Chapter 28 DALLAS RETURN.

THURSDAY
Tia had returned home yesterday not long after I had heard Leya's insufferable tale. I had stayed with Leya all morning, trying to find a weak spot in her so I could console her but she seemed to be doing just fine, showing no weakness whatsoever. Yet, I was compelled to feel pity for her and a sense of protection as well.
Knowing all this about Leya had made me see her in a different light, I no longer saw her as the weak little girl I once saw her as, but now I saw her as a heavily willed, strong and bold little girl.
The fact that she had gone through all that coupled with the taunts Jereum used to throw at her, made me hate Jereum even more. I thought about what Jhan had done, was he at the wrong for saving her life? I mean, didn't she deserve to get a choice? Or was her condition too critical for that.
She said she had drunk the blood of the people that did that to her and her friends. Did she kill them herself or was it Jhan? I wasn't sure which it was and a part of me didn't want to find out.
I couldn't sleep either, so I just lay down in my quiet dark attic space, thinking about what Leya had told me until it was finally morning. The others would usually leave the house quite early in the morning, go to the building of the higher court and report for duty, go to their training, patrol at evening and then return by night. It seemed like a rather stressful task but today Jereum didn't leave the house, he stayed back.
He was probably educating Leya on why eating human food is bad, something that the thirteen year old enjoyed because she could take the opportunity to frustrate Jereum by telling him that we are the Abnormals and she was the ordinary vampire.
Someone opened my room door and stepped in, I turned to see who it was and caught sight of Jereum.
"The higher court been putting pressure on Jhan, they say they want to see results in your training."
"Oh, okay, so...?"
"So?"
"Oh, I'm I going to fight an adjudicator or—"
"No," He said, betraying a scoff, "no, you can't even beat Leya."
"Oh." Shame washed over me, clinging to my skin.
"I am your mentor now," He said, with a suspicious look of pure suspicion on his face.
"What? Does Jhan know about—"
"In fact, he was the one who authorized it."
Jereum won't lie, especially not with Jhan's name.
"Okay, right." I said, crestfallen.
"We leave."
He turned around and I heard his heavy steps down the stairs.
I was actually looking forward to another training exercise, just not with Jereum. I glanced at the little wall clock, thirty past two and the sun wasn't up and there were so many rain clouds in the sky I was sure it would rain again.
We got to the forest—where I had almost killed Dawn—and Jereum started by ripping a part of his inner shirt and wrapping it around my eyes.
"Okay, what are we doing?" I asked.
"Vampires do not need light to see, I'm sure you should know that."
"Yeah I do but—"
"Ow!" I yelled in pain, as something hard collided with my head.
"Less talking more blocking."
"Okay," I said, massaging the part of my skull that had just got assaulted, "just tell me so I'll be read—"
"Ow!!!" I screamed again, as I get another object hit my forehead.
"I said, less talking—on your right."
But he lied, I tried dodging to the left but I felt whatever he was tossing at me hit my chest.
"But you said, on your right—"
"And you'll be damn stupid to trust me."
He had a fair point.
"Now, you have to use your hearing. Some people have the ability to echo locate, it helps them place the position of objects using sound waves. We vampires have failed up hearing and I'm sure yours is even stronger so our echo location is way better," He said, "here I'll show you, take off your blindfold and toss something at me."
I took of the blindfold and to my horror saw that he had been indeed throwing fist sized rocks at me. He turned his back and picked up a big rock.
I threw it at his head, the stone got closer and closer, almost cracking against this skull but his left hand shut up band caught.
I was surprised, he could see behind his head using this ears.
I three another one at his legs, he moved to a side very quickly, avoiding the rock.
I threw another at his head again, he tilted it to one side avoiding yet another rock. I threw another the another, then another and he avoided them all. An idea came to me.
I picked up two rocks, and threw one at his head the other at his back. He caught both with both hands.
He turned around. "You see, it's not important you just aren't concentrating hard enough. The thing is you can place the distance and speed of the object when it is at a specific distance from your ears."
"Your turn."
I wanted to put on the blind fold but instead he told me.to turn around and not look back.
I stood, waiting for him to toss someone at me.
"Now!" He said.
I felt the hard impact of the rock against my back, hearing nothing at all.
"It's just not working," I complained.
"You have to forget about your eyes, and your imagination. Stop trying to imagine where I will throw it to, try to hear it."
This time I closed my eyes and waited. I tuned into my dialed up hearing and closed my eyes. I calmed myself and listened to the forest around me. It was so peaceful, I heard a loud soaring sound and then I felt the impact of the rock against my skull.
"I heard it, I heard it this time," I announced, massaging my head again.
"Good, keep to that and I may not have to crack your head open with these rocks."
I tried it again. I heard the soaring sound and ducked my head lower to the side. The Rock passed without slamming my head as I laughed in jubilation.
"It's good to see that you can actually learn something," Jereum sneered, diluting my euphoria with his bad energy.
"Okay again."
We had gone through much more rock tosses. I had managed to duck under most and dodge some. Most of them still hit me, but I avoided all that were thrown at my head, even once catching one at a point.
Jereum said something about a strength test and he didn't even explain before he rapidly punched into the stem of a tree. He carved into one side of the stem and the tree fell to one side with a loud thunderous sound that startled the birds out of their nests. He was grunting and puffing all the way until the tree until the tree had toppled over and once he was done I noticed he had lost a finger from his left hand.
I watched the finger grow back from the base, like a lizards. He smiled with contentment and I was hoping he wouldn't say,
"Okay your turn."
"Oh, me?" I said, pointing to myself and eyeing his regrown finger carefully with disgust.
He looked around sardonically, searching the trees and even behind a shrub before he bellowed, "Of course you! Who else is here?"
I stepped forward towards another tree, looking at the thick bark. I huffed a breath trying to get myself prepped up for finger loss.
I pulled my left hand back at same time taking in a large breath. And then I sent my fist flying into the stem of the tree. I watched a few birds fly in fear out of their nests because of the thunderous sound, but the only thing I managed to do was create a fist sized hole in the poor tree.
"It didn't work," I said, rubbing my knuckles and giving silent thanks that I had not lost any fingers.
"Wait for it..." Jereum said, and I started to hear the sound of wood slowly being crushed under it own weight. Very slowly, and very slowly indeed, the tree fell over, slamming unto the ground with a deafening sound causing even more birds to fly away from their nests.
"Wow," I said, surprised by my own strength.
"You put an internal crack in the stem if that tree and the rest was up to gravity," Jereum said simply.
"But if you want to bring down a tree more quickly, then punch the side of the stem not the middle. That way you'd put more power into a smaller part of the wood."
"Excuse me, just out of curiosity, why would I ever have to fall down trees? Like why ever?"
"It's a test of strength not just some lumberjack frolick exercise you dun."
"That's not even—"
But the glare he threw at me made me think twice about my choice of words.
"—okay let's continue."
I walked to another tree, scoping the left side of it, I mustered up strength to my left hand and then I released a powerful punch to the left side of the stem. My fist literally broke away a chunk of the stem and I turned to Jereum beaming at my success. He sent his palm flying to his forehead, shaking his head to either side disapprovingly.
I saw the shadow before it got to smash my head to pieces, and I dashed out if the way as the tree crashed to the ground on the exact spot I had just been standing on a second ago.
"You took off too much from one side," Jereum said, but I was still in shock, not in shock that I was almost killed by the enormous mass, but in shock that Jereum had just been watching... Like he wanted it.
"You should always—"
"Why didn't you tell me?!" I demanded angrily.
I watched as a slow smirk creeped onto his lips.
"Your ignorance is not my fault Kaldra," He said slowly, purposely mispronouncing my name.
"Are you crazy? I asked him, "You are delusional! You are supposed to be my mentor, you are supposed make sure I don't die!"
"Watch your tone Kaldra," He hissed, the evil red glint appearing in his eyes.
But I had had enough, taunting me is one thing, but dragging me to a forest to ensure my death is another.
"No Jereum! You don't get to treat me this way, if you want to be a mad man, at least be honest about it."
I heard the loud cracking sound and in an instance he had sent his fist three times to my chest. I don't know how long I flew through the air until I hit the ground, hard. I was dazed and I thought I heard a rib fracture..
I groaned in pain and when I opened my eyes it was to meet the sight of Jereum who was descending from above. I raised my arms to protect myself, shutting my eyes tightly and awaiting the crashing stump but he didn't land on me, instead he landed, legs at the ground on either side of my body.
"I said, watch your tone, if not next time it won't only be one rib I'll break," He hissed and I knew he meant it. Jereum would beat me times over and I wasn't even going to bet on it, he had years of training and experience and I had... None.
He grabbed me by the jacket and pulled me up with one arm. I stood and dusted myself eyeing him evilly. I followed behind him silently, humbled by the beatdown. But I wasn't too scared of him, and at least I still had some courage to press on the issue—but knowing my boundaries—as this may be the only time he'd talk, now that we wear alone.
"Jereum?"
"I'm sorry Kaldar..."
He had just blown me away with surprise, did he actually just apologize?
"Something happened that out me in a bad mood, I shouldn't have vented it out on you," He said.
"Oh, th-thank you." Was all I could say.
He was vulnerable now, he had opened up a little but just enough for me to get some answers out of him.
"Err...what angered you?" I asked him.
"Don't worry about it—"
But then we heard the sound of someone clapping, a slow clap, each sound bleeding into the next.
We both turned, instinctively, towards the direction of the sound. And upon one of the trees, merely a hundreds meters tall we spotted a tall figure. He continued to clap, slowly and then he leaped down, landing with a thump.
"Oh, well... Well, well, well what do we have here?" He asked, I knew I had heard that voice before, or a more in feared, petrified, beaten version of it.
He stepped into the grey light and I recognized him, one of tyrants I had happily beaten.
But I needed to get something straight.
"How long have you been up there?" I asked, pointing to the position he once was and reasoning how jobless one vampire can be.
"Yeah, like were you waiting for the right time or just stalking us?" Jereum asked, equally perplexed.
He looked at either one of us.
"I wasn't there for that long, I got word from one of my boys that you two were here, without Jhan, so I decided to pay you a friendly visit," He said.
"Oh, so how much did you see?" I asked.
"—and hear?" Jereum added.
"Not much really—THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" He bellowed suddenly.
"The point is—"
"I see you've grown back your limbs," Jereum said, referring to their punishment of decapitation, "came back so I can rip them apart again?"
"What? No," He said, "plus I won't be the one to get my limbs ripped out, Jereum, because I came with backup..."
And we saw more vampires hidden in the higher trees. We both gazed at them, highly impressed by his dramatic presentations.
"So... They have been waiting for your signal or?" Jereum asked.
"Yeah, like how many are they...one, two, three..." I trailed off.
"Are you even listening?" He asked.
"He really put effort into this," Jereum said, and I thought I saw a look of contentment on the tyrants face.
The vampires that were on the trees all dropped from the heights landing with loud thumps. They all wore black hoods and masks over their mouths.
"If you do this again, you'd be given a more harsher punishment," Jereum noted, "plus I'd just beat you up again."
"Oh, Jereum, as I recall; I won our last fight, your face was burning away and I would have probably staked out your lungs if not for that prant," He said, throwing a finger at my direction, and I wondered if 'prant' was even a word
"That's not even a word," Jereum said, and I thought I saw him trying to mouth the word silently to himself.
"Whatever," He said, defensively, "I'm gonna get my long die revenge Jereum."
"Well, come get it, throw aa punch," Jereum said, extending his arm out.
The tyrant smiled deviously.
"I won't hit first Jereum, I know about your flawless record with the higher court, not even a single law that you've broken, but what do you think will happen when I tell your friend here who you once were..."
Silence fell between us.
"A human?" Jereum asked, raising a brow.
"What? No, not that you idiot, what your job was before you became a vampire..."
I saw something flash in Jereum's eyes, some kind of glint that was not red and evil, rather fearful. I was filled with curiosity, and a part of me wanted to know—now more than ever—who Jereum was before he got impurified. What he was doing that could bring fear in an instance to his eyes.