I didn't get why I had to do this stuff in order to get into my coven. This was strange and completely idiotic. Rory, Sarah, and Erica literally had to make this initiation?
Anyways. It's was five minutes before 9 AM. I was dressed in regular blue jeans and black v-neck. Luckily, Rory let me borrow his clothes.
Grandma informed me and Sarah to meet everybody in the woods. As we walked, I asked Sarah, "So is this gonna be hard?"
"Not really," she answered. "We just wanna see if you're capable of being one of us. We're gonna test you on your strength, hunting, self-control, senses, and other things."
"Damn. Anything else?"
"Nope. We're gonna give you points for it. On a scale of 1 to 10."
"Great. Judging is the worse."
We finally met up with Erica, Rory, Benny, and Grandma in the middle of the woods.
"All right," Benny said aloud. "Ethan James Morgan, a two day-old fledgling, you want to be part of the Whitechapel coven, don't you?"
"Yes," I answered.
"Well, for the next five days, you will compete in obstacles to see if you are worthy of joining the Whitechapel coven. That includes judging on your strength, speed, agility, hunting skills, and self-control. Do you accept this challenge?"
"I accept it."
"May the games begin," said Grandma.
"First challenge is to hunt down at least three animals, feed on them, and bring them back in exactly one hour," said Benny.
Three animals in one hour? Maybe I can do that.
"The rules are you can either choose mountain lions, deer, raccoons, squirrels, or grizzly bears." explained Benny. "If you bring any other animal, we will not except it. If you come across a human and loose your self-control, you are disqualified. Understand, Ethan?"
"Yes, I understand," I responded.
"It's time, Ethan," said Rory.
"Ready, set, go!" yelled Erica.
I ran into the woods. I needed to find any animal nearest to me. My eyesight spotted a deer nearby me.
It was slow and I was able to catch it. Then, I brought it back to my friends in exactly eleven minutes.
When I went back, I was able to hunt down another male deer in thirteen minutes.
Finally, I got a mountain lion. I was chasing it all over until I finally cornered him and tackled him to the ground. Mountian lion was the most appetizing. Biting through their skin was like biting through Jell-O.
When I finally got all three of them back, it was under an hour. I got Sarah, Rory, and Erica's approval.
The next day I had to identify scents. Grandma wrapped a blindfold around my eyes. I couldn't see anything.
Rory walked up to me and held an unknown object towards my face. "Ethan," said Rory, "what is the object that is in my hands?"
I sniffed the object. The scent was unliving and heavy rusty like iron. It was a metal object. Also, a scet of rubber was covering it. I figured it out.
"They're the keys to the house," I answered.
"Correct," said Benny.
Rory tossed the keys back to Erica. He held another object.
"What is this?" asked Rory.
I sniffed the unknown object. It had a disgusting stench to it. Almost like garage and fungus. I realized what it was.
"Benny's shoe," I answered.
Benny used to have two pairs of shoes until they were permanently destroyed when we fought those three-eyed ogres in August. Now he only had only has one pair: his All-Star black converses with black laces.
"Which shoe?" asked Rory.
"The right shoe," I guessed.
"Correct," said Rory.
After smelling Benny's disgusting foot stench, I had to go to the next level. Benny said, "Now you must run to the top of the mountain and back over here in less than ten seconds."
I got ready. "Ready, set, go!"
I ran and ran. I jumped through the trees and rocks that stood in my way. When I got all the way to the top, I ran back towards them. I was back.
"Seven and a half seconds," said Grandma.
"The next challenge is fighting," said Benny. "Ethan, you must fight one of our judges. If you are able to get your opponent on their back, you win."
"Who's gonna fight the fledging?" I asked.
"Erica," Rory and Sarah said at the same time.
"Why Erica?" I asked.
"We wanted to go easy on you, but…no," answered Sarah.
"And Erica isn't easy?"
"I'm a trained martial artist, Ethan," explained Erica.
"Martial arts? Erica, I never knew you knew martial arts."
"Ethan, you don't even know my favorite color."
"Crimson red."
"Why?"
"It's the color of blood."
"Yes." She rolled her eyes. "Are we gonna fight or not?"
"All right. We'll fight."
"Erica," said Sarah, "Not too hard."
"Sarah," I said.
Rory wouldn't do that to Erica. He's never protective of her. He knows she's strong enough to take care of herself.
"Ready?" asked Erica.
"Are we star—" I asked.
Erica swung her arm at me and I leaped back. "Whoa! Erica, I never said I was ready."
"Are you ready now?"
"Maybe. I-I thin—"
She swung at me again. "Eri—" She kept swinging her arm at me and I jump back or duck.
When she swung her arm at me one more time, my arm blocked her arm and pushed it back towards her body.
She smiled. "Now you're getting it."
She swung her arm at me again and I blocked it. Erica then kicked her foot towards my chest. Before her foot could hit my chest, my hands caught it and I threw it up.
When her leg went up, Erica's body followed the leg and she did a backflip. Then, Erica landed cat-like and gracefully on the splits.
"Holy shit!" I mumbled.
"I was going easy on you, Ethan," said Erica.
"No more easy," I said.
"Get ready 'cause I'm coming at you."
She jumped into a fighting position and ran towards me. I threw the first punch at her. Erica blocked it. I threw another one. She blocked it too.
I spun and kicked my foot up at Erica'a head. She ducks. Once my foot hit the ground, she pushed me back.
I threw another punch at her. She was able to grab it, twist to her back, and flip me over.
Once my back hit the ground, I immediately held onto Erica's arm and yanked her down with me. She flipped down onto her back.
Erica jumped up and crouched down in flexible, fighting position. I threw my legs up and jumped on top of my feet.
We both charge towards each other. I finally threw my arm to the side, got Erica by the neck, and threw her down onher back.
When I was on my knees, my hand still held Erica down. She didn't struggle. She grinned.
"Wow," she said, "He's a fighter."
"Damn right he is," said Sarah.
"Finally someone I can challenge," said Erica.
All of us went back into the house. Sarah and I sat on the couch, while Rory sat on the recliner and Erica sat on his lap.
"So amazing," said Erica. "Ethan, you almost got everyone of them. It's impressive."
"I know," said Rory. "It's like everything about being immortal was meant for you, Ethan."
"Everything?" I asked. "I haven't even flashed my fangs yet."
"Well, flash them."
I open my mouth and I begun to flex it open a few times. I couldn't get it.
"How can you guys do this?" I asked.
"It took time, sweetie" said Sarah. "We learned to control it when we want to."
I flexed one more time. Then they appeared. I closed my mouth. It scared me a little bit.
"You got it, E," said Rory.
I slowly opened my mouth again. My fingers touched my teeth. I felt how big and sharp my fangs were. I grabbed a clear marble from the centerpiece on the table. I placed it in between my fang and bottom tooth. When I let it go, I bit it. Pieces of the marble fell to the floor. A few pieces were in my mouth, but I spit them out.
"Wow," I murmured.
The phone started ringing.
"Who is that?" I asked.
"It's Samantha and Ross," answered Benny.
Mom and Dad? They still think I'm missing. How could I forget that? They must be worried sick about me.
"They've been calling twice a day," said Grandma.
"So what now?" I asked.
"We can't risk it. You four are going to have to move." said Grandma.
Move?!
"Move?" Rory and Erica said at the same time.
"Grandma, please." I said.
"Ethan has to fake his own death. We have no choice. It's the only way to protect Ethan's family."
"What if Ethan can meet them?" said Sarah. "They can come over—"
"Come over?" I cut her off. "Sarah, are you insane? I can see my parents l-like this."
"Ethan, you have amazing self-control now. Remember the hikers?"
"That was different. You called my name."
"You responded fast and you ran away."
"You know? We can make this a challenge." said Rory.
"Challenge? I don't like where this is going." I said.
"This can be the challenge of your self-control."
"No."
"You wanna be in our coven or not?"
I glanced back at Sarah. "Can I?" I whispered to her.
"I know you can." She whispered back.
"I'll do it."
"All right. They can come tomorrow." said Grandma.
"We got to start training you," said Erica.
"Training?" I asked. "Training for what?"
"Human training. We have to train you to act like a human."
"What makes me not look human?"
"You don't breathe or blink."
"Your skin's paler and you possess immortal attractiveness." added Benny.
"Your eyes are gold," added Rory.
"Also, you're a vampire," said Sarah.
"Oh, yeah," I said.