of Snow clicked on the marble floor with loud sounds which brought out the attention of everyone towards them. All the students of the school were in the Grand Hall waiting on Sebastian hanging upon his each and every single word while he was being applauded for trying to defend the honour of his sister. Which was something that he was saying but in reality it was only something else and Snow White very well understood what that was.

“You are supposed to make him run after you like a b***h in heat or the one that has been kicked in the ass and has his tail between his legs and is scared of you and hot and bothered for you at the same time,” said Sonata. Her voice was loud enough in the beginning but absolutely a whisper at the end which made Akira snort out since they had been warned by Snow not to laugh.

Snow glared at her friend and then suddenly burst into laughter while they were still walking to the middle of the auditorium.

All the younger kids who were supposed to get their rest had also been allowed to come and watch this today afternoon because it was not a daily occurrence that someone of their clan or their bloodline challenged another for a duel in the ring and that as well a girl being challenged by a boy. This was something which was happening for the very first time in the history of the Bloody Academy and what was even more surprising was Headmaster King was actually allowing the fact to happen.

Sebastian Patrick turned back at the sound of Snow’s heels and also Sonata’s voice. There was an odd mixture of shock and surprise in his expression which had been etched all over his face. He had not expected at all that when he had thrown the challenge at Snow in her absence she would actually take it seriously. He had thought that no one would even speak to her about this and he would be getting attention for the challenge for a few days and then everyone would forget it. But it seems that whatever he had thought was not going according to his plan at all.

Finally Snow reached the middle of the auditorium and faced Sebastian who had changed his expression to a neutral one by the time. Snow smiled at him, her hair was a beautiful red with a golden hue just like the setting sun. She was looking ethereal. And what was even more surprising was that Snow knew that she was looking beautiful and she had listened to Raphael’s advice well.

The Headmaster smiled at her from above as he watched his soul mate sauntering towards that defiant coward Sebastian Parker. If he could have his way then he would have wringed his neck and snapped him half in the blink of an eye but he was not allowed to harm any of his students or his subordinates. Moreover he was entirely sure that he was going t have a field day with Snow when she defeated this boy.

Snow White. The name of the Princess who rose from obscurilty and torture against the evil Queen with the help of seven dwarves. She found her Prince who had been in love with her since the moment he had laid eyes on her. And Raphael could say the same with this girl who was standing in the hall below gazing at Sebastian with such longing which could be only said as similar as a lioness gazing at a gazelle even though knowing that she could not hunt him down.

“You are sure that this boy is going to issue a public statement, right King?” asked Elizabeth White who was still standing beside him looking at the proceedings beneath them.

Raphael looked at her and then sighed.

“As far as I have seen him grown up he is nothing else but a shallow teenager. I mean to say that he did not think that Snow was coming to know about this nor did he think that I was going to allow this at all. So he was enjoying the attention. If I had left both of them alone I am pretty sure that he would have balked out, that is the reason I asked Snow to confront him at a public place where the entire school will be present and I made particularly sure of that. And well, if he still decides to not issue the challenge I am extremely sure that Snow is good enough at goading him into challenging one,” said Raphael with a smile.

“You know, I know this that only you and I are the ones to know the story of her birth and her transformation but I feel connected to her in a lot of ways. I don’t know why but I can definitely see my own reflection in her to a great extent. She is a lot like me when I was young. I used to go to blood sports just for fun …..and look at her now…she is going to make a fine assassin…she is just what I need to clear off everything  and start a new life with the child. Snow White is going to be a phenomenal woman and I am sure that you are going to ensure that, won’t you now, King?” asked Elizabeth White as she bared her fangs and smiled at her adopted grand-daughter who was walking around Sebastian from a short distance.

“She already is a remarkable young woman, Ms. White!! She has powers and capabilities which no one else does possess in the living history of our kind but assassin? What for? I don’t understand!!” said Raphael but Elizabeth only sighed and did not reply.

“Later King. This is something which I am not sure anyone should know so I would be able to tell you only after a blood pact,” said Elizabeth as Raphael nodded at her. He had to be aware about every single thing regarding his precious princess. She was in training and she would be a magnificent queen but that would all go down the drain if she was sent to do something so cold and calculative. She had a warmth inside her which she had been just able to find out and he was not allowing her Grandmother to do something of the sort which was going to hamper that under any circumstances.

Beneath them, in the Great Hall a different kind of scene was beginning to unfold.

“So Sebastian, I heard that your b***h of a sister has been admitted to the infirmary because of me?” asked Snow as she paced around him in a circle making him feel caged. And vampires were not the people who dealt well with threats and other things of the sort.

“You have the audacity to come here and show your face to me after doing something so barbaric and then coming here and asking me about my sister in such terms when you should go to her and apologise, begging on your knees for her forgiveness before I make you stop breathing!!!” said Sebastian in a loud voice and Snow smiled inside. She knew that she had struck the right point and it was not long that he was going to openly challenge her making it easier for everyone to see that she was correct in what she had done.

“Oh come on now Sebastian….what did I do to her that was so bad, huh? I told her to stow it off from mouthing against my parents who are not there in this world anymore but she is after all a b***h and a pretty good one at that….I must tell you, I have to take tips from her in being the bad one sometime soon. But coming back to the case what happened after I threw her in the wall …I am really not aware or sure that what exactly transpired after that… would you care to explain to me about what happened after I left the scene of crime?” asked Snow knowing very well that he would be behaving just in the way she wanted. It was really easy to distract men after all.

“You don’t know then, do you?” asked Sebastian looking at her who was now standing face to face in front of him and the heels of her boot gave her enough height to rise up to him and look in his eyes. Sebastian could not understand himself but Snow could very well understand that she could smell something on him and then suddenly it struck her, he was scared and she was able to smell his fear. That was something extraordinary but then she thought it was natural for women to be more sensitive than men.

“Well I have been hearing some rumours about a duel or a challenge but then I thought that as far as my knowledge in history goes, which is more or less precise than yours, you or any challenger is supposed to challenge an opponent to duel face to face and if he or she does not do that then it is null and void. So I thought if you were doing something of the sort then why would you do that at all when I was not in front of you…so I just wanted to have a chat and clear up the air between us,” said Snow.

There were murmurs of the same sentiment all around the room that the challenge unless done in between the challenger and the challenged face to face it was not a valid thing. Sebastian had never felt more humiliated in his entire life before this day. He screamed out in rage and growled, then he bared his fangs and hissed at Snow before lunging towards her and she side-stepped it so gracefully that everyone gasped in awe. Every single time he tried to catch hold of her she moved away with a smile and it seemed like that she was dancing and it looked graceful enough before Snow decided that the little game of cat and mouse had gone more than enough and then she suddenly turned back on him and caught hold of his wrist which she snapped in a single flick and the breaking of the bones could be heard all around the room. Sonata whistled appreciatively at her move and Snow placed the heel of her boot on the neck of Sebastian.

Snow clicked her tongue as she said,” Oh dear lord….did I break something there? Poor baby….now you will be there with your sister in the infirmary to be well enough and keep her company as well. So Sebastian Patrick, I am pretty sure , rather I was pretty sure that you were a p***y and today it has been changed to a confirmation. Since you can only challenge behind me, I will tell you what, I am accepting your challenge by taking Sonata as my proxy. And the time is the stroke of midnight a fortnight from today, so that you have more than enough time to heal yourself. And please inform your parents to be here Sebastian, because make no excuses about this, since I am going to destroy every single inch of you and send you back home along with your sister if you even think of doing something otherwise in all these weeks!!!”

Sebastian looked at her and hissed again baring his fangs and Snow punched him square in the face and the jaw making him bleed from the nose while the three girls left the Great Hall in midst of huge applause as Sebastian lay there groaning and bleeding before he was shifted to the infirmary wing.