AN: again so sorry for taking so long but I do have a reason. Lately I've had tests I've had to revise for and also writers block (again). I also haven't had time to proof read this so if it's got mistakes, oops.
Chapter 8
When the sun finally began to rise I snapped out of all of my thoughts and slowly stood up stretching as I did so. Grabbing my bag I pulled out a pair of denim shorts and a light pink t-shirt which I quickly changed into and also slipped my light pink converse onto my feet.
Once I was done I pulled my brush through my hair more out of routine than anything and put all of my stuff into my bag before heading down the stairs. "Good morning Arabelle." Esme greeted me as she walked into the entrance hall which was at the bottom of the stairs.
"Good morning Esme." I replied to the motherly vampire. "Where is everyone?"
"Carlisle is at the hospital where he works since he got called in due to some sort of emergency. Rosalie and Emmett went out early since Rose needed to go and get some more parts for her car. Alice has gone shopping and has dragged Jasper along with her. Bella is still sleeping at her house and Edward is with her." Esme told me.
"Thanks Esme." I, well, thanked her.
"It's no problem." She said before pausing and frowning ever so slightly.
"What is it?" I asked her slightly concerned.
"Oh, I just noticed that your eyes have silver flecks in them and I was wondering why that is?" She answered.
"When I was human my eyes were grey, really close to silver actually. I think that the silver flecks are left from my eye colour when I was human." I replied and she nodded.
"Aside from that you do really need to hunt. Normally newborns go on killing sprees. It's not that I don't trust you it's just..." She trailed off unsure what to say.
"Precautions." I offered and she nodded. "I'll be back in an hour then." I informed her.
"Ok, just make sure you don't go over the river and onto the reserve. There's a shape shifter pack there." Esme added and I nodded before heading through the front door which was less than a metre away from me. As soon as I was through the front door I ran deeper into the forest not quite trusting myself to let my senses take control yet. I was too close to the house.
Once I was sure I was far enough away I let my senses creep up to the surface. Immediately, my head snapped up to the trees and the slightly unnaturally large population of birds. Why was there so many is what I want to know. Shaking it off I caught scent of a mountain lion very similar to the mountain lion I had to stop myself from killing Nico on the way here. I ran in the direction of the scent silently and obviously using my vampire speed meaning that I reached the mountain lion within seconds.
The lioness never even saw me coming. I snapped the lions neck so it wouldn't feel any pain before biting into the lions neck and draining the slightly warm blood. When the animal was drained I pushed the instincts back down and yet again closed the animals eyes as a sign of respect before burying the body so no hikers would come across it.
Once I was done I started to walk back to the house but after about two minutes of walking the sound of a heartbeat and the scent of Nico's blood reached me. What was he doing out here? Changing course I ran in the direction of the scent and heartbeat.
When I was close enough I silently jumped up into a tree and climbed slightly higher before looking out between the branches. Below me I could see Nico in a smallish clearing fighting an imaginary opponent with his Stygian Iron sword.
I sat down on the branch I was standing on and lent against the trunk of the tree so my legs were lying on the branch of the tree. It was then, out of the corner of my eye that I spotted a pure white wolf. The kind that only listen to Lady Artemis. So what was one doing here? The wolf's gaze flickered up to me and when it saw me looking at it, it froze. After a split second the wolf disappeared into the undergrowth as if it had never been there.
I frowned for a second before shanking if off and swinging myself around so I was sitting with my legs dangling over the edge of the branch. "You know, the great thing about imaginary opponents is you never lose since you control them." I called down to Nico. He looked around confused until he finally spotted me up in the tree.
Since he had spotted me I jumped down off the branch and landed on the balls of my feet. "You balance defence and offence well but even so your defence is quite weak compared to your offence. You also need to work on standing your ground. Moving back gives your opponent the upper hand since stepping forwards gives them more power in offence such as stabbing at you." I told him commenting on the things I had noticed in the twenty odd seconds I had watched him.
"What if you have to step back?" He asked sitting down on the grass. I joined him before continuing.
"If you have to step back the chances are your opponent will expect you to do that and step forward striking out at you at the same time. As soon as you have to step back step to the side which will give you a split second advantage since your opponent will still be striking forewords expecting you to be there." I answered. "As for defence, that is something you'll have to practice."
"How are you meant to practice defence?"
"Work with people and to start with just focusing on blocking their blows and not landing blows on your own. Once you can block most of them you can start to gradually begin to strike back while keeping up your defence."
"How do you know this?" He asked me after a moment of silence.
"When at camp I wouldn't fight I would just watch other people's techniques. What worked and what didn't work. Once everyone was asleep I would sneak out and practice on my own." I replied quietly. After that we both sat there in silence again. Thankfully for me the more time I spent around Nico the easier it became to resist his blood.
---------•---------•---------•--------
We began to walk back to the Cullen household in silence when Nico eventually spoke up. "My father spoke to me in my dream last night. Said I had to stay with you." Nico told me and I frowned.
"Did he say why?"
"No. He didn't really explain anything just that I had to stay around you and that Apollo, Aphrodite and Artemis wanted to talk to him so he would have to get back to me." He replied. Why would my dad, Aphrodite and Artemis want to talk to Hades?
"That's strange." I commented and Nico nodded.
"True. I'll have to see what my dad tells me once Apollo, Artemis and Aphrodite have spoken to him." He said and I nodded this time.
"If you've got to stick around me, looks like I'm going to be training you."
"Why do I get the feeling I should be worried?"
"You probably should."
"Oh, because that's reassuring."
"It is isn't it." I replied cheerfully before we both fell silent since we became in hearing distance. Well, hearing distance for vampires.