Suddenly he stood in front of me. I hadn’t even had time to blink, he was so fast.
“You’ve got good aim when you throw things. Found that out last night when you chucked your cross at me. Just think, a few inches lower and you might have been planting daisies over my head by now.” He grinned as if amused at the mental image. “We’ll work to improve your speed and accuracy. You’ll be safer if you can kill from a distance. You’re too bloody vulnerable up close.”
He grasped me by the upper arms. I tried to pull away, but he held on. Iron bars would have had more give.
“Your strength leaves much to be desired. You’re stronger than a human man, but probably as weak as the weakest vampire. We’ll have to work on that as well. Also, your flexibility is shit and you don’t use your legs at all when you fight. They’re valuable weapons and should be treated as such. As for your speed, well…that might be hopeless. But we’ll give it a go anyhow. The way I figure it, we have about six weeks before we can get you out in the field. Yep, five weeks of hard training, and one week to work on your looks.”
“My looks?” Outrage filled my voice. How dare a dead man critique me? “What’s wrong with my looks?”
Bones smiled condescendingly. “Oh, nothing horribly wrong, but still something that needs fixing before we send you out.”
“You—”
“After all, we’re going after some big fish, luv. Baggy jeans and a mediocre appearance won’t cut it. You wouldn’t know sexy if it bit you in the arse.”
“By God, I am going to—”
“Quit blathering. Didn’t you want to call your mum? Come with me. My cell phone’s in the back.”
Mentally I performed all sorts of tortuous acts on his bound and helpless body, but in reality I bit my tongue and followed him deeper into the cave.
FOUR
HARD TRAINING. THOSE WERE THE WORDS HE used to describe the brutal, agonizing, death-defying ordeals even the military wouldn’t inflict on their most hardened troops.
Bones ran me through the forest at speeds cars couldn’t sustain. I stumbled over fallen trees, rocks, roots, and natural potholes until I was too exhausted to even vomit. Passing out didn’t excuse me from my tasks, either. He’d simply keep dousing icy water on my face until I came to again. I practiced throwing knives until my knuckles cracked and bled. His response? To uncaringly toss me some Neosporin and tell me not to get it on my palms or it would ruin my grip. His version of weight lifting? Hefting stone boulders repeatedly, gradually increasing their size and density. StairMaster? That would be climbing up the cave inclines with large rocks strapped to my back.
After one week, I threw off all of his artificial impediments and refused to go farther, stating had I known his intentions beforehand I would have gladly chosen death. Bones just smiled at me with his fangs extended and told me to prove it. Seeing that he was serious, I reapplied my outfittings and trudged wearily onward.
By far, though, the most grueling activity was up close with him. He stretched my limbs until tears poured down my face, chiding me all the while for my lack of flexibility. Then, during our hand-to-hand combat, he’d knock me into a state of unconsciousness that all the icy water in the world couldn’t revive. I would wake up with the taste of his blood in my mouth, just to repeat the procedure all over again. To say I fantasized about killing him every second of every day was an understatement. Yet I got better, I had no choice. With Bones, it was either improve or die.
My first indication of increased stamina came after my second week of training. Bones and I fought and I actually didn’t pass out. He still beat me soundly, but I remained conscious throughout. It was a mixed blessing. I had my dignity from not going night-night in the middle of our battle, but then was awake when he fed me his blood.
“Disgusting,” I spat after being cajoled and then threatened into putting his bloody finger in my mouth. “How can you things live off that?”
The words left my lips without forethought, as had many before them.
“Necessity is the mother of all appetites. What you need in order to survive, you learn to love,” he replied shortly.
“All this blood better not turn me into a vampire. That was not our deal.”