He sat thoughtfully for a few moments and then said, "Tell this tale to no one else. If anyone else should inquire, tell them you are simply a vampire. The more people who know the truth, the more dangerous it could be for you. I will share this wisdom with Agent Walker as well. Come with me back down to the arena. I wish to test you a little further."
I really didn't want to fight Darenthalis again. I felt bad enough for scoring the first hit on him to begin with, but I followed him nonetheless. We faced off against each other on the mat for the second time. He told me just to stand there while he tried to work some magic against me again. I watched as the blue light sped from his hand and struck me again in a shower of brilliant sparks. I watched as tiny white missiles flew from his fingertips and strike me with the same result. The same happened with the ball of fire and the lightning he casually lobbed at me as well. Then I stood as he cast a globe of shining opalescence around me and he told me to walk to him. It didn't even tickle my skin as I walked right through it and heard it pop like a massive bubble.
"I don't believe my eyes," I heard him say.
"What?"
"Over my thousand years of life, on many occasion I have had to fight every type of vampire. Never before has my magic failed me against one. Either there is something wrong with my magic, or you are just completely impervious to it. There is a young mage recruit in your class, tomorrow I will have him try, and only then will we have our answer. Come, now I want to test your speed and strength.
Moving about the arena and lifting heavy objects is how I spent the rest of the night. He ran me through a series of speed, strength, agility, and reflex tests which surprised me. Not with the test themselves, but at how well I did. I think I surprised Darenthalis as well because after every test he gave me a little nod of approval. By the end of the night, I still hadn't eaten and resolved to go see the doctor before I went back to my dorm room.
"I think you've had enough for tonight. We still have seventeen weeks to train and test your limitations. Are there any other gifts you have I should know about?"
"I've told you everything I know, but if I make any discoveries, I'll let you know right away. Thanks for the lessons Darenthalis. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Thank you for the refresher course as well" He smiled, bowed, and bid me good night. and I made my way to the medical building for a "juice pouch" before heading back to my room for the rest of the night.
Chapter 11
I woke the next evening before sunset. I hadn't showered the night before and decided it would help wake me up. I glanced around the room and there wasn't any sign of my roommate, maybe my luck had taken a turn for the better. I stripped my clothes and wrapped my body with an oversized towel and headed down to the showers.
I showered quickly, dressed, and waited outside the door with several other recruits for Agent Walker. We didn't have to wait for long either. He opened the door to the dorm and saw most of us waiting for him. He smiled and began knocking on the doors of those recruits who weren't ready yet, and they joined the rest of us in the hall. Rose still hadn't made an appearance though, and I found myself hoping she had quit. As soon as the thought crossed my hopeful brain she came in the door to the dorm. Damn it.
"All of you had weapons assigned to you during provisioning. Please bring your side arms and your shoulder holsters. We will be starting tonight's class at the firing range." Everyone returned to their rooms including myself and Rose. I went to the closet and retrieved the boxed weapon and the holster from my closet. I didn't say anything to my roommate as she retrieved hers; I just went back out into the hall to wait for the others.
When everyone had finished we followed Walker down the path to a new building. He opened the doors and we filed in one after another. The range itself looked kind of like a bowling alley with a countertop running its length instead of the open pit areas with ball returns. Alleys ran down perpendicularly to the counter top and behind the firing area sat the control booth. A concession stand and bar would have topped the whole thing off.
Darenthalis waited for us as we entered. He told us to take our weapons out of the packaging and to sling them in our shoulder holsters. Most of the recruits had already eagerly unpacked said weapons and just slid them into the holsters. The rest of us fumbled with the boxes and wraps and finally put them away. Everyone except Rose fumbled with the unfamiliar straps of the shoulder rigs, but she put on hers with practiced ease. Apparently someone in her family (daddy) had taken her to the range before. Bitch.
I'll admit I cheated. Instead of fumbling like a fool, I stood around and watched everyone else as they successfully slipped into the harnesses. After witnessing the live demonstration I wrapped the rig around myself and clipped it into place, having to adjust the plastic buckles to tighten it enough to where it wouldn't slip. I found the whole contraption pretty damn uncomfortable. On television, most cop shows showed people with the side arm holster attached to their belts. Maybe I should invest a little of my cash into one of those.
Darenthalis directed us to individual little stalls. Someone had stacked clips of live ammunition on the counter in each stall. Safety glasses and earplugs sat right next to those. I wondered why Walker hadn't told us to grab the ones from our rooms, but didn't care. I felt nervousness and anxiety creep through my body. I had never shot a weapon before, nor did I like the idea of starting. Something told me they wouldn't just let me skip this part either.
We listened to a short safety sermon delivered by Darenthalis as well as a set of instructions on how to raise our hands when the clip clicked empty. Darenthalis or Agent Walker would come up behind us and monitor our progress on changing out the clips. Seemed like a plan to me. I had no idea what to do anyway. He demonstrated how the trigger safety worked on the Glock 22 and 23, as we had been issued both as a group depending on our hand size. I didn't even know which one I had until I noticed the 23 etched into the cool matte black weapon.
He barked an order for us wait for one of them to come and help us initially load the gun. Once loaded we would be given the go ahead to start firing at the paper targets at the midpoint of the range. He told us to put our safety glasses and earplugs on and wait.
Ten recruits and our two instructors donned earplugs and yellow lensed safety glasses. My stall sat smack dab in the middle of the range, so I would be one of the last to start firing. Walker started at the recruit closest to the entrance, and Darenthalis began at the other end. A few moments after they started, a loud pap, pap, pap noise echoed throughout the room, only slightly dampened by the foam plugs in my ears. The noise continued until I felt a tap at my shoulder. I turned my head and found Darenthalis behind me.
"Load your weapon, Ashlyn," he hollered over the noise of several firearms being discharged. I pushed a button I knew wasn't a safety since the Glock didn't have one. The empty clip discharged from the bottom of the handgrip into my left hand. I slapped the empty down on the counter and loaded a full clip in its place.
"Very good, begin firing," he hollered once again.
I held the weapon in both hands like I had been shown during weapons safety training and sighted down the barrel. I immediately felt something wrong and I couldn't put my taloned finger on what it was. As a rule, vampires can cease to move. When I say this, I mean it literally. We have no need to take a breath, our hearts don't "beat" like a normal human's and we don't even need to blink our eyes. There is no movement of our bodies we don't consciously control, but for the life of me, I couldn't hold the weapon still. My hands weren't shaking, but I couldn't keep the weapon from drifting to the right or left.
"Darenthalis, I can't do it," I called over my shoulder.
"What do you mean child?"
"I can't hold the weapon still."
"Impossible, with your abilities, you should be able to carve your initials in the target’s chest. What's wrong?"
I didn't like the feeling of the weapon in my hand. It felt strange and alien in my hands and I wanted to drop it. If I could sweat, I would have. I could feel my body start to shake and I wanted to leave the range. I had to do it though; the FBI required marksmanship for graduating the academy. I had to do this, but I didn't have to like it.
"I'll try again," I said and tried to fire the weapon.
The first shot went wide of the target by a foot. I could see the bullet as it sped down the range and struck the concrete wall behind the target. I tried to move the gun to the left and fire again with a little better result. The bullet struck the paper target, but not within the figure of the body, just in the white area. Uh oh.
"Try again, Ashlyn. You can do this," he called from behind me again.
I had an inspiration. I couldn't hold the gun straight enough to shoot where I wanted to go because the gun felt unnatural in my hands. I knew then I would probably never fire it while working for the FBI, but I had to master it enough to pass the firearms portion of the academy. I let go of the gun with one hand and left it in my right and brought the gun down to my side. I ignored Darenthalis' questions behind me and looked at the target in front of me. I focused in on the center of the targets heart and let the sounds of the range fade away until the target became the center of my universe.
With a snap I brought the gun up with one hand and fired. The entire action only took a fraction of a second, and I watched the bullet speed down the range and strike the target in the left shoulder. I smiled at the improvement over my last two shots, and I knew I had found a solution. I repeated my action and managed to get a group of shots going in the center of the "man's" chest. I could do this, but I could feel the strain on my body. I could feel my body wanting to be far away from the handgun; like it knew my natural armaments were far superior to the piece of manmade junk in my hand. I felt the urge to leap down the range and shred the paper target with my claws and teeth and I fought it down. I guess fighting an enemy from a distance wasn't going to be an option.
I pulled the trigger again and the gun clicked empty. I felt relief surge through me and I prayed my target practice had come to an end. My heart sank when I heard the elven instructor behind me tell me to reload. "Shit," I swore under my breath and popped the clip into my hand and slapped it down on the counter to grab a full clip. Without hesitation, I rammed the new clip in my weapon, raised it, and fired. The Glocks weren't automatic weapons, but I made it seem like one. I wanted this over and emptied the clip as fast as I could manage. I pulled the trigger in a blur of motions and tried to be careful not to pull the trigger while the semi-automatic weapon expelled the spent casing and chambered another round. I didn't know what would happen, but I knew jamming the weapon would probably be bad.
The thirteen rounds tagged the paper target one right after another and all tore through the targets torso. I hoped my best had been good enough. I wondered if I could excuse myself from target practice and just take the competency exam. I set the weapon down on the counter and spun to find Darenthalis staring at me curiously. I thought he might be angry at my automatic weapons fire, but he just looked at me like he felt sorry for me.
"The gun made you feel uncomfortable didn't it, child?" He removed his protective ear plugs.
I nodded and did the same. "I can't explain it, I hated even holding it. It wasn't until I loaded the weapon and sighted down the barrel the problem became apparent. When it's unloaded, I can hold it just fine with no problems. I don't know what to do. If I didn't think about it and just fired the weapon I could do it, but my accuracy suffers. On the other hand if I take my time and try to shoot it, I can't do it at all. Am I good enough to pass the test?"
"You'll never be on the SWAT team, but you're good enough to pass the exam, barely. I'm sorry. I've seen vampires shoot weapons before and be more than highly effective. Maybe it's something you can overcome," he said apologetically.
"I don't think so. I'll carry a gun if I have to, but I'm telling you right now, if I ever get into a situation where I need it, I'll probably never even reach for it. I'd have more luck throwing a chair or a car at an enemy."
"I bet you would," he laughed. "Head to the arena, we'll be there for the rest of the night. No administration classes today," he told me, so I made my way while the rest of the agents in training continued to unload their weapons.
* * *
I entered the gymnasium followed shortly by Darenthalis and surprisingly enough by Brian, the recruit mage. Darenthalis must have wanted to conclude his little magic experiment before the others arrived. Darenthalis muttered something to Brian and he took his place out on the edge of the blue mat.
"Face off against Brian if you would Ashlyn. I want to conclude this test as quickly as possible. Brian, please hit the young lady with whatever you've got."
Brian nodded and turned toward me with an apologetic look on his face. He brought his right hand out to his side and I saw a nimbus of light appear around the edge of his fingers and palm. Where Darenthalis' light had been blue, Brian's burned white. When his hand resembled a miniature sun he brought the hand behind his head and flung it at me with all his strength. The ball of light sped toward me with amazing speed and struck me full in the chest. He had tried so hard, I felt bad for him when it dissipated into nothingness.
"I both hoped and feared this would happen," Darenthalis spoke solemnly.
"Does this mean magic can't hurt me?"
"Not directly, no. A mage could destroy something around you, and cause harm by doing so, but any spell cast directly at your body seems to be reflected or absorbed. I can see no shield around you, so I think it is a natural talent of your body. I can deflect spells, but only if I cast a shield around me first. Count your blessings child, for it would seem you have many."