Midnight Solstice

Chapter 5

   They say the first year is the hardest. But what about the first week?! I've been out of my mind trying to keep the seven newborns under control but they've already gone through five receptionists, (the receptionists were kind of asking for it anyway, practically begging for it but that's just between myself and the newborns) and don't get me started about their attitudes. They always talk back, always ask why, and are always making jokes (that's George and Fred's speciality) when we are in training.
    I'd hate to say it but training their gifts is easier than dealing with them, even though they are completely out of control as well. George is doing well. He teleported the two of us to the garden...but then he got so excited that he teleported us to a river...in Venice. That was a very long and horrid run home after that.
And Katerina, she's brillant, sweet, kind, but good lord that girl cannot grasp control over her gift to save her life! She nearly blew my head clear off with a vase that she was supposed to take enough gravity off of so that it could float. She is really hard on herself though, but she has made more progress in the first week than any of the other newborns. She is an excellent fighter. She took down Demetri when they were sparring. That hasn't been done in a while. She says that her mother taught her karate, and that she put her in dance lessons to help her move quicker.
She loves to dance. When it's time for us to train her gift, she goes to the training room early and she runs old dances she's learned in the past. The first day of her training, I just watched her between the small crack left between the door frame and the unclosed door. She was extremely graceful. It's hard to believe because she stumbles around here like a circus clown. She's almost fallen down the stairs at least once a day since she arrived here.
All of the other newborns are fascinated by her. They ask her countless questions about her life before she came here. She told us that Lorne's Bar is actually more of a karaoke bar and that Lorne, her, and his ten year old daughter Gracie-Lynn, used to sing songs together every Saturday night on the big stage right at the front of the bar.
Katerina also talked about how she's been a part of several dance troops that traveled around Europe, and how she's preformed all sorts of dances depending on what shows she did. It's almost as if she's from some sort of movie. She seems too good to be true.
    Right now training is about to start for the day. I'm just waiting for Felix and Demetri to finish the warm ups with the newborns. They have them "run drills" with kicks and punches. I started walking around, watching them kick at each other, back and forth. The newborns paired up with a partner but since there was an odd number, Felix stood with Katerina. He had her kick continuously while the others went back and forth, back and forth. She brought her leg up and kicked, the top part of her shoe just missing his nose. He nearly flinched every time.
   "Everyone stop for a minute." I found myself saying. I walked over to where Felix and Katerina were standing. "Now I would like you all to watch." I lowered my voice. "Katerina, I want you to kick just like you were before." She nodded but looked confused. Felix gave her an encouraging smile right before she kicked. Her foot again just missed Felix's nose.
   "Geez Kit Kat, lay off the steroids." Demetri joked. He's taken a liking to calling her Kit Kat too.
   "Now I want you all to kick like that..." I stopped and gestured at Katerina. "Every time."
    "You want us to kick that high?" George asked.
    "Might as well chop my balls off now." Fred replied which earned several laughs around the room. I sighed.
    "No, I want your kicks to be that close to your partner. You never want to hesitate before you attack, even if we are just warming up." I looked over at Katerina. "Good job." She smiled.
   "Thanks." She murmured quietly.
     "I think they are all warmed up if you want to start." Demetri told me. I nodded. And then it began.
     As training went on, more and more bodies flew at each other in a blur as punches and kicks came in contact with their skin. Fred and George fought first and I honestly could barely tell who was who. It was almost as like watching mirror image fight itself. They moved in the same way, almost at the same time.
   "Bloody hell George. You're swinging at me like a gorilla." Fred said as he threw a punch.
    "Yeah but at least I'm less hairy." He said with a kick. I'd hate to admit it, but they were amusing at times. Watching them bicker back and forth would never get old. Finally, George got Fred on the ground. He stood up and smirked at me.
   "Told you I could..." And then he disappeared.
   "Where'd he go?" Adeline asked. Then she too disappeared.  I sighed. This was the second time this week. Soon the two appeared in front of us. They were soaking wet.
   "Venice again?" I asked George. He nodded.
     "At least I got us back this time." He held up his hand for a high five. I put mine up and we smacked them together.
    "That's good." I told him assuringly. He needed the encouragement.
      "That's good?!" Adeline shrieked. "I'm soaking wet!"
     "At least you did not have to run home." I told her. "You two go change then come back here immediately." They ran out of the room. I turned back to the others.
    "Do you want me to get paper towels?" Fred asked me.
    "That would be great Fred." Demetri said.
      Fred held his hand out dramatically and snapped his fingers. A second later, a roll of paper towels appeared and he and Demetri quickly wiped up the water and Fred made the paper towels go away as quickly as they came. Demetri was obviously proud of what Fred did. He has been the one helping Fred make sure his gift is under control.
"Why don't we have Brynn and Katerina fight?" Jane asked innocently, but I can tell she was up to something. I don't know what she has against Katerina but Jane has been acting odd around her.
"Are you kidding me? I have to fight her?! She's going to kick my ass!" Brynn whined.
"Not if you try." Adeline said as she and Fred walked in. She gave Katerina a bittersweet smile and Katerina gladly returned it.
"There's something going on between those two." Felix whispered to me. So he noticed it too. Glad I'm not going insane yet. I nodded. I'm sure it's nothing major but you never know.
"Don't worry Brynn, I will go easy on you...sort of." Katerina told her assuringly or at least as assuring as she could.
"Kick her ass, kick her ass..." Caleb and Andi chanted quietly.
"Come on Brynn, you'll do fine." Katerina said as she grabbed her hand and dragged her to the black mats that were set up in a square in the center of the room. They stood opposite to each other.
"Yeah, I'll do fine, I would just rather not sustain an injury while doing this of its possible."
"Quit the chatting girls, this isn't gossip girl." Jane snapped. The two girls both got in a defensive stance. "What are you waiting for?" She asked angrily. My sister doesn't have a lot of patience.
"Felix normally counts us down." Caleb informed her. Her attention snapped in his direction and he jumped behind a now dry George who pushed him back in front. Caleb laughed nervously.
"Just until they get used to fighting." Felix said. Jane rolled her eyes. "5...4...3...2...1..."
As Katerina went in for the punch, Brynn dropped to the floor and curled up in a little ball. I groaned and smacked my forehead. Katerina looked over at me with a raised eyebrow as if she were asking if they should continue. I shook my head.
"Brynn, what are you doing?" I asked her.
"I'm going with the unexpected attack." She answered.
"Well you aren't doing much attacking." Demetri told her. She looked up at him from her fetal position.
"Was it unexpected?"
"Yes but..."
"Alright then." She stood up and smirked at him. "I win."
"I think I win. You were in the ground first, even if I didn't put you there." Katerina said quietly.
    "Oh, Kat's getting spicy!" Andi shouted. Everyone gave her a confused look.
    "What the bloody hell does that mean?" Fred asked.
     "Sassy I guess, I don't know, it's just an old saying from home."
     "Where's home, the not so spicy ghetto?" Adeline asked her. God, even her voice annoyed me. That high pitched tone mixed with a bitter attitude that lingered around the edges.
     "I actually lived in California in a beach house that was more expensive than your boob job." Andi said angrily. They were standing face to face now.
    "Oh, you really want to go there?" Adeline took a step closer. A large growl filled the air as Andi lunged at her. Adeline was on the ground in an instant. Felix pulled Andi off of Adeline as Demetri helped Adeline off of the ground.
   "There is to be none of that, alright? You are here not to fight each other over childish comments that upset you, you are here so that you can learn about the vampire world and adapt to it before you become a part of the vampire society." I spoke. My voice rang loud and clear through the stone interior of the room. I almost sounded like Aro when he spoke to us in his usual king like manner.
"Katerina has a point though, Brynn was on the ground first." Felix whispered to me, getting us back on topic.
"Getting back on track, it looks like Katerina wins." I told Brynn. She groaned.
"Fine!" She walked off the mat. Katerina began to walk off too.
"Well since you didn't get to fight, why don't you fight Caleb?" Jane asked, but it was more of an order. Caleb walked into the mat.
"Please don't break me in half." He said to her. She giggled.
"I'd have to gain the strength of ten Felix's before I could do that." Felix began counting. And then the blur began.
At first, Caleb got her in a choke hold, but she soon twisted her way out of his grasp by popping her shoulder out of place.
"Ouch..." Andi said, covering her ears.
"You said it." Fred said, doing the same.
Katerina then popped her shoulder back in, then lunged at him. More punches and kicks were formed as cracks formed on their bodies from being hit too hard. Those two were our best fighters as of right now, and when they fought, they fought hard. Finally, Katerina pinned him by the chest to the ground.
"Jesus Kat, you are good." Caleb said, gasping for breath. The cracks in his neck were making it hard for him to breath, even though we don't need to. Breathing is a habit that we can't break unless we try really hard. It takes years to break unless you're lucky.
"You aren't so bad yourself." Katerina told him as she gave him a hand up. She had a large crack running down the side of her face. It would take a couple minutes to heal. She touched it lightly, and winced. "This is going to be a cool scar."
"Vampires don't get scars." Felix said. "It will heal with out a scratch." She sighed with relief.
"That's great. I thought I was going to look like I had a spider web on my face forever!"
"Same. Sorry about that." Caleb said sheepishly. She smiled.
"It's all good. Sorry about your neck. I guess it's a good thing though, I mean if we do get attacked, we'll kick ass." Katerina joked. Caleb smiled.
"Yeah..." Jane cut him off.
"This isn't social hour you two, Andi, Adaline, you're next." She said bitterly. I almost objected to that after their little skirmish earlier, but I didn't. They needed to blow off some steam anyway. But Jane was getting rather annoying. She's still upset that she isn't leading this mission.
"Maybe it's because after all this time, she finally realizes that she's not the greatest thing in the world." I thought to myself. But then I snapped myself out of it.
     After they fought and Andi won, training was over. In a half an hour, I would have training with Katerina. I'd have to say this was my favorite time of day. It was fun training her. She wasn't as whiney and annoying as the rest of them. They have a harder time adjusting to our way of life then she does. To her, it's like a second nature. She's perfect for this world. Even if we don't know exactly what she is yet.
"But you do know what she is. She's half vampire half fae...sort of." I thought. But I just told myself to shut my trap and keep walking. It's better than thinking about the things I have no control over. She doesn't know what she is yet to put knowledge. Aro told Felix, Demetri, Jane, and I that we are to keep quiet about it until she is ready to know. I think she is now, but no one else does. So I won't say anything unless she asks.
  But of course, that would come sooner than I had hoped.