by Joe Fowler
Trog became quiet as he processed what I had told him. I sat on my bed while he worked things through in his head.
As I sat there, I thought of some of the obvious things I needed to know. Now might be the best time for Trog to help with those things.
“If I end up in the same room with that old one again, or any other mind reader, how do I keep them from knowing about my real gift?” I asked Trog.
“There are two kinds of mind readers. The ones like me can only hear what is in the forefront of your mind at the time. The other mind readers can dig through and find out anything they want. There are ways to put walls up. Until you learn that, my advice is to focus on one thing, whatever harmless subject you want, to the point that no word of your gift enters your thoughts. That would work against someone like me. For one of the more powerful kind, the only defense is to imagine your mind shifting around so that it confuses the reader. Think of it like your mind is a stack of children’s blocks. See those blocks stacking then restacking themselves in a different pattern. Over and over and over.” Trog said all of that in a dazed state. I wondered how aware he was that he was even speaking.
I thought his reaction to this news was overly dramatic but I didn’t want to say anything. We already knew I was far stronger and faster than normal. Why was he so affected?
“I know more about what this could mean. I am thinking ahead now. I know what you could eventually become.” Trog looked up at me with a serious look on his face. He then cocked his head to the side like he was listening for any possible sound. I figured he was listening more for thoughts than sounds. Once he was satisfied that no one could hear, he started speaking again. “I saw what the last person with your gift did. Arria was thinking about it once when I was in the room. His name was Ares. His old one named him after the god of war because he was so damn tough. Once Ares had drank from his ten fights, he was already very powerful. One of the female old ones liked him. While they were ‘involved’ he drank from her. Once he added her speed and power, he began his war on the old ones. He marched through them one at a time adding their gifts to his arsenal. The council gathered what forces they could and attacked Ares. It was close. He almost beat the entire council and their special guard. That was around twelve hundred years ago. Since then, the old ones have kept an eye out for anyone who might have this same gift.”
I sat stunned. I didn’t know it had been taken that far.
A childish thought of ‘why me’ started then. I knew this could be the biggest danger I faced as a vampire. The old ones finding out about my gift. Why was I the one singled out for this? For the first time ever, a dishwasher wished he was back to work in his miserable life.
Trog couldn’t help but laugh a little.
“We never know what a newbie’s gifts will be. Believe it or not, you should still see this as a good thing. You will easily make it through your ten fights. If you don’t want to start a war with the old ones, then they might never know you were capable of it. Ares would still be alive and well if he hadn’t started killing the old ones.”
“My knee jerk reaction is that he was right to kill them. Although, part of me wonders how bad it would get if there wasn’t a council enforcing the laws the way they are. What would stop a vampire from turning a hundred humans? Two hundred? With no consequences for their actions, vampires might spread like the plague. These fights are barbaric and brutal, but if anyone turned must face this gauntlet, then the number of vampires will remain in a controllable range as far as the numbers go.” I said this hoping Trog would give his opinion.
Trog sat quietly thinking things through. I waited for him. I figured I had the time to be patient now.
I jumped when there was a knock at the door. Trog must have heard the thoughts before the knock since he didn’t seem surprised.
“A little warning before someone knocks would help. That scared the shit out of me.” I told him as I went to answer the door.
“Sorry.” Trog muttered.
It was Speedy and Hercules.
“Hey guys, what’s up?” I asked.
“We were going to spar for a while. We wanted to see if you two wanted to join us.” Speedy was the one to speak.
“Sounds like fun.” Trog said as he stood up. This surprised me but I guessed he had his reasons. “Come on, Ethan. The more you train, the better you will be.”
I nodded as we followed along with the others.
Chapter 4
The training room was empty when we entered. I figured the other old ones had taken their fighters away, leaving only our group. Speedy and Trog paired off. I would have liked to watch their match but Hercules wanted to spar against me.
We faced off. I went in and hit him with a quick punch. I didn’t put too much force with the hit but it staggered him.
“Whoa! Time out.” Hercules said. He leaned forward holding his jaw.
Speedy and Trog stopped to look at Hercules.
“How hard did you hit him?” Speedy asked, amazed.
“Not very hard.” I said before I thought things through. The shock on Speedy and Hercules’s faces coupled with Trog’s frustrated stare, reminded me that they didn’t know my full capabilities.
“I knew you were strong, Ethan, but so is Hercules. His whole gift is strength! You shouldn’t have been able to hurt him easily!” Speedy exclaimed.
“Tell them, Ethan. Not everything, but enough. Speedy needs to know.” Trog said. He was right. I knew how much I needed to say and what not to say.
“When we sparred yesterday, I held back. Sorry, Speedy, but I am faster than you. I am much stronger than you are Hercules. For whatever reason, my gifts of speed and strength are more than normal.” I admitted.
“What is this ‘not everything’ about? What are you not telling us?” Speedy asked angrily.
“Arria knows and Trog read it in my mind. I don’t think Arria wanted me to tell about what happened this morning when I was called to see her. You would need to ask her.” My words had the intended effect. Speedy paled at the thought of questioning Arria. I figured he would let it drop.
“Hey, Hercules, what do you say to a little double teaming?” Speedy was smiling now. “I doubt he could take both of us.”
Hercules smiled as well and they both took stances for their attack. Speedy tried one of his lightening moves but I caught him halfway and threw him into Hercules. They both tumbled over in a heap. Trog started laughing.
“Oh, you think this is funny?” Speedy asked Trog.
“Yep. Why don’t I help you and Hercules? Let’s see if he can take all three of us.” Trog surprised me with that one. Speedy smiled and nodded. Hercules didn’t look like he wanted any more but he went along with it.
The three of them spread out some to come at me on three sides. I made the first move at Speedy knowing I needed to neutralize his speed. Trog was slower but got there just after I hit Speedy. Trog tried to make a quick strike but I dodged and shove him hard enough to send him flying. Hercules had closed by this time and I caught his fist as he threw a punch. I gave him an open handed shot to the chest that sent him flying back ten feet through the air to land on his butt. Speedy was back on me by this time but I recovered fast enough to dodge and hit him again.
I stood there looking around at the three vampires. They were all sitting on the floor looking at me in amazement. I was worried Speedy would be hurt and mad at me but he started laughing and Trog and Hercules began laughing with him.
“You are one tough ass newbie!” Speedy declared.
They didn’t want to spar with me anymore. I watched as they paired off for matches between themselves. They were entertaining to watch.
I could now see how strength alone wouldn’t get you through your ten fights. The huge, bald Hercules would never earn his freedom. I felt a little bad for him but knew there was nothing I could do.
We had been in the training room for what could have been an hour, it could have been three hours or more, when Cerrus walk
ed in. We all stopped the sparring and stood at attention.
“We will be leaving later tonight. We will be flying to an event that will take place in a few days. Get yourselves some blood if you need it and pack your bag for the trip. Ethan, remain here while these others go to get started on their preparations.” Cerrus spoke in a rush. I stayed where I was as Trog, Speedy, and Hercules left.
I was worrying that he would want to fight some more. I knew he looked like his pride was wounded this morning.
“Do not tell them of our match this morning. I know Trog will have seen it in your mind but the others should not know. Trog understands what to keep to himself and what to tell others.” Cerrus said, coldly.
“I understand, Cerrus.”
“Your measurements were taken while you were turning. There will be some clothing for you in your room when you return. There are showers available. Trog or someone will show you where they are. You can find your way back can’t you?” Cerrus asked.
“Yes.” I said simply. I figured keeping it short was the best policy.
Cerrus left by a different door. I started on my way back to my room.
The clothes were there as he said they would be. I picked through them thinking them to be too colorful and not my style. I didn’t feel like I had much of a choice though. I picked an outfit and headed to the hallway to find Trog or another fighter to tell me where the showers were. I didn’t see Trog, but Speedy was there.
“Hey, Speedy. Where are the showers?” I asked him.
“Hold on a second and I’ll show you. I’m headed there too.” He disappeared into his room for a minute before he came back out with some clothes of his own. He motioned with his head for me to follow. I fell in line behind him.
He led me through several more hallways, up some stairs, and down more hallways. There were many more doors here than I was used to seeing. He explained that this was the part of the facility where many of the vampires employed by Arria lived. I didn’t see any of them as we walked but there were some in the huge shower room.
Each of the thirty or so shower areas had a stall with a door. The stalls were around five feet in height. The showers all were connected by overhead piping. It had an industrial feel. Once in my stall, I could look over the walls at the other twenty or so vampires who were showering as well. The water only had one temperature, steaming hot.
Once I was done getting clean and was dressed in my new clothes, I made my way back to my room. As I neared my door, Trog joined me. He walked in behind me and shut my door. He sat where he had earlier today in the one chair provided.
“What did Cerrus want?” He asked.
“He only warned against telling everyone about earlier today. It’s confusing, since I naturally want to call earlier today, this morning. I don’t really have a clue when it is daylight or dark. We’re underground so I guess it doesn’t matter. It has the feel of being suspended in time though. I never knew we were so ruled by the time of the day before now.” I was wondering where all these words were coming from. I wasn’t usually a talker. Trog sat through most of it with a smile on his face.
“It takes some getting used to. As long as we stay underground, day and night are the same for us. I don’t know of one single clock in this place. Arria probably has one but I don’t know if anyone else does or not. I may be wrong though. It looks like the employed vampires would need to know what time they needed to have things done by.” Trog shook his head to clear it. “That’s off topic! Did Cerrus say anything else?”
“He said he knew you would see it in my head but he also said you knew what to say and what not to say. That kind of thing. That was about it though. The rest was just telling me about my clothes and the showers.” I informed him.
“Good. I was a little worried he might want a rematch or was going to threaten you.” Trog seemed to think like I had.
“I thought the same. He spoke coldly but didn’t threaten with words. It was more the implied kind of threat.”
We talked of less important matters for a while. The curiosity began to gnaw at me as I started wondering about our travel plans.
“How do we normally travel? It looks like we would have trouble fitting in with the public in an airport.” I said, in a joking manner.
“Arria has a private plane. The windows are covered to block out the sunlight. She has a private runway as well. We never come into contact with humans directly.”
“Do you have any idea where we are?”
“None of us do. I am from California. Speedy is from Texas. Penny lived in Illinois. Hercules lived in Alabama. All of us have the same basic story. We were attacked by Arria and have images of feeding from her before waking up here. No one that might know has had a thought about it when I was around. Near as we can tell, there are underground facilities like this all over the world. We have no idea how long the transformation takes. We just woke up here. Same as you.”
“It makes you wonder just how many old ones there really are. I was shocked when I heard Arria’s age. You were telling me ‘old ones’ but four thousand years is older than I expected. She told me any vampire over one thousand is considered an old one. That would mean there could be a great many of them.”
We were interrupted by a knock on the door. I answered it and let Speedy, Penny, and Hercules all come into my room. It was a little crowded since these rooms aren’t very big. We left the door open since it had such a crowded feel. Speedy was left standing as the rest of us sat on the bed. Trog was still in my one chair.
“One question. How often do we need blood?” I asked.
“You are just now asking that?” Hercules laughed. “That was one of the first things out of my mouth. Every two days is enough. The more you use your abilities, the more you need. Also, the healing drains you and you need more if you had to heal from a fight. I don’t think you will have to worry about that one too much though.”
Speedy laughed and nodded. Penny looked around a bit before her eyes got really big and she looked at me in shock.
“You beat all three of them?” She asked.
“He made it look easy too. We couldn’t even hit him with all three of us attacking. He’s faster than I am and stronger than Hercules.” Speedy answered for me.
“Trog told me you were tough, but damn, that’s more than I expected.” Penny was still shaking her head in wonder.
The four of us had a good time talking. Speedy was pretty funny and didn’t seem to mind my beating him. I wasn’t expecting that turnaround. Penny had a quick wit and I caught a few smiles at unspoken words between her and Trog. Hercules had a very likable personality. I hated that he wouldn’t last. Strength alone could only take you so far.
“How does it feel to know you will be free in about three days, Speedy?” I asked. I knew he must be excited.
“I’m getting a little nervous now. I have won all my fights easily but I know not to be too confident. It would be stupid of me to go into this final fight and lose because I wasn’t taking it seriously.” Speedy did seem a little nervous.
“You’ll do fine. There aren’t many who can face your speed and have a chance of winning.” Trog reassured him.
“What did you guys think of the mind control from last night? That was a scary one.” Hercules actually shuddered when he said it.
“I’m glad to be a mind reader now. We would have the best chance against her since we would see it coming ahead of time.” Penny stated. “The fire guy was a surprise too. I keep being surprised by how many different gifts there are.”
“It’s too bad someone couldn’t collect them all. Think about how tough he would be!” Hercules said. I fought my urge to jerk my head in his direction. I made myself stay calm, though it wasn’t easy.
“Can that actually happen?” I asked. I wanted to hear what Speedy and Hercules thought about such a prospect.
“I heard that it happened once. There was this one vampire that won his ten fights and drank from each fighter he faced. He
then secretly went around gathering talents from any vampire he could. He got the chance to drink from an old one and that was what he had wanted all along. Once he could match their speed and strength, he started killing them. He started the killing one by one but the council banded together with their guard and killed him. I wish that could happen again. These old ones need to learn that they can’t use us for their own amusement.” Speedy spoke with such emotion on his last statement that I was taken by surprise.
“I would love to see those old ones having to fight for their lives. I know my chances aren’t too good in these fights so I would love to see those bastards get what they deserve.” Hercules sounded as vengeful as Speedy.
“That’s why they watch everyone so closely. They are always looking for anyone who might have that gift now. If a new vampire starts showing that ability, he would be immediately put to death.” Trog said.
The others all seemed saddened by Trog’s statement. Penny seemed to be an Oscar worthy actress since she already knew about me. She laughed at my thought and Trog joined in.
“What are you two laughing at?” Speedy asked with a smile. “We want to laugh too!”
“It was just the image of Arria and some of the other old ones having to fight in the arena. I have a vivid imagination and Trog was as amused as I was.” Penny said.
“It was the sight of Cerrus thrown in with them that made me laugh. He really bothers me sometimes. He seems to forget that he started out in these fights just like us.” Trog added.
I appreciated the effort these two were making to keep my secret. I knew some would love to tell Arria if only to get in her good graces. Onyx had seemed the perfect example of that. I doubt Ghost would be any different.
