Chapter 25 HONE YOUR ABILITIES.

TUESDAY
I slept off—for the first time in a while—thinking of Dawn. I woke up to the grey light that came through the window. It was another day I couldn't be with her. I remembered the folder that was under my bed, that creature had told me to meet it in four days in that dark street. I was looking forward to that as well as anticipating when next I'd see Dawn.
I heard a soft knock on the door.
"Who is it?" I asked.
"Tia," She said.
"It's not locked," I said.
She twisted the knob from the other side and stepped in. She wore a blue tee shirt, something I had never seen her in, but still wore her usual joggers and sneakers.
"No patrol?" I asked her.
"It's a new environment, we don't handle the patrols in this area," She said.
"Oh."
"Well, Jhan wants to start training you," She said, "he said it's about time you were trained for the survey elites."
I didn't like the idea of serving the higher court. I wanted to have a life for myself.
"You don't seem excited," She said.
"Oh, it's nothing, I was just thinking about something else."
She sat beside me.
"If something is wrong Kaldar, you can tell me," She said softly.
"It's nothing, it's nothing." I said, offering a weak smile.
She touched my ear, slowly twisting and turning it.
Someone walked in, Jereum.
"Time to go you lot," He said dryly and left as quickly as he came.
Tia continued playing with my ear, she took her finger to the back of my head and slowly pulled on the hair strands there.
"That was pretty intimate Kaldar, and kinda romantic," She said, "when you were claiming me yesterday."
I knew what she was taking about but that was not the way I meant it. I didn't really have any feelings for Tia, just a few sudden sparks of emotion.
I turned to look at her; she had a coy smile on her face.
"Let's go before he kills me," I said and she laughed.
We both exited the room and met the others, including Leya, already at the door. The drive to the playground was short and once we arrived, we all got down. To my surprise, not a single vampire was here.
"I apologize for the fact that this information is coming on such a short notice Kaldar, but the incident that you had with the adjudicator at the higher court is the main cause of this," Jhan said.
I looked at him sceptically. But Jhan never joked. He was always serious with his words and he only made decisions that were for the better of our clan.
"Okay so how are we gonna do this" I asked, but caught sight of Jereum pounding his right fist into his left palm.
"You have to hone your abilities."
"As in... Training?" I asked.
"Intense training," Jereum answered, looking more into it than ever.
"Okay so... What do you have in mind?" I asked, hoping that it would just be simple speed and strength tests, like highest leaps into the air or shortest time to cover a distance.
"Sparring matches, you versus Jereum."
"What!?" I asked, clearly shocked. "But he'll kill me."
"I'll go easy on ya," Jereum said, massaging his knuckles before popping them.
I looked at the vampire. He had decades of experience on me and also had a weird grudge against me. This was the perfect excuse for him to let out all the anger he had bottles up.
"Are you sure you want me to—"
"I'll go first," Tia said, completely out of the blue.
We all looked at her and she shrugged her shoulders indifferently.
"Very well then, Kaldar versus Tia round one."
Tia leaped from where she stood and landed inside the ring. I took a more gentle approach and entered it with a small bound jump, once I was close enough.
She held her fists in front of her face, hoping to either foot in her white sneakers. I didn't even know how to stand for a fight. Usually I'll just run at the person with all the strength I had.
"This is basic training Kaldar, so no Supreme sigh or hearing," He said, and I wondered how those could even help me in a fight, unless there were ways I did not know of.
"First step Kaldar, side with one leg out. It helps you to easily dodge attacks," He said.
I stepped my right foot out, turning my body slightly to one side.
"Second step, hold your fists at the level of your chin. That will help you to with quicker jabs."
I did as he said. Making sure to imitate Tia who seemed to be a master at this.
"And lastly, watch your opponent's elbows and fists. Keep your eyes on her torso and knees. Those are the parts of her body that will move first before the actual attack is thrown. Once you've got that, the rest is up to your speed, strength and agility to knock your opponent out, and also, your mind."
"Got it," I said, trying to imitate Tia's leg hop. And my pathetic attempt to do so seemed very humorous to Leya, who was giggling softly.
"Okay, fight."
I took a step closer to Tia. She stood just where she was, hoping from one foot to the other. I didn't want to hurt her so I was thinking of a way to knock her down without necessarily having to punch her when she docked and swept me with a foot.
I was thrown off balance instantly and collided with the dirt under. The only thing more painful than the fall was the fact that she had dislocated my ankles. I groaned in pain as the bone snapped back to place and I twisted my ankle around.
"Hmph, I didn't expect anything more," Jereum said with a shrug.
I got back to my feet and this time when Jhan gave the signal to start, I actually threw a punch at Tia. She dodged the attack easily, grabbing my forearm, pulling me towards herself and kicking me hard on my shin. I fell, face forward to the ground. I felt Tia step on my back as she laughed in triumph.
I pulled me up and I rubbed off dirt and sand from my face.
There was no use, I couldn't beat her. I must have gotten lucky with the tyrants because they were probably in fear on seeing the eyes of a Supreme.
"Come on, I'll go easy on you this time," She said and she put her left hand at her back.
"Are you serious?" I asked. She nodded and Jhan gave the command to start. I threw several punches at her, she swayed to the sides; dodging my attacks. And after fee more failed attempts I stopped and stepped a little back trying to regroup myself.
"Hmm, he's finally lasted longer than thirty seconds," I heard Jereum say from where he stood.
An idea came to me; if I could run at her very quickly, I could knock her down. I prepped my legs and with a loud crack I bolted forward. Tia seemed to have read my mind, she leaped off the ground. Whilst suspended upside down in the air, she grabbed me by the jacket and on landing, pulled me back down to the ground.
This was the third knock out in a row. Leya laughed happily and Jereum snickered, gloating at my defeat.
"Okay that's three knock outs in a row, next is Leya versus Kaldar."
"WHAT!?" I was reluctant to fight Leya, not because no did not want to hurt the thirteen year old, but because I knew she had a chance of winning.
Leya happily leaped into the ring of barb wire and Jereum gave the signal. She wore a black skirt and brown jacket on top. She looked like a harmless little girls scout.
I tried feign jabbing at her with my fists and was shocked when she didn't even move. She just looked at me expectantly. I blinked twice in disbelief and that's when I actually started attacking.
I threw punch after punch and jab after jab. Leya's style was more of an evasive style than attack. She dodged tirelessly, ducking and swaying to avoid my blows, even once doing one handed cartwheel to avoid my sweep attack.
I tightened my fists and took a step forward, putting most of my weight on my right foot as I threw a quick lunch at her. She dodged and then sent the sole of her foot to my shin. I fell to the side and hit the ground.
She stood over me, looking rather surprised.
"I couldn't beat you with brute strength so I used your own momentum against you," She said simply.
She about to leap out of the ring when she tuned back and looked at me on the floor.
"Also, try keeping your back straight." She jumped out of the ring and Jhan clapped in support of my defeat. It was the first time I had ever seen Jhan do something in Leya's favour. Apparently his hate for me was more than his affinity to scorn Leya.
"Okay lastly, Jereum versus Kaldar."
I was back on my feet and I heard Jhan whisper a faint, 'good luck," to me.
Jereum jumped leaped a great distance into the air and landed with a loud thump into the ring. I stepped back from him. The ring was about five meters across so there was enough room between myself and him. He looked at me with a wide grin as he pounded his right fist into his left palm.
I got to fighting stance. And Jereum did the same. Jhan gave the command for us to begin and we I took a bold step forward. Leya covered her eyes and Tia wore a nervous look. The only person who looked utterly satisfied with this was Jereum as he said, "Oh I'm gonna enjoy this..."