Chapter Five
"You! Dragon! Are you taking good care of my little girl?"
Avalon groaned as her father, Chen, caught sight of Vaughn and covered the webcam with her hand. She turned, exaggerating a grimace and Vaughn's mouth twitched. His shoulder shook with suppressed laughter and he came over to where Avalon was enjoying her “Happy Birthday” Skype call from her parents.
"I am doing my best, sir," he said when Avalon moved her hand. "I assure you I will give my last breath before I allow anything to harm her."
Avalon's cheeks burned at the seriousness of his tone and made a face at her parents. "Hey, isn't this supposed to be you telling me how proud you are of me for my progress? Yesterday I managed to shield myself from Madame Fire's attacks. I mean, I wasn't able to shoot anything back at her, but her magic couldn't get through my defenses at all."
Vaughn chuckled. "Her fists did."
Elaine frowned. "Of course we're proud of your progress, honey. You've really improved."
Avalon heard the unspoken “but not enough” and held her breath. Her father gave her mother an irritated glance, to which Elaine responded with a scowl.
They had been informed about the supposed attempt on her life, but given that literally nothing had happened since then, they had decided to inform the dean and leave it at that.
Even though Avalon would have liked a lot more to happen between them, Vaughn seemed to be fully focused on his job of protecting her. He even stopped walking around without a shirt on, which was a shame.
"We've spoken with your teachers," Elaine said. "We all agree that it would be a good idea for you to stay there for the summer semester. You seem to be really blossoming under their teaching methods and there isn't much time—"
"I know, Mom," Avalon interrupted, unable to keep a note of irritation from her voice. "And I figured you'd want me to stay over the summer. It's fine, I like it here."
"Are you sure?" Elaine's eyes were worried. "We know how lonely you can get, honey."
"I'm sure. I have a class starting in a few minutes," she lied, eager to get off of this line of questioning. "If I don't go now, I'll be late."
"Okaaay," Elaine dragged out the word like she always did when she knew Avalon was lying, but wanted her daughter to confess on her own. "Love you, sweetheart."
"I love you, too. And you too, Dad. I'll talk to you later. Bye."
"Love you, bye."
Avalon disconnected the call and sat back, frowning. She had made a lot of progress. Good progress. She was starting to find new ways of developing a passion for her offensive magic, though it still remained her weakest subject.
The most frustrating thing was that defensive magic required a calm mind and the teachers expected her to use both fire and earth at the same time. It should be impossible to feel passionate and calm at the same time, yet Madame Fire was able to defend against and attack her students so effectively Avalon wondered if the tiny woman actually had two brains.
"I can see why you've had so much trouble in the past," Vaughn said, putting his hands on her shoulders. His touch was electrifying, made all the worse by how rarely they actually made physical contact. "They coddle you. Especially your father."
"They care about me. That's not coddling."
"They haven't prepared you for the real world. It's not their fault. They just love you and didn't want you faced with the awfulness of reality."
Avalon bristled and pulled away from him. "Was there something you wanted, Vaughn?"
"It's time for you to practice your fire magic. I've set up targets in a spare classroom in the offense building."
Avalon groaned.
Vaughn smirked at her. "You don't want me to tell your parents you lied to them about having a class do you?"
"Not fair! You're supposed to protect me, not blackmail me."
"I protect you by any means necessary."
He winked at her and a flutter went through her stomach. She wondered how he'd react if she marched up to him and threw her arms around him and planted a big, sloppy kiss on his lips.
There were times when she thought she saw an attraction towards her in him, like at Elsa's party, but Avalon was afraid she was just projecting her own feelings onto him. She might just not be his type. Lots of guys preferred smaller girls than her, just like a lot of girls preferred men who were taller and more tanned than Vaughn.
He's tall enough for me, she thought stubbornly. Any taller and I'd get a kink in my neck trying to kiss him. And I like his freckles. They give him character.
"Shoes," he called back at her as he stepped into the hallway. "I'm giving you two minutes and then I'll carry you on my back."
Avalon stuck her tongue out at him, making him laugh as he closed the door. She quickly changed into some workout clothes, which were much more comfortable for the fighting that offensive magic required and mournfully looked at the pretty things in her closet. She'd lost weight since arriving at school and her clothes didn't fit her quite right anymore.
Well, at least that means I'll be able to go shopping again soon, she thought, ruffling her short bob. That always cheers me up. Hey, maybe that's the key to my magical fighting. I'm passionate about shopping, and it calms me down.
The thought made her smile as she went out to join Vaughn.
***
Elsa and Helen were sparring in the classroom that Vaughn had booked. Avalon watched Helen's form with envy. She was truly masterful at this! Her movements were smooth as she defended herself and attacked at the same time. Elsa wasn't as good, but she was still pretty darn efficient. As the two women prepped to leave, Elsa wandered over.
"Semester's almost done, isn't it exciting?" she gushed. "I'm arranging a dance to celebrate."
Avalon smiled. Elsa had parties and dances for everything. End of the month, end of midterms, beginning of rest week, just because she felt like it. "When?"
"May first. It's after all the final exams are done and everything. When we'll actually be able to relax and party. You'll come, right?"
"I'll try to," Avalon promised, glancing at Vaughn.
He hated parties. It was too difficult to keep track of all the moving bodies. If Avalon was honest, not being able to drink was pretty annoying and sucked a lot of the fun out of it for her, too. She'd been to a few of Elsa's gatherings and always left after only a couple of hours.
The Valentine's Day one was the worst. George was drunk and
had tried to kiss her. Vaughn had practically dragged her out after that and seethed for hours about all the ways toxins could be slipped into the body via the mouth. For the next few days every time he saw George he glowered, as though wanting to rip his head off.
Elsa followed her gaze and lowered her voice. "Oh, are you going to have your own party? Tell me–and you can trust me–how is he in bed? Are his abs as yummy as they look?"
Avalon's face flared red, but Helen saved her from having to reply.
"Elsa, come on. I want to catch a movie tonight."
Elsa sighed dramatically, but skipped away, waving.
Avalon, her face still beet red, faced Vaughn on the fighting mats. She tried to solidify her embarrassment to use as an attack, but her heart just wasn't in it. She was bored with routine. Elsa's dance seemed like just the thing to take her mind off magic for a couple hours and let her relax.
Now she just had to figure out a way to convince Vaughn.