Dangerous Test

Klaus's POV

Sam was still confused at how I had used my shadows into an offensive attack.

He looked at the divided animal and still didn't believe what he was looking at.

"I believe this is where you will say 'thank you' and I will say, 'you're welcome'," I noted to him as he shook his head.

"Thank you," he finally said.

"You're welcome. Now you can take the head of the bull home and rule your clan. I would be very happy to have you as one of my elders on the seat."

But he shook his head. "I'm sorry but I can't take this."

Now that was an interesting take. One I hadn't seen coming. Was he serious right now? 

"Are you rejecting my gift to you? I did this for you, you know."

"I know, I know," he said with a shuddered expression. "But I can't take this from you. It has to be me. I need to be able to protect my clan from attacks. That is the reason I am here to take this bull head."

"Are you fucking with me right now?" I was getting angry by the minute. "You do know the test of getting this bull is done to the strongest of each clan and only given to the leaders of the kingdom as a test to show that they are strong vampires ready to defend the entire kingdom and not a clan. 

"This test is not for you and it is not for leaders of clans, but it is for the leader of the kingdom, for example, someone like me. Just had to add that little bit just in case you forgot your place. You have to know that if you're going to be the leader of your clan there are other tests you have to perform and not this. Weren't you told?"

He didn't say anything but looked around in shock.

"What kind of tests?"

"How many contestants showed up for the post of being the clan leaders?"

"Fourteen?"

"Plus you or minus you."

"Altogether we're fourteen. I'm in the number."

"And those thirteen other people… what tasks were they given?"

"They were sent to duke it out in a battle field,"

"But you were sent to do a king's task?!" I laughed. "Only kings are sent to do this. There was no way you would be able to survive this attack. You'll be dead before you even take one step towards killing a bull."

I looked at the saw on the ground as well as the spear gun which had shattered edges. He must have tried using them to pierce the hides of the bulls but it was unsuccessful.

"Do you know what being a clan leader is all about?" I asked him to which he shook his head. "I'll tell you. You have to be ready to lay down your life for your people. You have to protect them from danger. 

"You have to see to it that they get everything they want and live a very good life. You negotiate with other clans to keep your people safe and you come to me, the king, if you have any problem you cannot handle. It's not that hard. You just need to live. That's all."

He took in deep breaths but I was sure he was not happy with the tasks given to him.

I sat on the dead body of the bull as he sat with me. I could see the color coming back to his face. He was getting back to his former self.

"How's it going with Mara?" he asked as I shrugged.

"I think we're making progress."

"Care to share?"

"Well, yesterday we talked about her and her family. I'm supposed to meet up with her today but it's evening already and that fight with the bear sapped the strength out of me so I don't think I can sit in a place and listen to sob stories today."

"So she isn't tossing your gifts away?"

"Oh no, she's still doing that. That was why I decided to take a different approach. And yesterday we talked about her. I got to know about her family and it was shocking to see that people still lived the way she did in this world."

He didn't add anything to the convo as I stood up and carried the part of the bull which had its head still connected to it.

"Let's go home," I noted walking away from him. "Drop me off at the edge of the street while you get home."

He nodded as we walked to the car in silence.

I dropped the bleeding bull in his trunk and gave him the keys to the car before getting into the passenger's seat.

It had been a very long day and I was tired.

Looking at the clock on the dashboard I found the time to be getting to six o'clock.

This meant that I had been fighting that bear for hours. It wasn't unusual seeing as at the beginning of the fight all I had wanted to do was scare the animal off, but with the animal being too aggressive I had ended up killing it.

Sam got into the car and drove me home instead, but I didn't argue with him. 

When we got to the castle, I waved to him and watched him drive off.

Gail stepped beside me with a horrid look on his face.

"An alpha without pants," he chuckled. "Not what I thought I would see in my lifetime."

I sighed, "I had a very hard day."

"What? Fighting bears?"

I smirked. He could smell the stench of the creature on me.

"You never cease to amaze me with your show of strength."

We slowly walked into the castle as I found my vision getting blurry. That was an indication that I was getting hungry.

"The maids will bring the meal to your room," he said as I nodded and started for my room.