was caught outside after curfew and chased into a field, where they shot me in the back, and left me for dead. William and his father had been waiting on the other side of the field to receive my message. That night, I left the human world, but I gained a brother.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I said. “William, why didn’t you tell me you had a brother?”
Josef threw an arm around William protectively. “Vampires are like onions, Olivia. It takes many peels of the layers before you know all of our secrets.”
“I see,” I said. “Are there any other brothers I should know about?”
William shook his head. “No, there were only the three of us, now just the two of us.”
“William convinced me to move to San Francisco some years ago,” Josef said. “The weather here is very agreeable. And I enjoy teaching people how to defend themselves.”
Josef led us inside and shut the door. Following him, we walked down a short hallway that led to a large workout room. A few smaller offices lined the perimeter of the larger space. A set of lockers occupied one corner of the larger room, and in another corner, a dozen or more hooks were attached to the wall. Several fencing uniforms hung from the hooks, as well as a brown leather jacket and wool cap. A portable punching bag made of red and blue leather had been placed in the center of the room, but was designed to be rolled away when not in use.
While I was examining my surroundings, I heard the front door open again and a set of footsteps came down the hallway toward us. Within seconds I sensed it was Elsa. William met Elsa in the hallway and shook her hand.
“I asked her to come,” he said, turning to face me. “I meant what I told you last night, darlin. If you want to pick fights with the likes of Nikola, then you need to be prepared to defend yourself. ”
“What do you have in mind?” I asked, feeling a little uneasy. I’d never raised my hand against another person in my life. I wasn’t sure I could.
“I want you to train with Josef,” William said. “Elsa is here because I thought you would feel more comfortable doing the work with her.”
Elsa tossed her gym bag down in the corner of the room. “This will be good,” she said. “I need to brush up on my skills a bit, too. It’s been ages since I had to engage in hand-to-hand combat.”
“Hand-to-hand combat?” I repeated. “When did you do that?”
“I’ve been alive since the sixteenth century,” she said. “There were times when I had to defend myself. Often I guarded my tribe while the men were off hunting. And then there is also the fact that time-walkers are not always welcome in villages when they appear…suddenly.”
Josef, who had been standing slightly apart from us in the middle of the studio, was listening to our conversation. He rubbed his hands together and clapped twice. “A human and a time-walker,” he said. “This should be interesting.”
“Wait,” I said. “Can you clarify what you mean by train?” I asked William.
“He means that you will come and work at my studio a few days a week until you are sufficiently ready,” Josef said.
“Ready for what?” I asked, feeling yet again as if I was entering another phase of my life where I jumped in with both feet before looking.
“What you least expect, of course,” he said. “What you least expect. Now please, let’s get started. In my school, I teach a combination of fencing, Krav Maga and savate, or French kickboxing.
“Why fencing?” Elsa asked.
“For stamina and to build fast reflexes,” Josef answered. “You have to be ready to defend yourself, and to be able to quickly get away from someone who attacks you. I will not teach you to pick a fight, but I will teach you how to end one.”
As I watched William in the corner of the room, I felt a mixture of both anger and admiration. I knew what he was doing was necessary. I did have a taste to pick a fight with the Serbs who robbed the bank, and at the moment, chances were good that I would be injured if they or their minions came after me. But I didn’t like surprises or mandates, and I felt as if I had been given both in the span of minutes: a brother I hadn’t known existed,