KNIGHT'S POINT OF VIEW

Knight walks over to the kitchen grabbing his diet coke. His eyes are barely kept open at this point, but the liquid slowly quickened his alertness

Knight's stressed with the two weeks that already passed, and training after the first five days got intense. They started teaching two lessons each per day. Knight mostly the one doing combat and speed, while Amber has been transformation and emotions.

I'm showing improvement, but still not quite there. I still don't have control over transforming. What am I doing wrong?!

Well, at least I haven't transformed to my wolf form. I only did that once, when I first became a werewolf, but that's it. No one, but my brother saw me in that form, and I prefer to keep it that way.

I still can't control my mid-stage transformations, but at least I'm starting to control my emotions better.

I know what my eye color is for the basic emotions of happy, sad, and anger. I'm on the verge of knowing satisfication and confusion. So that's something.

Amber is a different story. She can't win a combat battle to save her life! She's horrible at sword combat. I even try going easy on her, and I still win. We already had fifteen sword combat lessons within the last nine days, doubling up on most days, but she still can't win and it's frustrating her just as much as it is for me.

I never thought I would want to lose... until now.

The most important thing though is to keep practicing. She'll get there eventually. Also, your focus needs to be in the right place! Stop adding stupid fancy moves because that's what kills you in the end.

At least her speed is improving with the four lessons we had on it. She can run fast without her werewolf powers kicking in, at least a seven and a half minute mile.

Though when she uses her werewolf powers for running, she's the fastest I've ever seen, and I feel like she's restraining herself a bit. If she went full power, no resistance, she's probably just as fast as a vampire.

Which now thinking about it is... a bit suspicious because we match the pace of vampires only in our wolf forms, but she can match it in mid-stage form.

That's probably a coincidence, if I wanted to I can race her and match her pace. Maybe go faster...

I would stick with trying to match her pace first.

I actually want to experiment it now.

He washes some dishes left in the sink, pondering on the next running lesson, and how much time they have left. One week is going to fly by in a blink of an eye, and that's what Knight's most afraid of.

He's not ready for Amber to go. He needs more time to tame the monster in him.

Unexpectedly, he heard a pounding sound as loud as thunder, on top of the house.

Did that sound like metal?!

He immediately ran outside, thinking vampires were attacking, but nothing was there.

All was silent.

Snap, they flew off. Out of sight. They know where we are! I need to wake...

Another pounding sound came again, silencing his thoughts. He looks around, running around the house three times, but saw nothing. No one was in sight at 3:00a.m.

He folded his arms trying to figure out what was going on when he felt fur like hair. He looked down at his arms mentally slapping himself for transforming into mid-stage.

After staring at the roof for a couple minutes, hearing nothing, he cautiously went back inside. He locked the door behind him, forcing himself to relax.

Not even a second later, the pounding came again. Knight froze, hand still on the lock. Knight heart starts racing

He threw the door opened, furious and frustrated at the unseen opponent.

I'm not awake enough to deal with this.

Once is worrisome, but now, I'm just mad!

"If you're invisible, I will find you! And if you continue this pounding so help me, I'll destroy you! Now, you can go to someone else's house or better yet, no one's house, but I swear, if I hear it one more time, I'm going up there myself, and throwing you off the roof!" He roared, frustrated and tired. No one's in sight, which relieved him and annoyed him.

He walked over to his big tree and leaned against it. He stood there for a full ten minutes, literally counting the seconds in his head, making sure he doesn't miss anyone pounding on his roof.

The pounding never came.

He slowly walked back inside, feeling both alert and tired at the same time. He walks over to the couch about to sit on it when the loudest pounding sound sounded through, shaking the whole house.

"That's it!" He growled, walking over to the attic door. He threw it down with so much force he was relieved it didn't break. He marched up the stairs, preparing himself to grab a sword.

Unexpectedly, he tripped and nearly slid off the stairs. "Amber? What are you doing here?" He cautiously asked, staring at her furious eyes and gold sword in her hand. He makes sure he keeps his distance.

"I'm training!" She snapped deathly,  swinging the sword to the metal pole with as much force as she could muster. The pounding sound vibrated through the pole, fiercely shaking the whole room.

He runs over to her, grabbing the sword out of her death gripped hand. "Are you crazy?! I thought someone was attacking the house!!! I threatened an imaginary person..."

"Not my problem..."

"Are you kidding me?" He asked in disbelief, his body shaking from anger. "You are the problem!"

"Look, I'm just training, and...I need to let out my anger, so yeah, not that big of a deal." She brushed off, reaching to grab her sword, but he held it further away from her.

"I'm too tired to deal with this right now, use the wooden..."

"I tried, but that's what happened." She smirked, pointing to the pieces of wood. Knight mentally counts to ten, a strategy he learned to help him not explode in anger, but it's not helping him right now.

"Look, it's a bit too loud. I don't know if you know this, or maybe you're just not use to it, but we do have neighbors. Neighbors who I'm sure want peace and quiet at three in the morning. So do us all a favor and train softer." Knight pleaded, feeling a headache forming from the pounding noise.

He hates the sound of metal.

She takes her sword, and grudgingly replies, "fine, I'll go softer."

"Thank you." Knight sincerely answered, before walking out of the room. He felt exhausted, but sleep never was the answer to these type of situations.

Diet coke was.
.....

"Okay, are you ready?" Amber asked excited and enthusiastic. Knight's glad she went much softer on her personal training, and he got a few hours of peace and quiet, but the fact is he stopped her from going full potential.

Now, that they've been training together for a while, he knows she holds grudges and payback from Amber is a deathly torture.

It doesn't matter if what you did was the right thing to do, you never want to stop Amber from doing something she wants to do.

Knight slowly backed away, not liking the mischievous look in her eyes. "Not really..."

"Knight, Knight, Knight." She chants, her eyes glaring over at him. "You shouldn't be worried, I long forgotten what you did this morning." She smiled venomously. "Besides, we should be professional while training each other, don't you agree?"

"Yesssssss?" He nervously asked, holding out the "s".

"Yes." He answered more confidently. "I just don't want to do your lesson, maybe we can start off with my lessons..."

"Well too bad it's my turn to start off. Now, the objective of this is to not transform. Got it?" She asked, a bit impatient. Her excited energy is only making Knight more uncomfortable.

Before he could even respond, she threw a water balloon at him, getting him all soaking wet in the cool summer morning. "Amber, what..."

She threw another one at him, cutting him off. "Come on, work on your reflexes. The more you dodge, the less wet you'll be." She threw common sense at him the same time she threw the balloon, making it a hundred percent obvious that she's enjoying this way too much.

"Fine, bring..." She threw one at him, trying to hold in her laughter. "It on." He finished annoyed, dodging the one she threw right after he said that.

It hit the window instead. "Oh, so is this your plan? First the attic and now the balloons? Are you trying to damage my house?" He said seriously, with a hint of a dramatic flair.

"No, my plan is to throw it at you." She replied as she threw one right in the face. The game was done now, he's determined to beat her at her own game.

She smiled, sensing his thoughts, but still found a way to hit her target. He would dodge some, she would win them all. Even when he dodged, another one quickly followed hitting him.

"Man you're slow, no wonder you need your mid-stage form." She remarked, throwing another one at him. How much she had left in her bucket, he doesn't know, but he knows he has been hit at least twenty times.

"Well, at least when I train, I train in a civilised manner, unlike some people who need to let the whole world know they're angry..."

"I..."

"And need to beat up a pole." Knight finished, regardless of her interruption. Though he was drenched, he was smiling at the annoyed look in her eyes.

Satisfication and annoyed, are the two emotions Knight memorized for Amber's eyes. Satisfication is a light orange. Annoyance is a russet brown, but more on the dark orange side.

She threw one over at him, which he fortunately dodged, proving his point and annoying her even more.

At this point, being drenched in cold water, not to mention the cool breeze lingering in the air, he's surprised he hasn't transformed mid-stage, it will be a lot warmer if he did so.

It could be that Amber told him not to, but let's be honest, they both don't listen to each other anyway.

"What are you doing?" Amber incredulously asked, watching him squeeze his eyes shut and clap his hands together.

"I'm trying to will myself to trans..."

"No! I said no transforming!" Amber accused. Knight opens his eyes, crosses his arms, and accuses her right back.

"If I wasn't so wet and cold, I wouldn't need to transform, but the fact is, if I transform to my mid-stage, I'll be warmer."

"Its not my fault you can't dodge a balloon." She teased, holding out the word "balloon". She smiled as he rolled his eyes at her, but she wasn't finish talking yet. "Besides, this is your punishment."

"One, I'll stop trying and you know what, I bet you that I won't transform by the end of the lesson!" He replied, determined and confident. She raised her brow in response, but he wasn't finished. "And second, training shouldn't come with punishments."

"Don't even get me started, Mr. Run A Extra Lap For Missing Your Time Limit..."

"Hey, I haven't done that type of lesson in awhile. Besides, I've stopped using that method anyway because of your loopholes, so you need a new punishment from me." He smirked as she tries to figure out a new punishment he does.

"Oh yeah, how about the time you made me run downstairs from the attic to bring up water..."

"That was for you and me. And you volunteered to do it!" He exclaimed, accusing her even further.

"I know, but I still had to do it." She firmly stated.

"Doesn't make it a punishment." He said matter of fact. He saw her stumbling to try to find the right words, but it's plain to see she couldn't think of one.

"Yeah, but..."

"Nah ah, you have nothing against me. It's okay, you can't win all battles can you?" He teased, referring to the many many hours of sword combat training. Judging by the way she reacted, she got that message loud and clear.

She walks over to him and poured the leftover ice cold water balloons, along with the bucket that was filled halfway with water, over him, soaking every inch of his body.

Somehow, he finds a way to laugh in the mist of freezing to death.

"Jokes on you, I won this battle." She smirked, as she walks back into the house.

"No you didn't, I outsmarted you!" He shouts, making no move to run back into the house yet.

You literally dumped the bucket on me because you had nothing else against me!

She turned around smiling at him. "Arms." Was her only remark as she walked back into the house.

He looked down, and sure enough he transformed mid-stage, the thing he was determined not to do.

His long black nails almost glimmered in the sunlight. His hair following the wind. His mind is far from the fact that he's no longer cold. He's frustrated he even turned.

As if a lightbulb lit in that moment, he hurries after her, wanting to use this advantage, while he can. If he's already in mid-stage, mine as well experiment now.

"Amber! You left before we could get to my training lesson." Knight desperately acknowledged, really hoping she agrees to having training now. He doesn't know when he's going to transform mid-stage again.

"I thought we agreed to give at an hour of break in between lessons. It's a rule you created." She fired back, raising her right brow over her new book, her eyes boring into his. He shifts left to right, not trying to give anything away, besides the fact that he's really uncomfortable at the moment. "Besides, I, including my right arm, am quite tired from throwing balloons at you, I mean, I just threw so much of them." She smirked satisfied, returning back to her book.

"Come on, this lesson's going to be fun and..."

"I want to take a break from sword or hand combat." She interrupted exhaustedly, not lifting her eyes from her book. She seems completely uninterested with what he has to offer.

"That's fine because that's not the lesson I meant..."

"Hold it." She spoke, putting her book down, the grin on her face growing. He still notices the book is open, and knows any second he could lose her and she returns to reading, but that grin tells him that that isn't going to be the case.

Is she on to me? How could she?

"So you want to start off with running?" She asked, a little bit more interested, that grin never leaving.

He nods, smiling a bit. She may have caught on to that, but couldn't possibly know why I would want to start off with it.

Her face suddenly grew serious. "Let me guess, you want this lesson to be a 'mid-stage transformation' lesson to see just how fast I could run." She rolls her eyes at the face he made, but she wasn't finished. "I also know, that you want to train now because you're in your mid-stage form. Now, you never actually participated in your own lesson, always timing me and blah, blah, blah, but you actually want to participate in this lesson because you want to challenge me. Am I wrong?" She asked, and judging by the answer of silence, she looked back down at her book, shaking her head slowly. "You are so predictable Knight." Her voice full of irritation.

"No, I'm not. I never once gave the hint that I wanted to do that...if what you say is even true...which it isn't!" Knight added exasperated, pausing every where to try to figure out how to finish the phrase appropriately, to not give away his motives that she's right.

She continues to look down at her book, clearly annoyed and uninterested with what he has to offer. "Look genius, I know I'm right. Your stumbling, your immediate action to have a lesson, your shifting, I mean seriously, if you're nervous or uncomfortable about something don't shift left to right!"

"Amber, completely off topic, and you're wrong..."

"Look me in the eyes, and tell me the truth. Why now?" She asked, finally putting her book down. Her eyes was a color he hasn't seen on her before, being a brown with hints of red. He would have thought more on it, if he wasn't so transfixed on the secret message behind those eyes. A message he can't quite figure out.

"I wanted to race you in our mid-stage forms..."

"Because you don't trust me." She concluded, emotionless.

"No, just curious." He quickly answered before he could have thought of a better answer.

"Well, thank you for your honesty, but are you insane!?" She suddenly asked, going from calm to yelling within a second. "I'm not here to be your guinea pig..."

"It's not like that!"

"It isn't? Knight, how do you even think I figured it out? I'm not stupid. You don't trust me, and you're afraid I'm something I'm not, even though you've clearly see I'm a werewolf." She accused, still furious, but her tone dialed down a notch slightly.

"Stop doing that! It's like your reading my mind!"

"So you admit it's true!" She exclaimed, standing up so she didn't have to look up at him anymore. He defiantly stands taller, so she continues to look up at him.

"It doesn't matter what I admit, you will still believe what you come up with, with that thick skull of yours."

"Oh, now you want to talk about who's the thick headed one? It's not my fault I discovered your plan and spoiled it for you. I mean, just think about it, you don't feel bad at all for doing this? For wanting to use me for your own personal gain? What you think it would be fun to do that?" She demanded to know, her eyes a deep orange, almost red.

I guess now I know what her eyes look like when she's furious.

Her eyes soften a bit, but her eyes still held the same intensity it had before. "What would it have proved? What could you have possibly gain from all of this?" She asked, softly, but still had the defiant and ferocious look in her eyes.

She didn't wait for an answer. She grabbed her book and left, slamming the bedroom door behind her.

Ugh, why would she take so much offense to it? Probably because she really is hiding something. Maybe she's mad because I was getting close to discovering her secret.

See there you go, no wonder she's so mad, it's clear you don't trust her. For once, put yourself in her shoes! She just found out that one, you don't trust her, and two, that you were just going to use her just to satisfy your stupid curiosity, but you didn't think of how that would affect her? I mean, finally she was opening up a bit more...

Are you kidding me? She was throwing water balloons...

To help you!

She enjoyed it!

So what? You enjoy it when you train her and watch her grumble every time she has to run an extra lap for punishment, what's the difference?

Why is everyone bringing that up?! I don't do that method anymore...

The point is you were selfish, you're being selfish right now, and didn't think of anyone, but yourself. I mean she's finally coming around. She's smiling a bit more, opening up a bit more, she's having some fun for a change, then you just had to ruin the ride and hurt her feelings.

She was so mad, I don't even think I could have hurted her feelings.

Why'd you think she was mad?