Linked

Chapter 13

Lucas

I smiled to myself. I had just caught Kaileen stealing glances at me when she thought I wasn't looking for the third time. We entered the training room, with the fighting ring in the middle. I turned to face my students. They were all idly looking around, taking the new area in. I gritted my teeth. The one thing I was ever serious in was training, and people told me I was a quite strict teacher. As fast as a striking viper, I took the two small daggers engraved with my family symbol that I kept strapped to my side out and threw them, one in each hand so that they whizzed by the three girls' heads, snapping them to attention. They were frozen in shock, Kaileen's plump lips making a perfect "O" that I wanted to kiss very badly. Eria was the first to recover. "Please don't tell me that training equals killing people. Sure I like blood and gore, et cetera but it's just so messy, you know?" Now that pissed me off. I stalked up to her, my eyes locked on her brown ones which were getting wider as I got closer.

"You don't talk to me like that." I growled, picking the twin blades up from the ground. "Don't ever think I missed you, because I can, and I will hit you even if I was thirty feet away from you and you were running around like the brat you are." To make my point, I sent one of my knives at her feet, two millimeters away from her toe. After that, it got much better. Eria, Elia and Kaileen were unexpectedly skilled with weapons, and I could see that Kaileen had some experience at this before. But unlike Eria, whom I could tell that her weapon of choice would be a throwing knife, and Elia, who was a whiz with a bow and arrows, I couldn't differentiate which weapon was the best for Kaileen. She was agile, so she would probably be good at hand-to-hand combat, but I would prefer it if she didn't have to get so close to her opponent. What? Why do I care if she gets hurt or not? I gave my head a shake. What is this girl doing to me? I don't want to get hurt again, like what happened with Bianca. The name echoed through my head. Bianca Morgan Shade. Bianca Morgan Shade. Bianca Morgan Shade. The girl who left me. The girl who broke my heart. I was suddenly pulled into a vivid flashback.

"NO!" I yell. I grab and shake the doctor's shoulders roughly. "YOU LIAR!" I am pulled off of the man, and they try to take me out of the room. But before I am thrown out, I see something I would never be able to forget.

Her pale hand lying limp on the hospital bed.

The heart monitor showing nothing but a straight, unmoving line.

Her eyelids, shadowed with purple that would never blink again.

Her dead body.

Without warning, I snapped out of the vision. Three pairs of eyes were studiously staring at me. "What?" I barked, trying to not show that I was badly shaken. "Training's over for today. I expect to see you here at nine sharp tomorrow." Then, I stormed out of the room. Only when I reached the safety of my room did I allow myself to shake with uncontrolled emotion. I felt like breaking something. The unfortunate victim of my temper was the empty mug of coffee that sat on my bedside table that I hadn't bothered to wash this morning. It flew through the room, hitting the wall and breaking into shards of ceramic. Kaileen, who was standing at the ajar door which I had forgotten to shut, raised an eyebrow. Seeing my expression, she strode into the room in a few long steps and patted my back.

"Hey, you okay?" At that moment, I was just glad that someone cared, so I pulled her into a hug. She looked so surprised, that I couldn't help but grin. And of course it's her that can make me feel better.

"Baby, you wanna do something tonight?" I murmured, and observed her face turning red.

"I'm sorry, but I have plans with Kyle." Looking awkward, she pulled herself out of my arms and slowly backed out of the room. I watched her go, with an amused smile dancing across my mouth.