The Hunter Becomes the Hunted

Charlie led Jack out of her living room and down the hall way about halfway down she stopped and opened the door that led down some stairs, when they reached the bottom of the stairs it opened up into a large rom that had mat’s covering the entire floor, the room was pretty much empty except for a wooden training dummy and a few candles that dimly lit the area, Charlie had trained every day since the day she had moved into the cabin

“why are we here?” Jack asked

“I need to see what you can do and if you can actually fight” Charlie replied

“well I can” said Jack, “I am a man after all and all men can fight” he added

“you may say you can fight but if you are coming with me then I need to know you can, I cannot take your word for it, if you are coming with me I need to know that you can protect yourself there is enough to worry about without having to worry about you” Charlie said

“what do you want me to do attack the dummy” Jack asked

“no, how am I going to see if you can fight, if you attack a dummy” Charlie replied

“what do you want me to attack then?” Jack asked

“me, a bit of wood does not move and will not hit you back now, attack” she said moving the dummy from the middle of the room and standing where it was, she beckoned him to come forward and attack, Jack did as he was asked and went to attack swinging with wild abandonment, not one punch hit’s it’s mark, she dodged everyone without even moving, Charlie soon realised that Jack did not seem to be trying to hit her.

“enough” she said “stop” she shouted when Jack didn’t listen

“what?” Jack asked sweating and out of breath

“are you even trying to hit me or are you just pretending?” Charlie asked

“of course, I am trying” Jack replied

“you have not touched me” she said “you are just swinging your arms around like a baby” she added

“you have an unfair advantage” Jack said

“how?” Charlie asked

“you are one of them” Jack replied

“what difference does that make?” Charlie asked

“you move faster” Jack said but really Charlie was, right he was not trying very hard, well he was trying hard not to hit her.

“what I am is one of them if you cannot hit me, someone who does not want to drink your blood, how do you expect to face and defeat one of them? and I have not moved from the spot where I started, all I have done is move the top half of my body” she snapped at him “have you even been in a fight?” she added

“yes, with a man” Jack said

“what difference does, being a woman make?” Charlie asked

“I was taught never to hit a lady?” Charlie asked

“I am no lady, I am a monster and what the bloody hell do you expect to do when you face a female vampire, say I am sorry but I was taught never to hit a lady, you are a fool and will dead in a second” she snapped

“no” Jack replied

“well then stop this bloody messing around and show me what you can do” she snapped, you see she was trying to make him angry, you fight differently as long as you are not to angry, too much anger would make you fight stupidly and concentrate on what was happening around you, making him angry would let her see if he could fight and how much work she had to do in three days “hit me” she shouted “a girl could do better, I am sure of it” she added

Charlie could see that she had made Jack angry by the look in his eyes, for an hour he tried to hit her but not one of his punches hit the intended target, yes he could fight but not enough to face one of them, Jack needed to be able to predict where the vampire was going to end up when it moved as they were faster than humans, as she watched Jack try to hit her, she realised that she had to start with basic training, although she would have to skip a few steps to ready to leave the night after tomorrow, by her watch is was only 2pm still plenty of time to train today.

“stop” she said

“why?” asked Jack

“we need to eat and then I will start to train you” Charlie replied

“do you eat?” Jack asked

“of course, and before you ask no I don’t” she replied

“ok” he said

“why is there not electric or technology anymore, there was loads when I came here?” Charlie asked

“they happened, when they started to take over, people no longer worked nights as they did not want to be out and about with them so, everything just stopped” Jack replied

“that would make everything go wrong” Charlie said and they ate a bowl of soup and bread, that she had made the night before, it took them 10 minutes to eat

“let us begin” she said and stepped into the middle of the room

“what do I do?” Jack asked

“stand like this” Charlie said showing him, she was standing feet not fully together and at a slight angle

“like this?” he asked doing as she did

“that will do now, hit me,” she said

“what?” Jack asked

“hit me” she said again

“ok” said Jack and swung a punch catching her face

“good but not enough, when you punch you need to follow through not just stopping when you hit your target” Charlie said “again” she added

“I will try” Jack said and took another swing, this time Charlie moved to the side and grabbed his arm twisting her body round, she swept his feet out from underneath him

“better but you need to be prepared they are unpredictable” she said “now, try with both hands one after the other” Charlie added

“ok” said Jack getting up, he swung left then right with Charlie blocking both shots

“did you see how I moved and blocked?” Charlie asked

“yes” he replied

“you should have swept my feet out” Charlie said

“ok” jack said trying to take in everything she was trying to teach him “do not always aim at the same spot and also keep moving, never stay in one place for too long” Charlie said

For three hours they continued to train this way, with Charlie showing him different things every time he went to attack, different ways to take an opponent down, as they defended your best attack, Jack was getting better but he could still not predict where she was going to end up if he moved.

“one last, thing before we stop for tonight” Charlie said

“what?” Jack asked

“I will attack you, if you have been paying close enough attention you will know what to do” Charlie said and began to attack him holding back as much of her strength as possible, after all she could break him very easily, Jack did better than she expected, although he did not defend every attack, he did defend a fair few.

“let us eat” she said and started to walk away

“did I do any better?” Jack asked

“a bit” she said “I have some books I wish you to read tonight whilst I prepare a few things for when we leave” she added as they walked up the stairs, they sat down to eat, it was meat this time, it was wild rabbit that she had caught on her way back from the village, they sat and ate in silence after all what was there to say to someone you didn’t know, they couldn’t talk about what was happening in the world because Charlie knew nothing about the world.

“here read these” said Charlie handing him some books once she had finished eating

“what good will these do?” jack asked dumping them on the table next to him after reading the cover of one of them “and by the way I do have a name you could try using it” he added

“there are many ways to fight a vampire” she said giving him the books back and ignoring his comment

“what with stuff that is make believe and in fairy tales” Jack said and put the books down and he got mad thinking that she could help him, when she believed in magic and stuff, did she really believe that magic could help defeat a vampire, one way or another Jack would find out if she could defeat them and train him enough, he wanted to learn and Charlie was teaching him, maybe he should give her the benefit of the doubt.

“it is real whether you believe it or not, it can save your life, it can distract them long enough for you to make your kill” Charlie said

“I will believe that when I see it” Jack said and picked up one of the books and began to read

“right, I am going to prepare a few things and then I am going to rest, I will see you at dawn, we need to get an early start there is still so much more that I need to teach you” Charlie said

“do we have time?” Jack asked

“time does not matter you have to be ready” Charlie replied

“and do you think I will be?” Jack asked

“of that I have no idea, it all depends how quickly you learn things” Charlie said

“I pick things up really quickly” Jack said

“we will see if you do” said Charlie and left the room shutting the door behind her, she spent the next few hours making potions that they would need to take with them, after that she went to bed, she had not dreamed in 4oo years, she had trained herself not to because if she had not the only thing that she would dream about was that night, over and over again, it took her 40 years after the night she was trained to stop it happening .