“You may want to see a doctor about that cough,” he said softly in his bass voice.
“I don’t need to see a doctor. I was trying to get your attention.”
“You’ve got it.”
“Will you spar with me?”
“Pick your weapon.”
“No weapons.”
That got his attention. He pulled himself back up to standing and turned to look at me. Even though I’m tall, Tristan towered over me.
“I know you’re strong, Red, for a girl. But please. You’re no match for me.”
“This isn’t a contest. I need to build my strength and improve my hand-to-hand. Who better to teach me?”
He raised his right eyebrow at me, and his lip curled into a smile. He made condescending look good.
“I’m not going easy on you, just because you’re all High Priestess and shit.”
“I don’t expect you to.”
“And I can’t promise I won’t hurt you.”
“And I can’t promise I won’t hurt you, either.”
His smug smile broadened to a wide grin, his eyes alight with a mischievous twinkle. I didn’t wait for him to signal readiness. I aimed for his stomach and punched with my right hand. Even though he hadn’t been at the ready, it didn’t matter. My punch landed where I’d aimed, but he smiled at my feeble hit. My knuckles stung from the impact of my tender flesh hitting his rock-hard abs.
“Any time you’re ready, Red.”
Ciardha had lit the spark of anger in me, and Tristan’s smug comment poured gasoline on my fire. I swung my left leg up, intending to hit his face, but Tristan easily blocked it. He made me feel like a novice.
I went at him like a punching, kicking maniac. But Tristan easily blocked my hardest hits.
“You’re fired up today. What’s got your shorts in a knot?” Tristan asked.
“Everything.”
I swung my fist up to land an uppercut to Tristan’s chin, but he easily blocked my blow with his forearm. My knuckles were on fire from his blocks.
“Any particular everything that’s eating at you today?”
“My dad.”
“Oh, parent trouble.”
“No, it’s not like that. I mean … my dad was taken.”
Tristan stopped blocking and looked at me. “I’m sorry, Red.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not the first to have a parent or loved one taken. And unfortunately, I won’t be the last.” I swung my leg and landed a solid shot to Tristan’s rib cage, but he barely flinched.
“Look, I know you’re hurtin’, but remember, you can’t punch your way out of pain.”
“How do you know? Ever try it?”
I hurled my fist toward Tristan’s head, and he reached out and grabbed my arm before my hand made contact. He looked me straight in the eye, my hand still in his fist, and said, “Yes.”
He let go of my hand. “When my mama died, I felt like my insides had been ripped out and replaced with razor blades. That’s how much it hurt. And I set out to do everything I could to just make the hurtin’ stop.”
“What’d you do?”
“I shot up and snorted in anything that I couldn’t smoke.” Tristan let out a soft chuckle. “And to help it along, I got mixed up in gang shit. Plenty of times I made people bleed so maybe I could feel less like I had knives in my belly.”
“So you do know.”
“Yep, I know it more than most.”
“Yeah, but you have to admit, sometimes it feels so good to just hit something.”
Tristan let out a full belly laugh. “Damn, girl, you are one hard-headed–”
“Careful.”
“Yeah, you’re right, Red. Sometimes, whacking something just feels good. But remember what T said. You can throw punches and hear bone crunch and walk away with bloody knuckles, it won’t kill the hurt inside.”
I nodded.
“Ready to get back to work?”
I nodded again, and we both took up a ready position. I thought about what Tristan said. Of course, he was right. My brain knew it even if I didn’t want to. Madame Wong had taught me to never allow the fire of anger to overtake me in combat. I could hear Madame Wong’s voice in my head. “Let go of anger. Be in the flow of things, Miss Emily.” I’d spent countless days in another dimension being beaten by Madame Wong’s cane until I learned the lesson of awareness. I tried to find my groove like she’d taught me.
Be in the flow.
I focused on my breath and on the energy around me. Let go. Allow the power of the torc to flow through you. Be one with the energy of Akasha.
As I let go of my anger and frustration, my senses heightened. Tristan swung at me, and this time I sensed the change in the air molecules before I heard the whiff or saw his fist come around. My hand reacted before my brain had time to tell it to, and I blocked his punch.
We locked in hand-to-hand combat. Our arms and legs punched, kicked and blocked at a furious pace. Tristan’s muscle T was soaked through with sweat. He breathed hard, but I could barely hear it over my own raspy breaths.
“Had enough yet, Red?”
“I was about to ask you the same question.”
I continued to focus on the energy around me. I allowed Lucent Energy to fill me, and the torc felt warm on my arm. I took to the air and somersaulted over Tristan, landing a kick to his back before he’d had time to register where I’d landed.
“Ah, you gonna fight dirty, then?”
“Maybe I like it dirty.”
“My kind of girl.”
I tried to take off over his head again, but this time Tristan was ready for it. He caught my foot just as it was over his head. He yanked me, and I fell down onto him, sending both of us to the floor. I landed across his body, my stomach straddling his.
“I was teasing, Red. No need to come on to me like that here.”
I pushed the hair out of my face and got up. I held out my hand to help Tristan off the floor.
Tristan held on to me longer than was necessary. “I don’t think you need my help. You hold your own damned well, when your head’s in the game.”
“Thanks, T.”
“Think you could teach me that flying squirrel move of yours?” His warm brown eyes were haloed in long, thick lashes. His lips were curled back into his smirk of a smile revealing a row of large, straight white teeth. A thin film of sweat covered his forehead, and he smelled of man. I found it hard to think straight or utter an intelligent phrase when Tristan stood that close.
“Well, um, I … well, I don’t know if …”
Tristan laughed. “I’m just teasing with you, Red. Even if I could learn that, I don’t think y’all really want a two hundred fifty pound guy flying over your heads.”
I let out a nervous laugh and looked down at my hand still held in Tristan’s beefy one. I looked back up at him, and he said, “Oh, sorry,” and let my hand go.
“Want to get back to work, boss?” he asked.
“Uh, yeah. Sure.”
“I know you can hold your own and that whirling dervish move you’ve got sure comes in handy. But if you want, I can show you a few moves that can work better against burly guys like me. It’s more like dirty street fighting than what you normally do.”
“Sure, that’d be great.”
Tristan proceeded to show me how to approach a person and use my body to put them down. During his demonstration, he had me put my back to him, then he came up from behind me and grabbed me so I could practice fighting off an attacker.
At one point I caught Jake’s eyes on us. He was at the weapons table, and he looked at me with a searing look in his eyes. Dammit, he’s jealous. In the split second it took me to take in Jake’s stare, Tristan was able to grab me up in his arms and lift me off of the ground.
“Now see, that’s where you’re supposed to stop me,” he said. He gently put me back down.
“Yeah, I know. Sorry. I was distracted.”
Tristan followed my line of sight to where Jake st
ood, his back turned to us.
“Oh, I see how it is,” he said.
“You do? What do you see?”
“That you’ve got it as bad for him as he’s got it for you.”
“What are you talking about? Jake’s Mr. Business with me. I think he just wants to be friends.”
“Yeah, right.” Tristan laughed. “He wants to be just friends with you about as much as I want to never eat bacon again.” Tristan did air quotes around just friends.
“He told you that?”
“He didn’t have to. I’m a guy. I can see the way he gets around you. Look, I like Jake. He’s my bro. But when he’s around you, he turns into super douche.”
“You noticed that, huh?”
“Yep. Pretty hard to miss.”
Greta came over to us, and her eyes were filled with venom. I hadn’t seen her look at me that way in a long time. Man, what’d I do to her?
“If you’re done flirting, you called this meeting. Everyone’s here now, so you probably ought to tell everyone why you hauled us here.”
Oh, that’s why.
“I wasn’t aware that having my ass kicked by a guy was now considered flirting with him?”
“Whatever.”
“Well, call everyone over.”
“How about you call them over. You’re the Priestess or whatever.”
“You know what I think would be hot?” asked Tristan.
“No,” I said, and at the same time Greta said, “Who cares.”
“I’d like to see the two of you going at it. Like some kind of hot, girl fight. And maybe if you’d do it in bikinis. Yeah, that’s it.”
I punched him in the arm while Greta rolled her eyes at him and glared. Tristan laughed and called out to the group. His big voice filled the room from edge to edge.
“Yo, peeps! Gather round. Red – I mean Emily – has something to say.”
“Thank you,” I said. Tristan gave me a small bow. Greta crossed her arms across her chest and turned her back to us both.
Everyone gathered around me, still holding bats, knives and other makeshift weapons. I scanned the group and allowed my eyes to rest on each face for a second or two: Tanner and Ashley, Julie and Taisha, Megan and Jake. John was wearing a white T-shirt and khakis, his hair plastered down over his bald spot.
We’d also picked up Amy, a sophomore, and her sister, Heather, in seventh grade. They’d lost both of their parents when their father went nuts and killed their mother. They didn’t know what had happened to their dad, but he’d left one day and never returned. Maybe the Dark Mob had taken him, or maybe he’d become one of them. Or perhaps he was a casualty of the growing violence. It didn’t much matter what had happened to him because the end result was the same. They were alone. Just like me.
There was Tom and Rob, two college-age guys who hadn’t lost any loved ones, but had lost friends to death or turning or being taken by the Dark Mob. Next was Sherry, a nurse who despite seeing the spread of sickness and disease and death, kept a glowing peach-colored aura and the fervent desire to stop the spread of Ciardha’s Dark Energy.
In short, as I scanned the room, I had one thought: We don’t have a prayer of defeating Ciardha. It would take a major miracle. A divine intervention.
Divine intervention seemed as likely to happen as Ciardha suddenly becoming Lucent. The Goddess was imprisoned in the jail she’d created for Ciardha. When I’d last seen her, she was no more than a spark of light. I don’t see much evidence of her light in the eyes of people anymore either.
Like my ancestor Saorla all those years ago, my Tribe would soon face the battle of their lives. The battle for their lives. And it was my job to inspire them.
“You have the torc,” Greta had said. “Lead them. Inspire them.”
All eyes were on me. I cleared my throat, took a deep breath, and began.
“I’ve always told you that I’d never lie to you, or keep things from you. So I’m going to give it to you straight up – the truth as I know it. Ciardha, the God of Dark Energy, is here on Earth. And I think it’s possible that he has taken on a human form like he did in the Umbra Perdita.”
Murmurs rose from the group.
“But you told us he was imprisoned in that place of nightmares and shadows,” said John.
A chorus of, “Yeah,” and, “That’s what she said,” rose.
“Yes, that’s what I said. He was there. But no longer. Ciardha walks among us.”
“How do you know this?” asked Taisha.
“Because he was at my house.”
“You saw him?” asked Ashley.
“Well, no, I didn’t see him.”
A chorus of questions was called out to me from the group. They all talked at once, and I couldn’t make out what any one person asked me. Tristan once again used his powerful voice to intervene.
“Shut it, people. Let her finish.” There was immediate silence. Thank the Goddess he’s on our side.
“Look. I can’t provide many details because I haven’t got any. You all know about the torc and its powers. One of the abilities it strengthens in me is the power of the sight – of my sixth sense. I can feel vibrations left by people, like an impression of the energy they leave behind. I’m asking you to trust me when I tell you this: Ciardha is here. And he took my dad. I don’t know if he’s responsible for taking the others, but it’s a reasonable guess that he’s behind it somehow.”
Whispers and talk began around me. I glanced at Taisha. She stared at me, her eyes wide with fear, her mouth pulled in.
“If this dude took our people, then I say let’s go kick his Dark Energy ass back to his nightmare prison!” Tanner said.
Others took up the call, and their excitement rose. Their weeks of hard preparation had made them hungry for a chance to test their skills. Some of them had fought off a Dark Mobster here and there, but on the whole, none of us had seen much action since we began training.
I have to admit, I was pretty fired up too. For over a year I’d waited. For what, I hadn’t known. But I waited for a chance to do something. If we could find Ciardha, I could finally take action.
Above the din of the excited voices and playful sparring, I heard Taisha say, “So, you know where he is? You know where he has the lost ones?”
The Tribe began to quiet down, and all eyes were on me once again. Expectant.
“Well, no, we don’t yet know his location.”
Taisha’s face had gone from afraid, to expectant, to disappointed within the span of less than five minutes.
“How’re we going to kick his ass when we don’t even know where he is?” asked Tanner. Others fired out similar questions.
Above the noise rose Greta’s voice. “Shut it! Think, people. How could we know where he is when Emily just found out he’s here, like, less than three hours ago?”
They began to calm down.
“What’s the plan?” asked Megan.
“Reconnaissance,” said Jake.
We hadn’t discussed a plan at all. I was surprised that Jake threw that out without having talked about it first. But hey, he had a plan. Go for it!
“We need a couple of strong people to do some stakeout. Try to find someone from the Dark Mob and follow ’em around. My guess is that one of those shadow guys will lead us to Ciardha.”
“Got ya covered,” said Tristan.
“You have what covered?” asked Greta.
“There’s a guy, lives in my building. I’ve had my eye on him. I think he’s a shadow dude. Whad’ya say, Greta? Join me on a stakeout?” Tristan asked.
Greta’s face turned as red as a tomato. Even her ears were on fire. If there wasn’t a crowd around her, I think she would have slapped him. Ashley, Heather, Amy and Megan – heck, even Julie – would have jumped at the chance to be alone with Tristan on a stakeout. I couldn’t understand why Greta balked at his offer.
She glared at me, but I wasn’t about to get into the middle of it and offer to go on the stakeout with Tristan. B
esides, I think Jake would have exploded if I did. When I sparred with Tristan, I hadn’t intended to make Jake jealous or angry, but apparently it caused him to be both. He needs to trust me.
“Fine!” she yelled at last. “I’ll do this stupid stakeout with you.”
Tristan’s lips turned up in a big smile. He looked so roguish when he smiled like that.
“Great. Then we have a start. Tristan and Greta will start a stakeout. If this guy is DM, you two discreetly follow him around. Greta, you may need some help from Emily on how to blend in more. She’s got the whole not showering, brushing her hair, or washing her clothes thing down,” said Jake.
Ouch! What a bitchy comment. Doesn’t become you.
I said nothing but looked calmly at him, right in the eye. I swear he flinched and looked down at his feet.
“Don’t worry, Jake. All of us girls will help Greta come up with a darker look for her stakeout. We’ll work together because that’s how we’re going to win this battle. Together. Now, what are you all standing around for? Let’s get to it!”
I think everyone was happy to get to work, trying their best to relieve their fear and tension. Soon the room was filled with the clacking of bo sticks hitting each other, the ping of steel, and the grunts and groans of punches, kicks and blows.
As for me, I chose to sit on the mat and meditate. It wasn’t what I wanted to do. I wanted to go at someone like a freight train and dare them to try to stop me. But I thought of what Tristan had said, and of Madame Wong and my time in the Netherworld. When I had been angry, fearful or agitated, she’d made me sit on the mat and meditate. I’d hated it, and hated her for making me do it.
But she’d been right. When my mind was a flame, I needed to dampen it with breath.
So I sat and I breathed. I closed out the sound of grunts and groans, closed out the clatter of swords and the sound of the air being cut by blades. I didn’t smell the stink of Rob’s body odor. He really needs to buy some deodorant. I went to that place of calm within me, a place I hadn’t spent nearly enough time in. And when I landed in that realm of peace, I prayed.
Brighid, I don’t know if you can hear me, but if you can, I need your help. Your children are in trouble. They’re hurting, and they need your help. I was entrusted with powerful magic for the good of all humankind, but I made terrible choices. I’ve unleashed something truly evil and caused great pain for many people. I’m doing the best I can to set things right, but I need help from the divine. Brighid, if you have any power left, your children need you. Please, I pray it for the good of all of your children, please help us.
The Akasha Chronicles Trilogy Boxed Set: The Complete Emily Adams Series Page 56
