"According to studies, in comparison you've achieved already reached the peak of strength a vampire can, around their 200-ish years." Wednesday said watching Dante dead-lift 400kg with ease, and then he started squatting with it on his hands.
"Any idea of why no one's here in the gym if the tournament is close?" Dante asked as he took the bar with only one hand.
"They're not serious about these even when there's a prize big as 10 thousands dollars, and it has been watered down with each generation, in the past it was a death match with everyone fighting at the same time." Wednesday said with a flat tone as she was reading from her spellbook.
They didn't say more for 10 minutes or so, deciding each one to fall under their own thing, but they still sulked into eachother company even in silence, the cold girl only giving brief looks at the inmortal.
Her interest as she watched him working out, hid blazer was obviously off in any case he ripped it, but the main interest wasn't the way his muscles were showing everytime his sleeves riled up, her interest was in the lack of seat, red cheeks or even a heavy breathing.
"You look okay, try with more weight," Wednesday said raising her hand and with a soft murmur of her lips the weight doubled.
But it was a surprise to her when Dante kept lifting it like nothing as he kept making squatts with the bar on his back.
"It's not like it's not heavy, it's just that I learned to not show any kind of struggle, not even the unconscious ones or uncontrollable ones..." Dante responded, finally leaving the bar on the ground.
"You're hurting yourself whenever you train?" Wednesday asked in interest closing the spellbook, and in return she saw how Dante raised his sleeve to the shoulders, the obvious teared muscle healing.
That made Wednesday frown to herself, she didn't hesitate in putting more weight even when Dante could've been hurt, and even when she already has done damage to him, it was always with a reason of study and consensual, now even for her gloomy dark taste, she overstepped, but somehow her narcissistic way of living still told her to apologize.
She stood up and put a hand on his right arm, and with a murmur of Latin words together a yellow glow appeared inside Dante's skin, a pleasant glow which is normally used as a healing spell for minor injuries is now only used to soothe pain.
She kept the spell for the normal 10 seconds before it stopped, but her hand didn't leave his arm.
Dante seemed pleased thanks to the effect of the magic, but quickly nervous as Wednesday hand was still on his arm, "Something wrong?"
"You're not warm, you're likely to burn a hole on the ground if you sit." Wednesday observed as she kept her hand on his arm, it was hot to a point she felt like she was keeping her hand a few inches over a fire, slowly but surely burning her hand.
"It's normal, at least for me, I've made my body pump blood faster into my limbs, which made the flow fast enough to actually be hot like that, in contrast to you." Dante said putting his hand over hers, feeling the cold feeling of a body likely already in rigor mortis state, but he'd lie if he said he didn't like just touching her hand.
"Well, the cold embrace of death is much better than the warm of life." Wednesday said pulling her hand off him.
"I differ, I prefer being alive rather than dead." Dante responded defying her.
"They ruined death for you, thus why you prefer living, I'd say death is much better, afterall we only get to taste it once." Wednesday responded.
"If I want to feel death I'd only have to ask you to touch me." Dante said, the conversation slowly turning around in a way they both never stood as he only gave her a smirk.
"Given the circumstances, I'd say you're closer to feel death again once we find the Hyde again." Wednesday replied, even when her words seemed defensive, her tone said otherwise.
"And what about what just happened now? You just felt the need to touch me and excused yourself by taking away my ache... hm?" Dante teased as he put his hand on the part of his arm she touched earlier.
"I prefer everyone two meters away from me, that was only an apology for putting more weight on you." Wednesday said, but she didn't move away, as she only kept her eyes into his.
"But when we're in your room and you're feeling the warm thick-"
"Can you two stop!?" Enid yelled bursting open the door of the gym, her cheeks red just by hearing eachother messed up way of flirting.
"Blood..." Dante ended his sentence, but it lacked all the confidence he had earlier.
...
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...
"So... how did it go?" Ajax asked watching Dante throw golden darts at a target.
"What?" Dante raised his head to see Ajax laying on his bed, but he never stop throwing more darts as they all hit the bullseye.
"The date obviously..." Ajax sighed like he was tired of the inmortal "you sure are even slower than me when it comes to this..."
"Oh uhh that..." Dante nervously looked away in embarrassment, finally missing the bullseye by two inches.
"Don't tell me she said no." Ajax said already standing up worried.
"More like I... didn't ask her..." Dante said sheepishly while scratching the nap of his neck.
"But! We started talking a lot and got like this close!" Dante said trying to sound convincing as he put his both hands really close.
"It does not matter how close you get to the person until you do something with that closeness, and I doubt she'll do the move." Ajax said with a smile patting Dante's back trying to be supporting.
"You mean?"
"Ask her to do something you both like, or at least something you'd bear to be with her." Ajax said sitting in front of Dante.
"Hmmm..." Dante looked down in deep thoughts, but be really couldn't stop remembering the earlier interaction he had with the girl in the evening.
A phone buzz echoed in the room, which made Ajax look at his phone reading a message.
"Fuck." He muttered while he walked towards the door with a preoccupied expression.
"Something wrong?" Dante asked raising his head to look at Ajax worried expression.
"Someone put garlic bread on the fangs lunch and now all of them are in the infirmary." Ajax said reading from the message.
"Who the would do that!?"
...
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...
"Someone who doesn't want competition." Wednesday told Dante as they both walked into the school's kitchen, looking for any trace of who would've done this.
"Well in that case I'm impressed they haven't put me to sleep now..." Dante said passing my finger over the bread, his eyes squinting as he took something.
"Look what we got here..." Dante muttered as he raised the hair in the air, the black curly hair in one of the breads that wasn't served.
Wednesday closed by watching the hair intently "Must be a werewolf, only they are able to drop piles of hair the entire time and not be like Uncle Fester." She said obviously talking from experience with Enid.
"But I don't suppose you have a machine to tell us the dna of the hair and the match, neither we can go close to them since they're all ganged up together in their hall." Dante said thinking of choices with a hand on his chin.
Wednesday put the hair in her pocket as she looked up to me "I do have something to identify it."
...
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...
Enid had her eyes closed as she carefully sniffed the hair in between Wednesday's fingers.
"You know the smell?" Dante asked as he had his back on the wall.
"I do identify the tribal smell of that pack no matter what." Enid said with resentment in her voice.
"That pack?" Wednesday asked raising her eyebrow.
"There's three packs here in Nevermore, the most influential one that only allows rich snobs..." Enid kept talking as she swat away the hair from Wednesday hand, it wasn't needed after she identified the scent in particular.
"they don't follow the normal pack rules and they'll backstab eachother in the back if that gives them a little power over the other, everyone's fighting for the leadership when a pack is about the trust and supporting the eachother." Enid said, clearly upset to know her friend Yoko was poisoned and the school didn't even do anything to stop it, not even delayed the tournament until they're all better.
"Don't you want revenge?" Wednesday whispered on her ear like a demon tempting the bubbly girl.
Enid seemed conflicted with herself, looking around thinking about it, which only made Dante smile and get to the other side of Enid to whisper too "Yeah Enid, don't you want to defend your friends? Think what they'll do next once they realize there's no punishment."
"Become the avenging angel for your friends." Wednesday said, ganging up ideas on Enid's mind with Dante.
"Yes, a wrongdoing to put them in th-"
"Ok ok! I understand it guys!" Enid yelled raising her arms protectively putting distance between her and the pair who smiled, the goth girl sadistically as she already was forming a plan, and Dante because this was going to be the actually first time he was going to experience normal teenager pranking, pranking on Wednesday levels, so maybe torture in others eyes.
...
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...
Tomorrow morning, 3 hours before the competition.
"You damn menace..." Dante whispered as he saw Wednesday drop tiny hints of silver dust inside the big chug of water for everyone in the competition.
Wednesday closed the chug of water and looked at Dante with a hint of a smile "Thank you." She said.
"It was not a compliment!" Dante hushed with a whispered yell as they sneaked out of the room, they were told they would all leave to a special area for the tournament, and preparations were being made.
Both left the room and walked through the empty hallways, since everyone was getting ready most places were empty and classes were canceled.
They kept walking until they finally found Enid who was coming back from the Thisbie hall, a smile hidden under a gas mask she was wearing, she didn't wear it for the fashion, more for the whole she was even coming from that hall in particular.
"Hey there!" Enid shouted as she took off the mask, her bright smile in contrast of what she just did moments ago.
"How did it go?" Wednesday asked.
"Well I put it on their clothes and stuff, some on cellphones left in the rooms and then even their beds." Enid explained her part of the plan.
Wednesday thought of a quick plan to not neutralize the werewolves but weaken them, even when silver is a minor weakness werewolves have, ingesting a small cuantity like that will asure to cause headache and slight lost of balance.
And for the other part of the plan, Enid suggested creating a lingering scent in their things that would mess up their sense of smell, one of the senses they most rely and trust, even more than their sight in most cases.
But obviously after realizing they were weakened they'd try to identify who by smell, thus why Wednesday poured a strong scent of gasoline over us, which will be washed off just now.
"Let's go to the bathroom before someone smells us." Dante said quickly leading them to his room, which conveniently had a big bathroom, one with shower and a tub.
"Yes, I swear I'm getting drown on this smell and I was wearing that mask all the time..." Enid muttered as she massaged the sides of her head with her fingers.