As far as standard training rooms, it looked quite sparse to the naked eye, only having a mat in the center that took up half the room. The whole room was lined with mirrors, making it so you could see your opponent at every angle. This made it easier to learn. Since we were vampires, strength and healing came naturally to us, so it was more about anticipating moves and countering strikes. The bad part was we usually had to replace some mirrors every few weeks.
While my dad played the host, directing the bosses and their sons to one side of the mat, I walked over to the far wall and placed my hand on a specific blue box that shined against the mirror. A row of mirrors lifted to reveal a whole wall of various weapons. Rick rolled the cooler cart next to the bosses as my dad told Cosmo to get chairs for them.
I picked up my favorite weapon, the short sword, and swung it around, getting myself in tune with it. After a few swings and listening to it slice through the air, I heard a couple of hitches I wanted to sharpen. I made my way to the other side with a weapons sharpener and ran my blade through.
“So, uh, what’s going on?” Ax asked, and Falcon and Avery perked up to listen.
“Have you not taught your sons the old ways?” My dad’s heavy sigh carried through the mostly empty room. He had his arms crossed and his brows furrowed at his friends.
The three of them scowled at my dad. Manic was the first to mumble, “We agreed to start new after the Awakening.”
I could feel my dad’s disappointment from here. “Before the Awakening, when leaders and their seconds would disagree on how to handle a situation, they would fight it out. One weapon, one fight. The winner gets to have their way, no questions asked.”
He turned to me as I finished sharpening my sword. “We both have the license to go all out until someone yields. Only rule is no killing. Other than that, it’s all optional. That is why I had Rick bring us refreshments. I’m sure we’ll both be parched after this fight.”
I finished and looked down at the sharp end of the blade. “Your pick, old man.”
Syris let out a small chuckle. “See, that’s why we didn’t practice this at home. Gives the kids a big head.”
My dad moved his hand over his delicate buttons, rolling up his sleeves as he grinned at me. “She is my second and should have the right. We’ve already had...”
He looked up to the ceiling, trying to remember when Cosmo rattled out, “You two have had ten fights since she became your second, and you have won five matches each.”
My dad’s eyes widened as they shone underneath the light. He licked his lips like a predator excited to swallow its prey. He flicked his tongue on one fang as he looked at me. “A tie... this means that this fight will crown the reining champion. Now I really want to win this.”
I stomped my way over to the starting position and motioned to the weapons rack with my newly sharpened sword. “Then let’s get to it.”
His smile widened as he leisurely walked to the rack with a pompous air about him. He tapped his fingers on his chin as he mumbled, “Decisions, decisions.”
He was doing this to get under my skin, to throw me off from the beginning, now that he had something to prove in front of his friends.2I purposely turned my back to him and called out to Rick as I laughed. “Do you remember the last fight? He picked a spear, and it lasted, what? Five seconds before he was on his ass?”
Rick’s eyes flicked to the bosses and their sons as he shook his head at me, trying to tell me he didn’t think I should embarrass my dad in front of these guys, but that was exactly what I wanted. I giggled, covering my mouth as I looked at Cosmo. “And that one time—” A blur in the mirror caught my attention, and I spun around just in time to catch my blade on the two sais he had in his hands.
I gritted my teeth, not budging as I refused to give him the ground he wanted to gain as fire burned in his eyes. He growled out, “I. Tripped.” I pushed my blade forward and he backed up one step, giving me some room to swing.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Excuses, Excuses.” I rolled my eyes but kept them keenly on him. While my dad was powerful, his main downfall was that he had an arrogance about his abilities I found I could exploit, but only if I caught him off guard.
He glared at me, twirling them in his hands before lunging forward to spear me in the stomach. My blade flashed out, clinking with the sai as it blocked his advance. We did this dance for a couple of rounds, him lunging for a specific body part and me swiping out to block it. All you could hear was the repetitive clinking of our weapons meeting and sliding against each other as we pulled away at the same time.
My dad and I were almost evenly matched, that’s why it was always challenging to fight with him, and I never took it lightly. There was a reason he was the boss of the Desmond family, and just because he had our men do most of the dirty work, that didn’t mean he wasn’t ready to do it himself any day of the week. It was commendable that he would train with our men sometimes, teaching them moves or putting the hurt on the newbies that needed to be taken down a peg.
“Hey! No vampire speed. We can’t see you guys moving!” Manic yelled with his hands cupped over his mouth. We stopped, not realizing we were going so fast they couldn’t see it. They were the witnesses, after all.
Easton grumbled that if he could go to the lab and get some equipment, they could use the new security lens he made so they could watch the fight in slow mo on some screen.
“What do you say, Sunshine? Want to make this harder by going slow enough for them to all see? I mean, unless you’re not skilled enough to go slow.” I choked up on the hilt of my blade, pressing my finger into the leather grip as I thought of at least five ways to kill my lovely dad.
I lifted my blade toward him, pointing at his neck. “You’re the one who started with the speed. It’s always been a crutch for you, Father.” His back straightened as his jaw ticked. He hated when I called him father. He always said it made him feel like I was putting a formal distance between us. He forbade me a long time ago from calling him that, so I only pulled it out when I was very mad at him or trying to push his buttons.
He glared at me with a promise of pain and vengeance. “That’s it. I’m going to paddle your bottom for that one, young lady.”
Syris put his hand over his ears as he gagged. “Oh, no. I don’t think I can unhear that.” My dad and the other bosses all glared at him as we all knew what his dirty mind was thinking about.
Avery glared at him. “The fuck? What is wrong with you? That’s her father!”
Even if I wanted to puke out my guts, I took the distraction that he caused and swiped at my dad’s chest with speed and precision. He backed up a second before I connected with him, and I cursed out loud.
My dad looked down and gasped. It might not have had the impact I wanted, but I sliced open his shirt, and a thin red line shown across his chest. I smiled. I marked him, which showed our crowd I could get him.
