After the day's training, everybody left the hall for their separate things since the class was over for the day.
Ryker's anger simmered as he walked out of the training hall. His new allies, Viktor and Elara, awaited him outside. And soon they could see Ryker heading their way while dragging his feet in anger.
"Well, what's the plan?" Viktor asked, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
"We get rid of Elijah," Ryker spat. "He's stealing my spotlight."
"Well we know that's what we planned to do but how do we do that without getting caught?" Elara asked.
"I say we lure him to a secluded place." Viktor said.
"And how do you suppose we do that?" Ryker asked.
Elara smiled, her fangs glinting. "I've got a few ideas. Let's meet tonight, under the old oak so we can discuss further. We don't know who might have been listening on our conversation since."
Ryker and Viktor both nodded, their minds racing with different possibilities to eliminate their threat.
Meanwhile, Elijah walked out of the training hall, feeling elated. Kael's praise still echoed in his mind.
"Wow!" Kael clapped his hands in amazement as he walked towards Elijah.
"This is wonderful Elijah, and you are truly talented."
The same words of praise kept on ringing in his head as he walked out of the training hall. That's when his thoughts was interrupted by a familiar voice.
"Hey, man, congrats on mastering the blood wall," Lucas said, clapping Elijah's back.
"Thanks, guys," Elijah replied, smiling. "I couldn't have done it without Kael's guidance."
Alex nodded. "You're a natural."
"But how did you do it? I struggled a lot to control the energy I felt bubbling inside me." Lucas said.
"I don't really know how I did, I just felt an energy mixing with my blood swirling around and I decided to pull it out. Then out of instinct, I thrusted my hands out and called out the name of the skill." Elijah said.
"Then you surely have a good instinct." Alex smiled.
As they were walking, Elijah noticed Ryker's glare from across the courtyard.
"Ryker's still got it out for you," Lucas warned.
"Exactly, he is glaring at you like you stole his girl or something." Alex added.
"Well Elijah did steal something from him." Lucas said and the other two raised an eyebrow.
"What? Elijah stole his lime light. Guys like Ryker, love to be the centre of attention but he couldn't be the centre because Elijah kept outshining him." Lucas said.
"Ha! What a jealous brat." Alex spat. "Elijah you need to be careful just in case."
"Don't worry, I can handle him," Elijah said confidently.
And the trio went back to their dorm to relax as they wanted to share everything they knew. Then after a few hours, it was finally night time.
Elijah and his friends were playing some sort of game with their vampiric abilities.
While meanwhile, that night, under the old oak, Ryker, Viktor, and Elara gathered.
"So what's the plan?" Viktor asked.
"We need to take Elijah down a peg," Ryker said, his voice low.
Elara grinned. "I've got a plan. How about we make him look weak in front of Kael, this will make him lose confidence in himself which will be enough for us to take him down."
Viktor's eyes sparkled. "And I'll make sure he's distracted."
"Perfect, that's good. After this works, Elijah will doubt himself over and over making him weak and then, we will get rid of him for good." Ryker said.
"But we could just get rid of him without going through the stress of making him look weak in front of Kael." Viktor said.
"Yes we could do that, but I want to torture him before I finally kill him. I don't want an easy death for him, I want him to be tortured before he finally begs for death which I won't give him so easily." Ryker smirked.
"That is too good and I'm loving this alliance." Elara said.
Then the trio laughed, with their unholy alliance formed.
After dispersing from their meeting, they went to get some rest while waiting for the next day so they could execute their plans.
After few more hours, it was finally the next day. After everybody's breakfast of blood and slightly cooked steak, they all went for their classes.
This time, Elijah paid close attention to the history class and he noticed that he found it quite interesting.
Then after an hour or so, it was finally combat training. During the training, Elijah noticed Ryker's allies watching him.
"Hey, guys, what's up?" Elijah asked Lucas and Alex.
"I have noticed that Ryker's been gathering his minions," Alex replied. "So I will advice you be careful."
"How did you find that out?" Elijah asked.
"I have my ways." Alex smirked and then turned back to the lesson.
Elijah nodded, his senses now on high alert.
As training progressed, Elijah was struggling again to transform and Elara's constant interruptions was making it hard to focus.
Kael noticed Elijah's struggles and he decided to speak up. "Concentrate, Elijah."
Ryker snickered. "Looks like the star pupil's lost his edge."
And then the trio laughed in amusement which caused everybody's eyes to fall on Elijah making him feel nervous.
Viktor then leaned in and whispered something into Ryker's ear, and Ryker's grin widened.
Elijah's anger flared, but he controlled it, trying to focuse on his training which was going well because of Ryker's minions intervention and it was starting to piss Elijah out.
Then after a few hours, the class finally came to an end with Elijah not able to progress further and he could also hear with his heightened sense how the other vampires kept making fun of him.
"I guess the transformation yesterday and the quick learning of his skills was a fluke."
"Yeah, what did we expect from a coward and weakling like him?"
All these comments angered Elijah but he controlled the anger. After the class, Kael summoned Elijah into his office.
"Elijah, why was your performance today subpar?" Kael asked.
"I apologize, sir, but I don't know what happened" Elijah replied. "But I promise you, I'll do better tomorrow."
Kael nodded. "I know you will. But be cautious. I feel like Ryker's plotting something against you."
Elijah's eye
s narrowed. "Don't worry sir, I I won't back down and Ryker won't be able to do anything against me, that's a promise."