And Yet He Rises by Chad Dennis

Author:Chad Dennis [Dennis, Chad]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Goodreads: 43892501
Published: 2018-10-22T23:00:00+00:00

~4~

Inside the training area, Tanner and thirty-four males are waiting in the gloom. I’m certain that they’re all vampires. They’re tactically outfitted but no firearms are visible on their person. I wander towards them with more confidence than I feel. Tanner separates himself from the group and approaches me. The tool is still wearing his sunglasses in the subdued light.

“You ready to train, Jackson?”

“Been looking forward to it all day,” I reply.

“We’ll see.” He turns to the group of vampires and gestures at them. “Choose half.”

“I don’t know any of them. How can I gauge their abilities to assist me in a training exercise that I don’t know about myself?”

“They’re not here for you to gauge their abilities. They’re here to help me assess yours.”

“Then I’ll trust myself.”

Tanner laughs. “You? Against all of us?”

“No. Me against you.”

“Against me,” he scoffs.

“You’re telling me that you need to assess my abilities. It seems the logical course would be for you to asses my abilities directly.”

The vampire laughs and begins stripping off his gear. “We’ll be relaxing by five, gentlemen. Today’s workout will be short.”

One of the boulders the contractors haven’t removed is nearby. I walk over, remove my jacket, and drop it on the stone. My shoulder harness follows. Turning back to Tanner I acknowledge that I’m ready. We advance slowly on each other as the other vampires fan out around us to create a circle.

“I’m going to enjoy humiliating Ravana’s new toy.” Tanner states as he cracks his knuckles.

“Yeah. I kind of thought that’s what you had in mind.” I reply with a resigned sigh.

Tanner advances on me with his arms wide, his intention to grapple obvious. I decide to oblige. I step into him and he attempts to hip toss me. I don’t budge. The surprise is evident on his face as I grin mischievously into his eyes. He attempts to throw me again with the same results.

“That’s not possible,” Tanner states.

I reverse the hold and easily toss the vampire. He lands on his back with a solid thump against the concrete floor. “I’m full of surprises.”

Tanner quickly picks himself up, but the anger I expect to see written on his face is nonexistent. He grins, his fangs glistening in the subdued light. Moving with more caution, he approaches again. When we come together this time, it’s me that’s looking up from the floor.

“You’ll only get that one, Jackson,” Tanner states.

“We’ll see,” I reply as I get to my feet.

The vampire launches himself at me with intent. His fists seeking points of impact in my flesh. I’m able to turn aside or block most of the strikes, but some invariably get through. The vampire hits like a sledgehammer. For the first few moments of the fight I just seek to hold my ground against him. It’s apparent that his hand to hand combat skills are grades above my own. As my frustration builds, so does my intent to teach this smug bastard a lesson. One thing I know beyond any shadow of a doubt; I can take a hit.

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