Chapter 5:

After breakfast, we were allowed into our bunking rooms for an hour of rest. One hour. Most of the other initiates didn't bother to come and rest because they were used to the opposite sleeping schedule; however, I was not. Christina was the only girl that followed me into the sleeping area. We both figured we should sleep when we are given the chance because who knows when we will get to sleep again?

The sleeping area consisted of several different bunk beds with a dresser at the foot post to share with your bunkmate. There was one full body mirror and a sink; the rest of the bathroom area was down the hall in the locker room. The locker room had several community showers, sinks, and mirrors. The girl's locker room was next to the boys, and then farther down the hall was the boy's bunk area.

Christina claimed the top bunk, which is fine with me because the only energy I had left was used to collapse onto the lower bed. The mattress was soft, and was better than mine at home. I noticed there were enough sheets to keep me warm, so I took off the sweatshirt Alex had given me before and my other shirt as well, leaving me in my tank top. I don't know why, but I always liked to sleep in shorts and a tank top.

I was about to sink into bed when Christina spoke up. "Whoa," she said, jumping down and grabbing my arm. "what are those?"

I looked down at my scars. "They're needle scars from all the times I've given blood." I tried to shrug it off and make it not seem like a big deal. "It's not like this for everyone; I have a rare blood type so I have to give more often."

"AB negative?" Christina asked.

"Yeah…" I said, a little shocked that she knew my blood type.

"That must be one hungry vamp." She said as she climbed back up into her bunk.

"What do you mean?"

"Vampires tend to drink the same blood type they had before they were vampires. So, if a vamp had AB negative blood before they were turned, they will prefer to drink AB negative blood as a vampire." She explained this all to me like it was old news, like I should already know all of it. "And because AB negative is such a rare blood type, I bet it's only one, maybe two, vampires that are getting your blood." She lay down on her pillow and pulled the covers close to her face. Before I knew it, she was asleep. I bet she didn't even realized how much her story affected me.

With no one to talk to anymore I crawled into my bed and covered my cold body with the soft covers. I tried to sleep, but my mind wouldn't let me. All I could think about was that someone, in this sector, was drinking my blood.

I guess I never really thought about it before, but now it sunk in more than ever. I thought maybe my blood went to random people, different people, each time, but no, it went to the same person each time.

Now I had two questions I needed to find answers to: Who was drinking my blood? and Why was I chosen? I could only hope that the two answers had no relation. I could only hope I wasn't chosen to fulfill some vampire's hunger.

. . .

When I woke up, I knew I had received much less than an hour of sleep. My mind was groggy and still confused, but I somehow managed to get dressed. I noticed there were new clothes on the dresser by our bed, and I could see Christina already dressed.

"Come on! We have to hurry." She shoved me along.

I padded over to the new clothes and threw on the grey v-neck tee shirt and black pants. My new clothing was comfortable and flexible, which gave me an idea of what our training had in store today.

I quickly laced the black training boots and ran to catch up with Christina.

We met up with the other initiates in the training room. As usual, Cashile stood stiffly in front of the group, waiting for us to get organized. The more I see him, the more I begin to think we actually make him uncomfortable, or maybe he just hates training us; either one is a real possibility.

When the last of the group filed into the room and he began talking.

"Today, we will begin your fight training. You will practice your skills on your own, then at the end of the day, I will partner you up and we will determine your readiness. Periodically throughout today's session—as well as the rest of the week—representatives will come and monitor your aptitude; they will ultimately determine who will be turned." His eyes scanned the crowd. "Are there any questions?" he asked, but, as usual, no one said anything, and even if they wanted to speak, they were too frightened to. He nodded slightly. "Let us begin."

With that, everyone scattered to different workstations. In separate corners of the cement room, there were large punching bags hanging from chains as well as small teardrop shaped ones. Other training activities we set up, but I didn't know what they were to be used for. Honestly, I had no idea where to start, so I walked over to the closest station: the large punching bags.

There was a box of punching gloves as well as white power. I put both on and looked around at the other initiates for guidance.

"Are you going to stand there all day, or are you going to actually do something?" an annoyed voice asked.

Surprised by his voice, I jumped and turned around to face Cashile. "N-no. I was actually just getting started." I stuttered.

"Really?" He threw on a sarcastic surprised face. "Okay then. Let's see what you got." He stepped back, and crossed his arms.

Okay, here we go. I gathered all of my strength and punched the bag. It barely moved. Cashile snorted a laugh.

At that moment, for some reason, I thought of the black-haired vampire at the Choosing Ceremony. Maybe because then, as well as now, I wanted to prove I was worth something, that I was more than just a useless human. Relax… Breathe... I ordered myself. I readjusted my stance and punched the bag, this time letting out a breath at the same moment I made contact. Involuntarily, I grunted.

The bag moved away from me and the chain rattled. As it quickly swung back toward me, I dodged it at the last minute. I threw my arms up and turned to share my triumph with Cashile, but he was gone.

My eyebrows scrunched together as I searched for him and I finally found him standing next to a blonde girl; he was holding her arms in a punching position and she was batting her dark eyelashes at him. "Like this?" She said innocently, but he paid little to no attention to her, just technique.

Annoyed, I turned my back to them. Obviously he doesn't care if I can punch a bag, but I don't care what he thinks; all I care about is improving my skills. I have to improve. I have to. If I don't, I'll spend my life being some vampire's personal blood bank.

For the rest of training I spent my time dodging, punching, kneeing, and kicking the bag. Mostly dodging.

. . .

"Everyone gather up." Cashile whistled and called out. Everyone promptly listened to his commands. I jogged over to meet up with the group too. We were all breathing hard and sweating from our training.

Near the door, I could see three men standing. I've never seen them before. They were all ruthless looking, but one stood out more than the others. He was at the end, had brown hair, dark—almost black—eyes, young looking, and he was staring directly at me. I hate it when vampires do that. I thought as my heart beat loudly against my chest. I saw his lips curve into a fiendish smile, and it didn't make me feel any better. His smile wasn't friendly; nothing about him was friendly. Everything about him was predatory. Everything about him made my skin crawl.

"We will begin the partner fights now. I will choose the groups, everyone who is not participating will stay in the room and watch." Cashile kept speaking. "Travis and Alex, you are our first pair. Step to the center of the room and wait for my signal." Cashile walked over to the other vampires and they whispered quietly to each other. Cashile nodded to Alex and the boy named Travis, signaling for them to begin.

The boy named Travis was about the same size as Alex, both in height and build and skill. He had dark skin, and dark hair, but unexpected light green eyes. This is going to be a pretty unexciting fight; no one was going to win. It was going to end in a stalemate.

The two of them began fighting, Alex threw a punch aiming for Travis's head, but he ducked and hit Alex in the abdomen in the mean time. Alex stumbled back a few steps and held up his arms to block the fists that were flying at him. Eventually Alex regained enough strength to kick Travis in the groin. Travis fell to his knees, and Alex stood proudly over him. Alex looked over his shoulder at the vampire representatives. They still stood in the corner, waiting for something to happen.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" one of the vampires asked.

"He's down. Haven't I won?" Alex asked.

The vampire raised his eyebrow. "Make me believe you've won."

Travis slowly stood back up, and they both prepared to fight again. Travis lunged forward and aimed for Alex's head. Alex ducked and punched Travis's abdomen. Travis kicked and kneed Alex. The both of them went back and forth, punching and dodging, but neither of them seemed to be making any progress, until Alex made one powerful swing towards Travis's head. Travis tried to duck, but he didn't get far enough down. Alex's fist made contact with Travis's temple, causing him to fall forcefully to the ground. Travis's body stayed on the ground and didn't seem to move. Alex stood over him, breathing hard.

"Congratulations Alex, you've passed the first round." The vampire said.

Cashile walked over and grabbed Travis's limp body under his arms. Travis groaned slightly. "Alex, you may stand back with the group. You are finished now." Cashile informed as he dragged Travis across the room to the "loser's side".

So that is what we have to do. Fight until someone gets knocked out…

Alex ended up standing next to me; his hands were trembling and were slightly bruised.

"Our next pairing will be," Cashile started. "Allison and Ethan."

I didn't have to look in a mirror to know what my face looked like. My jaw dropped open, my knees buckled, and my eyes widened.

Ethan? Why I was fighting Ethan? Why?

Ethan was tall, and much more muscular than any of us. If he wasn't a vampire mutt, I'm sure that the werewolves would have chosen him. His arms and legs were huge, and his hands seemed larger than my face.

Now that I was standing next to him, he stood a good foot taller than me. His thin lips curved into a wicked smile. I turned to look at Cashile and the other vampires, waiting for them to say 'Just kidding, you don't have to fight someone that is ten times your size'. This isn't fair. Alex and Travis were both mutts, and were both similar in strength; that is definitely not the case between Ethan and me.

As I looked across the room I saw the same vampire eyeing me, like he was waiting for my blood to spill. He was anticipating this fight. As for Cashile, he was expressionless. I couldn't tell if he was anticipating the fight or dreading it.

I heard his command to start and within a fraction of a second I saw a blurry fist come straight at my head. The impact left my temple throbbing with white-hot pain and I could heard Ethan murmur, "This is too easy." With his devilish smile still plastered on his face.

Again, Ethan's fists came toward me, and I threw up my arms in defense. I blocked his blow, but he kept on hitting me all over. I could feel my arm bruising more and more with every brutal strike. As soon as I felt the blows stop, I looked up, and as soon as I saw Ethan lunge for another attack, I dodged his fist; he missed me completely. Recoiling, he threw his elbow back and tried to hit me again, but once again I ducked. Now that I thought about it, I was swifter than he was; he was bulky while I was light on my feet. I smiled at this small victory.

I dodged him for as long as I could, and I could hear him start to growl. I was able to catch a quick glimpse across the room; Cashile was laughing and shaking his head and the dark eyed vampire looked angry.

Looking at them distracted me, and Ethan closed in on my throat. His large hand wrapped around my entire neck and he lifted me off of the ground. I grabbed his wrist to try and stop the pressure, but I barely affected him. I was gasping for breaths now and the corners of my vision started to blur.

"Enough." Cashile ordered with no sign of panic in his voice. "We don't want to kill her."

Ethan rolled his eyes and dropped me. My knees couldn't support me and I crashed to the floor. I grasped my throat and coughed as I tried to regain my breath.

"Next group," Cashile called out, but I ignored him, I ignored everything. All I knew was pain as I limped over to the 'loser's corner'. This was great first impression for the vampires. I thought.

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p.s. i have found "faceclaims" (models) for my characters... if you want, i can post a link with all of them so you can put a face to the names... but this is just and idea... let me know if you guys would like that... yeah... soo...

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