Tempest, page 4
“Choose a sword,” he ordered in a brusque tone, which carried a trace of an East European accent. Everyone hurried to the racks holding an assortment of weapons used in hand-to-hand combat.
“You.” Ronan pointed at Dimitri. “Attack me.”
My brother pulled back slightly. “What?”
“Show me how you take down a hostile.”
Dimitri exchanged a glance with me and looked back at the trainer. “You don’t have a sword.”
“Neither does a vampire,” Ronan replied.
Dimitri’s fingers flexed on his sword hilt. “Yes, but I don’t care about hurting a vampire.”
“You won’t hurt me,” Ronan said without a trace of arrogance. He raised his hand and beckoned him. “Let’s go.”
The rest of us moved back to give them space as Dimitri stepped forward. He and Ronan faced off against each other, and neither of them moved for a good thirty seconds.
Ronan attacked. Dimitri reacted by bringing his katana up to block the advance. I stopped breathing, and several of the others let out soft gasps as we waited for the blade to impale our trainer.
Lightning-fast, Ronan sidestepped out of the sword’s path. Dimitri’s arm was still moving when Ronan grasped his wrist and twisted it. Dimitri let out a grunt of pain as the sword slipped from his fingers. Ronan’s boot connected with the sword and sent it flying away before it even hit the floor.
Ronan wasn’t done. The next thing I knew, my brother was face-down on the floor with his arm twisted behind his back. The whole thing had taken only seconds. Dimitri was the best swordsman in our class, and he hadn’t had a chance.
Ronan released Dimitri, who stood looking a little dazed, not that I could blame him. The trainer said something to him I couldn’t hear, and Dimitri nodded. They spoke quietly for a minute before Dimitri came back to stand beside me.
“You and you.” Ronan pointed at Naomi and Kai. “Leave your weapons.”
After watching Dimitri’s takedown, neither of my friends looked eager as they went to the front of the room. I was simultaneously glad they were the ones up there and dreading my turn.
“Attack me,” Ronan said.
“Together?” Kai asked hesitantly.
The trainer didn’t blink. “Yes.”
Kai looked at Naomi. A second later, he aimed a straight punch at Ronan while Naomi went for his throat. Ronan slapped away Kai’s fist as if it was nothing more than an annoying gnat. Muscles rippled under his shirt as he twisted his body to evade Naomi’s attack and swept her legs out from under her.
Naomi went down as Kai came back with another strike, which Ronan easily blocked. Behind Ronan, Naomi shot to her feet and tried to attack him again. He spun and grabbed her wrist, pulling her off balance. At the same time, he delivered a kick to Kai’s body, which would have broken his ribs had he put his full strength into it.
Kai and Naomi hit the floor at the same time, and their groans signaled the fight was over. Ronan offered Naomi a hand and pulled her to her feet, and then he spoke to the two trainees as he had done with Dimitri. They returned to their places, looking as dazed as he had been.
The class continued in the same manner. Ronan asked individual or pairs of trainees to attack him in different scenarios with or without weapons, and each time, he defeated them like they were first years. The knot in my gut grew as I watched it all and waited for him to call on me.
It wasn’t that I was afraid of looking bad in front of the others. I didn’t want to face him after our embarrassing first encounter, even if I was sure anyone in my shoes would have made the same mistake.
Five minutes remained in class when Ronan finally looked at me and said, “You.”
“Good luck,” Dimitri murmured.
My pulse sped up as I walked over to stand six feet away from Ronan. This close, the raw strength emanating from him sent a tiny thrill of danger through me.
Our eyes met, and my breath caught when his did that color change again, the gold bleeding into the rest of his irises. My heart thumped, and I knew what a rabbit felt like staring into the eyes of a hungry wolf.
I still held my sword, but it felt more like a hindrance than a weapon after I’d seen Ronan disarm my friends. I was almost relieved when he said, “No weapon.”
I set the sword on the floor near the wall and faced him again. He was Grandfather’s height, but he somehow made me feel less than five feet tall.
“Attack me,” he said.
I had watched him closely when he’d sparred with the others, so I knew how he would block every strike. I looked for a weakness but saw none. I’d be better off if he made the first move so I could at least try to counter his strike.
The words were out before I realized what I was saying. “You first.”
I expected a strike or kick like he’d done with the others, but he opted for a grapple. Used to fighting larger opponents, I dropped and rolled out of his reach, coming back to my feet behind him. What I lacked in strength, I made up for in speed.
Ronan spun, and I caught the flicker of surprise in his eyes. It was replaced by a predatory gleam that sent a little shiver down my spine.
He struck without warning. He slowed his speed, but I had little time to bring my hands up to block him. My first instinct was to deflect his punch, but at the last second, I grabbed his fist instead.
I gasped at the tingle of electricity that shot up my arm to my fingertips. My heart thudded as the air between us crackled with the strange energy. I stared at him, and the shock in his eyes told me he felt it, too.
I recovered first. I pushed him backward as one of my legs swept his legs. He went down, but he grabbed my wrist, taking me with him.
He landed on his back with me on top of him. A second later, he rolled and pinned me beneath him with his arm across my throat. Panting, I stared up into his eyes as my body thrummed with adrenaline and a strange heady sensation. I didn’t know if it was from the thrill of the fight or his nearness. The idea it could be the latter unsettled me.
Ronan released me and stood, his expression unreadable as he extended his hand to me. I took it reluctantly, but there was no electricity this time. His hard gaze made me want to look away, but I refused to be intimated – at least not outwardly.
“You are fast, but your technique needs work,” he said in a low, disapproving voice. “Never wait for your opponent to attack. It puts you on the defensive and gives them the upper hand. In our next class, we’ll see if you can do better with a weapon.”
I nodded stiffly. I hadn’t expected him to heap praise on me, but his expression seemed harsher than it had been with the others. Was he upset about the shock I’d given him? I had no explanation for it other than some lingering trace of my Fae magic had reacted to his Mori. But that hadn’t happened in many years, not since –
Ronan looked past me at the class and said, “I will see you again in two hours.” With that, he strode from the room, leaving a flurry of chatter behind him.
Gavin appeared in the doorway and smiled at us. “Judging by your expressions, Ronan is going to be a tough act to follow, but I’ll do my best.”
Everyone but me laughed as I picked up my sword and returned to my spot beside Dimitri. He shot me a questioning look, which I ignored. My pride still stung from Ronan’s sharp criticism, and I didn’t want to talk about it. Not even Gavin’s announcement that we were going to work on agility and climbing – two things I excelled at – could cheer me up.
Callum wasn’t due back until March. If my first class with Ronan was an indication of how things were going to be with him, this would be the longest six months of my life.
Chapter 3
“I THOUGHT THAT only happened in cartoons,” Dimitri called from behind me, his voice laced with amusement.
I stopped walking to glare at him. “What?”
“That little black thundercloud hovering over your head. I’m expecting lightning to shoot from it any second.”
“Ha-ha.” I spun and continued toward home.
Dimitri caught up to me as I reached the woods. “You’ve been in a bad mood all day – all week, actually. I know you don’t like Ronan, but you have to admit he’s really good.”
I scowled at the admiration in his tone. Of course, he liked our new trainer. Dimitri was at the top of our class and not receiving the brunt of Ronan’s criticism. Ronan was tough on all of us, but I could do nothing right in his eyes.
If someone had told me a week ago I’d miss Erik, I would have laughed in their face. After three days of training under Ronan, I was almost ready to call my old trainer and beg him to come back.
My brother sighed. “Okay, I have noticed he’s been a little harder on you than on the rest of us.”
A snort slipped from me.
“Did something happen?” Dimitri asked. “Did you have a run-in with him outside of class?”
“You could say that,” I muttered.
Dimitri’s eyes widened. “When? And where was I? We’re together most of the day.”
I let out a long breath. “It was last Friday.”
“Friday?” Dimitri laughed. “And how did you manage to have a run-in with our new trainer three days before he arrived?”
“He started his new job on Monday, but he arrived on Friday.” I told Dimitri about my encounter with the warrior in the woods, and how shocked I was when Grandfather introduced him to us. By the time I finished, Dimitri was doubled over holding his stomach.
“You tackled our new trainer and knocked him in the water…to protect Alex from him?” he wheezed between fits of laughter.
I crossed my arms. “It’s not funny, Dima. How was I supposed to know who he was?”
“It’s hilarious.” He straightened and wiped his eyes. “I don’t know what’s better – you treating Ronan like one of Mom’s patients or you thinking Alex needed your protection.”
“You didn’t see him,” I argued. “He looked wild.”
“Alex or Ronan?”
I threw up my arms and stalked away. “I never should have told you.”
“I’m sorry. Don’t be mad.” He caught up to me. “You have to admit it’s pretty funny.”
“You wouldn’t say that if it had been you,” I retorted.
He nudged my arm with his. “I wouldn’t have been playing cat and mouse with that crazy wyvern.”
I kicked at a stone. “Alex is not crazy. I think he’s lonely.”
Dimitri grew serious. “If Mom and Dad find out you’ve been going to see him, they will ground you for life.”
“If they think Alex is too dangerous, how do they expect me to fight vampires when I’m a warrior?”
“That is where I come in,” said a voice from behind us.
Dimitri and I spun at the same time to face the tall blond faerie standing a few feet away.
“Hello, my favorite twins,” Eldeorin smiled, and his eyes sparkled with mischief.
“Hey, Eldeorin,” Dimitri said to my godfather. “It’s been a while.”
It had been over six months since we’d last seen the faerie. I usually enjoyed his visits, but something in his expression made me wary.
“What brings you here today?” I was striving for casual, but my voice came out a little higher than usual.
Eldeorin’s smile widened into a Cheshire grin. “I’m so happy you asked. I’m here to start your new training.”
“My…training?” A small pit opened in my stomach. “What are you talking about?”
“Aine says your training with her is not progressing, and we decided it would be best if I took over.”
I took a step backward. “Mom won’t allow you to train me.”
When I was ten, Eldeorin had tried to convince my mother to let him oversee my training, and she had refused. She’d told me it wasn’t that she didn’t trust Eldeorin to keep me safe, but she thought his methods were too drastic for a young girl. Not to mention Dad didn’t like Eldeorin, and he would have lost it if Mom had sent me off alone with the faerie at that age.
“Sara and I have discussed it, and she agreed with me,” Eldeorin replied.
Mom appeared next to him as if saying her name had summoned her. No matter how many times she did it, it was still the coolest thing I had ever seen.
“I agreed to a trial.” She fixed Eldeorin with a hard stare. “And I told you I’d hunt you to the ends of Faerie if anything happens to my daughter.”
Eldeorin placed a hand over his chest. “After all we have been through, I cannot believe you have so little faith in me.”
Mom scoffed but followed it with a smile. “You forget how well I know you.”
Their light banter only increased my apprehension. “Mom, you said I could stop the sessions for now.”
“Sara and Aine are too indulgent with you,” Eldeorin said. “I reminded them how difficult liannan was for Sara, and she, at least, had some control of her magic before it began. You are the same age she was when she entered liannan. If you are not prepared for it, it could kill you.”
“Eldeorin,” Mom snapped. She came over and put her hands on my shoulders. “I would do anything to keep you from having to go through liannan, but it will happen whether we want it or not.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but she shushed me. “Eldeorin is too blunt as always, but he’s here because he cares about you. He helped me through liannan and taught me to control my new magic. I trust him to do the same for you.”
“But my magic is gone,” I protested, even as the memory of what had happened with Ronan played in my mind.
Eldeorin made a pfft sound. “Faeries do not lose their magic.”
“I’m only half Fae,” I reminded him.
He stalked over to me. I leaned away, but he would not be deterred. He laid a hand against my cheek and nodded in satisfaction. “You shielded your brother from detection when you were still in the womb, but you are not powerful enough to hide your magic from me. We will start your training today.”
“Mom.” I gave her a beseeching look, and my heart sank at the resolve in her eyes. “Does Dad know about this?”
“Not yet.” Dad was still in California investigating the demon disappearances. Her tone said he wasn’t going to be happy about this, but they had agreed long ago that she knew what was best when it came to Fae matters. He would go along with whatever she decided even if he hated it.
“It’s settled then.” Eldeorin looped his arm through mine. “Shall we?”
A sense of impending doom filled me. I met Dimitri’s worried eyes for a second before he, Mom, and the woods disappeared. The next thing I knew, we were surrounded by haphazard piles of rusty vehicles, appliances, scrap metal, and other junk. The air was heavy with the smell of gasoline and dust, and a moving crane stood nearby. The fading light told me it was late evening, which meant we were somewhere on the East Coast.
“You brought me to a junkyard?” I turned in a circle, half afraid I’d see a vampire lurking behind every stack of tires.
Eldeorin walked away from me. “You’d prefer the penthouse at the Four Seasons? I can arrange that, but training can be messy.”
“Funny guy.” I trailed after him, trying not to think about why his training was messy. “Where are we going?”
“Not far,” he said without looking back.
I followed him around a tower of old clothes dryers and came up short at the sight of a large circular cage in the middle of an open area. The cage had to be thirty feet in diameter and fifteen feet high, and it appeared to be made of silver. Inside the cage, two figures were huddled at the center, as far from the bars as they could get.
My first thought that they were vampires sent a rush of fear and excitement through me. It was immediately followed by a sharp pang of disappointment because I couldn’t sense them like Mom did.
The closer I got to the cage, the more distinct their shapes became until I made out their scaly skin, bat-like wings and reptilian eyes. Gulaks. Not nearly as dangerous as vampires but still a threat. They were mean brutes and responsible for most of the crime in the demon community.
Eldeorin stopped a dozen feet from the cage and motioned for me to stand beside him. “These two were part of a gang that stole human children and planned to sell them into slavery. The Mohiri dealt with the gang and rescued the children. I absconded with two of their captives for educational purposes.”
My mouth went dry. “What exactly are you going to do with them?”
“Not me, you.” Eldeorin snapped his fingers, and I found myself looking at him from the other side of the bars.
“What the hell?” I spun to look for the door and discovered there wasn’t one. “Let me out.”
“You may leave when both demons are dead or unconscious,” Eldeorin said.
The Gulaks shuffled nervously but stayed where they were.
“I can’t fight two Gulaks on my own.”
“Sara slayed a Gulak master when she was your age,” he said with pride in his voice.
The Gulaks began talking in urgent guttural whispers, probably planning how they were going to kill me.
I patted my leg for the knife I usually wore, but it was gone. I swung my gaze back to Eldeorin. “You took my knife?”
He walked over to stand a few feet from the cage. “You don’t need a knife. You have a weapon better than any blade. Use it.”
“I can’t.” I banged my palms against the bars. “Don’t you think I would if I could?”
“I think you fear your magic more than you fear those demons.”
I glared at him. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“We both know that is not true.” Eldeorin brushed an imaginary fleck off his sleeve. “You should get started unless you want to stay in there all night. I have nowhere else to be.” To prove it, a red wingback chair appeared behind him. He sat and crossed his legs as if he was at a Broadway show, waiting for the curtain to rise.
I looked at the demons, who stared back at me. I’d watched videos of Gulaks fighting and heard many stories about them, but none of that compared to the real thing. They were stocky and fought with brute strength, and their hard scaly hide protected their torso from heavy blows. The shape of their mouths made it look like they were snarling even when they laughed, which helped them intimidate weaker opponents.
