RBC05 - Bloodline (25 page)

“Did you find a place for us to train, Alex?” Rosa asked as the salad course came out.

“I found the perfect place. I had some help actually. The Voss brothers went with me. Don’t look surprised. Watchers have connections too,” he said smugly. “Anyway, they said they would help with training too, if you want them to.”

“Of course we do,” El said excitedly.

“We’ll start tonight. It’s been far too long,” I said.

Allwain used Alex’s memory to give us the location so that we could portal there later. Allwain and Alex then portaled ahead of us so Allwain could perform the protections that we needed before we arrived, but I had something I wanted to try as well.

“Luna, Ling, glad you’re back; we were just about to leave to do some training. Will you join us?” El asked.

“First tell us what you found when you followed Auguste,” I said. “Don’t worry; we have a secret weapon that we use. Gruen can smell you, even though no one else can.”

“He’s stopped by the V club in district one and spoke with two other Noctu. He also took great pleasure in feeding there. Afterwards he continued on to the catacombs, that’s where we were blocked. He threw protections behind him which prevented us from following him any deeper.”

“The catacombs,” El shuddered. “We’ve fought there before. I don’t want to go back there if we can avoid it.”

“It makes sense for one with demonic power. The lower level portal to hell,” Allwain said as he joined us again. “Amparah, I’m going to need you to help me. Jonathan isn’t trained enough for what we need to do.”

“Of course,” she agreed, looking disappointed that she wouldn’t be joining us.

“We’ll be working out regularly now. You’ll join us next time,” I assured her.

Everyone was excited to have the chance to do something physical. We had so much pent up energy. I was wishing we had more time to get to know each other.

When we got to the back parlor, each of us changed our personas to whatever we wanted.

“That’s fun! Gruen you go first. Alex is already there and you can make sure everything is order. We’ll follow in a few minutes.”

“There are racks of wooden practice weapons there, have a good time and don’t hurry back,” Allwain said, sounding very much like a parent.

We waited as long as we could after Gruen left, before portaling ourselves. The anticipation was almost unbearable.

“Remember when we dreaded training? El said in the male voice of her chosen persona.

I laughed, “I remember the whining. It wasn’t until you saw that Gunter Voss and his brothers were the ones that were going to train you that things started to change.”

“Ah, I remember. What was that, ten years ago?” Rosa asked.

“Seems like it, doesn’t it? Well that’s long enough. Let’s go.”

We portaled in to find the area full of men we didn’t recognize and two that we did.

“Thomas, Simon!” I exclaimed as we ran to them.

“Allwain said you would be in disguise. Men, that’s good one,” Thomas laughed.

“Yes, Thomas is right. We never would have thought of that. Are you ready for a fierce work out? We brought elite guard as you can see and a few others that needed some work. Also in disguise, for your safety,” Simon added gesturing to several gentlemen to his right.

They briefly showed us their truth. It was Eric, Gerhardt, Kale and Nathaniel.

They offered to shake our hands, as any gentleman would when greeting new acquaintances.

“Good to see you. I hope you are ready for a good fight,” Nathaniel said.

“I’m glad that you’re here, and I assure you that we are,” I said and raced over to the weapons rack and grabbed a practice sword that matched everyone else’s.

The mock battles were on now. Full out war really. I flipped and turned, slashing mock foes, at every turn. I never felt so alive. We were faster, stronger and more alert than we had ever been before. I was right; it was just what we needed.

After about an hour we dismissed the elite guard. I wanted to try something new.

“Cain and Niranjana taught us to blend, remember?”

“Of course. What about it,” Kate asked.

“We can see each other as long as we are all blended. Luna, Ling is that similar to what you do?”

“We are completely invisible, but it’s one of our gifts. I don’t know if we would be able to see someone else that is blended. We should try that so we know.”

“I think it will give us great advantage if we can all do it.”

“So we don’t kill each other, you mean?”

“Exactly, we could always just use the invisibility tablets that we used before you know,” Rosa said.

“Yes, but then we couldn’t see each other and it wears off eventually. Do you want to try it?”

“Why not?” Eric said. “What about those of us that haven’t been trained?”

“Well, let’s meditate and we’ll transfer what we know to you. If you are receptive enough that should be sufficient.”

We stood in a circle and all of the vampires held hands. Instantly we could feel the power move, pulsating through our hands up our shoulders and back down. Over and over, faster and faster until it hummed. It felt amazing. As quickly as it had begun it was over.

The power of it left us all breathless for a moment. If any of our enemies had been able to watch it, I think it would have scared the pants off of them.

“That was nothing like the times before,” Gerhardt exclaimed, still trying to catch his breath.

“We’re more powerful than ever before,” Kate said.

“You’ll feel it even more tomorrow,” I said. “Now, if everyone will just concentrate on blending into the surroundings, we’ll be able to see if it really works.”

Everyone closed their eyes. When I reopened mine, I could still see everyone. “Liridon, can you see us?”

“No, not one of you! It’s strange to be able to hear you and not be able to see you.”

“I can still smell all of you,” Gruen said. “See if you can mask your scent.”

“How about now, Gruen?”

“You did it!”

“It works great, see now we can see each other and walk freely anywhere we need to without being compromised,” I marveled. “Oh, and anything that is on your person when you do this is also blended.”

“You mean like our weapons,” Kale asked.

“Yes, except remember you can be heard. Footsteps, speech, anything, so just beware of that. And remember not to use any of these powers for anything that is not necessary. It’s very tiring to keep it up and anything deemed to be done for the wrong reason could mean you would lose the power forever.”

“So we can’t just play around with it, is that what you are saying?” Gerhardt mused.

“That’s right. We don’t have time for that anyway.”

“Do you know what I want to do?” El asked.

“No, what?”

“Let’s have a fire, even if it’s only a magical one and have some fun tonight. We can get to know each other a little better before tomorrow. What do you think?”

“I think that’s a fine idea,” Gerhardt said.

I called to Allwain and asked if Amparah and Jonathan could join us for the festivities. He agreed and portaled them right over. We changed from our male personas back to the ones we were using for our new business. Although the protections had held and no one had tried to break them, still we dared not chance showing the Five.

“Thanks for including us. We weren’t helping Allwain anyway,” Jonathan said. “He’s furiously researching something now.”

“Does that mean things were flying around the room, while he was grumbling to himself?” I laughed, picturing that image in my mind from times past.

“Exactly,” Amparah confirmed. “Now, how about a fire and something to eat and drink?”

“Sounds good,” I said and we all agreed.

We ate, filled our cups with wine, or in my case crimson and gathered around the fire. It reminded me of home and the many other times we had joined our Watchers on the training grounds.

“Luna, Ling, I love the way you fight. Tell us about your training, your method seems different from Hun’s.”

“You are very observant,” Luna said. “We are much older than Hun. Back in that time, girls were not allowed training and many teachers refused our father’s request for such training. One day an old man appeared at the family gate. He told my father that he had been sent by the Whisperers and that he would stay until he was no longer needed.”

“Twenty-five years went by and then one day he was just gone,” Ling added. “Out of everything that he taught us, patience was the hardest thing to learn.”

“I can safely say that I think we all are still working on that, especially me,” Rosa said.

“Hun has told us all about you, the day our teacher left us, was the day we decided it was time to join you,” Luna said. “Dark forces are growing in every corner of this world; we must all take a stand against it.”

“You are right. Amparah, tell us more about yourself. Cain is very taken with you. Where did you grow up?”

“My family was from Scotland, but I never knew them. They were betrayed by a noble when my father refused to cast spells on one of the noble’s enemies. My parents were killed, even though they had served his family for over a century. My mother had just given birth to me when they came to our door with a rival witch, binding my father’s power. Before they could do the same to her, my mother called upon the powers that be to take me. Niranjana was that power, she took me in and I consider her my mother now.”

“So you grew up in an enchanted place, that must have been very interesting,” El said.

“Yes, but kind of lonely. I had no one to talk to that was like me. I made friends of all those around me, and I did have a unique training. Now I am so glad I did. Being part of this, being one of the Protectors is so gratifying. I hope I can do all that needs to be done.”

“You just do what you were trained to do. That will be enough,” Kate said.

“I am so glad you have joined us. We have been through so much this year, but this seems different. Luena and Belial wanted to not only wipe us out, but to kill or control all peaceful races and enslave the humans. In order to do that, they need to turn the human population against each other and then finally swoop in and be their savors. They’ve put things in motion years ago, maybe even a decade ago. I can’t even comprehend the extent of all they’ve done.”

“All we can do is take on each challenge as it comes, and hope that we can stop some of it from coming to fruition,” Gerhardt said.

“That’s for tomorrow, tonight we are supposed to be having fun,” El insisted. “Yanna, I how telling us a little about you?”

“There is not much to tell. I too have been on my own for a long time now. As shape shifters, you never know what forms will be chosen for you. Mine happens to be large animal forms, particularly wolves. But don’t mistake us for the monsters that come from our demonic brethren.”

“That must have made for interesting teenage years,” Kate quipped.

Yanna laughed, “You have no idea. Luckily I grew up in sanctuary, where each of us had issues. My education was very
educational
let’s say.”

“I am still going through those awkward years, I’m afraid,” Jonathan said. “Amparah can attest to that. I am not naturally as talented as other warlocks my age.”