The Sons of Satrina: A Sons of Satrina Novel (9 page)

Hearing Jordon gasp, she turned to look at him questioningly.

“What the hell is that?”  The look on his face had now turned to pure disgust.

Deciding to ignore him and his weird ways, Ash turned back in her seat and sat as still as stone.  “Just take me home. Now.”

“Damn right I will, freak.” he muttered under his breath.

The uncomfortable silence lasted all the way home.  Aisline wasn’t inclined to improve the situation as he had been the one to ruin a perfectly horrible evening, so she wasn’t going to let him have it easy.  She imagined that he was sat there, stewing and worrying about whether she was going to tell her parents about his inappropriate advances and cause a scandal for his family.  Not that many people would have believed her anyway. I mean, who in their right mind would turn down someone as popular, well-bred and handsome as Jordon Batallier?  Well, Aisline thought to herself, anyone with half a brain, that’s who.

Pulling up in front of her house, Jordon didn’t even turn to look in her direction and she quickly opened up the door, eager to escape.  He probably thought she’d take another swing at him if he said anything, which she was more than ready for.  Punching him had been the best bit of the entire night.

Leaning back in, she couldn’t resist saying, “Thank you so much for an ever so unpleasant evening. You really are the biggest asshole walking this planet, aren’t you?” before slamming the door shut and walking with her head held high to her front door.  That had been quite tame compared to what she could have said, but she couldn’t be bothered wasting the breath on him. 

Before she could even turn the key in the lock her mother had opened it up and was ushering her inside, eager to hear all about her new son-in-law-
to-be.  Aisline sighed loudly. She didn’t want to upset or disappoint her mother but there was no way on this earth that she was ever going to end up with someone like Jordon.  She wanted to be with someone she could laugh with.  Have fun with, talk and live life to the fullest.

Turning to face her mother, she started to say, “I’m really sorry, but-”

The look on her mother’s face made her pause.   It mirrored the look that had been on Jordon’s face.  Disgust rippled across her mother’s features.  What the hell was wrong with them both?  She had a mind of her own and was fully within her rights to say no if she wanted to. Had Jean called her? Did they know she bailed on the date? What that the problem?

“Oh my goodness.  Oh m
y goodness.  Oh my goodness.” her mother started to mutter under her breath.  “Andre!” she screeched her father’s name so loudly that it made Aisline jump.  She had never heard her mother raise her voice before.  Ever. It wasn’t ladylike and her mother was nothing if not a lady.

Evidently, neither had her father as he came pounding down the hall
way as fast as he could, coming to a skidding halt where they still stood near the front door.

“Evaline?  Wha
tever is all the commotion?  What is the matter with you?”  he sounded panicked and looked over to Aisline to see if she could shed any light on the situation, and surprise surprise, that look of disgust and horror quickly crossed his face as well.

“Oh, And
re, what are we going to do?” her mother started to wail loudly as her father stood by with a look of stern concern.  Aisline looked from one to the other with a puzzled expression.

“We call the Sons.  That’s what we have to do.”

Chapter Ten.

“I do hope that you can do something about this situation, Mr Kelton.  It just isn’t right.  It simply is not done.  T
his is not how we do things.” the voice on the other end of the line said in a high, harassed tone.

Kelton sat with his head in his hands and was more than amazed that his voice could remain sounding s
o sure and calm and in control when he was spiralling into a world of confusion.  It was just seeming to be one thing after another.

“We will do what
we have to do, Mr Kellerman. You can trust in that. And, it‘s Master Warrior, not Mr”

Staring at the phone, which now only held a dead dialling tone, he couldn’t quite believe that the man had had the cheek to hang up on him.  He was the one who was calling him for help.  After all, manners and common courtesy cost nothing, but the man had possessed neither.  Ass.

Heaven knows what he was going to do with this new problem.  He knew that they’d have to come up with a solution, and fast, but what?  This was way beyond anything he could have imagined.  As if things weren’t bad enough already, and now this on top of it? The email he had just received also didn’t help matters in the least.  The council had contacted him to advise that they wanted to lead a debate, which would result in a vote, as to whether to elect him as the new leader of the Lamia Matris race.  Honestly! Him?  That was the last thing he needed or wanted right now. 

He was a fighter, not a political leader.  What sort of experience did he have?  He could lead in combat, but having the weight of their race on his shoulders?
No. That was not something he had ever strived for.  Which is what he told them in a very curt reply.  They didn’t stand a cat in hell’s chance of him stepping up. They’d just have to find somebody else.  He had more than enough on his plate without adding those imbeciles at the council into the mix.

A knock came on the closed door and Professor Fieldman popped her in, looking even more flustered than usual.

“What’s up, Jainey?” he asked, hoping against hope that she didn’t have another problem to add to his ever growing pile. But that was just his luck at the moment.  He was sitting on a mountain of shit and had no way of shovelling his way out of it. 

“I didn’t know what else to do.  Things are getting out of hand in there.  They just are
n‘t listening to me, Kelton.” her voice held a nervous quiver.

Kelton got up from behind his desk and rubbed his temples as he walked over to her.  Another problem.  Aweso
me.  Just what he bloody needed.

Edging back around his desk, with one last look at the screen, Kelton switched off his laptop and put the matter to the back of his mind.  He had other more important
things to deal with presently. They could wait. He wouldn’t be changing his mind anyway, so the council were wasting their time trying to push him into it.

Walking briskly back towards the class that she had been teaching, Professor Jainey Fieldman filled him in on the problem at hand.

Everything had been going really well. The students had all paired up as they had the day before and were sparring as planned.  It had been made crystal clear once again that there was to be limited bodily contact, more well placed hits, plus they were all padded up to prevent any actual bodily damage.  But, that hadn’t stopped Denver from trying his hardest to inflict some kind of injury on the pre-grad trainee that he’d been put up against.  Denver was becoming a real pain in the ass that Kelton didn’t have the energy or patience to deal with at the moment.  Seriously?  Did he think he could take those guys on? Who have had years more training than him and were twice his size?  Idiot.

Denver
thought that he was indestructible.  Which was obviously a really bad idea.  The guy had been paired up with a huge hulk of a man.  Also, he had been one of the one’s who had stood up for Jackson in the shower room, and was already holding a grudge against the newbie, even before this fiasco.  Denver had just presented him with the perfect opportunity to kick his ass and put him back in his place. And he had.

So, Marius had turned around after one blow too many and planted Denver firmly on his backside - and was now flatly refusing to let the boy go.  Turning him over and slamming his face into the padded mats that covered the sparring room floor, he was now just holding him there, refusing to budge.  He had to prove a point that Denver was nothing and was thoroughly enjoying making him look a total moron.

Kelton could understand Marius’ motivation, but this wasn’t something he could let go.  He sped up his pace and turned the corner, already able to hear the commotion coming from the classroom.  There were plenty of jeers, cheers and taunts from the rest of the boys who were all revelling in seeing Denver getting royally humiliated.   The boy had only been at the academy for a few days and already he was making more than a nuisance of himself. 

Kelton stood in the doorway and waited to get their attention.  Marius saw him and simply nodded, removing himself from Denver, not before giving him a sly jab in the ribs for good measure, though.  The rest of the class fell silent.

All except for Denver, who had jumped to his feet and was waving his fists around and cursing for all the world to hear.  Just as he was about to lunge forward to attempt to plant a hit on Marius again, Kelton stepped forward and wrapped his arms around him in a bear hug style, immobilising him completely.

“Marius?
Care to explain the problem to me here?”  Kelton’s voice was scarily calm, given the circumstances.  Those that knew him would know that this was the time to start worrying.  Calculated calm often equalled danger in Kelton’s world.  He had more than enough on his mind at the moment and dealing with a man who was acting like a spoilt little brat was pushing his patience to the very limit.

It was near the top of the list of the
rules of combat at the school. You did not fight one another.  You fought alongside one another.  You train with one another.  We are not the enemy.  But, occasionally, you got a student like Denver who thought that he could take on the whole world.

“Sure, Sir.  This little boy thought that he could disrespect the family line of the leader, and in doing so, disrespecting our deceased leader.  Oh, and the guy called me a pussy, which is never a smart move when you are faced with someone bigger, smarter and better.”  Marius’ face remained calm and professional as he spoke to the Warrior.  At least until the last bit, when he turned his face slightly to meet Denver’s eyes and grinned menacingly.

“Is this true?  Denver?  Is that how it happened?”

B
efore he could answer, several of the other trainee’s piped up, “It’s true.  He started it this morning with Jackson and he’s been going on about it ever since.” “Yeah, he’s a dick.”  And “He deserved it.” among many other not so pleasant comments about Denver.

“Well, clearly, you weren’t paying any attention during your orientation time, boy.  And, you,” Kelton said as he turned to look at Jackson, “You should have come to me about this.”  To which Jackson had no reply.  He didn’t think that he had needed to bother anyone with this.  The guys had his back this morning and after all, it was only Denver.  If need be, he could easily put the deluded fool in his place. 

Master Warrior Kelton turned his attention back to Denver and swung him out of his arms, sending the boy off balance and struggling to remain on his feet.  “You will come with me.  Now.”

Even Denver had the sense to shut up.  Kelton had his no nonsense voice on and teaming that up with his bad ass warrior stance and demeanour, he knew that he di
dn’t stand a chance against him.

“The rest of you, continue as you have been instructed.  Follow the rules.  If I hear of any more trouble from any of you, you will be following this one to isolation.”

Silence.

Kelton marched Denver out of the room with a nod to Professor Fieldman who smiled her thanks, and down the corridor that led eventually to the Iso area.

This wasn’t a place that was used very often, after all, most of the boys who came to this academy knew what to expect and what was expected of them.  Occasionally, unfortunately you came across a numb nut like Denver who just didn’t know when to give up. Act like a child, they’ll treat you like a child.

“Sir-”

“Not a single word.”  Kelton refused to listen to him.  Sure, he hadn’t really listened to his side of the story, which was very unlike Kelton.  He was usually a very fair man, but he’d already gotten this guy’s number and he didn’t have the energy or time to bother to deal with him.  Plus, he knew that the others weren’t fabricating the story.  Professor Fieldman had already explained it all to him on his way down to the classroom, and he trusted his staff implicitly.

There was enough on his plate without Denver adding to it.  What with Bartholomew’s death, the new leadership issue and then the disturbing phone call to boot.  No, he definitely didn’t need to deal with a problem like Denver at a time like this.

Using a code to unlock the electronic keypad to the isolation section of the school, they walked in and straight away saw Mr Bryant sitting at his desk, swamped in paperwork.  Mr Bryant looked up in surprise.  He didn’t expect to see anyone down here so early on in the term.

“Master Warrior Kelton?”

“Mr Bryant, you have some company tonight.  Denver will remain down here until he has re-read the entire academy policy that was issued to him before and after he entered into this training academy.  Clearly, this boy has not made himself familiar with the rules of this establishment.”

Mr Bryant had to suppress a grin.  The trainee’s face was a picture.  Reading through all the schools rules was sure going to take him some time.

“Before I go,” Kelton glared at Denver, “Let me make something very clear to you.  You do not disrespect our leader.  You do not disrespect his lineage.  You do not ignore your professors when you are asked to do something.  You do not try and injure a fellow warrior, whether in training or out in the field.  Am I making myself crystal clear to you?”

Denver was now looking more sheepish than ever and he nodded glumly. He hated feeling like a scolded child.  He was a goddamn grown man - why couldn’t they treat him like one?  Just because those other guys had been at the academy longer than him, they thought they ruled the place.  This was not how he thought life at the academy was going to go.

“Good. Because you pull another stunt like that one, you’re out on your ear.   Mr Bryant? He’s all yours.” and with a very brief whisper in the man’s ear, he said, “I may call you to release him later on, it all depends on my mood.” and Mr Bryant chuckled in response.

Heading back up to his office, Kelton knew that he had to get this off of his chest.  He had to talk to someone.  Time was running out.  He shouted over to one of the other warriors, “Have you seen Kayleigh? It’s important.”  He was glad to be rid of Denver, but he needed Kayleigh and he needed her now.

“The last time that I saw her, she was heading in the direction of your office.  Hopefully you’ll find her there.” said Master Warrior Massine.  He was a fellow warrior and could only imagine how much Kelton had on his plate at the moment.  He sure didn’t envy him his position.  He was vaguely surprised that he wasn’t failing under the pressure of it all.  But as usual, Kelton app
eared to be his reliable self. Always in control.  Ever the warrior.

“Thanks, Sol.”

Kelton rushed off back towards the direction of his office, skidding around the corner only to find his office completely empty.  Growling softly in frustration, Kelton set back out to hunt down every single inch of the school in search of his woman.

“I hear you’re looking for me.”

Kelton came to a halt as he heard the breathy voice behind him and he released a huge sigh of relief.  Turning around, the moment he clapped eyes on her, he felt so much better. More together.

“Yeah, I am.  I mean, I was.  Found you now, though, eh?”  Kelton smiled a half-hearted lop sided grin at her.

Kayleigh swept forward and with a quick glance around them to make sure that they were truly alone, she locked her hands around his neck and stared up into his soulful eyes, licking her lips seductively.

Kelton forgot for a moment that they were standing right where anyone could wander upon them at any minute, and leaned down to kiss her deeply, his body wanting to take things further. 

“Ummmm, I’ve missed that.” 

Kayleigh knew that he’d had a hell of a lot of stuff going on at the moment.  The last few days had been hectic for him, but she missed them being together like this.  She missed having him all to herself.  She missed saying goodbye to Kelton the Master Warrior and hello to Dane, her lover.  They were one and the same person, but he could be so different when it was just the two of them, all alone.  If onl
y she could get him all alone. She’d be able to help alleviate some of that stress and tension that he had building.

“I know, Leigh, me, too.  But that’s not what I was looking for you for.  Although, it was a heck of a good
distraction, so thank you.” he grinned and planted another kiss on her.  “I need your help.  I think you could be exactly the right person for this job. In fact, I couldn’t think of anyone more perfect.”