“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.
She screamed, and a buzzing tingle raced up my arms.
A second later, I was airborne.
I hit the wooden seats with enough force to punch the air from my lungs. The arm of one of the seats jabbed me hard in the ribs before I rolled backward onto the floor, dazed with the faint smell of ozone filling my nostrils.
I lay still for a moment, trying to clear the fog in my head and taking stock of my aches. There was definitely gunna paste and a trip to the healing baths in my near future.
Hands shook me, and I heard a frantic voice saying my name.
I opened my eyes to find her leaning over me. She was so close that my first thought was how easy it would be to reach up and pull her mouth down on mine. The thought brought a smile to my lips.
“I said you could do it.”
Her mouth gaped, and she stared at me.
“You jerk! You…you asshole!” she shouted as her small fist punched me in the chest. Then she was up and running for the door.
I beat her to it, and she ran into my chest. She tried to go around me, but I captured her arms and refused to let her go.
“Sara, we needed to test your power to see if you can use it at will, and now we know.”
She glared at me through her tears. “At will? I almost fried your ass! If I hadn’t pulled it back in time, you’d be singing a different tune. No, actually, you’d probably be dead.”
“But you did control it, as I knew you would. You want to know how I knew that?”
I released her, and she folded her arms across her chest. “Please, educate me.”
I met her angry glower with a smile. “I know because if there is one thing I have learned about you, it’s that you are incapable of hurting someone – unless they are trying to hurt you or someone you care about. Then all bets are off.”
She looked away from me, and her voice was hoarse when she said, “You scared the hell out of me. I thought…”
Warmth flooded my chest at the emotion in her voice. Did I hear something more than friendly affection, or was it wishful thinking?
“I’m sorry,” I said softly. “I didn’t want to frighten you, but the only way to get you to show your power was to expose you to a demon and to put you on the defensive. Now we know what you can do, and we can work with that and teach you to call on it when you need it.”
“I am never doing that again,” she declared.
“Not that, no.” I was glad to see anger replace her fear. “We won’t have to try anything that drastic next time.”
“Next time?” She glared at me. “What part of never do you not understand?”
I met her angry gaze. “So you refuse to use your power on me again, no matter what I do?”
“That’s right.”
“And how will you stop it?” I asked, although I already knew the answer.
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“If I bring my Mori out again and come after you, what’s to stop your power from attacking me again?”
She shifted restlessly from one foot to the other. “I will stop it.”
“How?”
“I just will, okay?” she snapped. “I know what it is now, and I won’t let it get away from me again.”
I watched as the impact of her declaration hit her. Her expression went from indignation to confusion to chagrin, all within the space of a minute. She wasn’t happy with my methods, but she had to admit they were effective. In forcing her to use her power, I’d shown her she could control it.
“So now that we have that settled, why don’t we try something easy that doesn’t involve throwing me across the room? If you are up for it, that is.”
She scowled at me and marched over to where we’d been working with the weights. “Fine, but don’t blame me if I knock you on your butt again. And you owe me for making me believe I killed you.”
Her refusal to concede gracefully made me laugh as I joined her. I could only imagine what she was going to ask for. “Okay. What do you want?”
She smiled mischievously. “I need to go into town this week to pick up a bunch of stuff for Oscar before he gets here.”
“Oscar?”
“My cat. Nate is bringing him when he comes for Thanksgiving.”
“Oh.”
At first I was a little disappointed that all she wanted was a ride to the pet store. But then I realized this was a great opportunity to spend time with her outside of training.
Over the next hour, we worked on her power. She threatened to walk out if I tried to get her to use it on me again, so we had to make do without a demon. It made for a frustrating session for her, but I wouldn’t let her stop until she managed to call on her power and produce a few sparks. Her little smile as we left the arena told me she was pleased by how far she’d come in only an hour.
“When do you want to go into town?” I asked as I opened the door for her.
“Can we go this weekend?”
“I think we can arrange that,” I said, already thinking about places to eat in Butler Falls.
She stopped walking and turned to me. “Chris told me you were the one who had Hugo and Woolf sent here. Thank you for doing that.”
“You don’t have to thank me. They belong with you.”
We walked across the lawn. To my left, I spotted one of the trainees practicing with a sword near the trees. It was the boy who had helped Sara gather up the karks yesterday.
“That boy is going to cut his own head off,” I said, watching him fumble with the weapon several times. When he saw me looking his way, he almost dropped the sword.
“Can I exchange the trip into town for something else?” Sara blurted, drawing my attention back to her.
“You don’t want to go into town?”
She bit her lip. “I do, but I want something more now.”
“All right, let’s have it.” If it meant more time with her, I was all for it.
“I want you to teach Michael not to cut off his head.”
Who? It took me a moment to realize she was referring to the boy with the sword.
She lifted a shoulder. “He needs a lesson in sword fighting a lot more than I need a ride to town. Besides, you have no idea how much this will mean to him. He looks up to you a lot.”
I glanced at the boy. Sara was willing to give up her trip to town just to make him happy. Her capacity for kindness never ceased to amaze me.
“If that’s what you want.”
She smiled. “It is.”
“Okay, I’ll see what I can do for him, but no promises. And I’ll still take you into town.” I wasn’t quite as willing to give up our time together.
“Thanks!”
Her hug took me completely by surprise. Before I could react to her arms around my waist, she released me and set off toward the main building. I stared after her until she disappeared around the corner.
Shaking my head, I turned to Michael, who was picking his sword up from the ground. I smiled as I started toward the boy. If giving her friend a sword lesson was enough to earn a hug from Sara, I’d volunteer to train the whole damn group next time.
* * *
That afternoon, instead of working with Sara on her studies, I stood at the window in my apartment, waiting for her to leave the menagerie with her hellhounds. Aside from a fleeting moment in the cellar of the house in Portland, I hadn’t seen her interact with the beasts.
Sahir, who had over half a century of experience working with creatures, had assured Tristan Sara was safe with the hellhounds. That didn’t stop me from being uneasy about her going off alone with them in the woods.
The door to the menagerie opened and Sara emerged, alone. She walked a few steps then turned back to the door and said something.
My hands gripped the windowsill when two massive black bodies hurled toward her. Sara only laughed as the hellhounds ran around her in circles, pressing against her like overgrown puppies.
I released the breath I was holding when she motioned with her hand and both hellhounds heeled on either side of her like well-trained dogs.
I watched them disappear into the trees before I turned away from the window. My first instinct was to follow them and make sure Sara was safe. I pushed that thought aside. It was obvious the beasts adored her, and hellhounds would protect their master with their lives.
I spent the rest of the afternoon with Tristan and Chris, going over the reports of vampire activity around the country. In the last month, there had been more attacks and sightings than we normally saw in half a year. We all suspected it was the work of Eli’s Master, but the behavior was out of character for a vampire Master.
Every Master I’d hunted had been careful to hide their presence, because the last thing they wanted was to draw the attention of the Mohiri. It didn’t matter how strong a vampire was; they would eventually die at the end of a Mohiri sword. So why was this one suddenly making his presence known after staying hidden so well all these years?
I felt torn when I thought about the warriors who were out there hunting the Master. He was responsible for so much pain in Sara’s life, and I wanted to be the one to end his life, to make him pay for her suffering.
But a hunt could take months, even years, and I couldn’t be away from Sara that long – not that I wanted to be. The need to be close to her was almost a physical one, and it got stronger every time I saw her. It was my Mori’s way of ensuring I spent time with her, thus strengthening our bond.
When the light began to fade, and Sahir hadn’t called to let us know Sara had returned, I headed outside with Chris to watch for her.
“She’s most likely enjoying her taste of freedom and just lost track of time,” Chris said.
“I know.” But I worried anyway.
A few minutes later, she walked out of the woods with the hellhounds. Even through the gathering dusk I could see her happy smile when she gave us a quick wave and headed straight to the menagerie.
Chris waved a hand in her direction. “Safe and sound. You worry too much, my friend.”
“You will too when it’s your mate going off alone.”
One corner of his mouth lifted. “Not gonna happen.”
“That’s what I thought too. The last person I expected or wanted to find when I walked into that bar was my mate.” Now, I couldn’t imagine my life without her.
He shook his head. “You never expected to find your mate. I, on the other hand, am well aware that I could have potential mates out there, and I am doing my best to avoid that trap for as long as possible.”
I laughed at his choice of words. “I may not have wanted it at first, but I never felt trapped. I could have left if I’d wanted to.”
“Right,” he scoffed.
“Hello,” called Seamus as he and Niall walked out of the woods, no doubt back from watching over Sara during her walk.
“Just the lads we were hoping to see,” Niall said as they approached us. “How about a few hands of poker tonight?”
“Unless you have plans,” Seamus added, giving me a meaningful look.
I raised an eyebrow, and he chuckled.
“Celine was looking for you at lunch, and she had that determined look in her eye.”
I groaned inwardly. I had managed to avoid Celine for the most part since I returned, but she didn’t give up easily.
“What time does the game start?”
The brothers laughed and said we were meeting at Niall’s at seven. They headed into the main building, and I looked at Chris.
“Feel like sparring for an hour?”
He snorted softly. “You mean hiding, don’t you?”
“Something like that.”
* * *
“I have to say I’m surprised to see the two of you sticking around for more than a few days.” Niall tossed two chips on top of the pile in the middle of the table. “Especially you, Nikolas. Can’t remember the last time you stayed here more than a week.”
I added chips to his. “Thought it was time for a change of pace.”
“Uh-huh.” Seamus snickered. “Or a vacation after running around Maine after a certain wee lass. Word is she led you guys on a merry chase.”
“You could say that.” Chris studied his cards before he threw them down. He leaned back in his chair and smiled at Seamus. “I’ve learned never to underestimate my little cousin.”
Seamus snorted loudly. “You two must be going soft. We’ve had no trouble with her since she came here. She tried to go off alone a few times, but we brought her back.”
“She wouldn’t have given us the slip in Maine,” Niall stated with a lopsided grin. “Right, bro?”
“Right.”
I laughed off their gibes. Niall and Seamus were fine warriors, but they were no match for Sara, even on a good day. Put them all together on her turf, and they’d be singing a different tune.
Niall laid his cards face up on the table. “Read ’em and weep, lads.”
Seamus harrumphed and threw down his own cards.
I spread out my straight next to Niall’s three queens, and he swore.
“You are the luckiest son of a bitch. You know that?”
I smiled because he didn’t know how right he was.
Chris dealt the next hand, and I went to pour another glass of Niall’s Scotch. When I came back to the table, Seamus peered at me over his cards.
“So, I heard a rumor about you working with the trainees. That true?”
“Only with Sara,” I said. “Tristan and I decided she would do better with someone she knows.”
Seamus tossed down two of his cards. “Hell. I’d train her if Tristan asked me. Wouldn’t mind seeing that pretty face every day.”
I studied my cards, pretending not to hear him.
“Maybe I should offer to work with her,” he said. “Free you up so you can get back to doing what you love.”
My jaw tightened.
“You go kill things, and I’ll show the lass some Irish moves. Win-win situation for both of us, right?”
The cards in my hand began to buckle.
“Ha!” Seamus gave Niall a victorious grin. “Pay up, bro.”
Niall’s mouth turned down. “You don’t even like that album.”
“I said it wasn’t my favorite one, but you know I like all of Johnny Cash’s stuff.”
“Since when?”
I stared at the two brothers with a mix of irritation and confusion.
“What are you two going on about?” Chris asked.
Seamus looked at me with a smug expression. “I told Niall you had it bad for the lass. He said she was too young and sweet to interest you. We made a friendly wager, which he just lost.”
“You don’t have proof he’s into her,” Niall argued. “He just might not want your ugly mug around her.”
Seamus snorted. “You do realize we’re identical twins.”
“I’m still better looking.”
I shook my head at them, used to their sibling banter. “Are we playing this hand or not?”
“Sure.” Seamus exchanged a look with his brother. “Let’s make this more interesting. Best hand gets to train Sara tomorrow.”
“Seamus,” Chris said with a note of warning in his voice.
I set my cards down, trying to ignore the heat rising in my chest. Seamus and I had been friends for years, and I knew he was only baiting me for fun.
“I have a better idea. Let’s duel over it.”
Seamus stared at me for a moment before he shook his head. “I like all my parts right where they are.”
“Good, that’s settled.” I picked up my cards.
No one mentioned Sara again, and the four of us had an enjoyable evening. Seamus and Niall would have played poker all night, but I left at ten to take a walk around the grounds, something I did most nights before I retired.
I was walking back from the river when Celine intercepted me. Most women I knew would have pretended it was a chance encounter. Not Celine.
“Have you been avoiding me, Nikolas?” she asked in a husky voice as we walked back to the main building.
“I’ve been busy since I got back,” I replied without answering her question.
“So I see. I hear you’ve been working with Tristan’s granddaughter. How sweet of you to help that unfortunate girl.”
She stopped walking, forcing me to stop out of courtesy. Her lips curled into a smile. “Why don’t you join me in one of my training sessions this week? The other trainees would be thrilled to work with the great Nikolas Danshov.”
“I’ll see if I can fit it in. I’m sure the boys would rather have you as a trainer though.”
She laughed and put a hand on my shoulder. “I think the two of us could give them a lesson they’d never forget.”
My Mori shifted angrily, not enjoying her closeness. It need not have worried. There was only one female whose touch I wanted, and nothing would change that. Soon everyone else would know it too, and Celine would have no choice but to end her futile pursuit of me.
“Nikolas, I was hoping to find you out here.” Tristan strode toward us, his shrewd gaze sizing up the situation. “I wanted to talk to you about a job.”
I frowned, stepping away from Celine. “I’m not taking on new jobs right now.”
He stopped and greeted Celine before looking at me again. “It’s in Boise, and it’ll take less than a day. Why don’t we go to my office so I can tell you about it?”
I nodded, and we bade Celine good night. She smiled graciously because she was a warrior first and foremost, and she understood the importance of our work.
“Is there really a job in Boise, or did you just say that to give me an excuse to leave?” I asked as the two of us entered the building.
Tristan chuckled. “There is a job, but we could have discussed it tomorrow. You looked like you could use a rescue.”
I followed him into his office. “I guess I owe you one. Tell me about this job.”
