“Yes,” I replied, stretching out the word. “Why are you scowling at me?”
Before he could respond, Chico was speaking as he headed for Jude. “Did I just hear that you’ve been invited to train with us?”
Jude nodded happily, which earned her a frown. “Is there a problem with that?” Her expression both dared him to say ‘no’ and warned him not to even think it.
Salem turned to Sam, who was strolling toward us. “You can’t expect them to train with us, Coach.” The words were firm without being disrespectful.
Sam shrugged. “Why is that?”
“Yeah,” drawled Alora, crossing her arms over her chest. “Why is that?”
It was Chico who answered. “They’ve had no training whatsoever, Coach. We’re at an advanced level; they could never keep up.” The rest of the squad had gathered at this point, none of whom looked pleased by the presence of me and my not-yet-fully-formed squad.
“I’m well aware of that, Chico,” Sam told him. “I’m also aware that there’s trouble brewing over dear old Diane. Here’s what you’re all not getting. It’s likely that one of two things will happen. Either Giles will call to inform us that he’s lured Diane to his club, or he’ll give us her location. In both cases, we’ll be walking into a trap because it’s clear that the bloke has no intention of giving her up.
“That means there’ll be a battle at some point – maybe with Giles, maybe with Diane herself, or maybe even with both of them. I need these girls prepared for the battle. I need to know they feel confident enough to protect themselves. They won’t be confident without some training. For the next few evenings, I need you all to help with that.”
Chico took a step back. “I’m sorry, Coach, but I can’t. Part of training is learning to deal with pain and keep on going, and I can’t hurt women.”
Cassie frowned, confused and frustrated. “You must have hurt women during battles.”
“Yeah, but that was different. They were enemies; it was a case of my life or theirs. But this…you seven are under our protection, and I can’t hurt any of you.” The rest of the squad nodded, their postures rebellious.
Sam sighed. “Admirable, yet irritating.
I was in agreement with that. While their protectiveness was kind of cute, it was also annoying and even insulting.
“Chico, go stand against the eastern wall. Cassie, take a spot against the western wall so that you’re directly opposite him. There should be at least three car-spaces between you.”
Grinning like a Cheshire cat, Cassie followed Sam’s order.
“Good,” said Sam once the two vampires were in position. “Now Chico, hit her with some darts.” He hesitated, clearly balking at the idea. “Come on. Reuben has reduced the effectiveness of your gift. The thorns will do nothing more than make her itch.”
“Fine.” Chico inhaled deeply, raised his hand…and nothing. Sweat beaded his brow, and lines of strain marked his face as it became a mask of frustration.
“Chico, we’re waiting.”
“I can’t,” he bit out.
“Why? Because you’re reluctant to hurt her?”
“No.”
“Then, why?”
His upper lip curled. “Because I can’t fucking do it. I want to, but it’s not happening. I just…can’t!”
“That’s right. Would you like to know why, Chico?” Sam looked at me. “Should we tell him?”
“Oh yeah.” I smiled at Chico. “It’s really good.”
Maya nodded. “You’ll love it. Really.”
“The reason you can’t do it…is that Cassie won’t let you,” explained Sam. “Right now, she’s in your mind – a presence so subtle you can’t even feel it. She can stop you from harming her, can make you do absolutely anything, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“I could even take full control of your mind,” Cassie revealed. “And if I wanted to, I could even remove your memory of this moment afterwards, so that you won’t even remember it.”
“Would you like that?” Sam asked Chico. “At least then your pride will still be intact.”
“Point taken,” Chico mumbled.
Reuben exhaled heavily. “Okay, Coach, I get it. This kind of gift will protect Cassie well. But they can’t all control minds.”
Sam tapped her chin with her finger. “Hmm. I tell you what, why don’t you go get yourself comfortable in Chico’s spot? Ava, you can replace Cassie.”
I clapped a little. “Ooh, this will be fun.” I stopped when Salem put a restraining hand on my arm. “Easy, big guy.” I patted his chest, expecting him to scowl at me. But he was staring at Sam, shaking his head.
Reuben’s huff was almost petulant. “This isn’t necessary. I know what Ava’s gift is, and I know she’s good – I’ve seen her fight.”
“But you still don’t think she stands a chance against one of you super-duper blokes, do you?” fired Sam, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Not when I’m much bigger than her, and not when all I have to do is touch her once for her to be vulnerable to me.”
“Fine. So show us.”
Salem shook his head again. “I won’t let him hurt her, Coach.”
“He’s not going to hurt her. All he needs to do is touch her to weaken her gift, thus proving his point.” She motioned Reuben toward Chico’s spot, and he practically stomped all the way there.
I smiled at the girls, shaking my head sadly. “Will they never learn?” A clever defensive move had me free from Salem’s hold and moving to replace Cassie.
I heard Sam muttering to Salem, ‘She needs your support right now, not coddling.’
Standing opposite my opponent, my feet shoulder-width apart, I arched a brow. “Ready, Reub?”
He grinned cockily. “Yes, let’s –” Then he found himself zooming backwards, crashing into the wall, after a solid kick to the chest from me. He’d underestimated my speed – how silly. And entertaining.
Before he could even think about retaliating, I had my hands on his head. “In this teensy, weensy moment, I could have snapped your neck.”
He bounced to his feet. “That wasn’t fair! You gave me no warning!”
“Oh, and someone you face in a battle will give you a warning, will they?”
“She’s right, Reuben.” Jared sighed tiredly. “You should have known better.”
I skipped to Alora’s side, waving at a frowning Salem. So cute.
Sam scanned the rest of the squad. “Anyone else care to be an arse?”
The girls shot Butch looks of disgust as he stepped forward. “Look, Coach, I’m not saying that the girls aren’t tough. They are. But…” He flicked an impatient glance at Imani, who I’d noticed he could be a little too protective of at times. “Imani’s gift is substantial, but it’s to sever blood-links. In a battle, what can that possibly –?” Abruptly, he cried out and dropped to his knees; his hands cradling his head.
The girls and I watched in morbid fascination as he groaned in agony through gritted teeth. I knew that Imani’s gift allowed her to sift through a person’s mind with a psychic hand. Unlike Ryder, she couldn’t access memories or thoughts, but she could find and then snap any blood-link. And I wondered just what she was doing with that psychic hand at the moment.
“Looks like he wants to jump out of his own skin, doesn’t he?” observed Paige, her voice detached and clinical.
Alora elbowed her gently. “You know, I was just going to say that.”
“I’d feel bad if he wasn’t such an ass,” said Imani.
Jude patted her back supportively. “Some people have to learn the hard way.”
Cassie sighed. “It’s such a shame that he didn’t just learn from Chico or Reuben’s mistakes.”
“When you think about it,” said Maya, “this is actually his own fault.”
I nodded. “Totally.”
“Stop, stop, stop!” Butch growled, pounding the ground with his fist. Then suddenly he sagged, panting.
“What did she do?” asked David once Butch was upright.
“She strummed the blood-link in my head like a fucking banjo!”
Imani shrugged innocently. “You wanted to know how it could possibly help in a battle. I figured it would be easier to show you.”
Maya looked at her. “So it’s an ability that will not only hurt, but distract your attacker and make them vulnerable. I like it.”
Scanning the squad, I almost laughed. Their shoulders were slumped, they were squirming uncomfortably, and they were wearing child-like pouts.
Sam released a cleansing sigh. “Now, I take it we’re not going to hear any more of the ‘but they’re girls, we can’t harm them’ bollocks.” When none of the guys spoke, she nodded. “Fabulous. Let all this serve to remind you that it doesn’t matter how powerful you are, there’ll always be someone who can better you. Look at Ava…Such a cute, harmless-looking exterior. But if I let her loose on any of you, there’s a high chance she’d win. At the very least, you’d walk away with some injuries and a bruised pride – just like our Reuben.”
Whatever a clearly embarrassed Reuben mumbled under his breath earned him a whack over the head from Salem.
Sam turned to me and the girls. “During training, there are three goals. One, to learn to channel all your energy so that there’s none leaking from you. Two, to improve the use of your gifts so that you can not only improve as individuals but as a squad. And three, to know each other’s gifts inside out.
“Unfortunately, I have a small number of nights to get you prepared for whatever happens next. That’s why having these blokes here will help. The first thing I’m going to teach you is how to suck in all the preternatural energy that’s leaking from you. You began producing this unnatural energy when you were Turned, causing your mind and body to evolve. If you can’t hold it inside you, you won’t be able to use your gift to its full potential, and you’ll also be vulnerable. We can’t have that.”
Disappointed to find that I had energy leaking from me – only a little, but still – I was absolutely determined to fix it. I followed Sam’s instructions to the letter. I got the hang of it pretty quickly, since I was determined not to show any weakness in front of the guys or give them ammunition to change their minds. I suspected that was why the other girls quickly got the hang of it too.
Once Sam was satisfied with our attempts, we moved on to improving our strengths while also tackling our weaknesses. The squad joined in for that, and they actually did it without grumbling. How shocking. Sam assigned one guy to each girl, wanting us all to have some one-to-one time before the session was over.
When it came time to assign me a helper, Sam said, “My concern with you, Ava, is that your gift can’t protect you against psychic attacks.”
I sighed. “Yeah, that’s a bummer.”
“But a huge strength that comes with your gift is that you’re bloody fast. You can sense psychic energy rippling through the air, right?” At my nod, she continued, “That type of energy hits fast and hard. But so do you. So I’m thinking that with some training, you could learn to dodge the psychic energy with your enhanced speed. Want to try it?”
I smiled. “Let’s do it.”
“Salem, we need you for this. First, though, we need Reuben to weaken your punch so it’s nothing more than a psychic slap.”
Salem looked from me to Sam. “You expect me to –?” He shook his head. “No.”
She gave him a weak smile. “Salem, I know it will be hard. But I also know that if anyone else here even slightly harms her, you will put them in a coma – happily.”
He conceded that with a grunt and a slight tilt of the head.
“Plus, if you help her, you’ll also have peace of mind that she’s learning to better protect herself. That’s important to you.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “I’ll do it.”
As soon as Reuben weakened Salem’s gift, we began. When the first slap hit, I was surprised. It actually felt like a slap across the head, but inside my head – acting as a jolt to my mental equilibrium and awareness. It didn’t hurt as badly as I’d expected, though. Still, every time a psychic slap came my way and I didn’t manage to evade it, Salem would wince or curse.
When Sam realised he’d started to go easy on me, she threatened to pair me up with David. The impact of his psionic boom when weakened apparently felt like a burning zap to the brain. Unwilling to allow David anywhere near me with that gift, Salem had relented.
Then he turned into a total bastard and attacked me without mercy. It should have pissed me off, but I actually did a lot better after that. Mostly because I knew that he would no longer pull his punches – no pun intended – so I’d need to move my skinny ass fast. Plus, I saw the guilt that flashed on his face each time I flinched at one of his slaps. It made me more determined to improve.
By the time the session was over, I was pretty good at it – even if I did say so myself. Not that it made Salem feel any better. He turned broody and growly, which I probably shouldn’t have found cute or amusing, but I so did.
We had an hour long break for lunch, and then we were back in the arena. We repeated the same exercise again, which I was certain was going to make Salem explode with anger at some point. The only thing that kept him relatively calm was that what he was doing was actually working.
Near the end of the session, Sam gathered me and the other girls together. “Now it’s time for me to pair you with someone from your own squad who will suit you during battle – who has a gift that can complement your own. Alora, you’re with Maya.”
I wasn’t surprised by that. We’d discovered that Alora’s gift of communicating with animals allowed her to fully understand Maya when she was in her jaguar-form – to understand the meaning behind each hiss, chuff, and growl. Not only that, they could communicate telepathically using pictures while Maya was in that form.
“Paige, you’re with Imani,” Sam then announced.
That wasn’t much of a surprise either. Paige was extremely protective of her friend, and I’d seen them work well together during battle. Imani would disable her opponent as she’d done with Butch, and then Paige would use her gift of transferring injuries to destroy them.
“Lastly…Jude, I’ll be matching you with Cassie.”
I understood that, too. Jude’s gift wasn’t offensive, so it would be best if she worked with someone like Cassie, whose gift of mind control could help protect her. Also, Cassie wasn’t the best fighter in terms of combat, whereas Jude was well-trained in that area so she would be good at watching her back.
Sam gave me a faint smile. “Unfortunately, that leaves you without a partner. But that’s only for now. Three more will eventually join the squad, and one of those will be paired with you. During this battle, you’ll have Salem as your shadow anyway.”
That was true, so I didn’t mind so much that I was without a partner. As such, I was in a damn good mood when I got home. Salem, however, was in a very foul one. “Must you be so miserable?” I asked with a smile.
He pulled me to him. “I hated hurting you. It goes against every instinct I’ve got.”
Aw, so sweet. I looped my arms around his waist. “You wasn’t hurting me. You were helping me learn to protect myself against someone who gladly will. That’s important.”
He rested his forehead against mine. “I don’t know if I can do it again.”
“Sure you can, because it’s working. Besides, Sam was right. You’ll go bat-shit crazy on anyone who hurts me, even if they are part of your squad.”
He just grunted, clearly unhappy that I’d won that argument.
“I think Reuben’s going to be mad at me for a while.”
Salem’s mouth twitched. “You could be right.” His hands framed my face. “Such an innocent, pretty package for a deadly female.”
“It’s probably wrong that I’m more flattered by ‘deadly’ than ‘pretty’.” I smoothed my hands up and down his back soothingly. “Stop sulking.”
/>
A frown. “I don’t sulk.”
“You so do. It’s sort of adorable.”
“I’m not adorable.”
“Ooh, here comes the growling. Makes me all gooey inside.”
A glint of humour entered his eyes just as his mouth curved. “In theory, your teasing should further piss me off. But it seems you can weirdly calm me down this way.”
“Does this mean we can leave out the arguing and skip straight to the make-up sex?”
His mouth curved a little more as he scooped me up. “Works for me.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
(Ava)
“I think I have paint in my ear.”
Alora gagged. “I think I have it up my nose. One thing’s for sure, it’s going to take me some time to get it all out of my hair.”
“Same here. We must look like rainbow cookies.”
As part of our training, Sam and Jared had taken us, the squad, and the rest of the girls to Sam’s tactical training field deep in the rainforest. We’d played a few games of paintball, all of which were designed to help us learn battle tactics like how to best engage and eliminate an opposing team, and also how to defend and hold outposts.
Even though we’d worn camouflaged overalls, padded gloves, and safety masks, paint had still managed to make its way into places it had no right being. Our socks and the collar of our t-shirts were also stained with blobs of paint. Feeling some squish between my toes wasn’t a pleasant sensation.
After the games were over, Sam and Jared had sent us and the other girls ahead of them so that the guys could engage in a few much more advanced games. Jude, Paige, and Imani were giving Maya and Cassie a tour of the rainforest. Alora and I, however, were returning to our apartments to shower and change, since we were due to meet with Ryder soon to have our minds scanned for ‘demon interference’. I seriously doubted that my mind had been compromised, but I wanted to be certain.
It was as we neared the fringe of the rainforest that we noticed a figure lounging against a thick, vine-covered tree. Gina laughed cruelly on spotting us. Did anyone want their boyfriend’s ex to see them in a bad state? I didn’t.