CH9: Training VS Rest

Long in the night, when the dust clouds swallowed the stars, and Jason turned in, I sat on the roof with Ember. The vampire was still cold to the touch, even with so much blood running through her veins. I could feel my warmth leech away from me, sitting near her. A shiver ran up my spine like someone danced on my grave.

"Humans and vampires don't mix well. You should find a nice, human girl to warm your bed." Ember said.

I stared out over the farm, leaving her words for the moment. Spiraling fence posts dotted my home, swirling with red and blue seals containing various effects, defensive-like wards, permanent-like enchantments, and beautiful like flashing neon lights on a starless night. This was the end of our home. Jason had us on a path with few happy endings.

Did I want a warm woman soft as silk, fragile like a snowflake in a forge?

Ember was close enough, and I wasn't one for too many words. I reached out, and she didn't stop me from taking her hand. She was soft enough for me, cold as ice, and reliable.

"Don't expect me to spread my legs for you like that girl," Ember warned.

I expected Ember would be different than Jason's stories of his conquests. Vampires were wealthy beyond my humble farmer's reckoning. The wealth of a Mega City stood behind them, and they lived in lofty castles, looking down on peasants like himself. Yet somehow, we held hands on my roof.

Maybe I did want her most of all for her body. Even holding her hand taught me lesson after lesson about controlling energy. Every second we held hands, a small amount of my growing power was leeched away, and her body quickly brought it in line. The process was automatic and so important. Every time we touched, it was a new revelation.

"Mariska's a royal name, so should I start by visiting your father for permission to court you?" I asked.

Her eye roll was delightful.

"You would have better luck wooing me by cutting down your rivals. Saving their blood and hearts for me would be so romantic." Her voice was dry enough to suck the moisture from the air. "Why did you save me? It was a stupid thing for a mage to do." Ember said. 

I nodded that was true. Vampires were the mage hunters of the government. Since the days of the old religion of Dues Machina, when vampires were first brought up to solve the warlock problem. They struck fear in the hearts of men, thinned the numbers of mankind, and slew the first mage lords. For a long time, vampires were worshipped in megacities and were celebrities for centuries until 50 years ago; vampires were in movies, shows, and porn. Then, like anyone who allied with the government, they were betrayed. Hindsight painted the vampire's decline from the public eye in a very different light. World Gov clearly planned their ruination in the public eye by isolating them from it.

World Gov wasn't the government; they were a contracting agency, and Vampires, unlike the drones, were a product of the real power in the world.

As for her question, I would like to say it was a calculated maneuver, but that would be a lie.

"I'm not a mage," I said.

"Yes, neither of you are, which makes your actions confounding. Do you truly believe a few months will make a difference? Mages require decades of training to become wizards." Ember said.

Left unsaid was the fact even wizards would have trouble with the drones. It was simply a terrible match-up. Fortunately, we weren't mages by culture.

She loved to move the conversation to us.

"I don't like to brag about myself. Let's talk about something more important. What was it like growing up as a royal? Were you in any movies?" I asked.

Her expression drifted. "It was expectation, training, and the loneliest time of my life. Growing up as a royal in a drafty old castle isn't something I would recommend." Ember said.

I held up our conjoined hands. "Are you cold now?" 

"Yes, freezing," Ember pretended to shiver. "We have a higher tolerance for the cold than humans, but we can still feel chilly," Ember said.

It was August and currently 90 outside.

Despite knowing it was an act, I edged closer to her. She could try to kill me, and I might fail to fight her off. Jason wasn't much better off, and Emily was a paper tiger. It would be easy for Ember to snuff out this resistance if that was her intention.

"About these suitors, you mentioned who's first on my hit list," I asked.

Ember chuckled. "The first is the human son of one of World Gov's executives, Lucien Arco. Damien Arco was an obnoxious little troll to me as a child, always throwing rocks at me and changing my window tint to let sunlight through. As an adult, he paid my father for the opportunity to court me. It was he who put a consecrated silver bullet in the head of my captain. If you bring me his heart and blood, it would please me greatly." Ember said.

There was always a chance she had an ulterior purpose besides working for World Gov as a honey pot. She might have wanted to use me to kill the executives behind the drones so vampires could reclaim their positions as the government's attack dogs.

We lay together studying each other long into the night.

… 

I marked August 2nd on my calendar.

Jason PL 235

Atom PL 229

My doubts about our chances for success were mounting. Like Sisyphus rolling a boulder uphill, they would eventually pile up until they could no longer be ignored. I could feel Jason's uncontrolled energy. Had he given up on concealment completely?

But that wasn't all.

We weren't fully recovered. That was my first thought upon reading my new PL. We were stronger but had not recovered from the training the day before. Even with the healing properties of the herbs we used, it would be days before we fully recovered from our training the day before. Doing this to ourselves a few times a week and focusing on controlling the rest of the time might be viable. But we wouldn't get the gains we needed for a daring raid and rescue on the steps of a Megacity.

To make our mad grinding plan work, we needed to fully recover ourselves without causing horrible cancerous tumors or rampant mutation. Most of the time, problems came in pairs.

Jason sat down and glared at the steaks. Emily filled an omelet with rice, herbs, and steak. 60 eggs were used, and the bacon was piled high on a plate beside it. We each had a tankard of milk fresh from the cows. Our few Jersey cows would be the last to go. The milk would help our bones.

"We need to increase the gravity. Can you keep up with me?" Jason said.

Jason's face scrunched up in confusion at his PL. It was like he couldn't tell his body was screaming at him. Despite the massive amount of food we were putting away, we needed more rest. I knew our current path wasn't viable, but my mouth remained shut.

There was a well-known ailment for those who abused their stable culture. The cultivators called it ki deviation. Mage's called it burnout, and I had a feeling we had a name for the phenomenon as well. There were terms like cascading cell suicide that scared me to death. We were fine, but our bodies had limits that shouldn't be touched.

Perhaps the simplest reason was the best. Father forbade us to use this method to get stronger because we would destroy ourselves in the attempt.

Jason smiled in encouragement. "I think we should stop pussyfooting around and move up to 5 times today."

"Funny, I thought we should roll back to 1.5," I said.

A hand slammed down on the table, and Emily dropped her smaller tankard on the floor.

"We can't slow down; we've only just started. Can't you feel how much stronger we are already? All we need to do is push ourselves a little harder." Jason said.

It was madness; I knew it when I looked my brother in the eyes. His determination hadn't been rocked. There was no slowing down in him. We would reach the level or not at all. His aura flared, freezing the milk on the floor while I kept my own power contained. My closeness to Ember had paid dividends.

While she drained my excess power, I was able to study her method and modify my own approach to concealment. That didn't do a thing for my body.

"We are still resting Saturday," I said.

Jason dipped his head. "Thank you for helping me, brother; my training wouldn't be as effective without you." I glanced between Emily and my brother, who looked almost sickly. "We will begin immediately." Jason declared.

Our risks increased with every day we didn't rest between these sessions. I knew it instinctively. Jason was ready to dive right into training. I didn't understand why he would go through with it, but maybe a day of rest was just what we needed. Saturday was two days away. Maybe after he rested and felt the difference, he would see sense.