Chapter Twelve #2
“I was just standing here minding my own business,” Ena said, feigning innocence.
Ty walked up to her, wiping the sweat from his brow before leaning over her. “You forget I can smell you, viper, and yes, it’s very distracting.”
Ena’s face went slightly pink at that. “Smell, like…?”
“Like I can tell you enjoyed watching us. Am I right?”
Ena looked away, her face going even redder. “Fine,” she said, meeting his gaze once more. “I won’t deny it. It was sexy as hell. You’re really…” Her gaze dragged over Ty’s bare torso before coming back up to his eyes. “Fast.”
Ty smiled at her genuinely. She was too fucking cute, and part of him wanted to drag her back to his rooms and fuck the shit out of her, but maybe they could go for the next best thing.
“Come over here, then. It’s your turn to try.”
“My turn?” she asked, sounding shocked. “But I don’t know how to fight.”
“That’s the point. You should learn. You never know when it might come in handy.”
“I’ve never had cause to fight before,” she said. “Witches don’t usually need to.”
“Well, you’re in the Underworld now…” Ty replied. “And daemons fight.”
“I thought you said I was protected because I was your witch-slave. That no one could touch me.”
“That’s technically true, yes. No one is allowed to touch you without my permission, but daemons don’t always follow the rules,” he finished menacingly.
Ena rolled her eyes at him, in that way she did when he challenged her and she wanted to act annoyed, but he knew deep down she loved it.
She was outspoken enough to tell him if she didn’t, and he could always sense when she just needed that little extra push to do what she really wanted.
That little bit of permission to say “yes.”
“Okay, fine. Got a recommendation?” she asked, gesturing towards the wall of weapons.
“For you? Daggers, for sure. They’re lightweight, but deadly when someone gets too close. Perfect for a viper,” he said, smiling mischievously at her.
“Why do you call me that anyway?” she asked as he handed her two choice daggers, a bit smaller than the one he’d been using, but still excellent.
“Viper?” he asked.
“Yeah, you never did before. You only started on Samhain when you…took me.”
She clearly wasn’t mincing words, but okay, fair enough, he did take her.
And he was so fucking glad he did.
“I saw your mask on the floor where you dropped it, the one decorated with serpents. That was yours, wasn’t it?”
He’d been upstairs, searching for the amulet, when he saw her walk down the hallway of the matriarch’s house, dropping her mask on the floor.
It wasn’t until he’d walked into the altar room and seen her standing there, smelled her as he grabbed her waist and put his hand over her mouth, that he realized he couldn’t reveal that he knew her and use her name, so “viper” had just come out.
“Yes, that was mine,” she said, testing the grip of the daggers in her hands cautiously.
“Well, there you go. It suits you,” Ty said, grinning at her.
Ena smiled back, a dark grin he hadn’t seen before spreading over her face. It almost reminded him of the way she looked when she gave in to her visanis—calm, in control, and powerful. If he was a lesser man, he would be intimidated, but he just found it hot as fuck.
“Okay then,” she said. “Show me what to do with these things.” She held the daggers out before her, inspecting them like they were likely to bite her.
“Well, first you have to work on your stance, like this,” he said, bending down and grabbing her thigh to move her leg into the proper position.
He still wasn’t totally used to her wearing pants all the time—he’d only ever seen her in dresses before.
Her thigh was supple to his touch, but muscular underneath.
He resisted the urge to stroke his hand up and down it, or Iblis-forbid, bite it.
Turner was still standing on the sidelines watching, though, and he didn’t necessarily want such an attentive audience for the things he wanted to do to her.
“Good,” he said as he stood up and assessed her stance. “You feel how steady you are in that position?”
“Yeah, definitely,” Ena said, looking down at her feet.
“Okay, now weak spots to go for, when you’re close to your opponent,” Ty said, stepping closer to her. She looked up at him with big blue eyes and he felt his heart stutter.
Fuck, she was pretty. She probably had no idea what those eyes did to him.
But, Iblis take him, that would have to wait until later. This was important for her.
“The throat,” he said, bringing her arm up so her dagger lay across his throat. “Underneath the ribs,” he said, bringing her arm down so the dagger was now pointed at his gut. “And, of course”—he guided her hand down with both of his, so the dagger was right at his balls—“the groin.”
“Hmm,” Ena said playfully, looking down at where her dagger was pointed. “You’re a bold daemon helping a witch put a dagger right to your balls.”
Ty chuckled before leaning in to whisper in her ear. “I know you wouldn’t dare. You like them too much. And plus,” he added, his voice dripping with lust as he ran a hand through her hair and tightened his grip on a handful of it. “If you did try something, you know I’d punish you for it.”
Ena gasped, a small sound that sent a shot of blood right to his cock. Turner could definitely overhear them, but Ty couldn’t help himself.
Ena was too much fun to play with.
“Okay, now,” he said, releasing her hair and pulling away from her again before things escalated. “I want you to come at me with those and we’ll go from there.”
Ena stood for a second, assessing, clearly unsure of where to begin, but Ty saw the moment she decided to just go for it. Her weight shifted forward, and she swung out quickly with the dagger in her right hand, going for Ty’s throat.
Ty, being a daemon, was naturally faster, so he dodged her easily, but then she changed hands, swinging towards his stomach with her left.
He was impressed with her natural instinct, but he dodged that one easily too.
“Not bad,” he said. “Try again.”
She tried a couple more times, missing him handily each time, and he could tell she was getting a little frustrated.
“Why don’t you have a weapon?” she asked, huffing a little bit. “Or am I too bad to even warrant that?”
“This is about you getting more comfortable with your strikes, not about defending mine, yet. Now try again, but this time, go for the gut first, then the throat in a combination move.”
She did as she was told, and she was honestly a natural. She had excellent control over her body and her movements, and her balance was impressive.
But Ty knew she was the type of person who got upset when they couldn’t do things perfectly the first time. That was why she never backed down from his challenges—she hated to lose.
The next time, he told her to do the same move again, but faster, and when he dodged her easily again, Turner laughed from the sidelines.
“What’s so funny?” Ena asked Turner, her voice snippy. “I didn’t ask for this, you know.”
“No, no, I know, it’s just…reminds me of my youth.
Me and Steig going after this bastard, who could easily dodge us, at least at the beginning.
It wasn’t until I got older that I could kick his ass.
” Turner smiled at him, crossing his arms where he stood watching.
“So don’t worry. It takes time, but you’ll get there. ”
“Hm, time, yeah,” Ena said, her mood becoming surly.
“Do you want to stop?” Ty asked. He didn’t want her becoming too cranky. That wasn’t the point.
“No, let’s go again,” Ena said, getting back in her stance. “I want to.”
“Okay,” he said. “Try and surprise me this time.”
Ena paused for a second, as if contemplating her move. Then, quick as a snake, she struck out with her right hand, going for his throat as he heard her whisper.
{Ignis}
The darkrock lantern on the wall a few feet away exploded with fire. It startled Ty, who leapt back from the flames, right to where Ena had her dagger waiting, pointing directly at his balls.
He looked down slowly at it, feeling it before he saw it, then up at the feral grin on her face.
“Surprising enough for you?” she asked, feigning innocence, but he could tell she was incredibly proud of herself.
Ty felt an answering wolfish grin spread across his face. “There’s my viper,” he said.
Ena laughed as she pulled her knife back, looking far too pleased with herself. Maybe he should punish her later anyway…
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of heavy footsteps coming down the passageway outside of the fighting ring, and he tensed.
He felt Ena turn towards the sound and take a step backwards into Ty as the door opened.
She was right to be cautious as Gunnar and Chans, two of Cole’s currently favored upper-level daemons, entered the room.
Ty looked to Turner and saw concern written on his cousin’s face. This was about to be fucking annoying.
“Ty,” Gunnar said, his grin displaying several of his missing teeth.
The man was about a decade Ty’s senior and had always been an asshole as long as Ty could remember.
The last several years, he’d been rising in the ranks.
Cole frequently chose him for missions because of his Power—the ability to incite panic, or metus, was obviously useful for serving Iblis.
“Good to see you again,” the man said, rubbing a hand through his closely cropped brown hair.
“Gunnar,” Ty said simply, not bothering to hide his annoyance with the man’s presence.
“We just came to train a bit, if you don’t mind sharing the space,” he said, his eyes darting to Ena.
Ty fucking hated it and had to physically stop himself from lashing out at the man. “We were just finishing actually,” he said calmly. “The space is all yours.”
“Shame,” Gunnar said darkly. “I would have loved to play with your witch-slave a little bit. That is, if you’re willing to share her?”
His companion, Chans, snickered next to him, eyeing Ena in a murderous way.