The Vampire Chronicles

Training

Training

I arrived at the training center the next morning surprised to find I was actually the first one there and Lucius was late, but five minutes hadn't passed when he arrived with someone else dragging behind him.

                     "Sorry about this Samantha, I saw that you were already here and then I saw that Devin here wasn't even up yet so I had to go get him ready or we would be waiting all day. He's really not a morning person."

                   "Hey!" Devin said walking up.

               I laughed, "Don't worry Devin; I'm not a morning person either. If Sean wouldn't have set five different alarms and dragged me out of bed this morning Lucius probably would have had to come get me too."

                      "Well I should thank Sean then and send him after Devin next time. Gives me more time to get William out of bed as well. I think I'm the only morning person in this village sometimes," said Lucius. "Well, shall we begin?" he said opening the door.

                I have never done as much work as I did in that one day of training. We got an hour off just for lunch but other than that we didn't stop once. At the end of the day Lucius stood up and said, "Well done for your first day of training, but you are far from ready to face Jack Weston. We will have to train everyday for now but when as you get farther along in your training we will cut that down to only twice a week. "

    "When will that happen do you think?" Devin asked still trying to catch his breath.

     "When you are ready." Lucius responded calmly even though we could sense the annoyance in his voice. "Now go home and get some rest and I will see you here at seven tomorrow morning, and don't forget that I will since to make sure that you are awake. I will come and get you if you are not."

                Talking to Devin on the way home I learned a lot about him. He had been turned in 1912, he had been a passenger on the Titanic, he didn't get a boat so he tried to float along on the debris from the ship. He eventually went hypothermic and that's when Lucius found him. He turned him and brought him back to the village. He was here for a while, went out on his own for a while, and eventually came back to the village, and it turns out he was the second vampire with Lucius the day that Sean and I got turned.  "So that's why you looked familiar!" I told him, "I couldn't remember where I had seen you before."

                     "Oh, well yeah. Most people don't recognize the vampire who changed them. I guess that's 'cause of the eyes and stuff. Or maybe it's just 'cause of the change. I don't know. I didn't recognize Lucius at first either."

                We continued walking but this time in silence. When we reached the penthouse I said goodbye to him and reminded him to be ready tomorrow morning and then let myself in only to find Sean gone. I shrugged it off and went to go take a shower. When I came out later all comfy in sweats, Sean was back and all dressed up and ready to go somewhere.

                     "Come on!" He said, "I got us tickets to go see the show in town and I'm treating you to a fancy dinner."

                    "Oh, I don't know." I told him, "I'm tired, I was training with Lucius and Devin all day and I have to go again tomorrow and..."

                    "I already talked to Lucius and he's giving you the day off tomorrow to work on some tactics with Devin. Apparently you were better than he thought so he was going to give you the day off anyway. So come on! Let's go!"

                He's giving me the day off already? We just started. How could I get a day off of training already?  "Oh all right, but only because it's you. If it was Devin, I would have defiantly said no. You were right. He is a bit of a nut job."

                As I was getting ready I was going over something that Sean had said, 'you're doing better than he had expected.' I had missed almost every target we were aiming at. How could he give me the day off? As we were leaving I had already decided that I was going to go tomorrow even though I supposedly had the day off. Something just didn't seem right.

                I was right. I showed up early again and waited for Lucius. He showed up right on time with Devin dragging behind him. "Samantha! What are you doing here! I thought I told Sean that you had the day off."

                   "What! Why does she get the day off!" Devin said, annoyed.

                I ignored him and continued, "That's just it, I don't understand why you gave me the day off. I wasn't that good yesterday and I don't think that I should get the day off. I don't think I deserve it."

                     "Why are you questioning it?" Devin said interrupting again, "If he says you have the day off you don't question it and you stay in bed."

                     "Well I'm glad you did show up Samantha." Said Lucius ignoring Devin as well, although he did backslap his head. "I was hoping you would. It shows how determined you are to defeat Weston."

                   "So it was a test?" I asked confused.

                     "Yes, and you passed with flying colors." He said, "Now, shall we get started for today?"

                      "Why didn't you test me?" Devin asked.

                     "Because I knew you would fail." Lucius said almost jokingly.

                Devin scowled, I laughed, and we got to work.

                The next few months flew by and before we knew it we were down to one training session a week. Then the unthinkable happened.

                     "You are ready; I have nothing left to teach you." Lucius said one day after training, "You have learned everything I have to teach you, and I feel that you are as ready as you'll ever be."

                    "So that's it?" Devin asked.

                      "Yes." He replied

                      "So, when do we leave?" I asked.

                     "Tomorrow morning. I'll see you at nine a.m."