When the car eventually pulled up to a large mansion, I was in total awe. Apart from the royal court, I couldn't recall seeing such a splendid looking house before. The architecture somewhat reminded me of an old English palace of some sort with its sparse grounds surrounding the main building.I lingered at the back of the group and stuck with Joe without making it seem obvious. He gave me a light pat on the back as reassurance and I gave him a subtle smile to show that I was okay."What are you and Crispin going to do?""We're going to be in the room right beside you with a few of the other guardians. Don't you worry, we're not going to be far." Joe assured me."You guys are going to eat dinner though, right?""Of course." Crispin told me bluntly.I didn't get the chance to say anything after that because the doors opened and once again I was thrown into a world of grandeur. Chandeliers decorated the vast ceiling, paintings and large photo portraits lined the walls, and various anti
Spinning away I turned to see his arms outstretched as though he had been intending to grab me in some way. Surprise shone in his eyes and I narrowed mine at him. As nervous as I had been as we drove up to the mansion earlier in the evening, I did manage to notice that the mansion and the immediate area surrounding it was heavily guarded. So the chance of this man being an attacker was almost zero.After all, why would this man need to attack me?"Excuse me if I'm being rude but who are you?""I am a guardian of Lord Ozera.""And you are trying to sneak up on me because?""I was intrigued to see if you are as good as they say.""So you decided to check it out yourself by trying to sneak up on me when I was all alone? No offense but that's a little creepy." A little of my usual snarky edge returned to my voice now that I was actually comfortable in this gorgeous mansion.Amusement flickered across his eyes before it was gone as quickly as it had appeared and he slipped on a typical gua
Eventually, he spoke first to break the silence and I had certainly not expected him to say what he did."How are you feeling about what happened with Cooper?" he asked cautiously, as though expecting me to lash out and hit him.Under any other circumstances, I might actually have done. I had told him countless times to drop the subject after all. But I was too shocked to since I hadn't expected such a change of topic."Excuse me?" I gaped."How are you feeling? I doubt you've ever come so close to being bitten before.""Damn right. I tended to stay well away from Moroi while I was out there." I scoffed."Are you going to answer my question?"I sighed and stared solemnly at him. "You're not going to drop it, are you?""I'm just concerned. Am I not allowed to be?" His tone dropped to one of those ridiculously intense ones and I just sighed again. Knowing how stubborn he was, I knew that he wasn't going to drop the subject any time soon."Of course you're allowed to be concerned." I gri
The journey there was tiring and totally disorientating to say the least. Since we were travelling by coach, they were still able to keep the location of our week break a complete mystery to us all. I didn't like the idea of not knowing where I was going one bit. But there was nothing I could do about it. None of the guardians would tell us anything. Joe reassured me that it was a safe location. That it was a vampire owned establishment.After hours spent on the coach, I began to notice the familiar scent of the sea and my senses perked. Ingrid, who was sitting next to me spotted my sudden change in attitude."It's the sea. Wherever we're going to, it's by the sea." I told her with almost 100% certainty."How do you know?""Having lived by the sea for so many years, I know how to smell it out. We're not far from our destination either judging by what the guardians told us earlier. We should be arriving soon.""Do you think there's going to be a beach?" Els piped up enthusiastically."
I just stared at him, heart pounding.For a moment, I even forgot to breathe. But then my lungs started to burn from the lack of oxygen and I hastily turned away from him to gather my wits and took a deep breath. "It looks like they're finally about finished with the running." I commented as I stood up.It was a good thing that everyone was just about done. It gave me a good excuse to break away from those darn blue eyes of his that seemed to be able to see through anyone's heart. I wasn't used to having someone look at me like that and whenever he did I didn't know what to do. I just didn't have the mental defence against him. It was worse when he did it on purpose just to make me flustered."Everyone, pair up with someone you've never paired up with before." Joe commanded. "And you five are not allowed to pair up either," he added, gesturing at the royal quartet and me.The five of us glanced at one another and sighed. I looked around as people began to get into pairs and my eyes ca
I woke up feeling tired and hungry. I had hardly slept, waking every two hours almost. It was exhausting. I didn't know what was wrong. I shouldn't have been that on edge. After all, this place was a resort where royals frequented which meant that there was plenty of security here. And yet for some reason I was still feeling high strung. I couldn't shake the feeling that something really bad was going to happen at some point on this trip.There was something or someone dangerous here.I was sure of it.But was it a danger to everyone here. Or was it a danger to a select few people here. That I didn't know."Oh wow… you look worse than when Els first wakes up." Roxy commented in surprise. "Are you alright, Kai?""I'll be fine after some food and coffee." I told her reassuringly. "I just didn't get much sleep last night.""You have about ten minutes before we're supposed to be at breakfast." Ingrid informed me as she gently tugged me out of bed and shoved me into the bathroom.I got rea
I was a little late in getting to the music room. Trying to find my way around was harder than anticipated. I'd tried to memorise my way around last night during our tour using the pictures and various details on the walls to help my navigation of the place but it wasn't so easy after all. By the time I reached the music room my head was hurting from trying to find my way around."I was beginning to think that you'd reconsidered spending a full hour with me, chick.""It is an absolute nightmare navigating this place." I complained as I closed the door behind me. "I do have a name you know. Chick isn't going to cut it.""I rather like that term until I find a more suitable nickname for you.""Why do I get the feeling that I'm not going to like whatever name you come up with." I sighed in exasperation, throwing my hands up. "We're going to set some rules for the next hour. No unnecessary invasion of my personal space, you get five strikes before I walk out on your ridiculously flirtatio
The guardians on duty informed us to start calming down about two hours after the dancing began. That gave us enough time to wind down before heading back to our rooms and get an early night in preparation for the task the guardians had prepared for us. If I remembered rightly, the task was a shorter version of the Senior year 'protect-your-charge' task where we would have to protect the charge assigned to us for a certain amount of time. It was a practical test to allow the students to know what the job entailed and what the task of protecting a charge would mean.Before the night was over and as some students went back to their rooms first, Quinn took over the piano completely and Axel took the lead for a dance. I could tell after having danced with various other students tonight, that the way Axel held me occasionally had a much more mature feel to it. It was in the way he touched, the subtle teasing strokes of his fingers, the way his eyes could do crazy things to the body, and th