Chapter Thirteen

At the sound of an alarm going off, I jerk awake. Wait what? Since when is there an alarm? I'm still in the outfit I was practicing with Vincent in, so at least I don't have to do more than yank on some boots before I'm running down the hall. That's when I don't realize I don't actually know what I'm doing or where I am going.

Suddenly I see Brent and he looks rather calm and, right when I go to start asking him what's going on, the alarm cuts off.

"What the heck was that?!?! Brent, what the heck was up with that alarm?"

He just laughs at my panic-stricken face and with an amused smile on his face replies

"Oh, nothing much. Just some girl who was caught too close to the castle. Turns out it wasn't actually a threat, just Violet visiting. I could have sworn I told someone that she was coming, but I guess I forgot.

No big deal, but it's good you're up and dressed since we're supposed to go to the courtyard for the challenge. You can visit your friend after lunch, but right now you get to fight alongside me and I get to show you just how well I can protect you. How about we race, I bet I'll win?"

" Oh, your on!"

'Don't worry I know a shortcut! Take a left...Now!'

Following my wolf's instructions, I'm surprised that I actually manage to go to the right place and I'm 30 seconds faster than Brent. I don't know how my wolf knew which way to go since I didn't...

'Oh, that's right, you don't know. I can get a hint of what our mate is thinking. He told us where the courtyard was and where we were, but not how to get there, exactly. I just remembered a faster way from all those times you'd walk past it when you'd get lost going to the dining room.'

Huh, seems simple enough, I guess.

Once we were all there, I studied the three we were going to be fighting. The werewolf was a man and he was like a giant with huge bulging biceps and a height of 7'2''. He definitely looked intimidating and I was bound to have to go up against him at least once today. The vampire wasn't nearly as huge, but he still looked like he could hold his own. Plus, you know vampires are terrifying and not just strong, but even faster than a werewolf. The fairy was actually a woman and she had blonde hair with pink tips, but unlike many of the women fairies, it was short hair that came up in spikes so the color looked, in a way, better on her. Her eyes were blue and seemed to shine like there were stars in them. She was a small woman both in size and the fact that she was rather thin, but I get the feeling her power wasn't from strength and speed, although she was probably swift and nimble with reasonable speed.

"Okay, so now that we're all here. We all can go over the rules. Okay, so Sasha will be in each of the fights, of course. Since she is, she'll likely need a break in between each session to cool off and our three guards will need one as well, so we've put refreshments over there."

He points to the far left away from the main part of the courtyard where a buffet table is covered in different drinks and snack foods like cookies, cheese cubes, and whatnot.

"There will be a half-hour break after each session. Now the goal isn't to kill or do damage, but rather to pin your opponent down for the count of five. Now if a circumstance should arise where one of you gets harmed, we will immediately stop. Prince Brent is first, followed by prince Vincent, and ending with prince Mark. If Brent or Sasha should like to change into their wolves it would likely be best to change before the battle begins or if you wish to fight part of the battle only in wolf some easily ripped apart clothes that are easily replaceable can be given to you."

Thinking about it I don't really want to be in wolf form during this battle.

'Grrr, but you know I'd do a good job pining that wolf down.....'

'Yes, miss wolf, now shut up. We have at least one person who is a wolf so what use would it be to insist on being one this round, maybe with Mark, but not this one, okay?'

'Fine..... but you have to at least accept the partial wolf on Mark.'

'Deal, now let's go.'

"I'm just going to go change, I'll be right back."

The referee guard nods then looks to me.

"What about you princess Sasha?"

I give a brief shake of my head and he nods, turning to Brent who didn't take very long to change. His beautiful light brown coated wolf stalking forward looking like he is about to pounce.

'Hey, since you're not marked by Brent, you wouldn't hear him, but his wolf says he is taking the wolf first then he'll try for the vampire. So, we should probably go for the vampire with a good tail on the fairy.'

'Hmm, sounds like a good idea, but maybe a bit more than a tail, that fairy is pretty serious.'

The starting whistle is blown and I fake towards the vampire only to lunge at the fairy. She struggles to push up on me, but fails since during the first few seconds she is too stunned, but I know it won't be that easy next time. When she is out, I look up to see the vampire had lunged at Brent and he looks to be struggling. I decide to take the werewolf next instead of the vampire since they were about to lunge at Brent from behind and the vampire is in a lock with Brent. I twist and jump at the wolf kicking him into the ground then lunging at his throat. Werewolves tend to only respond to having their necks bitten into. He knees me in the stomach making me momentarily stunned by the pain. He flips me over and basically tries to lay on top of me with his teeth up in my face. I take a bite of his paw and he yelps looking down at it like he is shocked I'd just bite him. I shove him harshly off me.

Seeing the vampire momentarily off of Brent I lunge at him. Only to have to fight both the werewolf guard and the vampire since Brent got eliminated by the vampire. Yeah, when he is even angrier at vampires later since one managed to successfully pin him down, I don't want to hear about it. Maybe it's time for a little fairy magic, eh? Using a mirroring enchantment, I cause a temporary double to be created. As I lunge forward at the vampire the double turns into a wolf and that's when I realize my wolf is what is controlling the double. Huh, guess that's because of all the strangeness of having all of these abilities. Well, being without the wolf abilities for a while can't hurt.

'Ha I can still talk to you and you know as soon as I'm pinned for the count of four, I'll be gone or, if we win, I'll dissolve back into being a complete part of you, so don't think you can get rid of me so easily.'

'Thank goodness we can still communicate that means we're still one, okay, now then, to kick some vampire butt.'

The vampire takes a lunge at me and I jump to the side and then I twist around, jumping on his back, and knocking him down. I pin his hands back behind him and lean all my weight down on him. Thankfully, it's enough, even if he was struggling quite a bit. That was pretty easy, I suppose, but he was worn down from Brent. Getting back up I turn back to the werewolf only to see my wolf get pinned down. I dive in at the wolf and hold him down while my wolf comes over and holds his neck down with her teeth. When the whistle is blown, I know the match is over.

"Woo! Round one is over! High five!"

I actually high five my wolf double's paw before she dissolves and I hear my wolf in my head again howling in victory.

"How-how did you do that?!?! I couldn't even take that vampire down and you take all three of them down! Plus, you did that weird thing and then you had a clone or something and it turned into a wolf! Like seriously did you cheat or something?"

I just roll my eyes and walk towards the refreshment table. I grab two bottles of water and quickly down one before slowly sipping on the other. Then I walk towards a nearby bench to sit down for my break. Mark and Vincent come to sit next to me on either side and Brent is forced to sit on the other side of Mark.

"I see you managed to learn some fairy magic and some strong spells too, if that mirror enchantment was any indication. Usually they can't fight separately, you know, and just copy your moves."

"Yep, it was pretty awesome! It was like my wolf separated from me while still being connected to me. She controlled the double and still communicated to me in my head. It was amazing, but also a real work out. I'm so glad that I had practiced fighting and have been reading those books in my room. The next fight won't be nearly as easy, though. Since, you know, they'll be a lot more on edge and aware of what I'm capable of, although I've barely even started showing off what I'm truly capable of."

Vincent smirked and shook his head seeming rather confident about the next battle.