Enchantment Of The Night-Chapter 79: The Duel between Mates

The corridors were silent as Yuan walked beside Aaliyah. Her jaw was tight and her fangs prickled at her lips. She looked more tense than Aaliyah had ever seen her.

They got to the door of the duel hall, and Aaliyah asked, "Is it that bad? I would only have to fight, right?!"

Yuan hesitated. Her eyes flicked to the door and then back to Aaliyah and she didn’t sugarcoat her words, "It’s worse. I’ve never experienced it, but most students who do never really talk about it,"

"What about Blake and Sebastian, who fought in the cafeteria the other day?!"

"I don’t think they were given this kind of punishment," Yuan replied.

"Then, why me?!"

"Well.. Professor Hitch has always been stricter than most Professors. That’s probably why,"

Just then, the giant bell tower clocked six, and its bell tolled and rang across the whole school. Aaliyah felt her heart jump as the sound, knowing it was the beginning of a long night with Alastair.

"Well, you do not want to be late to detention," Yuan tried to smile, but it didn’t meet her eyes. Instead, there was fear in them.

"Right," Aaliyah said and glanced at the door. It was slightly ajar, and even from here, she could sense that suffocation heat that was Alastair, coming from inside, "I’m off to my first detention,"

"I’ll be waiting for you here by sunrise," Yuan assured, "I promise,"

"You’re making it sound like I might not make it back alive," Aaliyah stated, staring at her friend suspiciously.

"As long as Alastair doesn’t beat you black and blue, I’m sure you will,"

That was not very reassuring. The thought of Alastair laying his hands on her was really fear-inspiring. His aura alone was enough to hurt people, which says a lot about him if he decides to fight.

Aaliyah sucked in a deep breath, breathing in as much normal air as possible to calm her nerves down before she stepped in there.

When she felt a bit ready, she pushed the large door and walked in. She could hear Yuan whispering ’Good luck’ as she slid into the hall. But before she could turn around and reply, the door instantly shut on its own, and the locks clicked into place.

Oh shit. What just happened?!

Slowly, she turned around to stare. Black flames burned at every corner of the room, and the ceiling arched high above, draped in shadows. The room was big, and the polished floors reflected her outline, making it almost seem like she was walking on water.

At the far end of the hall, Alastair stood facing a barred window. He wasn’t moving, so still that if she didn’t know what he looked like, she would have assumed he was of human-like stature.

The moonlight painted his shoulders silver and he still didn’t move till she was standing directly behind him.

"Pro... professor," She called softly, beginning to think he might have passed out or something while standing.

He finally spoke, "I warned you to leave this academy, but instead, you decided to disgrace yourself and disgrace this school," His voice was low, with a tone of steel.

It made her swallow, and her chest tightened.

"You lost control of yourself. Broke a Vampire’s nose, and punched her spinal cord. If she were human and didn’t heal quickly, she would have lost the ability to speak with that attack,"

Aaliyah clenched her fists, "I wish she did. It’ll teach her not to throw careless insults next time and not to mess with any of my friends,"

Alastair turned around, his face cold. He didn’t fully look at her, "You don’t regret your actions. You’re foolish and childish,"

Heat rushed to her face, and she almost said, ’Yeah, and you’re mated to a fool and a child. How do you like that?’ Instead, she replied, "I do not think I would ever regret doing what’s right. With all due respect, if she taunts any of us again, I would beat her harder next time,"

Aaliyah was staring intently at his face and she would have sworn his lips curved a little bit when she said that. But she couldn’t be sure with those stone-carved looks and that terrifying demeanour of his.

"You will learn there are consequences for your actions," He said and stepped forward. His stance changed, precise and fluid with one hand outstretched and motioning at her to come, "Tonight, you will face them,"

Was he...was he telling her to attack him? So the whole fighting stuff at detention was true?!

"Attack," He commanded, confirming her doubts.

"What?"

"If you can land a single strike, Little Siren, your detention is over. If not, we continue till you’re nothing but burning lungs on the floor,"

Detention is over if she can hit him once? Sweet! It sounded good, but it felt impossible. For him to say this, he must be very powerful and confident in himself.

Her heart pounded and she inhaled sharply, then lunged at him. She had mustered every inch of speed and strength she could, hoping to find an opening.

Alastair didn’t even flinch. He sidestepped every offence she threw his way, his movements graceful, lazy, in fact. He deflected all her punches with a finger, stopped her kicks with a slap of his palm and soon had her panting.

She rushed him again, faster this time. But he only tilted his head, his eyes never leaving hers, his expression unreadable.

"Don’t tell me this was the puny strength you used to survive in the phantom games," He shook his head in disappointment, "Maybe the one held this year was made simpler?"

Was he kidding her? There was nothing simple about those phantom games! She could still hear the cries of a baby sometimes in her sleep, and the sound of glass shattering into dust behind them.

She still felt that impending fear.

Not up to ten minutes into the fight, Aaliyah noticed something. The bruises were stinging worse than they should, and her body always recoiled harder than it should every time he hit her.

Could it be that...the room had been spelt to amplify pain?!

Every time she attacked and he blocked effortlessly, he always made it hurt.

A jab to the rib that knocks the breath from her lungs, and a kick to the knee that has her stumbling to the ground.

It was as though he was trying to strip her of her pride, trying to show her that she was nothing in this world.

Trying to humiliate her.

Alastair predicted her every move no matter what she tried, using her momentum against her. His fists collided with her face, and she was sent rearing back once again with blood in her mouth.

She was already breathing raggedly, and it wasn’t even up to thirty minutes. How on earth was she supposed to keep this up till sunrise? It was impossible.

Her heart would explode and her limbs would break.

"Damn it...," She murmured, trying to catch her breath.

But Alastair wasn’t letting her take a break. He was standing a few feet away, and even before she could blink completely, something like a fist slammed into her sides and she was sent rolling down the hall with a painful whimper.

"You have nothing over me," Alastair said, his words stinging, "You’re not even worth the bruise on my knuckle. At this rate, you’ll be dead before midnight,"

She groaned and glared at him. But her vision was blurry.

When she tried to stand up, she felt dizzy and almost fell back down.

Suddenly, she began to see things that weren’t there. The walls seemed to be shimmering all around her, and in them, she found herself drowning again - and that pain she felt with water rushing into her lungs felt real.

Aaliyah shakily took a step back. What was going on?

The next thing, the image disappeared and was replaced with two people she knew. Yuan and Lance were laughing at her with pointed fingers, right before they turned their backs on her and began to walk away.

No, that wasn’t real. They would never!

It’s all just an illusion to mess with her mind and creep into her senses - she knew that. She knew that very much. The only problem was...she didn’t know how to stop seeing the illusion.

From behind, a hand grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her. Before she could react, she was slammed against the cold floor with her body pinned to the ground.

The illusion broke, revealing Alastair’s face again.

And this time - Lord help her - it was dangerously close to her face.

His green eyes bore into hers, and her heart pounded fiercely. His warm breath tickled her bloodied cheek, and the flaring mate bond was only getting crazier.

She couldn’t help it. She had this... insane urge to kiss him.

"Control yourself," He whispered, and every nerve in her body came to life as his voice messed with her senses even more, "If you can master the voice in your own mind, you can’t master the one outside of it,"

They kept staring at each other. The pain in her body disappeared.

He looked fully in control of himself, while her breath was uneven. It made her wonder...if he was immune to the effects of the mate bond.

He must be. There was no other way to explain it.

That was until his gaze dropped.

To her lips, and something finally tweaked in his gaze.

Was that...desire?!