"It's too bright out. Why do we have to do this in the middle of the day?" I asked nervously as I adjusted my sunglasses and pulled my hood a little lower over my face.

From where she stood about fifteen meters away, Isabelle replied "Because you need to get over your ridiculous fear of the sun. It's not going to kill you, Samantha. Nothing in this exercise is fatal."

I gulped and tried not to let on how nervous I was. It was pointless though, she could tell. She always knew. Maybe fear really did have a smell or something, maybe my scent told her how nervous I was. Or maybe she just knew by looking.

It was about one in the afternoon on a bright warm summer day. We were a clearing in some woods north of the city, Isabelle brought me out here last night to a cottage the Family owned. I was two months past my first anniversary of becoming a vampire. Technically I was nineteen now, though I hadn't aged or changed at all since I became a vamp. And my Dame said I was ready for some special combat training, so she brought me out here where we wouldn't be disturbed.

I sighed, "So what's the lesson then?"

She slipped her hand under her cloak, then pulled out a gun. I felt a little shock of fear go through me, and I gulped again.

"You need to disarm me," she stated. "I'm going to go easy on you Samantha, I'll try and limit myself and pretend I'm a human for this exercise. Since humans are the ones you'll most likely encounter with guns."

"Uh," I hesitated. "You mean I'm just supposed to take the gun from you?"

Isabelle nodded "Correct. I'll pretend to be human, you have all your vampire speed and strength going for you. It should be easy. To give you an extra incentive..."

She reached under her cloak again and produced a bag of blood, which she hung on the tree behind her. There was a nail or something in the bark, so the blood was hanging right at eye level for me. She returned to her spot, the blood was a few paces behind her to the left. Obviously I was meant to get past her to reach it.

My eyes flicked from the blood back to the weapon in her hand. "That's not real is it? I mean, it's just a prop?"

She held it up sort of sideways so I could get a better look at it. "This is a Browning Hi-Power semi-automatic pistol. It is real and it is loaded."

I felt another little wave of fear go through me. "Uh, loaded with blanks right?"

Isabelle rolled her eyes and stated, "The lesson begins now. It ends when you've confiscated the pistol and secured the blood behind me."

"But what do I -" I started to ask, when she raised the gun and pulled the trigger.

I actually heard the bullet as it ripped through the air inches from my right ear, and I was sure I'd never forget that sound. The crack of the gunshot was loud and frightening, but nowhere near as terrifying as that sound that zipped past my head.

It was like a shock of adrenaline went through me and I ducked then started running to the left. There was a second gunshot, I didn't hear the bullet go past but I saw dirt kicked up from the ground near my right foot. I turned and ran in a different direction.

"You're going the wrong way," she called. "You have to disarm me Samantha, this isn't about escaping."

I wound up hiding behind a big tree. My heart would have been pounding if it could still beat at all. I stayed there for a few moments, as my ears strained to try and detect any footfalls. I wasn't sure if she'd come after me or if she'd be waiting there by the blood.

"Samantha," she called again. "It's just a gun, and I'm pretending to be a human. Come on, you can do this."

My mind raced as I tried to figure out what to do. I thought about movies, how the hero did stuff like this. For some reason I thought about the last Star Wars movie, the fight scene at Jabba's floating palace. All those aliens were shooting at Luke and he didn't run away, he ran straight at them.

Of course I didn't have the Force or whatever, but Isabelle was just one person. And she was pretending to be a human, so I'd be quicker. And instead of running straight at her I could sort of weave and dodge. I took a deep breath to try and settle my nerves, then I went for it.

I moved as quick as I could, I dodged left and right as I charged at her. This time I could see the flashes from the gun each time she pulled the trigger, and I heard that fucking noise again and again as the bullets ripped past me to the left and right.

I was nearly at her, just three or four meters away, when one of them didn't go past. It hit me in the left shoulder, and it was like I ran into a brick wall.

My shoulder twisted back, and I froze. For just a split second I wasn't even sure it actually happened. It even crossed my mind, maybe she was using rubber bullets, maybe they weren't really dangerous.

Then the pain hit and I let out a wail as I fell to my knees, my right hand clutched at my shoulder. I ended up laying on the ground in agony. I'd never felt pain like that before.

There was very little blood, our hearts didn't beat so we didn't bleed like living humans. But with my right hand over the wound I could feel the fucking hole in my body. On top of the pain was just the sheer horror of knowing what sort of damage was done to my flesh.

I let out another wail of agony as I writhed on the ground.

"Samantha what are you doing?" Isabelle asked. She stood there a few meters away staring at me. She just shot me, now she was acting like I was goofing off in class or something. "Get up. The lesson's not over yet."

"You fucking shot me!" I sobbed. There were no tears, I still couldn't cry. The best I could manage was to go through the motions.

She rolled her eyes, "It's just copper and lead Samantha. It can't hurt you."

I cried again, "It fucking hurts! Holy fuck it hurts!"

Isabelle sighed, "You have until the count of five, then I continue the lesson with or without your participation."

I let out another wail of pain as I tried to pull myself upright. Any motion of my left arm was like burning agony. Just the shift from laying down to sitting, the way gravity tugged at my body was like fire through my shoulder. My arm felt completely numb and useless.

She was counting down and I could barely hear her words over the pain.

I struggled to get upright, and was just getting to my feet when the counting stopped and the crack of another gunshot assaulted my ears. My left leg buckled under me.

The pain was even worse this time, and if there was anything in my stomach I would have thrown up when I saw the shattered mess that was my knee.

I lay flat on my back as I moaned in pain.

Two more shots rang out and I felt the bullets smash through my gut. There was so much pain I couldn't even turn onto my side or curl up to try and defend myself.

I was barely aware of her words as Isabelle crouched over me. She sounded disappointed as she said, "We'll try again tomorrow. You know the blood will help you heal. All you have to do is go and get it."

Then she pulled my sunglasses off, and walked away.

She left me laying there broken, battered, and blinded. My whole body was in agony, and the blood that would help me was out of reach.

I didn't even have the mercy of going unconscious. We didn't go into shock like humans did. We didn't pass out from pain or blood-loss. I couldn't sleep, the pain was too much for that. All I could do was lay there and suffer.

It was dusk by the time I'd worked up the energy and the willpower to move. My injuries had already started to heal, but blood would speed that along and dull the pain.

I cried, I sobbed, I screamed in agony, but I slowly pulled myself into a sitting position. Then I crawled, with my weakened arm and useless leg. I dragged myself to that tree, and slowly pulled myself up. I supported myself by leaning against the trunk, until I could reach the bag.

As soon as I got my hand on it I pulled it free. I let out another scream of agony as I fell back to the ground, then I bit into the bag and I lay there sobbing as I sucked every drop of blood out of it. I even tore the bag open and licked the inside clean.

And at long last, I was finally able to rest while my body put itself back together.

The following day Isabelle made me do the whole thing over again.

And the day after that.

All in all it was five days of hell before I managed to get to her and capture the gun. The first four attempts all ended the same way, and those four nights I slept on the ground huddled up with the empty blood bag in my face.

The fifth day Isabelle and I limped back to the cottage together. She had her good arm around my waist as we walked, she was helping support me.

"I'm very proud of you Samantha," she said quietly. "Most enforcers take a full week to pass this test. You've done it in five days. You're a strong girl, I always knew you had it in you."

When we got back to the cottage she got more blood out and warmed it up on the stove. She gave me mine first, and I got to enjoy it from a cup. And I got to sleep in a comfortable bed while my wounds finished healing.

Isabelle even let me keep the Browning, as a reminder and a trophy. I still had it to this day, in a box in the drawer of my bed-side table.

After that I wasn't scared of guns anymore, or of pain. I wasn't even scared of getting injured. After that I knew I could take it, I knew I'd heal. And I knew if anyone ever tried to hurt me again they'd best do it right, or I would make them regret it.

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