Dawn of Vengeance

Chapter 3 -- Messages

"So they didn't kill you," Jake asked his friend for what he knew to literally be the fiftieth time since they left home.

"Gee I don't know Jake," Lance began shooting him an annoyed glare. "I'm walking along beside you, so what do you think?"

"Well then," Jake said looking away from his friend and staring straight ahead. 

It was the Monday after Father Matthew told Lance to stay the night with the Los Lobos which had actually turned into Lance staying with them for the weekend. Jake was admittedly dying to know just what happened while he was there. He had the feeling that something did indeed happen to Lance while he was there because he did everything in his power to avoid the subject and dodged all of Jake's questions. Once he got home though he was told to go straight to Father Matthew's study where he stayed for about two hours, and once he left he went straight to bed leaving Jake high and dry on the details. It was a lost cause for Jake to ask his mentor because he was solid as a rock when it came to a battle of wills, Lance on the other hand was quick to anger and would tell Jake what he wanted to know just to get the other boy to leave him alone.

This however was different. Lance was getting angry with Jake's constant questioning that much could be seen by a someone who was blind and deaf, but surprisingly Lance didn't say a word about his time among the werewolves. Something Lance did say was that he was going to be spending more time with them in the future until this whole vampire issue was resolved. But what surprised Jake was that Father Matthew was the one who made that decision, it was made of Lance's own free will. That being said, Jake couldn't help but wonder if Lance was beginning to prefer his own kind over them. Bound to happen, Jake thought as they walked along the sidewalk.

Father Matthew had ordered them to take daily strolls around the immediate area just in case they met someone that looked suspicious. Jake didn't fully understand why they had to patrol during the day, not like vampires would be out and about during the day. The worst that could happen during the day was a werewolf losing his temper and beating the holy hell out of some poor soul. Which didn't happen as often as one would think, sure werewolves are known for their tempers but they have some pretty bad ass self control too. How else do you think they keep from tearing someone apart for stepping on their shoe? Lance wasn't to great at self control quite yet, apparently it gets better with age. Something that Lance was severely lacking in, but at the same time Jake wondered if it was different for everyone. That Merrick guy seemed to have a worse temper than Lance and Father Matthew put together.

These were the questions that Jake thought about when he didn't have to go out and kill something. He sat there in his free time and thought about why Beings were the way they were, and occasionally he fantasized about being a better Saint than Father Matthew. Even for an old man Jake had to admit that his mentor was quite the bad ass, because every time he went out with them on an assignment he'd take apart Beings that would normally give both Jake and Lance a hard time. It was amusing to see them beaten down by a man who was likely in his 70's, Jake never knew just how old either of his teachers were he never needed to. All he knew was that they were bad asses when they were younger and still are.

Jake once witnessed his scholarly mentor Sister Mary and Father Matthew spar with each other, and was amazed at the amount of skill each of them still possessed. Father Matthew was probably in better shape than she was at this point in time since he taught both Lance and Jake how to fight, but even so Sister Mary still gave him a run for his money. And her weapon of choice against Father Matthew's four foot claymore surprised him most of all. A dagger, just a simple forearm length dagger that she kept in a sheath adorning her arm. Jake watched his two teachers practice and more so watched Sister Mary's fluid movements with her dagger, even managing to score a few strikes from behind on her husband. Ever since that day Jake has been trying to hone his knife work after Sister Mary's but could never quite get it right.