by B. F. Simone
Brian didn’t wait for her to answer. Katie hesitated. Even if Tristan was in class, what would she say to him if she went there now.
Katie followed Brian over to the group. They opened up their circular form enough for Brian. Katie had to squeeze next to him. She felt so out of place, but in one move Brian put his arm around Katie’s shoulder. She didn’t know whether she liked it or if she hated it. A few guys slapped hands with Brian and shouted his return to school. Brian laughed and made a few jokes about passing teachers and a few socially awkward kids.
Everyone slurped up his jokes like dogs dying of thirst. As popular as ever. It bothered Katie that he was popular. At first she felt bad because it made her feel like she was petty, but more and more she realized it was because Brian always changed when he was the center of attention. He always became invincible.
“Hey, you’re new right?” A guy said to Katie. If she could remember correctly his name started with an A.
“No. Are you?” she said ruder than she’d meant.
“I meant to the program.” The guy looked around the group to confirm that he had said it right the first time. Katie felt stupid.
“Yeah,” she said, nodding her head. No one asked her anymore questions.
The bell rang and they dispersed to their classrooms.
Finally, she made it to their English class with Brian walking lazily behind her. She walked in and there he was. There he was and here she was thinking about how he was right there.
He looked at her—confused.
She turned around and walked out of the classroom. What was wrong with her.
“Uh, why are you out here?” Brian said, holding the door knob.
“It’s Tristan, he—makes things incredibly awkward,” she said.
“I know.” Brian’s face fell. “He lives in my house.” Brian opened the door and Katie took a deep breath.
School passed the same way it had the day before with just as many awkward moments. The only difference was in Field Study, when Mr. Carver brought out an array of weapons from different time periods reaching to modern day. He discussed the uses of each one. There were guns, clubs, swords, and knives that Katie didn’t catch the name of. When they were free to walk around and look at them, Tristan explained, in detail, the more modern looking ones. It was creepy how much he knew about guns, and knives—and killing. Worse was the of invasion of these weapons in the classroom. Everything in her told her they weren’t supposed to be here. They were dangerous. No one seemed to care though. She was the only one not talking about them like new chemistry supplies.
“Oh this one is nice, it’s very light you know.”
“I like that this one is so heavy, I always forget I’m holding the dinky ones.”
“Last year’s model was better I think.”
“Oh I should write down this model. I’ll ask my mentor about it.”
After another grueling run after school, she’d nearly forgotten that it wasn’t over. She’d gotten out of her mentor-sponsored training yesterday, but today was not a repeat.
“We’re suppose to meet Lucinda at her house,” Tristan said to Katie as she gulped down as much water possible. She noticed he said her house even though he lived there too.
“What if I die between now and then?” Katie said, laying down on the concrete. It wouldn’t be so bad to close her eyes and sleep there for a while.
“Then I guess we’d both be screwed.” Tristan wiped the sweat off his brow. He didn’t run with her today, he ran at his own pace, which was too fast for far too long. Every time he passed her he’d shout, “Breathe.”
“Yeah, you’d need a new partner,” she said, signaling for him to block the sun out of her eyes.
He didn’t move. “Something like that.”
Katie didn’t bother changing. She figured whatever lay in store at Lucinda’s house would probably require more sweat. They walked to Lucinda’s house in silence. Was it going to be like this everyday? The two of them doing everything together?
Her thoughts shifted away from whether Tristan wondered that too, when she saw Lucinda in the front yard, waving at them enthusiastically. “Who’s ready to go shooting?” she asked.
Katie didn’t respond. How was she supposed to respond to that?
“Hey!” Katie turned around and saw Allison running toward them. She was plastered in sweat and looking determined. “Not late—am I? Wanted to run—so I took the long way here. Will didn’t leave—without me—did he?” Allison put her hand on her hips.
“You ran here?” Katie said.
“Preliminaries—are this—Saturday. I can’t—slack off.” Allison panted.
Lucinda waved Allison inside to get water. “Will has an emergency at the office. So I’m going to take you and Brian out today. Where is Brian?”
“Really?” Allison gasped. “OMGOMGOMG youhavetoteachmehowto—”
Katie couldn’t make out the rest.
They waited almost an hour before Brian got home. That hour buried the little confidence she tried to muster. She tried waiting in the house, but the talk of guns and knives made her nervous. She tried outside, but the lingering heat of summer burned her skin. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Just the sun. Like an eye…watching her…a reminder…there was no where to run. This was it. This or being hauled off in the back of a van with Glock, screaming bloody murder.
“Ready?”
Katie jumped as Lucinda came out of the house with two pop cans. Everyone followed, piling into the SUV.
“All or nothing, right?” Katie said. Lucinda handed her a can and opened her own. The cold sugar and caffeine cooled and calmed her.
“Did you know I grew up on a farm?”
Katie shook her head.
“Yup. It was where my dad taught me how to shoot. I was about your age and a laughing stock because everyone else learned when they were ten. But my dad, he just told me when I was ready I’d learn. It was a real hot day—everyone was at our neighbors pool, and I stayed behind to help my dad clean out the barn. We shared a whole six-pack of coke.” Lucinda laughed and held up her can. “This was way back when pop came in glass bottles.” She took a long swig before she continued. “When we were done, he grabbed his small twenty-two pistol, the bottles, and told me to follow him. We went to our fence in the back of our property and lined up each bottle. I didn’t miss one. Still haven’t,” she winked. “Guardians aren’t made, Katie. They’re born.” Lucinda laughed as she got into the SUV.
Katie climbed in not entirely soothed. Maybe Lucinda was good at shooting bottles and who knows what else, but Katie was not. Katie didn’t know how to hold a gun or shoot one. She’d likely shoot her own face off.
She thought they were going to a building with booths, ear muffs, and personal shooting targets. She was wrong. Lucinda drove them out of the city and deep in the foothills far away from hiking trails and road.
It was dry and windy where they stopped. Patches of green hovered near trees, but mostly rock and brush surrounded them for miles. Lucinda warned them to watch out for rattlesnakes.
Brian and Tristan unloaded the truck while Lucinda and Allison set up a table with guns of sizes, and bullets clinking and rolling as they fell out of packages. Katie watched useless and in the way. “Check the actions for me Allison,” Lucinda said.
Allison cocked each gun. The constant sound of metallic springs recoiling and snapping put Katie on edge. “Can you smell the sage?” Lucinda said. A gust of wind picked up and slid down the hills. It wrapped around Katie. Smells of sage and dust whirled around her. She choked on it.
Lucinda covered gun safety, emphasizing the importance of muzzle control. If it’s such a killing machine why should I be allowed to use it much less touch it?
“Every thing’s all good,” Allison said, spinning the chamber of a revolver.
“If you forget everything I said, just remember one thing,” Lucinda said, putting a single bullet in a small pistol. “Muzzle control. Always know where
you point your gun. Never point it at someone unless you intend to kill.” She showed Katie how to cock and hold it. “Just stand there and hold it, I’ll be right back.” Lucinda disappeared to the truck and came back seconds later holding Katie’s pop can. She put it on a stomp about twenty-feet away.
“Okay,” Lucinda said. “Hold it steady, aim, and shoot.”
Katie waited until Lucinda was far behind her before she held up the gun. Her hands shook so bad she thought she was going to drop it, killing everyone. She heard footsteps behind her.
“Knowing how to use a gun doesn’t make you a killer. You’re going to need to defend yourself,” Tristan said just loud enough for her to hear. She was still afraid. Afraid of how it might change her life. There was no going back after this.
“Stop thinking there’s something to go back to. Life moves forward, Katalina. Never backwards. Either move or get left behind,” he said. He was standing so close, that even if she wanted to turn around and bolt he would be there blocking her way.
Are you always this pushy?
He was right though, what did she have to go back to? Her life was changing whether she wanted it to or not.
She didn’t need to turn around to know Tristan had moved from behind her. She was alone. It was her decision.
She pulled the trigger.
The report was loud and she completely missed the can. She didn’t care. The exhilaration of being in control of something so powerful made her brave. What was I even afraid of? She turned around and everyone ducked before she realized she was pointing the pistol at them.
Katie tried an array of pistols all different sizes and calibers. When she put a small, heavy revolver down on the table, Lucinda told her that Tristan was going to be more of an assistant coach than an actual partner in her physical training.
“What? He’s my partner! Isn’t he supposed to have the same training as me? That’s so wrong, Lucy. The School would never agree to that.” Katie eyed Tristan, as he sharpened a set of knives in a bit of shade under a tree.
“Due to the time constraints we need to accelerate your training. I’ve decided, Katie. Tristan’s agreed and he has a lot to offer.”
“How can you trust someone you don’t even know? You’re letting him stay at your house and you met him two weeks ago. Now you want him to teach me how to fight?”
“If you don’t trust him, At least trust me. It’s very complicated, but I trust Tristan. He wants to train you. He’s more capable than me—” Lucinda rubbed her hip the way she always did out of habit. Katie never knew what happened to her. “Don’t tell him I said that. Besides, I’m going to be right here watching.” Lucinda gave her a slight push in Tristan’s direction. “Tristan’s already knows what to cover today—go on. Go learn something, Sweetie.”
It’s complicated. She was sick of that being an excuse. Just trust me…it’s complicated…. She watched Lucinda pick up three knives and stick a target thirty-five yards away. Arguing now probably wasn’t the best idea. Instead, she walked over to her new make-shift teacher.
Without a word, Tristan stood up. “You should take that off,” he said, pointing at the necklace Brian had given her for Christmas. It was a little jade-green turtle. She looked over at Brian throwing knives at a flimsy tree, each knife bouncing off into the surrounding bushes. When he gave her the necklace, she promised she’d never take it off. She wasn’t going to break that promise now or ever.
Tristan studied her hard. “You know, the harder you hold on to things the more likely they are to break?”
She scoffed and put the turtle under her shirt.
He showed her how to hold a knife and use it. At first she refused to touch it until he showed her it was fake. “Never stab, not unless you’re going for the kill and your opponent is unable to stop you.” She nodded. Though, thinking about killing someone, even if they were technically not human, didn’t sit right with her.
“You still need to know this,” Tristan said, openly probing her.
“How am I supposed to do anything if vampires can read my mind?” she mumbled.
“Vampires can’t read your mind. They aren’t psychic. I can understand you because you let me. I can feel you because you’re careless with your feelings. That’s it.” His eyes were stern and he nodded for her to get into the defensive stance he’d shown her.
“Now stab at me.”
“You just told me not to.”
“Just do it,” he said. She hesitated then half-heartedly jabbed in his direction. He knocked her hand out of the way roughly. “Be serious.”
She lunged at him. He grabbed her arm, smacked at the bottom of her elbow, and she dropped the knife.
“That’s why you don’t stab. Now swipe.”
“What was the point of that?” she said, rubbing her elbow. A dull throbbing pain settled into the bone.
“So you’ll remember not to stab. Swipe,” he said.
Katie looked around at Lucinda expecting her to step in a scold Tristan.
Lucinda waved for them to continue.
“Are you serious?” Katie breathed. No one acknowledged her so she sighed and moved back into position.
She swiped at him and expected him to grab her again. Instead, he backed up each time. “See the difference?”
Tristan went on showing her different ways to block which she found relatively easy. After twenty-minutes of repeated steps, he showed her offensive moves that she had never seen before, but once she got the footwork and understood the motion, they were just as easy.
Never once did he compliment her. He wouldn’t say one nice thing. And her kicks were pretty awesome. How was he supposed to be a teacher if he couldn’t give positive reinforcement. Lucinda had dumped her off with another Sensei Steve.
In one move, Tristan kicked Katie’s legs out from under her and she hit the ground.
“Shut up already. Be more focused on what you’re doing, not me. Do you think the werewolf who’s trying to kill you will compliment you on how you stabbed him in an artery? Do you think the vampire who is trying to rip your head off will say you have a nice kick? Get over yourself. I’m sick of listening to your crap. You never shut up.”
“Tristan,” Lucinda scolded.
Covered in dust and dirt she yelled, “Then get out of my head.” How dare he complain about invading her privacy.
“You think I enjoy this? Do you realize I spend my entire day trying to shut you out!” Tristan yelled back. Lucinda, Allison, and Brian were staring at them, but Katie didn’t care if all of Boise was staring at them. She was tired of him. Tired of not knowing whether to hate him or not.
“I can’t stand you,” Katie yelled.
“Funny, I didn’t hear you saying that yesterday.”
“I never asked you to do anything. I didn’t show up at your school. I didn’t mess up your life!” she screamed. Maybe it wasn’t fair that she was taking out all of her anger on him, but he asked for it.
“Katie,” Lucinda warned.
“I didn’t ask for you. I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t have a choice.” Tristan glared, balled up his fist, and walked off.
The look in his eyes before he walked away, was the same look he had yesterday. The one where it seemed like she was the one who’d torn apart his world. It was worse than a punch in the gut.
In an instant, like a distant murmur, she could feel him in her mind.
He was screaming.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The ride into town was awkward. Katie didn’t dare look at Tristan. I heard him…or you…I actually heard you….
Her body—it was full of him. It was a small second, but it was real. He was angry, sad, and he was hurt. How is this possible? Tristan—capable of feeling anything? What am I saying, I’m sitting next to a vampire. I wouldn’t be surprised if I could sprout wings and fart pixie dust. She wondered if he heard her now…
She inched her eyes to the far side of her head. He was staring dead at her. His furrowed brow and stiff
black hair stabbing into his face said, “unamused.”
That death stare isn’t attractive.
He turned away.
She hated he knew everything she was thinking, but now she knew it worked both ways—Why can’t I hear your thoughts? Are you shutting me out? She didn’t need a response to know it was true. She wished she could shut him out.
She imagined building a wall between them; none of her thoughts getting past it. She picked up each of her thoughts, one by one, putting them in a jar and closing the lid. Him looking at the jar, pressing his nosey ear on it in vain. A wall, building higher and higher until he couldn’t even see her jar.
Tristan snapped his head in her direction, confused.
Me: one. You: none.
Katie, relieved to be out of the truck, was sure everyone felt the same way—everyone except Lucinda. “Let’s celebrate,” she said. Unlocking the front door. “Katie’s first training was a success,” she paused at their blank, wide-eyed stares. “—At least most of it anyway.” As soon as the door was open Tristan went directly to his room.
“I have plans,” Brian mumbled, taking Tristan’s lead.
“Plans for what?” Lucinda said, sharply.
“I wanted to study at Michael’s house. He’s going to help me with the History exam we have.” Brian said, defensively. Katie seethed. It was a flat out lie. A lie she wasn’t even invited to.
“Fine. You need the help.” Lucinda’s eyes bore into Brian as he climbed the stairs to his room.
“Okay then. Just the three of us girls. We can have a ladies night instead,” Lucinda said, leading them to the kitchen. “I know, we can have a sleep over like we used to. I can give you girls facials and you can catch me up on everything. Go home, pack a bag, and make sure it’s okay with your parents. Today’s been exciting enough without a call from—when do you plan on telling your dad?” she asked Katie.