Blood Magic

Chapter Twelve
Revenge

Once we arrived at the house in Salim Amanda had locked herself in her room and refused to come out. Mary would go talk to her from time to time. I knew she was really hurting over losing Michael. Michael was keeping himself busy working on his truck. Cynthia kept to herself aside from spending time with Rex. Dad and Grandma were making themselves at home. Dad was the only one to leave the house when supplies were needed. Dean, John, Rex and Michael would always go with him though.

It was really heartbreaking to watch two people I cared so much for be so sad without each other. Amanda loved Michael and I knew that much. But at the same time. I could see Michael’s point too, he didn’t want to be involved with someone who wasn’t completely devoted to him. It wasn’t fair to either of them really. I knew this brake up was just to give Amanda time to figure herself out, what she really wanted forever. It took a lot of strength and love on Michaels point to step back and give her that time she needed.

Even when they did come back together I knew it would take time for them to build things up to the level that Mary and John were at. It was late into the afternoon as the overcast sky darkened. As far as school went, Rex was giving me lessons but school wasn’t the only thing I started since the move to this place. I entered the ballroom dressed in a black tank top and some yoga shorts. John was waiting for me. He had set up one of those punching bag things that rests on the floor. John was teaching me how to fight after getting my father’s approval. As I approached John he stood ready with the tape for my fists.

“Remember, after your change there will be no holding back with training. Things will get a lot harder”.
John reminded me as he taped up my fists. I nodded to him.
“I guess that means no dummies anymore?”
I asked. John nodded in response.
“That’s right. You’ll be fighting me”.
John informed me. I looked up at him feeling a little intimidated now. John stood on the other side of me in front of a dummy he set up for himself. John kept his eyes on me.

“Remember fighting off a human and a vampire are two different things. Vampire hunters have ways’ of immobilizing a vampire but in order for them to be effective you have to strike hard and fast. Do you understand?”
John said. I nodded to him. We had gone over how to fight humans in general the past couple weeks, the right places to hit and where to hit John walked over to a case and brought it back towards me setting it on the floor opening it. Inside were two silver stakes. He looked at me.

“I can’t touch them. But you can”.
I bit my lip nervously as I looked down at them.
“This is about survival Krissi. Dean is fast and strong and will most likely defend you at all costs. But being who you are, your life is in constant danger until you make the change. These people coming after you are haired assassins by the Volturi. The “government” of our kind if you will. Aro is cunning and he’s not going to want you to make the change. Odds are that before your change you will have to kill a vampire”.
John said firmly.

I kneeled down taking both stakes into my hands. John closed the case and came back with a couple of wooden ones that looked like something you’d give a novice to train with. Which made me wonder why I wasn’t using them instead of the silver ones. John circled me.
“Feel the weight of the stakes. Get used to it and use it to your advantage. Staking a vampire won’t kill them, there is only one way to kill a vampire. But if you use that stake and all its weight and force you can disable a vampire long enough to make an escape and have the vampire lose your scent”.
John said. He moved the dummies so they were in a row at different ends of the room. Turning back to me.

“These are the volturi and you have sixty seconds to disable each of them enough to make a clean get away. Keeping in mind that they have powers”.
John said pointing to a dummy in the far end of the room.
“Jane, has the ability to cause you great pain just by thinking about it. Her brother Alec can take away your senses. Aro can read souls but not unless he touches you”.
John continued as he moved back to my side.

“Keep in mind they are faster and more cunning then you. Don’t underestimate them and don’t hesitate. If you hesitate for even a second your dead”.
John said. I nodded to him. He started running drills with me. How to hold the stakes and how to strike with them. Then I was ready for the more advanced drills he had set up for me. Taking out a stop watch John stood at the other end of the room. I was standing next to him.
“When you hit hard enough the light will light up and you move onto the next one. They aren’t moving targets this time so your aim should be dead on”.

I nodded to him. Then I was off running as fast as I could towards the dummy identified as Aro and diving the silver stake hard into it enough to rip into the fabric. The light lit up and I moved fast onto the next dummy. Once I stacked them all I ran back towards John out of breath and feeling like my legs were made of jelly. John side taking a sticky note and pressing it on my forehead. I took it off seeing it said “corpse” on it.
“25 minutes and ten seconds”.
He said. I growled inwardly fighting to my feet.

“Again”.
John said turning me back towards the dummies. I had a feeling this was going to be a long night. As training came to a close I wasn’t getting any better at wounding vampires. But I knew if I was going to have to defend myself, John was the one to teach me. The over cast sky outside was getting lighter as I sat next to John on a bench in the ball room.
“Is this how you were trained?”
I asked looking over at him. John looked back at me.
“I was one of the first to make the change. Things were different back then. We didn’t have to hide”.
John said looking towards the window across from us.

“But people have always feared what they do not understand. Aro and the others rose to their place of power by using fear to intimidate others. He murdered my family but left me alive. I was eight years old. The way he looked at me, so amused as if I meant nothing to him. I wasn’t worth killing. Just an insignificant child. I knew one day they would pay for their crimes. And I was going to make sure they did. So I found a vampire, a Romanian man who taught me everything I needed to know. How to fight, who to wound a vampire without killing them. But he refused to teach me to kill. I was so young back then. At the age of 33 I made the change then I went hunting”.
John said. I frowned at him turning towards him.
“You went looking for this Aro”.
I said. John nodded.

“By that time he was too powerful for me to do anything about him. He had a following people worshiped and feared him. I knew I would have to raise an army in order to take him on. Make him pay for his crimes. I met Rex not long after that. Then Carlisle who later joined up with the Volturi for a time. We didn’t speak for years after that. Wasted years on anger. We got in touch with each other since he left the group and have been ever since. He worries about you though”.
John said. I raised an eyebrow at him.
“Carlisle? I’ve never met him why would he worry about me?”
I asked. John stood turning towards me.
“Because he believes you are my weapon of destruction. My revenge against Aro. When you change you’ll have the ability to do what I could not”.
John said as he turned back towards the window.

“Gave me a big speech about how you were an innocent and didn’t need to be dragged into my problems. How Dean loves you and it would break his heart as well if I used you that way. Carlisle has compassion that is stronger than any other. I understand where he’s coming from, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted to use you as a weapon against them all”.
John said looking back at me now.
“But I promised Carlisle it wasn’t like that. My training you is for your survival not for my revenge”.
John said looking somber. He shoved his hands in his pockets.

“Killing Aro has always been a personal mission of mine. Someday I’ll see it through on my own terms”.
John continued. I saw the termination in his eyes. It had to be an awful thing to witness your family killed at such a young age and then to be forced to live with those images in your mind. I understood John wanting revenge for his family. But if this Aro guy was as dangerous and untouchable as he sounded. I was sure that John would be waiting a long time before even getting the chance to kill Aro.