I had completely killed the combat assessment the other day, when I told my roommate the score I had gotten her jaw had nearly hit the ground. She said that there were only a few people who did that well, and just a couple who had scored higher than me. I looked at the sheet of paper again that scored me at an eighty-seven out of one hundred and ten. I wasn't sure where the other twenty-three points were, but I wasn't really complaining.
It probably came from your hesitation, the ever-growing voice in my head said.
When my roommate was long gone, I took a look in my journal reading what I had written over the past couple days, the day of my assessment holding the most. I had nearly had a breakdown with all the stress of that day weighing down on me. I was honestly afraid someone would have noticed the hesitation when the werewolves came at me. Then again, even if they did notice the hesitation, their first assumption wouldn't be that I was in any way romantically involved with a werewolf. We were hunters and we didn't do that. It was unthinkable.
I had been getting on quite a few of the teachers' nerves the past couple days. It hadn't exactly been intentional, but I had felt like their classes had left some gaps in the actual facts of the creatures we hunted. Myth v. Fact had done nothing in the way to enlighten us on the myths of the creatures we hunted besides debunk things we saw in Hollywood's films, which we already knew. Yesterday I had asked what the point of the class even was if they weren't going to actually teach us anything.
I suppose I had been a little harsh on them, considering the class was intended for new hunters who knew little to nothing of our lives, what we did, and why. Though the longer I was within the walls of The Organization, the less I knew the answer to that last one myself.
And Ian, oh Ian. I'm pretty sure I had gotten under his skin the most. Things had been tense ever since the first day, mainly because I was pissed that his family was nice enough to let him be an instructor instead of having someone like my father who made me play student. Ian had tried hitting on me a couple times despite the rather-tense past we had, which wasn't even that distant. He apparently thought it was just a one-time deal that I had pushed him away. After all we would be the perfect match. Two secondary founding families uniting, just imagine the type of family that would create. That's what he'd said anyway. I hadn't taken the bait.
I walked into the locker room, changed into the clothes for combat and went back out with everyone else.
"What's up?" I asked a small group of people I had started talking to.
"Apparently we're sparring today. They're using our scores to match us up with people," Carter said pulling her hair back into a ponytail.
I nodded and watched as Ian and Klarke looked over the list, no doubt putting the finishing touches on the pairings. Klarke nodded and Ian watched her leave. When she was gone he wrote a few more things down and grabbed the whistle around his neck, bringing it to his mouth.
The ear splitting sound echoed off the walls and everyone flinched before quieting down.
"Alright we're sparring today and we're going to be working from the top down. This will take place over a couple days. I want each of you present for the first day so you know what's going on. After today, unless it's your day to spar you will either be dismissed or asked to continue training with Klarke in the other facility," Ian said.
"The first pair will go by themselves so everyone can see how it will be run, after that there will be three pairs going."
I felt bad for whoever the first pair was. There was no way I would ever want to be the example in front of what was easily one hundred people. I just thanked the powers that be that I had gotten a slightly lower score than some of the others. I would be near the top, but not at it.
"Durin," Ian called out. The son of one of the founders. It had been no secret that he had scored a perfect in his assessment. He was a couple years older than me, and as I watched him step through the group of people around him I couldn't help but stare. He was the guy you saw in movies, the tough guy. He was the bounty hunter, the paranormal hunter. Basically he was just any badass, strong guy that went after anything.
I watched him step into the sparring circle as he waited. His long shorts hanging loosely at his hips, and the ugly, plain white shirt somehow looking perfect on him, contrasting with his dark skin. I cursed him and his friends for somehow making even the crappy gym uniforms look good.
"And Jaeger." With those two words, all eyes had shifted toward me. I looked up shocked, my eyes meeting Ian's, which were dancing with the laughter he was holding back.
I wanted to go right up there and lay the smack down on him. He was pissed that I wasn't giving him the time of day, so he went and put me with not just a founder, but a founder with a perfect score.
"Jaeger, up here now. Unless you're forfeiting."
I quickly stepped forward with that. There was no way I was going to forfeit anything and he knew it. I stepped into the circle and grabbed a padded vest like the one Durin had already pulled on, although where he filled it out, it looked like I was swimming in it. I then picked up the dull wooden stake that we each got, apparently we were supposed to play 'hunt the vampire.'
"There will be three rounds in the set. The first two, you will just practice, try to neutralize the other. The final round is where you will use 'lethal force' to kill the vampire. Ready in three, two, one."
With the end of the countdown came another ear-splitting whistle. I looked into Durin's face, seeing the slight smirk there in his dark brown eyes. I instantly regretted not forfeiting this. Ian had done this just to spite me, and now I was likely to get my butt kicked in front of everyone here.
No you won't. You can easily take this guy, just treat him like every other creature you go against, and you'll be fine. He may get some moves in, but that doesn't mean you won't come out on top, I said to myself.
I returned Durin's smirk and moved in closer, putting only a couple feet between us. We had been circling each other, and I could tell he was waiting for me to make the first move.
I didn't disappoint. I went in, keeping myself low and aiming for his core. My punch stopped just short of his abdominal area and I felt the jolt go all the way up my arm. He had brought both his hands in, one directly in front, right where my fist had hit, his other large hand wrapped around my wrist in a vice like grip.
With one jerking movement, he pulled me into him, my arm wrapped around my body pinning myself to him. I felt the whisper of a laugh in my hair as he made one more swift movement and everything blurred until I felt the hard contact.
All the air rushed from my lungs as my back slammed into the ground. I was instantly thankful for the padded vest as well as the padded mat that they had laid down. I gasped, sucking in as much air as I could to fill my lungs again and I quickly stood up from the ground. Pain shot up my back and I knew that was going to hurt for a while.
"That was round one," Ian said from the side. I could hear the laughter in his voice and I once again wanted to go over and smack him silly.
I prepared for round two thinking about what I had learned from the first one.
He's freaking good, I thought. Other than that I hadn't learned much. He hadn't had a weakness that I could see, at least not a physical one, and that was the only thing that was going to help me right here and right now. I had circled him and I hadn't found a single flaw in what he had done. He scored a perfect after all. Even someone who scored a perfect has to have some flaw; he's only human after all.
Durin made a sudden movement toward me and I stepped to the side quickly. He had stopped after the sudden burst and I realized he had been testing my reflexes. He wanted to know my response time. I couldn't help but smile.
We were still for a few more moments before he came at me again, this time following through. I saw his large body moving closer and just when he was in arms reach, I stepped to the side. One of his hands caught my arm and I used it as leverage to take him down. He bounced back up almost immediately and we were once again staring at each other.
I went for a roundhouse kick, that if done right would take him down, but when my foot made contact with him, it once again stopped suddenly. I was left standing on one leg, hopping to keep my balance. My other leg was held high in the air, my foot right next to Durin's head. I knew what was going to happen. I felt my body turning in the air as he took me off my feet and had me on my back yet again.
I wanted to stop right then. There was really no use for a third round when Durin had clearly won the first two, but there was no way Ian was going to skip it.
I could already hear slight snickers from some of the people in the crowd around us. Others were just staring wide-eyed. A good chunk of them knew this was an unfair fight, but no one really cared, our group was all about unfair fights. I slowly got back up and clutched the stake in my hand tightly.
I felt my heart start to pick up as if it were a real fight. It was ridiculous for my body to act that way, but it had apparently associated anything that looked like a weapon with a hunt.
Durin made the first move and I once again easily dodged it, stepping to the side. I turned quickly and rushed his back, getting ready to plant the stake right where his heart was. Before my stake made contact though, he whirled around and caught my arm. He then twisted it to the side, and just like had happened during the assessment, he turned until I couldn't keep my grip on the piece of wood. It fell to the mat almost soundlessly and I was pushed backwards.
I started to get my footing under me, getting ready to dive after the stake when Durin's foot snaked behind and tripped me. I landed hard on my back and then I felt his weight pushing me down right before the applied pressure of his dull stake right over my heart.
Durin had killed me.
"And that's the end of the round," Ian said with a large grin. I didn't hear the rest of what he said as Durin slowly shifted his weight, getting off of me.
"You completely wrecked me," I said quietly as I felt every muscle screaming at me when I tried to sit up.
"Oh that was nothing babe, if you really want wrecked find me on your own time," Durin said with a wink before holding a hand out to help me up. My jaw dropped at how forward he was, and I felt a blush creep into my cheeks, thank goodness my face was already red from the sparring.
My hand was completely engulfed in his as he pulled me to my feet. I winced as the pain shot through my body, dulling once I was finally standing. He and I had been dismissed for the rest of the period so we started to go back to the locker rooms.
"How long have you been training?" Durin asked.
"Right around four years."
"Huh."
"What?"
"Nothing."
"That didn't sound like nothing," I said pointedly.
"It's just that you seem to be pretty far."
I was overcome by a burst of laughter. "That's funny. You just killed me, three times in fact, and yet you say I'm pretty far."
"Hey, I was trained since I was little, by a founding family no less. If I didn't have a perfect score that would really be something to talk about. You shouldn't have even been paired up with me."
"I know. Ian-Freemont is just pissed off at me."
"Wow, what did you do to have him set you up for public embarrassment and a good whooping?" Durin teased.
"I turned him down. Multiple times."
We stopped between the men's and women's locker rooms and Durin's brows rose.
"He's sort of had a thing for me for a while now. He tried kissing me the last time we hunted together. He tried flirting again yesterday and the day before. He just can't take a hint though, so he got back at me with you."
"Well Jaeger, he put you on my radar," he said jokingly.
"And what does being on your radar entail exactly, Durin?"
"Well, it involves my attention," he said as if that was something I would trip over myself to get. "And maybe even my help, that is if you'd like it to advance your skills. Maybe some one on one sessions outside of class."
His suggestive tone had me blushing again before I knew what was happening. He gave me a wink before turning.
"See you around Jaeger."
I mumbled a parting after him before turning and going into the women's locker room to change. What in the world what just happened? Had Durin been hitting on me, or had I just been looking too much into his words? It had definitely seemed like he had.
I groaned and headed back to my room until lunch. When I plopped on the bed, I saw the light flashing on my phone. I checked it, seeing a text from Jared.
Everything okay? Something felt a bit off, wasn't sure if it was you.
It freaked me out how he could feel these things, even if it was barely anything. Even if he didn't know for sure if they were connected to me, he somehow still felt when things were off. No doubt he had felt when I had been sparring with Durin. My anxiety had been through the roof the entire time, more so than when I was on a normal hunt.
Everything's fine. Just got beat up a bit. I hesitated before pressing the send button, wondering what I'd get in response to that one.
You WHAT?!
I couldn't stop the little laugh that bubbled up to the surface.
I'm fine. Honestly it was just a practice thing.
You're practicing getting beat up?
I realized that I hadn't told him exactly where I was or what I was doing. I hadn't sure how he'd react if I told him, and I still wasn't.
Long story. We'll talk about it when I get back.
Well that was a plus, I could still laugh at his words, and I still wanted to talk to him when I got back so apparently my settings hadn't yet been reverted back to 'Before Jared.'
I set my phone down when the bell rang and went to the cafeteria for lunch. Hopefully the rest of the day was much easier than what I had just gone through.
*************
So a little bit of Ian's retaliation there. And we have finally met a student who is also part of a founding family. Interesting. I wonder why he's a student instead of an instructor himself... Hmmmmm
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~Red