Here Be Sexist Vampires

Chapter Four

(Sam)

Seen as I knew I had a few hours before my time with the new recruits, I thought it was a good a time as any to go clothes hunting around the shops within The Hollow. Sebastian had given me a month’s wages in advance to allow me to afford to do so. He was beginning to feel more like a doting uncle.

I wasn’t surprised when Fletcher begged to come along, pressing forward the argument that seen as Jared was busy with the recruits and I wouldn’t be in the office he wasn’t needed right now. He even arranged for his boyfriend, Norm, who was just as cute as him, to take over on Fletcher’s desk. Basically Norm would serve as an office guard, though I couldn’t imagine who would have any wish to root through any of our files.

I was extremely impressed with the shops. There were at least five that specialised in clothing alone. Fletcher’s advice was more like pressure-selling.

He told me, “It’s a good job I’m here to help or you’d be walking round looking like a Tom-Boy, and we just can’t have that. You need something that compliments your figure.”

“I still need casual stuff for while I’m coaching the recruits.”

“Oh don’t be daft, a nice show of cleavage will make them better behaved.”

I had to admit it would have taken me a lot longer to shop if he hadn’t been my ‘wardrobe assistant’, as he called himself. He didn’t tot around having a gander, instead he seemed to know exactly what he was looking for and I swear he was like an animal in the jungle. It was like he could sniff out the clothing and my sizes. It was fascinating to watch.

Then before I knew it I’d have a handful of stuff to go try on. His input wouldn’t end there. He would then pass judgement on what suited me and what didn’t, and I have to say he was brutally honest. I actually learned a few things about myself that, truthfully, I couldn’t have cared less about. Apparently I have calves that would go with any skirt or shoes, a bust so ‘fantastic’ that skin-tight or flimsy tops should be my priority, a bum so ‘luscious’ that any tight jeans were ‘a must’, and hips that had ‘the softest flare’ so I should wear pants that fasten beneath them. Oh and he selected me some dresses; if I hadn’t specified that they could not be shorter than just above knee-length he’d have had me looking like a stripper. I drew the line when he wanted to help me pick out my underwear.

At first I was surprised to see that the stores sold things like make-up and shampoo and stuff, but then I realised that those must be for the humans. Personal hygiene isn’t an issue for vampires. Brushing my teeth or hair isn’t necessary. Nor are body lotions or perfumes. We each have our own alluring scent and the texture of our skin is beyond perfect, with no freckles or scars or moles. My skin will become paler over time due to my nocturnal lifestyle and lack of exposure to sunlight.

For the purpose of luring in prey, vampirism grants you sexual appeal by illuminating your best features. This means, for me, that my long dark hair is never unruly or greasy or tangled, it instead has a silky appearance and is extremely soft to the touch. My lips are constantly glossy and a plum-pink colour. My aquamarine eyes always look bright and inviting as though I’d used eye drops, and they have the darkest, thickest eyelashes to frame them. Still, I was no Keja.

Once the shopping was over, Fletcher and I had pasta for lunch at one of the cafes. He introduced me to a grape flavoured NST, which tasted like red wine – very nice and now officially my favourite. By the time I’d arrived back at my apartment there was no time for me to unpack all my shopping bags so I put my new batch of NSTs in the fridge and darted down to my office in the Command Centre.

Where the recruits’ personal files on my desk as I’d expected them to be? No.

I knew it was rude, but I searched Jared’s desk seen as he was intent on playing games. It would seem that he’d anticipated that I might do this as all his drawers were locked and nothing of interest was on the surface of the bureau. Plonker. Well he really didn’t know me at all if he thought that this would be enough to rock my resolve. I’d just have to learn about the recruits on meeting them.

Were they in the training arena waiting for me? No. Not even one of them. Were they all plonkers as well?

I ventured around the squads’ grounds, but there was no sign of any of them. Nor were they in the gymnasium or training with the other squads in the rainforests or even lounging lazily at the beach. After twenty minutes of wandering aimlessly, I tried the canteen. There they were having a freaking food fight. Yes, they really were plonkers as well.

“Oi!” I hollered. “There better be a very good reason why you’re all in here instead of in the training arena.”

Some of them sighed, some of them whined, some of them snorted, and the others whistled as they suddenly found the decor to be fascinating.

“Well?” I demanded.

“Easy there, Commander,” said Max the Slap-head. “It’s nothing personal, okay, we just don’t think we need tutoring on our powers. Commander Michaels told us that usually when squads are assembled the recruits’ gifts are raw so they need a lot of training. We were selected for having such good control of our gifts already seen as Antonio needs us ready soon. So Commander Michaels said it’s up to us whether we go to training with you or not.”

“I’ll bet he did,” I said through gritted teeth. I so wanted to put Jared on his backside again.

Max flashed me a flirtatious smile. “Why don’t you come and join us, me and you could -”

“Don’t even finish that sentence, Slap-head.”

“Hey, I told you, call me Max.”

“While you’re being a wanker, you’re Slap-head.” I glanced around the ten blokes. “So that’s how you all feel?” Again I was talking through my teeth.

There were nods and ‘yes’s.

“It’s lucky for you lot that right now I’m fuming more with Commander Michaels than I am with all you, but I’m warning you now – and don’t take this lightly – if you’re not at the training arena tomorrow I swear to God I’ll put every one of you on your lazy arses.”

I could have kicked their backsides right this minute, but all I could think about was snapping Jared in half. It was one thing to mislay the files or other menial crap like that, but it was another thing altogether to undermine my authority to the recruits. Besides, kicking their backsides wouldn’t make them think of me as an authority figure while they were in this mentality.

Lucky for me but terribly unfortunate for him, Jared was in the office fumbling through papers when I entered. Enraged to the point of feeling homicidal, I hadn’t even bothered bidding Fletcher hi. “What do you think you’re playing at?” I growled loudly at Jared as I barged in.

Even though he had his face down in the papers, I could see his mouth twitching as he strained to contain a giggle. Oh he knew what this was about, and he’d been looking forward to this dispute. “Training session not go well?”

“You think you’re being clever? You think it’s funny?”

“Sorry, Sam, but I’ve no idea what you’re -”

Sucking the energy around me into my palms I sent a gust of wind at him, blowing the papers from his hands. “You look at me while I’m talking to you.”

He looked up. “I wouldn’t call this talking.”

“You told them they didn’t have to come to training!”

“That’s not what I said. I told the guys that I thought they had good control of their gifts and that if they didn’t think they needed extra training then that was up to them, they’re mature enough to decide for themselves.”

“Mature? Know where they were? The canteen, having a food fight! You gonna try to tell me they’re models of maturity?”

His mouth curved into a smile; he didn’t even try to hide it.

“You know, I expected you to make things difficult but I really didn’t think you’d go as far as to undermine my authority like that. Now is not the time for fun and games, The Hollow’s walls are going to be attacked! Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

“I already told you that I didn’t think I needed your help, you already knew that.”

“Is this still about your pride? After what you did today you shouldn’t have any.”

“Look, Sam, here’s how you’ve got to look at it: if the guys had respected your authority then it wouldn’t have mattered what I said to undermine it, they’d have been in that arena waiting for you. If you can’t control them enough to even get them to show up then you’ve got no chance of managing them in a training arena.”

I took a long breath. “You’re right. They don’t respect my authority. They respect you more than they respect me.”

“Yeah.”

“Then that leaves me only one option.”

“What’s that?”

“I’ll just have to whip you silly so they see exactly who they should respect.” Instantly I absorbed the energy around me and moulded it into my energy whip.

Jared raised his arms, palms out. “Now, Sam, hang on a minute.”

“Fletcher!” I called out.

Looking like a bag of nerves, he peeked through the door. “Yes?”

“Shut that door and lock it.”

“Right, luv,” he said nervously.

As soon as I heard the telling click I began to run my whip through my fingers, enjoying the feel of the energy buzzing against my skin.

“Sam, don’t do this.”

“Why Commander Michaels? You fucked me over. You don’t want equality in this business relationship. I’m giving you what you want – just not the way around that you were hoping for.” I cracked the whip at him, catching his bottom lip.

“Sod of a bitch,” he cursed, wiping at the blood just before the wound healed.

I cracked the whip again, catching his left ear.

“Sam, stop! I don’t want to fight you again.”

“Well you’re gonna.” The whip split the top of his right ear open this time.

“Sam.” The word dripped with warning.

I snickered and lashed the whip again. He yelped as it ripped through the sleeve of his top and sliced the skin of his forearm. His expression said ‘fine then’.

A spray of electric sparks abruptly came at me from shaking fingers. I held my palm out straight, slamming a protective shield in place. The sparks bounced back at Jared but he leapt in the air and did a perfect summersault over me. However by the time he had landed on his feet I was facing him with an energy ball in hand. He ducked, making the ball hit the filing cabinet behind him.

My wrists suddenly sizzled with pain; Jared had gripped them tight and was sending electric shocks through my hands and up my arms. Which would have been clever had it not been for the fact that the source of my gift wasn’t my hands; they were just my preferred outlet. Closing my eyes I inhaled deeply, concentrating hard on breathing in the energy around me, and I then whistled out a current of air strong enough to send him crashing into the already broken filing cabinets. Again he cursed at me.

In less than the time it took me to blink, Jared was behind me pinning my arms to my sides. I realised he had teleported himself there. Not as clever as he’d thought it was. I absorbed more energy into my palms and then wiggled my trapped arms enough to allow my hands to slide behind my back. If it had been anyone but Jared I might have felt guilty about what I was about to do, but I was sick of him being so sexist, sick of the way he looked down on me, and sick of how I still found him to be the most gorgeous bloke I’d ever seen. I slapped my hands over his crotch and emitted the energy I’d absorbed in the form of boiling heat.

Jared cried out and released me. When I turned he was on all fours, coughing and making noises that were a mixture of pain and total aggravation. Finally he peered up at me, his irises red. I expected him to try to electrocute me again, or curse at me, or growl at me, or maybe even strike me. Instead, he abruptly grabbed my leg and yanked. Suddenly I was lying on my back, my head the only thing not connecting with the floor, being slid toward him. And then he was on top of me and his mouth had closed over mine.

I might have fought him if there hadn’t been a blast of heat inside me the very second that his lips touched mine. And then bang; self-control gone. Conscious thought gone. Rest of the world gone. All I was aware of was this moment.

The kiss was hungry, dominant, possessive, demanding everything from me. His hands slithered into my hair and tugged and pulled, causing the sweetest pain. Each time his tongue stroked mine the heat just intensified until my whole body was burning. The feel of him was entirely too much but at the same time was nowhere near enough. I slid my arms around his neck and pulled him tighter against me and he growled into my mouth.

It had been so long, too long, since anyone had touched me like this. But nothing in my vampire life or my human life came remotely close to this moment. His hips rocked against mine, feeding the ache that was ruling my body and making me arch into him. And, God, the way he was kissing me...It was like he was claiming me, and the kiss just kept deepening and deepening, taking me down to a place where nothing but Jared and the feel of him mattered. I was ready to moan in protest when his lips left mine, but then they began to kiss their way down my throat and my body practically turned to liquid.

Sam, I heard in my head as he scraped his teeth over the pulse in my neck. I want you.

And God I wanted him too, but suddenly I had the sensation of someone splashing cold water on me and of another voice in my head. A browbeating voice. My conscience. Then a face flashed in my mind and I remembered that none of this should feel right.

“Joy.” That was all I managed to say. I breathed it more than I said it. I might see her as a twig-witch, but Jared was her boyfriend and here I was kissing him while she was wherever she was, none the wiser. That was so unlike me, but reason and rationality had just gone the second his lips united with mine.

“She’s just a consort,” he said against my neck, kissing it attentively. “I’m not committed to her, just like I’m not committed to Daniela or Tammy.”

Daniela and Tammy? There wasn’t just Joy? I didn’t know what was worse; the idea of sleeping with someone who I thought was already claimed, or the idea of sleeping with someone who would consider me nothing more than a notch on his already very busy bedpost.

He must have felt me tense beneath him because his mouth paused. “Sam?”

“Sounds like your dance card is already full.” I wriggled under him and pushed on his chest. Reluctantly he moved away.

He was gazing at me incredulously as we stood facing each other. “I don’t get it.”

Blokes! If he was a woman he’d be considered a bit of a slut, but apparently because he was a bloke it was completely normal and acceptable. “I suppose you probably don’t.”

“Look, if you’re offended that I haven’t asked you to be one of my consorts yet then, believe me, I was going to ask. I’ve wanted you since I first saw you.” He said it as though I should be so unbelievably flattered that I’d be bouncing on the spot with excitement like someone who had just won X-Factor.

“Well then you won’t like this: the answer’s ‘no’.”

“You are definitely one of the most confusing women I’ve ever met in my entire human and vampire years.” His tone didn’t suggest this was a bad thing.

“Seriously, Jared, did you honestly expect to hear ‘yes, yes, a thousand times yes’ to being a live-in prostitute – who does it for free, to make things more insulting.” I waved him away from me. “If you’re horny, you have three women on call for sex for whenever you need them so you know where to go.”

“You want me, I want you. I don’t see what they have to do with what just happened. They’re just consorts. They don’t even share my apartment with me. They share a separate one together.”

That made me laugh.

“What?”

“It’s just the idea of it. You having three women all living together just waiting for you to come along and have sex with them at your leisure, probably all at the same time. I’m actually offended that you think I’d be up for anything like that. Well, I don’t work well as part of a group, sorry.”

“Lots of vampires have consorts.”

“I know,” I said bitterly.

“You were one,” he realised.

“I won’t be again. If I slept with you when you’re the kind of person who has three women at your beck and call for sex then I’d feel no better than them.”

Jared ran a hand through his chestnut hair, releasing a breath with a long puff. “Sam, I -”

“Let’s just not talk about it anymore, alright. It would have been stupid to shag when we’ve got to work together anyway.”

Jared shrugged. “Okay, we won’t talk about it.”

I nodded and paced toward the door. Just as I reached it, I heard Jared’s voice in my head.

But you’ll still want me. And I’ll still want you. That won’t change.

Life’s full of changes, I replied as Fletcher unlocked the office door and I waltzed out.

(Jared)

A loud grunt escaped me when I sank into my office chair. I looked around the office at the mess that the scuffle, to put it lightly, had left in its path. Broken cabinets. Cracks in the plaster of the walls. Documents scattered everywhere.

Then my gaze fell on the spot on the floor where only moments ago I’d had Sam underneath me; my mouth on hers, my hands in her hair, teasing her tongue with my own, and tasting her skin. I’ll never know how I managed to reign myself in and not skate my hands over every single part of her; my control had completely shred when that blast of heat circulated through me on just kissing her. It’d felt even better than I’d imagined it would. She had felt even better than I’d imagined.

Then she had pushed me away.

Obviously she’d had to put up with a lot of shit from her Sire – that got me pissed. Sure it made sense that she wouldn’t want to be another consort if things had been that crap in the past. But I had the feeling that there was more to it than that. The emotion in her voice...It was like she didn’t like that I had consorts and didn’t want there to be anyone else. Could it actually be that she wanted me to herself? Maybe. I wouldn’t want to share her with anyone else whether it was casual sex or not.

Internally I slapped myself, wanting to stop stressing over a woman and hoping to just blank it all out for now. But I could still smell her on me. Still feel the burning that the heat of the moment had left behind. Still taste her skin on my tongue. And I knew then that I’d never be able to be around her without wanting her. Not great.

(Sam)

Fuck. Twat. Shit. Crap. Bollocks.

Each profanity burst through my mind as I clambered out of bed. I’d only been awake for ten seconds and a flashback of what had happened with Jared was all over me! Wasn’t everything supposed to feel better and clearer after a good sleep? If that was a rule, I was clearly an exception to it.

Two red grape flavoured NSTs later and I still felt like I’d spontaneously self-combust any second now. Maybe I should go back to bed. It’s not like the recruits had any intention of showing up at the arena anyway. I’d then have to set their backsides alight and I seriously doubted that Antonio would be okay with that.

Three pounding knocks on the door made me jump. “Sam, luv, it’s me.”

Fletcher. If anyone was capable of pulling me out of my irate state it was Fletch with his relaxed personality and funny ways. I opened the door to find him stood there with his hands on his hips and an eyebrow arched. “Um-hmm.”

“What?”

“I knew you’d procrastinate,” he said as he shrugged past me and marched through the apartment. Not exactly the relaxed, humorous bloke I was expecting.

Confused, I raced after him and found him in my bedroom flicking through one of my now full wardrobes. I’d unpacked my bags last night in pretty much a daze so I doubted that it was well organised.

Seconds later Fletcher thrust an outfit into my arms. “Dressed, lady, now.”

“I’m quite capable of picking myself something to wear, thanks. And since when do you have this right to order me about?”

“Since you and Jared had a fumble and you now want to hide in your room.” His expression dared me to deny it.

“We did not have a fumble. It was just a kiss.”

“So that’s why you’re so uptight? You didn’t actually get to the fumbling.”

“I’m not uptight.” We both giggled since my tone had contradicted my words. “Believe me when I say that I do not want a fumble with Jared, I think he’s a sexist pig.”

“That’s the thing, luv, I don’t believe you and there’s really no point in telling me porky pies because I’m an Empath.”

Oh. Empaths could sense the emotions of people near to them, which meant he’d been able to sense how much I’d wanted Jared last night. Suddenly I felt extremely vulnerable and embarrassed.

“Look, luv, I know it’s not my place to say, but I’m going to say it anyway – and I say this with love – you’re being a silly little mare if you’re going to hide from some bloke.”

“It’s not just Jared, alright,” I said tiredly as my bottom sunk into the bed. “The recruits wouldn’t come to training yesterday. They don’t think they need my help.”

“They’re Jared’s arrogant spawn, that’s why. Listen, you can’t take it personally. Blokes never like taking orders off women, especially if those women are more powerful than they are. Like you, they’ve escaped the hold of their Sires and their past and they’re making the most of it. Plus, they’re probably stuck up their own arses too just because they got picked for the legion, thinking they’re too sexy for their shirts.”

Fletcher said more but I’d stopped listening; certain things he had said were stringing together in my mind and an idea was slowly forming. A triumphant grin must have surfaced on my face because Fletcher looked at me oddly.

“What?” he said dubiously. At some point he’d sat beside me on the bed while I was in deep thought.

I kissed his cheek. “You’re a genius, that’s what.”

I relayed my little plan to Fletcher while I slipped on the outfit he had selected for me: a tight pink vest and pair of tight white khakis (most things he had picked me were tight). As the vest never quite reached my hips and the khakis hung just below them, this left a belt of bare skin on show – enough so that my belly button silver diamond ring could be seen.

“Well you’ll certainly get the recruits’ attention,” said Fletcher approvingly as he examined my appearance. “And once you put your creative plan in place they’ll be on their knees begging for forgiveness and your help.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” I giggled.

“Luv, you’re gorgeous and they don’t see a lot of women around here. Trust me when I say they’ll be drooling.”

When I entered my office I was confused for a few seconds to find some blokes inside wearing white overalls that were stained with paint. Then I realised they’d probably spent hours in here fixing the plasterwork and replacing the broken filing cabinets. Oops. They seemed to be repressing giggles as they left. I suppose it wasn’t hard to gather that Jared and I had been duelling again.

While Fletcher was busy doing the research that I’d requested, I carefully examined the personal files of the recruits. They had been waiting nicely on my bureau for me. Maybe Jared had had an attack of conscience. Unlikely.

The first file belonged to a Pagori vampire named Reuben, who was originally French. He was Turned at the age of thirty and had been a vampire for sixty years. Aptitude tests showed him to not be the brightest bulb, but he certainly made up for it in the physical department; he was by far the strongest and was built like a body builder. He had shoulder-length brown hair and a beard of stubble that added to the wild look. His gift was power augmentation, meaning that he could weaken or strengthen the gift of another.

The second file showed a half American half Australian Pagori vampire, Stuart, who had been eighteen when Turned over thirty years ago. Average intelligence, average height and weight. His curly fair hair tickled his broad shoulders and he had a wide, clown-like smile. Like an old vampire friend of mine, he was a Shredder: his gift allowed him to disband until he was nothing but molecules and then reform again at will.

Next was the thorn-exhaling vampire from the tryout. Chico was Spanish in origin. Although the dark haired, moustache-wearing Keja was a little on the podgy side he was physically just as able as the others, and was the smartest of the squad. Apparently the poison in the thorns caused the victim to instantly lose consciousness for a period of up to five hours. How delightful.

File number four was of a Pagori vampire – also at my tryout – from Miami, Robert Richardson, who went by the name Butch. His photograph showed him to have an extremely smart appearance, especially with his slicked back bronze hair, but his dark eyes and crooked grin spelled wildness. He was well built in the upper body area and had notable speed. Butch was a Negator: he could completely cancel out any power aimed at him.

Oh next was Slap-head; an army brat who had spent his childhood moving constantly round the US. At the age of twenty-six he had been Turned and had been a vampire for just over twenty years. Like Butch, he was notably fast. His weakness, however, was in his agility. On his photograph he had the same cheeky, warm smile that he’d flashed me at the tryout – oh and a nicely defined upper body. I could remember how he had completely paralysed the senses of his opponent in the tryout.

Recruit number six was especially interesting, and not just because he was British like me. David was a Keja vampire and the youngest of the squad; Turned at seventeen and had only been a vampire for three years (same vampire life-span as me). He was tall and grey-eyed with copper, dishevelled hair. He didn’t have much to boast off with regards to strength and speed, but he had an amazing power to attack an opponent with: a psionic boom, something which caused extreme pressure on the skull and completely overwhelmed the brain, leading to either a temporary coma or death depending on the strength of the blast.

The seventh file concerned an African-American, excessively muscled Pagori named Damien who was only a year older in vampire years than David and me, and was Turned when twenty-four. He was apparently the fastest of the squad and excellent at one-to-one combat. Damien’s gift was Astral Projection, but apparently his consciousness wasn’t able to travel far from his body.

Eighth in the squad was a blonde Pagori born in Ireland whose birth name was Edward but went by the nickname Salem. I definitely wanted to know how he came by that. Turned at the age of thirty-six just over forty-eight years ago, Salem was tall and brown-eyed with incredible strength despite that his physique wasn’t a statue of pure defined muscle. His gift enabled him to emit an invisible blast of psychic energy that could render an opponent completely unconscious. Basically, he had a psychic punch.

Next was a very exotic looking American Pagori, Harvey, who I thought was over-muscled for his short size. He was just nineteen when Turned just under twelve years ago. His strength was higher than average but his intelligence left something to be desired. He was quite cute with his child-like smile and short dark hair that looked more like pure silk. Harvey was telekinetic; which meant that he would be able to move something or someone without physically touching it.

Lastly was Dennis, or Denny, who was an American Pagori vampire from a tiny rural town with a very innocent appearance; scruffy dark hair, blue guiltless eyes and a dimply smile. His athletic physique didn’t do his strength and speed justice. He also had the best reflexes of all the recruits. A vampire for over seventy years, Denny had been twenty when Turned. I’d never encountered anyone with the gift of animal mimicry before so I was eager to see which animal-like abilities he had up his sleeve.

Fletcher proved to be fantastic with researching. No sooner had I finished consulting the files than he had handed me the list of contacts that I had asked him to find. I then made call after call to conduct my own research on the recruits as part of my little plan, jotting down plenty of notes. Before lunch had even begun I had all the information I wanted and was feeling very optimistic and very pleased with myself. Until Jared teleported to the office.

“So you went through the files,” he observed, nodding toward the untidy pile on my desk.

“Yeah,” I replied simply. Oh he was looking way too gorgeous in that knee-length leather jacket. He knew that I thought so, going by the smug smirk he wore. God I had to get out of this room. “Fletch?” I called out while I gathered my notes together.

His adorable face popped through the door seconds later. “Yes, luv?”

“I’m off to get some NSTs. You want me to pick you up anything?”

Fletcher squinted. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?”

“Yes or no, Fletch?”

“Honey flavoured ones please, luv. Oh and could you get me some snacks as well?”

“Yeah, course.” I folded my notes and tucked into the pocket of my khakis. Not that I thought I’d need them. I was reasonably sure that I had all the details memorised.

“You’re not going to ask me if I want anything?” griped Jared.

“Nope.”

He sighed. “Listen, if you want I can have a word with the guys and tell them to get their acts together and start listening to you.”

“No need. They will.” He heard the confidence in my voice and his eyes immediately narrowed.

“What plan are you cooking up?” he asked suspiciously but with a smile.

“It’s already cooked, and it’s crispy round the edges.”

Still going to pretend you don’t want me? he asked as I advanced toward the door. I just thought you should know it’s not working too well. You’re far from Hollywood material.

Damn. At least I don’t shag a twig!

Your interest in my sex life adds further support to my argument.

Well file this away with all the info: you’re a prick.

It was far from shocking to find that the recruits were not waiting for me in the arena. I found them five or ten minutes later all on the basketball court. Chico, Butch, David, Max, Stuart and Damien were playing basketball while Reuben was observing. Denny and Harvey were deep in conversation about something and Salem was moonlight-bathing on one of the benches.

Max noticed me first and signalled to the others that I was coming. Most of them shrugged, unaffected. The others were pretending they hadn’t heard Max.

“So, you still think you don’t need me.” I folded my arms across my chest, squashing my bust so that my cleavage was more prominent. As expected, they all gave me their full attention. I wanted to see their faces when I acted on my plan.

“It’s just that we think we are okay as we are,” said Reuben.

Max’s face beamed with a cheeky smile. “Come on now, Sam, it’s not you. We just -”

“Don’t want to take orders off some chick,” finished Harvey in an arrogant tone. Damien and Stuart nodded in agreement. Wow, Jared had really been to work on this lot.

“It’s like Max said, it’s not you,” repeated Denny in a very soft, sensitive voice. “Why don’t you come hang out with us?”

“Yeah, hang out with us.” David seemed to have an inability to keep still.

I smiled at them and jiggled my head as if considering their offer. “Well I would...but I’m not convinced you don’t need some coaching.”

“Look, you’ve seen me in combat at the tryout.” Chico sounded bored. “Did I look like I needed help?”

“Same here,” said Butch.

“Help? No. But do I think you could both be better? Yes.”

Chico sniggered. “I exhale thorns. How much better can you get?”

I puffed. “Oh I don’t know…Can you emit them from your palms?”

“The horns come from within me.” His tone was stressing his opinion that I was dumb.

“You really think little poisonous horns are embedded inside you? Wrong. Your body produces toxins. These toxins travel in your blood, your entire body. They harden into horns the second that they meet the outside air. You can emit the toxins from your pores in just the same way. Your palms can be an outlet just the same as your breath can. Try it.”

Chico sniggered again and waved a hand at me dismissively before going to collect the basketball.

“You won’t even try? You’re that scared to fail? No wonder you never made Sergeant when you were in the police force. Got passed down for your brother too, didn’t you?”

Chico immediately stiffened. Slowly he swerved to look at me, his face grim and his jaw taut. “Where’d you hear that?”

“Oh I’m sorry, did I touch a nerve?” I knew I had. Preparing for a violent response, I absorbed the immediate energy, feeling it tingle and tickle as if eager to be released.

“You need to get away from here now, do you understand me?” His tone was deadly.

“Or you’ll spit some measly thorns at me?”

Without hesitation he forced out a heavy breath of poisonous thorns. Quickly I manipulated the energy I’d absorbed into the form of a hungry flame, burning the thorns to nothing.

“What about you, Butch? Think you can take me on?” I asked. I was a sponge of energy at this point. I was anticipating attacks from all angles and I needed to be prepared.

“You can fling all the flames you want at me, I’ll just negate them.”

“Negate this.” Before Butch could blink I had my energy whip in hand and slashed open his cheek with it. I knew that the crack of the whip would be too speedy for him to act in time. “You could have protected yourself, you know. All you’d have had to do was use the counteracting force you have to form a deflecting shield.”

“Negators can’t form shields.”

“Oh yes they can, Butch. I bet you’d love a shield that would help against emotional pain. Maybe then you wouldn’t still be feeling so raw about your mummy leaving you on the doorstep of a church.”

His eyes blazed red instantly and he came at me without thought. I let my hands shoot out in front of me and then spread them wide, pulling the energy to pop up my own shield. Butch ricocheted off it like a bouncy ball.

“Wouldn’t you like one of these, Butch? I can show you how to do it.”

He was too busy panting and sneering at me to answer.

“I’ve had an interesting afternoon talking to all your Sires and vampy friends. Turns out they were quite happy to divulge dark secrets. It must be jealousy because you were picked for the legion and they weren’t. Should I just carry on revealing them or shall we go to the arena now?”

“My Sire would never have told you anything,” said Stuart.

“Oh is that right? Would you bet your pride on that?” He seemed confident, how silly of him. “Come on, Stuart, shred yourself into nothing and come all the way over here and then I’ll only whisper to you what I was told. No one else has to know.”

He giggled at me without humour.

“You can’t move from where you’re stood when you do it?” I asked as if he’d said it first. “Not even when I’m telling everyone how you couldn’t protect your little sister and she became a drug addict and then a prostitute to pay for her addiction?” God he was pissed now: if looks could kill...

“And what about you, Damien?” I said. “Shall we share how just because your rich daddy left you bugger-all in his will you beat your brother half to death like an ignorant, bitter shit?”

“Bitch,” he cursed through his teeth.

“Sorry, didn’t catch that. Why don’t you astral project all the way over here and say it to my face? Oh that’s right, you can’t. Just like Reuben can’t weaken my power unless he holds on to me, not even when I tease him for the fact that his Sire abandoned him and he woke up to find nobody there to help him control his bloodlust and he more or less ate three people.”

Reuben started to charge at me but I raised a hand and released a tiny breeze at him as a promise of what would come if he proceeded. Wisely, he stopped.

“Slap-head, Slap-head, Slap-head.” I glared at him. “Aren’t you gonna silence me with that nifty power of yours before I blab about how you were abducted as a kid by a nut who couldn’t have a baby of her own? Stuck with her for three weeks, weren’t you?” There was plenty of cursing going on now. “Why not shut us all up and save yourself the earache? Or can you only attack one person at a time with it?” It was a rhetorical question. Max inhaled deeply but attempted no attack on me. Probably because he knew I’d just put my shield up.

I noticed that Denny and David didn’t appear challenging in anyway, as if they thought they might deserve a little payback. So I decided not to tease animal mimic Denny about not knowing his biological parents or psionic blaster David about being Turned against his will.

When I looked at Salem he knew what was coming and arched a brow in warning.

“What?” I said innocently. “You don’t want people to know how your gambling debts ended up getting your parents burnt alive while they slept in their bed?” I felt the ripple in the air as he aimed his invisible psychic boom at me to knock me out cold. My shield came in handy again. It almost hit Harvey as it bounced off the shield.

Growling, Harvey waved a hand my way, sending a force in the air that was intended to send me zooming backwards. I stamped twice on the ground and let the energy of the earth fill me and then grow into a mound of earth that rose before me. “What’s the matter, Harv?” I called from behind the mound of the earth. “Still upset that your girlfriend left you for your Sire even though you Turned into a vampire for her? Then why don’t you send a force strong enough to move this big rock out the way so you can get to me?”

Sucking the energy from out of the mound in front of me, I watched as it crumbled to pieces. “Or better still, why don’t you all attack me together...?”

They glanced at each other as if assessing who might be willing. Then the energy in the air intensified as I felt Harvey preparing to use his telekinesis and Chico ready to exhale more thorns and Salem ready to aim his psychic boom at me. Simultaneously, Reuben, Butch, Damien and Stuart made moves to charge at me.

The massive dosage of absorbed energy within me was now begging to be released. I obliged. Drawing on every ounce of it, I expelled a concentrated air blast from my palms that was powerful enough to sweep every single recruit off their feet and send them crashing hard into the railings of the basketball court. God that felt good.

Impressive, said a voice in my head.

A fleeting glance to my left confirmed that Jared was nearby. He was lounging against the railings at the far end of the court. I wondered how long he’d been there watching.

“Keep denying you need help if you want,” I told the recruits as they scooped themselves up off the floor. “Or drop the ignorance long enough to realise that I can actually help you, that there is more to learn. I’m not trying to be a twat by bringing up your past. The point of all this was to show you that you need to snap out of this little zone you’re in. Yes, you got picked for the legion and, yes, that’s a big thing but it doesn’t mean you’re faultless or that you have the right to have rods stuck up your backsides. And it doesn’t mean you get to be arrogant or forget all the experiences that made you what you are, that gave you your strengths in the first place.”

Having seen how much everyone seemed to look to Chico for clues of what to do next, I concluded that if I was going to get through to the others then I had to drive the situation home to him primarily. I looked mostly at him as I continued to speak, “Like it or not, every one of you has excess energy swirling around you which means that you’re not using your gift to its full potential and you’re not controlling it either.”

Chico sighed. “Even if we said we’d listen and come to training, it’d do no good. You’re expectations of us are too high. You’re asking us to do things with our gifts that we can’t do. There are limitations, there’s no way I can shoot thorns from my palms.”

“Wrong. Let me show you.” I walked over to Chico and circled him.

He was looking at me curiously as he spoke, “What’re you doing?”

“Absorbing the energy that’s leaking from you so I can have your power for a little while.” With that I shot a dozen poisonous thorns from one palm in Jared’s direction. He dodged them, unfortunately.

Hey! His scowl was cute.

Chico gazed in astonishment at me. “You can teach me how to do that?”

I nodded slowly. “And if the energy hadn’t been leaking from you like that, I would have had to touch you or get shot by the thorns to get the power. In other words, you’re vulnerable like this.” Then I turned to Butch. “You don’t think you can make your counteracting force into a shield? Watch.” Like with Chico, I let my pores drink in the energy that seeped from Butch. “Chico, thorns.”

Nodding once, Chico puffed out a spray of thorns. I drew a circle in the air in front of me with my hand. The recruits all gasped as the thorns hit an invisible wall and fell to the floor.

Butch’s eyes darted from me to the thorns repeatedly. “But...I didn’t see any shield. The thorns didn’t bounce...”

“It’s different from the shield that I can generate with my own gift. Mine’s visible and vibrant because I feed off all the energy surrounding me; kinetic energy, solar energy – it all combines and mingles together crazily. The energy that generated your shield was your own energy, not a clash of varying energies. Want one?”

Butch laughed out of his nose. Not attractive, don’t try it. “Maybe.”

Next I looked at David. “The excess energy around you is absolutely wild. Your power is strong but right now it seems almost completely out of your control.” His expression was glum. “Ever hurt anyone by accident?”

He nodded, the picture of remorse. “You can help me keep a lid on it?”

It wasn’t difficult to sense that he resented having it. “Yes.” So suddenly that I gasped, a draft spread through my entire body. My extremities went cold. My head ached. My stomach lurched. Only one thing had ever had this effect on me. Subconsciously I turned my head toward the mansion.

What is it? Jared tensed.

Without a word to anyone I moved with vampire speed as I darted out of the court, past the training arena, across the gardens and into the mansion, almost colliding into Sebastian in the hallway.

His expression was grim and filled with annoyance as he confirmed what I already knew. “He’s here.”