by Karen Swart
Chapter 5
With the dream still bugging me, I was sitting in Vulcan’s class trying to listen to the latest demon’s strengths. But I had a really hard time concentrating. Why would a demon be in my dream? What did it mean by ‘soon?’ I played his words over and over in my mind.
After an impossibly long morning, we had lunch and were walking to the zone, or at least the girls were. I had to go straight to Chax again.
“You are very quiet today, Kas. Everything okay?” Lada asked, stopping me with her hand. I looked up at her and saw that I was starting to bug them out with my internal battle.
“Yes, just thinking. That’s all, but I’ll stop now. Promise,” I replied, smiling at her to alleviate her concern.
“Okay, but if you need to talk, we’re here. Okay?” she said, patting my arm.
“Yeah, I know. Don’t worry; I’m okay. I just have a problem shutting my brain down today. Trust me, in a few minutes Chax will kick it back into place for me,” I reassured them and they both laughed, returning the mood to normal. We continued walking to the zone only to find Seth and Chax having a talk at the door. The moment they spotted us, they stopped and turned to look at us.
“Afternoon, girls,” Seth said in greeting. Chax only stood there with his arms crossed over his chest. Couldn’t even greet someone like a normal person.
“Hi,” the girls greeted them and went straight into the zone. Yeah, don’t blame them. This looked like a situation I didn’t even want to be in.
“Hi Seth, Chax,” I murmured, smiling at Seth and nodding at Chax.
“I’ll leave you to your Apprendo, Chax. See you later, Kas,” Seth said and went in, leaving me with Chax.
“Today we are going to train with the others in the arena. Come, you’ll have a chance to warm up before the others get there,” he said and gestured for me to follow him. I walked behind him the whole way, looking at his back.
We made it to the arena and he stopped at the first circle, turning to look at me.
“We will start with some sparring,” he explained and took a stance. I sighed and moved to stand in front of him.
“Transform,” he instructed, and then transformed himself. I closed my eyes and opened them with my Fallen body ready for action. He looked at me and then took the first step, going for me with a kick. I blocked his leg with my arm, and moved forward to punch him. But he just swiped my hand away and turned to bring up his other leg. I brought up my arms, blocking his kick again, pain shooting through them with the impact.
He moved so fast, and the next moment was at my back, grabbing my wings. The moment he had them, I froze on the spot. Instinct told me that this was my weakness, and trying to rip out of his hold would only leave me bleeding and in pain.
“You must protect your wings at all times. The moment someone gets their hands on them, you’ll end up in a really bad situation. And usually that ends with your head landing on the ground. Concentrate and you’ll find that your wings have built in sensors. You will feel someone near them. Pull them in close to your back and step aside to avoid them getting their hands on them,” he explained while releasing them and going to stand in front of me again.
Okay, they have sensors. Let’s see if this works.
We started again. A few punches and kicks later, he was at my back again. But this time I felt the moment he was moving at my side and closed my wings, keeping them tight to my back. I turned to continue the sparring.
“Good, now try and use them to help you fight. Just make sure I don’t get my hands on them,” he said, still punching and trying to take me to the ground.
He bent down, leaning on his hand, and swept his leg to mine, trying to knock them out from under me. But I lifted myself up with my wings at the last moment and then spread them, hitting him in the face the moment he got up. Rubbing the spot where my wing’s tip hit him, he smiled and moved again, this time sliding between the gap in my legs. Before I could turn to face him, he had my wings where they came out between my shoulders. I froze for a second, and then opened them and flung them closed, hitting his face in the process. He released them and I continued the fight. We stopped when we heard the first voice coming from inside the door leading to the arena.
“Good, don’t forget what I said. Today you take on a werewolf,” he told me and went to stand outside the circle. Crossing his arms in front of his chest, he looked at the others approaching us.
Okay, so I get a werewolf today. It can’t be that bad.
I turned to look at the others, Seth’s face making me smile and his smiling back in return. Then I saw Nina and her Custos heading for my circle and my smile dropped. Oh no, not one of the divas!
Nina walked up to me, her face full of absolute hatred. Not a very happy person, is she? She turned and took a fighting stance in front of me, transforming into one hell of a big wolf. Crap! I’m so dead! Still in hellhound form, I braced myself, preparing for anything from this girl. She didn’t look like the type to announce her attack.
She had a snout like a wolf. Her eyes also turned yellow with big black pupils. Hell, she had a set of teeth only seen in movies. I had a feeling this was going to hurt like hell. Her entire body was covered with brown fur. Basically, she looked like all the werewolves I had seen in the movies, just way bigger.
Then she leaned back on her feet and burst forward. The moment she was a step from me, I side stepped her, sending her straight into Chax and her own Custos. They all landed on the ground, but she was up and charging at me again in no time. I was too slow and she rammed into me like a bull, lifting me up and then bringing me down to the ground hard. I felt my breath leave me. At the moment of impact, a small scream escaped without my permission, and then I saw her teeth heading my way. Oh, hell no! Not this again. Do I have a ‘bite me’ sign on my forehead?
I grabbed her throat and squeezed as hard as I could, her eyes trained on me while she snapped her snout open and shut in an attempt to bite me. I just hung on for dear life. No way was she sinking that set of teeth into me. She started to wheeze and I knew that she was running out of air. The moment I felt her body start to go limp, I slammed her with my head, throwing her off me to land hard on the ground.
Jumping up, I moved back, creating space between us. Okay, lesson one. Never give a werewolf enough room to build up speed. Ends very bad. She got up and started to growl like a wolf. Okay, now she is really pissed. Nice going Kas. She stormed again, but this time she couldn’t build enough momentum to give her a boost. When she was only a step from me, I stepped forward and brought my arm up with a fist straight into her face. She went flying to the left with the impact and grabbed her face.
Okay, I think I’ve got the hang of it now. Game on.
I didn’t give her the opportunity to regroup. Stepping forward, I brought up my knee, smashing her in the face again. Her head went backwards with the impact, but I was not done. I grabbed the fur of her chest and brought her to her feet. Dazed, and with her head still hung back, I used my wings to lift both of us up in the air, and then slammed down with her below me. Her breath slammed out of her this time. She screamed and lay there motionless.
Nice, I think I made my point. I got up and started to walk to Chax, a grin on my face. I really expected him to at least show some sort of emotion, but he just stood there looking at me. The next thing I knew, I picked up movement behind me with my wings’ sensors. I turned just in time to see a huge wolf slam into me once again.
Crap, what do I need to do to keep her down? Again, I used my hands to keep her mouth away from me. Her snout was snapping like a rabies-infested dog in my face, drool dropping on my cheek. Oh, this is so gross. I tried to move my arms in to get her off but couldn’t.
“Concentrate,” Chax said, and then my brain clicked in. Okay. The cave thing. I need to concentrate. I closed my eyes and focused on the space behind her, and wouldn’t you believe it, I shifted out from under her.
Now standing behind her, I looked at her, confu
sed over the empty space in front of her. I grabbed her by the shoulders, digging in my nails, and using my wings, I lifted up and flipped over her. Taking her from a bent down position to her feet, I threw her over me. She flew through the air and landed on the ground with force. She skidded all the way to someone’s feet, and then stopped dead.
But I learned lesson two today: Never turn your back on your opponent. So I walked over to her, bent down and picked up her head, looking her in the eye. I had my fist ready on the other arm, just in case she did a “pop goes the weasel” move on me. Oh yeah, she was really lights out, not even a stir. But still I stood up and just looked at her, my sight catching the pair of feet of the person she skidded to. I looked up and found Seth looking at me with a huge smile.
“Well done, Kas,” he said, and Nanini started jumping up and down next to him.
“You so kicked her hairy butt!” she yelled, delighted at the whole thing. Smiling, I looked down at Nina, who now lay in her normal form. Her Custos came to stand next to me. Without a word, he picked her up and walked off. I kept my eyes on them and then turned to Chax, who was smiling at me. Proud of me, perhaps? Yeah, a girl can dream.
“Come, your next opponent waits,” he demanded and walked by me. I followed him with my eyes as he went to stand next to Seth, who was also still smiling at me. Then my brain kicked in again. Oh hell no, not Nanini. There is no way in hell I’m hurting her like that.
“No,” I said, shaking my head and turning around, changing back to normal.
“Is there a problem, Kasadya?” Chax asked me.
“Yes, there is no way in hell I’m hurting her like that, so no,” I replied, turning around to face him.
“Kas, I promise you that Nanini would be able to handle sparring with you,” Seth said, still smiling.
“I said no. Pick someone else.”
“There is no one else, Kasadya. Now stop wasting time and fall in,” Chax commanded, his pissed off face back.
“No,” I said again, taking a stand against him and Seth on this one.
“It’s okay, Kas. I can handle it,” Nanini reassured me, jumping on the spot. I just looked at her. She was so small and petite. No way in hell can I do it. I turned around to walk away from this.
“Remember what I said. If you can’t survive here, you die out there. Will you leave Nanini to such a fate?” Chax asked, and had me stopping on the spot. “If she can’t handle you here, she will die out there,” he went on, and at that I turned around and looked at them, my heart torn. I know she needs the experience, but how can I hurt her?
“This will be good for her,” Seth said, his smile gone and replaced by sympathy. Drawing in a breath, I walked back to them, my head down.
“Fine, I’ll spar but no rough stuff. The others can hurt her, but I won’t.”
So I walked over to stand off against her. On the other side she turned pink and started jumping on the spot. “This is going to be so fun,” she said, delighted. I don’t think so, I thought, still pissed at Chax and Seth for making me do this. I transformed and waited for her to do something. Jumping on the spot, she suddenly moved and blasted me with her pink light, hitting me in the torso. I bent over from the hit. Oh that hurts, really bad.
“Focus, Kasadya,” Chax advised from behind me. Yeah, easy for you to say! She isn’t your petite little roommate, and one of only two friends you have here.
Bringing myself up straight again, she was in the air and moving toward me. I just stepped to the side at the last moment, and she flew into Chax and Seth, taking them with her. I stood there smiling; payback was so much fun. They got up and Chax looked at me with anger rolling off of him in waves. Seth just smiled and helped Nanini up. She shook her head and then returned to the circle, and we started the whole thing again. And we kept it up for a while. I avoided her the entire time without even trying to attack her once.
“Okay girls, that’s it for the day,” Seth said from the side and we stopped, Nanini dropping to the ground totally wasted. She had given her everything to try to hit me and it didn’t work out too well for her. At least she had no adrenalin left.
“Come on,” I said, walking over to her and offering my hand to help her up.
“That was so unfair. You kept dodging me the whole time,” she complained as she grabbed my hand and I pulled her up.
“I said no way in hell would I hurt you, and I meant it,” I replied, and patted her on the back. I turned around only to see Chax walking away from us. I looked at Seth who just shrugged his shoulders.
“I am so not getting into his good books anytime soon,” I said, and walked over to Seth with Nanini dragging along behind me. We walked slowly back to the house and helped Nanini all the way to the zone, where she planted herself on the couch.
“I see my Apprendo doesn’t have an adrenalin disorder for the rest of the day. Something new for you to discover,” Seth told her, as we stood there looking at Nanini, now totally wasted. She remained still without any comeback.
“Mind if Kas and I leave you here to get back your spunk?” Seth asked her, looking at me with a smile.
“No, you can go. I’m not moving here for a long while, she replied from beneath her arm, which was lying over her head.
Seth motioned for me to follow him. We left and walked down the hall that led to the front lobby. “She needed that. Thanks, Kas,” Seth said.
“Yeah, I’d rather waste her adrenalin before I hurt her like Nina,” I replied, smiling back.
“You interested in a walk in the gardens?” he asked, gesturing to a door when we reached it.
“Didn’t even know we had any,” I answered, laughing a little, and walked out the door with him. Outside was a beautiful garden with fountains and statues scattered around. I walked over to the red roses and held one in my hand without breaking it off. It was so beautiful, with a drop of water on a petal to give it that extra spark.
“So, what do you think? It’s Vulcan’s hobby,” he said, gesturing his hand over the scene.
“No way in hell! Vulcan?”
“Yes, unbelievable, but he is quite the artist when it comes to gardens. Like your mother, his ability is earth, so he can basically turn the whole garden around in one day.”
“So that’s how my mom got to be a landscape specialist. No wonder.” But thinking back, our own garden was always perfect. It was her special place to wander around in.
“You should have seen her and Vulcan fighting here every night, the one moving in on the other’s creation. We used to come and sit here to watch them fight and try to outdo each other.”
“I can imagine that. My mom is always right, no matter what, and I think Vulcan is the same, at least from what I have seen so far.”
“Oh yes, it’s a specialty in the earth fae. Just like vampires, they have developed a personality to fit the job and in this case, it’s stubbornness,” he replied, laughing. We stopped at a fountain and I turned to look at him. He came to stand in front of me and placed his hands on my hips.
“I must admit, you’re becoming a distraction for me,” he whispered into my ear as he leaned his head close to mine.
“Yeah, why would that be?” I teased him.
“When I see you, I forget what I wanted to do, and I find myself constantly thinking about you, which is a first for me.”
“That’s good, because you do the same to me,” I replied and pulled his head to mine to kiss him. Again, my world exploded the moment our mouths touched, and when I felt his tongue against mine, I gave a soft moan, pleased beyond words.
He moved his hands down my back, and then placed them on my bottom, pressing me into him. Oh my soul, this feels so good. I sucked in breath to try and stop another moan. He smiled against my mouth and brought his hands to rest on my hips.
I left one of my hands on his chest while the other moved over him, feeling his perfect body beneath. Describing the emotions that go through your heart with such passion wasn’t easy. I felt excited, yet shy. His scent
was intoxicating, like oranges, making me want to breathe him in. And yet I struggled to take a breath. As his hands moved over me, I hummed to life, buzzing from his touch. His hand moved to my back and he pressed me to him once more. His body against mine felt so good.
“Ahem.” Someone cleared their throat behind us, and we broke apart. I was blushing, bright red from being caught in the moment by someone.
“Seth, we have a situation. The council calls,” Vulcan said turning around and walking off.
Oh man, that’s just great. Now he knows too. Not that I was ashamed, but hell, this was a first for me, in all things having to do with the male sex. I looked up at Seth and saw him smiling down at me.
“Bellus, Kas, beyond words,” he said and folded his arms around me again.
“Thanks,” I replied, moving my mouth slowly over his, not kissing, just teasing.
“I have to go. I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asked, his mouth slowly brushing mine in return, a smile on his face. Man, his mouth is so divine. So beautiful and wow, can it kiss.
“Yes,” I answered, almost breathless from excitement again, and he kissed me to make it even worse. A few seconds later we broke apart and he moved his thumb across my cheek, pressing a kiss to my head.
“Caveo mea cor,” he whispered and turned around, walking to the house.
My heart was still pounding in my chest like a jackhammer. He really had a talent of leaving me shaken. I sat on the bench for a while, looking at the beautiful garden. Before this, I always wondered what it would be like to love and be loved. Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would be like this. He was gentle with me, the way he touched me let me feel cherished, not at all what I had seen at school. Those guys were grabbing the girls like they were a drug. I remembered once, I found a couple kissing behind the bleachers, and the guy was holding her neck at an impossible angle, completely dominating her. I so didn’t want to be dominated; I wanted to be loved. It felt that way with Seth. No urgency, just enjoyment of every second.
My brooding over Seth was broken by a girl’s giggle and I turned around to see who was so happy. Wouldn’t you believe it, there was Lada kissing the hell out of Lotan. Oh yeah, she had some explaining to do after this. Seeing that the two of them were getting really frisky with the kissing thing, I decided to slip away and leave them to their business. I’d torment her about it later.
I slipped past a bunch of roses and walked to the front door. Entering the lobby, I stopped in my tracks. Kali and Chax were standing there in what looked like a lover’s embrace. His arms blocking her in and their heads inches from each other’s. Oh, no way in hell! Wait, this actually made sense. Yep, grumpy and his evil snow white, perfect for each other. Then they both noticed me and turned their eyes on me, Chax backing away from her at the same time.
“Sorry. Tried to avoid another situation outside. I’ll get out of your way,” I said, moving past them up the stairs so fast I was in the hall in four seconds flat. Oh man, that was going to give me nightmares tonight.
