“Absolutely not, I’m sitting here wallowing. At least until Caden shows his face. Then I’ll be going in there and wallowing.” I pointed down the hall to indicate my bedroom.
“Nope, you’re getting up.”
“No, I’m not,” I started to say, but I didn’t have a choice anymore, he was pulling me to my feet. “I don’t want to be healthy….I want to wallow. Why won’t you let me wallow?”
All I got was one of his biggest smiles as he tugged me toward the elevator.
“Can’t I at least change?”
At that he laughed. I guess he was right. What was I going to do anyway, change my wallowing sweatpants attire, for different, I’m being healthy sweatpants attire?
We made it to the stock room level and passed Joey on our way to the stairs.
I could see on his face what his thoughts were before I even heard him.
“Yeah, you don’t look so good Lex,” Joey said as we continued past him.
Mike held up his hand in all seriousness and informed Joey that he had it completely under control.
Making it up to the third floor of the building, we came to a bright open area. It was all windows and light shining into every corner.
“Why aren’t the apartments upstairs? This is so nice.” Just the late afternoon sunshine was lifting my spirits, although I would chew and swallow my own tongue before I would admit it.
“After you start to change there is this weird compulsion to be underground. Cliché, I know.”
It wasn’t what I had expected. It looked like a boxer’s gym. No big weight machines like you would think when you looked at these guys. It was just mats and punching dummies.
“Caden said you wanted to learn to fight.”
“Couldn’t hurt right?”
“The way we fight it can.” He laughed again. “But don’t worry, I’ll take it easy on you. I’m not into beating up girls.”
“What are you two doing?” I heard Caden’s voice by the door. The easy camaraderie in the room instantly turned to thick tension. Mike seemed oblivious, relaxed as ever, completely immune to the tension that seemed to brew between Caden and me.
“I was going to give Lex some lessons in hand to hand combat,” Mike said as he took a fake jab towards me.
“I’ll do it,” Caden said.
“You hate training beginners?” Mike looked at him questioning.
“This is different. She has to learn quickly. I should be involved.”
Caden stepped forward and took Mike’s spot, and I watched as he unbuttoned his white linen dress shirt and laid it to the side. He stood there in his snug white undershirt, clinging to every muscle in his abdomen, and his black slacks. I looked at him in his masculine glory, standing there exuding a self-confidence that was palpable, and hated how my body reacted like some stupid teenage girl. It made me angry for no logical reason.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes. What should I do?”
“Do what comes natural.”
One second he was standing in front of me, completely at ease, the next I found myself on my back, pinned underneath him. My pulse was racing and I had trouble breathing, but it wasn’t from the exertion. I couldn’t move an inch. My hands were pinned in between our bodies, and I could feel every inch of him pressed hard against me. His face was an inch from mine and the hard look in his eyes made me breathe just a bit harder as I looked up at him. His chest was firm against my hands and felt like he was made of rock, and his scent did funny things to me as I dragged in another breathe. He hesitated there, and I could almost feel the tension between us manifest into something I could almost touch. Then he was gone, moving inhumanly fast, and was leaning down a hand to help me up like nothing weird had just transpired. Maybe it hadn’t for him. Maybe it had all been in my head?
“I wanted to see how you would react in an attack.”
“What did you learn?”
“Exactly what I had expected.”
I knew a dig when I heard one.
“Are you going to help me or not?” I said it with no lack of rancor.
“I said I would. Now don’t get all bent out of shape just because I knew you were going to be bad.” He walked over and stood in front of me. “Punch me,” he said.
“Can’t I punch the bag over there?” I’d never been good with violence and punching someone for no reason was harder than you would think.
“No. Now let me see how you set up.”
“Huh?” He was clearly expecting me to do something but I had no idea what.
“I need to see you get into a fighting stance.” Impatience was already clear in his voice but I needed someone to teach me so I swallowed my own aggravation and got into what I thought would be a good fighting stance.
He looked at me, shook his head and made a face.
“I’m trying!”
“See how I’m standing? This is what I want you to do.”
I looked how he had his body angled slightly sideways. Following his lead, I tried to duplicate his stance.
“You need to keep your hands up by your eyebrows and elbows close to your body. This is your guard and it blocks blows. Now throw a punch at me.”
I had just enough ammunition to want to punch him now. I was tired of his condescending attitude. I let go with all my might at his jaw. He caught my fist in his palm before it hit without even the smallest flinch.
“No good. Your trying to use your arm strength alone to hit me.” He kept my hand and pulled me over toward the punching bag. “Now widen your feet to shoulder width.” I widened my stance and he kicked them a little wider apart. “Now punch the bag.”
My fist swung toward the bag but the thing was heavier than I had imagined and barely budged.
“You need to put your whole body behind it. When you punch, your hips and torso have to pivot with the blow. Watch me.”
Why did he have to have such a perfect physique? Watching him hit the beat up old punching bag was better foreplay then my last boyfriend trying his hardest with flowers and good wine.
“Try again. Hit with your first two knuckles. Those are the strongest bones in your hand.”
He reached over touching the knuckles he meant, as if I would confuse them with the last two. I swung at the bag, but the stupid thing really didn’t like to move when I was the one punching it. It was as if the bag was taunting me as well.
“Hit it again. Put your whole body behind it.” I swung toward the bag and pivoted my hips. There was definitely a stronger force to my punch, but the bag still barely swayed.
“Now, you need to practice this over and over until it becomes instinctive.”
“You’re doing good Lex.” Mike’s voice, booming from the back of the room, surprised me. I had completely forgotten he was there.
“Ready?” Caden asked Mike with a grin. Mike launched himself at Caden and was lying on his back a split second later. They both started laughing finding something about this incredibly amusing.
While they entertained themselves beating each other into a pulp, I punched the bag until I felt like my arm was going to fall off. When I just couldn’t lift my arm another time I settled into a corner, out of the way of the crazy maneuvers, and I watched them continue to spar. They were tireless. Over and over, they went at each other. Once and a while, Mike would get a good shot in, but it was overwhelmingly obvious that Caden was a much superior fighter. Every step was smooth and graceful. It was as if he knew every strike before it came. There was a beauty, even in something as brutal as this, about the way he moved. I could have watched him fight all night, but Mike called it quits about two hours in and we all called it a night.
The weeks quickly started falling into a similar groove, except later hours. Everyone here kept late hours and it was starting to feel normal. During the day I’d hang out around the bar reading or researching every piece of information I could find on demons. Caden would come and get me or I’d meet up with him upstairs at the gym usually around nine
p.m. The other guys would filter in and out. Afterward, we would eat a late dinner with some or all of the guys depending on who had plans. Sometimes everyone would eat together. Those were the nicest times. The camaraderie between the men was a nice break from the tension that was always hovering close by.
Diane would come to dinner as well those times. She was always polite, but I could feel her trying to keep her distance from me. I guessed it was from Dave’s encouragement. I tried to ignore it, reminding myself that to them I was “nothing but trouble”. I might have been able to blow it off except that I was starting to believe it myself.
Sometimes in the afternoon, I’d go sit upstairs in the bar and hang out with Mike and whatever other guys were around. Mike always seemed to be lurking around whenever I was near an exit. It was becoming obvious Caden told him to keep an eye on me, but I wasn’t going to make Mike uncomfortable for something Caden had put him up to.
I’d also finally broken down and told my boss that I needed to take a leave of absence. Family problems I claimed. Considering what my family might be I figured it should qualify. They did the obligatory “oh, I’m so sorry,” while I knew they were filling my position in their head before they even hung up the phone. I didn’t blame them, they were running a business and I knew I was starting to seem like a real flake. I would have replaced me too.
I called some of my friends and just gave everybody the same excuse that I had the flu and it just had a firm grip, but I was starting to feel better and I’d meet them soon. I was just buying time until I could figure something out. At some point, my excuses wouldn’t hold water anymore, but I drew a blank as to what to do when that dam did eventually break.
So there I was one afternoon, having fallen into my new routine, hanging around the bar with Mike and Nick. They had decided to paint the bar walls from their current light silver to black. It was going to be really dark and depressing, and it fit my current mood perfectly, so I told them I’d help.
“Hey, Nick, don’t you guys lose business when you shut down for this long?” We were the only two painting. Everybody else had bailed except for Mike, who was making us some of his special cocoas in the kitchen and giving us moral support he claimed, as he spent the rest of the time on his laptop in the corner booth. I’d become pretty friendly with all the guys at this point except Dave, who clearly still resented having me there. Diana and Dave were rarely around, except at the occasional dinner.
“You would think so, but it’s never the case. We’ve shut down before. Sometimes we get even busier after we reopen.”
“That’s weird isn’t it?”
“I know. Humans are odd creatures.” His phone started ringing. “I’ll be back in a minute. It’s this chick I’m trying to score with later. I have to go work my mojo. It might not be good for you to hear this.” He smiled a wide toothy grin and headed somewhere in the back out of earshot.
I wished I was going somewhere later that night. I was starting to crack being in the bar day after day. I needed to get out. Caden had said he was going to meet with the council. That maybe he could get everything calmed down peacefully. He called them the council but from what I’ve heard, it was just bunch of very, very, very old, (yes, three verys they are so old,) creepy Drauths who thought a bit too much of themselves and might not even have too much control at this point.
I was alone in the bar room just finishing painting a piece of trim work when I got an odd tingling feeling crawling up my spine. I turned around quickly, and the man from my bedroom was standing about five feet from me. He stood there in an expensive suit with his dark hair flowing. How do I know it was an expensive suit? Not sure exactly, but you can always just tell. It might be the sheen of the fabric, or the way it was perfectly tailored to his build.
I should have screamed but something in his gaze relaxed and comforted me. I had a hunch he was doing something calming to me, but I was so relaxed I didn’t even care. It felt like I was being wrapped in layers of sun on the most brutally cold day.
“Who are you?” I asked, almost expecting to hear him tell me he was god.
“Do you feel better?” he asked.
My manners automatically kicked in disregarding that he was someone I should probably fear. “Yes. Thank you.”
He smiled showing beautiful white straight teeth gleaming against beautiful tanned skin.
“I was upset that you were hurt. How are you doing here? Do you like staying here?”
“Yes, they are a very nice group of guys. Who are you?”
“My name is Jack.”
He came closer, and lifting his hand to my face, felt my skin. It was as if he couldn’t get enough of examining me.
“Get away from her!” Mike screamed as he ran directly at the man.
Jack smiled at me one last time and turned into a smoke vapor version of himself as Mike ran right through and his figure quickly dissipated.
“Lex, were you talking to him?”
My warm cocoon evaporated, along with the vapor, and I wondered if this is how people on drugs felt. I had never understood addiction, but what I had just felt was like a hug from god. I could understand why they went back now.
“Lexie?” Mike was shaking me to my senses.
“Huh?”
“What happened?”
I hugged my arms to myself as I turned to Mike. “Nothing, I was painting and he just showed up.”
“Did he say anything to you?”
“He asked how I was doing and said that his name is Jack.”
“This isn’t good. Caden is not going to like this.”
“Like what?”
Mike and I turned in unison to see Caden standing in the doorway.
“He was here again,” Mike replied.
Caden’s whole body tensed and stiffened. “What did he say?”
“That his name was Jack,” Mike answered for me.
Caden just stood there silently with his brow furled. It was clear he had an idea but whatever it was, it wasn’t good.
“Well?” I asked, never one to have overflowing patience. “Is that bad? Do you know him?”
“Maybe,” Caden said.
“What are you thinking?” Mike chimed in.
“That I don’t like it. He’s more than just curious if he came again. Demons don’t hold interest in anything for too long. I thought initially maybe he had heard something of you and just wanted to check you out, but now I think it’s more.”
Caden looked toward Mike, with his body tense and hands fisted, and neither said another thing. They must have thought I was oblivious, because they made eyes that said they would talk privately, but thought I somehow wouldn’t notice or know. I decided it wasn’t worth bothering to argue about. They were going to run off and have their little talk without me, regardless of what I said.
“I’m speaking to the council tomorrow,” Caden said.
“Do you think that will help?” I was afraid to get too excited, but I needed to get out of this building and soon, or I would lose my sanity.
“Probably not, but it will give me a chance to feel out the situation. Carl and some of his group will be there. I can get a better idea of how many will back him if he decides to do a full-blown attack on us. I want to try to find out how far up the chain this goes.”
“What will happen if this can’t be resolved through the council?”
“A lot of men that I’ve known for a long time will die. I wasn’t always at odds with them. We just took different paths. I’m not looking forward to killing them, well, at least most of them.”
He looked around the bar at the new painting. “Do you like this?”
“Well, it’s …it’s…”
“Yeah, exactly. It doesn’t matter, if the guys like it I don’t really care.” He started to walk away and stopped. “I’ve got to go meet with someone tonight. You want to get out for a while?”
“Yes, definitely,” I couldn’t have agreed any more emphatically.
“Be rea
dy in a couple of hours and wear something nice.” He walked away.
I ran to go hop in the shower and clean the paint out of my hair, which is a lot harder than one would think.
I wasn’t sure how nice he meant so I threw on a simple black dress. I strangely felt like I was getting ready for a date even though I knew it really wasn’t. I put on some lip-gloss and went upstairs to find Caden. He was going over some paper work at the bar when I got there.
When he saw me, he looked me up and down, clearly appreciating my figure in the clinging black dress. He smiled but didn’t remark.
He looked like the cover of GQ magazine. His suit was beautiful, and he had on the most gorgeous Rolex I’d ever seen in person. He wore expensive things as if he were born to them like a dark prince in a fairytale.
“Ready?” he asked.
I smiled, and we went to the front exit instead of the rear this time.
“We’re taking a driver. I hate parking in the city. It’s too much of a hassle.”
A large man who looked like a sumo wrestler got out of a Mercedes limo.
“This is Fred.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said. Fred inclined his to me and smiled warmly.
“I’ve got it Fred,” Caden said. He waved him back to the front and opened the car door for me himself. I climbed in the limo taking a seat on the supple leather seat and he climbed in next to me.
“Where are we going?”
“We’re heading to a restaurant uptown. It’s owned by some of my business associates.”
“Are they part demon too?”
“No, they’re Leprechauns.”
I started to laugh thinking he was playing with me, but I realized I was laughing alone.
“You’re not kidding?”
“No.”
“Are they little?”
It was his turn to laugh. “Hardly. Leprechauns are huge. That all got started because of a very well known Leprechaun named Bart. His nickname was Tiny, you know, because he was so big. Stupid humans that had no idea that Leprechauns were walking around right next to them took the name Tiny to be a literal description. They figured that was why they had never seen one, even though they had.”
Obsidian Souls (Soul Series) Page 9
