I FELT IT coming even before he slammed into me and sent me flying back a dozen feet to land in a heap against the wall. “Ow.” Little pinpoints of light floated before my eyes, and I tasted blood in my mouth where I’d bitten the inside of my cheek. That pain was nothing compared to the bone-deep aches all over my body. God, how much punishment could a body take?
A shadow fell across my face. “Is anything broken?” asked a gruff Scottish voice that rang more of impatience than concern.
I rolled onto my back and stretched my sore limbs to test them for injuries, grunting when my shoulder made a small pop. Satisfied that my body was still in one piece, even if it was as bruised as a ripe peach, I peered up at the dark-haired man standing over me with his feet planted apart and his hands on his hips. “I’ll survive,” I muttered, not sure if I was happy about it.
He extended a hand, and I took it reluctantly, letting him pull me to my feet. When he let go of me, I leaned against the wall as the training room did a little spin before my eyes. I didn’t need to see straight to know that my painful flight had been witnessed by Terrence and Josh – the two other trainees in the room who were watching us while pretending to focus on their own workouts. I couldn’t blame them. My daily training sessions were something of a spectacle, like a pileup on the highway that you can’t help but slow down to watch.
Callum crossed his arms over his wide chest and fixed me with a reproachful stare. Solid muscle and taller than me by almost a foot, he was my penance for every one of my past screw-ups. At least that was what I told myself every day when I lowered my freshly bruised body into the healing bath. How I ever thought it would be fun to train with the smiling warrior with the sexy ponytail and chocolate-brown eyes was beyond me. It took less than five minutes of our first session for me to discover the scourge hiding behind that pretty smile.
“You are still not working with your Mori, and you will never be able to fight or defend yourself unless you open to it. Remember, without that demon inside you, you’re only human and just as helpless as one.”
Not quite human. Not that Callum or anyone else in this place would know that. Only a handful of people knew my secret, and they were all far away from here.
I rolled my shoulders to work out a kink. “I know what you told me. I’m just not sure how to do it. Maybe my demon is defective.”
His scowl deepened. “Your demon is not defective, and this is nothing to joke about. How do you expect to become a warrior if you cannot fight?”
“Maybe I don’t want to be a warrior.”
Callum barked a laugh. “You attract a lot of trouble for someone who doesn’t want to be a warrior.” I blinked in surprise, and he shook his head. “Oh, I’ve heard of your little adventures, and how you kept a whole unit – not to mention two of our best warriors – running around Maine for the better part of a month.”
His remarks conjured an image of a dark-haired warrior with smoldering gray eyes. I brushed it away angrily. “They were there because of the vampires, not me, and they could have left whenever they wanted. In fact, I told them to leave more than once.”
“So I’ve heard.” Was that actual amusement I saw in his eyes? “There are not many people who would challenge Nikolas Danshov. I expected more from someone who did.”
He was baiting me, and I refused to bite. “Sorry to disappoint you. Maybe you should find another trainee who will meet your expectations.”
I got three steps away before he growled, “Where do you think you’re going? We are not done with this lesson, and you leave when I say you leave. Now assume your position.”
So much for pleasantries. I adjusted my padded vest and went to the area he had marked off for us. There was a painful twinge in my lower back and my butt was already protesting the punishment that was sure to follow, but I pushed the pain aside and turned to face my trainer. I might suck as a fighter, but I still had my pride and I’d see this through if it killed me.
Callum, however, was not where I expected him to be. I looked around and found him by the door talking to two men and a woman I had not seen before. The woman was tall and beautiful in a knee-length red dress, with flawless skin and long, straight black hair. I could not help but notice that the boys had stopped pretending to train and were ogling her. She seemed not to notice them as her emerald eyes found me and her nose wrinkled delicately. I almost laughed because I could only imagine how I looked and smelled after two hours with Callum.
My attention shifted to the men with her. They were both tall like all Mohiri males but very different in appearance. One had a plain face with curly brown hair and tanned skin. The second man had long blond hair pulled back in a ponytail that suited his finely sculptured face. His blue eyes swept the room as he listened to whatever Callum said to him, and they lit on me briefly before returning to my trainer. The man’s commanding air and the way the other trainees had perked up told me he was someone important. This place was a hive of activity with warriors coming and going almost daily, so it was impossible to know everyone. But I was obviously the only person in the room who did not recognize the blond stranger.
Callum smiled at the man and turned back to me with his training face on again. I expected the newcomers to leave, but they leaned against the wall like they were planning to stay and watch. Great. All I needed today was more people watching me get my butt handed to me.
I watched Callum warily as he moved to a spot ten feet from me and faced me with the calculating gleam in his eyes that I had come to dread. “Open yourself to your Mori, Sara. Feel its power, and let it guide you. Its survival instincts are strong, and it wants nothing more than to protect you. Without you, it cannot exist.”
Do you hear that? I said to the beast crouched sullenly in the back of my mind. You need me a lot more than I need you, so you’d better behave. I forced my mind to block out everyone else in the room and focus only on Callum’s face. His eyes always gave him away a split second before he made his move, not that knowing when he was about to strike had ever helped me. I lowered the wall holding back the demon, feeling it flutter with excitement as its cage opened. At the same time, I reached for the glowing power at my center and pulled back a thread to wield if the need arose. The demon was strong, but it was no match for my Fae power and we both knew it.
My Mori and I saw Callum’s eyes flicker at the same time, but the demon reacted first. It rushed forward in an attempt to fill my mind and make my body obey its commands. For a second, I allowed it – before the old memory surfaced. I could still feel the scorching heat of the demon beneath my skin, and the helplessness of floating in the vastness of the demon’s mind.
My walls shot back up a split second before Callum plowed into me and sent me soaring backward again. This time, instead of colliding with the wall, I found myself snatched from the air and pulled against a hard chest.
“I think our little bird has had enough flying for today, Callum.” Laughter rumbled through the chest of the man holding me before he set me on my feet. Embarrassed, I looked up into the sapphire eyes of the blond stranger, but there was no mockery in his expression. If anything, his smile was kind, indulgent.
“I think you are right,” Callum agreed, looking at me. “No less than thirty minutes in the baths, Sara, and take some gunna paste.” I made a face, and his expression grew stern. It was no secret that I would rather suffer a few aches than eat the awful putty-like medicine. “If I see you limping at dinner again, I will hold you down and feed it to you myself.”
I nodded reluctantly because I knew he would follow through with his threat. Mumbling a good-bye to the newcomers, I hurried to the equipment room to shed my padded armor. Then I escaped the training area before Callum decided to feed me the nasty gunna paste himself, like he’d done on my second day of training.
The dark paneled hall in the training wing was quiet except for the muffled sounds of combat coming from behind the closed doors. Mohiri warriors spent a lot of time training when they weren’t out saving the world. The stronghold housed between thirty and forty warriors on a given day – not including the teams that came and went – so the training rooms were always busy this time of day.
I pushed open the heavy door to the women’s baths, relieved when I saw the empty chamber. Mohiri women were not timid or self-conscious, and they thought nothing of stripping down in front of each other, something I was still getting used to. If I was lucky I could get in and out of the bath before the room got too busy.
The first thing I did was go to a cabinet in the wall and retrieve a can of gunna paste. Scooping out some of the green paste with my finger, I grimaced and put it in my mouth. Within seconds, a dry, bitter taste coated my tongue and every corner of my mouth, and I had to force myself to swallow the paste instead of spitting it out. Even after the paste had gone down, the foul taste lingered, and I knew it would take at least another five minutes for it to go away. I silently cursed Callum as I did every day after training. It didn’t change things, but it made me feel a little better.
Stripping off my sweaty clothes, I immersed my body in the nearest of the six rectangular tubs sunken into the tiled floor. The hot cloudy liquid bubbled gently, and I moaned in sheer bliss as it began to soothe my aches and pains. I didn’t know what was in the water; just that it came from a deep underground spring that fed into massive tanks somewhere under the building. There, it was treated with special salts and purifiers and piped into the healing baths in a constant flow. That was as much as I cared to know about it, other than the fact that it did wonders for the body if you stayed in it long enough.
I closed my eyes and tried to relax and not think about my abysmal training session, or the dozen other negative thoughts that often plagued me in the week and a half I’d been here. It’s not as if you expected it to be like home. I just had to give it some time, to get used to the people and my surroundings. I had never been comfortable getting to know people, and making new friends didn’t come as easily to me as it did to Roland and Peter. A wry smile touched my lips. One more thing I had to work on.
When my thirty minutes were up, I climbed out of the tub to stand beneath the shower. Cleaned, dried, and dressed in a fresh pair of drawstring pants and T-shirt, I left the bath chamber and headed to my suite on the third floor of the north wing. Westhorne was a Mohiri military stronghold, but there were no barracks here. My suite was almost as big as my loft back home, with a much larger bathroom and a small combined living room and kitchenette. The furnishings were richer than I was used to, but I did love the antique four-poster bed. And the fireplace would come in handy if the winters in Idaho were anything like I’d been told.
I opened the window and took a deep breath of fresh air. The view outside my window was so different from the one I’d grown up with. I missed the ocean, but there was something about snowcapped mountains that made my breath catch every time I saw them.
If only I had the freedom to explore them, I might have felt better about my change in scenery. So far, I had been pretty much restricted to the grounds. Not that I hadn’t tried to go beyond the border of the property, only to be caught and returned twice. They told me it was standard procedure for new orphans and it was for my own good, but I suspected my past escapades might have had a little more to do with it. I longed to walk in the woods and hike on the mountain trails without someone treating me like a five-year-old who had wandered away. It wasn’t like I was going to run off. We were in the middle of nowhere and the closest town was five miles away. Even if I did head for town, Butler Falls had a population of a whopping four thousand and more farm supply stores than restaurants. Not exactly a magnet for vampires, especially with a Mohiri compound next door.
I turned away from the window with a sigh and hunted for a pair of jeans and a shirt in my ridiculously huge closet. Who needs a closet the size of a small bedroom anyway? My clothes took up half a rack and two shelves. A few days ago, the rest of my boxes from home had arrived, and most of them still sat unopened on the floor of the closet. That still left almost three-quarters of the closet bare. Claire, the woman who had shown me around the day I arrived, told me they had set up a line of credit for me to buy anything I needed, but so far I hadn’t bothered. It wasn’t as if I had anywhere to go, and my old clothes served me well enough. Besides, I felt weird about spending Mohiri money when I barely knew them.
I grabbed a warm coat and a paperback from my nightstand. The book was one of Nate’s and I’d read it before, but reading it again made me feel a little less homesick. I tucked the book in my pocket as I left my room.
As I descended the stairs, the murmur of voices grew louder. It was lunchtime, but the last place I wanted to be was in the crowded dining hall. Instead, I left by the door in the training wing that opened to a courtyard at the rear of the building. To my right was the wide, deep river that bordered one side of the property. I started that way, but the call of the woods was stronger. Besides, I always had the feeling someone was watching me when I went near the river. No doubt they were making sure I did not fall in and drown myself.
I passed a group of warriors carrying bows and swords, and they nodded politely but didn’t speak to me. As beautiful as Westhorne was, I was constantly reminded that it was a military holding. The Mohiri had dozens of compounds across the US alone, and at least ten of them were like this one. The rest were community compounds that were even more fortified than Westhorne, but were less involved in military operations. I did not have to ask why I hadn’t been sent to one of the Mohiri communities. No one wanted to take a chance of the Master attacking a compound full of kids if he ever figured out I was alive. So I came here instead.
Home sweet home.
The scent of pine surrounded me when I entered the woods. Overhead, I could see only patches of blue sky through the canopy of branches, but the sun still managed to seep through, its rays casting a dappled pattern of light across the ground. It was so quiet here, and the only sounds came from the birds in the branches above my head. I took a deep breath, imagining I was in the woods back home in New Hastings, and I could almost pretend Remy or one of his little cousins was about to sneak up on me like they used to.
I shook off my melancholy because the woods were too beautiful to allow sadness to mar them. Sticking my hands in my pockets, I wandered aimlessly, content just to be outdoors and alone for a while. It will get easier, I told myself like I did every day. They had a lot more rules here than I was used to, but the people were not unkind, even if they were different. Just because I didn’t feel at home here, it wasn’t fair of me to judge the whole Mohiri race after less than two weeks.
You mean it’s not fair to judge them because of him.
Thinking about him would only make me angry, so I made an effort to focus on anything but him. I stepped into a small sunny glade where the air felt ten degrees warmer than in the shade of the big trees. It was a chilly day, almost too cold to sit outside, but it was infinitely better than being inside. I closed my eyes and raised my face to the sun, listening to the quiet sounds of the forest and breathing in its rich, earthy smell. Yes, this will do nicely, I thought as I stretched out in the grass with my book.
I barely got through two chapters before a small brown rabbit hobbled into view and stopped at the edge of the trees. Even when I’m not using my power, it seems to broadcast to animals and other creatures, letting them know I am not a threat. But gentler creatures like rabbits are still a bit wary. I laid my book by my side and reached for my power, sending a stream of it toward the rabbit. His nose twitched, and he sniffed the air for a minute before he started moving forward. I let him come to me, not moving even when he touched his nose to my hand. I let power flow from my hand into him until he lay against my side trustingly.
I sat up slowly, so I did not startle him, and laid my hand on his back to feel for the source of his injury. It didn’t take long to find the swelling and inflammation in one of his hind legs. I moved my hand until it closed around the injured leg and felt around for the extent of the damage. “Don’t worry, little guy. I’ll have you fixed up in no time.”
A familiar heat welled in my chest and flowed down my arm to my hand where it sought out the injury, enclosing it in a healing fire that easily knit the hairline crack in the bone and burned away the swelling. I felt the leg return to its normal size, and I withdrew my power and lifted my hand from the rabbit. “There you go, as good as new.” I’d like to see Callum do that. I might not be warrior material, but I had other gifts. Perhaps I’d be better off if I stuck to healing and left the killing to the real warriors.
The rabbit shifted his weight and took a few hesitant hops before he decided his leg was working right again. “See you around,” I called to him as he went happily on his way. I lay back in the grass again to recover from the healing, and I was surprised to realize I wasn’t feeling drained at all. Strange, even a small healing usually required a little recovery time. If anything, I felt energized, restless.
I got to my feet and started walking again. There was a small lake less than a mile from the estate. I’d seen it on a map in the library, but the first time I tried to go to the lake I was detained. Maybe this time I’d get lucky.
“What the – ? Not again.” I came to a halt when my scalp began to tingle and my hair crackled like it was charged with static. My palms and the bottoms of my feet started to grow warm and itchy, and currents raced along the skin of my arms beneath the sleeves of my coat. A rustling sound made me look down to see the dead leaves around my feet quiver, even though there was no wind.
As quickly as it had started, it was gone. What is going on? It was the second time I’d experienced something like this in the last four days. I suspected it was an undine thing because Aine had told me my powers were still developing, but there was no one I could ask about it. I wished I knew how to contact her. She promised to visit me soon, but I had a feeling that the Fae had a different concept of time than everyone else. For her, soon might mean a few weeks or a few years. I had no idea.
“Ugh!” I yelped as a spot in the center of my chest began to itch and a cold knot formed beneath my breastbone. This was new. The coldness was not painful but it did feel uncomfortable, and it alarmed me that it was exactly where I’d been stabbed a month ago. Aine said the faeries had healed me completely, but what if she was wrong? Even the faeries had admitted they were not sure how my body would react to the vampire blood that had been on the knife.
Rubbing my chest, I resumed walking and hoped the cold knot would go away. I turned and started back toward the stronghold, and to my immense relief, the knot began to ease. Whatever it was, it seemed to be going away on its own.
“Someone’s been a bad girl again.”
I jumped a foot in the air and spun around to face the man who had so easily snuck up on me. The red-haired warrior standing less than five feet away shook his head and gave me his “you know you’re not supposed to be out here” look.
“I really wish you wouldn’t do that,” I grumbled.
“Do what?” asked another voice, and I let out a small squeal as I whirled around again to find a grinning mirror image of the red head. “Damn it, guys! Stop it!”
Laughter filled the woods as the twin warriors moved to stand side-by-side in front of me. Seamus and Niall were so identical that I doubted even their mother could tell them apart. They were the same size with bright green eyes, spiky red hair, and boyishly handsome faces. Right now they sported identical smirks.
“Now where would you be off to on this fine day?” asked the one I thought was Niall.
“Just taking a walk and I was already heading back. You can go back to patrolling or whatever it is you do out here.”
“Well, unless you are planning to spend the night in the mountains, you’re headed in the wrong direction,” said the other who might or might not be Seamus.
Mountains? I must have been thrown off by all the weirdness I’d been experiencing a little while ago. It wasn’t like me to get turned around in the woods.
“Come on, back you go.” The twins moved to flank me, and I held up a hand to stop them.
“I can make it back on my own. Just point me in the right direction.”
“Sorry, lass, we have our orders.”
“Oh come on, you guys, not again.” My plea fell on deaf ears, and I found myself being escorted along a trail I hadn’t even known was there. The twins were watchful as if danger was hiding behind every tree, walking with me between them like a wayward child . . . or a prisoner.
“I was only getting some fresh air. You can stop treating me like I’m some fugitive.”
The twin on my right spoke – I’d given up trying to tell them apart. “Isn’t that what she said the first time, brother?”
“Aye, and we were near fool enough to be taken in by that sweet smile.”
“That was over a week ago. How long are you going to hold that against me?”
“And what about three days ago?” asked the twin on my left.
“I told you I just wanted to hang out by the lake for a while. Where is the harm in that?”
The right twin snickered. “Like the last time you went to hang out by a lake, huh?”
“How do you know about that?”
He gave me a lopsided grin. “We’ve heard lots of stories about you.”
“Which is why you won’t be pulling the same trick with us,” added his brother. “Though I am starting to feel a wee bit sympathetic to those guys.”
The trees thinned and I saw the stone walls of the sprawling building I now called home. We passed the edge of the woods and stepped onto the wide green lawn. “I think I can make it from here,” I told them.
Neither of them took the hint, and they stayed on either side of me as we walked toward the building. I folded my arms and went with them. No one had told me when I came here that being under Mohiri protection meant being treated like someone in a juvenile detention center. The twins were always good-natured about it, but they were still my guards no matter how you looked at it.
We neared the courtyard outside the training wing where two men stood talking, and as we approached they turned to watch us with knowing looks. Two more men walked around a corner, and I recognized them as Callum and the blond man who had shown up in training earlier. Callum gave me an amused nod, but the blond man’s expression was unreadable.
I pulled away from the twins without a word and marched toward the door, trying to hide my anger and embarrassment. I’d promised to give this place a try, but I couldn’t take much more of this. If this was going to be my life from now on, I wanted out.
I was almost at the stone archway of the courtyard when I heard shouts and saw the two men in the courtyard staring behind me with horrified expressions. What now? My heart raced as I whirled, expecting to find an army of vampires descending upon us.
At first, all I saw was Seamus and Niall drawing their swords along with Callum and his companion. “Run, lass!” yelled one of the twins. He jerked his head to the left to look at something. I followed his gaze and gasped at the sight of two monstrous creatures bearing down on us.
Bearing down on me.
