Forever After

Chapter 16

“So, now what are we doing?” she asked, tapping her toe in a steady rhythm, almost as if keeping time. She looked like she could pounce at any moment. And I suspected she'd pounce at me. Her expression seemed to always get a bit meaner when her face turned my way.

“Spy on that werewolf den again. You remember that, don’t you?”

“Yeah, the first night I was on your watch.” 

I looked at her, surprised.  “Is that the first time you picked me up?”

“Yeah, why?” Her face hardened up, as if daring me to say something she didn't like.

“Damn, you suck." 

Trying not to think of the paranoia and anxiety her little spying gig awakened in me, I sneered at her, teasing her. It wasn't a good idea and I certainly wasn't trying to get a rise out of her. Honest. But still, I couldn't seem to help having a little fun at her expense. 

"That was the first time I noticed someone was following me. I thought I'd been slipping but apparently I hadn’t. You’re going to have to practice your tailing skills. We’ll be hunting werewolves when I’m not working and you have to be extra quiet to stalk them because they have much better ears than humans. Not to mention their sense of smell, which is probably their most effective asset. You've got to make sure you're clean. Vampires don’t actually give off a whole hell of a lot of scent if they're careful. Almost all the scent we give off is what we pick up from humans or our surroundings.”  

  “Really? I didn’t know that.” 

Still couldn't figure out why, though. You'd think we'd give off a scent same as everything else, but nope. I suspected it had something to do with how our bodies regulated themselves. Much of a human's scent is emitted through its pores. Sweating, for example. Maybe we just didn't sweat chemicals that were easily scented.

“Yeah, and if I’d had any intention of getting close enough to be smelled by one, I wouldn’t even be here tonight because we just went hunting and we never bothered to shower after cooking. It's also a good idea to only wash with unscented soaps and shampoos for the same reason. We’ve got human stench all over us right now," which was burning my nostrils. 

Vampires might not have as good a nose as werewolves but I never could tolerate the smell of cologne and those dudes wore it in spades. 

"This will be a great opportunity for you to concentrate your senses, though,” I continued. We got to the end of the line. No more road. We’d have to run from here. “Come on, Justine. Out of the car.” 

After she got out, the abrasive beep told me the car was secure. Pocketing the keys, I headed in the direction of the den at nowhere near my max speed. I stopped several times because Justine wasn’t keeping up yet. Not that I expected her to. It could take years for a vampire to fully come into their strengths, and never if they didn't train. She was moving fast, though. Too fast.

Stopped, waiting for her to close the distance, I’d say, “You’ve got to learn to build those muscles, Justine. Can’t build them if you don’t work them. Come on, you should be able to do this in half the time.” Okay, so that was a lie. She was doing pretty well for a newbie. Faster than I expected, really.

The trip took a half hour longer than normal.  We showed up at the edge of the clearing, Justine panting heavily and eyeing me like I was the sludge on the coffee filter you threw out afterwards. 

What could I say? I was a slave driver. Besides, she'd thank me later.

“All right now, Justine. See that second story window, try to see into it.” 

I pointed out a solitary second story window on the left side of the front of the building. Even if she couldn't see it, I could at least start helping her forget her ordinary human limits. That was the plan here. Half the battle was getting your mind to realize the old rules didn't apply anymore. Frequently, a new vampire's mind could prevent her from reaching her full potential simply because the mind viewed it as impossible. Sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Looking at the window then looking back at me with her mouth gaped open, which was an entirely new expression for her, she said, “But that’s over 400 yards away! I can’t see into that window! I'd need a scope for that!” 

Well, sure you did back when you were human. Maybe even now. But a few months from now? Maybe a year or two depending on how the change went? You bet. 

It was easy for me. All it took was a moment's concentration and I saw an armoire, a brown door and some butt-ass ugly art on the wall, which I had no desire to learn the origin of.

“Yes, you can," I said, only really lying about the when. "It’s easy. Just concentrate, do it and tell me what you see." 

With any luck, she'd see a bit further than normal. 

"I’ll know if you’re correct because I can see it as well.” 

She looked at me for a bit with a mopey look on her face that turned mean. 

“Well, come on now. You can’t see that window by looking at me.” I pointed a finger at the window once more.

She sighed the sigh of the martyred and looked toward the window. She tried squinting and scrunching up her face, but didn’t seem to make any progress. 

“This isn’t working. I can’t do this! It's not possible,” she growled. Her short temper was fraying at lightning speed and an image popped in my head of a fuse for an explosive lit and counting down to destruction.

 I tried not to visibly sigh and keep my composure and patience, what with hers holding on by a thread. “Relax your face and concentrate on the window. Put all of your awareness into looking at that window. Then you’ll see it as closely as you wish.” 

Or not. These types of things took time to develop and everyone was different. One vamp might get one enhanced sense fairly early but take months or years to develop the strength or pick up the strength and speed right away but have trouble smelling or registering sights and sounds at the speeds required for fast travel. It was different for everyone.

She sighed again but the sound seemed strained, like she was contemplating homicide, specifically mine. “Fine. I’ll try it.” This time, after about a minute, she fell over backwards and said, “Whoa!” 

How far away did she see, I wondered to myself.

“I said you could do it.” I smiled down at her while she lay prone on the ground, slightly stunned. 

“Now this time don’t panic. This is why we do this in situations where it’s not vitally important you do well. Reactions like that could mean your death in the wrong circumstances. Not to mention you haven’t gotten up to speed yet. I would suggest that, while I’m at work, you go for runs. Go at normal human speed through town and go as fast as you can once out of human residence. Understood?”

“Certainly. I got a lot to learn, don’t I?” she said, resigned to the idea of being stuck in a world completely alien to her and now having to align herself with an individual she would've just as soon killed on sight not so long ago. 

I wondered how much of this she was accepting and how much she was just pretending to, like a wild cat waiting for the perfect moment to pounce, once the prey let its guard down.

“Well, yeah, but you’re coming along nicely.  It'll take time to get used to things, like feeding and using your abilities to their maximum potential. But, overall, you’re doing very well for having been turned a few weeks ago.” 

I reached my hand out to her to help her up.  It was a futile gesture since she could easily get up on her own, even with hands tied behind her back but, perhaps, it was a gesture of friendship or maybe even faith. 

“Now, let’s try that again without the falling over bit.”

She smiled at me, more confident than before. Again, the smile was more of a grin, one that always made me a bit nervous. “Okay,” she said and the grin grew. But she didn't accept my hand.

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