Page 11 of The Rising Dark
Stepping forward, faster now, Michelle struck, this time thrusting straight ahead instead of using an overhead swing, aiming at the middle of Quintia’s stomach.Again, she dodged, as naturally as if she knew exactly what Michelle intended to do before she did it.Again and again, Michelle advanced, hacked, slashed, and once even followed up with a punch of her left hand.Quintia deflected the blow with one hand as if it was nothing.
“Better,” Quintia said to that, and Michelle tried to be more creative, seeking out ways in which to surprise Quintia.She wasn’t nearly as fast as her, and nowhere near as strong, but she found she enjoyed the challenge.It felt good to move, to feel her muscles protest under the strain of this unexpected usage.Michelle had never been tempted to join a gym or play any sport, but this…this was fun.
“Let’s pause,” Quintia said after a particularly unsuccessful swing of the stick.Michelle’s top was sticky with sweat, and her breaths came fast and shallow.Quintia looked just as cool as she had before they’d started.It was incredibly unfair.“Have some water.”She handed over a large refillable bottle taken from a small fridge beside a treadmill.Gratefully, Michelle drank several large gulps, relishing the cool water on her tongue.
“You’re so good at this,” Michelle said once she had found her breath again.Somehow, Quintia had become less intimidating, the harshness of her personality somewhat mellowing as they had sparred.There was a certain wildness inside of her, but clearly she also had excellent control of herself.
Quintia shrugged.“I’ve had a lot of experience.”
“I think I could train for years and not be as fast as you.”Michelle took another sip of water.
“Well, that’s just because I’m a vampire.Our reflexes are much faster than a human’s.”
The sip of water didn’t quite make it to its destination, and Michelle coughed, for a moment unsure whether she’d heard Quintia right.“Wait, what?”
Quintia raised one eyebrow.“We’re all vampires here.I thought Lavinia had told you.”
“Vampires,” Michelle repeated.
“Yes.”
“The blood-sucking kind?”
“That’s right.”
“The have-to-be-invited-in-and-hates-garlic kind?”
Quintia leaned casually against a rack of weights, her arms folded.“Well, having an invitation before you enter someone’s house is just polite, and I do love a good garlic naan.But still vampires.”
Michelle’s thoughts whirled at this new revelation.She thought back to Lavinia last night.How quickly the wound on Lavinia’s stomach had healed.Her eyes hadn’t betrayed her, but she hadn’t understood what had actually happened.Quintia was a vampire.So was Lavinia.And Lucretia, and the woman who had opened the door last night, Proserpina.She was surrounded by vampires in this mansion.
She was completely out of her depth.
“But I’ve seen Lavinia go outside while the sun is up.I thought vampires could only go outside at night,” Michelle said, her brain struggling to keep up with the new information thrown at it.
“Oh, we can go outside, sunlight just hurts like fuck.Burns.The sun is less of a problem for us than you might imagine.It’s England.It’s cloudy all the goddamn time anyway.”
“Right.”Michelle thought for a moment.“Are there any other revelations you want to get out of the way?A troll lives under the bridge, the tooth fairy’s real, or anything else like that?”
“No, that’s all.Although don’t go wandering in the forest around the full moon.Our neighbours are werewolves.”
Michelle couldn’t tell whether Quintia was joking or not.It felt like she should laugh right now, but Quintia’s expression was dour.
“What will you do, now you know?”
“What do you mean?”
Quintia pushed away from the weight rack, uncrossing her arms.She stepped forward and pinned Michelle with her stare.It made her feel small, insignificant, like a bug that Quintia could squash without any effort.She probably could.
“Will you betray us to your human friends?Tell them our secrets, lead them here?”
Michelle frowned and held her ground.It took everything not to step back and show her very real fear.“No, I wouldn’t.I haven’t told anyone about the demon either.”And she wasn’t going to.Her friends and family would only think she was suffering from a nervous breakdown.
Quintia stood painfully close, invading Michelle’s space.Assessed her, measured her up, before she stepped back with a huff.“Keep it that way, human.”She walked back to the middle of the mat.“Let me show you some basic stances,” she said breezily, as if she hadn’t just threatened Michelle.
Michelle took a shaky breath, her shoulders unclenching, and stepped back onto the mat.Quintia showed Michelle how to place her feet to improve her balance, how to jab without losing her footing, and some basic strikes.Throwing herself into the training, Michelle could almost forget what Quintia had just told her.She let the movement banish any thoughts or questions from her mind.All that mattered right at this moment was hitting the target Quintia held up for her, punching again and again, until all that existed in the world was her burning muscles and Quintia’s sparse encouragements.Despite Quintia’s intimidating demeanour, she was a good teacher.
After an hour, Michelle could barely lift her arms.She felt her weariness in her bones, and apologised to Quintia that she couldn’t continue.“Lasted longer than I’d thought,” Quintia responded, the corner of her mouth twitching upward.“Not bad, for a human.”
