November
Lucy's Age: 5
Venice has started training with a sword. On the one hand, I'm undeniably pleased with the fact that I've been able to bring her so far in such a short time. She doesn't like killing to feed, but she's come to accept that she doesn't have any other option.
Her defenses are completely secure which means that she's safe inside her own mind, even from Imastious or me, as long as she doesn't do anything to trigger one of Imastious' fits of rage. It means that she's come up in the world by an incredible amount, which has made things between us even more companionable.
On the other hand, arming her has made her even more dangerous than she was before. As long as she continues to view me as a nominal ally against Imastious, or at least the lesser of two evils, then I should be safe. If, however, she decides that she wants to kill me, then it's going to be harder than normal to stop her from succeeding.
Imastious controls the time and place whenever he and I meet, which means that I'm always at some disadvantage. It's much more difficult to maintain that level of control when you're actively training someone, and it's impossible to do it without generating a lot of ill will.
Once again, I'm walking a very fine line. Venice has been nothing but pleasant lately, but after she tried to escape last time, I promised myself that I wouldn't underestimate her ability to dissemble.
With regards to Lucy and Mrs. Agosti, things remain much the same. Mrs. Agosti continues to be remarkably stubborn in many respects while Lucy continues to soak up information at a phenomenal pace. She doesn't always remember the name of a given technique, but it's obvious to me that she's been practicing at home because she almost always responds to each attack with the right counter.
It's like she's absorbing every bit of knowledge she's exposed to and not just when it comes to her self-defense training. Mrs. Agosti has continued to work with her and she's starting to read, and not just the very simple words I would have expected from someone her age. I apparently haven't displayed enough amazement at the accomplishment because Mrs. Agosti was quite put out with me for several days at my response to being informed of Lucy's accomplishment. I suspect that is mostly because Mrs. Agosti views it as Mrs. Agosti's accomplishment more so than Lucy's accomplishment.
If Lucy continues to do well with the softer, more defensive techniques then I'll expand into teaching her hard, striking techniques from other disciplines and see how she does there. At this point, I'm feeling like past me was fully vindicated in his decision where Lucy was concerned.
Even if she were to prove no more skilled as a mentalist than any other newly-turned vampire, the simple fact that she's going to have nearly two decades of training behind her by then will make her much more dangerous than her age would otherwise indicate.
One way or another I'm going to end up with my weapon.