"This is so worth the money" she said to the mirror as she put her hair up in a ponytail. Pulling the gray tank top over her head, she backed away from the full length mirror with a nod at her outfit. The pants were stretchy, spandex to ease movement as she taught the martial arts class. Flipping the curtain she hung with the mirror back down to not let anything in through the mirror, she left the bedroom and found her gym bag with her wallet and cell phone as well as a change of clothes for after the class.

Amber was a bit disappointed there was only two more classes in the set of six she was teaching for this month, each twice a week. Amber didn't want to take her bike, it felt too good outside, but grabbed the lightweight sweater from her gym bag and threw it on to keep comfortable. Partially she jogged just listening to the sounds of Miami. Even through the busy streets, if you listened close enough you could hear the ocean.

Amber rounded the corner and slowed her pace as she was now only a mile away from the dojo she taught at. By the time she had reached the door, her heart rate was normal and she was right through the door moments before her students. One thing she did indulge to her students was she was a leopard. It did not feel fair to hide such a large part of her from her pupils. Most had reservations about how close she could be, but almost all of them got over it.

Almost, there were two students in particular who cringed at her. Sierra and Gavin. Amber wasn't surprised when Gavin dropped out, but the fact Sierra stayed was somewhat of a surprise. Amber set her bag along the wall and went to the front of the mat stretching her legs a bit as her students began walking in. As she counted all 10 of them, she smiled. "Hello everyone and welcome to night number four. Tonight we are going to but together the footwork, punches and kicks all together. Any questions?"

She entered the building wondering exactly why she was taking this class again, here? She wanted to take self defense classes because of Ray, Ray Benjamin. Not only did he completely make a fool of her one on one but she just couldn’t live with the embarrassment. He had bested her one on one, which by his shifter nature he should have. She had been so helpless without man made steel and she wanted that to change.

It was to her surprise after finding out how cool the teacher was that she was a shifter, species leopard to be exact. It was hard to hide the hatred from her face and she had spazzed out for only a second. But the teacher knew, and she knew that the teacher knew she knew! A classmate she talked to also had the same hatred and he had stopped attending classes.

It felt utterly repellant breathing the same air as a shifter, being in the same room as one but she had to take these lessons. She paid for them after all and her mother would be wondering why she hadn’t attended the last of the classes.

She was a bold one, that she was. She was so cheery and happy. It was like she was rubbing being a shifter in her face. She probably owned this building otherwise she would have been fired long ago. Wasn’t there a joke that went something like this: How many humans did the shifter kill to get twenty dollars? The answer was like twenty-three or something since shifters were stupid!

She entered the building and lined up with the other students. Most of them were in awe that their teacher was a shifter. She only smeared as she stood next to another girl. She was also in her gym clothes; it was an outfit of matching pink. She tossed her duffle bag to the side wondering if she could really kill her teacher? She did have a known connection to her afterall. The other victims...she had no connection to them none.

She stayed silent after Amber asked if they had any questions. She had none. She just wanted the class to be over with already.

Amber looked over the class seeing if anyone had a question. It seemed not one of the students did, so she continued. “Alright spread out so you don’t accidentally punch someone in the face and I have to take you down” she smiled as the joke left her mouth as to let everyone know she wouldn’t intentionally hurt them. She watched everyone get to their place on the mat and Amber took a deep breath before she began.

“Aright we know the weakest points are the stomach” she pointed to her abdomen “and the throat if you can get to it. Since most assailants like to come from behind, it is best we focus in the stomach.” She scanned the class and her eyes landed on Sierra. She wanted to show her she could be relaxed around lycans and that her teacher was not someone to fear just because she was a leopard. “Sierra” she motioned for her to come up.

Up till now they had basically been practicing the formation of kicks and punches and stances, but today they were going to put it into use. Amber wondered if she would come up here, she knew it wasn’t necessarily fear that made her not want to look at Amber but she could show her it was okay just by being near her. Amber could only hope that what she did put trust into the woman instead of breeding more misunderstanding.

Her mat was the same color of the outfit she wore, pink. She moved over away from the girl and dropped her mat on the cold hard ground. She glanced over at the girl wishing she could have thought something funny to say. But apparently the girl harbored no dislike for shifters. It was a shame because she had thought that her joke was really funny.

Her eyes met the teachers when she called her name. Did she really expect her to walk up to the front of the room and be used as an example to the rest of the class? She was glaring, she couldn’t help it. She crossed her arms below her breasts as the metal from the zipper touched her warm flesh.

She was debating on whether or not to stay where she was, leave, or move up to the teacher. She rallied her three options carefully. As tempting as were the options to leave or stay put, if she was used as an example she could rally the teachers strength for later.

She uncrossed her arms and left them dangling by her side as she left the comfort of her mat and now faced her ‘teacher’. She let her see the distaste she harbored for her in her eyes. She thoughts she was so high and mighty calling her. She glared at her to say ‘well’?

Amber knew for a fact Sierra would not be overcome with joy at being in front of the class. A small part of Amber wanted to teach her a lesson about respect and tolerance, but she pushed the thought away and instead thanked Sierra for her cooperation. Giving the young woman her full attention and merely watched the class every now and then out of the corner of her eye, she began the lesson.

"Alright we have learned the basic punches and kick formations depending on your position. Today and the next lesson we will put it to use on each other as to know how it feels if and when someone comes after you" she said turning from Sierra to the students and then back again. "Alright, I would like you to pair up like me and Sierra here, facing each other." After everyone settled down, Amber moved to Sierra.

"I would like everyone to watch both myself and Sierra as I will show you what the main focus of our lesson today. Most attackers are cowardly and thus they attack from behind taking the element of surprise on their side" she said as she made her way behind Sierra. The class was now entirely female, which was what Amber was used to teaching in the first place. "Men usually perceive a woman as weak no matter the stature. I know rather sexist of me" she laughed "but they learn to fight back and then you have the element of surprise."

"Alright now to show you the moves." Amber walked up to be closer to Sierra and wrapped both arms around Sierra's arms, making sure to use only human strength. "This is one of the quickest ways an assailant will grab someone from behind and render your arms useless. Now Sierra, you can't use your arms, so what are you going to do?"

oOc-Sorry for my bad spelling;I Couldn't type this on word;

She couldn't help but feel entirely grossed out at the thought that her teacher, Amber Rawls was about to touch her. She wasn't homophobic in anyway but the thought of a leopard touching her grossed her out. It was as if they were full of germs, dirty, dirty germs and just the thought of her touching her.... She shivered from her neck and it tingled down her spine. She could feel all the eyes on her and then the teacher. She used all her determination to remain remarkebly still.

Without warning the teacher grasped her arms. The touch was absolutely gross. One of the grossest things she had ever felt. She wanted to wash her hands with soap and water, scalding hot water. She wanted to peel off her skin and let new skin grow in. And then once it was peeled off she wanted to wash it yet again with soap and water.

She couldn't help but grin as she thought of what she would do. She could remember this one episode of King of the Hill where Bobby, Hank Hills son took self-defense lessons at the YMCA. The only problem was that the lessons were for women. Then when confronted by his bully, he kicked him in his balls. Needless to say, Hank was very, very mad when he found out how Bobby beat his bully.

With her grin on her face she bent her right leg backwards and tried to kick Ambers balls. Of course being female meant she did not have any but it was the only way she could think of to squirm free. She must have caught the woman by surprise though. So then she tried to struggle her arms free from her grasp.

Amber did not expect a kick in between legs, wriggling out of her arms she expected, a kick to her non existent balls, not so expected. Many people think because women don't have something to squish in between there legs it didn't hurt, but it did. Her grip loosened a bit on Sierra, but quickly tightened once she realized it.

"Very good, but as you see I am still holding you. With a man it might have worked and you could run away, so I applaud you." Releasing her she motioned Sierra back to her mat. "Thank you Sierra" she bowed toward her. "Alright" she paused and looked around the room her eyes landing on a slightly bigger girl, "Kristin" she said with a smile, "why don't you come up here and attack me from behind, as I did to Sierra."

Kristen came up, a little shy at first, but settled in after a reassuring nod from Amber. Facing the class, Kristen came up and wrapped her arms Amber's. Amber leaned backwards and then with all her strength she bent forward, flipping Kristen over by using her own momentum against her. Kristen landed on the mat with a bit of a stunned expression. Extending her arm out, she helped the woman up and made sure she was ok.

"For now I just want you to practice half of this move, no tossing anyone over your shoulders just yet." Pairing off the students, she went around the room helping some people with stances and others guiding them along. By the end of the class, the pairs were throwing each other on the mats. Looking up from chatting with Fran, another student, she noticed the time and clapped her hands to get everyones attention. "Alright, next week same time same place gals! Hope to see you there, we are almost done!"

Everyone milled around and gathered their belongings. Amber chatted with a few girls and then headed to her own gym bag to pack up. She was feeling really good about teaching these girls. Her Mom was right, teaching was rewarding, Amber never knew why she stopped when she had kids. Of course 7 kids plus a job would have been a lot to take on. Her leopard purred, enjoying the exercise of the classes and looking forward to the run back home. Amber merely smiled as she zipped up her bag.

She blushed a heavy red color as Amber proceeded to taunt her. She had given it her best idea but it wasn’t fair she had leopard strength. And now she looked like an idiot to the whole class. She sulked back to her bright pink mat glaring at the teacher and watching her eyes intense as another student took her place. She noticed that the student was larger than her. She easily broke free from the girl. Sierra glared, she only chose that large girl to make her look bad!

She walked over to the girl and partnered with her. She tried to make small talk but she realized that the girl was just being polite. That she had no interest in really being her friend. She bite her lip ring and nodded her head when the girl went on all business and no talking of other things suggesting that she hold her hands back and the unknown named girl be held.

She held the girls hands though she wasn’t holding on tight. She couldn’t even have held on if she wanted to. She was feeling a bit weak and worn out already. The girl moved forwards and Sierra fell backwards not on the mat but on the cold hard surface. “I’m fine” she muttered as she picked herself up.

By the time she got up the class was over. She began to pick up her pink mat and pack it away with her clothes. She didn’t feel like changing right now. She noticed that underneath her clothes was her gun. She checked behind her back to see if anyone was paying attention to her. No one was.

She emptied the clip and then realized that it was loaded with silver. She clipped it back up knowing that a gun unloaded or on safety was a useless gun and tucked it back in her gym bag. She zipped it up noticing that most everyone was gone. She too headed outside. Once there she leaned against the brick building wall. She couldn’t help but let the last few moments play over and over again in her mind. The teachers hand on her, her kicking her in the crotch and her embarrassing her in front of the class.

That bitch would pay! And she would pay with her life. Or her name wasn’t Sierra Claire. She watched the last few students walk out of the building and down the block talking to each other as if they were the best of friends. She entered the building her hand in her gym bag on the gun. Without another word she fired once at the teacher.

oOc-Thought I would spice things up;;

Amber hoped Sierra wasn't upset she used her as an example, but didn't give it a second thought as she went on with the lesson. She kept a watch on everyone, noticing Sierra fell to the hard ground, missing her mat entirely. She began to walk toward the two girls, but quickly went to the pairing right before Sierra and Laura once hearing the tone toward Laura.

Amber made sure all the students had left and she headed over to the light switch. Not two steps into her small path, she heard the clip of the gun and smelt gun powder. Who in the hell is firing into the gym? was her thought before she hit the ground, turning to the doorway and spotting Sierra with a gun in her hand.

Amber was pissed she had left her Barretta at home now that one of her students was firing at her. "Sierra what the hell are you doing? Do you even know how to shoot that gun?" Knowing it wasn't the brightest thing to insult someone with a weapon aimed right at you, Amber just shook her head. "If you are too scared to face me woman to woman and just hide behind the gun fine. Prove everyone in the class right." Yes Amber lets antagonize the little human who shakes in disgust when you come near her...

Not waiting for a look or a remark, she continued. "I mean you couldn't even over power Laura who is a mere human, how are you going to get past me?"

It took the sound of the gunfire to actually wake her up. She had let fury guide her that she hadn’t even really thought things through. Her eyes fell as she watched Amber fall to the ground avoiding the shot. Had she really expected to hit the lycan? It was one thing to attack a lycan from behind up close when they couldn’t avoid it but another to attack someone from across the room, one who even taught self defense!

“Just shut up! I’m trying to think”. She spoke as she was trying to think. She was trying to think of what would happen if she just...turned around and ran home. She would still be in trouble. Amber would of course alert the authorities that she had shot her and they would find the bullet, find her gun and arrest her. There she would spend the last of her remaining days in a jail cell.

There of course was only one option. She had to kill Amber like she intended to and then cover her ass. Though she had no doubt that she would be interviewed by the police, she was afterall a student in her class. She could only hope that she would be ruled off as a suspect and hope that her classmates would have said she left the building and not told the tale of how the teacher called her to demonstrate a humiliating example.

She stepped forwards across the room though still kept her distance from Amber. “This gun should do it” she said meekly. She was right about being overpowered by that girl but that was hands on hands. She had weak hands but not she held a gun in those weak hands. And now her weak hands were about to kill....

Amber moved toward Sierra as she shouted she needed to think. The day she got infected ran through her mind, but she didn't have a gun like Sierra did. Well, I need to get rid of that little annoyance then. Amber kept her eyes on Sierra's face and paid close attention as she made her way closer to the gun toting student.

She had closed the distance a little more than half way when Sierra seemed to come out of her daze of thinking and then walk towards her, finishing off the rest of the gap. Amber knew she could take a badly aimed bullet, but if it was silver and well aimed, she could die just like any human. The gun was something that needed to leave if Amber wanted to get Sierra away from her and both live to tell the story.

Amber did not want to hurt Sierra, ok that was a lie, she wanted to teach her a lesson of not to play with kitty cats, but that was more her leopard's feelings. She was pacing back and forth inside of her, a low growl emanating from the leopard's throat, Amber was strong enough to not let it out though. "Sierra, this doesn't have to happen like this. Why dont you just put the gun down and go home?" With the last word out of her mouth, Amber swiped at the gun to knock it out of her hand while her words distracted her, using the lycan speed to her advantage.

The self-defense teacher had moved in on her also. It was like they were cowboys taking their ten steps backwards and thus turning around in the same point in time and then firing except for some wee minor details. Neither woman’s back was turned and only one of the two had a gun. But perhaps the better transition to describe their actions were to say something of how an animal surrounds its prey. Only one woman of the two was an animal in a real sense of the name, but the other would certainly be classified as a barbaric animal.

Sierra pushed her thoughts to the side. She wasn’t really an animal. Yes she did hunt her prey—meaning vampires and shifters but it was because they deserved it.

The sweat from her poor nerves began to conspire forming down the line of her back and drizzled down lower into her nether regions.
She was close to her prey. In a manner of speaking this was the closest she had ever come upon them. Of course she had been closer, really, but that was when they had their backs turned. No, Amber didn’t have her back turned on Sierra. They were up close and personal now.

‘Sierra, this doesn't have to happen like this. Why don’t you just put the gun down and go home?’

She was thinking about those words. She was trying to reason out each thing. Would she really let her go home and they could pretend this had never happene…

The gun was pressed with such force to the side that her hand had no choice but to follow the path. She screamed in pain at her poor finger which had laid on the trigger, it felt like it was broken. At the correct angle and her index finger no longer clutching it to hold onto it it dropped to the floor and lay still while she cradled her hand with her other hand.

Tears came out of nowhere small slick salty tears. She slowly moved her broken index finger to her mouth, sucking on it, trying to make the pain go away.

Amber watched as Sierra's finger got caught in between the gun and her hand and heard the bone snap. A small part of her wanted to make sure it was a clean break and set it back while the other part screamed 'She was trying to shoot you!' Amber saw the gun land and kicked it away so neither of them could use it, she didn't want to see Sierra killed, but she was going to learn a lesson.

Amber turned her attention back to the now sobbing Sierra. Without a second thought, she shifted her hand into a claw with a mock look of concern. "Down for the count already Sierra. I thought you were stronger than this. Can't play with the big kitties?" she said tauntingly with her claw outstretched toward Sierra.

The leopard was growling showing no sympathy toward the human huddle on the floor. She was crouched as if to pounce on the little form, but Amber was in control, quickly calming her leopard to just a constant growl as she laid down, eyes right behind Amber's watching, ready to protect herself at any cost.

She listened to the woman’s taunts. She was down. She was weak. She couldn’t play with them. She used a metal gun. She couldn’t fight. She was a wimp. She couldn’t fight. She was weak. She was a coward. She cried for help when she needed it. She was a stupid human. Now and again the taunts of Ray Benjamin flooded her mind. When he too had taken her gun she had shown weakness. Cowardess. Fearfulness. She had showed him her fear, and now she was showing Amber also.

Her hands formed to fists—mind you including her broken index finger. Her whole body was shaking, not with fear indeed but with rage. Anger. Hatred.

She was hating everything about Amber. She already did, but now she had much more of a reason to hate the woman than before. Before she was an arrogant animal who thought she could brag and announce to the world that she was an animal and still keep her job. She didn’t know her place! It was up to Sierra to show her that she was a stupid animal and should be crying, sad, and feel awful about herself that she and her kind were hated.

A scream she didn’t know existed. A scream she didn’t know she was screaming came out of her mouth as she charged at Amber. Weaponless. She tried to use her body to cause Amber pain as her shoulders met Ambers shoulders with force...

The transformation of not only Sierra's scent, but her demeanor. The crying had stopped and if she had been a cartoon her face would be bright red and steam would be coming out of her ears. Amber was smiling, Sierra could use all the anger she was feeling and actually defend herself, she thought.

The leopard sat up right feeling the change in the air, Amber's eyes were now gold instead of brown, her cat wanting to make sure she was safe from the anger sprouting from the human. Sierra stood up and ran full force into Amber. She stuck out her hand in order to stop her.

Until she smelled the blood, Amber didn't even realize her claw had gone through Sierra. Careless! her mind screamed at her. She set Sierra down, tacking her hand out of Sierra slowly as to not cause more damage. Shifting it back and going to wash her hand to get all the blood off, she went to the phone and placed an anonymous 911 call.

Gathering her bag and making sure Sierra would be found, Amber ran about a half mile away from the gym and grabbed her cell from her bag. "Lt. Daniel Rawls please. Thank you....Danny, I am in trouble. No, no. I was attacked kinda...Yes I know I am a leopard Danny! She had a gun and I was just trying to scare her...No she's not dead, but I ran her though pretty badly. No not as bad as when I got infected, just one cut through and through...It didn't look bad...I already called the ambulance...Look can you help me or not? I hear sirens. Thank you Danny, I owe you."