-Children of the Night-

Chapter 10~ New Blood

I hesitantly awakened early the next morning. As soon as my eyes began to adjust, I noticed a shadow looming over me. My breathing stopped and my heartbeat sped up at that moment...until the dark figure leaned forward, a beam of early morning sunlight revealing his face. "Time to wake up, Vincent." Red's voice was patronizing. I stood up and looked at Red. "Why are you here?" I questioned, a hint of surprised anger in my sleepy voice. He chuckled and replied. "I am in need of your assistance. The new blood must be trained. Not everyone is a fast learner like you." I felt a tinge of confidence when I thought about what he said. I did pick up his training very easily. "But you haven't learned it all yet..." he paused and smiled. "I have a lesson for you also. Come with me." He beckoned me with his gloved hand. We both lazily jumped from my window, and made sure no one was around. I pressed my back against the wall while looking around the corner. "All clear." We made our way through the neighbourhood, and reached the park. Red stopped walking and looked at me. "Let's put our speed to good use..you don't want to be late for school." He tensed up for a second, and began to run towards the woods. Not wanting to lose him, I sprang into a fast run. We passed the entrance, and kept running until we were deep in the woods. There I saw Maxine sitting down at the foot of an evergreen tree, sunlight beaming down and reflecting off of her voluminous golden hair. She looked bored until she noticed me, her face lighting up. "Hey Vincent! I've got a test today at school...so let's get this started." She hugged me and looked over at Red. He chuckled, leaned forward and kissed her hand while looking into her eyes. "Today we will go over basic self defense, hunting, and stealth. First of all...my favorite." Laughing, he quickly stepped behind Maxine and threw a punch towards her arm, in a movement too fast for human eyes. She tried dodging, but she was not quite fast enough. His fist grazed her right arm, and he then leaped up high into the air, swooping down and kicking his leg like a low-swinging axe. She hardly caught his foot mid-kick, and he then used his other foot to spin- kick her in the side of the head, his foot stopping barely an inch away from her face. She forcefully pushed him off of her hand, a surprised look on her face. She cleared her throat and began to speak. "You..almost kicked my freaking head off!....but, that was fun. Can you teach me that kick?" Red laughed loudly and nodded his head, beginning to speak. "Forget everything you know about fighting. Let go of fear and use your primal instincts. Become an animal. Practice this any chance you get." She nodded her head, paying close attention to his every word. Red stepped in front of Maxine and I, looking around at the trees. "Both of you, listen. Listen to the world around you. Clear your mind." I closed my eyes and cleared my mind, listening intently. At first, I didn't hear much....but then a huge amount of sounds hit me, all at once. A squirrel's heartbeat speeding up because it is running from a possible threat. Water running through a creek exactly a mile away from where we stood. Maxine's excited heart rate told me that she also could hear these things. I opened my eyes, a smile on my face. "Interesting. I like this ability, Red." He nodded his head in approval. Red began to speak again. "Now, relax your whole body, and move through that sound you hear. Step through the barrier of sound and wind. You must be faster if you wish to survive among the ranks of the vampires." I could hardly believe I was even capable of this, but Maxine was jumping up and down in excitement. Red stepped to the side and became a blur similar to the beating of hummingbird wings as he ran across the path and leaped onto a tree branch. I tried to jump forward and break the barrier. Listening to the sound waves in the air, I could almost see them drifting with the wind. I waited until there was a second of calmness in all of that sound, and I leaped forward again, putting one foot in front of the other ,incredibly fast. When I stopped, I was sitting beside Red on the tree branch. He started hanging upside down from the branch, his coat hanging behind him like bat wings, and began to clap. Maxine phased and ran up the side of another tree, doing a back flip and landing on her tip-toes like a professional ballet dancer. Red began clapping more furiously. "Bravo, bravo! I enjoy having you both as pupils. You are blooming like beautiful red roses in spring time." I climbed to a higher branch and mimicked Red, hanging upside down and crossing my arms. "Look, I'm a bat." I jumped down, my arms spread out like wings. Maxine laughed in a tone similar to Red's. They were becoming alike on a level that creeped me out. Red dropped down in front of me. "Alright, time to learn a critical stealth tactic. Slow your breathing, relax completely, and try to control your heart rate. If you can slow your heartbeat down, you will be more undetectable than a ghost." I had always liked the idea of being sneaky. I remembered being a kid and acting like a ninja. I laughed at the thought. Red looked up and leaped high into the air, disappearing. I tried to listen, but there was no trace of him. That's when I heard his voice, coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. "You have to find me, before I find you."His trademark laugh rang throughout the woods. Maxine started climbing the tree closest to where Red disappeared. I ran further down the path, and climbed a tree I chose at random. I then perched between two branches that were heavy with leaves. I slowed down my breathing, and listened to my heartbeat. It got slower and slower as I closed my eyes and relaxed my whole body, until my heartbeat was down to one beat every three seconds. This somber feeling was comparable to being asleep. I slowly opened my eyes and surveyed the trees surrounding me. I heard Maxine run below me, and look over her shoulder. "Where did you go, Vincent?" She looked up, and did not even notice me clinging to the tree branch. After calling out once more, she proceeded to run down the path. That's when I began to feel uneasy. I cautiously looked above me. Red was standing on the highest branch in the tree, looking around as if he didn't know my location. I smiled, thinking I had won. That's when I turned to see Red hanging upside down, a few inches away from me. "Found you." I leaped down and swung from a low branch, projecting myself to another tree. "You have to catch me first." I said, smiling. Before he even dropped down, I took off. Leaping from branch to branch, I jumped down to the ground and started trying to increase my speed. Before I could take another step, Red dropped down directly in front of me, his hand quickly tapping my chest. "Caught you." For a moment, I began to think like a human again, and my eyes widened as I felt a sense of disbelief. I then remembered what I had become. This is my life now. Red and I began to laugh. "You did surprisingly well." Red said, his tone becoming serious. "I caught Maxine as soon as we started. When you saw her under the tree, well, I kind of put that illusion there to throw you off." He chuckled as I processed the fact that he could basically bend reality. "Maxine went ahead to school, so I am guessing you should head that way also. She shows very good potential. You both did well." Red bowed low and disappeared again. I made my way to school, in deep thought. I will put an end to the boogeyman. So I can rest easy once more. I have to be cautious....Next time I see him, he will breathe his last.