Love Bites (Book one)

Chapter eight

*Yasmin*

I woke up early the next evening, just as the sun set. I knew that if I wanted to succeed in whatever trials I had to complete to become part of the guard, then I could not rely on my ability alone. I would have to increase my physical speed, dexterity and strength. Given that I was a Sedvey, and had very little training before now, I had a lot of work that I needed to put in, making me grateful to Drex that I was the first one to be brought here.

I looked through the trunk at the bottom of my bed, finding a set of workout clothes and running shoes that seemed to be the right size. I had to tie the string of the shorts tight to keep them from falling down, but the baggy t-shirt covered the sack-like effect easily. I tied my long blonde hair back into a ponytail and headed to the canteen to grab a blood bag, knowing that I would need the extra energy.

Instead of the room being empty as it was last night, the room was filled with Telvey and Physveys all of which seemed to stare at me for a moment before there was a chorus of wolf whistles and howls. I am sure that some women would love this type of attention, but I hated it and contemplated running back out of the room. But, if I wanted to make it here then I would have to get used to being around the male guards and groups and they would have to get used to being around me and so I instead walked at a steady pace to the fridge.

“Hey sexy, how much for a quickie before I start my shift?” one of the Physveys yelled at me, standing up from the bench where he sat and grabbing his crotch making the others at his table chuckle and look at me as if I was about to actually give him a serious comeback.

Before I could think of a whitty retort, given the rest of my nest tended to ignore my existence, the door to the mess flew open and an angry looking Phsyvey stood in the doorway. “More than you can afford Nelson, now get your ass to work!” The Physvey yelled, the sound of scraping chairs echoing around the room as everyone got to their feet and bolted out of the door.

The Physvey stalked towards me, looking me up and down with the same disgust as Martyn did last night. “Why my brother and sire think that having you here is a good idea is beyond me, but while you are here don’t distract my men from their work!” He hissed.

“I wasn’t distracting them, I came to get something to eat!” I yelled back, not liking the way he insinuated that I had asked for the attention.

His fist shot out, making me flinch and press my back against the refrigerator behind me, his hand landing at the side of my head. He let out a deep chuckle. “Oh, I am going to enjoy breaking you.” He purred, looking me up and down one more time before he walked out.

I let out a breath I did not know that I was holding, my back sagging slightly. I don’t know where I had summoned the strength to yell at him like that, but a part of me must have been crazy considering he was obviously one of the Master vampire’s creations. I drank my blood bag, savouring the taste of it on my tongue before disposing of the empty bag in the trash and running up the stairs and out the door Frankie had led me out the night before.

I made my way over to the field, seeing the angry Physvey from before along with another leading the groups into the training ring. I decided to start off by running around the field, completing one lap as fast as I could without using my vampire speed before changing to my vampire speed and doing the same again. I alternated between the two, running until I was sure that my feet were bleeding and each intake of the cold air felt like icicles piecing my lungs.

“Oi, Sedvey, off the field.” A voice shouted over, making me jog to a stop and look in the direction of the voice to find the two groups had finished in the training ring and were now spreading out on the field.

I jogged over to the woods, looking into them and seeing how dark it was inside. It took my eyes a moment to adjust before I started to run through the trees as fast as I could, keeping to human speeds so that I could get used to leaping over the tree roots and rocks while dodging around the trees and shrubs that blocked my path. The deeper I got, the faster I found I could move eventually reaching the other side, I then went back through using my vampire speed, tripping and stumbling a few times as well as scraping my legs on the prinkley bushes and cutting my hands and knees as I narrowly avoided running straight into the trees large and rouch trunks.

I made it to the other side, finding that I had only been slightly quicker than when I used my human speed, so I turned around and ran through again, and again, determined to improve and get through one full pass without hurting myself.

“Sedvey.” A voice shouted again as I reached the edge of the trees next to the field. I walked over to the Physvey I had had the run in with before, his posture and stare both intimidating and filled with malice. “Are you purposefully trying to ruin our drills?” He shouted so that everyone could hear.

I straightened my shoulders, determined not to cower to him. “No.” I told him, seeing his jaw twitch slightly.

“Do you think that you are above me Sedvey?” He barked in my face, reminding me of a drill sergeant in a military film.

“No.” I replied, my voice less confident but still refusing to back down, not sure how my words would have come across that way.

“Then you will refer to me as sir, just like everyone else here.” He hissed.

I wanted to roll my eyes, but refrained given that he already looked like he was one wrong word away from actually taking a swing at me. “Yes sir.” I barked back at him.

“So what do you think you are doing Sedvey?” He asked, the tension seeming to leave him slightly now that I had stroked his ego.

“Training sir.” I told him, watching as his eyes took in the dried blood that I was sure covered my legs.

“Well you will have to move on to the gym in the castle, the groups are using the forest now.” He instructed, with what I could have misconstrued as pride in his eyes.

“Yes sir.” I replied, not sure if he was expecting a salute or something before I sprinted off back to the castle.

I was so happy when I saw Frankie waiting at the door, her hands clapping together. “You looked good out there.” She praised me, making me smile back at her. “Ignore Charles. He can be a bit rough around the edges but he is a p***y cat really. Come on, I will show you where the gym is.”

Frankie reached out and took my hand, running back into the house and leading me down to the basement, towards where she said the male guards and groups slept before she veered off down another corridor, past what looked like an indoor swimming pool before pulling me into the gym. It was an impressive set up, one that you would expect to find at an actual professional gym.

Frankie let out a small giggle. “I don’t know why I didn’t show you all this last night. I guess that I was just so excited to have another female here who was… well… not owned like the others.”

I nodded my head walking over to one of the weight machines, not wanting to think about what the females were put through here. To my surprise, Frankie jumped on to the running machine nearby, firing it up to life as I sat back, grasping the long bar at both ends before trying to pull it down. Try as I might, I could not move the weights and so I pulled out the small metal pin, moving it up to half the weight before I pulled on it again finding I could move it with a strain.

“You know…” I started, breathing through the strain as I lifted and lowered the weights. “It won’t be long until there are even more females here.” My voice sounded a little sad, even to me, and I realised that Frankie was one of the only friends I had made since I turned. Her and Doyle, and I was not even sure what to think of him.

Frankie let out a small laugh. “Yeah, but you are like, normal, and it helps that you are a Sedvey like me.”

I laughed slightly. “Normal?”

“Yeah. You stood up to my brother without melting into a pool of mush at his feet. You have this strength about you, even though you don’t really need it. I mean, you could have any man you wanted and yet you don’t seem to look twice at them, focusing on what you are here for.” Frankie told me, speaking a hundred miles an hour despite running at speed. “You remind me of my human life in a way.”

I let out a humourless laugh. “My human life was s**t and my vampire life has not been much better.” I admitted to her, watching as she jogged to a stop before looking at me curiously. I wondered how much I should or could tell her without breaking down a little inside. “Does your maker ever force you to be with him? Like sexually?” Thinking about her warning to me last night.

Frankie winced as her face scrunched up in disgust. “Ew, no. He is like my father.”

Her words were enough to tell me that she would not understand my torment, either in life or in death. “You should think of yourself as lucky.” I forced out, glad when she did not push for more information.

I moved my way around the machines, Frankie moving around with me until my arms and legs were too sore and strained to lift anymore. I stood up, wiping the sweat from my brow, surprised that Frankie threw herself at me, pulling me into a hug. “I won’t tell anyone, I swear.” She whispered to me, before pulling back and giving me her usual smile. We left the room together, saying our goodbyes as she headed back up the stairs and I went back to my still empty dorm, enjoying a refreshing shower before climbing into bed, finding that sleep came to me much easier than I would have imagined.