IMPRESS.

Chapter Sixty-Three: Teach Me, Master

PART 1.

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"You know what I like about this place," Preston suggestively smirked, stepping towards my direction and drawing my attention from our surroundings, the training facility to him.

I knitted my eyebrows together wondering why Preston was smirking like a crazy person all of a sudden and began to step back. "W- Wh- what do you like about it?"

Why was I getting hot? Why was I stuttering? Most of all, why was I losing my breath the closer he got to me.

Preston cocked his head to the side, looking me up and down as he continued to step towards me with that same smirk of lunacy...

"Well," His darkening eyes travelled back up my body and found mine as soon as my back hit the wall... Damn.

I nervously breathed out when Preston slapped his hand down on the wall beside my head, "everyone knows not to come down here at this hour, everyone but you."

My eyes widened slightly, my palms grew sweaty and I was beginning to mentally question why I was feeling flustered in Preston's presence all of a sudden.

I wasn't flustered this easily before, I would blush but not at all this much. This was a new level, this was a completely different me right now.

"Getting scared?" Preston startled me by blowing and trapping a loose strand of my hair between his fingers and gently tucking it behind my ear.

I frantically shook my head and smiled defensively, "no... what makes you say that?"

Preston placed his other hand on the other side of my hand, trapping me entirely. "You're in my territory Natalya," he huskily whispered into my ear and I worriedly pursed my lips.

Shrugging hesitantly I cleared my throat, shaking any weird thoughts of Preston ever hurting me from my head and replacing them with piles of confidence.

"This," I waved the finger he'd not long ago put a ring on in his face and smirked myself, "means we share and..."

Preston hung his head low, laughing out loud momentarily before staring into my eyes again, "and tell me Natalya Andrea Ascelyn, what else does that ring mean?"

I won't lie and say I didn't almost swoon when Preston said my full name in his dark and dangerous demon voice.

Pretending to think about the answer, I looked up and twitched my nose in fake thought. Although, eventually I looked back down and replied, "it also means you'll never hurt me."

Feeling my shoulders relax after saying that, Preston's smirk turned into a smile of reassurance as he cupped my cheek and kissed my forehead, "I'm glad you know," he mumbled against my head.

Seconds after processing his words and feeling my heart beat at a healthier rate, Preston finally stripped off his mask of threat and backed up.

"But on a serious note, every single person in this castle knows not to come down here at this hour, unless given permission or unless they are asking for a death wish," Preston informed and I nodded with a pout of interest.

"So I guess I'm an exception," I pointed to myself and he winked, "of course, since you're mine you can do whatever and go wherever you want."

I was flattered by that, that I hadn't realised I'd been grinning at my ring for too long. I was Prestons... Natalya Andrea Sterling-Ascelyn... It had a nice ring to it actually.

"I'm glad you like it, it suits you... really brings out your big brown eyes," Preston stole my hand after making me blush again and intertwined it with his before leading me to a new position.

"But yeah back to training, like I said before, these dummies will be your beginning targets and then when I think you're ready, we will take it up a notch, okay?" Preston released my hand and led my focus to the targeted dummy we were both facing.

I narrowed my eyes at the dummy, glaring at it like it was my biggest challenge.

Which it was. "Okay, how should I start?"

Preston crossed his arms looking at the dummy and back at me in thought, "I want you to set the dummy on fire, without setting anything else alight and that includes me."

I sucked in my breath... wow, that sounded like mission impossible since recently my abilities were lacking.

The only thing that made me believe I could do it and the only thing I was relying on was the daily dose of Nixon I had taken this morning, before leaving the flask in Preston's room.

"Fine," I exhaled stretching my hands out and then bringing them to fists to my chest whilst glaring at the dummy.

Think Natalya. You can do this. You've done it before so why is it difficult now... yeah why is it difficult now? Why did I feel less powerful even though I knew if I tried harder I could possibly control fire, wind, ice and my visibility?

Why did I feel weak and vulnerable even though I could hypnotise with my "said" beauty? It made no sense to me.

I closed my eyes trying to get hold of the fire I knew was brewing inside of me somewhere.

And when I thought I'd done it, I reopened my eyes and there, there stood the dummy still intact, unmoving and brand new.

I groaned in frustration, and humiliated, I forced myself to look up at Preston who didn't stare back at me with empathy or judgement but concentration, as if thinking of a solution to my problem.

"I can see that you are trying, but you need to try harder, you can't give up just like that," He advised and I frowned knowing that no matter how hard I would try, nothing would happen.

I nodded anyway, "I'll try again but don't expect anything more."

"You can do it," Preston assured me, "I've seen you do it before."

He believed in me too much, he believed in me more than I did myself. Preston's voice was slow, soothing and patient and his eyes were sending me the encouragement I needed.

I looked back at the dummy and clenched my fists, breathing in harder as I concentrated more than before. I then closed my eyes and seconds later, I was envisioning an orange and blue flame.

"Keep going," I heard Preston's voice echo in the back of my mind and smiled whilst the imagined flame grew bigger.

I was almost there, I literally felt the fire at my fingertips, heating my skin and blazing in my bloodstream.

But,

before I could get there...

my knees hit the ground first... and I found myself collapsing to the floor and gasping out when pain violently struck my lower abdomen.

For a scary moment, what I had envisioned wasn't an orange or blue flame, but a black one, one that dripped ink and roared so violently that I could've sworn I'd seen a completely new reflection of myself.

A petrifying reflection that didn't show me as I am now, but what I would have become if I had kept going and hadn't collapsed to the floor...

Preston literally flashed to my aid in a cloud of black smoke, carefully lifting me from the floor in a panicked manner, "Natalya, baby, are you okay? What happened?" Preston frantically asked, supportively holding me up even when I had restored my own balance.

I ran my hand down my face, my vision clearing from the blur it had become and then shook my head up and down. "Yeah yeah, I think I just dug in too deep," I responded more to my own thoughts than to him.

"You are trembling," Preston observed sliding his hands down my arms and to my shaking fingers, "did you see something?"

I glanced up at Preston, stunned at how easy it was for him to read me in my traumatised state, "I think I did," I shakily said under my breath.

Preston pulled me into his embrace, protectively holding me to his chest, resting his head on top of mine and stroking the back of my head.

"What did you see?" Preston didn't hesitate as he curiously asked, his warm embrace and voice succeeding in bringing me to ease.

I gulped keeping my eyes wide open, in fear of not wanting to re-picture what I'd just seen.

"It was strange," I started, "at first it was just a normal orange flame I saw, but then when the pain struck in my lower half, it suddenly changed to black and for a few seconds the flame roared, dripping a thick ink and I saw-"

I involuntarily whimpered and Preston tightly hugged me back to his chest, "-I saw myself, but not like this..." I admitted unsurely, "I looked angry, very angry. I looked insane, evil," I revealed, "I had a deadly glint in my eye Preston, the darkness was there but I couldn't control it."

"-Why are you scared about that?" Preston abruptly asked and I furrowed my eyebrows, registering his defensive and pretty abrupt question.

I was scared because that had never happened before, the darkness was so close to taking over me and I wasn't ready to handle it. What if I ended up like my grandmother Andrea? What if I ended up like my mother?

What if I turned out like I had envisioned just now, someone who was aroused by killing, someone who got a thrill from seeing others suffer, someone like Zac, or even someone like Preston.

As much as I loved Preston, I had to be aware that he was a murderer, he'd told me himself, he liked to kill but I expected that from his kind. Demons weren't civilised people, but me, a human, it was forever expected to be the victim.

Which is one of many reasons why I didn't want to be a villian, I didn't want to be a monster.

The thought scared me.

So then why did I lie and reply next with, "it doesn't scare me, it shocks me."

Why did I lie to Preston... There was no logical answer unless I accepted that I was lying to myself.

"Do you want to keep going or should we stop?"

That question made me think. If I stopped now and if what I'd seen was my future then being able to control my abilities was a must, it wasn't something I could simply postpone.

If I am to tame the darkness to come, I have to be ready, therefore my answer is, "I want to keep going."

I pulled away from Preston's embrace as a spark of victory ignited in his eyes, awe and approval also clear in the ignition as he gazed at me.

"Good," he said keeping his hand firm on my waist, "but this time I'll guide you, from behind."

There was an instant storm of butterflies in my stomach that flood to my heart and made it flutter. My eyes opened a little more in excitement when Preston snaked his way behind me and propped his chin on my shoulder. "Don't worry about falling this time, I'll only catch you."

I bit my bottom lip trying to cover up my giant grin and shook my hands to snap myself back to reality.

Ok.

I'll try again.

Third time is always a charm, right?

"Don't try to imagine that flame again, instead, imagine someone is trying to hurt someone you love..." Preston softly guided, "that could be anyone, your brother... your dead parents... your bestfriend... me..."

I rolled my eyes at how slyly he'd slipped himself in the list of people I loved. However, why the hell did I feel like he'd forgotten to say someone vital in that list?

It seemed day by day my mind was shrinking because I could barely answer anything to do with my own heart and mind anymore.

"Have you got it in your head?" Preston asked and I nodded.

I was imagining him... and for some reason, I imagined Zac, as in Prince Zachary Beaumont of Asten yes but I have no idea why.

And I had no idea who was hurting who? Was Zac hurting Preston because that made me really angry or was Preston trying to hurt Zac because that too made me...

Mad?

"Whats your scenario?" Preston was once again curious and I tried my best not to tense up and show I was confused by my own imagination.

"You," Preston smugly grinned, "and Zac," at that his grin was gone, "he is trying to hurt you," and it was back again.

But was it really that way around or was Preston trying to hurt Zac? I really couldn't come to terms with the scenario I was imagining.

"How do you feel about that?" Preston amusedly asked, very satisfied that I had imagined him and not my brother, dead parents or best friend.

"Angry," I said.

Preston buried his nose in my neck, taking in my exotic scent (from the body wash I'd used earlier) and inhaling at my skin, "that's all?"

He was making me heat up again, especially at the cheeks, "and really pissed."

"And are you going to let the bad prince hurt me?" Preston was now kissing his way up back to my ear, creating a wet and tingly trail across my skin.

I balled my fists further imagining the scenario that kept changing from Zac hurting Preston to Preston hurting Zac, confusing me and making it harder to choose when to attack.

"No, he is not going to touch you," I reassured, although I was really questioning whether the you I had spoken referred to Preston or Zac.

Ugh, life is stressful.

"I have to say, you are really turning me on Natalyaaa," Preston rolled my name off his tongue, flirtatiously mumbling against my ear and forcing me to flutter my eyes shut in order to process how sexy he sounded.

When I felt Preston's lips press against my skin again, the scenario stopped changing and what I saw was vividly clear.

Zac was strangling Preston and... Hell no!!

Who the hell did Zac think he was touching Preston like that?!!

Arghhhh, it was provoking me to an extreme that had me feeling resentful towards Zac. My temper was rising and came to the brink of explosion.

Somewhere, some place I heard Preston's voice continuously calling my name and my instincts mistook it as calls for help from the Preston in the scenario I was imagining.

That simple mistake made my heart race faster than vampire speed.

Soon enough the dummy I was facing morphed into the version of Zac that I'd envisioned hurting Preston, and I just couldn't hold back anymore.

I blasted the real Preston across the training facility, far away to safety after removing his lips from my skin, stripping his arms from around me and banishing his hands from my waist.

Immediately after, I found myself squinting and marching towards the dummy disguised as Zac. Alongside the murderous squint and glint I sent the dummy's way, came the sparking and buzzing pendant on my Nixon necklace.

The gem was an electrifying royal purple which meant my abilities were in full ignition, and they had bad intentions to destroy the dummy metres away from me.

When I went to lift my hand, a bolt of ice had already struck the dummy in the chest which meant it had struck the imaginary Zac in the heart and punctured him.

But that wasn't all that was left of me, a storm was brewing inside of me and once my hand made it into the air with my palm wide open, a ruthless hurricane suddenly broke the dummy from its stand, breaking it from it nails and ripping it from its straps.

I wickedly smirked when the face I had imagined for the dummy changed from Zacs to Aunt Roslins.

The change of face gave me the extra motivation to allow the fire I had felt before spill into my bloodstream and spiral out of my system.

It was like a ticking time-bomb, the way the dummy set on fire for not longer than ten seconds, before combusting in the air and falling to ashes.

I admit the death of imaginary Aunt Roslin brought me light, justice and some kind of peace. But, the death of imaginary Zac brought me nothing but regret, tears and excruciating pain that then brought me to my knees again and had me crying out.

"You did it!! How come you are crying?" Preston said, wowing in astonishment after he'd come running from the other side of the facility where I'd blasted him.

I sniffed up as Preston's words repeated in my head, how come you are crying?

Yeahhh... why was I crying because I'd killed a fake version of Zac? Why did that hurt me so much when he'd practically killed me once before?

Why was I starting to think of Zac so much?

"I have no idea," I sighed, burying my head into my hands before giggling, "I'm a mess."

"No, you are unique... I'm proud of you," Preston crouched down and pulled me back into what felt like an everlasting hug, "I knew you had it in you."

***

"Natalya Ascelyn..."

At the sound of my name being called by a familiar woman's voice, I halted in my steps.

Before I could turn around and meet with eyes of the voice, Preston possessively gripped my wrist, in a way that screamed don't turn around.

I put my other hand to his cheek and faintly smiled to reassure him that I would be perfectly fine with his mother.

Why was he so worried about leaving me alone with her? She seemed harmless.

"If she does anything, anything to hurt you, call my name and I'll be back before the next breath you take," Preston wrapped his fingers around the hand I had to his face and brought it down to his lips.

He kissed my fingertips, leaving his mark before sending his mother a cold and venomous glare and leaving our presence.

"Lady Sterling," I said back, walking towards her with a new found courage, "or Angelina, which one did you say you prefer again?"

I couldn't help but clock the lingering frown on Angelina's face as she watched her son leave the corridor.

Her frown soon turned into somewhat of a sincere smile when her eyes landed back on me, a sincere smile that didn't resemble the forced, tight and hostile one that was plastered on Queen Melisandre's face constantly.

"Alina, but Angelina is fine," she responded although most of my attention was on how much her piercing grey-silver eyes were sinking into my soul.

Preston's mother Angelina Sterling was a lost angel, I had thought this before but she really was. Her look alone was visually pleasing to the eye, her dark straight to wavy hair made all her angelic features pop.

Her snow white-like skin made mine appear browner than usual. "You are really beautiful, I see why he took a liking in you."

'He' as in her son Preston. But damn, she beat me to it, I was about to gush about how gorgeous she was.

"Thank you, so are you," I pursed my lips trying not to grin or get big-headed at the compliment.

"The aura you give, it's rare just like he said... a human with a dark soul, how extremely fascinating..." Angelina held my chin, furrowing her eyebrows and analysing my face with her mind-blowing silver eyes.

Even though Preston's mother was invading my personal space, I didn't feel uncomfortable. In fact, her touch didn't feel at all foreign, I felt comfort in her presence like I did in my own mother's presence once upon a time.

"I don't understand what that means?" I sighed, "I keep hearing those same words human with a dark soul, what does that exactly mean?"

I know it had something to do with the "darkness within me" the darkness I'd seen not long ago, but why was it such a big deal for demons?

Angelina's smile slowly dropped and a frown took its place again, her warm hands found my own and her body momentarily tensed.

"The walls have ears, follow me and I'll speak honestly," Angelina waited for the slightest nod of the head from my part before pulling me off a different direction from which her son had walked.

What was so secretive about what she had to say that she had to lead me to a different room? What was so forbidden that she couldn't say out loud in front of her son or anybody at that?

I was curious.

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NEXT UPDATE COMING REAL SOON!!