Winter

"Wow, you lasted a minute longer than usual," Leigha’s sarcastic tone comes through as I groan face-down on the grass.

“That’s what she said,” Alex shouts over. 

I roll on my back as Leigha looks down at me with a smirk. 

"Bitch," I pant, and she laughs.

“If you would just work on your powers, we wouldn’t need to do this,” she says as she offers me a hand and pulls me up. Fighting against Leigha is hard. She doesn't give me a break and happily kicks my ass every morning. She’s a good teacher, she shows me how not to attack her and corrects my moves. So, I can last a minute against her now, and we have only been fighting like this for five days.

"You’re not using your vampire skills, your extra speed, and strength. You’re still thinking like a human," she says as she walks around me.

"I was human until recently, how do I think like a vampire?" I ask her sarcastically.

"You don't think, you are a vampire. It’s inside of you, you just have to realise who you are," she tells me.

"You sound like you’re going to break out in song in a minute," I say.

"I'd rather break your face, but I'm trying to be a good girl," she deadpans. I try to hold in the chuckle and fail, she just glares at me.

"Why don't Alex and I fight? Drake has trained her, and she is good, better than you," she says, and I swear I almost hear the, anyone is better than you, she wants to add on. Alex is watching us from the side as she paints her nails, Drake is with Wyatt this morning.

"Okay," I shrug. I watch as she calls Alex over, and they get into position. It's hard to watch them fight because they move so fast. I have to force myself to slow them down and watch. It's weird to see Alex move like this; she avoids nearly all of Leigh’s hits and sweeps under her arm when Leigha almost gets her. Leigha is better in the end, she manages to get Alex by her shoulder and flip her over.

"You broke my nail," Alex says from her place on the ground.

"You’re such a girl," Leigha stares down at Alex who looks at her.

"You could be too," she suggests, a faint blush appears on Leigha’s cheeks as an answer. I’m about to step in when a gigantic boom from a distance distracts me and fireworks flash in the sky, what the hell? The guards, who are here training, run too quickly for my eyes to see until we are left alone.

“Get to it love,” Atti whispers in my mind.

"Finally, I thought it would take forever for Atti to come up with a distraction," I say with a big smile, as black smoke fills the air in the distance.

“Big fucking distraction, what did he set on fire?” Leigha asks as Alex gets up off the floor.

"I said to distract our guards, not the entire castle," I say, and Alex looks at us both. 

"What are you guys up to? And why are we still standing around talking if we have somewhere to be?" she says.

"You’re not going to like it," I mumble, and Leigha grins.

"You can go in first," she suggests to Alex, who looks ready to punch her.

"Did you get the wine?" Leigha asks me, and I nod. I run over to my bag I've been carrying everywhere and pull out two bottles of Wyatt’s costly old wine. 

I hope he doesn't kill me when he sees they are missing.

Leigha nods at me before running off towards the far tower. Atti made the blast as far away from the tower as possible, which is perfect for us. I don’t think he meant to do it on purpose.

Alex and I follow Leigha, me moving slower because I don’t want to drop the wine. We get to the tower, and Leigha kicks the door open, smashing the wooden locks.

"We aren't meant to look like we have been here," I mutter.

"Anyone would just assume the mini-demons did it," she shrugs. I suppose she has a point.

"Here," I shove the bottles of wine at her and she huffs at me.

"Mini-demons? Are you two out of your fucking minds? You know they are little devils, right?" Alex says loudly behind us.

"They just like to party, you had a lot in common with them when you were younger," I say.

"I can't remember those times," Alex waves a hand at me, and I chuckle. We move up the dozen or so steps of the tower, avoiding broken wood, and rolls of toilet paper chewed into tiny pieces and strewn all over the place. There are dozens of bottles of beer and other drinks making the place look like a frat party gone wrong. Loud dance music is coming from the highest room in the tower.

Leigha opens the door when we get to the top, and Alex screams. The room is full of rats, I hold in a scream as they all stop to look at us. The scene changes so quickly, it makes me feel fuzzy. The rats aren't rats at all, they are little people who glow a slight blue. They are brown, grey, and I see some with blue skin. They all have white hair and big squashed-in looking noses, their feet and hands are as large as their big stomachs. They are wearing rags over their bodies, some have little rags in their hair holding it up and they’re about the size of a small rat, no wonder their glamors work so well. They don’t need to change size. Leigha holds up the two bottles of wine.

"We need to talk, the princess brought you five-hundred-year-old wine from the prince’s private collection, you know the one that’s locked up tight, so you guys can’t get in," she says, and a hiss is returned from them. I duck as something is thrown at us. I glance down at the water dripping from my leg and the condom on the floor. I glance up in horror as I see them lift dozens of condoms filled with water. 

"Fuck, you little shits," Alex shouts as more of those things are thrown at us. I get soaked as we scramble out the door. I gaze behind me as Leigha is hit with a random sofa cushion and drops the wine. They roll across the floor as I get hit in the back with water,

"Stop!" I shout as three demons take the wine as Leigha tries to get up but they are still throwing things. Alex pulls the cushion off Leigha, while I held up my arms to stop the incoming water condoms they are throwing. 

A sharp bit of wood hits my arm, when they throw a chair leg at the wall near my head, and it leaves a nasty cut.

"Out, out, out!" I shout, and Leigha and Alex don't waste any time following me out the room. I slam the door shut.

"They are nuts," Alex says, squeezing the extra water out of her hair.

"You have a condom in your hair," Alex point at Leigha. She’s right, she does.

"What?" Leigha pulls out the condom and holds it in front of her in disgust before dropping it. 

"They looked like they were using them as balloons, they must have stolen someone's supply," Leigha says with a slight chuckle, which makes us all laugh. We all look at each other and start giggling until reality hits.

"This was all pointless because they won’t help us," I sigh. 

"Hello," a small voice says from the bannister of the stairs. A mini-demon is sitting on the edge, he looks different from the others. He is a slightly blue, with white hair tied with a little rag. He is thin and has big, grey eyes that watch us closely. 

"Hi, I’m Winter. This is Alex and Leigha." I introduce them both with a wave, and he nods.

"I am Milo," he says and stands up. I watch as he does a tiny bow, so cute.

"Hello, Milo, we need some help," I say.

"I’ll help you," he replies. His voice is small and sounds like a small child.

"We need to know what the king is doing," I say gently.

"Bad man," Milo shakes his head.

"Yes, he is," I nod.

"He is bringing king back," Milo says, he struggles to pronounce king, so it sounds a little like ring.

"I don't understand," I frown as he shakes his head at me.

"I’ll help you," he nods.

"Yes, you are but what king is he bringing back?" 

"Your family," he says looking at the cut on my arm.

"My family? That makes no sense, Milo," I frown. I think of Jaxson, but it doesn’t make sense.

"You will. King is coming," he says and stands up. Tiny little white wings come out his back, and he flies over to me. He lands on my shoulder and sits down.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"You keep Milo safe, Milo helps you," he replies.

"You have a pet demon, only you Win," Alex chuckles, and even Leigha looks shocked.

"He isn't a pet," I say, and I look at him. 

"I am your friend," Milo says with a smile. 

"Do you know anything about a king coming back, guys?" I ask Leigha and Alex who both shake their heads.

"We need to ask the boys and look through the books. Just be careful about it," Leigha says, and I nod, agreeing. We all leave the tower and get back to the courtyard without seeing anyone. I tell Milo to hide in my bag, and he happily does when I tell him there is chocolate in there. I guess I can share or get more. 

About five minutes after we start training again, Atti and Wyatt come into the courtyard. Atti is covered in black soot and Wyatt doesn’t look any better. His blond hair is covered in it.

"What happened?" I ask innocently. 

"Atti got a little fire happy when showing some human children a firework show." Wyatt glares at Atti.

"I was just keeping the little ones happy, I just need to work on my aim," he winks at me.

"Yeah, hitting the stables wasn't the best idea," Wyatt says dryly.

"Are the horses okay?" I ask, feeling worried.

"None were in there, thankfully it was being cleaned out. No one was hurt, but it took a while to put it out because it was magical," Wyatt glares at Atti and comes over to kiss me gently.

"How is training?" he asks. I watch as he turns my arm over and looks at the cut.

"Uneventful," I mumble as I look over at my bag. Milo chooses that moment to poke his head out covered in chocolate and grins at me before going back.

Yep, Wyatt isn't going to like our new roommate.