Instructor Lee puts down his duffle bag in the corner of the room next to the desk after pulling out two wooden practice swords, called bokens. He throws a boken over to me. I catch it easily in my right hand by the hilt.
I watch nervously as he adjusts the clothing of his traditional garb. He lifts his boken from the ground using his feet, swinging it into the air and catching it in his right hand by the hilt. “Then let’s begin.”
For an older man barely 5 feet tall, he moves extremely fast. Before I am able to raise my sword in defense, he kicks me in the chest, knocking me on the floor and is standing over me, offering me his hand.
He throws my boken back to me. “Shall we try that again? Make sure you keep your body weight centered. This will allow you to keep your balance and you will also be quicker on your feet.” He continues to lecture me as we circle around each other.
He comes at me again, but I am ready this time. His blows seem to be coming from every direction. I use all my senses to stay barely ahead of his attacks. After several minutes of constant, high-speed attacks, he finally backs away and lowers his sword.
“Good. You have been practicing.” He praises me with a smirk on his face.
I look him over and he hardly looks like he is sweating. I, on the other hand, am drenched in sweat from head to toe. My feet are even slippery against the vinyl mat, forcing me to wipe the bottoms of my feet on my sweat pants to dry them. The hair that has escaped my thick, dark ponytail is sticking around the edges of my face. I try to swipe my hair off my face with no success.
Instructor Lee is staring at me with a studious look on his face.
I know that look. I
hate
that look. Whenever he has that look on his face, I usually end up sore for days and spend hours in ice baths to slow down swelling.
I think to myself.
“I think you are ready to move on. Your technique can still use some refining, but that will come with more practice. For now, I think we should move on to more challenging and unique weapons.” He says as he moves to his duffle bag in the corner.
“Are you serious? We have only been working with the bokens for a few weeks. Do you think I’m ready to move on?”
“You are a fast learner Jess. You are one of my best pupils. I believe you will be fine. You should have more confidence in your abilities. Maybe if you did, you would not move so slowly. You would also learn to take more advantage of opportunities to attack me, not just defend against me.”
I am not sure what to say. Believing I can move faster than what I currently am is completely different from it happening that way. I know I am half-vampire, half-angel, but it is not as if I am born with the knowledge of what abilities I should have. My instructors often tell me that I should be able to move so fast that it would look like I disappeared and reappeared somewhere else. I assume they get this information from my aunt since they are human, but hearing what I am capable of doing and knowing how to do it are two very different things.
My aunt informed all my instructors that I am a vampire, even though most humans are not aware of the existence of vampires. They accepted the opportunity to train me in secret as a challenge for themselves. No one except my aunt and me knows that I am not only half-vampire, but that I am half-angel too. That makes me some sort of freak the vampires want to drain dry and the angels wish did not exist.
There is nothing like both sides of your heritage rejecting you to get your blood boiling.
Then again, my human Aunt Maddy doesn’t treat me much better. She treats me as if I’m an abomination too. If it were not for my parents putting stipulations in their will on the money she would receive upon their deaths, I would probably be in foster care or dead. The conditions they setup require my aunt to make sure she educates me with tutors and receive all types of self-defense training from the time I could walk until I am eighteen, or she wouldn’t receive a dime of their money. My parents’ lawyer comes by once a month to ask me personally if my aunt is providing me with tutors for my education and that I am receiving the specified training as dictated in the will. As much as my aunt despises me, she wants my parents’ money badly enough to put up with me for 17 years. Since they left their money to her for my upbringing, instead of me, I put up with her crap until I can figure out a way to make it on my own.
“Jess, are you paying attention?” Instructor Lee asks.
His question snaps me out of my thoughts. “Not really, but does it matter? You are just going to beat the crap out of me anyway.”
“I would not be able to beat the
crap
out of you if you would keep your mind on the task and try a little harder.” He argues his point. “Part of the speed comes from your mind. If you believe you can move faster than the eye can see, you will. This is a method believed and practiced in most martial art forms. I think this will greatly apply to you in order to unlock your potential. Get a bag of blood; gather your strength and we’ll try again.”
Grudgingly, I make my way to the mini-fridge. I take out a bag of blood and slam the door shut. I toss the blood in the microwave on top of the mini-fridge and press the 30-second button.
I hate blood when it is cold. It is drinkable, but I like mine on the slightly warmer side.
The microwave beeps. I take the bag out, shaking it a couple of times to mix the blood and extend my fangs.
I see Instructor Lee acting as if he is not watching me, but I can tell he is. I turn slightly so he can’t see me pop the bag onto my fangs. I suck the blood through my fangs straight from the bag. Normally, I would drink the blood from a cup, but I am all out of niceties today.
After the bag is empty, I remove it from my fangs and toss it into the trash. Retracting my fangs takes a little more concentration, since I have only had them come in about a couple of years ago. I close my eyes and think,
Retract.
I can feel them go back into my gums.
My instructor apparently decides that I have had enough time to recover. “Feeling better? Maybe now you can lose the attitude and we can get back to work.”
Have I had an attitude?
I wonder to myself.
“You know, I have been feeling a little more moody lately, but I was thinking it was due to the black, blue, purple, green, and yellow bruises all over my body. Maybe a day or two of rest to allow my body to heal might change my attitude. What do you think?” My voice is dripping with sarcasm.
Since my aunt rations my blood, I am unable to heal as fast as I could, than if I were able to drink as much blood as my body needs to heal all the damage inflicted on me by my trainers.
“I think you ought to stop complaining, suck it up, and get back to work.” He demands. “Come over here.”
I walk over to him obediently as he reaches into his bag and pulls out two daggers the size of my forearm.
“Your aunt wishes that our training accelerate to include more deadly weapons. You will be learning to use these daggers and I will be teaching you attack moves from now on, instead of defense.”
“Why?” I ask.
“You may ask
her
, after our training is over. For now, I want you to concentrate on the moves I will be showing you.”
Aunt Maddy must want to make sure I have completed all of the fight training listed in the will. The lawyer has told me that she will not receive the remainder of my parents’ estate and will be required to pay all the money she has received from their estate to me, if I haven’t learned everything I am supposed to by the time I am eighteen. I have no doubt that she has every intention on kicking me out on the street after she receives the last check from the lawyers.
I speculate internally.
Hours later, now cut, harboring more bruises on my body, sweaty, and tired, I watch my instructor leave my basement. He is happy with the progress we have made today. I can tell by the pleased expression on his face.
Crawling with exhaustion, I climb into the shower using hot water only. Steam fills the room as the water from the powerful showerhead assaults my body, stinging my new cuts. When the water begins to cool, I turn off the shower, dry off, dress, and return to the mini-fridge for more blood to heal most of the punishment I received tonight.
Three bags of blood later, more than my allotted daily amount according to my aunt, I fall on to the bed in the corner of the room. I am asleep before my head hits the pillow.
Chapter 2
My mind shuts down. It is only when I am completely exhausted can my Guardian Angel enter my dreams. Any other time, my active mind prevents her from entering my dreams, or so she tells me.
My Guardian Angel is a beautiful woman. She has dark brown eyes; long, straight, dark brown hair, and mocha skin. Her features resemble mine. She looks taller than my teenage, 5’7”, slender frame, but I often think of her as my mother since I do not remember her. The only thing my aunt tells me about her sister, my mother, is that she was beautiful but stupid for getting involved with a vampire. Seeing how my aunt is around 5’8” and about 300 pounds, I can imagine her being jealous of my mother if she was beautiful. That could even account to why she is so cruel to me.
My Guardian Angel’s urethral body floats over to stand in front of me. I notice my dream body is still in my basement room and in my pajamas. My physical body is lying in the bed.
She smiles brightly at me. “Hello sweet Jessica. The time is coming soon when I may not be able to guide you anymore. You’re almost ready to begin your life as the unique woman you are.”
“Yeah, yeah, so you keep reminding me. What is it today? Are you here to tell me it’s my responsibility to save the world?” I mutter sarcastically.
“No, that is not your responsibility, but it could be.” She replies ominously.
“What could be?” I ask, surprised by her reply.
“You could take on the responsibility to save the world if that is what you want to do. If you do decide you want to save the world, your life will be in much more danger than it is right now.”
I give her a puzzled look. “Why do you think I am in danger?”
“You are a special child with special gifts. Many beings of all types would covet your gifts. I am here to teach you about yourself and what you are capable of becoming.”
“What do you mean?” My frustration is growing.
“You are half-angel, half-vampire. Because you are half-angel, you have all of the abilities that come with being an angel. You are truly immortal. You will age until your body reaches maturity, usually around age 25, then you will no longer age.”
“Yes you could, but it would not require a transfusion. A pint of blood or less would probably be sufficient.” She answers confidently. “But you must be careful because the humans cannot know what you are. We angels have found that humans can be cruel and relentless when it comes to something they do not understand, despite our good intentions.”
“Your angel half overrides your vampire half. You will not be able to create a vampire using your blood. If a human receives your blood, they will not become a vampire. You could consume blood to accelerate healing, as all vampires do, but the blood that runs through your veins has all the properties of an angel.” She explains.
“Oh, okay.” I nod in understanding.
“Angels are capable of shape shifting. As an angel, you will have the ability to shift your shape to any animal you can think of, but angels have only one human form. Also, when you change your shape, your animal form will always be white.”
She smiles patiently. “There are such things as white bears. They call them polar bears. As far as squirrels, you would become a white squirrel.”
My Guardian Angel continues. “We don’t have much time left today to talk about shifting, because I must tell you about your vampire half. As you already know, you will have the thirst for blood as all vampires do. Your aunt should be able to help you find blood if your thirst increases. A vampire’s blood thirst depends on how badly damaged their body is, their age, and how much power the vampire uses. As half-vampire, you have the ability to heal any wound made to you, except the removal of your head or heart. Any limbs or extremities will grow back if removed. This process will be painful, no doubt, but the information is valuable. As half-angel, you have the ability to go into the sunlight. Not all vampires are able to go into sunlight without accumulating power that comes after hundreds or thousands of years undead. You do not have to wait or accumulate power to have that ability given to you from birth. Your eyesight, hearing, strength and speed will continue to increase until you have fully matured.”