The Hunter Becomes the Hunted
The final preparations

Whan she awoke the next morning dawn was just approaching, she entered her living room to replace Jack already awake and reading the books.

“have you slept?” Charlie asked

“a little” Jack replied “I read some of these last night and had so many thoughts running through my head, do they really work?” he asked

“yes, but some take many years to actually master and can help if in trouble” she replied

“show me” he said like an eager child

“I think we should carry on training” Charlie said

“show me” Jack said again

“we have work, to do” she replied

“please” said Jack

“fine, I will show you one, it is temporary sunlight, I can teach you magic, if we win this fight, that is if you want to learn” she said if it would shut him up, she would show him something

Charlie stood in front of Jack and placed her two palms together facing the wall, she was sure that this would stun Jack as he did not believe in magic

“luminasoarelui” Charlie said and a burst of light shot from her hands and towards the wall, Jack jumped of the sofa in amazement and shock that magic was real

“can it kill them?” Jack asked

“no, it’s not real sunlight” she said sarcastically as if he should have already known that “it will only daze them long enough for you to finish the job” she added

“show me more” Jack said

“no, we must continue to train if you are to be ready to face them in your village tomorrow night, if we keep messing around here you will not be and you will die very quickly now, I have a plan for today, come” she said walking off back down to the gym, Jack followed disheartened that Charlie would not show him anymore magic but she was probably right, he did need to train, when they reached the gym and Jack was in the middle, Charlie extinguished all that candles that lit the room

“how do you expect me to fight when I cannot see you” said Jack

“you have more than just your sight” Charlie said

“I cannot fight with my taste can I” Jack said sarcastically

“no, but you can fight by listening” she replied

“how do I do that?” Jack asked

“listen, listen to the sound of my movement, listen to my breathing, feel the air move and change around you when I move past” Charlie said as she brushed past the back of him, being what she was Charlie could still see him, even in the dark, Charlie slowly moved past him again, this time he was a little bit faster, he did punch but he was a little too late and missed, he had to learn this because they would use the shadows to hide from him.

“you must remember that we move faster than you” Charlie whispered in his ear as she passed him, again he swung and missed “predict where I will end up by what you feel” she added passing him again, they trained for a few hours with the lights out as Charlie needed Jack to learn this quickly if he wanted to help. Hunters would have trained for years before they faced a vampire but they did not have years, they were leaving at sundown tomorrow.

“enough, I will get the lights we need to eat” Charlie said and she relit the candles, they both sat down in the middle of the room

“did you two train together?” Jack asked

“who two?” asked Charlie

“you and the man you loved” Jack asked

“yes, every day from when he was eight” she replied

“you were eight when you started training” Jack said

“he was” Charlie replied

“what do you mean he was, when did you start training to be a hunter?” Jack asked

“my training started from when I could walk, my father was sort of in charge of all other hunters” she replied

“why did he not start till he was eight then?” Jack asked

“because his mother went into hiding after his father was killed and it took my father eight years to replace him” Charlie replied

“you can’t have had much of a childhood” Jack said thinking about it

“why would I? I was born to be a hunter not a child” Charlie said

“but that is just sad, children should be children and play” Jack said

“we both have our own opinions we need to get back to training” Charlie said

“I forgot to ask how did I do?” Jack asked

“okay, I suppose, you did come close a couple of times but you seem to be overthinking it” she replied

“how am I supposed to fight without thinking about how I fight?” Jack asked

“like this” she replied hoping to catch him off guard and punching him, she hoped that an unprovoked attack would make him automatically defend himself

“what are you doing?” Jack asked

“you need to react quicker so, I am going to attack you” she said of course she was still holding back after all she didn’t want to hurt him only make him react quicker, after a while he began to block some of the punches, it was an hour before he could block them all

“good” Charlie said stopping her attack “now, attack me and see if you can actually hit” she added beckoning him to attack

Jack started to attack and was doing well but he had a plan, Charlie had tried to make him angry yesterday and throw him off guard, maybe it would work the other way a round

“I hope that you are training me better” Jack said

“what do you mean?” Charlie asked defending his attack

“I just mean that I hope you teach me better because I don’t want to join him, I enjoy my life” Jack replied

“we trained the same way well similar I was human then” Charlie said

“obviously you didn’t do a very good job” Jack said

“why?” Charlie asked

“well, he is dead now isn’t he” Jack replied

“I can see what you are trying to do” Charlie said

“what?” Jack asked

“you are trying to make me angry and it will not work, I am long past letting anything get me angry, when you have been in this world as long as I have you learn not to let your emotions get the better of you” Charlie said

“I am not trying to make you angry I am trying to understand how you failed last time” Jack said

“I did not fail” Charlie said they were still training

“you did” said Jack

“no, he was the one that failed thinking that he was strong enough to face him alone” Charlie said

“if you had trained him better, he would have been strong enough and would not have died so, you did fail” Jack said

That hit Charlie hard, she had never thought about it like that, maybe she did fail him, maybe it was her fault, maybe if they had trained more instead of falling in love, then he would have been strong enough to win the fight, Jack could see that it had worked, she was distracted, he made his move and managed to make her lose her balance, Jack had her on the floor and sat across her chest.

“is that what you wanted?” Jack asked looking down at her

“it is but you must remember that this distraction will not work on them, they have no feelings, that is enough for today” Charlie said

Jack could see that what he said had hurt her, he could see the pain in her eyes, he didn’t move, he hadn’t ever looked at her this closely, in two days he had not seen that her eyes were purple and very beautiful

“I said enough now, get off me” she said

“you know your eyes are beautiful, I have never seen any like it before” he said

“I said get off me or are you deaf and do you forget what I am now, get off of me” she snapped and forgot to hold back and she shoved Jack off in anger, she sent him into the wall opposite, Charlie saw that she may have hurt him but after what he had just said he had no right to complain and no right to compliment her after he had accused her of failing the man that she loved, Charlie did not say a word just walked upstairs and into her room slamming the door behind her, she could hear him calling after her.

It took Charlie a while to calm down, she had not been that angry in a long time, she realised once she had calmed down that she may have over reacted, she had used the same tactic on him only the day before but not about anything so personal and not about something that she knew nothing about, he had no idea what had happened that night, she decided there and then that her and Jack would not be friends, this would not get personal, he would never know more than he needed to know about her and they would never be friends.

When Charlie awoke the next morning, she got dressed and went into her living room where she found Jack awake with breakfast ready for her

“Charlie I am sorry, I did not mean what I said yesterday, I was only trying to distract you” Jack said trying to apologise for what he had done the day before

“you are here to train how to fight so, when you are ready join me downstairs” Charlie said leaving the breakfast and the tea that Jack had made and going to the gym, it took Jack a while to realise that nothing he said would make up for what he said, all he had was hope that one day when this fight was over, she would forgive him, Jack went down to the gym to train, they carried on training all day with neither one of them talking to the other.

Charlie did not hold back as much he needed to see what it was like to face one of them, she did try not to hurt him because if he was hurt, he would not be able to help her, not that it mattered as he was human and wouldn’t survive very long.

“I am going to prepare, keep training” Charlie said and didn’t even look back as she walked from the room, she had told him to stay there as she did not want to spend any more time with him than she had too, she started to get her bag ready and decided that once the village was safe Jack would stay there, she was better off alone

“it is time” she called down the stairs

“what do I need?” Jack asked coming up the stairs

“a weapon” she replied

“what is the plan?” Jack asked

“I will decide that when I get there” she replied

“is it not best to make a plan before we get there so, that we both know what we are going?” Jack asked

“I know what I am doing” she replied placing her sword in its sheath which she had not done in many years, now was the time to step back into the world and do the job that she was born to do

“what about me?” Jack asked

“you will do what I tell you” Charlie replied

“why?” asked Jack

“we do not have time to sit around and chat about what is going to happen, you will do as you are told or you will die” Charlie replied walking out of the cabin, Jack quickly picked up a weapon and followed her out of the cabin and towards his village, Charlie made sure that for the entire walk to the village that she was slightly ahead of him after all she had nothing else to say to him, just as the village came into sight she stopped.

For once she was happy that there were vampires here to fight, she needed away from the human for a while and she needed to destress, Charlie had forgotten how annoying humans could be with their constant need to talk well, it had been over 400 years since she had last been one and been around them