Okay vampire academy fic. I have only read the first book and frostbite so sorry if I don't know the full story yet. Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from vampire academy and this is completely fan-made.
Summary: Imogen is a dhampir but doesn't know it. She was put in care as soon as she was born. She was raised in a human family but started working with Tasha Ozera in her martial arts classes. She ends up going to the Academy. Crap summary, I know but just carry on reading (:
"A grading?" I was sat with my sensei in the dojo. I didn't really do the proper lessons like the other kids did because I had no money, and no family to give it to me. Tasha was my only friend and family. I was shocked at getting a grading.
"Well sort of," Tasha said. She had ditched her white karate suit for combat pants and a loose t-shirt. Even so, she still looked as pretty as always. "Only one thing though, do not hold back. This instructor is looking for your true strength."
"You're not testing me?" I suddenly felt nervous at taking a test in front of a stranger.
"Well that would be biased wouldn't it?" She smiled. I smiled back. "Anyway, I'm going to be the one that fights you. You're only going to be tested in the fighting section. Kata and pad work aren't needed in this test."
What kind of a grading was this? I had seen the others do theirs and Kata was compulsory normally.
"Does this instructor know I'm 16?" I had been in a coma for four years and due to some rare gene disorder, my body hadn't grown. I was a 16 year old in an 11 year olds body. I came out of the coma last year and I still hadn't grown much taller. Just curvier.
"Yes, he does. He's an old friend of mine," She said. "Come on, let's warm up."
We did the stretches and other warm up techniques. 30 press ups and 30 sit ups. Before the running. She made us do 50 laps around the mat area. It may have sounded like a lot, but not to sound big headed or anything, I didn't even break a sweat. Tasha however had just started getting out of breath. Not much, but not as calm as me. She sat down and made me do 50 more laps, as the instructor came in. I tried to block him out as I carried on. First impressions count right? If I could prove my fitness at running, maybe that would get me a few bonus points.
On my 67th lap I just about started sweating. They were sat on white plastic chairs at the front of the dojo, near the changing rooms. As I came closer I heard there conversation.
"She's certainly got more stamina than any human I've come across," Tasha said as I came closer.
"What lap is she on?" The instructor was tall, very tall. And I thought I heard a Russian accent in his voice. Apart from that I didn't give him much notice. I stuck to the exercise but answered the question.
"68th now," I said before carrying on. They stopped talking for a while and I had got a quarter ways round the mats before they spoke again. I was surprised I could still hear them.
"If she was facing Strigoi, she wouldn't have to fight. She could just run with the amount of stamina she has," I heard Tasha murmur. I had no idea what a Strigoi was but I carried on running, deciding it wasn't important for the test.
5 minutes later I joined them on the white plastic chairs, slightly out of breath. They stopped talking again, Tasha smiled at me. "Imogen, this is Dimitri, your examiner for today."
That was the first time I looked at him, really looked. I was right, he was very tall. Way over six foot. He had brown hair down to his shoulders that was pulled back in a hair tie. He wore a long, brown leather coat. He smiled at me. "Hello Imogen." I was certain he had a Russian accent. A boy from my school had spoken Russian as well. Only Dimitris' voice was a lot deeper.
"Hi," I said. Nerves came back, but his smile made me think he was a kind examiner.
"Come on then Imogen," Tasha said putting in a gum shield. "Let's fight."
I hastily grabbed my training mitts and head guard. But Tasha shook her head.
"You will be fine Imogen. Remember what I said, no holding back. That means no mitts."
I put them back on the floor, confused. But I stood up anyway and followed her onto the mats. And so we sparred. I tried blocking out the fact I was being examined. I tried to remember the techniques I'd been taught but Tasha acted as though she was just there for me to attack her.
"Come on Imogen," she said. "I know you're stronger than this. Don't worry about hurting me. I want to see what you can do!"
After a few minutes I realised that this was no ordinary sparring session. I wasn't wearing mitts and the only protection we had was our gum shields. Normal sessions would have been stopped after 2 minutes. So I gave Tasha what she wanted. My full strength.
If I had known how strong I was I wouldn't have done it. But I threw all my effort into the moves before sweeping her. She fell to the floor and I pinned her there. Before realising the damage I had done.
The gum shield hadn't protected her much as I could still see blood coming from her mouth. When she fell she landed awkwardly on her ankle and even though it wasn't broken, I could tell she had a nasty sprain at least. I had pretty much beaten up my own Sensei. I helped her up and led her to where Dimitri sat.
Two things were weird after I helped Tasha up. One, Dimitri didn't even come running to help her. And secondly Tasha seemed to be in the best mood ever even though she had a bleeding jaw, several bad bruises and a sprained ankle.
"We've found one," Dimitri said.
"A girl one too Dimka," Tasha said smiling. She had taken her gum-shield out and had a big grin on her face. Her unnaturally sharp canines looked like fangs, and the blood looked like she had just bitten someone. She actually looked like a vampire.
"What are you talking about guys? Did I pass?"
"Yeah, you can say that," Dimitri said. And that's when I found out.
10 minutes later and they finally stopped talking. I had started out puzzled but now I was down-right bewildered. She had explained how she WAS actually a vampire, and I was half vampire.
"You are kidding right?"
"No Imogen I'm not," she said. "There is no way on earth that a human could have that much strength."
"So say I am a Dhampir or whatever. What happens now? I currently have 73 cents to my name. Not exactly enough to pay for me to become a guardian person like Dimitri."
"You don't have to pay. I'll pay for you."
"What? I can't let you do that! You've done enough for me. Given me free lessons, you can't pay for this school as well."
"She can," Dimitri said. "She's royal."
"Even still I can't –wait what? You're related to the royal family? We don't even have one in America."
"The Moroi royal family. There are twelve royal families. Sure I don't get money like some of them do but I can pay for your school fees."
"I still don't think you should," I said.
"Even if I didn't I'd still be giving you free lessons here. And anyway, St Vladimirs Acadamy is a hell of a lot better than the dump that the orphanage sends you to."
"Will you be there?"
"I'll visit. I want to visit my nephew as well at some point in the holidays." She wasn't backing down. She really did want to see me become a guardian someday.
"Okay, I'll go. But one question."
"Shoot," she smiled.
"I don't want to seem like I was ear wigging but when I was doing the laps, I heard you talking. Something about running away from Strigoi, what are Strigoi?"
"Well, she's gonna find out anyway," Dimitri said. And that's when I found out the true purpose of my job as a novice guardian.
