NOVEL NEXT Chapter 12 – New Potential (Part 1)
CW:
Time passed slowly. I’d been sat in the corner of the training room for what felt like a millennia. I’d zoned out heavily. My eyes were glazing over as I stared at myself in the mirror to my right. The cool touch of the wall to my left helped ground me, but I was falling deep into my mind either way.
I couldn’t help but think about all I’d lost. My mind got hung up on one memory as the world seem to disappear from my vision. I was imagining myself back in Virginia in my quiet home. Back when I was 16 and the world somehow felt crueler than it is now. I was trapped in the day that Hazel had truly left. I remember sobbing into my pillow with my door locked. I’d propped the pillow up in the corner between the bed and the wall to feel safer. I’d always felt safest in corners and gravitated to them in times of vulnerability.
I could imagine my sobs echoing through my room. I wasn’t sure if that was my imagination or how it happened. The window next to my bed shined light through the room and I remember feeling it on my back. It didn’t feel fair considering what I’d just lost. Hazel was gone. I was alone. That loneliness felt similar to how I felt now. Hazel was here, but just out of reach.
I grimaced. My vision came back into focus and I was still staring at myself. I could see how gorgeous I looked. I grinned slightly. Not enough for a full blown smile, but enough to recognize my own feelings.
“Hey! Narcissus! Got a good enough look at yourself yet?” Nek’s voice rang out commandingly through the room. It jarred me from my thoughts and I turned to look at him with evident anger. His neck was almost fully healed, looking more like a gnarly scar than an open wound. “Ready for the real training, gumdrop?” I blew out a deep sigh of anger flaring my nostrils at his idiotic nickname. Even if he was to be my trainer, that didn’t mean I had to like him.
I stood up slowly and pushed myself out of my safe little corner. “You ready for more of your flesh to be torn off, gumdrop?” I spat out the disgusting belittling nickname.
“Ooh, feisty. I like you when you’re angry,” he grinned, leaning on one of the oddly shaped obstacles. “Alright, first order of business, from this point forward, no tearing of the flesh or using teeth on each other, understood?” I glared up at him, a little disappointed, but nodded all the same. “Good, second, listen to me and listen to me well. What I teach you could save your life or help you end another’s. Ok?”
I hesitated for a second as he mentioned killing. I wasn’t sure if I could bring myself to imagine doing that to a human, but then I imagined another vampire. Another monster. I nodded hastily.
“Seems like your beginning to understand,” he smirked. “If you didn’t, then I don’t think you’d last long. On the surface, vampires can seem progressive and even better than human society. It’s up to you to determine where you fit in the true reality,” he said, nodding slowly as if to convey some sort of message. I didn’t really understand and looked at him trying to discern the meaning.
True reality? Does he mean in vampire society?
His eyes stared at me stoically, unchanging. I decided I could figure out what he meant later and just nodded.
“Ok, then let’s begin.” He pushed off of the shape nonchalantly and walked to the wall at the left side of the room. There seemed to be black duffel bags lining the lower half from what I could see. He reached into one and pulled out a gun. My breath hitched.
The gun wasn’t just some sort of pistol. I’d seen plenty of gun owners in Virginia. No, this was a military grade rifle. It was small and compact with a stock that extended its length. There was a silencer on the end of it and the magazine seemed to extend for way too long. I could feel my body reacting. My breathing sped up along with my heart rate. My hands were sweating and I was moving nervously.
Why a gun? And not just any gun, that gun.
I couldn’t wrap my mind around the concept. There were no targets in the room, just the shapes. I stared at Nek expectantly. Terrified, but ready to move. He turned around and pointed the gun up to the sky while resting it into his shoulder. He was walking back towards me, but stopped when he saw my anxious behavior.
“You alright?” He laughed a little as he said it, seeming to know exactly that I wasn’t. “Never seen a gun before?”
I looked at him carefully, darted my eyes at the death machine, then back at him. I didn’t know what answer he wanted so I just didn’t speak. The silence seemed to drag on for a moment or two.
“Well, if you don’t want to speak,” he cocked the gun and twisted a knob on the side, “then neither do I.” He grinned like a madman. “Dodge!” He yelled and then opened fire, aiming right for me.
My instincts kicked in far faster than I could mentally react. I darted from the corner I was at to the closest shape. A second later, I heard the bullets sink into the concrete wall where I just was. I was breathing hard now. Air felt like fire as it filled my body. I didn’t know what to do and I couldn’t form a coherent thought other than survive. Time seemed to slow down as my mind went into overdrive. All my senses flared to their maximum potential.
I was still breathing just as fast and moved my hands to my mouth to cover the sound. As I did so, there were afterimages. I didn’t understand what that meant to me, seeing my hands moving but images of where my hands were slowly catching up. I was trying to discern a meaning and it felt like my mind was moving at a million miles a minute, then I heard a familiar click.
The gun. Nek was firing it again. The clicking sound seemed slow. It stretched over several seconds and I tried to figure out where to move to. He’d surely heard me breathing.
Deciding I needed to move was top priority. I pulled myself out of my stupor and jumped to the next shape I could see. As I moved, I heard the gun slowly fire off several rounds. I looked around the shape I was at to see if I could see anything.
Oddly enough, I saw Nek and the bullets slowly leaving the gun. I cocked my head to the side like a confused dog. Bullets were leaving the high fire rate gun like they were stuck in molasses. I could see the explosion at the tip of the barrel and several bullets moving from Nek to the shape I was just at. Nek was focused sternly on the back of the shape.
My breathing was slowing down as I just stared at the slow scene playing out in front of me. My mind seemed to calm down enough or something, because the world returned to normal speed. The bullets sunk into the carbon substance of the shape and chipped off the sides. Some bullets even hit into the wall as I saw where Nek had tracked me from the corner to the shape.
My eyes bulged out of my head as I locked eyes with Nek. His face contorted in confusion and he lowered the gun.
“Well that’s certainly odd. How the hell did you get to that one? I was certain you went from the wall to that first shape,” he said pointing at exactly where I did decide to hide. I didn’t peak any further out from my cover because I was afraid this was another one of his ruses to hurt me.
“I-I-I’m not sure. I was there, uh, then the world got slow and I moved again.” I closed my eyes to avoid his glare and any judgment he could pass on to me. Something clattered to the ground and I opened my eyes both curious and concerned.
Nek had thrown the gun back towards the bag. “That’s it for today. You’re quite the interesting case, little Belle. I need to speak with someone before we continue your training.” He quickly weaved through the open maze and entered the doorway behind me, leaving me alone clutching onto my cover.
I stared at the doorway in shock, half expecting him to immediately return with something else that could hurt me. I held on to the shape a little longer. When it was clear he wasn’t coming back, I dropped to the ground where I was and started to sob. The whole training session was an emotional roller coaster and I couldn’t take it anymore. I wasn’t sure how long I cried, but I was interrupted by another voice.
“You did well, my dear.” I looked up from where I was crying towards the original entrance I came through and saw Chelsea looking at me happily. My sadness was dimmed by her presence. Just seeing her brought me slight joy and hearing her pride in me made me even happier. I’d done something well. She liked what I did. It was a good feeling.
My face was brightened a little, but then my mood shot right back down as I fully realized what made me even a little happy. I grumbled and pounded my head into the hard shape, hoping head trauma could break a blood bond.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Chelsea cooed softly as she was suddenly next to me and putting her hand between my head and the shape. “No hurting yourself right now,” she whispered. “You proved yourself as worthy to all the leaders, with some even recognizing you as an honorary Pure blood.” She smiled at me as she pulled me into a tight hug. I somewhat grasped her words, but I felt catatonic. I didn’t want to be where I was and felt like she was trying to suffocate me.
“Shhhhhh, no need to fear. Calm down, my sweet child,” she spoke directly into my ear. Fear seemed to leave my body quickly. The doom that I was feeling envelope me evaporated. I looked up from my vulnerable position and saw Chelsea’s sweet, elegant, caring face. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug.
“Ahhh, there’s my sweet Isabelle. Do you want a treat for how well you performed today?”
I couldn’t bring myself to speak so I just nodded while looking down. “Alright then, up you go!” she said, pulling me up from my position. “Let’s go get you some wonderful ice cream topped with flavored blood! I know a wonderful place off Wooster Street. Ready?” I nodded like an excited child. I inwardly chided myself for the action, but was truly excited for something sweet. She took my hand and guided me towards the exit.
