Warrior

Chapter 19-1

Chapter 19

“So, are we done training for now?”

I sat on one of the arena seats and motioned for Sara to sit beside me. “We’ll take a short break, and then I want to try something new.”

She’d spent the last hour working with her Mori, and I was pleased to see her progressing so quickly. Yesterday, she’d been afraid of her demon, and today she had allowed it to connect with her for a short while, even tapping into its strength to help her lift heavy weights. She still had a long way to go, and merging with her demon was hard on her, though she pushed through it.

She joined me on the seats, and I was glad to see she was comfortable with me again. We sat in companionable silence for a few minutes before she spoke.

“Can I ask you something? You know all about my life, but you never talk about yours. What was it like where you grew up? Where is your family now?”

Her sudden interest in my background filled me with pleasure. “I grew up in a military stronghold just outside Saint Petersburg. Miroslav Fortress is nothing like Westhorne. It’s surrounded by high stone walls and run more like a military base, although there were a number of families like mine there. My parents were advisors to the Council and very involved in planning military operations, so it was necessary for us to live there instead of in one of the family compounds.”

She wrinkled her nose. “It doesn’t sound like a fun place to live.”

I understood her reaction, knowing how much she loved her freedom and being outside. She found Westhorne, with its wide-open space and miles of forest, restrictive.

“It was actually a very good life, and we had a lot more luxuries and conveniences than most people had at the time. Back then, even the wealthy didn’t have running water, indoor plumbing, or indoor gas lighting, just to name a few.

“My parents were busy and travelled a lot, but they were very loving, and one of them always stayed home while the other travelled. They pushed me hard in my training and schoolwork, but I knew they were preparing me for the dangers I would face when I became a warrior.”

“So, you’re an only child?”

“Yes.”

She gave me a little grin. “Well, that explains a lot.”

I couldn’t hold a scowl. I loved seeing this side of her.

“Did you have many friends? What did you do for fun?” she asked.

“I had a few good friends over the years. Most families moved when the parents were transferred to other strongholds and others moved in. I don’t think I was ever lonely.”

I smiled as I thought back to those days. “I liked to watch the warriors train, and I spent a lot of time hanging around the training grounds. They all taught me how to fight and use weapons. By the time I started formal training, I was so advanced they had to place me with the senior trainees.”

“I bet your parents were very proud of you.”

“They were; they still are.”

She toyed with her ponytail, making me remember how her hair had framed her face last night when she’d worn it loose. My hands itched to reach over and free it from its binds, to run my fingers through the silky waves.

It took me a moment to realize she had asked me a question, something about why my family had left Russia.

“My sire was asked to assume leadership of a key military compound outside London when its leader was killed in a raid. We lived there for eight years before my parents were asked to help establish several new strongholds in North America. By then, I was a full warrior and I found the wildness of this continent appealing, so I tagged along.”

“Where are your parents now?”

“They went back to Russia about fifty years ago. My sire is the leader of Miroslav Fortress now. My mother was offered leadership of another stronghold, but she did not want to be separated from him. I see them at least once a year.”

She looked around the room then back at me. “So, um, what do you do for fun besides killing vampires and bossing people around?”

I studied her, wondering what had brought on this new curiosity about me. Not that I was complaining.

“Come on, you have to do something for fun,” she pressed. “Do you read? Watch TV? Knit?”

“I read sometimes.”

A fire lit in her eyes. “Me too. What do you like to read?”

“Anything by Hemmingway. Some Vonnegut, Scott.”

“My dad’s favorite Hemingway book was The Old Man and the Sea,” she replied with a nostalgic smile. “What else do you like to do? For some reason I can’t see you sitting around watching TV.”

“Why not?” She was right, but I was curious about her impression of me.

She gave me an appraising look. “You could never sit back and watch the action. Plus, your sword would probably get snagged in the couch.”

I chuckled. “I don’t watch television or movies. I enjoy music, but not the music that is popular today. Dylan, the Who, the Stones – those are more my style.”

“The sixties, huh?” she said, surprising me. Her eyes widened, and she smirked. “If you tell me you went to Woodstock, I may have to rethink this badass warrior thing you have going on.”

I laughed at her description of me. “Actually, I was at Woodstock, along with Chris and about two dozen other warriors. Half the people there were either stoned or drunk, making it the ideal feeding ground for vampires and a few other demons. We were too busy to enjoy the music.”

Her eyes gleamed with amusement. “I can’t imagine you and Chris dressed in sixties clothes, especially what they wore at Woodstock.”

“They had leather jackets and jeans in the sixties. Although, Chris joked about becoming a hippie after that week.”

She huffed softly. “By the way, why didn’t you tell me Chris was my cousin? What if I’d started crushing on him like every other girl back home?”

The thought of her being attracted to any other male sent a ripple of jealousy through me, but I quashed it. I wasn’t going to let irrational emotions ruin this time with her.

“You were spooked when you learned what you were, and I thought it was too soon to introduce you to your Mohiri family. If it makes you feel better, Chris didn’t know at first either.”

“Just promise, no more keeping things from me.”

“Ask me anything and I’ll give you an honest answer.”

My Mori shifted, filling me with longing. It wanted me to tell her the truth about the bond so we could be with our mate. But the demon acted on instinct, and it didn’t understand why I waited.

She didn’t say anything, and I knew it was time to get back to training. If the lamprey and kark attacks had taught me anything, it was that Sara needed to learn to defend herself. She had a long way to go before she reached the other trainees’ level, but she had one weapon they didn’t have. She only had to learn to wield it.

“You ready to try something different?”

She leaned forward eagerly. “Like what?”

I turned in my seat to face her. “I’ve been thinking about what you told me yesterday about your power getting stronger. You were worried it might hurt your demon or another Mohiri, but I don’t think it will, at least not intentionally. The bazerats and lamprey demons were in their true form, which made them more vulnerable to your power.”

I took her hand. “Our demons live inside us and are shielded by our bodies. I think that, and the fact that you also have a Mori inside you, is why your power is not flaring up right now.”

She eased out of my grasp, looking slightly flustered. I wondered if it was my touch or my words that affected her.

“Was that what you wanted to try?” she asked.

I hid a smile. “Not quite. We know your power doesn’t react instinctively to me, but I want to find out if you can use it against me consciously.”

“What?” She leapt up and backed away, her eyes wide with horror. “Are you crazy? I could kill you.”

“You won’t,” I reassured her.

“You don’t know that!” She paled and shook her head. “You didn’t see what I did to that demon in Boise. If you had, you wouldn’t even suggest this.”

I stood slowly. “I saw the pictures our guys took before they cleaned it up.”

Her voice shook. “Then why the hell would you ask me to try to do that to you?”

“I’m not asking you to do that.”

She took another step back, ready to bolt.

I held up my hands. “Listen to me. I think your power reacts when you are frightened or in danger, and you don’t believe it, but you can control it. You were in mortal danger when the lamprey demon attacked you, and you knew you had to kill or be killed, so you did what you had to do to survive. You may have been afraid when you were in here with the bazerats, but you never really felt like you were in real danger, did you? Not with everyone outside.”

She didn’t answer, but I saw her relax slightly as my words sank in.

“You’ve been using your power to heal creatures most of your life and you know how to manipulate it and how to release it in controlled bursts, right?”

She nodded.

“It’s the same power; you just used it offensively with the demons. I think you can learn to use your power as a weapon if you start thinking of it as one and the same.”

Hope flared in her eyes for a few seconds before it turned to panic. “I can’t… I can’t do it…”

I gently gripped her stiff shoulders. “This really frightens you, doesn’t it?”

Her head jerked.

“All the more reason for you to learn to master it. If you don’t, it will control you instead, and we both know how much you hate being controlled.” I smiled. “You trust me, right?”

She averted her gaze. “Yes.”

“And I trust you with my life.”

Her eyes flew back to mine, and I saw her surprise, her uncertainty.

“I trust you, Sara, and I know you won’t hurt me,” I said confidently.

“Yes, but –”

“You were afraid to connect with your Mori at first, but you did it and now you no longer fear it. This is no different.”

I took her hands and laid them over my heart to show my faith in her. “Start slow and see what happens. You can pull away anytime you need to.”

“Okay, but not here.” She took her hands from my chest and reached for one of my hands instead.

“Do you feel anything?” she asked after a minute.

I shook my head, and she tried again. Still nothing. Her hands began to glow. I stared at them in amazement. “Your hands feel warmer. What are you doing?”

“I’m sending my power to them like I do when I do a healing.” Her brow furrowed, and she let go of my hand. “I don’t think this is going to work. I only know how to heal things, and I don’t know what I did to those demons.”

I’d suspected this was the case, but I’d wanted to start where she was comfortable before I suggested something more aggressive.

“Your offensive power only surfaces when there is a demon nearby, but it doesn’t sense my Mori,” I said.

Relief filled her eyes. “That’s a good thing though, right?”

“It is as long as we keep our demons restrained, but what happens if we allow them closer to the surface?” I replied, already calling my demon forth.

She tried to pull away, but I captured her hands again as I stared into her startled eyes.

“Nikolas, whatever you are thinking is a really bad idea,” she said fearfully.

I watched in fascination as tiny blue sparks moved over her face and made strands of her hair lift into the air. My eyes met hers, and I sucked in a breath at the golden specks shimmering in the green of her eyes.

Sara ripped her hands from mine, her wild eyes telling me my theory was right. Now I needed to show her why I trusted her with my life. Her natural instinct to protect those she cared about was too strong for her to harm me.

She backed away. “Nikolas, please stop. I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to hurt you.”

Using my demon speed, I moved out of sight behind her. Before she could turn, I grabbed her shoulders to startle a reaction from her.