TRV-12

Emmelia reluctantly reported to the Captain of the Guard later that evening when she was told that he would have free time in order to train her. Much to her chagrin, it seemed like a small crowd had gathered to see the show, guardsmen who weren't currently on duty and a few of the Castle staff who weren't currently busy. She'd gotten rid of the ruined armor she'd been wearing and put on some clothes that she'd found in her room that mostly fit, though she didn't imagine they'd long survive her lessons.

The Captain of the Guard was a very no-nonsense man named Bernard, as she'd been told, almost as tall as she was and just as ill-tempered. He returned after sending the latest shift of guards off to work, a hand on the blade at his hip, his armor shining and perfect as was expected for it be. He strode into the room and made a point of looking at everyone but Emmelia, his lips pursed. "I know at least some of you have armor or weapons that need maintenance." His voice was even but loud enough for the whole room to hear.

Emmelia crossed her arms and adjusted her stance, wearing her belt with her daggers, still waiting on the new ones that she had been promised. She'd gotten replacements but they were effectively standard issue, she was curious what else she'd get. Emmelia's ears perked slightly as she realized that some of the gathered crowd were skulking off to go take care of what he'd pointed out. She turned her attention back to the man, raising one eyebrow curiously as she watched him.

"We are going to learn the basics of combat using the weapons that you yourself have chosen as those you wish to wield. Teaching you something new or better would be a waste of time, you have experience with those, so those we will use." Bernard gestured for another guard, one who'd followed him into the room, to bring forth a package he was holding. "Wooden blades, metal core. Won't cut but will hurt. Better to learn with until I decide you're ready for real weapons."

Emmelia pursed her lips as she looked at the wooden blades. Something about the room had started to feel off to her, in a way that she couldn't figure out. This creeping feeling up the back of her neck that more was going on than she was aware of just on the periphery of her senses. A few more guards and other staff had turned up, either ones that had just heard something was going on, or that had just finished whatever other duties that they had assigned. Emmelia reached out to take up the two wooden daggers offered to her, feeling the heft of them in her hands. With the metal pushed through the centers, they were almost like the ones she was used to, perhaps just a bit lighter overall.

Bernard readied himself into a stance as he waited, his face set like he was about to face off against a real opponent. "Gardland told me you were a beginner, we will start simply. I will move slow, you will mimic what I do. When I feel you are ready, you will face off against one of the guards of my choosing. If you manage to touch him before he touches you, we move on. They have all undergone my lessons."

Emmelia glanced around herself at the gathered guardsmen, some of them muttering or smiling to themselves about the prospect of watching what was about to happen. The vampire set her jaw and nodded her head, readying herself the way she'd always done. Bernard began showing her some basic strikes, how to guard herself with one blade while striking with the other, how to switch the grip of her off hand blade to use it for different attacks or to stab downward or slice a wrist on a weapon.

Bernard stepped closer several times, adjusting her grip or showing her something more closely, but he taught more with actions than words. He would demonstrate a maneuver and then expect her to follow him without a word or instruction, waiting until she could repeat it to his liking before he would move on. After half an hour of this he seemed satisfied with her understanding of the basics, things she had picked up on her own for the most part, then motioned with his blades to a nearby guard and handed the wooden weapons over.

Emmelia squared herself up and readied for the guardsman, though unlike Bernard he wasn't attempting to teach her anything, he was her test. He came at her quickly, swinging the blades in a wide arc that she barely managed to block as she'd been taught, striking back on her own. Just like she'd been shown she spun the blades up and with a resounding, solid 'thunk' her wooden tip smacked into the guard's jacket, drawing a grunt from the man. Looking disappointed, he stepped back into the crowd as he handed his wooden blades back over.

Bernard continued without another word, sending Emmelia through several more drills like this, increasing the difficulty over time. This continued for almost three hours, long ago having moved on to more advanced techniques before he stepped back. "You are a quick learner, though if you have been doing this for as long as they say then you are woefully behind." The gathering crowd of onlookers was larger than Emmelia had remembered it being, though that off feeling that kept the hair on the back of her neck standing had never left the room.

"Now you will spar against me. We will use what I have taught you over today, as a way to see how you can put everything together. Your training will continue for many more weeks, Gods willing we have the time." Bernard adopted his stance once again, his face set, waiting for Emmelia to do the same.

Nearly the moment that she had settled herself down he came at her, far faster than any of the guards she'd seen before. This was no longer teaching, he was testing her himself to see how far she'd come over the several hours. He moved faster and with more skill than he'd shown so far, thunking her along the side of her cheek hard enough to rattle her fangs before she even knew he was coming. She growled and grit her teeth, noting with more than a little ire that he seemed pleased to have cracked her so quickly.
The vampire dropped back down into her stance, readying herself to try once more and was slightly more ready for him when he returned to her again, sweeping low before bringing one of his blades high and jabbing her just under the jaw with another crack that was louder than the first. Emmelia had to wince and withdraw, bringing a hand up to test her jaw and sure enough he'd actually cracked it. She held her jaw in place as the wound began to heal, having to fight down a growing anger at the fact that he'd actually injured her. "You said that we were just training."

Bernard scowled at her and spun one of the daggers around in his hand. "You can take it, we need to see what you can do. Hit me back and it stops." He charged at her again before she was ready, forcing her to defend with only one blade until she could bring the second to bear, pushed back by his assault. She was beginning to hold her own somewhat, even managing to press an attack or two, but the sound of his blades crashing into her was becoming worryingly familiar. This time his blade cracked across her knuckles, the damage obvious as it actually knocked the wooden training tool out of her grip as two of her fingers broke.

Growling in displeasure, she twitched her hand and forced her fingers to work, her anger growing more quickly than she could control it as she waited for the digits to heal before she bent over to retrieve her weapon. She took it to him first this time, springing into an attack as soon as she had a grip around her wooden blade. Emmelia was sure she almost had him before his blade crashed into the side of her face hard enough that it rattled her teeth in her skull, drawing a viscious snarl from the vampire.

Emmelia grit her teeth and stepped back, furiously twirling her blades in her hands as she stared Bernard down. She could hear growing whispers and mutterings from the gathered guards, and the Captain seemed more concerned than before. Her vision focused in on him and she could see the beating of his heart, her eyes steadily growing more red as the testing progressed.

With a feral snarl she pounced at him again, bringing both her blades down in an overhead strike that he dodged and deflected in equal measure. She turned into a backhand slash that he sidestepped, planting her feet into the floor below to spring forward, lunging at him into a strike that he turned aside, slamming his blade down into her back with a now-familiar crack of the wood snapping bone, a rib broken, forcing her to stand and stare at the ceiling in mounting fury at her inability to strike him.

Emmelia turned to him again, eyes blazing as she launched into another attack. To her fury, he seemed to slow himself for her, her blade batting his own aside, an expression much like alarm growing on his face as she pressed her attack further. With a screech of anger she sliced her blade across him, watching in disbelief as even in his slowed state he managed to turn her attack aside, reaching out with his blade to score her in the sternum.

The vampire backed away and turned her back to him, her tail twitching and ears flat against her head. The whispers from the gathered guards were growing louder, though she noticed out of the corner of her eye that several of them were staring toward Bernard. She was going to be a laughing stock if she didn't manage to hit him even once, the big bad vampire unable to put up a proper fight against the Guard Captain... She wouldn't have it.

Positively seething, she gathered herself before she turned as quickly as she could and lunged for him once again. The room around her seemed frozen as she pressed her newest assault, and to her shock and fury he seemed to be moving more slowly still. Incensed and insulted that he would lower himself to mocking her in such a way, she slammed her wooden dagger into his hard enough that she felt wood splinter as it was knocked away, her second blade cracking his wrist, knocking his secondary from his grasp.

Emmelia dropped her blade and grabbed Bernard by the throat, lifting him into the air with a snarl. "You dare mock me!?", she raged at him, her arm shaking in her fury.

"How did you do that?" Came the shocked reply from the man dangling in her grip, momentarily cooling the feline's fury as her ears perked on top of her head at the unexpected reply.

"Do what?", she hissed. "You were moving so slowly how could I not turn your defense aside? You mock me by slowing yourself. You bring yourself down to a level so low a child could defeat you. Is that what this is about?" Her anger quickly returned, her mouth parting to reveal fangs. "I will not be made a mockery of."

"I have no idea what you mean!" He barked back, hands gripping at her wrist to try to get her to let him go. "You moved faster than I could see, I've never seen anyone do anything like that. For a while I could keep up but you just kept getting faster, I was moving as quickly as I could!"

Emmelia's ears flattened again as she tried to understand what he was saying, her tail twitching agitatedly behind herself. "I do not understand."

A cool voice from in front of Emmelia, behind Bernard, finally spoke up. "Emmelia, that is quite enough."

She tilted her head to the side to see who it was, revealing that Bernullion himself stood in the doorway, flanked by two guards. She growled under her breath as she slowly lowered the Guard Captain to the ground. "Sire.", she managed to calm herself enough to speak in what she hoped was a level tone.

"I will not have you harming my guards. Am I clear?" The King's expression made it absolutely certain that this was not a request.

"He injured me several times, I was only-" She began, though a raised hand from him cut her off as Bernard stepped away to the side after giving the King a bow of respect.

"You can heal. They cannot. Bernard was specifically instructed, by me, to push you as far as he could. I saw what he described with my own eyes. One moment you were standing there", he gestured with his scepter, "And the next you were upon him. I imagine that it is sheer luck he managed to defend himself at all." He placed one hand upon the scepter he often carried with him like a cane, his other arm still draped in the sling. "This is exactly why I asked him to push you so hard. We had to see if there were any abilities you were hiding from us, like the old tales tell."

Emmelia hissed angrily, though she knew he was right. She herself had not known she could move so quickly. She slowly lowered her hands to her sides, one still clutching the wooden dagger. "As you wish.", she finally relented, her ears still flat against her head.

"Good. Bernard, see if you cannot draw that out of her again with further training. Continue as long as you have men and time." He looked meaningfully to Emmelia. "If any of my guards come to harm, you will answer to me. You will tame that temper of yours." With a sweep of his cloak, Bernullion turned away and walked back out the way he'd come, likely heading off to his chambers.

Bernard, nursing his injured hand, strode back up, looking no worse for the wear. "As I am no longer capable of sparring with you", he paused and raised his voice. "We will now be taking volunteers. Who wishes to fight the vampire?" He turned to the gathered crowd. Unsurprisingly, there were few challengers.

Bernard seemed almost willing to give up as if he could not find a partner, he would not force his men into a potentially dangerous fight against the enraged Emmelia, when someone finally spoke up. "I will challenge her, Captain." A quiet man from the back of the room stepped forward, somewhat small and unassuming.

Mousy brown hair stuck up over his head, his ears seemed far too big for the height of him, and he wore a cool expression that Emmelia recognized. There was more to him than appearances let on, and she near-instantly realized that the off-ness she'd been feeling all night radiated from him like a beacon. Struck silent by just how odd the man was, she didn't protest as Bernard waved him forward.

The man wore a sword on the belt at his waist, though he took the offered wooden daggers without complaint and stepped closer, staring Emmelia down.

Incredibly unsure of the man before her, Emmelia stared him right back, retrieving her own discarded weapon from the floor, bending over to grasp it.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted movement and she was momentarily confused as she realized that he had dropped his own wooden daggers, both of his hands flying to the sword at his side. She straightened up all at once, her eyes blazing in a fury as she realized just why he felt so off. The blade emerging from the scabbard at his side glinted silver at the edges.

Emmelia barely had time to hiss the word 'Hunter!' before the man struck at her, moving almost as quickly as she could, the vampire dodging backward with a snarl as his blade swept through the space her head had occupied scant moments before. The room around them erupted in a clamor, Bernard trying to keep the other guards from joining the fight. None of them save for the Hunter were armed, Bernard himself was injured, shouting for weapons to be brought to the training room.

With only wooden blades to defend herself, Emmelia sprung into as much action as she could take, screeching in rage as repeated swipes of his silvered blade clipped close to the fur. One stroke even sliced through her shirt and burned a path through her fur by the proximity of it, leaving a blackened streak behind. Her wooden daggers met his blade, sending chunks of wood flying in every direction as only the metal within them withstood the attack, but she knew it was not weapons-grade and would not withstand the assault for long.

Searching herself, Emmelia dodged and deflected as best as she could, trying to call up whatever ability that she'd used against Bernard. The problem was that she had only just learned she even had it, much less how to use it. All she knew was that it seemed tied to how angry she was, how enraged she'd been at the perceived mockery at the Captain's hands. She had ample fuel for the fire of her fury, indignant rage flowing through her at the idea that this Hunter thought himself a match for her.

Once more her gaze locked onto the man and she could see the beating of his heart, the pulsing of magic deep within that signified him as someone alive, the staccato beat of the living. Bernard's had been quick but steady, this man's was slow was measured... He had done this before. Emmelia went silent as she danced with the man before her, her footwork quick and sure as she searched an opening to close upon him. Her weapons were dull wood and soft metal, she needed to close near enough for tooth and claw.

The man before her seemed to slow as she focused upon him, eyes burning red as she stepped around an attack, his back toward her for a split second. She took the opening, raking her damaged training dagger across his back, the scored metal and shattered wood doing little against the man's guard armor. With a growl, she discarded them entirely, baring her claws.

Emmelia sidestepped the next attack, the faux-guardsman's attacks coming more slowly as she struggled to access the speed she'd found in her duel with Bernard. The next thrust came so slow she knew her moment was upon her, she looped her arm around the Hunter's wrist and pulled up, snapping the arm at the elbow. She yanked him closer as he loosed a scream, turning to grab the hilt of his silvered blade.

Even though she could feel her hand crackling and burning as she gripped it, she caught his blade in mid-air as he dropped it, spinning the sword around in her hand as she shoved him back, the man moving like he was falling through tar. She swept forward, her hand actually bursting into flame from the contact against the silver of his blade as she clutched her free hand around his neck, claws digging in as she rammed his blade forward, driving it through his center and up into his ribs with a snarl.

The man screamed in agony as red spouted from the wound and splattered across her hand and chest, his lips tinged with it as she shoved the blade to the hilt. Then, with a further surge, Emmelia drove even that up into his middle, her hand forcing its way through his skin as she screamed her rage at him. Fangs bared, Emmelia lost herself to her fury as she withdrew her hand from the blade buried inside of him, some of her fingers blackened and burnt to the bone from the prolonged contact with the silver of his sword as she brought her other hand up to the side of his head, staring into the dying man's eyes.

She watched him only for a moment, gazing at the light and life fading from his eyes. As they faded, she dove herself down, fangs burying themselves into his neck as a scream went out from the gathered crowd.

Emmelia would not need feeding tonight.