16

Sal

The sun shined in my eyes the next day as I looked up at the headquarters building before me. It was almost blinding me, and though I had seen it before, the magic still wasn't gone. I had dreamed of walking here and walking the halls like I was tough shit. Right now, I was still a Newbie; I was just shit.

Beck put me on his guest list. Osiris and Briar were already working while Abel was home visiting his family for the day. I suspected if I wasn't busy that I would be there right now.

He insisted that I should meet his mother, but I'd never done that before. I had never even met my mother. How was I going to meet his first?

But he knew I had to train, so he didn't push too hard.

The morning hadn't gone like I wanted. Everyone was up and out of the house before I even had my morning piss. Kier was gone, and I suspected he had already left. Beck and I didn't fuck in Briar's car, though it got close to it. We didn't want to be late, though I insisted that I could make him finish in a little amount of time.

He didn't deny it.

Together, Beck and I took the long walk through the courtyard that was filled with fountains and seating areas.

"Oh look, there's Kier," Beck said, making me quickly follow where he was looking. Off the side of the building, Kier was lifting a heavy block over his shoulder. He dropped it in the back of one of the swat-style vans. He was shirtless, colorful tattoos on full display.

My eyes ran over the sweaty ridges of his body, unable to pry them away.

He must have felt my eyes because he looked up, wiping the sweat from his forehead. Our eyes locked, even from the distance we were at.

"He's packing to leave?" I muttered to Beck. I was almost scared that Kier would hear and rub it in my face. But there was no way he could hear me from here.

"Yeah," Beck said.

My chest tightened as I glanced over my shoulder at him.

Kier was still looking at me, eyes watching us until we went inside. They checked us once more, and then we stepped into the beautiful white marble lobby.

"Beckette," a beautiful dark-skinned secretary called, heels clinking. It was the same as the one from before when Briar brought me here for the first time. "You filled your paperwork out wrong. Are you going to fix that now or have me waiting for that?"

"Fuck," Beck muttered.

"I don't like waiting," she said, turning to go back into her office. "Hello, beautiful. I'm telling you, you could do better," she said to me.

My cheeks heated up.

"Theo will be here for you in a few minutes. I have to go," Beck explained. His eyes dropped to my lips, and I could tell he wanted to kiss me, but he couldn't. He was my teacher after all. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah, have a good day!" I told him, watching him run after the secretary.

Theo… Beck was on first name nicknames with the vampire. I hadn't talked to them about the secret they were hiding, but for some reason it didn't piss me off.

It wasn't like they were hiding a girlfriend. It was an oddly attractive vampire, though I wasn't sure if they knew what he was or only Kier. I would talk to them later.

"Ahh, to be young and in love," a heavy voice had me looking over at Theron.

He stood before me, wearing his tactical alb, split kilted and tight top with a white collar. He made being holy look like a sin.

I shifted, staring at him. "How long will I have to train with you?"

"As long as I say so. Good morning to you too, Psalm. Come along," he said, turning on his heels. His black hair was up, pulled into a nicely done bun. He walked highly, nodding at any father we passed.

"So, are you just going to beat my ass like Kier does?" I asked, taking large steps to stay caught up.

Theron's brows pulled. "Kier has a weird way of teaching. We are going to assess what you can do and what you can't, then we will work from there, got it?"

I nodded. That would be better training than kicking my ass. I would get better at dodging and predicting, but it didn't always work on me. This might stick this way.

"Do… you normally teach people?" I asked, looking up at him.

His dark eyes glanced at me, and I could remember the way he looked at me filled with lust. It was almost criminal to be in the headquarters and know what he was.

But it felt like a dirty little secret.

Ours.

I fucked a vampire who is Father in the Oracle Headquarters. Not… weird at all.

And he fucked Spectre on her day off.

"I like teaching, have been since I was a level one Bishop."

I bit my lip. I wanted to ask if he had always been a vampire, but he said he lived a while, so it was safe to assume, yet he was different than other vampires. He passed as a human very well.

Theron pushed open the double doors of the gym. Unlike the gym at the academy, this was full, and it was double the size. People were exercising, training, running, and using magic. It was insane how people were in the room.

"This way," Theron said, touching my lower back. I stiffened, glancing over my shoulder at him. But he just moved to the ring in the middle of the room. Quickly the people in it moved, all for him. The Father. "Let's see… Miren, would you like to spar with Psalm?"

The redhead looked up. She looked like she and her friends were sitting around for a bit, but she didn't look sweaty.

I wanted to laugh. Miren? The fucker who couldn't teach Alchemist?

"Of course, Father Theron," she said, over sweetly.

Any signs of that laugh inside of me died. But I couldn't understand why that pissed me off.

"Just a friendly spar, but don't hold back too much. I need to see where you stand," Theron said to me, sitting on the bench from outside the little ring setup.

Miren took off her sports jacket and climbed into the ring. I pulled off my shirt with one hand and set it off to the side. I was left in sweats and a sports bra. I worked better like this.

My arm was my skin color with tattoos all over it. I guess it was just more comfortable this way when not around my men.

I slid into the ring, looking up at the redhead. She was gorgeous, just stupid. If she had taught me alchemy, I probably wouldn't hate her as much as I do now.

"Heard you're Spectre. The famous phantom vampire hunter. Cute," Miren shit talked, and she wasn't quiet about it, drawing attention.

I didn't want attention. I wanted to train.

"A Rookie, a high-ranked vampire hunter? Cute."

My eyes rolled. "Are we just going to gossip, or did you want to spar?"

She giggled loudly. "Oh, you're so funny, Spectre."

My eyes glanced at the crowd forming. This was what she wanted, to beat my ass in front of everyone. She might be able to beat my ass, but I sure wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"Enough," Theron's voice boomed. "Begin."

She jumped at me but stopped herself mid-movement, trying to scare me.

It didn't work.

"You know you're fucking with a rank three Bishop, right?" She threw a punch, and I pushed it away with my palm.

Miren wasn't fast, at least not right now. She might not be trying hard. She punched faster and harder this time.

I pushed it away with my palm again. I barely moved my feet or body.

With a huff, she attacked with a combo. I pushed each and every punch away with my palm, stepping back a few times.

Then she kicked my face.

Using my forearms, I blocked her before jumping up and slamming my shoe into her cheek.

She landed on her hands and knees with a thud. Dramatically, she pushed her hair from her face and looked up at me.

"You don't have to hold back or anything, Miren. I am Spectre after all, the high-ranked phantom vampire hunter."

Her skin grew red with rage. She was on her feet in a flash, charging me. She was much faster this time, but not enough. I blocked each fist, throwing a few fists in between.

Her ass hit the ground when I punched my palm into her chest. She wheezed, grabbing her chest. Her wide eyes told me she underestimated me.

Which was okay. I liked when they did that for me.

"Are you done? That wasn't even like five minutes," I said to her.

Rage screwed up in her face. She was on her feet, saying, "Arma."

Her weapon from the celestial world appeared, a chain with a spike ball on the end.

"No weapons," Theron barked, but miss redhead didn't listen.

Her ball swung at me, and I dodged. Her work with the weapon was wide and sloppy. She had no control.

My back hit the edge of the ring, and she threw her chain, swinging around her head. It flew, and I put up my right arm.

The metal clanked together, and her eyes widened.

"Please, don't break that," I asked, watching the skin color fizzle a bit.

She tried to pull back her weapon, but it was lodged in my arm.

I growled, punching her in the nose with my left hand. Her head swung backward, her hand letting go of her ghost weapon and letting it disappear.

She screamed, blood rushing from her nose. I didn't mean to hurt her, but she could have broken my arm.

I checked it, making sure the wiring was intact.

She lunged for me. I dodged with a sigh. The moment she sped past me, I hit her back on a pressure point, making her cripple to the ground. She cried out, but I knew she wasn't in too much pain.

I moved away from her, back to her, as I fixed my arm and the programmed skin.

Something bellowed behind me, and I stepped to the side as she reached for me again. Twisting to her, I dropped my lower body to the side, leg coming up and kneeing her right into the sternum, not too hard but enough to make her have to stop pursuing.

"Cocky, aren't we?" Theron asked, standing.

I shrugged. "She needed to be humble. Don't talk shit and underestimate your target."

He nodded, entering the ring. "I agree. She deserved it… But let's humble you now."

My throat dried as he stood before me. We both waited until Miren crawled off the matt before Theron was on me like white on rice.

I worked fast, blocking his attacks. He was quicker yet very calm.

I had no control.

My body dropped as he kicked out for me. I knew I wouldn't be able to stop his leg from hitting me.

"I thought you weren't going to kick my ass!" I snapped.

"Changed my mind, Spectre. Keep up and show me what magic you can do."

The moment I was on my feet, he was attacking. I worked hard to dodge and try to strike back, but he was blocking me so easily.

"Weapon," he ordered, and in a flash, my metal arm reached and pulled it from the air. My scythe was long. I slammed the handle into his chin before jumping back to create distance. "Without the spell and two hands?"

I nodded, chest heavily.

"How?" he asked.

"Been training all my life, Theron."

"Father Theron," he corrected.

I rolled my eyes. "And when you have one arm you adapt."

"We will talk more about it later," he answered. "Show me what you can do with that thing."