knives, daggers, curved sabers, long swords, stars, chains, axes, and other things I had no names for.
“No guns?” I asked, trying to hide my bewilderment.
“Guns are pretty useless in our world,” Charlotte said. Instead of the leather of yesterday, she wore a tight black tank, black spandex pants, and black boots, and her blond hair was pulled into a ponytail. And she was still intimidating. “Unless you’re were-hunting, which is outlawed for the Amadis. Remember: our goal is not to kill unless there is no hope or if it’s absolutely necessary to protect yourself or someone else.”
Her blue eyes traveled up and down my body as though sizing me up, and then she wrote something on a clipboard.
“These are practice weapons,” she said, casually waving her hand in the air. “Sophia put me in charge of training you. We’ll figure out your strengths before deciding on your weapon of choice.”
Ah. Charlotte wanted to train me. This was one of her rewards for Mom dragging her onto the council.
“But we have powers. Are they not enough?”
“You always want choices,” Charlotte said matter-of-factly.
“Especially with vamps. They’re nearly impossible to kill,” Tristan added.
I regarded the weapons, intimidated by the number and variety. The idea of actually using them, practice or not, made my stomach lurch. I hated fighting. I hated watching it, and I sure as hell hated doing it. I’d already had enough violence in the last week with Vanessa and Tristan and wished I’d never have to fight again.
But I had to be logical, and I knew those weren’t my only battles. Apparently, everyone thought I needed to improve my skills, which I couldn’t disagree with, although I could think of other training I’d prefer to be doing. Like with my telepathy. Now that I’d decided I wanted to learn how to use it, I was anxious to begin my lessons with Rina.
“So where do we start?” I asked, wanting to get this over with.
Charlotte eyed me again and wrote something on her pad. “We start with hand-to-hand combat.”
She flicked her hand and pointed us toward the main space. What had been a bare room only a few minutes ago now held various sized punching bags on stands and hanging from the beams. I glanced down at the sundress and Mom’s borrowed cardigan I wore.
“Mom could have warned me,” I muttered. “I don’t have many clothes that fit, but I do have running wear.”
“No worries. You both have training clothes in there.” Charlotte pointed to a doorway next to the weapons area. “And you should have new clothes in your suite by the end of the day, by the way.”
Tristan and I changed together in the little room that contained only a bench with two piles of clothes on it. I held up a black sports bra and black spandex pants—the only clothes for me—and nearly groaned, until I remembered my new body. Tristan had been given nothing but a pair of loose black pants. With his hair pulled back in a ponytail, he looked as though he belonged in a martial-arts film, ready to fight in a tournament or take on his self-righteous teacher. In other words, he looked delicious.
“I’m supposed to concentrate with you in that?” Tristan asked, his eyes traveling up and down my body. I couldn’t help it. I shivered.
“Ditto,” I muttered and forced myself to tear my eyes from his very bare, very lickable chest. I contemplated our feet instead. “But no shoes or boots?”
“Not necessary yet,” Charlotte answered as we returned to the main room. She stood by a hanging bag. “So we start small, and we’ll get as far as we can, while we can. I could be called to the field again at any time. Tristan can always take over for me, but it’s easier to have us both here.”
“Okay, then let’s do it.” I had nowhere else to be except with Rina, so the sooner we finished today’s training, the sooner I could work with Rina and the sooner I would learn about the mysterious girl.
We started with various punches: jabs, hooks, crosses, and uppercuts, as well as martial arts chops and strikes. I’d learned many of these long ago, when Tristan had taught me basic Aikido before his disappearance, but I’d grown rusty. Besides, my body had changed, and it moved differently now. So Tristan demonstrated the moves, and Charlotte watched my form as I relearned everything.
“Some inaugural meeting for the two of us, huh?” Charlotte asked as I practiced my