Blood and Victory Academy

Blood and Victory Academy IV

I almost choked even though there was really nothing that extraordinary about what Christopher said…except for the fact that Simon Hale was pretty extraordinary himself. I restrained myself from looking into his light blue eyes.

To be honest, Simon looked like a male version of Kelly. They might even pass as siblings except that Kelly’s hair was in the lighter shade of blonde.

“Nice to meet you,” Simon extended an arm towards me with a smile plastered on his handsome face. “I’m Simon and I’m guessing that you’re Ash, right?”

I took his hand, shook it, and smiled back. “Nice to meet you too,” I could feel the blisters in his hands. Maybe those blisters were the results of him training hard. Considering the way that he defeated Mr. Blackwood not a little too while ago, I could guess that I was right about my assumption.

“You can teach Ms. Miller the basics about vampire hunting now if you want,” Christopher told Simon.

I knew that I told Christopher before that I did not need a tutor but my mind changed somehow. If Simon Hale was the one assigned to tutor me, I would like to remain dumb and clueless forever so that he would have no choice but to be with me all the time.

“That’s a good idea,” Kelly flashed me a wink without anyone else noticing. Was she playing matchmaker for us? “Why don’t we give them some time alone, Mr. Jones?”

“I agree with you,” Christopher nodded. “I’ll give you permission to use the cafeteria as of the moment,”

“Thank you, sir. Let’s go, Ash,” Simon led the way towards the cafeteria. I noticed a couple of girls looking at the both of us. I hoped for them to mind their own businesses but who would not get jealous walking side by side with this Greek god beside me?

I could not really blame those girls.

Walking the corridors, I could not really help but be enticed once again. This school could really pass as a Victorian hotel or something. It felt like I was filming a scene in a movie and with Simon here, it would be a romantic movie…or a supernatural one since we were supposed to be vampire hunters.

We made our way to the table where Kelly and I were sitting on earlier. “Is this really supposed to be for Schneiders only?” I asked to start up the conversation. I did not really want to waste any moment with a dull atmosphere.

“Yes,” Simon then pointed at the table beside ours, “And that is where Hales are supposed to go,”

“Are you the only Hale enrolled here right now?”

“You got that right,” Simon sat on the table whilst I sat on the chair. I swore to God that he looked really dazzling right now…only a spotlight was missing and everything would have been perfect. “But my brother’s going to study here next year,”

“So the Jones table is the only one empty here…” I observed. “I’m curious of where Mr. Jones’ kids are right now though,”

“Mr. Jones is single,” Simon chuckled. “I heard that he’s in love with someone that he cannot have since that woman is already married,”

Wait.

I did not want to think that the woman he was in love with was my mother.

For Pete’s sake, even with Christopher’s good looks, it was an unrequited love for him.

I somehow felt bad for the Dean.

It looked like Simon did not have any hunch that my mother might be the one that Christopher was in love with. Maybe I should hook Christopher up with my mother since she was now single due to my dad disappearing on us. I now started to wonder…what if my mother and Christopher really got together…would I have had a fatherly figure beside me now?

The thought of having Christopher as a father was okay with me since he would obviously make a cool dad.

But I grew up without a father.

I could probably die without one, right?

“Maybe he wouldn’t be single for long…” I chuckled. “You need to admit, Mr. Jones is a handsome man,”

“Don’t tell me that you’re running to be a wife candidate for Mr. Jones?” Simon had his eyes widened at me like I was insane.

“Eww…” I laughed. “He’s way too old for me! I was thinking of hooking him up with my mother,”

“Figures,” Simon breathed out a sigh of relief. “But if Mr. Jones ever became your stepdad, news would spread fast in the vampire hunting community. A marriage between a Schneider and a Jones would be such a huge deal,” Simon spoke like he was a little boy who was discovering something great. I could not help but be in awe at the expressions that he made whenever words came out of his mouth.

“It would be nice to have access to two tables,” I pointed out. “But I still think that it’s unfair that other students can’t sit here. Students should be given the free will to choose to sit wherever and whenever they want,”

“You have a strong sense of justice,” Simon nodded in agreement. “But we can’t break the rules that have been in this academy for so long. Let’s go off the topic, what do you think about B.A.V? Are you having any troubles?”

“I think the facilities of this place are great…” I spoke truthfully. “…though I’ve got to admit that the attention that I’m getting from being my mom’s daughter is kind of overwhelming,”

“I could relate,”

“My name is famous in my old schools since I’m a troublemaker,” I explained. “It’s a huge change of phase since I’m popular here without really doing anything,”

“Old schools?” Simon repeated.

“I always get kicked out,” I muttered with dignity even though there was really nothing to be proud of. “I was known as Ash Miller, the notorious kid in town whilst in here, I’m known as Ash Schneider, daughter of Elizabeth Schneider. I prefer being the one to make my own name though. But let’s stop talking about me. How about you? Have you tried studying in a normal school?”

“I think your story is interesting. I’ve never met a girl who’s a troublemaker before,” Simon chuckled. “I did go to a normal school until middle school. All my life I’ve known that we were a family of vampire hunters that’s why I was trained ever since I was a child. It wasn’t a surprise for me when I came here. It’s like the thought of studying in this school was embedded inside my brain,”

“That’s too bad,” I playfully sulked. “I could have taught you a thing or two about pranking the whole student body if we ever went to the same high school before.”

***

“Okay, let me get this straight…” I racked my brain for the information that Simon just told me. He took his time teaching me the basics of vampire hunting, making sure that we were moving in the right pace. “…we are required to bring a piece of wood everywhere we go because driving a stake in a vampire’s heart is the best way to kill one?”

“Correct,”

“And we need to act incognito-like or sometimes pretend to be food for them so we could gain their trust?”

“If you managed to pull that one perfectly, it would be easy to kill the vampire,” he explained. “Most vampire hunters do that all the time. My father infiltrated a base of vampires once and he managed to kill everyone,”

“Wow,” my jaw almost dropped on the floor. If Simon’s father did that and my mother was the most famous vampire hunter in the whole world…I could not even imagine what my mother’s achievements were.

Simon told me that he would just be teaching me about the effective ways of killing a vampire since he would not be able to teach me physically in the cafeteria. He was really assigned to teach me offence and self-defence…I was mentally hoping that sometime soon, I would be able to tumble in mid-air like he could.

He would be my martial arts master or something.

“And you shouldn’t forget a lighter or a box of matches,” he reminded. “It’s safer for us to burn them so they would leave no remains. It’s also a way to hide their bodies. We wouldn’t want to have normal civilians panicking once they learn that vampires are real,”

“I have a quick question,” I interrupted.

“What is it?”

“Is Abraham Lincoln really a vampire slayer? There are rumours about him being one and there are books sold in stores about his adventures,”

“Yes, he is,”

“Really?” my eyes almost popped out of their sockets. I could not really believe it. I thought that those books came from pure imagination only.

“Yes,” he smiled at my reaction. “You should have a stroll in the library sometime. There’s a book about your mother in there. I believe that the name of the book is ‘Enyo’,”

“Enyo?” The name was too foreign for my tongue and I tried to rack my brain for what it meant. Maybe this was the cause for skipping school and not studying.

“Enyo is a Greek goddess of war,” Simon explained. “To be honest, I believe that the name suits your mother,”

“I thought Athena’s the goddess of war?” I at least knew of the main Greek gods and goddesses. Mythology was one of the things that piqued my interest back in my old school. It was insane to think that my mother would be compared to a goddess.

“She is, but there are many other gods and goddesses aside from the ones that we’re familiar about.” Simon got ready to stand up and I followed his example. “That’s all for today, Ash. See you tomorrow?”

“See you,” I said as he started to walk away from me and back to the direction of the gym. I actually did not want for him to leave since there were not any classes after this but I did not want to look that desperate for his attention.

“Don’t miss me,” he winked before disappearing from my sight.

***

“So, what did the two of you talked about?” an excited voice greeted me when I walked inside my room. Of course, my cousin would want some details since I spent the rest of the day with Simon Hale, the most attractive guy I had ever seen in my life. I could not really get over the fact that I was with him just a few moments ago.

Kelly was sitting cross-legged on top of her bed like she was anticipating for my arrival. It looked like she was really happy that she had set me up with Simon Hale. I would not even be surprised if she was the one who told Christopher to get Simon to tutor me.

“We talked about ways to kill a vampire,” I said with a straight-face and Kelly’s face turned into disappointment. “He was the serious type. I couldn’t really break down his tough walls,”

“That’s so boring,” she yawned. “I thought that I did something good for you,”

I laughed at her reaction. “I’m just kidding! He was totally amazing!”

“Oh my God!” she shrieked. “So, other than the lecture, what did the two of you really talked about? Did he get your number? Did he ask you out on a date? Did he try to make a move on you?”

“No, no, and no,” I shook my head. “We just talked about our old life and we kind of joked around first but that’s a good start, right?”

“It’s only the first day,” Kelly lifted my spirits up. “Who knows what would happen in the next few days? Maybe you’ll become the B.A.V.’s best couple in the next few weeks. Oh, man. That would be so awesome! I can’t wait to see that happen,”

“Same here,” I grinned. “What about you? How is your own love life going?”

“I have my eyes on someone,” Kelly grinned back. “I’ll try to introduce you to him tomorrow.”