Vorden thought about how Xander was holding a grudge. Raten laughed at him and said he was one to talk. He went to Layla as soon as he spotted her. Vorden felt she needed protection. Especially after what she had said that first night about Xander. Cia was heading that way as well and got shoved out of the way by a bunch of males trying to vie for Layla's affection as they had spotted her before Vorden and Cia did.
The crowd of males heard a voice say "I'm the strongest vampire in my class. I think we will make a great couple…I mean partner."
As Vorden was heading her way, Amy tried seducing him to stay with her but he didn't even notice her. He saw Xander near Layla and his only thought was to protect. Amy felt dejected. Cia was pushing and shoving trying to get to Layla with no luck. Xander then raised his voice "Get out of my way." A boy toward the back noticed who it was and told the others and they slowly dispersed.
Cia tried to get to Layla once the way was cleared and Xander used his influence skill on her telling her to stay. It hurt her head and she couldn't move.
Xander walked up to her with a creepy smile on his face, "I want to be your partner. As you can see, you have no other choice," as he waived her hand to show her the others had already found partners. Behind him she heard, "I want to be her partner." Xander shouted, "Again, you people never learn. I said Stay!" using his influence but Vorden continued to walk forward. "STOP!"
His eyes were glowing a bight red and he said it much louder but Vorden was not phased. When Vorden got close enough he leaned in, "your crappy skills won't work on my because my mind is already broken." He then shoved Xander out of the way and approached Layla. Vorden then said "you've had your fun Raten, now switch," in his head. They had a back and forth about taking risks.
Xander then told Layla she needed to think twice about partnering with him because he was from the tenth. She told him she would rather partner with a human than partner with him. This was the biggest insult in the vampire world.
Logan was approached by a tanned girl with bushy hair and big eyes. She grabbed his hand and stood there saying nothing. This was the perfect partner for Logan who didn't like to talk.
Amy partnered with Cia who seemed to ignore her as Amy told her everything there was to know about her class. Cia just stared at Layla. Amy asked her if she swing the other way.
Lana saw a green-tinged skinned girl who no one was approaching. She looked beautiful to Lana so she approached the girl. "Hi, I'm Lana, do you want to partner with me?"
"Why would anyone want to partner with me?"
Lana smiled, "I don't know, because you're beautiful? Please, I would love to learn more about you."
"I like men."
Lana laughed, "So do I. Does that mean we can't be friends?"
The girl chuckled. "I guess not. The name is Serene. I'm a witchess."
Lana noticed Logan and Cia approaching Layla with their partners but Lana decided she could observe well enough from where she was. By the time she was called up to talk to the classes about witchesses, she felt she had made a fast friend with Serene. She created a green rose for Serene and handed it to her. Then approached the front when called by Phil.
"Serene is what is called a witchess. She makes magic using plants. She can make potions for healing or poison. She is a rare subclass for vampires but not as rare as the hannya. Her subclass requires a rather large greenhouse so she can grow all the things she needs as well as a workbench and lots of storage room for the jars of specimens she collects. She gets to spend lots of time in the forest foraging for different kinds of plants. If she finds something she has never seen before, she brings a few samples back and experiments with them to find out what they do, if anything."
Since Vorden already knew about Layla, they didn't need to talk about such things. Instead, Layla thanked him for rescuing her from the creep. She was wondering what was going on with Vorden. He had tried to strangle her once before and here he was saving her from a psycho. He told her not to worry about it, they needed to look out for each other. He was trying to find out if she had found out anything about Fex.
The daily food exchanges were quick so not much was shared. She updated him on everything that was happening with her. She was now controlling her emotions and no longer needed to feed off Cia's negative emotions. This also meant she could control her powers now but had yet to evolve. Vorden told her the group was thinking of leaving since they could not get more information where they were.
Layla wanted to stay so she could keep growing her powers. Vorden realized she probably felt more at home here now that she found people like her. She told him if they needed her in the city to let her know but she felt she'd be more useful if she grew her powers. The two continued talking, making it look like they were discussing her powers until Vorden was called up.
Lana and Serene continued to talk after she spoke to the class. They already seemed to get on like old friends.
Amy continued to tell Cia about herself but she was beginning to think something was going on at the tenth. That family wasn't confident yet Vorden was. Who turned Layla? Since there was no leader, no one had permission unless the rumors were true and there was a leader no one knew about yet. The people she was looking at from the tenth were all strange to her.
For the group, Logan was next. Phil was apologetic as he realized the boy was paired with someone who couldn't talk and explained the girl's subclass in his stead. Cia regurgitated everything Amy told her about being a succubus. The red tail and single horn were the infant stage of being a succubus. She will gain her other horn, redder skin, wings and a longer tail on her next evolution. Her energy comes from male seed.
Once everyone was done, they returned to their rooms. Lana was upset about leaving Serene. She had met someone who understood plants! She never thought the haystack contained such a needle. Vorden told Lana and Logan what Layla said to him. The decision was to stay put until they heard from Quinn. Getting inside the thirteenth castle would be too difficult without him. Lana concentrated and he was still in the camp.
The next day, Silver was late to class. When she entered, her hair was a mess. Her eyes looked lost. When she got to the front of the class, she announced "the vampire known as Fex Sanguinis, formerly of the thirteenth, is to be publicly executed on the 25th in the main plaza." The class went up in a roar of shock.
Public executions were unheard of. Vorden heard Fred say, "that's why she's like that. Fex is her brother."
Lana also noted Quinn was no longer on the planet. His class had gone through a teleporter that morning before the class even started.
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