Vampire Academy: New Generations

Chapter 5

I remember hearing rumours that a regiment of guardians had hunted Jasper's parents down and killed them. If rumors were true, Christian, Jasper's older brother, had witnessed it all when he was a toddler and Jasper must have been a baby. Although he wasn't Strigoi himself, some people used to think Christian wasn't far off, with the way he always wore black and kept to himself. Jasper on the other hand was a fragile and innocent Moroi, somewhat like Eden. "What are you doing here?" she asked, feeling awkward. "Taking in the sights, of course. I love the sunlight." He said as she nodded in agreement. "Why are you up here? Don't you have parties to go to or something?" He asked. Eden responded by letting out a slight chuckle. "I used to come up here to breathe. It's so super quiet and ... it's like I can think clearer." He crossed his arms, a slight smile playing on his lips. "Sort your thoughts out?" He asked. She nodded. "Huh. D'you wanna talk with me, then? People tell me I'm a good listener." He offered.

It was just then that I snapped out of the vision. "Evangelista? Hello?" Blinking, I forced myself out of Eden's head, focusing on Vegas's face. He was leaning toward me, his hands waving in front of my face. I suppose I'd gone overtime as I was still sitting on the bench in the quad against one of the bigger buildings. "Are you... good?" He hesitated. Obviously, he'd heard about bonds, but hadn't experienced it first hand. "Your eyes were a bright yellow and you seemed to be... sleeping." I'd never realized my eyes become yellow whenever I slipped into Eden's mind. "I...yeah. I was...I was with Eden... sorry." I put a hand to my forehead as I felt a bit of a pounding. I'd never had such a long or clear experience like that. "I was in her head." He looked at me like he was crazy. "Her...head?" He asked. "Yeah. It's that bond-thing we have." I didn't really feel like elaborating.

"Alright. Understandable. Let's go?" He asked me after a moment of waiting. Not wanting to stall around or potentially get in trouble, I nodded, rubbing at my eyelids to try to clear my vision. It was still foggy from being in Eden's mind. As we walked, I noticed he didn't saw a word. He'd been so talkative before and here he was now, silent and emotionless. Just as a professional guardian should be. I decided not to ask him about it. My head kind of hurt a lot and hopefully it'd be gone during practice. If not? I don't know how I'll manage. Once we got to the gym, I went into the gym's locker room and changed into the workout clothes someone had finally thought to give me after a day of practicing in tights and a T-shirt. Gross. As I changed, I noticed my muscles were sore and crying for a break. I changed anyways, knowing Kirova and Jack would be mad if I skipped today.

As I walked back into the gym, I spotted Vegas in the corner, doing who knows what. I began walking over and when he saw me, he put what appeared to be a book down and stood up, meeting my halfway. "How's your head feeling?" He asked as he walked. I shrugged, still feeling some pounding. "Yeah. I'm fine." I replied, partially lying. I didn't want to seem like a pansy, telling him my head hurt. I could do this. I got this. He gave me a look as if to ask: "Are you sure?" Thing was, I had my mind set on this. I was going to get better. I nodded and he quickly delved into basic stretches and such. "So I've asked around and heard that you're some kind of god-like guardian. One who's supposed to leave me in all sorts of pain?" I asked as he demonstrated another stretch. Letting out a dry laugh, he shook his head. "Those are the rumors these days?" He asked, sitting up. "Well, my social status has improved quite a bit since I've graduated." He reflected, smiling at this new information I'd provided him with.

Going back to the training, I realized that halfway though my barbell squats, I felt like I was going to die. My calves were on fire and my arms had already gone to heaven. After I finally finished the 10 reps Vegas had assigned, I let the barbell fall, falling to the ground a few minutes after, calves no longer able to support me. "Come on! We're not even half done yet!" I looked up to see Vegas's smirking face above mine. Somehow he was standing while I was sprawled out on the floor. "Why is that funny?" I asked, annoyed by how un-tired out he seemed. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying it. "I'm a guardian. It's in my job description." He waited a minute before he added: "And will be in your's too. So get up." But no pep talk could take away the amount of ache-y-ness and pain I felt. "Look, I've technically been awake for two days. Why do we have to start this training now? Let me go to bed." I whined. "It's just one hour." He crossed his arms and looked down at me. His earlier concern was gone and it was replaced with all business now. Tough love. "How do you feel right now? After the training you've done so far?" I didn't hesitate. "I hurt like hell," I said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You know you're going to feel worse tomorrow?" I threw my hands up in the air in annoyance. "So?" It came out as a whine.