Ravena Gustafsson was world renowned for her mastery of the sword, but she was extremely down to Earth. I didn’t know how we lucked out. Then our first practice began. She was a brutal taskmaster, making us practice lunges repeatedly until I thought my knees would explode.

  “It not only works on strengthening your core and buttocks, but also your balance.”

  At that moment, my knee gave out and I slumped to the floor, my legs feeling like jelly.

  She pointed back at me without even looking. “Case in point. Before any of you get to handle practice weapons, you have to show me that you’re ready to handle them.”

  I wondered if she did this to all her students, or just the really lucky ones.

  She offered me a hand.

  I grabbed it and she hauled me up, my legs protesting at having to bear my weight again.

  “Now, time for pushups.”

  Michael did unfairly well, but Antun beat us all out.

  “You don’t get to be 500 by not taking care of your body,” he had whispered as an excuse.

  “Bull shit,” I called him out under my breath so Ravena wouldn’t hear us.

  “Are you so sure about that?”

  I was about to rebuttal but his smug look and my own exhaustion made me grunt in frustration instead.

  He laughed in victory, rubbing it in my face.

  Before long, our time with Ravena was up for the evening.

  “That was intense,” Michael spoke up at the end of class. “Awesome, just, phew, intense. I knew repetitions would start hurting but it’s one thing to know it and another thing to experience it.” He rubbed at his legs, a pinched look of pain on his face.

  Ravena called out from the opposite side of the room, “I’ll see you all again in two days. Rehydrate, replace your electrolytes, and in thirty minutes I want you to walk for five minutes to keep your legs from cramping. You’ll hate yourselves if you don’t, trust me.” And she closed the door behind her.

  “Antun,” I panted, “Are you sure you didn’t just hire some sick sadist?”

  He patted my head and walked toward the kitchen. “I’m going to make dinner tonight, something with lots of salts to get you guys pepped back up and keep me pepped up.”

  “Using a phrase I’ve heard before, you suck, Antun,” Syla was as in pain as I was, grabbing her side as she lay on the ground.

  Since she had been Nikola’s prisoner, she hadn’t walked very much at all. “The most I’d walk,” she had said before, “was when he’d let me out to hunt. If it weren’t for our quick healing, my legs would have been in so much pain I’d be unable to return. Glad I never had to find out what he’d have done.”

  She had changed the subject shortly after, and I was happy to leave talk of Nikola behind. So she was more out of shape than I was, even if she’d been a vampire longer.

  Michael got up and limped to the kitchen. I heard a sharp crack and a very unmanly yelp followed by Antun’s laugh. Antun had snapped a damp dish towel at Michael’s ass, making the giant man jump.

  “Why the hell’d you do that?” Michael couldn’t keep his voice straight and soon devolved into laughter alongside Antun.

  He must’ve gotten his own towel because I heard a quick, “Oh shit!” before someone else’s high-pitched screech sounded out.

  Syla and I looked at each other, rolling our eyes.

  “Men, honestly.”

  I started to laugh along with her, but then we both winced at our sore abdominals. “That,” she panted, still catching her breath, “Was very intense,” Syla remarked regarding our first class.

  “Uh huh,” was my intelligent response. Oh, this is so much worse than leg day…

  ? ?? ?

  While we trained until our arms burned, far across the city, Nikola watched his plan unfold. He paced along the railing at the warehouse, watching his amassing army mill about mindlessly.

  He kept them tethered with compulsion, their minds foggy enough to follow orders, sharp enough to pass for normal.

  He pounded a fist to the front of his head, bored out of his mind with keeping these newly turned vampires compelled. It was ever so dull.

  What if I let these brand new vampires be turned loose on Seattle right now?

  He smiled, fangs prominent. While the terror would be epic, he needed to keep low until it was time to strike in order to unleash the best kind of hell on this stinking city. Then, he’d continue on to the surrounding cities and suburbs, turning everyone he could.

  Well, not everyone. They’d need to feed, after all…

  ? ?? ?

  Weeks passed and we neither saw nor heard anything of Nikola. We had no choice but to continue on as normal, going to work every day like there was nothing wrong in the world. But we were all vigilant, keeping an eye out for Nikola or anything remarkably suspicious.

  We continued meeting with Ravena every other day, training in some way to strengthen our muscles or our balance. Our bodies screamed one day, cried and rested the next, then screamed again the following day, going on and on.

  She finally deemed us ready for practice swords after what felt like an eternity.

  We took up our practice swords, wooden ones as requested so that we could know what we could expect fighting with the yew sword. We stood poised and ready, waiting for Ravena’s mark.

  She gave it, and I thought we did pretty well for our first round with swords. Her critique shot that confidence, showing that we were still far away from being able to even think about using the yew sword.

  I had accepted the opportunity to become a floor manager, taking over Mona’s place as she was promoted to being a manager over several floors.

  Michael moved up to my floor after training his replacement, Marissa, so we were back on the same floor again. Were it not for the sense of impending doom that lurked over my head, I’d say things were looking up.

  I hadn’t realized I had carried the mood into tonight’s sword class because suddenly Ravena was in front of my face, her sword at my throat. I backed up.

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  “Being distracted in battle will kill you. I suggest you approach this class the same way if you want any chance at all in what you’re facing.” She began to walk away. “I don’t care what you’re fighting. You won’t die on my watch. Now,” She whirled on Syla, making the woman flinch. “Fight me.”

  Syla’s face flashed with legitimate fear for a moment before she lifted her blade against Ravena’s.

  “En garde, and… Allez!”

  The instructor went easy on Syla before knocking the blade out of her hands. “And you’re dead.”

  Syla’s head hung low.

  “Hey now, that’s why you are learning with me, so that doesn’t happen. Let’s try again.”

  She motioned for me to come over to take her place as Syla’s partner.

  We all sparred until our arms felt leaden, spent from keeping the swords raised at the ready all night between spars. I grinned through the burn, loving the fact that I was stronger. Faster. I felt better than I ever had before.

  ? ?? ?

  Weeks bled together. Muscles hardened. The calendar flipped to February.

  Valentine’s day was approaching. The streets were filled with hearts and arrows and little fat naked babies depicting Cupid. One shop window displayed several kinds of stuffed animals – bears, dogs, cats, birds, and so on – holding hearts with sayings like “Be Mine” or “Happy Valentine's Day.”

  We walked through the wet streets, our steps trailing water behind us as Michael and I walked back to the apartment after another day at the office.

  “Cute,” he said, pointing to a stuffed piggy holding a heart in front of itself.

  I looked at him. “Do you like Valentine’s Day?”

  “What’s not to like? But honestly, I overlook it most years. It never has held sway over me like Thanksgiving or Christmas does. While those holidays are commercialized, Valentine’s Day takes it to a whole other level. Everything is more expensive on Valentine’s Day for no reason other than lots of people deciding to profess love on a certain day year after year.”

  “Couldn’t have said it better myself.”

  I’d never admit that I actually hated the holiday for how lonely it made me feel. I couldn’t care less about romance, but when the only people you celebrate things with are your parents, celebrating Valentine’s Day feels just silly.

  Just another reminder that I’ll die alone… scratch that, already dead.

  I sniffled, the cold February air chilling to the bone, making it easy to hide my watery eyes.

  We entered the apartment, and Husker welcomed us with a very low meow, just this side of a growl. He had stopped shaking a while back, and while he wasn’t leaping to sit on my lap or anything like that just yet, he no longer ran away from me.

  I hadn’t tried petting him, as he hadn’t come close to rubbing against me or showing that he wanted it, but my fingers itched to stroke his feather soft fur from head to tail.

  “Hey Husk, who’s my good boy?”

  I went to the kitchen, preparing his dinner before going to change out of my work outfit. In much comfier clothes, I padded out of my bedroom, getting our food ready while Michael got changed.

  I flipped on the TV, a news station coming up. The lady was covering how locals have been going missing at night and suggested traveling in groups or only during the day. I watched as I waited for Michael, getting the latest scoop on Seattle’s goings-on. There were a lot of Valentine’s promotions and the anchors reminded everyone to mark their calendars for the coming holiday.

  I switched to Netflix, scrolling through the movies. Michael finished tugging on a shirt as he came out of the bathroom, flashing his toned front to me.

  Not that I noticed.

  “We should watch one of the films Ravena’s helped on.”

  I brightened. “That’s a great idea.”

  We googled her, checking to see what movies she had helped on. There was a medieval adventure that happened to be on Netflix, so we chose that one. It had Robin Hood vibes: forbidden love and epic fight scenes, complete with monks and everything you’d expect from such a movie. We paused it before it could get started too far, both of us needing to eat.

  We ate at the table in companionable silence, the both of us tired from the work day but content enough. We cleared our dishes and returned to the couch, starting the movie.

  The main character was a nobody who was suddenly thrown on an epic quest to save a kingdom. The main character had a training montage with his sidekick at one point.

  I saw familiar moves and pointed them out to Michael at the same time he was pointing them out to me. Yep, Ravena definitely worked on this movie.

  “Why can’t we have a training montage? Actually doing it is grueling,” I groaned.

  Michael grunted in agreement, adding, “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could fast forward past the fight with Nikola and skip to the happily ever after?”

  My mood shifted, darkening. I looked down, then away. “Do you think there is a happily ever after?”

  “What do you mean?” he asked, setting down the remote.

  “I mean,” I tried to piece my thoughts together as I turned to face him. “After Nikola, do you think there is a happy ending?”

  Michael’s face held contemplation, as if he were seriously thinking about the question. “If there’s not, then what’s the point? I have to tell myself that we’ll make it out the other side of this, all of us, and everything will be alright in the end. If I don’t… well, what would be the point in training if I didn’t think we might have a chance with it?”

  I wanted to be as hopeful as him, but every time I had seen Nikola, I had frozen. Could training really help me get past that paralyzing kind of fear?

  “Hey.”

  I was lost in my own thoughts.

  His hand covered mine, drawing my attention to it. He picked up my hand, tracing the lines on my palm with his thumb.

  “You are freaking amazing. You are training in combat to beat a vampire god because you know that the world he’d bring would be destruction. Who else can say that?”

  “You? Antun and Syla?”

  “Smartass.”

  I smiled and his face softened.

  “The four of us are doing something no one else in the world can claim right now. I’d say that is pretty epic.”

  I nodded, conceding, but… My voice was quiet as I said, “What if we go through all of this, just for everything to have been a waste?”

  Michael shifted, holding my face in his hands. “The only waste is in not doing anything. If you fight, then your effort will not be wasted.” I searched his eyes, looking at his confidence and wishing I had more for myself. “You are one of the bravest people I know. You were going to deck me when you first saw me drinking Kelsey’s blood.”

  I laughed at the memory.

  “And she was a complete stranger. You had no need to rescue her but you faced me anyway. All five feet of you.” He patted my head and laughed as I swatted at his hand, then he ducked away to avoid a punch.

  “See! You’re using stuff from class on me already. There’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to do this in front of anyone, including Nikola.”

  I knew he saw the fear flash again because he grabbed my hands.

  “You’re fighting him, every damn day. That’s brave.”

  I searched his eyes for any sign of doubt. There was none. I brought my focus back and looked at his face.

  Intent, like he truly believed every word he had said. His green eyes locked onto mine, steady and certain. Maybe I was starting to believe him.

  I took one of his hands into my own, the other still on my face, and kissed the back of his knuckles. “Thank you.” I couldn’t lift my gaze to meet his again, it was too much.

  But he cupped his hand from my cheek under my chin, lifting my face until my eyes had no choice but to look.

  Those eyes were going to swallow me whole, but instead of fear, I felt… a thrill. My heart surely would’ve pounded with anticipation had it still been beating, as his eyes looked down to my mouth. He looked back at my eyes, his lashes hooding his gaze.

  I wanted this, wanted him.

  I nodded, and he brought his face to mine, kissing my lips softly. Then the kiss deepened.

  He pressed his tongue to my lips, asking, and I opened. The taste of him filled my mouth. I was going to go wild from this.

  My hands dove into his hair as he unclipped mine, letting it flow over my shoulders. His hand went behind my neck, cupping the back of my head at the nape. My head fell back into his hand, exposing my neck to him.

  He licked a trail up the side to my ear, nibbling on the lobe before he bit the soft spot beneath it. I moaned in pleasure and he growled, the sound rumbling through me, melting me.

  My back met the cushion as his mouth traced another line down my neck, over my collar bone.

  His hand crept up underneath my shirt, skirting the plane of my stomach. I arched into his touch and he pressed into me, kissing me somehow deeper.

  He pulled back panting. His eyes searched mine, although I was sure all he could see was dumb pleasure.

  I felt floaty, as if I could fly away if he let me go.

  He didn’t.

  I slowly came down from that high, my gaze focusing onto his. “Why’d you stop?” My voice was breathless and I sucked in lungfuls of air.

  His eyes had a blaze behind them. “Because if I didn’t, I knew that soon I wouldn’t be able to.” He was also out of breath, but he looked at my lips again for the smallest moment before meeting my eyes again. I understood what he meant. If we had continued going, we might’ve…

  I blushed, throwing a hurried, “Be right back,” behind me as I closed the bathroom door, turning my back to it and sinking to the floor.

  Did I want to take things that far? Ever? I stood up, facing the mirror. My blush had crept down my chest. I looked like a human tomato, and knowing that didn’t help make it go away. I took deep breaths and splashed cold water on my face, trying to bring my heart rate down.

  When I looked up, I saw a wet human tomato.

  I waved my hands in front of my face as if that would help. It didn’t.

  Ultimately, I came out anyway, my face only slightly less red.

  Michael was playing on his phone, or seemed to be. When I sat down, he merely asked. “Should we watch more of the movie?”

  I nodded, but I only paid partial attention the rest of the time. My mind was still awhirl when the movie ended.

  Michael said he was going to go out and would be back later, and he left without any more explanation.

  I sat on the couch, stupefied. What even was my life anymore?

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