Chapter 7 #2
Kerry laughed, the sound of her voice a melodic dance that made my skin tingle. WTF? I shivered. Was that what Angel meant about the lines being blurred?
“Kerry’s a succubus,” Angel said as he patted me on the back, then shoved me toward an open area of the sparring mats.
“Succubus? You mean, a sex demon?” I half tripped over my own feet trying to get onto the padded mat and look at her at the same time.
“Does it work if I’m not into girls?” I asked as I waved my hands.
“I mean, I like girls just fine. I just don’t like like girls, if you get what I mean.
My best friend is a girl… woman. You know what I mean? ”
She smiled. “We’ll see, won’t we?”
Angel crossed his arms and leaned against a ceiling support pillar; his gaze intense. Or maybe that was all in my head. Did he have a master’s in sexy leaning?
I ducked a half heartbeat in time to avoid a fist to the face. Kerry wasn’t playing. “Cat got your tongue, rookie?” she teased, throwing a nod in Angel’s direction.
“Ha. I wish,” I said, dancing around a half dozen more punches and a few well-placed kicks. The girl had moves. “I don’t hit girls.”
“Then I’ll knock you on your ass.”
Wade stood at the edge of the mat, obviously assessing. The more I dodged —even flipping backward to roll away from a kick in a move that reminded me of Keanu Reeves bullet-dodging—the more folks gathered around.
“Hit me,” Kerry demanded.
“Lots of dancing, pretty boy,” Angel said. “Going to actually fight soon?”
“She’s a girl,” I said, dodging another half-dozen blows.
“I’m not really,” Kerry said, landing a kick to my midsection that knocked the breath out of me.
I gasped and dropped to my knees, rolling at the last second to avoid a punch to the head while I tried to find air.
She hit the mat, narrowly missing my face as I swerved right and rolled back to my feet, half flipping to get out of her range.
“Damn, girl, you need to teach my best friend some of these moves,” I cursed as she kept coming, reaching up to grip my hair—that I countered by grabbing her wrist, twisting to deliver a kick which met her thigh instead of her groin, as if she’d expected it.
She swung with her other fist, not letting go of my hair even as I twisted her arm near breaking.
I slipped lower, using her momentum to offset her balance, and kicked her right knee out from under her.
She fell, taking me with her, then rolled, shoving me beneath her. I swung my legs up to wrap around her throat and threw her off. She caught herself, landing on her feet.
“You’re quick,” she said. “But you still haven’t hit me.”
I groaned. “No one told me there would be a physical exam the first day. I haven’t even eaten yet.”
“I’m sure some variant shifter gang is going to care that you’re hungry. Maybe get hangry, then.” She shifted into her original form, a foot taller and probably a hundred pounds of muscle heavier.
“Holy Hulk!”
“Will you hit me now, pretty boy?”
“Why does everyone call me that?” I asked as I dodged a half dozen more punches and a roundhouse. I focused on her moves: the favoring of her right foot, her bulk. She was fast, quicker than any opponent I’d ever sparred with, but I’d learned to use small to my favor a long time ago.
“Won’t be so pretty when I smash your face.”
“Rude!” I said, and leapt as though I intended to latch onto her middle. Instead, I curled into a roll. She missed a swing, I slipped past her, jumped, and delivered a full-body double kick to her back, sending her flying off the mat.
She grunted as she caught herself. “Still not a hit, pretty boy,” she said, turning to face me “But you’re clever.
” Then she came at me so fast it was a blur.
I was on my back with her holding me down, hand to my throat, body checking me to the floor.
I gasped for air, staring up into her eyes, which swirled with silver and black.
“Pack it in,” Angel called. “Necromancer Ken” and I have a DB callout.”
Kerry didn’t move, her expression focused.
Black spots pulsed at the edges of my vision.
“Kerry,” Wade said.
I tried to free an arm, a leg, anything, but my lungs burned for air.
“Kerry,” Angel’s voice was sharper. “Let him go.”
She whispered something in clicks and hisses. I blinked through a rainbow of warning color pops in my vision then gave all my strength to a shove. Her grip loosened and I flipped one knee up, around her shoulders, and swung her away from me in a half turn, scrambling away gasping.
“What the hell was that?” Angel demanded. He was facing Kerry, not me, as Wade helped me up.
“His eyes went black. Did you see?” Kerry asked, sounding proud of herself. “He’s got black in his band. Demon magic. I want to know what he can do.”
“DV never registers as more than a flicker. You could have killed him,” Wade said.
I flinched. “Can you all not kill me on my first day?” I met Angel’s gaze. His eyes were narrowed with anger, though I didn’t think it was at me. “Can we use my fucking name please? Is that too much to ask?”
Angel raised a brow and said, “Jude.”
The way my body reacted to him saying my name was embarrassing. “DV? Demon variance? I thought I was SV.”
“You’re both,” Wade said, pointing at my arm. “Red and black. Double variance is rare, and demon variance is unheard of.”
“Great. I’m just a freak all around, I guess.” I kept Wade between Kerry and me. Succubus or not, I got the feeling that she didn’t like me much.
Angel stepped in front of me. “You able to get cleaned up for a body review?” I opened my mouth to snark, but he held up a hand. “The dead kind, not ours.”
“Not fair that you’re on to me already,” I grumbled. “Yeah. Let me shower and change. Can we get food on the way?”
“You can eat before a DB?” Angel asked.
I shrugged. “I’ve seen some really terrible stuff over the years, and had weeks of nothing but ick. If I didn’t learn to power through it, I’d have died from starvation ages ago.” I headed for the elevators and locker room, oddly happy to have some semblance of normality, even if it was a corpse.