Chapter 14: Sparring partners

Jason and Faye came over later that afternoon. Jason was bursting with energy. I soon found myself involved in a three way sword fight using dowel rods of varying length.
Faye was using the longer, thicker rod like a quarter staff, and effectively holding us both at bay. She was fast and acrobatic, and it was harder to get in a hit on her. She also obviously knew how distracting she was - she was used to using it to get the upper hand when she fought guys. She picked out her outfits to take your eyes away from her weapon, so you'd forget to defend yourself.
Her brother, her constant sparring partner, was obviously immune to this tactic, so their fights tended to last longer. As Faye ducked to avoid one of Jason's swings, she very nearly broke a vase. We stopped to take a breather.
"We should go outside," said Jason, "We don't want to endanger any more of your stuff,"
It was already starting to get dark. I remembered what Teresa had said last night, and I didn't want to take any chances.
"I'd rather not," I answered, "Hey, did you ever find out about that armor?" I asked, wanting to change the subject.
"Yeah, it's from my Grandpa," he answered, "but I don't know anything else about it,"
"Weird," I said, "He never mentioned it in his letters?"
"Not that I remember," Faye cut in, "But I was gonna look over them again to check,"
"Well, keep me posted," I said, "I'm very curios,"
"Me too," she answered, "You're sure you don't want to go outside?"
"I can't," I replied.
She looked somewhat downcast. I wished I could tell them why I was held to this new restriction. I wished, in fact that I did noty have it. But somehow I doubted even Faye's skills with the dowel rod could stand up to a couple of those vampires.
We went to play some video games, but my heart wasn't in it. Somehow, when you've been dealing with real vampires and dragons, computer-animated ones just don't seem as threatening. In a little while it was time for the Andersons to go home. As she was leaving, Faye asked me if everything was ok.
"You seemed kinda distant today," she said.
I felt distant. Until a few days, I'd felt like I could tell Jason and Faye anything and they'd understand. Now it felt like I was in a different world than them. BUt things were just getting started; it was going to get worse before it got better.