Kasadya Hellhound Awakened

by Karen Swart

  Chapter 19

  We walked behind him while he led the way down two more hallways and finally stopping at two big double doors. He opened them and stepped in. We followed, but stopped dead in our tracks to take in the picture. Oh my soul.

  It was a huge room, more like a basketball court, filled with fighting equipment. From punching bags to weapons, and even a freaking shooting range, wow, Amon didn’t hold back. I looked around and guessed about twenty guys were doing some sort of training or practice to keep up their skills. Six pairs were sparring against each other. My eyes caught Mad Max. He was moving at an incredible speed, jabbing, kicking, and dodging his opponent. Yeah, the guy was actually good, for a human. He wouldn’t be able to take on a Fallen, but at least he would give a demon a go or two.

  “Come on,” Amon said, gesturing for us to follow him to the sparring pairs, where he stopped, whistling for everyone’s attention. Just like trained dogs, they all stopped dead and turned to face him.

  “Okay, guys, I would like you to meet our newest team members. Kas and Kali will be joining the fun, so make sure they get a good reception,” he finished and then turned to us, nodding and walking back to the doors to exit. Okay, so here we are. I looked at the guys standing there, looking at us with confusion. Silence followed.

  “Um, I don’t want to sound like a misogynist or anything, but you girls won’t be able to handle this jo…” a guy said, but stopped the moment Kali and I shifted to Fallen form. In unison they all stepped back, taking in their new teammates, all except Max, of course.

  “Do we make the team now?” I asked sarcastically.

  Another short silence followed until Max stepped in and took over. “Ryan, take Kali as a sparring partner, and Kasadya, you’re with Ben,” he instructed, turning around and nodding to the guy he was sparring with before they started up again. I turned my eyes from them to try and find out who was freaking Ben, to find two guys standing in front of us, still awestruck. Oh, this is going to be fun. I never got to beat up a human guy before. I looked at Kali and found her with the same wicked smile, and then turned my head back to the two guys.

  “So, who’s Ben?” I asked, still grinning.

  The brown haired guy shook himself out of it and looked at me. “That would be me,” he replied, but didn’t go any further than that; he just stood there. Oh right, I forgot we were still in Fallen form. So I changed back to cut them some slack. Kali followed but kept her wicked grin.

  “Okay, guys, we’re all yours,” I said, smiling.

  “Um, Ryan, you and Kali take number five, and Kas and I will take number seven,” Ben said and gestured for me to follow him. I took a parting look at Kali, and we both smiled at each other before walking off with our new sparring partners. Ben walked to an open spot next to Max and his partner, turning to look at me with a confused look. “Okay, I’ll show you some basic moves, and then we can practice them one at a time,” he said, looking at me with pity. Oh yeah, this is going to be real fun.

  “Ben, trust me when I say you’re so screwed,” I threw back at him with my evil smile.

  He took in the message, and when I was sure that he understood, I moved with super speed, kicking his legs out from under him. He landed with an “oomph” on the ground and stared up at me, surprise all over his face. I looked at him and smiled. “Now that the introduction is done, let’s play,” I said and stepped back for him to get up.

  Slowly he got up to look at me. He gave his head a little shake, clearly indicating that he understood my message: game on. He lunged for me, but I just swiped away his punch and pushed him to the other side. I know what my punch did to a demon, and I think giving him that would most likely end in death, so I had to take it slow and gentle. He was human. I looked over to Kali and found her standing over Ryan, smiling like a little girl. She gesturing with her finger for him to get up. Yep, this is fun.

  Ben was back up and went at me again. Again, I just blocked him and pushed him to the ground. After a while he stood there dripping with sweat and blowing like a fish, and I was staring at my nails. Fun moved to boredom and I wanted more fun. This totally sucked.

  I looked over to Kali and found her looking at me with the same thought; we needed more of a challenge, and these guys were just too fragile. I turned to look at Ben. “Would you and Ryan mind if Kali and I sparred together?” I asked him.

  He was bracing his hands on his knees and leaning forward, totally wasted, but nodded in agreement. “Thanks,” I said and walked over to Kali to find Ryan also totally wasted. Nope, human guys are so not going to do it for us. “So, shall we spar?” I asked Kali, and her bored look turned to excitement.

  “Totally,” she replied and we both walked to a huge open spot in the court before facing off against each other.

  We transformed in unison and were on each other, kicking, punching, you name it. Adrenalin surged through me, and I felt myself light up like a firecracker. Kali reached the same hype so our sparring went into over-drive. About an hour later we were getting bored with each other and stopped. Breathing a little hard but still in good shape we turned to each other and smiled. “Weapons?” Kali asked, getting excited again. I was about to say yes when I took in the crowd gathered around us. All the guys, even Max, were standing there looking at us. Okay, what now?

  “Man, I love my life!” the misogynist guy said, guessing that he must be the youngest by his baby face features. “You girls are awesome!” he continued. I looked at Kali and found her also confused.

  “Gentlemen, I think we just found our next stage of training,” Max said, so I locked eyes with him.

  “What?” I asked, wondering what the hell he’s doing.

  “In here we can only spar against each other, which means that when we reach demons we are not fully trained to take them on with the necessary skills. But seeing that we have two Fallen here to assist with this problem, we can fix that,” he went on.

  I took in his words and was shocked to the core. “Are you crazy? We’ll kill them!” I threw back at him.

  “What do you think will happen if we fight against a demon? Do you think they will go easy on us because where human?”

  Damn, he’s got a point. “No,” I replied, but kept the rest to myself.

  “If we train with you, and learn how to work around a stronger body, we’ll be more capable of getting out alive.”

  I just kept my mouth shut and stared at him. What a freaking idiot. So now he wants us to help them train, and then what? The first bone that breaks, the rest will be on us in a flash. No way in hell! Shaking my head, I walked off to the wall covered in weapons, to get me and Kali some toys to play with.

  “Are you not part of this team then?” he asked from behind me. I kept walking, thinking over the question. Yeah, sure, we are going to go out with these guys and kill some demons, but I can’t be responsible for hurting any one of them. Taking a stand, I was looking over the weapons, which were by my standard boring. He walked over to stand beside me.

  “I’m waiting.” he said, folding his arms across his chest. I looked at him then and squared off in the same stance.

  “I’m not doing it. One punch and someone can end up dead,” I replied, taking my stand on this subject.

  “One punch out there and they are dead, but you have an opportunity to teach them how to deflect such a punch and walk out alive,” Max threw back.

  He almost sounded like Chax, and for a moment I was taken back to the time I was in training. Chax also had a way of making me see the importance of survival inside Exsilium, to be able to survive outside it. Too bad I ended up in hell, and had one hell of a crash course in survival. I turned around and looked at Kali, who was standing there, looking at us.

  “We’ll work something out,” she said, understanding what I was asking her without a word.

  I looked back at Max. “If anyone dies, it’s on your head, not mine,” I finished and fury poured over me when he smiled at me. Oh, I’m going to kick his ass big ti
me.

  “Okay then, let’s begin,” he said and walked over to where Kali and the rest stood, turning to look at me. I took in a deep breath and walked over to them. Man, I hate my job. When I reached them, Kali and I looked at each other, trying to find a suitable way to get this over with.

  “Maybe you should start the way you did with me?” Kali suggested. Thank the Lord I had her with me. I turned around and faced the crowd.

  “Okay guys, let’s get started. Pair up and make sure you have enough space to move. This is going to be rough.”

  Intrigued, they all went off to get spar partners and made sure there was enough space. I took the opportunity to get back at Max. Walking to him, I shooed his partner over to Kali and took a stand against him. “The first thing about demons is that they’re beyond dumb. You give them something to think about, and they will stand still long enough for a deathblow,” I finished, snapping open my wings, almost sending the two guys on my side flying. Luckily, they reacted fast and ducked.

  I used my huge wings to create a distraction, giving Kali what she needed. Moving faster than human eyes could see, she had three guys down on their backs and was facing her partner again, as if it never happened. Dumbstruck, they all looked at us.

  Closing my wings and keeping my eyes on Max, I continued, “Never make the same mistake. Regardless of what a demons is or shows you, you never fall for it. Always keep a clean mind, remain focused, and stay on top of the game.” Then I moved fast, sending the guy on my left flying through the air into a few of his fellows. Shaking my head, I looked at them. “Okay, this is the part where you guys snap into what I am saying, and start focusing,” I demanded, not pleased that they were just standing there, unprepared.

  Next, Kali moved straight for Max; he dodged her and pushed her away from him, preparing to fight. She stopped and slowly walked back to her partner. Good, someone listened. I moved next but he was prepared and sidestepped me. Without stopping, I continued on and the guy next to him was on his back. “Focus!” I yelled at them. Damn, Kali was way easier to train than these guys.

  Turning around, I walked back to Max, but wouldn’t you believe it, they finally got a spark of life, attacking me and Kali. Well, they gave it their best shot. Moving fast, we dodged their punches and kicks. Every time one of us swiped away another’s leg or hand, we would lash out at them, telling them what they did wrong.

  Bend it more, move in more, use this and use that. We continued for what seemed like hours; the humans started getting tired, so we stopped and called it a day. Some were limping out of the court and others were carried out. I warned Max that our punches packed a whole new level of pain, but no, he had to carry on. Speaking of Max, I turned to look at him.

  Unlike the others, he was still standing without any major injuries; he only had a black eye popping out from a blow Kali gave him. “So, are you happy?” I asked him, sarcasm all the way.

  “Yes, I am,” he responded with a smile and started to walk over to a water fountain at the door.

  “So, you enjoyed seeing your team get beaten up and hurt?” I asked. Kali came to stand next to me, watching the two of us.

  He took a sip of water and then came back up again before turning to look at us. “No, but I’d rather see them hurt like this, before I have to carry their bodies here,” he finished, turning around and walking out. Damn, another freaking Chax! Fury slammed through me and I folded my hands into fists, nails piercing my skin.

  “Well, he’s got a point,” Kali said next to me.

  “Yeah,” I replied and started for the door. Crap, I felt really dirty by now and needed a bath so bad. “Let’s go see if we can get cleaned up in time for supper.” I said to Kali, and she nodded. So we strolled through the compound and luckily made it back to the two rooms Melissa showed us earlier.

  I went into mine and discovered bags full of stuff on the bed. Opening one up, I found clothes while another one contained shoes. Wow, Melissa doesn’t take shopping as a joke. Yeah, the woman can move. I took out the clothes and spotted a pair of yoga pants and a tank top. Pink and gray, of course. Wow, looking at them I almost had a déjà vu moment. Yeah, I used to wear colors like these, until I found my black leathers more comfortable. I stood there for a moment, arguing to myself about the clothes. “Come on, Kas. Just put it on,” I kept telling myself over and over. But I just couldn’t get myself to do it.

  “Kas, I know you like your clothes, but it’s time to leave hell behind us, or at least when we’re off. Put them on and let’s get our butts to dinner. I’m starving,” Kali said from behind me. At the first words I had turned to look at her. She smiled and walked back to her room.

  She’s right. I need to let go and get my life back, well, what’s left of it. So I grabbed the clothes and went to the bathroom in the middle of the hall. Unlike The Hellhouse, we didn’t have our own; we now had one that looked like school lockers and showers. Walking inside, I found Kali getting undressed.

  “Melissa brought a bunch of products; I can see she likes her shopping. My kind of girl.” Kali said, smiling. Yeah, I never liked shopping, but I did like hanging out at the mall.

  “Good, then you won’t bug me about it. Now, you go get her if you want to waste your time in a mall,” I played with her, sitting down on a bench to get my boots off.

  “Oh, no way in this world would I take you into a mall. You’d trash the place,” she went on, getting into a shower. Laughing, I got all my clothes off and joined her in the second stall. I grabbed a bottle of shampoo and held it to my nose. Wow, smells like peaches. Out of nowhere the image of Chax kissing me slammed into me. Shaking my head, I tried to get it out, but no I had to go all the freaking way right up to the point where he turned away and left me there on the ground. Why on earth would this stupid brain of mine go back to that? Then it kicked in full force, because Chax smelled like peaches. I made a mental note of it. Now it’s freaking stuck in my head! Damn, I really hope that doesn’t happen every time I smell peaches.

  I continued washing my head. Kali was talking about some of the guys in the training, but all I could think about was that kiss. Was I that bad that he had to run away? A feeling started to grow inside me, new and strange. I had a hard time putting a name to it; I felt sad, yet angry. Was this grief? No, couldn’t be. I didn’t know him that well. Maybe it was because they’re all gone. At that thought Kali ripped me back to reality by hammering me about not listening to her.

  We finished off and went to dinner, where everyone was talking, even Kali. But I still had that strange feeling, and my head smelling like peaches didn’t help at all. We finished dinner and called it a night, Amon telling us to get some rest. We would hit New Orleans first thing in the morning.

  I said goodnight to Kali and went to bed. Laying there, I had to run a few things through my mind. Okay, first thing, I need a “charm” or I go insane and start killing people and in return have to be put down. Second, we can’t reach Exsilium and most likely everyone’s gone, so there goes my “charm”. Last, of course, I just joined up with a team of insane humans, led by an even more insane fae. Yep, like always, my life was pretty much totally messed up. It took my mind a long time to shut down and give my body some rest. Only to come back to the version of a dream, one of my childhood. One filled with some sort of happiness.