"I feel bruised," Oliver said as he handed back the ice skates.
Vinny smirked as he started putting on his own shoes.
They had been ice skating for just over two hours now and in the last ten minutes, Oliver stopped falling over.
Most of the time, he fell over because he wasn't afraid to try things such as backwards skating, spinning and skating on one leg.
"Oliver you were so funny" Madison chuckled.
"I knew I'd be terrible. But it was fun" He grinned as he finished putting his shoes back on.
"Well you had fun, that's the main thing" She smiled.
"Right come on then, adventure number two" Duke said as him and John walked towards the doors.
"What's adventure number two?" Oliver asked before taking Vinny's hand.
"Paintballing"
Even Vinny raised his eyebrows.
"Really?" He asked as they walked through the snowy car park and towards the car.
"Yes. Your mother and I thought it would be nice to do completely random and fun things today" Duke said as Madison linked arms with him. He didn't want to say they were having a day out to distract everyone's minds from the recent events. Especially Oliver's mind.
When they reached the car, Jed was already waiting for them as they all climbed in.
He then waited until they were buckled up before starting the engine and heading off to their next destination.
Oliver was now fully awake and enjoying spending time outside.
He loved how spontaneous the Vanderwood family can be.
It didn't take long for them to get to the paintball centre. It was still in their city so of course, they got a lot of stares as they got out the car and walked up to the small building.
When they entered, they were faced with a big guy in waterproof clothing.
"Alpha," He said politely like he was expecting them. "We're ready for you all"
They then followed him into a small room where they could get their safety gear on and their equipment.
"I was thinking," Duke said as he put a hard shell vest on. "We should do it individually. Each person to their own.
"I would agree to that if I was playing it with other humans"
"Oh yeah," John said, forgetting that he was actually a vampire. Oliver shook his head and chuckled at his dad.
"Hmm, how about you team up with Jed then?" Duke asked. Two humans against individual vampires seemed fair.
Vinny wanted to team up with Oliver but it would also be fun playing against him.
"Do we have the whole area?" Vinny asked.
"Yes, we rented the centre out for the rest of the morning," Madison said. She wanted to pair up with someone but she didn't mind trying it by herself.
"Okay, I'll pair up with Jed" Oliver smiled as he walked over to the door, knowing he was waiting outside it.
"You're on my team," He said and pulled him into the room.
Jed looked around and then back to Oliver.
"I've never played before," He said.
Everyone was surprised to hear that. Surely a bodyguard would have gone through similar training.
"Never mind, I'm sure teaming up with you is better than being destroyed by vampires with airguns," Oliver said.
"Alright," Jed chuckled and looked at what gear they were putting on before doing the same.
When everyone was ready, with full face helmets and goggles in their hand, they walked outside and stood by the instructor.
"Okay so, the dead zone is just at the right of the entrance to the forest. It has small yellow flags that mark each corner. We have put spare safety gear and paintball capsules in their for you all to stock up. I'll let you decide what type of game you want to play" The guy said before smiling.
"Thank you very much," Duke said as he then turned to everyone. "We'll play a simple elimination game and we'll time it from when the first person is out. Then it'll only last for fifteen minutes before we start a new one, okay?"
Everyone agreed before they made their way into the woods. The area wasn't massive and the boundaries were already marked off.
They all split up and found their base. Jed was rather excited to start and hid in a snowy ditch with Oliver.
"Ready" Oliver shouted. He heard four replies before Duke called for the game to start.
"I know where Vinny is," Jed said quietly as he laid next to Oliver.
"What, how?" He whispered as he looked around.
"He's to your right"
Oliver looked in that direction, but couldn't see anything.
"Can you see him?" He whispered.
"Yes," Jed said as he pointed his gun in that direction.
Vinny was also laying on the ground. He couldn't see anyone but decided to slowly move. He didn't even make a sound as he slowly got to his knees.
He then put a foot on the ground but there occurred a sudden noise and a splash of blue that bounced against his armoured chest.
He looked down and realised that he had been hit.
He sighed and stood up.
"I'm out" He called.
Oliver was shocked. How did Jed see him?
Duke was surprised that Vinny was first to get out. Usually, he's the one who wins every game.
Jed then sat up on his knees and listened.
Oliver watched with interest.
A few seconds went by of Jed listening to his surroundings before he quickly turned and shot to his left.
John stumbled back as he looked down to see he had been hit.
But how? He didn't see anyone and he has a pretty sharp vision, now that he's a vampire.
"I'm out" He called as Oliver raised his eyebrows once again.
"Okay, next time you see anyone, tell me so I can shoot them" He whispered as Jed nodded.
"Come on" He whispered as they both crawled slowly through the woods.
Vinny and John could now see them as they sat patiently in the dead zone and out of anyone's aim.
Madison watched carefully until she detected some movement.
She then lifted the paint gun and fired it in Jed's direction.
Vinny watched as he heard the shot but Jed reacted to it and dodged it, making it hit the tree behind him. Oliver then reacted to that and fired a shot in the direction to which it came from.
Madison let out a loud gasp as the side of her helmet was splattered in paint.
Oliver didn't see her, he was just blind guessing.
"I'm out," She said and slowly walked back towards the dead zone.
Vinny narrowed his eyes at Jed. For someone who has never played before he's doing pretty well and his aim is spot on. But then again, he is a bodyguard and it is part of his uniform to carry a gun.
"Duke's over there," Jed said as he pointed towards Oliver's left side.
"How do you know that?" Oliver whispered but followed Jed behind a tree.
"I can hear him" This made Oliver frown and cock his head to the side. His hearing was perfect and he couldn't hear anything.
He then watched as Jed lifted his gun and fired aimlessly into the woods. Oliver didn't think he got anyone because he could see nothing but trees and bushes.
"I'm out" Duke then called.
Once again, he found himself being surprised.
As everyone made their way back to the dead zone to start again, they soon realised that maybe Jed playing wasn't such a fair decision. But why? He's just human and shouldn't be so good at something like this when the rest of his competitors are vampires.
"was everyone out because of Jed?" John asked.
"No, Oliver got mum out," Vinny said as everyone took off their goggles and helmets.
"Right..." Duke said as he looked at Jed. "Vinny, team up with Oliver. Madison, team up with John and Jed, team up with me" So this way, Duke can assess the bodyguard and see how good he actually is.
He shouldn't be better than Duke because he's just a human.
Everyone put their helmets and goggles back on before running into the woods and finding a base.
"I'm not kidding, Jed is like unusually good at this" Oliver whispered as he lied down close to his soulmate.
"Yeah I noticed" Vinny whispered back as he heard his dad shout that he was ready. They all responded before the game started again.
"Can you see anyone?" Oliver asked as he scanned the area.
"Nope, but I have a feeling Jed can," Vinny said, making Oliver chuckle.
Jed was listening to his surroundings as Duke did the same.
John and Madison were having a whisper conversation. They don't care much for paintballing but it was nice to do something different.
"Let's go this way" Oliver whispered as he started to army crawl through the snow. Vinny watched in amusement as he followed.
"I think I can hear John," Jed said as he listened. Duke could only just hear John and that was with his Vampire hearing so if Jed was right, he would be very surprised.
Jed then turned and shot to the left.
John fell over when the force of the paintball hit his leg.
"Oh come on," He said. "I'm out"
Duke was starting to get a little suspicious now.
"No, don't leave me" Madison chuckled as John got up but gave her his airgun.
He then chuckled and walked to the dead zone.
Madison knew it wasn't in the rules to have two guns but she didn't care.
Oliver crawled along the ground until he spotted Madison.
"Vinny" He whispered before pulling his helmet close until it collided with his. "Look"
He looked to where Oliver was pointing and saw his mum.
He smirked as they both got up and walked slowly towards her. She hadn't spotted them yet but Jed had. He was holding back, he could tell Duke was now suspicious of him.
When the boys were close enough, Oliver jumped out on her and pointed his gun at her head.
"Wait, why do you have two guns?" He asked.
"Because I do," Madison said as she pointed one at Vinny and one at him.
"I want two guns," Vinny said as he looked at his soulmate. "Oliver give me your gun"
"No" He scoffed but immediately looked back to Madison. "Give me all of your money" He joked.
Vinny chuckled at this but shot his mum on the side of the shoulder.
"Vinny... we were negotiating," Oliver said.
"Nobody's negotiating" They then heard Duke say but as soon as they looked up, Jed shot Oliver and Duke shot his son.
"That was your fault," The boys said in unison.
"No," They said again.
Vinny knew that would keep happening so he gave Oliver a gentle shove but to his surprise, he bent his arm back and flipped him over.
He landed on his back as everyone raised their eyebrows.
"Oh, it actually worked" Oliver chuckled as he looked to Duke who crossed his arms.
"You're stronger than you look" He chuckled.
Oliver tried taking that as a compliment.
Vinny got back up like nothing had happened but he was happy that Oliver had learnt that move.
"Right, let's stay in the teams we are in now," Duke said.
Everyone agreed as they then went off to find another base.
As they continued to play, Duke continued to assess Jed and the more he watched him, the more he noticed that his qualities were a little abnormal, for a human.