I held on to the handle of my sword as I walk into the hallway in long strides. The time has come. The day I have been anticipating for years. The time when I finally get to come to the battlefield along with my vampire.
"You're walking too fast, Ylena, " I heard someone say from my back. I looked back and saw my batchmate in training. Yves is walking behind me with a huge smile on her face. "I know you've been waiting for this your whole life but the building is starting to shake because of your steps, " she said. It's not that I believed that the building was shaking because of me, but I stopped. I am not a vampire. I am just from the human race, I could never make a building shake.
"I just wanted to get there as soon as I can, " I told her as I stop and wait for her to catch up to me and continued waiting for her. Yves was wearing our black and white uniform along with the badges she got from training that was just a little fewer than mine. Yves is pretty. She has a nice shape, she also excels in sparring and she uses her weapon well. No wonder why most men come to her.
"Why are you staring like that? " she asked me.
"Nothing, " I lied.
"Well, we're here, " she said after taking the right. I breathe air into my lungs and walked after her. I saw a huge white door.
We are currently in a facility where we get to meet the vampires who have chosen us by tasting our blood and choosing which one will they agree to supply them blood during battles outside the barrier. I heard about this process when I first stepped into the training facility. A batch of humans pumps blood out of their bodies using a certain kind of machine and the facility would split it into cups and give the vampires one shot each. And then they choose which human they would work with.
"I heard they were fighting for you, " I heard Yves say as she open the door with her hand. I only looked at her and didn't say anything. I heard about that too. I was born with the blood of royalty. That is why the vampires liked my blood. People from my clan experienced the same thing before. But it wasn't a big deal.
The big deal is the vampire who got me. When the vampires fight over suppliers, the strongest one takes the supplier. And since they all wanted my blood, I'm sure the one I will be working with is the strongest from this batch. And I am looking forward to whom it may be.
"Ylena Hendrickson, " someone holding a paper said my name while craning her neck and looking for whoever Ylena may be. I stood up confidently and saw the expression in her eyes change as she notice the huge batch on my chest.
A sign that I was royalty but she must be wondering why my name wasn't from any royal family.
Well, I care nothing less. I just want to proceed with meeting my Vampire and continue to the battleground. "This way, " she said and gestured me to a room.
I followed her with a slight pounding in my chest because of excitement and anticipation. I will be meeting the strongest vampire in this batch. He or She is just behind the door. I don't know what to expect. I don't know what he or she looks like but with the fact that the vampire behind the door was the strongest, I couldn't feel any more excited. "Please enter this door, " she gestured to a white door.
I went closer to it and held the door knob. I breathe in carefully and started to twist the knob. I opened it widely to immediately see who was inside.
He was a guy.
Sitting on a chair next to the window. The brightness of the sun hides his face but I can already see his weakness.
From here, I can see that he was tall. He's not small or anything. He was fit like any others.
But... I couldn't sense anything special. Or rather, I couldn't sense anything at all.
I closed the door and walked inside. It was just me and him right now. And I didn't know what to say. I felt disappointed.
"Hey there, human. " he was the one to talk first. He stood up from the seat with his shoulders almost blocking the whole window. He was tall. So tall that I had to look up to him. He was muscular. His body was lean, tall, and muscular.
Even without strong magic and just normal Vampire abilities, this man could take me down in a few seconds. "I heard you were a royalty, " he told me. I didn't answer. I never answered the same question before.
I pretended not to be intimidated by his appearance and walked past him to get the folder on the table in front of the window just beside the seat he was sitting on earlier. I immediately opened it to see what was inside. That was when I saw the first clear look on his face. He has black hair and a jaw that was cut in perfection. His brows looked intimidating, especially the blue in his eyes. He looks fine. But I didn't get the folder to look at his face. I immediately scanned his profile and saw something I never wanted to see.
He was in the lowest rank.
What the hell?
I breathe air in and put the folder on the table with too much force that it made a huge sound. He just looked at me without saying anything. I barged out of the room and when I saw a person outside I called him.
"Why was he the one I am working with? " I asked the person I am pretty sure was an employee of this facility.
"What do you mean? " he asked me.
"Why was I paired with the lowest ranking vampire? " I asked furiously. I won't ever accept him no matter what. I did everything to be on top. A low-rank vampire could never hold me down.
"He was compatible with your blood, that was the result of the test--"
"But they were f--" I stopped before I finished my sentence. He narrowed his eyes at me. I was about to say they were fighting for my blood but why did I get the lowest instead of the highest ranking vampire? But I will be humiliated if that news was wrong. Or that it was true but for some reason, I wasn't given the strongest vampire. I already have an idea about it.
"Now, if you don't have anything else to--"
"I can't work with that vamp--" I tried but...
"I need to go, " he stopped me and walked away as fast as he could.
So that's why I couldn't feel any presence of magic from him. He has the lowest magic or I might as well refer to him without any magic. I breathe heavily because of frustration.
"I'm hurt, human. " I was frozen when I heard him talk behind my back. I heard heavy footsteps coming in my direction. I looked back and saw his beautiful face clear as day. But what can I do with him if he's the lowest rank in magic? I cannot just rely on his vampire abilities. He cannot even fight mages in that stage.
"I'm disappointed," I told him straightforwardly. While breathing air through my nose and putting my hands on my waist as I look at him.
"Did I make you disappointed? " he asked innocently as if it wasn't an obvious question.
The light in the hallway added a glint to his eyes. It was deep blue and when you look at it, it was as if it was trying to swallow you. He was wearing the same uniform as mine. The only difference was that it was for men but I have never seen anyone look as good as this before.
"Your profile was disappointing," I told him bravely trying not to be suffocated by his looks.
"Well then, I'm sorry but you cannot do anything about it. So you're gonna cancel next week's gate opening because you didn't like my profile? " he asked me. Almost sarcastically.
"What do you mean? I never said I wasn't going to--"
"Then work with me or fail to go to the battleground, " he said with a hint of arrogance in his tone,
He's done it. I trained myself for 12 years for this. And if I am going to cancel this year's opening of the gates just because of him, I will lose my mind.
"I'll see what I can do about it. " I told him. I threw a frown and was about to leave the hallway when I suddenly felt something and in a split second, he was already in front of me.
He was standing next to me leaning forward with his face near my neck and his breath touching my skin. "We'll see about that, " he whispered. The hair on my arms stood up. It felt as if cold air was blown to me. His shoulders covered my sight. I couldn't see anything else other than his chest in front of me.
One...
Two...
Three...
Four...
Five...
It took me 5 seconds to bring my senses back and push him away from me. I looked at him furiously. It was as if I can still feel his breath on my neck. "Stay away from me, I'm warning you, " I told him.
His expression suddenly changed. He smiled at me. With his mouth spread across his face, his eyes were almost closed. He smiled like an idiot as if he never tried to get blood from me without my consent. Vampires.
"I'm Hunter, " he suddenly said his name.
"I wasn't asking, " I told him.
"Nice meeting you too, Ylena, " he said disregarding the bitterness that I have said. I looked at him with a frown and clenched fist. I don't know how he can still stand in front of me even after I said his profile was disappointing.
"Do you now have shame at all? With that profile, I think you should be the one canceling to the battlefield, " I couldn't help myself. Then he started laughing. What I hated about it is that it looks genuine but I know it's not.
"I'm sorry about that, Ms. Royalty--" He stopped by the swing of my sword. He held his hands in the air as he look at the silver piece of metal touching the skin on his neck.
"Don't you ever try calling me that again, " I warned him. Making sure he gets to understand how serious I was about it.
He looked at me and the sword and gave me the biggest smile he can give. It was annoying and weird. It was weird how the rest of his face shows happiness but his eyes don't. It was forced. or was it just me being intimidated by those eyes?
"I'll keep that in mind, since we're going to be together for a couple--"
"I am not going to see you again, " I said as I push the sword closer to him. He looked at it and smirked.
"We'll see about that, " he said. I put my sword down and marched out of the hallway. Where I couldn't see him
His smiling face while I was turning away. Within a few minutes, I already know how bad the situation is. The reason why they never gave me the strongest vampire is either, they were manipulated by the people from my mother's family or they simply just stopped following that rule.
It was annoying. But why does it have to be the weakest vampire? I'll be humiliated on the battlefield in front of my batch mates.
"Why didn't they give me the strongest vampire? " I asked Yves. I looked at her.
"I don't know, I wonder if they made a mistake or that vampire was actually strong and you just couldn't see--"
"I saw it, Yves.," I stopped her. "I scanned his file, he's nothing but trash,"
"Don't talk like that Ylen--"
"THEN HOW DO YOU WANT ME TO REACT? KNOWING I WILL BE COMING INTO THE BATTLEFIELD JUST TO DIE? "
"Calm down, that's not gonna happen, give him a chance," she said as she sit beside me.
"No, I'm talking to the deputy, "
"Ylena, that's going to be the worst. I thought you're not going to talk to them any--" "That issue is nothing like this. I have to, I'll go. "
"Ylena, I'm warming you, "
"I'll be fine, " I said as I slam the door.