I slowly made my way up the stairs of the administration building and walked down the long stretch of hall to the end. I'd never been down the hallway before and was surprised to see 'Chief Mitchel' printed on the wall beside an open door. I slowly moved past the door, glancing inside. Mitchel was there with his eyes on his computer, his chin resting on his left hand. His office was nice. Dark colored walls and a large black desk. There were two chairs left in front of his desk that sat empty. He had a cabinet in the back of the room that was closed and a filing cabinet on the other side. He casually swung his eyes to the door and caught mine. He did a double take and held. His lips parted like he was going to speak, but I reached out and knocked on Hamilton's door across the way.
"Miss. Grayson," Hamilton beamed at me, "come on in."
I glanced back at Mitchel as he nodded once and returned to his computer.
"Have a seat." Hamilton gestured to the leather couch.
I sighed and dropped down onto the couch. There was a coffee table in front of me and a big chair across from it.
"Would you like water or anything? Coffee?"
I shook my head. "Thank you though."
He sat down, a notebook and pen in hand.
His office was different from Mitchel's. It looked like he spent a lot of time here, but I know he didn't. He came and went a lot like Mitchel did. Even if he was an ass, he was still a very highly regarded doctor and because of that, he moved from place to place. Where Dr. Harden taught, he just did the shrink thing. He helped a lot of people.
"Have you been in a psych eval before, Wren?" He asked as he pressed the record button on a small pocket-sized recorder on the table between us.
"Um," I whispered, "once after my family died."
He nodded. "With Dr. Harden?"
"Yes." I said quietly.
"So you kind of know how these work." He smiled politely.
I shrugged. "I guess. Maybe."
"Well, I'll give you a quick rundown. We just talk. He said. We can talk about your day, your friends, your feelings, your training, your teachers. We can talk about whatever you want."
"So I spill all my secrets and you just eat them up and use them against me?"
"I'm not the enemy here, Wren. I just want to help."
I nodded, but didn't respond.
"How was class today?"
"Great." I said.
"Did you learn something new?"
"I learn something new every day." I said. "The mind never stops learning."
He smiled at me. "You're right. It's constantly starving for new information. It's good you're feeding yours."
I nodded.
"I want to address some things from your past." He said. "I don't know you very well."
"You don't know me at all." I reminded him.
His smile was gentle. "You're right, I only know about you."
"How can you make decisions regarding my best interest if you only know about me?"
"Well, it's my job. I know what you've been through and with a past like yours, seven years isn't exactly enough of a timeframe to be able to let go of what happened."
"So you think I just dwell on what happened? Day in and day out?"
"Do you?"
"No."
"Do you think about it?"
"I wouldn't be human if I didn't sometimes recollect the events of that night."
He jotted something down in his notebook.
"It's normal to remember your trauma. It's only concerning when you dwell on it. I don't dwell. I just don't let myself forget about them."
"Do you think you chose this life for them or you? You could have gone off and lived a normal life."
"Both maybe." I said. "I wanted to learn how to protect myself. I wanted to be able to stop this from happening to other people. But at the same time, I find myself wanting to be just like my Dad. I want to make him proud. I want to show people that you can go through shitty things and persevere. You can become someone new."
"And that's what you've done? Become someone new?"
I shrugged a shoulder. "The girl before didn't know vampires existed. This girl now wants to battle vampires and keep people safe. I think that's someone new. Don't you?"
He stared at me for a few moments and then nodded, writing in his notebook. "What's your relationship like with Chief Mitchel?"
I paused briefly. "What do you mean?"
"The man saved your life." He smiled.
"He did."
"There's got to be something there."
"I don't know what you're referring to, but we have virtually no relationship. He's in charge of Dragon Tribe and I hope to one day be a candidate for that. That's the long-term goal, anyway. Other than that we hardly speak. We ran into each other in the hallway the other day and he gave me some pointers about my last spar and then I thanked him for choosing to sponsor me. So two conversations in passing in the last seven years."
He nodded. "He's going to be mentoring you now so you'll spend some more time together that way."
"Yeah..." I paused. "Training. Doing his job. Doing mine."
"In your terms, how would you regard Chief Mitchel?"
I glanced around the room. "Chief Mitchel."
"He's not voguing for you because you have this connection?"
"Again, we don't have a connection. He saved my life and now he's choosing to sponsor me because he thinks I'm good. If you saw someone spar well, would you think they could be a possible asset to your team if you were in a physically demanding position?"
Hamilton stared at me and then nodded slowly. He leaned forward and shut the recorder off. "You're a smart girl, Wrenlee."
"Just Wren." I corrected him.
"Wren."
There was a moment of silence as we stared at one another.
"You have a lot of hate for me."
"No," I said, "I don't know you enough to hate you. I think you're an asshole."
He laughed. "Yeah, you made that pretty clear." He sighed and straightened up. "I'm not trying to hinder your life and your goals, Wren. I'm only trying to make sure it's the best decision for the safety of yourself and others."
"I'm ready, Dr. Hamilton."
He nodded slowly. "I hope that's true."
We stared at one another for a few long moments before I cleared my throat. "Can I train now?"
He leaned forward. "Is that what you want to do?"
"Yes."
Our gazes held.
"Sure. I'd hoped our session today would last a little longer, but I know you think I'm against you. Again, Wren. I'm not. I'm here to help."
"I hear you." I said. "I just don't believe you."
"I hope to change that then." He said quietly as he signed off on a pass and handed it to me.
I stood and left the room without another word. Mitchel's office door was closed and the light was off when I walked by. I walked across campus with my head down. I dodged other students along the way and kept to myself as I moved through campus.
I jogged into the training gym and dropped my bag on the bleachers.
"Grayson," Reaper smiled at me, "nice of you to join us."
"I'm sorry." I crossed the room and handed him my pass. "I had a psych eval." I said quietly so only he could hear.
Reaper glanced up at the catwalk where Mitchel was leaning against the railing. "How did it go?" He asked.
I shrugged. "I think it went well."
Reaper squeezed my shoulder as he moved his eyes to the class working out before him. "Good." He said.
I lifted my gaze to the catwalk again and locked eyes with Mitchel. Dr. Harden put a hand low on his back drawing his attention to her.
"Alright, losers, gather around." Reaper said as he clapped his hands and rubbed them together like he had a juicy secret. "Woooo! Today is my favorite day," he said with a grin, "we may do this a couple of times in your training, but today is the first day and it's always my favorite. Today!" He yelled. "Today we play Laser Stakes."
The group cheered around me. We'd heard of it. Never seen it, but heard of it. Classes above us always bragged about how much fun it was. Most students at Briarwood counted down the days until they could play for themselves.
"For those of you who don't know what that is, Laser Stakes is a form of Laser Tag meets Capture the Flag. You're on teams and you have to work together to eliminate the threat of the other team and capture their flag. Instead of using guns, you're using stakes. The group left standing with the other team's flag, wins." He explained. "I'll be a team captain, but we'll need another." He glanced up at the catwalk and smiled. "Let's seeeee. How abouttttttt." He thought it through. "Whatya say, Chief? You wanna play?"
The group liked the idea, but Mitchel didn't respond. He just stood there and smiled at Reaper.
"Come on, Mitchellll," he grinned, "you know you want to play."
Mitchel smirked at him.
"Mit-chel," Reaper clapped, "Mit-chel, Mit-chel." The group began joining in, everyone except me.
Mitchel watched everyone as they cheered for him to join. His name carried through the room at a noise level that was slowly increasing. Mitchel sighed and removed his jacket, handing it to Dr. Harden standing beside him.
"Fine," Mitchel said, "but I got first pick." He headed down the stairs from the catwalk to the mats.
Mitchel crossed the mats, eyeing the group as Reaper said, "Fine by me."
"Grayson." Mitchel said without hesitation, his eyes swinging to me in an instant.
The room turned to look at me and I did hesitate. I glanced at Reaper and then at Mitchel.
"Let's go, Grayson. Hop to it!" Reaper grinned.
I slowly made my way over to Mitchel's side, but I refused to look at him. I looked everywhere but at him.
"I'll take Mason." Reaper said as Emmet jogged over to his side.
"Can't wait to see you eat mat, beautiful." Emmet winked at me as he passed.
"If you can catch me first." I whispered back.
The guys went back and forth picking different novices. Once they were done, we had two teams ready to go. Mitchel grabbed a vest and dropped it over his head. I watched as he effortlessly clipped the vest onto his rib cage and pulled the stake from his left side to power it up. A light blue glow coming from the stake caused the room to gasp.
"You get stabbed? You're out. You can hold people hostage. To win? You have to rescue any hostages, eliminate the threat, and retrieve the opposite team's flag. Got it?" Reaper asked.
I dropped a vest over my head and struggled with adjusting my belt to fit it to my small frame as everyone else strapped themselves in effortlessly. Mitchel reached out, hands brushing against my right side, several centimeters from my right breast, as he adjusted the clip. No one even noticed, they were so consumed with getting their vests on that they didn't even care that Mitchel was several inches from me. He snapped the strap in place, grabbed my stake, and powered it on before handing it to me.
"Thanks." I whispered as he nodded, his eyes catching mine briefly.
"Coyer, Groves, Stanley you guys are a defensive line. Take as many hostages as you can. If they get past you, it'll buy us time if they have to release hostages. But, if you let anyone past you and make me look bad? You're running laps after training for the next three weeks. Understood?" Mitchel said as they nodded. "Simon, you're small so we'll put you up to protect the flag. Martin, you're going to run the field and take out anyone coming towards our side. Jameson's your backup. Grayson-" his eyes met mine, "you're with me."
"What are you guys going to do?" Jameson asked, a little disappointed.
Mitchel smirked at him. "We're going after the flag."
The north wall of the gym parted and a course created for the game appeared. A large maize with many obstacles to leap over and hide behind stood waiting. The entire room cheered as the lights went out and blacklights lit up the course. Mitchel led us to our blue flag gleaming in the darkness. The three boys hid in defense among our flag. He sent Simon up to where the flag was as a last-minute defense in case they got past our three bruting guards.
"Thirty seconds until go!" Reaper called from his side of the course. "Then I'm coming for you, Mitch!"
"Well, I hope you've been in the gym working on it." Mitchel said as the group laughed. "I might be old, but I can still read your every move."
"Oh, we'll see about that!" Reaper said. "I got some payback comin'."
"Still mad about your first Laser Stakes?" Mitchel asked.
"Feelin' a little salty now that I'm back in this course."
Mitchel laughed. "If I remember correctly that was the ankle grab heard around the world."
Reaper laughed. "It was bullshit and you should have gotten called on that!"
Mitchel shrugged. "All's fair in love and war, honey."
"Ten seconds!" Reaper yelled.
"Watch for Mason, he'll be cocky." Mitchel said. "Norris is going to go for the flag. He'll probably sacrifice his lead guys to ensure he gets the flag. He likes to be the hero at all costs. Reaper's looking for me, there's no way he's going for anyone else. Don't let him get the best of you though. He'll take a death toll in his wake. Plus, he's sneaky."
"Can we fight?" Dellaway asked.
"Of course you can." Mitchel said. "It's encouraged."
I glanced up at the catwalk where Dr. Harden stood smiling down at us. Beside her were Dr. Walsh and Dr. Hamilton. I swallowed my fears that I would screw up in the most important training exercise of my life. Mitchel followed my eyes to the catwalk.
"It's fine. Let them evaluate. Just have my back." He said as a loud alarm sounded through the course. "Let's move."
We kept low as we ran through the course. We used the obstacles to our advantage, hiding ourselves and peeking around them for enemies. A member of the opposite team rounded our obstacle. His eyes widened as he realized who we were. Mitchel didn't hesitate, he clotheslined the guy from Dean and thrust a stake into his vest. The guy glanced down and he choked and coughed as his vest blinked and went out.
"Sorry." Mitchel frowned a little as the guy slowly got to his feet and walked off toward the catwalk exit.
We moved through the course, hiding as we went and quietly making a plan to get the flag. I saw Martin coming before Mitchel did so I put a boot to his chest giving us some space. Martin swung towards me. I caught his wrist in one hand and bent his wrist back so he would pay attention to the pain instead of me. Then I dropped to a knee and shoved my stake into the chest of his vest from below.
"Damnit!" Martin growled.
"Nice move, Grayson." Mitchel said as he passed us and headed for the next cover.
I followed after, a smile on my face as I went. Reaper slipped out from behind a wall and lunged for Mitchel. Mitchel blocked his stake and swung with his left fist connecting with Reaper's cheek. Reaper stumbled back a step and readied himself to fight. Barrett ran at me full speed, tackling me to the ground, we rolled around, both of us fighting to stay on top. I straddled her, reached back, and punched her hard in the cheek. She surged forward with her stake, but I caught her wrist and held it back. She punched me on the right side. I bent a little, the stake dangerously closing in. I pitched forward, barrel rolling away from her and getting to my feet. She hopped to her feet and readied to fight. I waited for her to make a move and she did. She came at me with a kick first, spinning around so I'd catch a left kick to my forearm. I wrapped my hand around her foot and twisted forcing her to fall to her stomach to ease the friction on her ankle. She yelped out from the ground and kicked back with her left foot catching me by surprise, her left foot connecting with my chest. I dropped her ankle and took a step back as she climbed back to her feet. She was still steadying herself when I swung and caught her chin with my right fist. Then my left on her right eye and then a solid right hook across her cheekbone. She grunted at the impact and stumbled backward. I quickly produced my stake and thrust it into her vest.
When I straightened out, catching my breath, Mitchel was smiling at me. Reaper was beside him also smiling except his vest light was out.
"Let's go, Killer." Mitchel said as he gestured to the flag hanging nearby.
I moved after him as we used obstacles to obscure our path. Emmet was guarding the flag, taking on Jameson. He struck Jameson with his stake putting his vest out. I didn't hesitate and Mitchel watched as I climbed over the top of the obstacle and dropped in with a fist. My entrance took Emmet off guard and my fist connected hard with his cheekbone. He stumbled backward but quickly regained his composure as I swung my stake towards his chest. He blocked my advances with his left forearm and swung his right with the stake towards my vest. I blocked and brought my knee down into his stomach by the use of his shoulders. He buckled and I thrust the stake into his vest.
"The fuck?!" Mason yelled angrily as his vest went out. "Where did you even come from?"
"Told you you'd have to catch me first." I grinned, giving him the same wink he gave me earlier.
He playfully shoved me away and headed for the catwalk.
Mitchel speared a guy from Dean and sent him up the catwalk as well. He hopped over the landing leading to the flag and reached down for my hand. He helped me climb over the landing to stand beside him. We were both breathless as we stared at one another. He nodded toward the flag with a smile as I grabbed the flag and thrust it out the small window for everyone to see. Our team cheered loudly, whistling and yelling as I held the flag out. I glanced up at the catwalk as Hamilton and Walsh watched intently.
"He saw that fight, right?"
Mitchel snorted as he glanced up at the catwalk. "Everyone saw that fight."
I felt good after Laser Stakes. I felt good that they took Barrett to the nurse to have her ankle looked at. I felt good that she looked like she had gone through the wringer. I felt good that Emmet was already sporting a black bruise under his right eye. I felt really good. But, I didn't feel done. The adrenaline was screaming through my veins and I knew I still had work to do. I took a long pull of my water as Reaper released the class. They all were packing their things and I was heading for the bag in the corner.
"Need a partner?" Mitchel said as he walked by me, putting up our team's vests.
Reaper glanced between us. "I would pay good money to see that. Don't play with my emotions."
I stared at the bag. "Well... I... I'll just..." I gestured to the bag.
Mitchel's brows raised. "You'd rather spar with an inanimate object than the highest-ranking member in our division?"
No, but last time we did this I kissed you and now we were living in this awkward state of avoiding each other like the plague. Is what I wanted to say, but instead, I bumbled around with, "Oh, no. I didn't... that's not what I... I didn't mean that."
"Let's go, Grayson." He said as he headed for the mat.
"Grab your popcorn!" Reaper yelled as he slid onto the bleachers beside Emmet.
I moved to the middle of the mat across from Mitchel and tried to steady my breathing... and my beating heart. I was trying my best to avoid as much contact with him as possible and here I was obliterating that. I glanced up at the catwalk. Dr. Harden had Mitchel's jacket draped nicely in the crook of her arm. Hamilton was leaning against the railing in an olive green quarter zip sweater and slacks. Walsh was long gone.
"Go." Reaper said.
Mitchel did what I thought he'd do, he waited for me. Our Moves were quicker and more controlled this time around. I lunged first, swinging just for him to catch my arm with his and bat it away. He swung and I blocked him, swinging my right leg over to connect with his left arm that he blocked. We moved effortlessly back and forth blocking one another. Few hits connecting. I swung my left leg, he caught it. I twisted my hips and my right leg caught him by surprise connecting with his jaw. My right leg followed through meeting the mat so I could stabilize myself enough to swing my left seconds later. He was expecting the left, batting my foot away and swinging his right fist to connect with my cheek. I buckled a little at the impact and he took advantage of that, grabbing me by my collar and pulling me towards him. Before he could ball his right fist up for a second punch, I grabbed fists full of his shirt and tugged him hard towards me. I curled up as I went backward and he curled up to go forwards. We were barreling and he caught on quickly as we both tucked and rolled into a circle on the mat. I was left straddling him, rearing back for a punch when he elbowed me hard in the side. I grunted and fell to the side just enough for him to change up our positions. He was straddling me now as we both gasped for air. His body was inches from mine as he lingered, his eyes dropping to my lips and then returning to my eyes. Realizing people were watching, I punched him hard in his stomach. He grunted and then I hit him again causing him to roll away from me. I quickly got to my feet. I won. I glanced around the room as everyone stared at me in shock. Mitchel swiftly kicked a leg out, knocking me clear on my back with a loud thud. All the wind left my chest as I gasped for air. Mitchel sighed loudly and tried to collect his air.
"Now THAT...." Reaper said. "Is what I'm talking about!"
The room erupted into cheers.
"That was a spar!" He laughed excitedly.
I didn't move as I still worked to find the air in my lungs. Mitchel rolled his head to his left to see me better.
"Relax, Grayson. It'll come back. Small slow breaths. Gasping makes it worse."
I closed my eyes and did as he said. Small slow breaths. No gasping. Eventually, my air returned as Mitchel rolled to his front and sat back on his knees. He glanced over his shoulder at me and waited as my breathing returned to a normal pace. He got to his feet, groaning as he did, wincing at the impact of my right fist in his stomach twice, and crossed the mat to where I was.
I stared up at him as he bent down at the waist and watched me. "I had you." I said in a gruff voice.
A slow sinful smile played across his lips for a fleeting second. "You wish."
"I had you and you know it."
He held a hand out to help me up and I took it. "You only had me because I let you have me." He said as he yanked me to my feet. "I had you right where I wanted you." His eyes softened as they stayed on mine, our hands still together.
"I bet you did." I responded.
"Ready, Silas?" Dr. Harden asked from just outside the mats.
He let go of my hand, but his eyes stayed on mine.
"We're going to dinner." She gestured to Hamilton coming up the rear, his hands in the pockets of his slacks.
"Yes." Mitchel said.
"Thanks for the spar, Chief."
"Anytime." He whispered as I cut my eyes to Hamilton standing behind him.
"Three conversations." I said to Hamilton.
Mitchel glanced back at Hamilton who was smirking at me.
"Are you keeping count?"