Love Bites (Book one)

Chapter ten

*Charles*

“Move faster you bunch of ladies. Move! Move! Move!” I yelled, watching as the Alpha group picked up the pace. I smirked internally, watching as they pushed themselves, some of them to their limits, some of them past that. It had been a long time since the groups had had to really prove themselves in battle, but we all knew it was only a matter of time.

The vampires I had taken from Martyn's group were falling behind a bit and I could tell that he had not been pushing them as much as me and Phillippe pushed ours. I understood now why Sven had taken the group from him and instead left him to lead the guard. Even though he made it seem like a promotion, the guard did not train and it was mainly a paper pushing position which he now held. But that might be more to his speed.

My maker has become harder and harder over the last few decades, and I know that it will only be a matter of time until someone gets the idea to try and take over from him. This means that the groups training is even more important now than it has been before. The only thing that he has shown any humanity over is Frankie and this allowing women to join the guard business.

In all honesty, I was not as against it as I made out to be. Even in my human life, I had seen the value in women. I never took a wife, but I had set my eyes on one female, Giana, but she was seen as below me and so I knew I could never have her. It was infuriating that I could take her to my bed, but not bind her to me, and so I did neither. Once I was turned, I never got to see her again, but I liked to think that she found someone that loved and cared for her as much as I did.

I knew that I had to keep up pretenses though, had to show that I was made of sterner stuff. Phillippe would jump at the chance to take Alpha group from me, and I would not allow that. I had very little that I counted as mine, not even bothering to take women into my official harem as none of them called to me the way that Giana had, only satisfying the primal need I had inside of me.

“Right, out to the forest. Move!” I yelled, Alpha group immediately filing into a line and jogging out towards the forest. As we exited, I spotted Yasmin and three of the new guard tryouts exit the forest and start to run around the field. She was a good leader, slowing her pace to help support those that had decided to take on her initiative and train before the tials.

Yasmin had surprised me. She had the typical beauty that a Sedvey had, but she also had an inner strength that she seemed unaware of. Her humanity was contagious, making it harder for me to keep up my hard exterior. I would be sure not to go easy on her though when it came to the trials, she had to prove herself of her own accord, me making the trial easy for her would be a disservice to her in the long run and could lead to her being hurt or worse. I understood why Frankie had become so attached to her, and it was nice to see my sister finally having someone that she could talk to.

It must have been hard for her, being surrounded by men for her vampire existence, watching as women were treated like cattle. She was turned in the 60's, the last of us to be turned, and her free spirt was sometimes hard for Sven to comprehend. He liked to be in control, even more than most vampires, and Frankie could not help but rebel against that from time to time.

Myself, Phillippe, Drex and Martyn had all been changed when the way we treat women here was almost the norm. They were to be seen but not heard, they were given an order and they obeyed without question, they had almost no rights and could not even have their own money or lands. Frankie was born in an age where women had rebelled, they no longer covered their bodies in the way we were used to and s*x was no longer something that a women could be disowned or beaten for enjoying in the same way as a man.

I turned my attention back to the Alpha group who were standing watching the women run around making me roll my eyes. This is the issue with living in a kingdom in the middle of nowhere, the ratio of women to men was harshly skewed towards men, which only added to the possessiveness that they felt over their females. Drex had to handle several arguments where other men had even looked at a vampire's woman, which I assume only added to the hatred that Phillippe and Martyn had about the idea that they would be joining the guard.

“Two groups, now!” I ordered, watching as they scrambled like teenagers to split into groups. Yasmin seemed to hate the attention that she received from the males, but the new girls were lapping it up and that could prove to be an issue. The last thing that we needed was for tension to build between the groups and guards, especially when we needed to be on high alert.

I marched up and down in front of the two lines, my face set as hard as I could muster, showing my lack of amusement at their raging hormones. “Group one, you have two minutes to hide in the forest before group two are going to come and hunt you down. Move!” I yelled, watching as the first line of men broke up and charged into the tree line, waiting exactly two minutes before I sent the second group in after them.

I was not surprised when Angel came out first, holding the arm of Soren, one of Martyn's old group. Angel was one of the best vampires I had ever had the pleasure of training. He was a Physvey who could literally change into an angel-like form, making me wonder if his name had always been Angel or if he had chosen to change it once he realised what his ability was. He was so good that he had his own room in the castle and was not religated to sleeping in the dorm with the others.

“Get off me.” Soren hissed, his snake-like tongue flicking out.

“I caught you fair and square.” Angel chuckled, pushing him so that he stumbled forward slightly. I watched as his eyes moved over to where the women were still running, now using their vampire speed. “Seems like it may not have been the worst idea for women to join the guard. There is certainly some potential amongst them.”

I followed his line of sight, seeing him keep his eyes glued to Yasmin. “Keep your head in the game Angel.” I gritted out.

“Yes sir.” He instantly responded, straightening up his posture as if he remembered where he was, turning to face the woods waiting for the others to come out. It was several minutes before they did and then I sent group two in to hide before group one had to go and find them.

As soon as group one went in search of group two, I felt someone approaching me from behind. I turned to find Drex walking over, a proud smile on his face as he nodded in approval at the women pushing themselves around the field. He walked over to my side, letting out a long sigh. “I have brought back the last of the women for the guard, one Physvey, two Telveys and one more Sedvey. Sire is with their maker’s now negotiating what is needed for them to try out for the guard.” Drex shook his head, obviously not pleased that people were requesting something for the honor of their creations serving the Master vampire.

“Do they understand that joining the guard is not a guaranteed thing for their vampires?” I asked.

Drex shook his head. “It may come across as an offence.”

I made a hash tsk sound. “Do any of them know that their place here is not guaranteed?” I asked, feeling some sympathy for the women.

“Only Yasmin.” He told me, his jaw twitching slightly. “Her sire was the worst I have come across. The others are only requesting monetary compensation, he took control of the district his nest resides in and did not even bother to tell her he was leaving after all he put her through.”

“What did he put her through?” I asked, wondering what it could be that had annoyed Drex so much.

Drex looked around us, noting that we were not as alone as I had thought given that it was only Angel and one other vampire still in the forest. He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.” He sighed, turning and heading back towards the castle.

I looked over to Yasmin, wondering if what she had been through in her vampire years had made her into the strong person she was today, before turning back to Alpha group. “When Beta group gets here, we are going to be pitting against them in a capture the flag exercise. Decide amongst you now what positions you will each take.” I told them, noticing that Yasmin and the other women had already stopped their running and started to head back inside the castel.

When Phillippe arrived, and we had set the two groups off against each other, watching as they used a mixture of their abilities and natural speed and strength against each other, we moved to one side to talk more about what we were going to do to test the women.

“I say that we run the trials tomorrow night, given that they are all here now.” Philippe offered.

I considered what he said, seeing the pros in getting the ordeal over with but then shook my head. “It would be unfair to pit the newcomers against the women who have been here longer without giving the opportunity to get to know what could be asked of them.” I sighed.

Phillippe let out a humourless laugh. “Do you actually think that that Sedvey is teaching the Physveys anything? I mean, two of the women that are already here don’t even participate in her little training regime.” The way that he said the words ‘training regime’ made it sound that he did not really think that what Yasmin was doing would be beneficial to her in the guard trials, but I had seen her in action and she had definitely improved her speed and dexterity, even over the few nights that she had been here.

“But they have the opportunity to, if they choose. Let’s give them one night together and then run the trials.” I argued.

Phillippe let out a dissatisfied grunt but agreed with my plan. “Fine. But when we run the trials, we will not be putting the women against each other. If they think that they can join the guard, then they have to prove that they are just as good as any man in the guard. I will pick out one guard for each of them to fight against, we have no idea what they have told each other about their abilities.” He laughed. “Maybe some of them are stupid enough to tell someone what they can do even though it puts them at a disadvantage.”

I nodded my head, knowing that to argue this point would be a waste of time and may show my hand at not minding that women were joining the guard. “We could ask Drex what their abilities are to choose those best suited to oppose them.” I pondered aloud.

Phillippe shook his head. “We don’t need to know. I could pit them against any of the guards and the male would win, let's face it.” I was not as confident as Phillippe in his statement, knowing that Drex was older than either of us and was not an i***t. He would not bring these women here unless he truly thought that they stood a chance. Drex would probably not share what their abilities were anyway, knowing that it would indeed, put them at a disadvantage. All we could do now was wait and see if any of these women truly had what it took to join the guard.