Eden

by Eden (lit)

  Catrina also rented the first floor of the duplex where she lived. It served as a training room and storage for most of her weapons. This was Father Marion’s first time seeing her entire collection and he was impressed.

  The whole floor was designed like an old Japanese dojo. Weapons of all different shapes and sizes lined the walls and others were stored in cabinets.

  “I knew there was money in monster hunting,” he said with a sly smile. “But I think you’ve been robbing people blind.”

  “Let’s see how bad you are without your collar to hide behind,” she taunted playfully.

  She and Jacob had both changed into something more conductive to fast movement and range of motion. She was wearing a pair of black sweats and a sleeveless matching undershirt. Catrina laughed when she met him in the living room and saw that she and the priest matched. It was strange to see his arMs. For so many years she hadn’t seen more than his hands and face exposed. He was more muscular than she had imagined and she wondered for a second what she was getting herself into.

  “I know you’re also familiar with Escrima,” she said, tossing him a set of rattan training sticks.

  He caught them in mid-air. “You’re going to need something harder.”

  “Story of my life,” she said under her breath.

  Catrina handed him a set of stainless steel Escrima sticks and stepped into a low stance with one knee touching the floor.

  “Don’t go easy on me just because I’m a woman,” she said.

  “Fine. Don’t go easy on me because I’m a priest.”

  “Come at me,” she challenged and he did.

  Father Marion moved with a speed she hadn’t anticipated, even from a vampire hunting priest. His new otherworldly powers were becoming more and more obvious. She ducked his first swing and fell flat of her back to avoid the second. In a flash she whipped back up to a standing position.

  “Impressive,” he said, and his smile was a challenge.

  She came at him with everything she had. Their arms became a flurry of movement. Steel clanged against steel until he finally swung and missed. She dodged the hit and slid between his legs. Catrina kicked upward, spreading her legs to throw him off balance. Before Jacob could recover she had him flat of his back with her Escrima sticks poised on either side of his neck.

  “If these were blades,” she panted, “you’d be dead.”

  In a flash he reached up and grabbed her around the neck with his feet, pulling her back flat against his body.

  “And if I wasn’t fighting fair, so would you.”

  “Well, this looks a bit like Greco-Roman wrestling. Or is that Roman Catholic wrestling?”

  “Viktor,” she said, trying to look toward the door.

  Jacob released his hold and she rolled awkwardly to the side. He helped her up and they both turned toward the door. They had left it open, but the vampire was still standing on the threshold. Viktor was also dressed differently than usual. He was wearing a pair of black pants which looked to be made of cotton. He was also wearing a loose tunic style white shirt.

  “May I come in?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she said, still out of breath. “What brings you here tonight?”

  “Disappointed?” he teased.

  “No. I just didn’t expect to see you before Friday.”

  “I’m sorry,” Jacob said. “I forgot to mention, Viktor and I had a training session scheduled for tonight.”

  “You’re welcome to watch,” Viktor offered. “Or participate. But if you try that shit on me,” he said, gesturing toward the spot on the floor where she and Jacob had been, “I want to be on top.”

  Her smile was sarcastic as she took the Escrima sticks and replaced them to the rack on the wall. “What exactly did you have in mind?” she asked.

  Viktor removed his shoes beside the door and took a good look around as he entered the room. “Nice,” he said. He noticed the candles they’d lit around the room and said, “I’ll begin tonight’s lesson with a brief discussion of familiars. Don’t worry, pussycat. If you still want to beat something up I’m free till dawn.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. After that I charge.”

  Jacob snickered at the look on her face as Viktor moved to stand in the middle of the room. “Familiars can be both elemental as well as physical. Some vampires have only one or the other. Others have one of each, and some don’t have any at all.”

  “What about you?” Catrina asked.

  “I have many,” he answered with a smile. Viktor stretched out his arms and all of the candles around the room began to flicker. Their small flames grew taller as he said, “A familiar is any element or creature to which you have an affinity. It is something that you can use. Something to call to your aid if need be, but it must be something that you can control or it’s of no use.”

  He stretched out his hand toward one of the larger candles and the flame leapt into the palm of his hand. “Open the window,” he said, and Catrina did as he asked. He worked the fire back and forth between his palms until it was close to the size of a basketball before throwing it out the window and into the storm. It crashed against the pavement outside and hissed as the rain put it out.

  “Your familiars will become more evident to you as time passes,” he told Jacob. “Don’t worry about it and don’t sit around trying to figure out what they might be. It will come to you when you are ready. One day you might realize that you can float on the mist or become a part of the storm.”

  “Or throw fireballs in front of my neighbor’s front door,” Catrina drawled.

  “The reason I mention this is because elemental familiars can assist you with a more basic and essential talent.”

  “What’s that?” Jacob asked.

  “Regeneration.” Viktor walked over and selected a blade from the wall. “Don’t worry,” he said to Catrina. “I’ll clean your floor.”

  Before she could respond, Viktor chopped off his right hand and she screamed.

  “My God,” Jacob gasped.

  “Viktor, what the fuck!” Catrina yelled. “What is wrong with you?!”

  “Hush,” he commanded. “Not to be rude, darling, but I do know what I’m doing.”

  “Well, I wish to God you’d decided to tell me,” she snapped. “You could warn someone before you go chopping off body parts.”

  Viktor straightened up to his full height as he said, “Now watch this.” He reached out with his bloody stump toward where his hand had fallen. Catrina felt her stomach lurch and Jacob put his arm around her for support. The candles around the room flickered again. But this time it wasn’t the flames that were being fed, it was the darkness. Shadows she hadn’t previously noticed around the room reached toward Viktor. They began to attach themselves to his wrist and formed an odd looking chain toward his hand. She and Jacob both watched with mingled horror and fascination as Viktor used the darkness to reattach his right hand.

  Once the process was complete, he flexed his fingers a few times and said, “Damn. I knew I shouldn’t have worn white.”

  “That was amazing,” Jacob said.

  “Your turn,” Viktor answered with a smile.

  He tossed the blade over to the priest.

  “Jacob no,” Catrina said. “Viktor, you can’t be serious.”

  “The only way to learn is to practice,” he answered. “Now, Jacob, I believe it’s your turn.” He waited until the priest had the blade poised above his wrist before stopping him. “You know, Jacob I remember the first time The Count showed me this trick. I was eager to learn, so I chopped off my hand just like he did.” Jacob looked back to him as he said flatly, “I went two weeks without a hand. If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion, why don’t you just tear off a fingernail?”

  The priest nodded his agreement. He placed the tip of the blade underneath his thumbnail and snatched it off. Even though it was far less than the violence she had been expecting a second before, Catrina was still upset.

 
“Look, I wanted a workout not a blood bath,” she said.

  “But I need you,” Viktor said, reaching out to stop her from leaving.

  “I didn’t think you were squeamish,” Jacob said, grimacing slightly at the pain.

  “I’m not,” she answered. “But I’m not used to watching people I care about mutilate themselves either. It’s fucking disturbed.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that,” Jacob said.

  “You care about me?” Viktor asked.

  The look in his eyes stole away some of her anger and revulsion at the night’s lesson. He wasn’t just asking a question, he needed to know the answer.

  “If I say yes will you stop cutting off your body parts?”

  His smile was pure sex as he replied, “Don’t worry, I won’t cut off anything you might need later.”

  “Well, I’d like my thumbnail back right now,” Jacob said sarcastically.

  “Oh, right.” Viktor turned back to him and his voice took on a hypnotic quality as he told the priest, “Focus on it. Don’t just look at it. Don’t just see it with your eyes, but see it from the inside out. Don’t just feel the pain. Move beyond the pain and into the thing itself. Picture your thumbnail reforming itself. See it coming back together until it is whole in your mind.”

  Suddenly, a spark flew off of Jacob’s thumb. It looked a little bit like static electricity. The priest jumped back and so did Catrina.

  “Not bad for a first attempt,” Viktor said.

  “I don’t understand,” Jacob said. “I burned in the sunlight and was able to regenerate within a few hours. Now granted, I didn’t burn badly but it was still noticeable.”

  “Skin is different,” Viktor explained. “When you have to regenerate flesh and bone it gets a little more complicated. Naturally, your thumbnail will grow back faster than my hand did way back when. But you get my point. All vampires have the ability to regenerate to a certain extent. Many never fully develop that ability and some are not able. It will be to your advantage to learn this.”

  “How do you know I’m not one of the ones who can’t?” he asked.

  “If I thought that, I wouldn’t be here. Keep working on it,” he said. “You’ll get there.” Viktor walked over to one of the weapon racks and said, “I want you both to chose your weapons and come at me with everything you’ve got. I mean everything. If you do really care about me, Catrina, now isn’t the time to focus on that. And as for you, Jacob I’m sure you’ve always wanted to chop up a Van Helsing. I have only one request, don’t use blessed blades.”

  “Why, can’t you recover after those?” Jacob asked.

  “Yes, but they hurt more.”

  After some reluctance, they walked over to the rack and selected their weapons. Catrina got two curved sabers and Jacob selected two samurai swords. Viktor circled them slowly as he explained, “What you guys got earlier was the slow motion version. I’d like to demonstrate how these abilities are really used.” He paused and looked from one to the other. “What are you waiting for? Attack me!”

  The priest stepped forward immediately and started swinging. He was even better with the swords than he had been with the Escrima sticks. He was fast, but Viktor was like lightning. Catrina could barely see him move. His body was a blur of black and white and red blood stains with long flying hair. He moved from the priest suddenly and came at her.

  “You aren’t participating, darling,” he said, slowing down long enough for her to get a good look at him. “I had hoped for more of a challenge.”

  His words chapped her ass and Catrina came in close, elbowing him in the face while she brought her knee to the inside of his thigh. She continued to assault him with a flurry of high flying kicks, elbows, and knees. Her moves were devastating and would have long since killed a human opponent, but Viktor kept fighting.

  “Why don’t you use your blades?” he asked, taking a swing that she just barely missed. “Don’t be afraid to hurt me.”

  “I can’t,” she panted.

  “Don’t think of me as your lover.” He swept her feet and Catrina fell to her back. Instantly he had her pressed into the floor with her blades above her head. “If you don’t learn to attack without feeling you will find someone who will exploit that weakness.”

  “Other people are a different story,” she said, gasping for breath. “I won’t hurt you, Viktor. I don’t care what you do.”

  “I will,” Jacob answered.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Viktor released Catrina and offered her a hand up as he said to Jacob, “That’s my man.”

  She moved aside quickly as he lunged toward the priest. Catrina screamed as one of Jacob’s blades pierced Viktor’s side, but he kept attacking. His laughter was a frightening and powerful sound which echoed about the room.

  “Is that the best you’ve got?” he asked as Jacob snatched the blade free.

  The priest attacked again and this time pieces of Viktor’s shirt flew into the air around him. She knew that the blades had to be cutting through his flesh to be slicing off that much of his shirt, but none of his body parts had hit the floor. Viktor laughed again and once more the darkness in the room seemed to come to him, becoming a part of his body. With only his bare arms as weapons he took on the priest and he was starting to win.

  “You call this a fight?” Viktor taunted. “This is more of a dance.”

  Jacob growled and made to slice his throat, but in an instant Viktor exploded into dozens of tiny bats. Catrina and the priest stared open-mouthed as the bats swirled and reformed into darkness which became Viktor. Jacob only paused for a moment before running one of the blades through Viktor’s heart. This earned him a good hard punch in the face which knocked him onto the floor and skidded him several feet back.

  “What are you?” Jacob asked as the other vampire stood over him.

  “Well, Jakey,” he said conversationally as he removed the blade. “I’m a bad mother fucker.” He helped the priest to stand before turning the hilt of the sword in his direction and saying, “Here’s your sword.”

  Jacob took the sword with shaking hands and replaced it to the scabbard. “Will you show me how to do that?” he asked.

  “If you are capable,” Viktor agreed. “You may not be able to do it exactly like me, but I think you have potential.”

  “How long did it take you to learn that trick with the bats?”

  Viktor thought it over before answering, “Fifty years and I’m a fast learner.”

  They talked for another few minutes before turning toward Catrina. They both stopped instantly at the look on her face. Whatever they were about to say was forgotten. Viktor wasn’t sure which emotion was more prevalent, revulsion, anger, or relief. He tried to reach inside her mind, but found it locked tight. Yep, anger was the most prevalent.

  “Catrina I--”

  “I’ll be alright,” she said, putting up a hand to cut him off. “I just wasn’t prepared for this tonight, that’s all. I’ve never watched vampires practice their skills before. Honestly, I never put much thought into it before tonight.” She looked around at the blood splatters on the floor and said softly, “Just help me clean this up.”

  About that time the power came back on and Jacob said, “I’ll take care of this. Why don’t you go have a drink?”

  She gave him a questioning look. “Are you suggesting that I get drunk, Father?”

  He smiled. “I’m suggesting that watching men cut off their hands and rip off their fingernails might drive someone to drink. And yes, I think you’ll feel better after a few glasses of wine.”

  She walked toward the door and stopped in front of the priest. He looked fine except for his missing thumbnail. His dark hair was tousled and his eyes seemed brighter after the fight.

  “I’ve seen a lot worse,” she said softly. “I don’t understand why this upset me so much.”

  Jacob put a hand on her shoulder. “Because you’ve never seen someone you care about be hurt before your eyes, let alone hurt the
mselves. It makes a difference,” he said, patting her back as he pushed her toward the door.

  “Yeah,” she agreed. “It does. I’m gonna go have a drink and take a shower. You sure you don’t need my help with anything?”

  “I’ve got it,” he said, giving her another gentle push.

  Catrina stood on tiptoe and Jacob bent down so she could kiss his cheek.

  “I’m sorry about the language,” she whispered.

  Viktor was completely taken aback by this heartwarming little scene.

  “Hey, I had to listen to your vulgarity too,” he joked. “Don’t I get anything?”

  She just shook her head and asked, “Are you alright?”

  He assessed the damage quickly and said, “I lost a little blood, but other than that I’m fine.”

  “There’s some blood in the fridge,” Jacob told him. “Help yourself.”

  Viktor took another look at Catrina’s expression and said, “I’ll help you first. After all, I did say I’d clean the floor.”

  Catrina walked numbly back upstairs and left the lock on the lift open for when they came up later. Besides, who was going to hurt her in an apartment filled with holy objects and weapons? Not to mention the two vampires downstairs. No, Catrina figured she was safe.

  She rummaged through the fridge, past the bottles of blood, phials of potion, and holy water and pulled out a bottle of Merlot. Even though she’d had a few glasses of wine with Alexander at dinner, that was long gone. She didn’t drink very often, but had a fairly high tolerance for alcohol. Alexander told her at dinner that due to his extremely fast metabolism it was nearly impossible for him to get drunk. “Lucky for me I enjoy the flavor of wine,” he’d said.

  She smiled, remembering his comment while she closed the curtains. That way when Viktor finally made it upstairs he wouldn’t have to run screaming down the hall past the silver nails and crosses. She’d already put away most of the holy objects which were normally lying about. When she thought about it she realized she’d put away the silver too. Not just for Viktor, but for Alexander.

  “What am I doing?” she asked herself for at least the umpteenth time.