48)

I woke up to the sound of snoring, and a cold nose pressing into my neck, “Ah, Saru! Stop, no kisses.”

As I sat up I saw my Gruncle Drew waking up with a confused look from the padded chair he had been sleeping in. No one else was in the room I was supposed to be sharing with Ami.

My Gruncle gave me a bleary eyed look. “I guess one of the advantages of being a werewolf is being able to sleep in an awkward position without getting a stiff neck.”

He stood and stretched as I frantically reached for my phone. “Relax kiddo, you got a good two hours to eat something light, hit the toilet, get dressed, and get to the opening ceremony. Or whatever order you like to do things in."

I could feel the pajamas on me so I pulled back the covers and rolled out of bed as Saku attacked the light blanket and top sheet. “No offense Gruncle Drew, but why are you here?”

He gave me a tight grin. “Here in Chicago? Because I wanted to see my niece in her first tournament. Here in your room? Because I’m the one you need to talk to right now, or rather listen to.”

Sitting back down in the chair he took a deep breath. “You and I. We're not like your Dad or my Brother. When they have to get violent, to hurt people, or worse. They can go cold. They can feel nothing as they physically destroy someone's body or their life. Then just go about their day."

I sat back down on my bed, Saku curled up next to me as I absent mindedly pulled her half onto my lap and began petting her.

He gave me a moment.

“Your Mom, other people. They can train their whole lives and never have to use their skills, others get into their first life or death fight…” I filched. He paused and looked down at the ground. “As an adult.”

“An adult has better tools to deal with having to hurt someone."

My Gruncle clasped his hands together. “I was seventeen when I killed a man for the first time. Then I had to make sure he wasn’t going to get back up. I didn’t have time to deal with it, I had to go and try to kill some more people.”

“It messed me up for a long time.”

He got up and sat next to me, pulling me in close with one arm. “Four full grown men tried to kidnap a fourteen years old girl, and you stopped them. They were bad men, and you were clearly the good guy.”

I began to shake a little, and he pulled me in tighter. “You used enough force to stop them while protecting yourself. And you held back so they could have a chance to heal and learn not to pick fights with little girls. But even when you did everything right, it still sucked. Because you’re not a natural killer. Same as me, same as the overwhelming majority of people in the world.”

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“But you didn’t freeze up either, you stopped the bad guys from doing a bad thing to you. You had the right to use violence against them, and even to hurt them. To make them stop. And everyone who matters will tell you the same as many times as it takes to get that deep down in your head where you just want people to be decent human beings and don’t want to accept that sometimes they aren't”

I wiped at my eyes, then hugged my Gruncle tight enough to make him wheeze and Saku whine since she was stuck between us. “Thank you Gruncle Drew. Now get out of my room because I want to jump in the shower.”

There were more hugs from my family as I tried to get ready until it started to be too much. “Alright already. I had a bad time and I’m over it. Now I got some fights…” I stopped for a moment, remembering the feeling of other people’s bones breaking. Then I took a deep breath. “Some fights I’m looking forward to.”

Looking around I noticed that my grandmother was missing and gave my Dad a questioning look. He shrugged. “No clue. When she’s on the job she can be gone for months until she gets done.”

Heading downstairs, my Dad wrapped an arm around me and held me back as the rest of the family got into the elevator. “Just need a word with Sara since I haven’t had a chance to talk to her yet.”

My parents exchanged a nod as the door closed.

He set his hands on my shoulders. "I'm sorry. I don't understand why you got upset over last night. Everyone, including Rose, explained it to me, but I'm just not capable of getting it."

Stepping back, he looked at me, like he did his students. “I am so proud of my daughter's courage and skill. You are still my little girl, somewhere inside this young lady, this proven warrior standing before me.”

He bowed.

“You are welcome to assist me in teaching others. And I will train with you as a martial artist.”

I bowed in return and rushed forward to hug him.

Tightly enough to make it hard for him to get away. "How much does it pay?"

We bargained on the free membership and an extra twenty a week on my allowable. I didn't try to bargain him up in pay since I still had a few thousand on the debit card from Aunt Rose. I just needed a legitimate income to cover up how much money she had given me.

In the basement of the hotel, me and my family made their way down the hundred year old marble tunnel that crossed under the street to where the Palace Theater had once stood.

The vampires of Chicago had dug deep down into the ruins and added a few basement levels before

they had rebuilt the Theater after the great fire. One of those levels had some bad things happen before new management took over, but the arena was still useful even if the fights were no longer to the death.

I got a few final hugs, against my will, “Mom, Dad, not where the other Magic Warriors can see me.”

Then I joined the other forty eight teenagers making their way to the blue and red crosses made on the floor out of duct tape.

I gave the vamp girl a smile and a wave, but placed myself on the other side of the crowd from her, just in case they paired people up by who they ended up standing by.

There were some cheers from the second higher tier of the stadium like seating, where a pack of students, pun intended, were waving and holding up a banner saying "Sara Caine." in green on a long white length of cloth. With best wishes, calls for butt kicking, and both hand and paw prints painted on it.

My Grandfather was holding up one corner and giving me a concerned look until I gave him a nod. Then he turned to deal with a guy in a black suit with a blue and red armband who Grandpa was leaning away from, along with all the other werewolves.

Vampire security guard. Neat. I mean, they were hosting, so obviously they would handle problems with their own people. And my werewolves weren't the only ones looking like they wanted to hold their noses or wave away a bad smell.

Then a guy in a fancy red suit with a blue tie floated down from the ceiling seeming to be using a microphone's cord to hold his weight.

"Welcome ladies, gentlemen, and everyone else too numerous to list. We are so glad to see such a large crowd showing up to the Junior tournament. Both in the audience and the number of contestants. It looks like we have the start of another generation of young people willing to openly participate in the spirit of competition. So without further ado.”

Lights snapped on overhead. Two beams of red lights shined down on two of the people around me and two blue lights on another two. Lights of each color were shined down on squares of stone about twice as big as a boxing ring that rose out of the ground with grinding sounds.

A man and a woman emerged from doorways to stand in the middle of each square and began calling out the names of the people lit up from above as the first two sets of contestants.

The announcer began talking again. “Due to the number of contestants, we’re going to have to double up on the sparring squares to get through everyone before noon. Our apologies if anyone misses anything noteworthy because they're watching the other fight. But recording of the highlight will be available in the lobby by the start of the Senior matches. All for a low, low, affordable price.”