Chapter 38 #2
Kenneth grinned. I snatched up the sword and barely had time to turn when Karson struck again.
This time, I blocked it and struck back.
He blocked it with ease, and back and forth we went, the sound of our clashing blades echoing through the forest. I didn’t know how long we fought, it felt like hours, but was probably less than a minute, when my arms began to ache and my legs shook.
I wiped at the sweat trickling down my face.
Immediately, Karson brought the blade down. I yanked my blade up, but it was with such force it knocked me flat onto my ass. He pressed the tip of the blade to my chest.
My cheeks burned red. Had we been on our own, I might not have cared, but he was letting Monique and Kenneth watch, and I felt humiliated. Inadequate.
I climbed to my feet, brushing the leaves off my jeans and snapped, “I need a drink.”
“I will just wait until your muscles stop shaking and your breathing is under control and for you to nourish your body before I try to kill you, shall I?”
I gritted my teeth. “Yes, you will, because this isn’t a real fight, and you aren’t actually trying to kill me.” I snatched the bottle off the ground and thumped my ass down onto a fallen log, leaning the sword against the log.
His face hardened as anger took hold. “You are right, Amelia, but someone else will be, and you will only fight as well as you train.”
“He has a good point,” Monique said.
I glared at her. “Haven’t you got something better to do, Monique?”
She picked at a long, red-painted nail and then deliberately held it up so the claw glinted in the sunlight. “No, actually.”
I rolled my eyes. “Giving me the finger, so mature.”
“You fight her at human speed, Karson,” Kenneth called out, a grin splitting his face. “She needs to learn to fight a vampire at vampire speed.”
“She would be dead, Kenneth.”
“Maybe.” He leapt from the cliff, landing like a cat onto the grass. “Or maybe not. May I?” He straightened and held out his palm.
Karson looked reluctant for a moment, but he handed the sword over.
My stomach twisted. What if he accidentally sliced my body? Then I reassured myself that thought was silly; there was no way Karson would pass him a blade if he thought I was in any danger.
Kenneth towered above me, a wall of sleek, bulging muscle.
Monique sat forward, a sudden glee in her eyes.
My stomach became a tornado. I didn’t know Kenneth, but I trusted Karson. Still, my heart rate increased. He’d hear it. Fuck it.
“You don’t have the speed of a vampire, even using your powers. You need to learn to feel a vampire coming.”
I swallowed down a dry throat. “Okaayy,” I said hesitantly.
“The best way to do that is to blindfold you.”
My breath snagged in my lungs. Darkness …
Kenneth studied my face. “I won’t hurt you, I promise,” he said, oddly gently. He placed the sword on the ground. “I won’t carry the blade, if that helps.”
I couldn’t tell him it wasn’t the blade that scared me, because it was. Who’d want a blade coming at their body? But I was terrified by not being able to see. “Can I use a branch or something? What if I hurt you?”
“You won’t, but if it makes you feel better.” He nodded to Karson, who snapped a one-inch-thick branch off the tree, peeled off the thin twigs and green leaves, then handed it to me.
Kenneth pulled a black cloth from his pocket.
“What, you just carry blindfolds around with you? Just in case you need to blind a random witch?”
He smiled, his white teeth flashing as he held it out. “I save it for the bedroom usually.”
Despite the fear, I laughed. “That’s twisted.”
“No, I don’t really. Well, maybe occasionally. Why would I deny a woman the pleasure of seeing these beautiful muscles.” He flexed the muscles in his arms and winked.
When I still didn’t reach for the cloth, he pushed it closer, urging me to take it.
“You vampires are all the same.” I gripped the cloth hesitantly.
“It’s clean,” he said.
It’s just like closing your eyes, Amelia, you are safe, a voice whispered in my head. It sounded like Karson’s. It couldn’t be though. It was my own trying to convince me, I’m safe, I’m safe.
I closed my eyes, wrapped it around my head, and tied the knot.
My world went black. For a second, it was silent.
There was nothing, no heartbeat, no breathing, no birds, no shift of leaves in the breeze.
Then panic struck, roaring through me like a storm, like drenching rain, pounding in my eardrums. The world tilted beneath my feet.
There were hands around my wrists, around my ankles. I couldn’t breathe, I tried to scream, but it was muffled. I couldn’t see but I could feel them, circling, hungry like sharks about to feed.
“Hold her down,” a voice snapped.
No, no …
Someone calling my name.
A hand on my arm. I jerked back.
“Amelia, Amelia, open your eyes,” a voice pounded through the rain—Karson. I blinked into sudden brightness. The blindfold was gone. The stick was still clenched tight in my sweaty hand.
Karson was in front of me, blocking Kenneth from my sight. I saw a mixture of compassion and confusion in his eyes. “You’re safe.”
“What happened?” Kenneth asked, his voice soft. “What is scaring you so much, Amy?”
I couldn’t tell him I was afraid of the dark. It seemed weak, stupid. Even as another wiser voice whispered, Terrible things always happen in the dark.
“She doesn’t know you, Kenneth, she struggles to trust vampires she doesn’t know.
” Karson spoke to him but didn’t take his eyes off me.
“Perhaps we should save the blindfold for another time. I can practice that move with her in the bedroom.” Karson stepped away, and when he faced Kenneth gone was any trace of concern, and in its place was arrogance and amusement.
I knew what he was doing, he was trying to make me smile and trying to distract Kenneth from the truth.
“Oh please. It’s bad enough hearing her cries, letting alone knowing what you get up to.” Monique scrunched up her face.
“Coming from the girl who not an hour ago made it sound like an earthquake had hit the house,” Karson answered.
“Are we like five years of age in this household?” Kenneth said, bemused. “I’m not sure how you put up with them, Amy.”
“Neither am I, Kenneth,” I muttered, my face burning with embarrassment.
“Let’s try again. Turn around.”
When I hesitated, he said, “Karson’s ally is my ally. No harm will come to you.”
I took a breath and turned to look at the water.
“Close your eyes and I want you to swing back when you feel me close.”
I squeezed them shut. My heart rate spiraled up. Shit.
Breathe, breathe, breathe.
“Dead,” he said into my ear.
My eyes sprang open. I could feel his presence, rich and surprisingly pleasant, press in all around me.
“Concentrate, Amy, and feel me.”
Oh, I was.
Kenneth moved away to a point somewhere behind me. “Close them,” he ordered, like he could see my eyes were open.
Reluctantly, I closed my eyes and waited.
“Relax. If you tense up, I know you know I am here. It’s about catching me off guard.”
I felt the pressure grow against my skin, light tingles increasing as he neared. I swung around, the stick whipping through thin air in front of him.
“Too soon.” He stopped abruptly. “Let’s try again.”
I twisted back, closed my eyes, and felt his pressure grow until it became wind, thick, heavy. I twisted and swung with all I had. The branch thumped against a brick wall. The force slammed through me, pain causing my fingers to shoot open, and I dropped the stick.
“Good,” Kenneth said, no hint of pain on his features or marks to show I’d just smacked the shit out of him. “You’re a fast learner. A blade would have gone straight through my stomach. A higher aim is more effective, but that’s a good start.”
I rubbed my arm. “I dropped the stick, Kenneth.”
“If it had been a real blade, it would have sliced through me and you wouldn’t have dropped it.” He took a step back. “Now, turn around. Practice makes perfect.”
“That’s what Karson says,” I said as I collected the stick off the ground, glancing at Karson as I did. He was sitting on the log watching, his eyes sparkling like they did when he was amused.
Kenneth said with a wry grin, “You, young lady, have lived with them for way too long.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Monique called out.
I wasn’t sure if she was joking or not until I glanced up. She wasn’t.