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"The training wheels have to come off sometime," said Arrow.
"Not before he's even pedaled!"
Eddie finally dropped down, staggering and barely managing to catch himself against my back.
"Sorry," he said sheepishly.
I gave Arrow a pointed look. He actually seemed to hesitate for a second, but I should've known better than to think he could be reasoned with.
"All right, kid, time to see what you're made of," he said, ruffling Eddie's hair. “Go get him.”
Eddie stared at him in disbelief. "What?" He looked over at me. "Is he serious?"
I clenched my jaw, trying to decide whether this was a hill worth dying on. I knew at least part of the reason Arrow was so dead set on Eddie doing this was to test me. I wasn’t even sure what kind of fucked-up test it was supposed to be, but I had given up trying to understand his mentality a long time ago. In a word, it was chaos, and that was as far as I had ever gotten. Or cared to.
"But I—" Eddie broke off as Arrow planted a hand between his shoulder blades and gave him a light shove. He staggered forward, his hand on the hilt of his katana. He slowly drew it, and I was just relieved he hadn't chopped his arm off in his nervousness. Hesitation was even worse than recklessness, though.
I watched closely as Eddie took a step toward the vampire, then another. I had been infused recently enough that I could hear his racing heartbeat. The vampire still hadn't moved, hunched over the kill like the feral beast it was, drunk on blood. If the vampire was this oblivious to its environment, he was probably a fledgling. But so was Eddie.
Eddie strode forward with a bit more confidence until the vampire's body went rigid and turned around, its snarling face drenched in blood.
The vampire was already on its feet, and Eddie was just standing there, frozen in his tracks as the creature rushed at him. I tensed with my blade at the ready, prepared to intervene, even if I had to fight Arrow in order to do it. This was bullshit, and we both knew it. I never should've agreed to this.
The vampire let out an ear-piercing shriek, its claws elongated and bared at its sides. I wasn't sure if Eddie had actually encountered a vampire before as a wolf, but it was clear enough that in his human form, he was seeing the creature in all its macabre glory for the very first time.
Eddie barely managed to dodge out of the way as the vampire lunged at him, hitting the ground hard on all fours. It was rare for a vampire's transformation to turn out as badly as a shifter’s usually did, but it was pretty fucking clear this one’s had. Of course it would be just my luck that he would end up encountering something that was one in a thousand on his very first hunt.
"The damn thing’s feral. It's going to eat him alive," I said, watching as Eddie took a swing at the vampire and missed.
"He'll be fine," Arrow said, putting a hand on my shoulder to keep me back when I instinctively tried to go to Eddie’s side. "And if he's not, that'll solve one of your problems, won't it?"
I gritted my teeth, watching as the vampire lashed out at Eddie, flaying his forearm open even through his leather jacket. The scent of his blood hit the air, and I had to force myself to calm down or I was going to be the one losing it.
Arrow was right. I had wanted nothing more than to be rid of Eddie. To be proven right that he wasn't ready, and never would be. To his credit, as much of a baby as he was during our training sessions, Eddie barely even flinched in response to the below. Something shifted, though, and I wasn't sure if it was the fact that blood had been drawn, or if he was just better at operating under pressure, but he dodged the vampire's next few strikes easily enough.
Well, easily might've been the wrong word, but even though he was still on the defensive, Eddie was holding his own, so that was something.
The vampire's swipes grew more desperate, and it was steadily backing Eddie into a corner. I watched anxiously, barely breathing as the vampire managed to get him pinned on the ground. Eddie still had hold of his blade, but I could tell he was struggling to keep the creature at bay.
"Are you done proving your point?" I hissed. I wasn't even sure what the point was, but I would concede it if it meant putting an end to this.
"Just wait," Arrow said, his grip on my shoulder tightening as he watched the scene intently. There was more curiosity than malice in his eyes at this point, but I wasn't sure if that was a good thing.
I watched as Eddie continued to strain against the vampire, which was clawing and slashing wildly at him. His face and neck were covered in ribbons of blood, and he hadn't been on vampire blood for nearly long enough to be able to heal fast enough to keep up with the wounds the vampire was continually afflicting. The collar would mute the healing properties of his lupine nature, too.
Eddie's arms were trembling, but to my amazement, he was actually beginning to make progress, and he managed to get the blade against the vampire's throat.
Come on, I thought. I still couldn't believe I was actually rooting for him, even though it would mean proving Arrow and Father Marius right.
With a snarl that sounded decidedly more animal than human, Eddie pushed hard and the blade sliced through the vampire's neck, sending its head flying.
A strange combination of relief and pride washed over me, neither of which I should've felt. Certainly not to the degree I did.
Eddie collapsed, panting and bloody from the spray of the vampire's blood.
"Told you," Arrow said next to my ear.
I broke out of the other hunter's grasp and ran over to the end of the alleyway, where Eddie was just beginning to sit up. He looked stunned. "I… killed him."
