Chapter Nineteen

"Did I mention this big ol' Crimson Tides manor is much cooler from afar? When you're far away, it looks like the mansion is on top of the whole world, basking in the rays of the sun that no one else can reach. But up close? It's as bland and depressing as the other buildings—if not lonelier. That's what happens when you stop looking through the clouds and face reality."

Hades cleared his throat loudly. "If you could focus on the task at hand, please."

Vito quite agreed with Hades, but Draven looked at him while making a tsking sound as if he would disagree with his assistant. "Old men, huh? They have no patience - likely a side effect of having less than half their life span to look forward to."

"If you keep talking like that you'll have less than that to look forward to," Jekio growled.

Draven clearly didn't even think Vito's brother was deserving of a reply.

Vito sighed. They were in the manor's courtyard, where Vito had brought Draven to train him. Draven was back in his usual get-up, from the brown sombrero to the worn leather sandals. He faced off against Vito in the middle, while Hades and Jekio made up an outer circle of sorts. They weren't the only spectators, however.

Since returning from the rogue lands, Vito had decided to place Kaida and her crew in the Tide. If they were planning to betray them, Vito figured they would've done it at the village, instead of fighting bravely as Hades reported. Furthermore, Kaida's skill at detecting shapeshifters meant none could hole up in the Tide and strike them when their backs were turned. Once she had caught wind of the training session, she had asked if she could attend and Vito figured there was no reason to deny the request. Naturally, she had shown up with her entire team.

Vito would've offered Zliksay a spot to stay in the Tide as well, but many members of the Crimson Tides shared Hades' dislike of werewolves.

Valko was the last spectator. Truth be told, the entire Tide community had wanted to come out and spectate the boss' training session, but Vito had denied it. Yet Valko was a special case. After the incident with Bekah and the shapeshifters, Vito had been alarmed about his inefficient security, with how easily they had been infiltrated, and Valko had shared these concerns.

Eventually, he had offered to take over security of the manor, and after Vito accepted, instead of supervising the Tide guards, Valko had taken the post himself. Vito suspected a part of it was a ploy to have more interactions with Bekah, but the man's loyalty and assiduousness couldn't be faulted. Even now, he stood at the doors, as if a shapeshifter might decide this was a good opportunity to sneak past the gathering and slip into the mansion.

Still, Valko could see the processions from his post and Vito could feel him observing intently. Bekah had opted to stay in her room, though, since it was located on the top floor of the east wing, she could also be watching inconspicuously. However, Vito doubted it. She had been vehemently opposed to the idea of Draven being allowed into the manor grounds, much less training her brother, citing that he couldn't be trusted not to lose control and accidentally kill Vito.

She had a point, but for Vito, it was more than worth the risk.

"Alright," Draven announced with a yawn, "let's get this over with. Mercifully, your technique is serviceable, so getting you trained up before Lafon's army gets here could be possible. Of course, if you had gone to anyone else, it would very much be impossible." Vito inclined his head in acknowledgment in hopes that it would shorten his rambling and he'd get on with it. "What I noticed most from when you were so thoroughly and eagerly decimated, destroyed, desolated and embarrassed, was that you treat your damn rapier like it's just a hunk of metal with some amplifiers. You won't get anywhere like that."

He paused suddenly. "Does my memory deceive me, or did you say that when your blade consumes blood, it increases in power and by extension, you do too?"

Vito wished he wouldn't jump from thought to thought so quickly, but he nodded. "That is so."

"Then why didn't you use that in your fight?"

"I can assure you I tried. It wasn't easy to land a hit on him, much less draw blood. Perhaps it was difficult to see from your vantage point."

Draven chuckled. "I'm beginning to think folks just think you're intelligent because you zone out often and appear to be thinking, but the actual act of thinking escapes you."

Vito spotted Jekio bristling out of the corner of his eye. "What exactly do you mean?" Vito asked with practiced patience.

"The human body holds quite a lot of blood, trust me, I'd know. We're so full of it, you'd think we need it to live or something." He broke into laughter, pausing only to see if Vito joined in. Seeing his unamused expression, he looked to Hades and Jekio, but they were equally stony-faced. Draven groaned and mumbled something under his breath. "The point is you have blood - plenty to go around. Why not let the sword consume yours?"

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Vito opened his mouth to respond, then closed it. Why hadn't he? It seemed such an obvious solution, yet the thought was so alien to let the sword leech off his own blood.

"It wouldn't have mattered," Draven said after taking a moment to study him. "As I said, you have no idea how to use your sword. Lafon atleast knows the basics." He said the last part grudgingly, hesitant to offer Lafon praise.

"If you weren't using those fancy legendary swords, I'm sure you would find out my brother can handle a sword, pal," Jekio said, adding on pal in a mocking tone. Like Bekah, Jekio wasn't much of a fan of Draven.

"Why are the spectators talking more than the trainer?" Draven asked with a glance in Jekio's direction. "It doesn't matter what would happen if I were using normal swords, you dunderhead, because Lafon isn't using a normal weapon."

"Shut up," Jekio huffed, defeated by logic.

"Let's get down to these basics then," Vito prompted.

Draven nodded. "Sure. Draw your rapier and come at me."

Vito looked at him skeptically. "What? What happened to telling me what I'm missing?"

"I'll be able to when we exchange blades. I don't have much to go on except that rather embarrassing display."

Vito hesitated. He had a crowd and his father had drilled the importance of posessing a fearful reputation. If Draven humiliated him here, it would be under the surveillance of Kaida and her crew, as well as Valko.

Vito shook those thoughts of his head, remembering Hades' words: 'Don't think of what your father would do'. His father had been invincible, but that wasn't Vito - atleast not yet. He was still working to become invincible, so he couldn't hold himself to those lofty standards just yet.

Besides, he'd swallowed his pride to ask Draven for training in the first place; he might as well see it through.

He drew his rapier and wordlessly advanced on a grinning Draven. "That's the spirit!" Draven exclaimed, drawing his dual swords in one smooth motion.

Vito drew on the power the rapier provided, feeling his stride quicken as he ate up space. His plan was simple: take advantage of the boy's eagerness by utilizing a feint. As Draven raised his swords, Vito made a thrusting motion, but just as the tip of his rapier was set to reach Draven, he spun in behind him, using all the speed he could muster to attempt a stab at the boy's exposed abdomen.

Vito's eyes widened in anticipation as he realized that the boy hadn't even reacted as his rapier sped toward him. Just as he should've felt it sinking into flesh, Draven flicked his sword to the side, pushing the tip of Vito's rapiers off course. Before he could fully comprehend the astounding skill, Draven had pivoted and put his second sword up to Vito's neck.

A tense moment followed. Draven's expression was serious, focused and grim. The face of a killer. He kept his sword at Vito's neck for two heartbeats longer than necessary before breaking into a smile. "Boom. You would've been dead that time. No more Crimson Tide boss," he removed the sword from Vito and made a beheading motion on his own neck.

"Lafon doesn't move as fast as that," Vito said defensively.

"Doesn't matter, pal. Lafon also isn't letting you get behind him like I did. Your control is terrible."

"Control?"

"Surely I don't need to educate the Crimson Tides weapon hoarder that these legendary weapons come from ancient creatures who were once alive. Energy doesn't just disappear; they may no longer be alive in the sense that you and I are, but a part of their essence is embedded in these vessels. Hence, not just a hunk of metal. You're just drawing power at intervals and then hoping your swordsmanship is enough, even as you face a supercharged human. You're supposed to be one with your sword, not use it as a slave."

Vito tried to make sense of the information dump. What did he mean Vito was only drawing at intervals? He figured that all of the being one with your sword talk was typical Draven fluff.

He thought back to the feeling he got when he drew power from his rapier. It was a weird sensation. It was almost like his hand and the weapon became temporarily connected, and his fingers dipped into an invisible energy source that became more and more familiar as he continued to do it. Now, it was hardly a conscious exercise, drawing power from the sword.

In the midst of his thinking, he heard the scurry of sandals on the pavement and looked up to see Draven charging him with his swords drawn. He reacted, perhaps instinctively, parrying the man's downward swings with a horizontal block. Draven didn't push forward; he relented with a smile.

Vito's eyebrow twitched twice consecutively. His patience was wearing dangerously thin."Are you trying to kill me?"

"Quite the opposite," Draven said, his words sped up in his excitement. "Think of what you just did, pal. I was not moving slowly, not the fastest of course, but the training wheels were off. And you reacted in time. Why? You didn't zone out thinking of how to do what I said, as if it were one of them paper puzzles. Instead, you felt it and instinct took over."

Vito considered his words, finding some truth in them. "That's all I have to do?"

"It's step one. It's also why you lasted so long against Lafon despite being so clueless. The vessels we use sharpen our instincts and reaction time. Honestly, your reaction time seems especially good, even for one of us."

"Then what's step two?"

"Control. You don't just siphon off power, then break the link and expect that to fully power you up. Think of the vessel as more than a sword; it's also a well, filled with the warmest water you've ever experienced. Will you just dip a hand in it after a hard day, or will you submerge your whole body in it? The truth is..." he paused to sheath his swords at his sides, "even when my blade is not showing, I'm still drawing energy from it. These swords are not just some amplifier for me, they are my mistresses, and that's why I'm strong."

Vito's mind reeled. "Surely that's dangerous?" Hades asked. He was curious, but Vito knew he was also frustrated by his lack of knowledge in this regard. He knew of the history of the weapons, but since he'd pledged never to use any, he had no firsthand experience, limiting his knowledge.

Draven started. "It's much more dangerous to be pathetic and weak for us humans, old man."

Vito tuned them out and looked down at the rapier in his hand with wonder. He looked past the crimson color and tried to imagine this well while simultaneously feeling for it. His efforts opened him up to a new sensation that seemed to be previously locked due to his ignorance. However, it did not feel like a well of warm water.

It felt like a throbbing vein. But wouldn't that require a pulse? And what was that sound? Vito's focus shattered from his shock, and the sensation disappeared.

Had that been a heartbeat?