Chaos & Order: Dawn of Chaos

Chapter 10

Standing on a paved area, in front of the stables of the vampire manor, Athelia faced Lexi, a high ranking vampire. She wore all black, like most of the other vampires, but her hair was a fiery orange and she had sprinkles of freckles on her face. After mentioning wanting to learn to defend herself, Drake had asked Lexi to teach Athelia.

"So, you want to learn how to fight?" Lexi spoke, circling Athelia, "Very well, Princess."

Lexi then stopped in front of Athelia and continued, "As you're new to life as a vampire I might as well explain a few things."

"We can easily punch and kick hard enough to break bones." Lexi grabbed a wooden sword from a nearby barrel and threw it at Athelia, "Get strong enough and you will be able to punch into someone's chest and rip out their heart."

Horrified by the thought of ripping out someone's heart, Athelia replied, "I just want to be able to defend myself."

Lexi scoffed, "That's what all the new-borns say."

As Athelia held the sword defensively in front of her, she waited for Lexi's attack. Almost faster than Athelia could see, Lexi darted to Athelia and hit her with enough force to send her flying backwards onto the floor. Feeling her broken ribs crack back into place, Athelia gasped for air and slowly got back to her feet.

"Vampires are also faster than humans." Lexi laughed, waiting for Athelia to recover and stand up, "But, with your heightened senses you should be able to see me coming."

As Athelia stood up, Lexi swung her sword at her. Athelia went to block the attack, but as their swords collided Athelia's got hit from her hand and landed nearby on the stones. Slashing her sword determinedly, Lexi hit Athelia in the stomach. Bending over in pain, Athelia fell to her knees while Lexi grinned playfully.

"You were turned by the king himself, one day you should become one of the strongest vampires there is." Lexi kicked Athelia's sword to her, "But it looks like you are a very long way from that."

Feeling a rise in determination from Lexi's remark, Athelia grabbed the wooden sword and stood up again. As Lexi lunged forward to attack, Athelia slid to the side and swung her sword at Lexi's back. Spinning round, Lexi blocked the attack before slashing her sword towards Athelia. Blocking the attack, Athelia felt a burst of confidence but tried to remain focused as Lexi darted past her. Athelia tried to spin round in time to block the next attack, but Lexi hit the back of Athelia's legs and Athelia fell to her knees.

"Better." Lexi commented, stepping back to give Athelia room to get up again.

"Not every vampire will heal as fast as you." Lexi explained while Athelia stood up, "The lower rank you are, the weaker and not as gifted you are."

"What decides rank?" Athelia asked, holding her sword ready.

"To put it short, it is how strong you are." Lexi answered, "Which will depend mostly on who turned you, and how much venom was used,"

After a while of fighting, Athelia felt her body aching even though all her wounds healed quickly. As Lexi went to attack again, they heard some people walking towards them. Turning away from Athelia, Lexi watched as three vampires approached them, one much bigger than the others. As they approached Lexi and Athelia, they began laughing and the larger of the three took out their steel sword.

"Alexis, go away." Lexi warned, holding her wooden sword defensively.

"Well, if the Princess needs lessons, let's give her one." Alexis laughed, swinging his sword aggressively at Lexi. As Lexi tried to block the attack, her wooden sword got sliced in two. The two men that were with Alexis then grabbed Lexi by her arms and held her back. Grinning menacingly, Alexis turned his attention to Athelia who was fiercely gripping onto her wooden sword.

"Athelia, run!" Lexi called out desperately, as she tried to free herself from the men's grasps, "Use magic, anything, just get away!"

"That's right, use magic." Alexis growled, stepping closer to Athelia, "Mages think they can get away with anything just because they have a sparkly little gift."

Dodging to the side as Alexis swung his sword, Athelia struck him on the back of his leg, causing him to fall to his knees. Yelling angrily, Alexis jumped back up and slashed at Athelia. As Athelia went to block, her wooden sword got cut into two. Tensing and holding her arms up defensively as Alexis swung again, Athelia closed her eyes and waited for the blow. Hearing a sudden clash of metal close to her face, Athelia opened her eyes.

As his eyes glowed a furious red, Drake slashed his sword at Alexis, and their swords clashed in the air. Shoving Alexis back, Drake ripped out a dagger from his belt and plunged it into Alexis's side. Screaming in agony, Alexis fell to the floor and clutched his side as cried in pain. Ripping his dagger out of Alexis, Drake turned to face the two who were holding Lexi.

"Unless you two want the same punishment, I suggest you take Alexis here and put him in a cell." Drake commanded as he glared at them.

Instantly letting go of Lexi, the two men hurried to Alexis and dragged him to the vampire lair, fumbling out apologies as they went. Drake then dismissed Lexi, who nodded and walked away before turning to Athelia, with his eyes back to their normal brown.

"Are you okay?" Drake asked, putting his sword and dagger back on his belt, "Why didn't you use magic? We both know you could have turned him to ash."

"I am fine." Athelia shook her head, before glancing at Alexis who was being dragged away, "I have always been taught to use magic as a last resort, but hearing what he said about magic, I didn't want to prove him right."

Drake sighed hearing her response, "As honourable as that might sound, I really wouldn't care about his opinion."

"What did you do to cause him so much pain?" Athelia asked, glancing at Drake's dagger.

"Silver." Drake took out his dagger and held it in the sun where the blade shined, "Silver burns all vampires, no matter how strong they are."

Putting his dagger back on his belt, Drake spoke, "I noticed you always carry a dagger. Would you like me to get it coated in silver for you?"

Knowing it would be easier to face vampires like Alexis, Athelia nodded in response, "I think that would be a good idea, thank you."