NICOLAI ¹⁰

NICOLAI ¹⁰

Xavier walked me towards his quarters, a small bungalow built behind the Officer main building.

Unlike the rest of us, his house didn't have daytime protection.

“How do you survive the sun? You can't tell me you're using the sun cream even while sleeping,” I asked him as he opened his door.

“Not all of us are constrained by the limitations of our curse,” he answered cryptically.

When we got in, he stretched his hand for the file and I gave it to him.

I looked around the living room space, it had very little personality in it, just the couches on the left side and his work station. One would never have guessed he's been staying here for years now. It all seemed like he was planning to leave the next day instead of the permanent job that this was.

While reading it, he began taking off his tie, frowning with each paragraph he read.

“This particular branch of hunters are extremely dangerous and fearless, why are they sending you in there? It's just a waste of intel.”

“You're so sure I won't make it out of there.”

“You're projecting your thoughts on me young man,” he shook his head, throwing the file back in my hands. A beat later he turned to face me fully, his hands crossed on his chest. “Even if the Commander is trying to use you as bait to draw them out, there should be enough men on ground to get them when they come for you.”

“So not only will I get captured, he's letting his prejudice cost the kingdom the chance to catch these miscreants and use them to teach the rest a lesson.”

“Your brain is stronger than your muscles. At least something in you is worth the stress I'm about to go through. You have two days to prepare for this mission. You'll train physically the entirety of tomorrow and the next day, I'll teach you what they're so scared of letting you know.”

“Poisons.”

“Correct. So go home and get some rest. I'll meet you here by midnight.”

“Thank you so much Captain for giving me a chance.”

He nodded in response.

“Hopefully all of this isn't a collosal waste of my time,” he muttered as I walked out of his house.

Those words spurred my actions the next two days.

I poured my soul into the training process, taking all his lessons in quickly. Even he was shocked at my speed of learning.

“You're letting these bastards drain your potential out of you,” he growled as he got up off the floor, after I'd beaten him for the second time.

I was still six scores behind but it was progress, more progress than I had made all the years I'd been training here.

With his tutoring, I realized they never really trained me to attack, only how to take a punch, deflect, run; basically defense.

Captain Xavier drew out my strength and showed me ways it could be used.

The training went on for the entire day, I only stopped to wait for him to feed before getting back to me.

“You're abstaining this month?” He asked with a frown.

It was one of the good practices the new Queen brought. It wasn't mandatory but some vampires take a month off pleasure drinking, only taking blood when it was absolutely necessary; twice a week instead of the morning, afternoon, night and midnight drinking many people did.

It was a good way to manage our resources and preserve the soul we were gifted.

I shook my head, I'd not been fasting.

“So why aren't you feeding? You do realise the intensity of your mission right? You won't have time to feed and if raven blood gets into your blood stream, you can only fight it if you have enough blood supply.”

“I don't… They act really weird when I go for blood supply so I don't go often. I've kind of gotten used to the hunger.”

“Not bad. At least when the hunters catch you, they won't be able to use your hunger against you. Go inside, I still have a few days supply left. Finish every drop,” he instructed.

His actions left a fuzzy feeling in my chest. Of course he couldn't replace the absence of my father, no one could be good enough as to obliterate the damage my own father had done but Captain Xavier was helping me.

That was something only my mother had ever done and it was different seeing a total stranger huge a fuck about me.

I did as he said and drank the entire five pints. I didn't realise how hungry I was, the feeling of hunger had become one of the things I got used to.

The training continued till the next morning when he pulled me into the third room of his house where a lab was hidden.

I said hidden because no one would have thought to open bookshelf he'd dropped in front of the door and whatever it was he did before the thing slid open and we went inside.

“This is how the hunters get past us. They understand poisons, they utilise it and they get ahead. If you must overpower them, you must overcome their weapon.”

“Wow,” I gasped at the wide array of potions, poisons and remedies alike. “How do I do that?”

“There's no time to build resistance to them so we are going to inject you with as many antidotes as possible.”

“An antidote before the poison itself?”

“Don't ask me how it works, just know it does and being your arm damnit!”

He was probably tired of all my questions.

I allowed him inject me over and over with different things, each making me feel drowsier than before.

“I'll give you an hour for it to assimilate into your system,” he said, pointing to a couch in the hidden room for me to lie down. “When you wake up, we'll learn how to fight them with poisons instead of bullets.”

“But isn't it better?” I asked drowsily, “just kill them and be done with it. Poisons are good but they might have the antidotes.”

“That's where I come in. I have a different species of poisons. They don't have the antidotes. And we can't kill all of them, you need to bring in as many as possible for questioning and interrogation. You have to make yourself the star of the show, people have to see you as a hero and not your father's shadow. This is how you exonerate your name from the Shambles it is in now.”

“Okay. I'm ready,” I said, eager to begin.

“No. Sleep for now,” he insisted, “when you wake up, I'll teach you everything you need to know.”

His words were floating in my head as I dozed off.