“Don’t I have a say in this?” Vic yelled from my back seat.

Danyelle had just finished telling Victor that he was going to help me defeat Winden if I trained him. Obviously Vic didn’t enjoy the fact that his sister had decided what he was going to do. “Damn it Danyelle I am your older brother and I am capable of making my own fucking decisions. I don’t need her help nor do I want it. ”

Danyelle glared at him through the mirror. “Vic you need the training and she needs your help. It’s a win win situation.”

I could feel his hot gaze on the back of my head. “I already kicked her ass on the roof so it’s not like she could teach me anything useful.”

I raised my gaze up to the mirror and accepted his challenge. “Oh really? You wanna bet on that?” His lips quirked just the slightest bit at the corners in acceptance. “Well al’righty then.”

I made one last turn off the paved road and onto a large trail. The trial was hidden by massive amounts of fog that never went away. I followed the trail deep into the forest for roughly about ten minutes before I stopped the car. The rest of the way had to be made on foot. I took my keys and got out of the car. The neat thing about this forest was that it was completely untouched by man. Danyelle might even the first human to see it. Footsteps trialed behind me as we ventured further into the fog. The fog was so thick that a vampire could only see a minimum of ten yards ahead while Danyelle probably couldn’t even see her own hand. I heard a loud thud followed by Danyelle cursing.

Guess that confirms that theory.

I turned to see Vic helping her off the ground. He led her until we came to a stop at a clearing. We were there. The fog was a little bit thinner here so I assumed that Danyelle could at least see where I was at. “This is my old training grounds.”

Victor and Danyelle took a quick glance around. There really wasn’t anything there besides a bunch of trees and tons of fog. To them it might be just a creepy forest but for me it was where my mother taught me all the perks of being a vampire. I smiled as some of the memories flashed before my eyes.

“You can’t see a damn thing.” Vic yelled.

I tisked as I walked closer to them. “That is what makes this place so great. It forces you to rely more on your hearing and smell.”

His eyebrow cocked up. “What a load of crap.”

I used quick step to appear behind him. When he turned around he jumped at seeing me there. “If you were more in tune with your senses you would have heard me.” I brought my fist back and punched him right in the center of his chest. He flew a couple of feet before landing. I lead Danyelle back to the car so that she wouldn’t get in the way. I used quick step again to flash myself in front of Vic. “Now that I don’t have to worry about Danyelle let’s see how well you do.”

He growled as he flipped himself into a crouched position and projected himself at me. I side stepped him and sighed. Once he landed he turned himself over and launched himself through the air again. I waited for him to get closer before I spun around, by using the momentum I was able increase the power on my high kick. I hit him in the face and he went spinning through the air. “If that’s the best you’ve got then it’s going to be a long day.”

After spitting out blood he wiped off his mouth and picked himself up. He made his way slowly over to me. I smiled a little to myself. He was trying to throw me off by making me think that he was submitting. He stopped a few inches in front of me. He stood there silently for a moment before he swung his foot low. He meant to knock me to the ground but since I had anticipated an attack I jumped over his foot and punched him in the side of the head. He cursed loudly as he held the side. Danyelle laughed from the car, even though she couldn’t see what was happening she could still hear us.

Red eyes met mine as he came at me again. His fists flew through the air. I brought my own up and deflected each hit. He was going too fast for me to completely dodge but still slow enough to where I could hit back. Once there was an opening in-between hits I slapped him upside the head. That was just to piss him off more. He growled as he lunged himself at me again. I stepped out of his way again and elbowed the back of his neck when it came into view. He fell face first onto the ground. I quickly sat between his shoulder blades and lifted his right arm, by the wrist, up closer to my chest until it was painful.

He yelled out in agony. “Hell!”

“Do you admit defeat?” I yelled back.

“No!”

A loud crack vibrated through the air as Vic screamed. I had just popped his shoulder out of socket. “Do you give up now?”

He glared back at me with a snarl on his face. “Damn it!”

I took that as a yes and got off of him. He rolled off the ground holding his right shoulder. “Damn vampire.” He spat.

I gave him a glare of my own at that one. “My name is Vanessa.”

“Are you two playing nice?” Danyelle called.

Victor turned towards the voice. “The ‘damn vampire’ popped my arm out of socket.”

His statement was met with a loud laugh. A frown plastered itself onto his face as he stared in her direction. “I told you she could kick your ass.”

I laughed at that comment as well. Victor’s glare then returned to me. I stifled my amusement and walked back over to him. “I’ll fix your shoulder.”

He jolted away from my touch with a snarl. “I can fix it myself.”

I couldn't help but smirk at him, it amazed me that he still didn’t trust me. Even after he had found out that I wasn’t a bad guy he still couldn’t stand being helped by me. Then again, I don't really blame him because of one simple thing: Vampire. He must really be pushing himself just to be around me, for it was my kind that had turned him, mine that had created him into a blood thirsty monster. To top it all off, now his little sister was best friends with one. Yeah it must be hard.

He placed his arm between his legs then pushed his left hand over his shoulder. He clenched his teeth together as he popped his shoulder back into place. He didn’t even flinch at the pain. Since he wasn’t paying any attention to me, I found myself looking him over. I was actually surprised that he hadn’t giving up after I knocked him down the first time. For an untrained vampire he didn’t give up easily, I mean I had to pop his arm to get him to quit. I had to say that he had some skills.

I was pulled out of my daze when he snarled at me. After shaking my head I deemed myself focused and back on task. “What was that?”

He frowned at me as he rubbed his shoulder. “I said that I don’t get why I have to learn how to fight?”

“To protect yourself from other vampires.” He stared at me questionably. “There are a lot of us Vic, I’m actually kind of surprised that I was the first one to discover you. Exactly how long have you been turned?”

He didn’t answer me, he simply just kept looking at me as if the question I had asked would magically disappear. “That’s none of your business.”

I was awestruck that he refused to answer a simple question.

“About a year.” Danyelle screamed as she stumbled her way over to us.

“How did you find your way over here?” I questioned.

She dusted off her pants before answering. “I just followed the yelling and boom. Here I am.” She laughed at her comment; Vic just rolled his eyes.

There wasn’t really a problem with having her in the field now since I was done testing Vic. The good news is that it was time to train him. Before I did that however, I felt as if it was a good idea to assess his body build so that I could target places that needed improvement.

Nice excuse to check him out.

When I started to look him over however he kept following my gaze. I could feel my face redden in embarrassment. I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea about what I was doing and I also didn’t feel like I would be able to explain to him very well. A little flustered and uncomfortable by his stare I coughed. I gave myself a moment to gather my wits and got back on track. After checking myself I started to observe and correct his flaws in a different manner. I took a step closer. He glared down at me but didn’t take a step back. I pushed his shoulder and he stumbled backwards a few steps. When he caught his balance he crouched down and let out a growl. I laughed and walked up in front of him, flicking his nose.

“Stand up straight again Vic.” He stayed in his crouching position for a few moments until he caught on that I had begun his training. Slowly he rose until he was standing straight again. “Alright, now I’m assuming you’re right handed so I want you to put your left foot forward. Good, now make sure that you can lock your back leg.” I walked over to his side and watched as his leg locked in place. I smirked knowing that he was actually listening to me, then walked back to face him. I gave him a light shove and this time he didn’t move back. “Excellent! You see Vic this stance means that the attacker can’t push you easily.”

I caught a glimpse at his tightly closed fist and sighed. “Vic, don’t grip your fists; it doesn’t do you any good. Instead I want you to hold a very loose fist up until you can actually strike.” Slowly he unclenched his hands. “Okay now let’s see if we can work on your technique.” He arched his eyebrow. “Don’t worry it’s very simple. Hit first, hit hard, hit fast, and keep hitting. Alright you want to hit as fast as you can so that your opponent does not have a chance to get his act together and hit back. You have to remember to keep hitting. One of the biggest mistakes that most people make is that they stop hitting their opponent when they look beaten. Unless he is lying on the floor or knocked out, he is probably perfectly capable of hitting back if you give him that chance. Also remember there are no rules. You’re not in a boxing match, when you’re fighting other vampires it will be your life…or theirs, you have to do whatever it takes to beat them. Henceforth, dirty fighting. ”

“How do you fight dirty?”

“Dirty fighting can be holding an opponent's head down and hitting the face with uppercuts or ribs with hooks, rabbit punches, elbowing, forearm in the throat, arm bar in a clinch, late punches, low blows, step on an opponent's foot and punch, continuous head butting.” I stomped my heel on his foot than brought my elbow up and hit him in the throat. His eyes widened as he started coughing and gasping for breath.

I turned my back on him and walked deeper into the forest when I felt something in the air: A quick step. I instantly switched into my own quick step and ducked just before Vic’s fist punched the place where the back of my head used to be. The force and speed of his punch was enough to make a small gust of wind tousle my hair. I extended my leg and spun around, knocking his feet out from under him. Once on the ground I said,

“I like the enthusiasm but next time, slowpoke, hit me. Now let’s start some real training.” I swung behind Victor and smashed his knees in causing him to fall flat on his chest. “Seeing as how you continue to use your vampire strength we’ll start with hand-to-hand combat. Danyelle I need you to go back to the car, I am not getting yelled at by Victor because you got in the way." She started jogging back to the car, until half-way there she stopped and turned around.

"Vanessa… I was wondering if you could drive me to the movies or something, waiting in the car is too far away and I can’t see anything.”

I reached into my back pocket and yanked out my keys and tossed them to Danyelle. I placed my foot on Vic's back, this kept in on the ground and to a place where I could see him. Danyelle caught the keys in her hands and looked back at me.

"You can drive my car. Sorry Danyelle but I have a lot of work to do with your brother. Drive on the dirt trail until you come across a fork in the road, take the far left and then you'll be back on the paved road. You can use the navigation system to find your way around; it's on the dash board. Oh and bring my car back in one piece. I don't think dad would like it if I broke two cars in one week." I said.

She looked down in amazement at my keys in her hand, and then she started to jump up and down with excitement chanting 'Yes' over and over again. Vic pushed my foot off his chest and shot up off the ground, trying to make a dash for Danyelle. I grabbed the back of his shirt just in time to see Danyelle speed away in my Jag. I held him back until I was sure she was far enough away.

"She can't drive." Vic said. I let him go and he shot up immediately.

“What are you talking about she’s sixteen.”

“She can’t drive.” He repeated.

“Well damn it it’s too late now. She’s gone.” I noticed his worried expression. “Don’t worry about it. The roads are all cleared anyway so it's not like she's going to get hit by another car.”

I started to settle myself into a fighting stance when he grabbed my arm and pulled me closer.

"If anything happens to her…" He began.

"She’ll be fine Vic. Have a little trust in your sister.” I jerked away. “You should be able to hear my car engine anyway. You have better hearing than I do.”

"Why?"

"I don’t know I guess it’s just a Rouge thing.” He turned his head towards the road; Danyelle was long gone but I could tell he wanted to chase after her, I could see his eyes were filled with concern and I just wanted to hug him.

"H-Hey Vic,"

"Um," He slowly began to turn his head. Just when his eyes met mine I smacked him upside the head.

"Pay attention! I've kindly agreed to train you and all you're doing is staring off into space." He rubbed his head than glared at me. I took a few steps back; getting into my fighting stance…Again! "I'll make a deal with you, if you can land a punch one time I’ll let you go after Danyelle, and we won’t train today… But if you don't you’re in for a rough boot camp 'cause I won't go easy on you."

He smiled in agreement, and then charged me like he was a bull and I was the matador. I easily evaded him by leaping over him in one fluid motion. He on the other hand, tripped and fell face first into the ground.

"You're going to have to do a lot better than that Vic if you plan on taking me down!" I shouted.

He stood up and this time waited for me to attack first.

I laughed.

This is going to be interesting!