"Is that a gun?" Elena asked, knowing it was a stupid question. They were at the apple orchard on the edge of town, on the roof of the building that housed the cider press, and Jack was loading a handgun with wooden bullets, quickly and competently. What Elena meant was, why do you have a gun?
"Sure," Jack said easily. Catching Elena's expression, he laughed. "Look, I know that bullets won't stop a vampire, especially not an Old One. But wooden bullets might slow him down a little at a distance while we're getting ready to fight."
"Good idea," Stefan said thoughtfully, resting a hand on Elena's shoulder. "What else do you use?"
"Take a look," Jack said, nodding toward a couple of large duffle bags in the corner. Meredith and Zander were already picking carefully through them, examining weapons, while Alaric watched from a few feet away.
"Is this a flamethrower?" Meredith asked, her gray eyes bright with excitement. "Awesome!"
The roof of the cider press building was shady and cool. "We haven't seen a sign of Solomon," Jack had told them when his team welcomed them up. "But we're keeping an eye on things. This is a good place to train, too. Nothing overlooks us, plenty of room, and there aren't many people here this time of year. Easy to avoid being seen."
It should have been a peaceful place, the tiny green apples dangling from the trees' branches, no sound but the rustling of the leaves. But shadows lurked beneath the trees, and Elena shuddered. What did this sun-dappled place have to do with an ancient vampire?
She watched, slightly wary, as Darlene handed Meredith something that looked like a weed sprayer attached to a couple of cylinders and Meredith shot a ball of flame across the roof.
"Careful there," Darlene warned, but Meredith laughed.
"That's such a good idea," she said. "Take the fire right to the vampire. How did you manage to get that?"
"We've got connections," Jack said with a wink. Then he sobered. "Seriously, though, there's nothing more important than eliminating vampires. Vampires who are a threat to humanity, of course," he added quickly, looking at Stefan.
"You want to see some of the fighting moves we've worked out?" Trinity offered eagerly. At Meredith's nod, Trinity picked up a stave from the bag and took a tae kwon do stance, poised with one foot in front of the other, her weight carefully balanced. "Attack me," she said, smiling broadly. "But not with the flamethrower, please."
Meredith flashed her a smile in response, and slipped out her own stave. Before Trinity could brace herself, Meredith swept the stave at her legs, and Trinity had to leap to avoid the blow. A moment later, Roy, the shorter of the two brothers, joined in, swinging a heavy blade at Meredith's arms.
"Practice sword; it's blunt," Jack muttered in an aside to Elena.
Stefan joined the fight, moving so quickly and gracefully that he seemed like a blur, using his superior strength to pull Trinity off balance as his teeth just grazed her throat. But then Alex, the other dark-haired brother, jumped in. The three hunters managed to separate Meredith and Stefan, blocking them whenever either got close to one of their opponents. Alex fell to one knee as Meredith swung her stave at his head, and Trinity immediately stepped on his back, launching herself into the air and knocking Meredith to the ground.
The three hunters were fighting smoothly as a unit, keeping Meredith and Stefan off balance. It reminded Elena of how the Pack fought, and she glanced at Zander. He was watching with a smile of simple enjoyment, his eyes sharp.
"Nice," Meredith said, waving away the hand Trinity extended to her and climbing to her feet.
"We know you two fight well together," Jack said, nodding to Stefan. "You could never have defeated Old Ones if you didn't. But we hunters have our own techniques, based on centuries of experience fighting in groups. We can teach you, if you want."
He and Darlene lined up across from Meredith and Stefan, beginning to demonstrate stances and holds. Trinity wandered over to Elena.
"Want to spar?" she offered, grinning easily and pushing her long brown hair out of her eyes.
Elena felt herself flush. "Thanks," she said, "but I'm not a fighter."
"That's not what I heard," Trinity argued. "You're a Principal, aren't you? Come on. Want me to show you some moves?"
Elena reconsidered. Since she'd met Stefan, she'd found herself fighting against all kinds of enemies-supernatural and otherwise-and there was always the chance that one day her Guardian Powers and her friends wouldn't be enough to save her in a battle. Maybe it was time she learned to defend herself better. Plus there was the edge of a challenge in Trinity's cheerful gaze.
"You're on," Elena said. "How do we start?"
Trinity's smile spread. "Okay, slide your feet shoulder-width apart, and balance your weight equally between them. Keep your arms loose with your fists just in front of your stomach." She glanced down and nudged Elena's feet a little closer together with her own sneakered foot. "Good," she said. "Now, just react as I move at you."
She punched straight at Elena's chest, moving in half time, and Elena lifted her arm automatically to block the blow. "Good," Trinity said again, shifting quickly to kick at Elena. She made contact this time, her foot gently hitting the side of Elena's thigh.
Elena swung around and kicked back at her automatically. Trinity dodged out of the way, huffing a small surprised laugh. "Awesome," she said. "Powerful and amazing, right? Try again, but this time, slide your right foot a bit forward and point your left foot to the side. That way, you can shift your weight back better when you kick and get more momentum going."