Vengeance of the Night

Chapter 6

Lace was returning to his dorm after a long day of patrolling and working with apprentices. As he was heading through the hallway, he saw his little sister Cahila sitting on the floor listening to music next to his door. She happened to glance up and see him coming and smiled widely.

"Lacey! I've been waiting for you! How was training today? Mom said you need to come out and visit her soon." Cahila yakked, standing up to hug him.

"Cahila, I told you not to call me that. It sounds incredibly feminine." Lace exasperated, unlocking the door and pulling her off him. "I've had too much to do these last several weeks. She's going to have to understand that."

Cahila's eyes gleamed at her brother, "You work so hard though. You know she will cook you a nice meal to make up for the lost time. She misses you."

Lace had opened the door partially and sighed, "I can't. Please go away. I don't want to have this conversation right now." He stepped inside and closed the door, leaving her standing there in the hallway with a blank expression.

Lace wandered over to his bed and sat down. He pulled a book out from underneath called Moonfleet by J. Meade Falkner and started reading from where he'd last stopped.

He didn't realize he had fallen asleep shortly after when there was a knock at the door. He woke up to the book on his face. Pulling it off, he sat up and looked at the time. Five thirty. He'd slept for two hours.

Standing up, he stretched his lean body, bringing his arms back and bending his torso back slightly. He saw his hair going every which way in the mirror and quickly fixed it by combing his fingers through it. He stopped and looked at himself for a brief moment. It's been eighteen years that he's lived here in the Dark Clan Academy. He had trained hard all those years to be where he is now. A soldier and taking on trainees himself.

Despite how much he focused on making himself stronger, he still felt the sting of betrayal from his parents who had attempted to murder him as a child. With vampires who were cold-blooded killers, nothing was unusual. He was grateful that the Clan took him in and trained him up to be able to fight back vampires like them. Being raised and nurtured by Isa helped him gain back some of his self-respect, although he still struggled with it inside, he put on a hard face to hide it.

The person knocked on the door again and Lace opened it to the Clan leader Sophrana. The woman always had her dirty blonde, thick, waist-long hair pulled back in a high-long ponytail. She was wearing her usual uniform to distinguish herself from the rest of the people here. The leather uniform consisted of what appeared to be a corset, dark pants with studs around the edges of the pockets and waist, boots that came up to her shins, gauntlets, and rerebraces. She was certainly tough on the outside, but soft on the inside.

"I see you failed to show up for your scheduled feeding. I was looking for you and Cahila told me you were probably still here." she smiled lightly.

Lace blinked at her still somewhat asleep, "Yeah, training was tiring today. I didn't realize how much time had passed." He said looking at his watch.

"You can't be missing your feedings. You know the Clan cannot be held responsible for blood-starvation outbursts."

"I'm more than aware." Lace responded coldly.

Sophrana nodded and pulled out the clear bag of O positive from inside the jacket she was wearing and handed it to him.

"It isn't much, but it will get you through the night. I wish we didn't have to restrict the use of the blood bank, but you recall what happened last time, right?"