The Hampton Academy For Vampires

Blades

Guardian training comes back around the next day.
The teacher walks through the class.
"As you all know, Guardians are trained to use all types of weapons. Today, we will be working with swords."
I'm only seventeen. Everyone else in the class is nineteen.
Being so good, I've been put in a higher grade, and graduate from Guardian training this year.
Adrian is asked to pass out swords. Even high up royals get to be trained as Guardians if they wish. Most of them don't get to actually be assigned though.
I stare down at the super sharp edge of my sword.
"Adrian. Pick your opponent." The teacher bellows.
Adrian points his sword at me.
My own new cuts from this morning pop into my head as I register the possibility of being cut in this spar.
I walk up to where Adrian stands in the center of the crowd.
Quickly we touch swords.
And he swings at me. I duck, swiping out at his bare calf.
A gash springs blood. I twist to the left as he aims to my right.
I get smacked on the bottom by another boy with his sword and laughter comes from the crowd.
Until the tip of Adrian's sword is at the boys throat.
I stare up his seven foot height from my five.
Positioning his sword put him almost against me.
"Do not interrupt my fight again." He commands.
I swing down on his sword, kicking it out of his hand.
I grab his wrist, spinning him to me, pressing the long edge of my blade to his neck.
I may be two feet shorter than him, but I'm fast.
His strong body curves.
His arm collides with mine as he grabs the hilt of my sword, pushing it closer to my body.
I kick him in the chest and he goes back and I swing out at his arm. With vampire speed his sword is back in hand.
But I'm faster.
Twisting his wrist with a kick, I push him back down on the ground. He swings out, digging his sword so far into my arm it sticks.
The sword still in my arm, I swing my arm, grabbing the blade and throwing his sword across the room. It hits, half of its four foot length, into the wall.
I press the tip of my sword at the hollow of his collarbone.
"I think it's fair to say I've lost." He says.
His eyes analyze every speck of my own.
I reach out my hand and help him up.
"Adrian, take her to the nurse to fix that nasty wound." The teacher calls.
I look down at my arm. My whole sleeve is now deep, wet red.
As we walk out, Adrian goes right and I go left.
"Hey, where are you going? You need to see the nurse!" He calls.
I keep walking and soon he is at my right.
He steps in front of me.
"Where do you think your going?" He asks, staring down at me, my five foot height.
"I'm not going to the nurse." I say simply.
I walk around him. He grabs my uninjured right arm and pulls me to him.
"You need to see a nurse."
"I know how to clean, I know how to do stitches. Anything else is unnecessary." I say.
Most of the left side of my shirt is now seeping with blood.
"You can either let me go stitch myself, or watch me bleed here in this hallway."
"At least let me stitch you since I did it. I also know for fact I have more medical training than you." He said.
I nodded.
We kept walking to the shared Student Guardian dormitory.
"Do you think we could go to my dorm room instead?" He asked.
I shrugged, one shouldered as I could no longer move my left arm.
He turned at the entrance of the building instead of going in. He led me to the Royal Keep.
Half way up a flight of stairs, I got dizzy. Weak, I landed on my knees. He slips his arm around my waist and supports me to his room.
He set me on a bed. I fall back, weak from blood loss.
Pain no longer bothers me.
He pulls a chair next to the bed, holding a first aid kit.
I drift as he cleans my wound.

My eyes peel apart and I lay in a dimly lit room.
I can hear him moving at the other side of the bed. I smell blood other than mine.
I realize I'm in a black shirt. These shorts aren't mine.
My bra is gone too.
I sit up, wrapping my arm around my large chest.
"You shouldn't do that. You need to rest." I hear him.
My eyes, perfectly sharp in the darkness, find him.
"Why did you strip me? You had no right to do that without my permission." I scold.
"I can see by your arms why you didn't want to go to the nurse. And your thighs. And hips. Do you just cut yourself everywhere?" He asked.
He wasn't exactly being rude but I did not appreciate it.
"Give me my stuff. I'm leaving."
"You should rest." He says.
"I said I'm leaving."
I see my shoes at the end of the bed and slip them on. A bag is next to it.
Glancing inside, I see the rest of my belongings.
I grab them and let myself out of the room.
Finding my way out of the Royal Keep, I head back to my own room. I quickly strip out of his clothes and change into a sweat shirt and long pants.
I cannot believe he took my clothes off of me. How dare he?!
I feel my face.
It's moist with some type of oil.
I walk over to the mirror.
All over my claw scars is some type of oil.
Healing oil.
I stare at the marred left side of my face.
I look at the clock and its around dinner time.
I slept for a while.
Brushing my knee length, curly hair into a ponytail, I find my flats.
Slipping the small shoes on, I head the the Guardian Tower.
As I walk in, my father rushes up to me.
"Sit, you shouldn't be on your feet. I heard you'd been hurt. He told me he fed you some of his blood, but you're so pale."
What? He fed me his blood?
No wonder I smelled his blood when I woke up.
My dad hugged me tightly.
Adrian eases into the room.
I keep my eyes away from him.
"How are you feeling?" He asks.
I glare at him.
"I'm fine."
I walk away, taking my seat next to my father.
Adrian sits across from me again.
"I'm sorry."
He doesn't say what for. No further elaboration.
He holds my eyes.
I nod and turn away.
We don't speak any further, we just eat silently.
My father continually looks over at me.