Fire & Pain - A Vampire's Tragedy
Chapter 17

Sophia

Every bone in my body hurt after Carlos finally ended the training session for the day. I plopped down on a chair on the terrace, wiping the hair out of my face that was sticking to my sweaty forehead.

Carlos sat down on the chair next to me, leaning back on it with a smirk on his face. “Are you going to survive, princess?”

I glared at him. “What does it look like to you?”

He chuckled before we both stared into the forest in silence. When I was a child, I used to think the forest shielded and protected me from danger. Today, the trees and bushes blocking the way into the distance weren’t much of a security blanket anymore.

“I don’t like you,” I told Carlos, squinting into the sun and enjoying the warmth on my skin.

“I’m not here to be liked. I’m here to train you and bring your magic under control.”

I glanced at him, seeing him unmoving by my declaration. “Do you have to be so unlikable to achieve that?”

He shrugged. “The only way to get your magic to come out is when I rile you up. Besides, I can’t say I’m too fond of you.”

My heart clenched, not expecting him to be this upfront. It’s not that I didn’t already suspect it, but hearing it was another thing yet again, just like with Ashe earlier. Who even actually liked me?

I crossed my arms. “I never did anything to you, not now, and not when I was younger. So, what did I do?”

He dropped his gaze, fiddling with the chain on his pocket watch before he let out a long sigh. “You’ve always been blind to dangers, despite being warned. All you did was look for the next adventure or the next friend to meet. You never stopped to think about the consequences, and when something happened, your parents took care of it. You never had to own up to your mistakes.”

I snorted. “Are children meant to think about the evil in the world and the consequences of their actions all the time?”

He arched his brows. “You weren’t that young when I first came here to train you. Besides, you weren’t a normal child either. You’re a powerful vampire and lived with the strongest family in Tierelia. The other Jones children understood the meaning of that early on, but it almost seemed like you were ignoring it. You were never afraid or cared.”

I blinked at him, as he stared at his empty hands, his eyes glazing over as if his thoughts were far, far away.

“You probably grew up in different circumstances because I never had a reason to be afraid. I never experienced or saw violence, and I kept wondering why I would need to learn to fight or train my magic, other than stop being a threat myself.”

He winced as a loopy smile spread over his face, his eyes full of pain when he looked at me. It took my breath away, stunned how this person, who never showed any other emotion than anger and condescension, looked so vulnerable now.

“Ignorance is bliss, isn’t it?”

My mouth went dry as I stared at him, wondering if he only wanted to rile me up again. But he genuinely looked hurt. I just didn’t know what caused his pain.

I looked away, shying away from the feelings in his eyes, staring back into the forest. My stomach felt heavy seeing him that way. It was easier to hate him when he wasn’t showing such emotions. When I didn’t have to try to understand why he was acting the way he did towards me. The soft rustling of the leaves when the wind brushed through them calmed my mind, and I leaned back in the chair.

“How well do you know my family?” I asked, hoping to replace out something that could help me in the future. He might know things that could prove helpful.

He didn’t answer at first, but when I glanced back at him, he smirked, his mask back into place, hiding the man he was a few moments ago. “Curious all of a sudden, princess?”

I rolled my eyes. “I only want to know more about my family. There must be plenty of information I have missed. It might be a bit too late, but I want to catch up with everything now.”

“I doubt I’m much of a help to you. The only reason your parents chose me as a tutor was because I was the only tutor with time on my hands and the youngest tutor available. They thought someone younger would make your learning progress easier. But as we both know, that didn’t work so well.”

I nodded, remembering all those sessions back then which ended similar to today, but slightly less aggressive. He never actually knocked me out, which probably was because he didn’t want my parent’s wrath on him. But he was always cold towards me, for reasons I never understood.

“I heard about your statement at the council the other day. You claimed Samuel sent his scholars to kill your family.”

I felt something between proud and mortified, knowing that my declaration was carried to other communities. Who else knew about my outburst?

“He also sent scholars to attack me yesterday. But I doubt anyone would believe me if I told that to anyone.”

Carlos tilted his head to the side. “The mage community has black sheep, like any other community, but I wonder if Samuel has the power or reasons to achieve what you claim he did.”

“Isn’t he the most powerful mentor around? If not him, who could?”

Carlos stood with a soft chuckle. “That’s a discussion for another day. Keep up with your training, princess.”

He didn’t give me a chance to answer, before he disappeared into thin air, a blast of wind bursting into my face.

“Freaking mages,” I muttered under my breath, stretching my arms into the air and enjoying a few more minutes of sunlight, before heading inside.

“Is the training session over?” Pascal asked when I was about to head up the stairs to my room.

I stopped and looked over my shoulder at him. “Yes.”

He gave me a curt nod. “Wash up. Dinner is ready soon.”

“Sure,” I muttered under my breath, and headed up the stairs to take a shower. When the hot water hit my sore bones, I sighed in relief. Bruises had already formed on my arms and around my rib cage, reminding me of the brutal training session with Carlos again. Luckily, they won’t last long and will probably disappear by tomorrow, but it still hurts for now.

After a long shower, and stalling as much time as I could before Pascal would lose his patience, I put on a comfy pink sweater and black leggings and headed down to the dining room, where Pascal was already sitting, a steaming plate of steak and potatoes in front of him.

He only looked up briefly to frown at me before he picked up his knife and fork and started eating. I sat down, the smell of juicy meat and gravy hitting my nose, making my stomach growl. After having a few bites of the food, I sipped on the blood Pascal had poured into a wine glass. The irony and bitter taste almost ruined the tasty food. But I still took a few big gulps, knowing it would ease the pain of my wounds.

“Your fencing teacher comes here tomorrow. Otherwise, there is nothing else scheduled for you.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

The clinking of utensils stopped, and I glanced up, seeing him staring at me, his brows drawn together.

“Is there a problem?” I asked, pushing another bite of potatoes into my mouth.

He shook his head. “Just wondering where the sudden change of heart is coming from. Didn’t you love to be so argumentative?”

“Well, I realized it’s not doing me any favors, so why waste my energy?” I shrugged and cleared the plate of the remaining food, emptied the glass of blood, and stood. “If there isn’t anything more you would like to discuss, I will head back to my room. I still have many books to read.”

He blinked at me, his mouth slightly hanging open, as if he couldn’t replace the right words to say. I forced my face to stay neutral, despite the smirk that tried to fight itself to the surface, proud to see Pascal like this for once.

He cleared his throat. “You’re free to go.”

I nodded, picked up my dishes, and carried them to the kitchen to place them in the dishwasher. Something else I learned, since all the maids had been kicked out of the house. I hurried back to my room, glad Pascal didn’t stop me from complaining about something else he thought of.

Back in my room, I dimmed the light just enough, so I could still read comfortably, but wouldn’t enlighten the entire space. I lit a scented candle, filling the room with a soft aroma of vanilla, and put on the relaxing sound of rain and thunderstorms.

I laid back on the comfy and soft pillows on my bed and grabbed one of the books piled up on the floor next to my bed. Despite my best effort to make this reading session as comfortable as possible, it was still tough to read through the rules and meaning of the council. Only when I reached the part of the history of the council, things started to become a little more interesting.

Before there was a council, Tierelia was a monarchy, ruled by vampires. There weren’t any other communities involved, besides the king and queen, who always were vampires. They decided on rules, taxes, and the general well-being of everyone in Tierelia.

The other communities were mostly fine with the ruling of the vampires, and everyone co-existed in harmony. Shifters, mages, and humans had the same rights, and there was no to little dispute between them. But three hundred years ago, the monarchy was abolished. The king and queen were attacked by an organized group of humans, mages, and shifters. Even other vampires joined the attack to end the monarchy.

From that point on, the different communities separated from each other, all with their own rules and ways of life. Each community had its leaders, and those were working together as little as possible, but enough to keep the peace in Tierelia. All the other parts of Zefaroia, except Furanzia, ended the ruling of the vampires, too, and with that, the monarchy.

What I remembered from school, we always got told that the monarchy was bad, and we were living a much better life now, and it always appeared peaceful and good to me. But after speaking to Adam, I realized that many bad things were happening in the background that I didn’t know about, and no one wanted us to know about.

Carlos was right when he said that I was blind to danger. Whenever I went out for parties in the fancy clubs, I had never seen violence or poverty, but I also never left the safe parts of Tierelia. Tierelia seemed like the perfect place to me, even if I was complaining about how little freedom I had. In hindsight, I had all the freedom in the world, especially compared to people like Adam. But I was selfish, childish even, and didn’t see what I had in front of me.

I should have been more like Adam, someone who had to choose a fate because it was the right thing to do, not because it was something I wanted to do. He did what he had to do to save his family. He was selfless, and I was anything but that. I touched the butterfly tattoo behind my ear, remembering all those tiny butterflies bursting out of Adam’s shield last night. They were remarkably similar to those I had always seen in my dreams. The image of butterflies always gave me a sense of comfort and freedom.

Maybe Adam’s magic also manifests the desire for freedom. After I found my sister, I will do everything in my power to offer him all the freedom he wants because he deserved it. Then we could live our lives the way we want them to live, and not how other people wanted us to live with them.