Forbidden Embrace (5 page)

Chapter 5

Training

It’s about one in the morning and the whole house is dark and quite. Alexander stays to the side of the house by the old maple tree. I scale the wall to Nathanial’s room and sliding the window open, I climb inside without making a noise. Nathanial is sound asleep. I go over to the side of his bed and watch him for a few minutes. Alexander has open communication of thoughts with me; “
Can you see into Nathanial’s dreams?”

“
More clearly than I would like too.”

Alexander is able to get in to Nathanial’s dream, and we both watch. I am quite surprised to see what’s in there. Nathanial is dreaming about us, and our future. We seem so happy and everything seems perfect. I’m glad to see this is what he dreams about.

I can feel his dream just as if we are living it, so peaceful. Suddenly an awful looking
vampire
comes at us. Nathanial pushes me out of the way and begins to fight. It’s time to wake him; I don’t want this dream to continue.

I lean over and kiss him gently, “Nate, wake up! I came to check on you,” I whisper softly.

He begins to stir, and opens his eyes. “Sweetie, what are you doing here? Is everything okay?” he asks frantically, now wide awake and concerned.

“
Ssh, we don’t want to wake your family. Everything is fine. I just wanted to make sure you are okay with everything you learned today.”

“
I’m fine. You worry too much,” he replies, still groggy.

“
I know–I just can’t help it. I don’t want to lose you.”

He sits up and holds me. “You never will! Nothing else matters to me anymore…you’re everything to me. I have to admit I’m worried about you too. I don’t want you to get hurt in this fight.”

“
I know; I promise we’ll all be safe. I love you too, but I don’t want you to give up everything for me. Everything you are and that you strive for is part of what I love about you. As for the fight, one of these nights when we are sparring and practicing, you can come and watch. I’ll prove to you that I can kick some....well you know,” I pledge.

“
I know you can, and I’d love to come and watch,” he agrees.

“
Plus, don’t forget we have Elijah on our side.”

“
What do you mean by that?”

“
Well, Elijah is like 500 years old and was Embraced long before the world had a foothold on humanity; a time before technology was even a thought linking everyone together with the joys of Facebook. He was around when magic was used to heal and
witches
were the medicine men and women.”

“
That is pretty cool…I would love to hear more one day, but how is any of that going to help protect you?”

“
He has seen and fought in many wars, and lived in the sixteenth century where they had to fight for everything they owned or wanted. Life was both simpler and more difficult back then. The king’s men would just come and take what they wanted from your property. Nothing was ever guaranteed, and you could lose what you worked hard for in a moment while you slept. One night Elijah lost his life and gained his eternity.”

“
He was Embraced for no reason?”

“
A man wanted Elijah to work for him, but he refused. Later that night that man came to Elijah’s homestead to Embrace him. He told Elijah that he owned him now and he must work for him. It took almost a century for Elijah to break free. He says the only good thing that came from his time as a prisoner for this man is Florence. The man Embraced her to be his concubine after she refused him as well.”

“
Wow, they really have been through a lot!”

“
We all have, but none more than Elijah and Florence. They will protect us all, we are their family now.”

“
You sure do trust them, so I guess I should too.” He takes my hand in his.

“
Well I just wanted to stop by and make sure you are okay after everything you have been learning… and here I go giving you even more. Now that I know you’re okay I should go and let you sleep,” I begin to get up.

“
Not so fast!” He grabs a hold of my arm and pulls me back into him. “You can’t just sneak in to a guy’s room, say hello and leave.”

I let out a little chuckle. “Alex is waiting for me outside.”

“
Oh, well at least cuddle with me for a few minutes?” he asks.

“
Sure.” We cuddle up together on his bed, and he is asleep again in seconds.

I crawl back out the window and Alexander is waiting in the car for me.

“
Do you feel better?”

“
I do…at least a little bit,” I answer.

We take the long way home, just looking around and making sure nothing is out of place. I really want to get this over with. I’m worried for the town’s people; I find myself wanting to protect them all. In all my years I’ve never felt as welcome as I do here and now. In a little over a century, I’ve finally found a place to call home.

***

Over the next few days we begin working at Ms. Edwina’s manor, helping the sisters prepare. I realize their fight will be strictly magical; they can’t hold their own in a physical fight against
vampires
. I only hope that their powers and spells can withhold and destroy the Cerberus’ powers. The sisters are said to be the most powerful of
witches
, and can defeat anything, but as a friend I still worry.

“
Sophia, we’ll be fine. Let us use our magic to help you. We’ll be able to conjure up some good spells. The Cerberus won’t know what hit them,” Ebony tries to hearten me.

We begin spending our evenings in the field where I took Nathanial, sparring and physically preparing for the upcoming fight. Nathanial joins us tonight.

“
So how exactly do you prepare for a
vampire
fight?” he inquires.

“
We prepare just as any other physical training, including such things as cardio, upper body strength, lower body strength, speed, stealth and agility. We always sprint up to the field and do about a hundred laps of the large open space–it really only takes a few minutes. Other warm ups such as sit ups, pushups and lunges are all included. Once warmed up we take turns fighting…first up tonight will be Isaac and myself.”

In a sarcastic tone, Nathanial says, “Great, so I get to watch my girlfriend get beat on, that sounds like a lot of fun.”

“
What makes you think he’s going to be able to beat me?” I smirk.

We’ll fight as if we are enemies and fighting for our survival, or at least the survival of those around us. We decide not to use our extra powers to start out with. We choose to fight with our physical strengths and speed, concentrating on our fighting skills. This makes things more even in our training because of the variety of our powers. I can heal others, so it won’t help me in our fight. Isaac can control the elements; this can and will be a huge advantage when we fight the Cerberus. Against one another though, we just didn’t want to do any real damage to each other...more specifically me! We begin to fight; wrestling, hitting, and breaking bones and such. We all agree that it would not benefit any of us to take it easy on one another.

Our fight is actually going pretty good.
It is like UFC extreme
, I think to myself. Knowing that Isaac has the upper hand, because he has been around longer than I, I put all my effort into the fight. With one swift move he lunges at me; I duck and am able to grab Isaac from behind. Flipping him over, I slam him into the ground. With an arch of his back he jumps back to his feet, chasing after me. With lightning speed I race up the side of a tree and flip to land behind him. Just as fast Isaac turns to face me, and with hand to hand combat we continue. My emotional ties to this area add passion to my fight. I don’t want Nathanial or his family hurt, killed or Embraced during all this chaos. From the corner of my eye I see Nathanial, which encourages me to fight harder.

My entire family seems surprised at how well I am holding my own against Isaac. The need to be aware of my surroundings draws my attention to Elijah. From what I can gather, it appears as though Elijah is telling Alexander to sneak into our fight, to try to distract us. He chooses to help Isaac in attacking me, I assume because they want to ensure my safety when I am faced by multiples fighters. As Isaac and I are involved in our fight, throwing punches and kicks face to face, Alexander comes behind me. I sense him about to attack and move to the side with such stealth that he stumbles towards Isaac, throwing both of them off their fight. During our fight, we need to keep track of what is going on around us, to be aware of our surroundings and those involved. One moment of not paying attention can lose the whole fight.

I can sense Nathanial freaking out, and I notice Elijah restraining him from interfering in the fight. This is even more of a distraction for me and could cost me the fight. I see him pushing and frantically trying to come to my aid. It’s no problem for Elijah to restrain him, holding him simply with one arm over Nathanial’s chest. With another glance over to Nathanial, that’s what happens to me. Both Alexander and Isaac attack, and Alexander takes me down with a swift kick at my feet. Hitting the ground hard, I try to get my bearings, but before I can retreat, Isaac is above me with a tree branch ready for the kill. Isaac pounds the branch into the ground next to me and helps me to my feet.

“
Good fight kid, you almost had me there,” Isaac says as he brushes the dirt from himself.

With a smile I respond, “Yeah, if Alexander wouldn’t have come in when he did I would have won that round.”

“
Oh, well, that’s the price you pay for getting distracted, Sis,” Alexander jokes and we walk towards the rest of the family.

“
Sophia you did very well, but Nathanial seems to be a serious distraction for you,” Elijah adds.

With disappointment, Nathanial lowers his head, “I am so sorry Sophia. I couldn’t stand to watch them hurting you.”

“
You have nothing to be sorry about Nate. I think it is best for you to try to distract Sophia. This will aid in her training,” Elijah suggests.

Everyone agrees that it is best to distract me and teach me not to allow for distractions, while still remaining aware. I have to talk to him now that my fight is over; I can tell he is pretty upset with Isaac and Alexander.

“
Are you going to be okay?” I ask.

“
How can they gang up on you like this? I can’t just stand here and watch two men beat on the woman I love. This is killing me! ” Nathanial is furious, pacing back and forth wearing a path on the still brown grass.

“
I love that you’re concerned about me, but I’m fine, Nate. We need to do this; we have to be prepared. I know you want to help, but you must remember that I am stronger and faster… it’s very difficult to hurt me. Fighting like this would kill you. You can help us–you just can’t fight,” I try to explain.

“
I know all this, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy sitting back and watching you get beat to the ground.”

“
I understand how hard this must be for you; just know I’m doing it to keep you, your family, and your friends safe.”

“
I do know that, and I will help in any way I can. As Elijah suggested, I will come to distract you.”

I can tell how hard this is for him and that hurts me, but we have to do it.

As the family gets back to sparring, I rest for a little while. Not only so I can have a break, but so Nathanial can also have a break. We just sit together on the edge of the clearing, watching the others fight. We continue training till early evening before returning home. We don’t want to be out in case the Cerberus can sense us and arrive before we are ready for them. We don’t know their powers, and one may have the ability to sense others with supernatural powers just as Caspian did.

“
So I’m able to spend the night again. I told my parents that all the boys are going snowboarding in the morning and I’m invited. I don’t like to lie to my parents, but it does avoid questions,” Nathanial says with a hint of remorse.

“
You’re so close to your family. I feel awful we can’t let them know my family’s secret, but it will just put them in danger,” I confirm.

“
I know, and that’s why I do it.”

***

The family decides to take the rest of the night off from all things Cerberus. We have been wrapped up in planning and preparing since New Year’s. School is starting again soon and we need a night of relaxation.

“
Mati and I are going to watch a movie in the family room; you two are welcome to join us,” Alexander invites.

Elijah and Florence both head to the study to read a book, and Isaac and Constance both have to work the late shift at the hospital.

“
So, do you want to watch a movie with Alex and Mati or just do our own thing?” I ask.

“
Let’s just go chill by ourselves,” Nathanial suggests.

We head up to my room, crawl up on my bed and turn on the newest
Nickelback
CD from my new collection. It’s so nice to just listen to the music and relax. We enjoy each other and start joking around a little.

“
So sweetie, I was just wondering…”