The Man In The Mountain (The Vampire Series - Book 1)

Chapter 19 - I made my choice... right?

Persephone came back in the building while everyone was buddying up. Kit ran up eagerly, holding out his hand. Daniella was watching them suspiciously, mouth pulled into a worried frown. They tried to ignore her.

"Care to be my training partner? It's experienced fighters with non-experienced ones," he leaned in conspiratorially. "It's either me or Ercole."

"I would be honored to train with you," they stuck out their elbow and walked over to where they put their backpack. They pulled out their throwing knives and their daggers. "These are steel, both of us will be fine," they showed Kit the dagger they picked up at a trade show years ago.

"Perfect, there are a few more over in the chests, as well as guns, bows, swords and spears, but I am excited to teach you to knife fight," he led them to one of the mats in the center. Anton was with Tara, the two of them smirking at each other, and Ercole was with Devin. Victoire had Alex, and Stefan was with Dillion, Daniella watching over all of them.

"I have the paramedics on speed dial should anyone get injured," she said. "Go ahead and start. Hand-to-hand for an hour, then we're moving on to spells and ranged weapons," Kit looked at them.

"Would you like to be the one who starts with the knife? Or do you want to learn to block first?" He asked. He pulled out a dagger of his own, idly spinning the blade between his fingers.

"Show me out to block first and we'll go from there," they said. Kit nodded, flipping the dagger in his hand. He showed them how to do one and two handed blocks, and how to turn the two handed block into a disarming move, running them through it slowly a few times. They felt like they were picking it up pretty good.

"Alright, now try to disarm me," he said, stepping towards them with his blade out. Persephone took a moment to focus and they were able to disarm easily and had it to his throat. Kit grinned, eyes darkening. "Perfect. Now I want you to take that dagger and come at me until I either take it back or you stab me," he said, stepping away. Persephone grinned, lunging for him. What they weren't expecting was for Kit to bat their hand away and spin them, pushing them away lightly with a small chuckle. They turned towards him with a frown, adjusting their grip and trying again. They were able to hold their own, keeping the dagger away from Kit and in their hand for the first five or so minutes, but it turns out that sweet, innocent Kit was an extremely effective fighter.

Once he disarmed them for the first time, it became a power struggle, the two of them almost juggling the blade as they moved across the mat. Persephone saw an opening and went for it, realizing a split second too late that it was a trap as Kit's iron grip landed on their wrist. They expected him to twist and take the dagger again, but instead he spun them around and pulled them into his chest, arm locking them in place and the hand holding their wrist moving upwards and pressing the blade to their throat.

"Well done, my dearest Persephone. You're a natural," they were breathing heavily from exertion.

"Holy shit dude," Dillion said from where she was on her ass on the mat. Persephone was suddenly very aware that all eyes were on them.

"What's everyone looking at?" They asked curiously at everyone.

"You just knife fought a vampire and almost won, and it was your first knife fight," Dillion pointed out. "I wanna learn how to do that," Daniella gave them an impressed nod.

"Keep going. Training is not done yet," she said to the rest of the group. Kit let them go and stepped away.

"Ready to try that again with both of us having knives?"

"Absolutely," they smiled wickedly.

Everyone continues training for about three hours. Persephone was keeping pace with Kit as he was throwing everything he had at them. They were grateful he wasn't going easy on them after the first hour. They didn't want to admit that they went through a phase in their fifties that they learned about knife tricks and knife safety. Once it ramped up it took a while for Persephone to get back in the groove, but towards the end of the first session they were starting to win a fight here and there, only panicking once when they accidentally shoved the dagger deep into Kit's side. They found themselves on the ground with Kit holding down their wrist with the knife in it. The dagger was at their throat, and the exhaustion finally kicked in. Daniella's voice started them.