“Good.” His arm moved to circle around my throat again, and I dropped my chin and shrugged. His arm closed aroundme, but I could still breathe. “If you get into this position, never lean back, always pull forward. The first thing you do is draw your dagger and stab whatever flesh you can, thigh or torso is probably the easiest, then twist away. The vampire will release you. If you can’t get to your weapon for whatever reason, you grab hold of my arm with one hand, pull and twist as hard and fast as you can. If you have the strength to toss them over your shoulder to the ground, then do it. Try it.” I leaned forward, shoved my hips back into him and attempted to throw him over me, but his weight didn’t shift. He was ready for it.
I jerked on his arm and twisted and managed to pull out of his grasp, then whipped around, fists up.
He smiled, and it was the first time I’d seen him look genuinely proud. My chest warmed with a pleasant heat.
After I was able to break through his hold several more times, we moved on.
“The next worst position you can end up in is flat on your back with the vampire, or anyone really, on top of you, trying to kill you. Lie down.”
I gulped but laid face up on the grass. The sun above seemed brighter and hotter than before. The buzzing of bees and chirps of birds became clear. Vander’s shadow shielded the light, and he dropped his hips on top of mine. My own heart thudded in my ears. Vander and I had touched many times, and nothing had felt particularly intimate, but I’d never been face to face with him on top of me.
He lowered down, placing his hands on either side of my shoulders. I beheld his eyes, as he said I was supposed to look leadership in the face. His throat bobbed, and he dropped his gaze first. Training, we were training, nothing more. His fingertip lightly grazed over the pounding pulse near my throat. “This is a major artery and bleeds profusely. One thing we know about vampires is they always go for the neck. They won’t biteat random parts of your body.” I was surprised how heavy he was. He reached back and took a blunted wooden stake from his belt and pushed it into my grip. “We’re going to pretend this is a dagger. The moment you are tossed onto your back, and the vampire is coming down at you, strike hard and fast.” He dropped forward, and I struck him hard in the chest with the stake. He winced and jerked back, rubbing the spot on his chest, but he smiled. “Damn, we’re just practicing.”
“You said to strike hard and fast,” I said, breathless.
He stood and offered me his hand. He pulled me to my feet, then, without warning, shoved me. My back hit the ground hard, my breath ripped from my lungs, and before I could even drag in another, he was on top of me. I squeaked as he grabbed my wrists and slammed them on the sides of my head. I pushed back, but he was an immovable mountain—unthinkably strong. I’d never felt anything like it.
I clenched my teeth and squealed, trying to buck free, but his thighs tightened around mine. My heart hammered as he slowly lowered his half-open mouth to my neck. Sharp teeth gently pressed to my throat and grazed my throbbing pulse. His cool breath peppered my skin with goosebumps. “You’re dead,” he whispered.
My heartbeat whooshed in my ears, hammering like a drum. Dead? I’d never been more alive. I should feel uncomfortable or at the very least guarded, but I was struck with a sense of wanting and that wasn’t the only thing that bothered me about this situation. “You could have given me a little warning.”
He pulled back just enough to look me in the face. “A vampire won’t warn you. Again. And this time don’t let me grab your wrists. Strike before I get a hold on you.”
I spent the next couple hours being tossed on my ass, choked from behind, and slapping away his fists, which came much quicker than Morrow’s. His hands were a blur—difficult to track,but he never hit hard. He never once hurt me. The strikes were taps to show me he’d gotten through my defenses.
While I laid in the grass, arms spread wide as an eagle, trying to catch my breath, he tugged his shirt over his head. His taut back muscles glistened in the sunlight. Thick bold ebony letters spelled VIPER from one shoulder blade to another.
I pushed up on my elbow. “How did you get your codename?”
He rolled his neck and tossed his black assassin top to the ground. “Even as an apprentice I had quicker hands than my trainer or anyone. He kept saying I strike like a viper and so it stuck.”
“I have to agree. I think I blocked you maybe ten out of a hundred.”
He chuckled. “You’re quick, Aesira. You just need practice to anticipate where your opponent will hit.” He tapped the corner of his eye. “It’s here. Most look where they’re going to strike next even if it’s only a moment.”
“Who was your trainer? Have I seen him or her?”
“Nova.” He glanced away and shook his head. “He’s dead.”
“Oh...” My heart sank. I’d only known Vander a short time and his loss would affect me greatly already. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It happened during that raid to save the group of humans I told you about. By the time I’d found him, he was already gone. I carried him back across my shoulders.”
He sounded stoic as if he were talking about the sunny day and not the death of his former trainer. How many layers were in those walls he had built up?
I finally stood and brushed the grass and debris from my pants and top. “My grandmother died when I was ten.” Her screams echoed in my mind, and I swallowed down the lump in my throat. “A vampire.” I couldn’t bring myself to tell him it was my fault. I feared he would look at me differently, judge me theway my mother had for a long time. Mother never said it out loud, and I knew she still loved me, but afterwards she didn’t hug me quite as tightly as my siblings. She stopped singing me to sleep and rarely braided my hair like she once had. The resentment was there, even if consciously she didn’t want it to be. I always kept in mind she lost her mother that day, but in some ways, I lost mine. “Both my grandfathers were killed by vampires, too. My maternal grandmother, the one from the city, told me that a vampire broke into their house in Neverglade when my mother and aunt were young. She locked them in the bedroom and barricaded the door while my grandfather fought it off. Grandfather killed it, but he’d been bitten several times. When the morning sun rose, he walked out into the light.”
Vander’s eyes snapped to mine. A crease formed between his brows. “He... killed himself?”
“He couldn’t risk hurting his family.”
“I didn’t know people in Lothleton did that. Any human I’ve known who was bitten eventually joined the vampires in Nocturnus or became wildlings.”
“I’ve known several people from my village and others nearby that were bitten and walked into the sun.” I ran my sleeve across my brow to mop up the sweat. “What happens if an assassin is bitten?”
“Their partner puts a blade through their heart. It’s the honorable thing to do.”
“Partner?”
