Infinite Bliss || Volturi Kings [1]

chapter 44

"You sure you want to do this, dude?"

I was stood in the training room with Santiago, Afton, and Renata, ready to...well...train. Somehow I'd managed to convince them that I was ready enough to fight like a vampire, so Santiago offered to teach me some moves, using Renata to practise on. That morning, I'd chosen an outfit of a pair of beige hiker boots, white sweatpants, and a black tank top.

"I'm so ready," I stood opposite Renata, "karate chop me or something."

"You really have no idea how this works, do you?" Santiago glanced at me, unimpressed.

"Nope, never seen vampires fight before."

"Just call us immortals, little human," he snarled jokingly, "Let's show her, Afton."

Renata and I both hurried out of the way, sitting beside each other on one of the wooden benches at the side. Quicker than my brain could process, Afton leapt at Santiago in a flurry of movement and the two of them seemed to be fighting but all I could see where two dark blobs zooming around each other. After a few seconds, the fight came to a halt as Santiago had Afton pinned to the floor face down with his arm held behind his back.

"And that, Eli, is how it's done," he let go of Afton's arm with a thud and stood up again, leaving Afton to climb to his feet on his own.

"I didn't know what was happening half of the time," I admitted and stepped back over to the floor.

"Faster than the human eye can see," Afton wheezed as he got back to his feet and stepped aside beside Santiago.

"You don't really expect me to do that, right?"

"Obviously not, dude, we'll just be teaching you the basic moves carefully at human speed," he shrugged.

"Like what-"

I screamed in shock as Afton slammed me backwards into the floor, which was fortunately covered with thick padding and mats so that limbs were less likely to go flying. He towered over me with a grin on his face and his hand just below my neck.

"As a rule of thumb, always stay alert. Losing focus loses lives," Santiago shrugged.

"That was harsh, Afton, she's only human," Renata shook her head disapprovingly and helped me back to my feet, but not before sending him flying backwards into the wall.

"Thanks," I blushed timidly and dusted myself off.

"Now," Santiago began, "you'd be surprised how well humans can do in combat with an immortal when they put their mind to it. We may be faster, but there are still a few ways to catch us out which I think you should probably be aware of."

"Seriously?"

"Yes. For example," he took a few steps back opposite me, "I will come to attack you, and I only want you to follow your instincts and save yourself."

"I'm not so sure if this is a good idea," I backed off hesitantly.

"You wanted training, right? We're training dude, don't worry about us hurting you or anything."

"Well, if you insi-"

Santiago quickly became a shadow bolting head on in my direction. My heart started racing and adrenaline rushed though my veins, causing me to leap to the side onto my front with my eyes tightly closed. Somehow, when I opened them, I was still intact, while Santiago had skidded to a halt just before hitting the brick wall.

"How did...?" I sat up and looked around confused.

"You correctly moved away at the very last minute. Due to the momentum our speed comes with, we often struggle to take unplanned sharp changes in direction, which you can easily use to your advantage," he explained.