Blood and Victory Academy

Blood and Victory Academy III

I took a deep breath before I stepped inside the room of my first class. In the middle of the classroom stood a woman who looked like she was in her early thirties’ with ginger hair and freckles on the top her cheeks. She was fit and the lilac-coloured office attire of hers amplified her good looks.

“I’m assuming that you’re Ash Miller?” she flashed me a warm smile. “The daughter of the infamous Elizabeth Schneider?”

Now, I did not know why she needed to add the last part. Everybody inside the room turned their heads to look at me. It was quite obvious that they were comparing me to my mother. For all I knew, they were already expecting something from me inside their heads.

Maybe they thought that I was a natural at this thing called vampire hunting.

“I am,” I answered flatly. If I was not really pressured by their stares, I would have responded more rudely.

I was in a class of newbies or freshmen. It appears that anybody who stepped inside this academy would become a freshman no matter how old he or she was. Nobody in here was sorted into the five classes. According to Kelly, we would be placed in the classes once our first mission was over which was three months away from now.

I thought that it was ridiculous. Who the hell was in the right state of mind would send newbies who were just in school for three months to kill some vampires?

Maybe I could complain to Christopher Jones about this.

“I’m Ms. Blackwood,” she introduced herself. It was a shame that Kelly was already a year above me that was why she was not in my class. “You can go and sit over there,” she pointed at the back of the room.

Great.

I had no seatmates to torment.

But I could not really complain since there were no available seats in the front row and the middle row of the room. As I went to my seat, I avoided looking at my new classmates. There was not really a person inside the room who caught my eye so I had no regrets about it.

“What class is this again?” I whispered to myself. I knew Kelly already told me my schedule but I paid it no mind since I did not even want to be here at all.

“It’s ‘The Study of Vampires and their Weaknesses’,” Ms. Blackwood answered like she heard what I just whispered to myself.

Was she psychic too?

If I remembered correctly, I only had three classes every day which was a great thing because I was not the type of girl who valued studying.

“Hey,” the girl in front of me twisted her body to look at me like I was the most interesting person in the world. She had black hair that was just above her shoulders, thick glasses, and her short stature was quite obvious. Her skin gave away the fact that she was someone form the middle-east…or I might be wrong . “Are you really Elizabeth Schneider’s daughter?”

“What do you think?” I raised an eyebrow at her. I meant, come on. It was my first day of school and they were going to bombard me with questions like this?

“I saw her from a picture a few years ago,” I guessed that my mother was really famous if other people could see her photos. Little by little, I was starting to change of how I viewed my mother. In my eyes before, she was not really someone extravagant but now…ugh. I hated thinking about the possibility that my mother was quite bad-ass as they said. “You look like her when she was younger,”

“Be surprised if I look like my neighbour instead of my mother,” I rolled my eyes. What she asked me did not even make sense.

“Ms. Miller,” the teacher called for my attention. “Do you have any ideas of what weapon to use when you want to annihilate a vampire?”

Why did this teacher ask me that question even though this was my first day in this academy? If she was frustrated about me talking to this middle-eastern girl, she should just ask her because she was the first one who talked to me.

“Guns?” I guessed. I knew that Kelly already told me of how to kill a vampire but I forgot about it since I was still in the state where I did not believe in vampires back then. Until now, I did not know if I could believe that I was a vampire hunter…not until I had seen it with my own two eyes.

“Guns are not enough to kill vampires,” Ms. Blackwood said to the whole class. I knew that I was going to get that one wrong but it was her fault that she asked me. She could have had asked any other students so, why me? “But guns can slow the vampires down,” I guessed that I was not entirely wrong if the guns could work to our advantage.

And the rest of class went on without me knowing anything about vampires or what they looked like at all.

Was it that difficult to explain what vampires looked like first?

***

“Why are you so early?” Kelly asked me as I anxiously waited for her arrival here in the cafeteria.

“I didn’t have the chance to meet my second subject’s teacher because my classmates said that it was turned into study hall for the day,” I explained to her. If I remembered correctly, that subject was supposed to be ‘Determining a Vampire’s Location’.

“That sucks,” she chuckled as she took her seat in front of me. “How did your first class go?”

“Boring,” I took a bite of my food that was served to us by the workers.

“I figured out that you were going to say that,”

I looked at my surroundings and managed to observe something so insignificant, “Why do we have the table for our own when the other tables are full?”

“Because the three greatest families in the world of vampire hunting have their own tables,” she said it like it was no big deal whilst my eyes looked like they were going to bulge out of their sockets. “This table of ours is exclusive only for the Schneiders. Before I came here, nobody was allowed to sit here from what I heard,”

“That’s insane,” I commented. I did not know that discrimination was present in this academy. “Students should be available to sit on anywhere that they want,”

“It’s the rules,” she shrugged. “But other students could sit here if we allowed to or if they’re our friends,”

“Hey,” I started to change the topic. “What do vampires look like?” It was the question that was clearly bugging my mind this whole time.

“If it’s according to my own personal opinion…” her voice trailed off for a second. “…I think that I could say that they blend well with humans but the way that they look is extraordinary,”

“Extraordinary?” I tilted my head to the right side.

“They surpass humans with their beauty,” she nodded at me. “They are extraordinarily handsome and beautiful in their ways,”

“Are you sure?”

She nodded, “Yes, their skin is quite pale but there are no vampires who are not good looking,”

“You don’t need to sugar coat it, Kelly,” I pointed out. “You can just say that there are no ugly vampires. It’s okay to be harsh. But do they read minds or have any supernatural abilities?”

“I told you that this is nothing like Twilight,” she flicked my forehead. “Their speed is out of the ordinary and they also have strengthened senses but those are all of it,”

“Darn it,” I playfully whined. “I thought that they could see the future or something too. My hopes are now shattered,”

“You can’t alter reality,” Kelly told me.

“How about werewolves?” my eyes were hopeful. “Are they real?”

“I know that shapeshifters still exist,” she responded. “But I think they’re close to being extinct and they’re now really out of the human eye by living in the mountains,”

“Wow,” I said in awe. “I don’t know why but I keep learning things that are interesting even though I’m having a hard time believing it myself,”

“Well, you’re Ash,” she laughed lightly. “Only you would find the oddest of things interesting,”

“Thanks for the compliment,” I flipped my hair like I was so proud of myself of having such a weird way of thinking. It was not my fault for being born with a mind like this. Maybe my mother had a weird way of thinking when she was young too or maybe I got it from my father…nah.

I did not want to think of my father right now.

But at the back of my mind, I knew that by going here in this academy, I would know of the whereabouts of my father or why he was not present ever since the day that I was born.

“The freshmen, juniors, and seniors are going to be altogether for the last subject. And just to let you know. We only have three years in this academy so no sophomores,” she informed me. “Don’t worry about not having a friend there. I’ve got your back, cous.”

***

Kelly and I were already at the gym for the last subject. “What subject is this again?” I asked her as I stared at the people who were currently tumbling in mid-air whilst fighting each other.

“Vampire Slaying,” she grinned. “I suck at it but I think this is very awesome. This is the subject where you use your fighting skills to kill the vampires,”

“Do we really need to tumble in mid-air?” I confirmed. “I’m afraid that I can’t do that,”

The way that the students sparred was mesmerizing. It was like I was watching an action movie.

“The teachers would teach you,” she assured me. “I think that Mr. Blackwood is still the mentor for the freshmen,”

“Mr. Blackwood?” I repeated. “Is he Ms. Blackwood’s husband?”

“No,” Kelly shook her head. “He’s her twin but the both of them excel in slaying vampires,”

Mr. Blackwood shared the same features as Ms. Blackwood considering that they were twins. He had this short ginger hair with freckles on the top of his cheeks. The only difference was that Mr. Blackwood was wearing gym clothing…but nevertheless, he still looked good whilst wearing it.

“Mr. Hale,” Mr. Blackwood called for the attention of a student. “Care to demonstrate of how to kill a vampire to the freshmen? I’ll play the role of the vampire. Don’t hold back,”

A guy walked his way towards the mat that was placed on the centre of the gym and I could not help but stare at him in awe. His dirty blonde hair was too hard not to notice. I did not want to get started with his lean and muscular figure which I guessed was the result of his training. Even though he was quite far away from me, his light blue eyes seemed to take my breath away. “Wow…” I muttered.

Kelly chuckled beside me, “I’m guessing that he got your attention? Every girl in here is madly in love with him so it’s no big deal,”

It was the first time that someone from this academy caught my eye but who could blame me?

He looked perfect.

The spar between the student and the teacher began. I could not help but admire the student’s moves since they were flawless. The teacher of course was a tough match for him. They exchanged fists whilst looking like they were not even breaking a sweat.

Hale did a backhand spring whilst Mr. Blackwood ran towards his direction. It ended quickly when Hale ducked down and kicked Mr. Blackwood’s right ankle. Hale immediately placed his knee on Mr. Blackwood’s neck and Mr. Blackwood patted the mat twice to tap out.

“He’s still as great as ever,” a new voice chimed in. Kelly and I looked behind us and saw the Dean of the school, Christopher. “Even though he’s just a junior, I think I made the right choice,”

“What are you talking about?” I asked him.

Instead of answering me, he just smiled at me but called to the attention of the dirty blonde student, “Mr. Hale, can you please spare us a moment of your time?”

The student made his way towards our direction whilst leaving Mr. Blackwood tending to the ache in his neck. “Mr. Jones,” he nodded at the Dean as a sign of respect.

Christopher looked at me, “Ms. Miller this is Simon Hale,” I looked at Simon and gave him a nod. He was really handsome. It was quite obvious why every girl in this academy was madly in love with him. “His family is one of the three greatest families in the world of vampire hunting and he’s the one that I assigned to tutor you.”