Chapter 6

Vampire tactics sounds pretty straight forward. But no way - nothing’s ever supposed to be easy is it?
We had to learn some background on vampires and why they want to kill us all before we can even think about killing one. I thought, what would be the point in that? We’re just going to end up killing them anyway, so why would we need to know their history? Here’s how it goes. They kill us, we kill them. It’s so basic, but oh, no apparently not.
We sat in a gothic styled classroom and I waited for the teacher to finish ranting before I turned and allowed myself to get distracted. How nice of me. Glancing around the room, I saw Paul, Tikaye and Sav, who looked just as bored as I was. I peered over at Tikaye, who gestured exactly how I felt… THIS IS SO BORING. Eventually the bell rang and I found out that Tikaye was in most of my classes - except for lycanthrope culture, math, lycanthrope history and science and that was so handy because it made me look like I knew where I was going. Tikaye was really awesome. Chattering away to her about music, St. ‘Rik’s and strategy class, we walked to our next class which was a whole new four flights of stairs away. When we finally got there, it looked like it was going to be amazing. There was this nearly seven-foot guy with olive skin and forest green eyes and he wore cut-off jean shorts, Chuck Taylors and a white polo shirt. He looked to be about 24.
“Rani,” he grinned, looking down at us as we walked into the room, “good to see you’ve finally come back.” Tikaye smiled at him and laughed lightly.
“Yeah, don’t get used to it, teach, I won’t be here long.” I couldn’t help but wonder why she was addressing the teacher in such a casual way but then I scolded myself immediately because it was really none of my business.
“I take that as a personal challenge,” he grinned back at her and she snorted in reply something like ‘yeah, yeah.’ And then he turned away and they left their conversation there. Just before he was about to go to the front of the classroom to begin the lesson, he turned… “Oh and Rani? Welcome back.” She rolled her eyes and then explained that her relationship with this teacher was more of a friend rather than a teacher. It was because she was pretty much his little sister. His dad was a friend of her parents from ages ago and that was all she said on the subject.
The lesson commenced.
At first, I was mentally preparing myself for another hour of boredom but I was soon shaken out of that when our teacher told us to move our desks out of formation because we had a lot of work to do. Smiling to myself, I happily helped my classmates move the desks over to the other side of the classroom so that we had a big enough space to move around in.
 “My name is Anton Trezman. You are to only call me Anton anyone who doesn’t will get a detention. Now, today, we’re going to use a strategy to get us out of a sticky situation with a vampire.” Keeping his tone light, we all awaited his next instruction with eager ears. He gave it. “Each person in the class will have the opportunity to plan and put strategies into practice. Half will play vampires and half will play lycans and remember,” the class joined in with a monotone pitch when he said, “it’s not about the damage you do, it’s about the quality of your strategy.” Looking impressed that the class had known that, he stepped aside and talked us through a scenario, pacing the room as he spoke, “a vampire approaches you, fangs barred, lightning speed, what must you do to a) counter their attack and b) kill or injure them so that you may get out safely?” I murmured what I did on a regular basis. It was a simple but effective method called DESK - for those new to the vampire slaying scene, it basically means dodge (their attack), escape (their gaze and/or hold), sneak (around their backs) and kill (well, them). Tikaye smiled, looking impressed. She told me to say it louder but I didn’t want to expose my secret because it worked every time for us. If everyone else were to start using it, it would be come cliché and expected. I shook my head and then Tikaye devised a plan. She wrote on a piece of paper and it looked to be fool-proof and efficient - we just had to put it into practice. The plan was simple. If you were in a group, you got your fellow lycans to create a diversion while you went in to kill them and if you were the lone wolf, then you fought them until you got a clear opening to the heart and then stab them. That is, by making your aiming precise.
We all put her plan into action and it was the best one out of the lot. The teacher made us try everybody’s plans in a range of scenarios of vampire-lycan conflict and most of them fell through except Tikaye’s; all of hers were exactly perfect. She was a brilliant strategist.
By the time we’d finished testing each other’s strategies, we were exhausted because some of them included really dumb ones like - believe it or not - fight until you die. I know, I was just as shocked as you. Smiling, Tikaye led me to the gymnasium for combat class - the one I’d been waiting for, for the whole day. I wasn’t the fittest of the pack… Actually, I wasn’t fit at all to be completely honest, but I did like to punch people. Who says I’m violent? Combat class was designed to have people punch them. When the teacher came in, everything stopped in its place. She was a woman who looked fresh out of here; she had blonde hair and pale skin - not to mention she looked just like she had come out of a Neutrogena commercial. Wearing a tight pink t-shirt and white pants, the guys couldn’t help but gawk at her, especially her big chest. She had their full attention, sort of. When she began the lesson, she told us her name was Hanna or Ms. H; she didn’t want people to know her last name for some random reason. I was so going to find out why. She sounded German as she spoke to us. The gym was big and wooden, but it was a shiny, plastic-looking type of wood. There were hardly any windows and it was the biggest gym I had ever seen. It was going to be a long, sticky session. Smiling at me, she paired everybody else up with somebody who was moderately the same skill level and I was looking around for Tikaye, but she had already been paired up with some tanned, tall, ripped guy with tree-bark eyes and short black hair. Looking around, I assessed my alternatives and there was - guess who? - None other but the infamous Adam Jamerson, Joy. As I edged my way to the door, I thought about creeping my way out and just ditching, if not for somebody ruining my plan by walking into me on their way in. The person pushed past me, his head down and then he whispered,
“Hey, stranger, ready to kick some a*s?” It was Chase. He looked up at me and smiled and then I instantly felt better. A) I wouldn’t have to be paired with A-damn Jerk and b) I was in Chase’s combat class and here was I thinking I wasn’t in any of his classes and I was in the best one ever with him.
Ms. H grabbed her clipboard and checked us both of the list,
“I was wondering when you’d show up, Mr. Ross.” So his last name was Ross, huh? “Quick, you and Miss. Mavra are very behind in schedule.” She explained to us all what we had to do and it seemed simple enough. Fight your opponent fiercely, in the end, stabbing the other with foam stick. We all got to work and I noticed Tikaye and her partner were very extraordinary fighters. I wondered how I would look compared to them… Probably like an amateur, I concluded.
“So, who’s stabbing who?” Ms. H looked at Chase appalled,
“Nobody will be stabbing anybody yet because you are both to fight each other fiercely. In the real world, a weapon is sometimes not available and after all, this is combat class.” Taking our foam sticks away from us, she told us to all begin the fight.
“Ladies first,” challenged Chase. It felt weird. I was awesome at punching people whenever I felt like it, but when actually told I was allowed? I was a mess. I lunged at Chase and now I wished he was Adam, so I could beat him up. It would’ve been a lot easier because I didn’t mind injuring him, but Chase was my friend and so, it’d be weird. Oh well. I punched him in the face, my hand not really that sore because I’d punched a few people in my time. The next time when I tried to punch him, he dodged me and then twisted my arm around my back. I broke out of it and then like lightning, I made sure I tripped him over and was able to fully knock him from here to China. But that apparently, wasn’t the way it was going to go down. Smiling at me, Chase got up from the ground and surprised me by going behind me and punching me at the back of my knees and that knocked me over rather quickly because I’d lost my balance. We were quite evenly skilled and we continued to fight and it was more of a dance - only instead of holding hands and shoulders, we were dodging and throwing punches. Besides, it was way more my thing. I could have done this all day and then Chase spoke to me,
“So, Avril, you liking St. ‘Rik’s?” I nodded to him and then we continued dancing/fighting. “You’re holding back. Do you think you’re gonna hurt me, or are you going to admit you have the hots for me, like I know you do?” His question caught me off-guard. Was that really what I seemed like? It was a bad move to stop and think about it because he came up behind me and pinned me to the floor, picking up his foam stick and going to stab me in the heart. He hesitated and stared at my eyes for a few seconds - perfect opening. I rolled over and then reversed the situation. He just smiled, “Touché.” I didn’t hesitate to stab him with the foamy stick thing. He pretended to be dead and then I was satisfied and I got off him. Bad move. He knocked the foam stick out of my hand and caught it in his and sped up and jammed me into the wall, the foam stick exactly where my heart was. “Rule number one of combat. Know they’re dead.” I rolled my eyes at him and then I noticed everyone’s eyes were on us, wondering what I would do. He hadn’t quite pierced my heart with the foam stick, he was distracted somehow and I had to take advantage of this and so, with great force, I pushed him and flung him feet across the room and charged at him, pinning him to the floor, right in front of Ms. H’s feet and I wrestled the stick from his hand and stabbed him right in the heart - missing by a couple of microscopic details, but who was gonna judge me for that. I smiled and then made sure he was dead like he’d said and then I smiled again, as I helped him up.
“Rule number two of combat,” I began smugly, “Don’t get distracted.”
“Laugh it up, Mavra. Tomorrow shall be the ultimate test of your competence.” He told me, with a dark grin on his face. I gave him a mischievous grin and then laughed,
“Oh, I’m certainly looking forward to it.”