Page 49 of Ashvale: The Vampire's Thrall

ChapterTwenty-Three

"Good,"Cal called and I let my hands fall warily. He liked to pretend we were done training and then spring a surprise attack on me to test me. Or so he claimed. I was pretty sure he just liked any opportunity to try and knock me on my arse.

When no other attack came, I relaxed. Cal's hand whipped out and I smirked, having anticipated that he would wait until I let my guard down to try something. I brought my hands up in front of me in a cross formation and his cheap shot bounced harmlessly off of the shield of storm I'd conjured, miniature dark clouds swirling angrily in a breeze that was self-contained and lightning bolts flashing harmlessly within the grey. I was nowhere near perfect, but I had a small amount of control now. I just wanted to move beyond shielding to something actually cool.

He grunted and I knew he was pleased. We'd trained every day for the last week and a half and so maybe it was foolish for me to want to learn something new—like trying to run before you could walk. I opened my mouth to ask anyway and Cal rolled his eyes, having anticipated this as I usually asked him at least once per session if we could move on to offensive training.

"Just one thing," I needled, approaching him as he stood looking faintly amused. "Show me how to throw a lightning bolt or something."

He laughed and that wasn't the response I'd been hoping for. "You're not ready for that yet. But fine, you want to learn something? Let's see how far your connection to the elemental goes." There was a glint in his eyes that told me he thought he already knew the answer.

That was fine, he was finally going to teach me something beyond how to shield and I didn't care what it was.

He stepped closer to me and I tried not to show my surprise. Most mages tolerated but disliked vampires, though I supposed he was more comfortable than most thanks to his history with Hayes.

He took my hands in his and it felt strange, there was a gentleness in his denim gaze that I'd never seen before. "Close your eyes."

It was a testament to how far we'd come that I obeyed. I trusted him enough that Hayes didn't come to all of our sessions any more, and he trusted me enough to know that I was mostly kidding when I threatened to bite him.

Cal held his hands outside of mine on either side with a large gap in between my palms.

"I want you to focus," he murmured and I resisted the urge to snark at him. "Think of warmth, lazy heat, fire, light. I want you to bring it forth in your mind until you can almost taste it."

I obeyed, thinking about campfires and lazy beach days, the heat of the sand scalding my feet and making my head feel fuzzy.

"Open your eyes,” Cal said softly.

Light filled the turret, spilling out of the window like a beacon. I flinched back a little. I had noticed that the more time I'd spent using my magick, the more sensitive to the sun I was becoming.

Cal dropped his hands and the ball of light faded. "You can control the power of the light by funnelling more or less magick into it, similar to how you can adjust the strength or size of your shield." I nodded and he looked uncharacteristically worried. "I don't know what's happening around here, Leonora, but you need to be careful. There's no greater weakness for the undead vampire than sunlight—think of this trick as an ace in the hole, one that will buy you time to run."

I knew what he wasn't saying—that if I found myself in that situation, running would be my best chance for survival. Raw power didn't mean anything if I couldn't control it.

"Did Hayes ask you about the drugs yet?" I walked over to the window to peer outside at the light fog rolling in through the trees. It was going to rain, and somehow the scent of it in the air soothed me.

"Yes. I spoke to him this morning."

"And? Do you think it's possible?"

Cal joined me at the window, hesitating before speaking. "Anything is possible when it comes to magick. But I haven't heard of anything like this before. I've put out some feelers in the community to see if there has been any chatter."

I nodded absently. "Why would someone want to make living vampires lose control?" Cal shrugged, turning his back to the outside and leaning against the wall next to me. "Why does anyone do anything? Money? Power? Hate?"

I watched him assessing before turning back to the window. We would need to leave soon—someone had almost definitely seen the light spilling out of here and would come poking around.

I pushed away from the wall and paused when Cal spoke again. "You're good for him, you know. Hayes," he added, like he could have been referring to anyone else.

"How so?"

"I know neither of you asked for this bond, but he can't push you away now even if he wanted to—and he does have a tendency to do that."

"I don't think either of us expected to find anything like what the bond has given us."

"But?"

I smiled and turned back towards the stairs. "But sometimes the universe knows what you need better than you do ." I chanced a glance back and was unsurprised to find the room empty—I was going to badger him into teaching me that trick soon.

I made my way downstairs, my gaze instinctively finding the spot where the body had lain not so long ago. Nothing marred the floor, not a speck of blood remained.

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