30. Erin
Chapter thirty
Erin
Josh sent me to the bathroom to swap out my pajamas for a pile of black-on-black clothes he’d handed me, perfectly folded. I shook them out and found lined black leggings, a plain, black long sleeve, a zip up with padding in the chest area and stomach, sown in arm guards, and a strapping holster. Once I had the clothing ensemble on, I attempted to set the holster in place around my thigh and failed. I gave up after three tries and walked out to Josh.
“Okay, I think you gave me a holster made for the hulk or something because this thing is way too big for my thigh.” I waved it in the air.
Josh chuckled. “Miss Snow, that is not for your thigh. The holster I provided you rests on your back. You’ll sheath your long sword within it.”
“Well. Would’ve been nice to know that,” I pressed my lips together and worked to slide it on. “This still doesn’t feel right.”
“That’s because you put it on backwards, Miss Snow,” he motioned toward it. “May I be of assistance?”
I huffed. “Fine.”
Josh moved behind me and slid the straps up my arms, his fingers brushed against my arm as he did so. I was grateful for the long sleeve and jacket, as goosebumps formed along my skin at his touch.
I cleared my throat as he finished strapping me in. “Thanks.”
He nodded in response.
“Now what?”
He smirked. “Now, Miss Snow, we train.” Josh headed to the front door; I followed a few steps behind, grabbing my sword from where I’d placed it on the counter along the way. We trailed to the clearing behind Seth’s house, another bonus of being on such a large plot of land on the edge of town. The clearing was hidden by a line of evergreens on all sides, full and thick, shielding us perfectly from the rare passerby.
Josh stopped in the center and drew a wooden dagger from his waistband. I lifted the sword from my side, testing the weight of it in my grip.
This feels great. Should be easy enough.
Not sure if I’m holding it right but we’re going for it.
As I held it steady in front of me, Josh shot forward, knocking it out of my hand and nearly landing me on my ass.
“What the hell, dude?” I yelled, dusting myself off. I went to pick my sword off the ground and jumped when one of my daggers came flying at me causing me to yelp as it narrowly missed me, landing right at my feet. “Josh!’
He sauntered over, twirling his wooden dagger between his fingers. He bent down and reached his hand out. I swatted it away.
“What the actual fuck was that? What is wrong with you?”
He shrugged. “Never let your guard down, Miss Snow. You never know who your enemies may be.”
I glared at him. “So, your solution was to send a dagger. A fucking dagger. Right at me? Versus talking and explaining ‘hey be on the ready in case someone tries to kill you.’ Please tell me how that makes more sense.”
“Miss Snow, given your attitude, if I’d simply stated that, you would’ve brushed it off, huffed at me, and went about another one of your begrudging staredowns in an attempt to come off far more intimidating than you actually are.”
My mouth hung open.
“Hm. Interesting. Silence, that’s a first,” he drew his wooden dagger and eyed my iron one on the grass. “Now, let’s begin. Pick up your weapon, Miss Snow.”
I grumbled but followed his instruction and reached for my sword. Josh swatted my hand with the wooden dagger.
“Not that one.”
“Well, why the hell not? Bigger is always better right? More damage and all that jazz.”
Josh’s expression fell neutral. “In certain instances, absolutely, Miss Snow. But not in this case. You have yet to truly train whilst holding a weapon, and beginning with an elongated sword would not be wise if either of us wish to retain all parts of our bodies attached.”
“That’s assuming of you, Joshua . I can handle it.” To prove my point, I gripped my sword and stood. I lifted my arms and swung it above my head. And to my horror, the sudden weight distribution had my arms continuing backwards. Suddenly pulled downward by the weight of the sword, the rest of my body followed, and I ended up flinging myself backward. My feet hit the air as my back landed flat on the grass with a loud ‘oof’ escaping my lips.
Josh cleared his throat. “As I was saying, Miss Snow…”
I huffed between breaths, and flipped him off. “Fuck. Right. The. Fuck. Off.”
“Alright, let’s get you to your feet then,” Josh bent down and grabbed my wrists, hauling my bruised ass up. “And just so that you are aware, it is strictly Josh, not Joshua.”
I mimicked him as I stuck my tongue out.
“Now, Miss Snow, if you are finished screwing around, we may begin your lesson.” He stood with his hands behind his back, staring at me.
Excuse me…you mean we haven’t started yet?
I let my sword drop to the ground and winced as a hiss scratched the edges of my mind.
What the heck?
I filed that away to deal with later, picked up one of my daggers, and stepped toward Josh.
“First, getting into a fighting stance. Loosen your body and spread your feet slightly, allow your body to have the option to move at a moment’s notice,” he directed. “Dominant leg forward, so when the moment comes for you to thrust your weapon forward, you have that capability on more stable footing.”
I righted my stance, hobbling in the process. “Okay, now what?” Josh stepped in close, his hand light on my waist then thigh guiding my body into a more precise position. Heat rushed to my cheeks at the touch.
Okay. Head out of the gutter.
Come on, now.
He stepped back. “Bring your dagger upward, elbow pointing outward, pinky faced outward, and following the direction of your blade. Shoulders back.” Josh once again adjusted my body, moving my arm, weighted by my dagger, into a prime position that he approved of.
“Okay. Thrust your arm downward. Your dagger should make contact with your opponent, if not stabbing them straight through. The blade will slide down their front, causing serious damage and blood loss, buying you a few extra moments,” his eyes dropped to mine and whispered, “you will not harm me, Miss Snow.”
I averted my eyes from his, closed them, and thrust my arm out and downward as I braced myself for the twang of the impact. Nothing. I squinted one eye open. Josh hadn’t moved an inch. I wholly missed my target. I gaped while Josh wore the same neutral expression, unsurprised by my failed attempt.
“As I stated, you will not harm me.”
My jaw dropped. “You knew I’d miss?”
“Even the most revered soldiers begin with the weakest combat skills. If you’d made contact with myself, it would’ve been deliberate on my part,” he added as he nonchalantly dusted off a feather that floated onto his shoulder.
My eye twitched in time with my upper lip. “Freaking Prick.”
“Call me what you wish, Miss Snow. However, it is best to see this as a learning experience. As well as an excellent gauge for where you’ve begun and exactly how far you have to go,” his lips formed a thin line. “Go again. This time, eyes open.”
Josh guided me through various basic fighting movements, rather what he considered basic movements, I considered them forms of torture. The training continued well into the morning, the sun rose above us as it broke on the tree line. There were several times where I fell, misplaced my feet, being ‘too ambitious‘ with my blade as Josh had said.
Too ambitious my ass.
I finally collapsed onto the grass, panting, and cussing up a storm. The grass behind us rustled. “If someone’s going to kill me, just do it now. Please. I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”
“Where is the fun in that, Princess? I kinda like seeing you all sweaty.”
I groaned and closed my eyes as I threw my arms out to the side. Sweat dripped down my face, coated my armpits, and soaked my thighs. “It’s too early, Derik. Please go flirt with someone else. Someone more willing.”
“You wound me, Erin. Truly.”
“Yeah, right.”
Liquid sloshed from where Derik stood near the house. “Would coffee help?”
I shot my hand straight up, flexing and waving in his direction. “Yes. Please. For the love of all things holy. That and water if you got any.” My throat was on fire.
Footsteps neared my head; I kept my arm extended, fingers splayed, awaited the roasted deliciousness. A thump sounded next to my ear, chilling it. Then a cup was placed delicately into the palm of my hand. I blinked to find Derik bent over me, staring down with a shit eating grin plastered on his face. His blonde untamed locks fell forward, his chocolate-brown eyes lit with amusement. His white shirt wrinkled from sleep.
“I aim to please, Princess.” Derik winked. I restrained myself from rolling my eyes as I sat up and gulped the entirety of the coffee down.
I choked as the last of it hit my tongue. “Ugh, this is disgusting. What did you do to it?”
He shrugged. “Nothing, actually. That’s straight coffee with a triple shot of espresso. Thought the added sugar and milk might slow ya down, Snow.”
“Gross. Thanks, but next time, I’ll take the damn risk.” I washed the bitter taste down with the water that he’d dropped next to my head.
“Unfortunately, I must agree with Miss Snow. Based solely off of her training session this morning, the added sugar and dairy wouldn’t have slowed her down by much.”
I flipped Josh off and gulped down the remainder of my water. I tossed the empty bottle to Derik and pushed myself to my feet, dagger dangling from my hand. I padded to where my sword and second dagger lay in the grass and picked them up. Humming filled my ears.
“You mustn’t simply toss me on the ground again. That was obscurely rude.”
“What?”
“Surely you must realize how rude it is to simply toss us to the ground, as if we are nothing more than trash. Honestly, given your heritage, one would think you would know better.”
“Heritage? What do you mean? My dad, from what I very recently learned, was an Angel. How was I supposed to know any of that?” I crossed my arms, glaring at my sword. It rang, a slight orange hue surrounded it.
“It is your responsibility to learn,” the orange hue flared. “Now, look alive and not as if you are speaking with your weapons. Sheath myself and hold on to my sisters tightly. Do not allow us to leave your sight. Do you understand?”
I held back my glare, as the sword had a point. I didn’t need Derik or Josh thinking I was a nutcase, or that the training and Nephilim shit was getting to me. “Understood.”
I held my weapons close, snapping my attention back to Josh and Derik, the two of them conversing. Josh seemingly busting my chops once again on my fighting techniques.
“Oh, up yours, Josh. I’m new to this whole fighting with a weapon thing. Cut me some slack.”
“Cutting you slack is what could get you and everyone else here killed. So, no. I will not be ‘cutting you slack,’ Miss Snow,” he looked at Derik. “I believe we shall need to continue this at minimum twice a day for the foreseeable future. Derik will reassess over the next couple of weeks. As will Mr. Draven as his schedule deems fit.”
“And what exactly do you mean by that? Mine and Seth’s schedules are damn near identical with the exception of my job at the library.” I narrowed my eyes on the two of them.
Derik ran his hand through his tousled hair. “Actually, Erin, he has a point. Seth needs to really focus on finding the humans with this whole ‘Key’ business. We were talking last night and he’s not going to be in classes for a while once they resume.”
“What!?” I gripped my daggers and sword closer to my chest and stomped around to the front of the house. I kicked open the door to see Seth and Libby sitting at the kitchen island, nonchalantly chatting over coffee, no doubt with actual sugar in it.
I stomped inside, practically growling. “Seth Draven. What the actual fuck ? Why are Derik and Josh saying that you’re leaving me to suffer alone through classes while your ass is off hunting down this Demon and missing human bullshit?” I went to toss my sword and daggers on the couch when the humming and weird vision-slash-inner-monologue replayed. Instead, I carefully set them down on the couch, patting my sword for good measure. I stomped to where Seth and Libby sat, flames building in my stomach.
Seth shot his hands up in front of himself in defense. “Woah, woah, Rin. Easy there, girl.”
Fire erupted at my fingertips.
Nifty.
“You want to try that again, Seth? Do I look like a damn horse to you?”
His eyes flicked down to my hands, flames still ignited. “No. Shit. I’m sorry, Rin, I didn’t mean it like that. I just…I’m taking off a bit to focus on getting this shit figured out so we can find those humans. Who the hell knows what they’re going through right now. And The Key…I want to find out more on that and I can’t do that wasting time at school,” he rushed. “Besides, they’re just repeater classes for me anyway.” He stopped. His eyes widened. “Shit. Erin I didn’t mean—”
“If they’re just ‘repeater classes’ then why the fuck are you taking them? Are you wasting damn money on classes you don’t even need!?” I paused. A conversation from a few weeks ago popped into my head. “Oh, my actual fuck. Are you only taking those classes to keep a fucking eye on me? What the hell is wrong with you? Do you think I’m that incompetent?” Ice lined my voice. My chest vibrated, the hurt rampaged through me. I wanted to scream until my heart burst into the flames that filled me.
Stop keeping shit from me.
I can’t fucking take this anymore.
Seth stammered. Libby swooped in. “Erin. That’s not what Seth is saying, I know it’s hard to believe, but trust me on this. Please. There’s just a lot going on right now, as you know,” she shot me a pointed look. “And if you both miss class it might raise some suspicions if anyone looks too closely.”
“Lib, I get that. I really do. But who the hell would be suspicious of that?”
Sounds like an excuse to me.
I snipped, “If any humans were to get ‘suspicious’ of anything it would be along the lines of two individuals who’ve been absurdly close since practically birth, suddenly not showing up. I don’t know about you, but in my world that screams knocked up or giving up on their dreams. And considering Seth and I aren’t even on that first plane, I’m not about to have our professors think for a minute that he’s a drop out.” I sucked in a steadying breath.
“He’s a great student and highly intelligent. A huge pain in my ass but a great person with a future. Beyond just our jobs as Nephilim.” I panted, fire dwindling as I caught a glimpse of pain in Seth’s eyes.
I drew in a long breath before continuing. “If you’re going to take off and avoid actual in person class, can you at least, please, look through my notes and try to keep up? Go over the material with me. Check in with our pain-in-the-ass professor about switching to online self-guided courses. Something?” I pleaded.
An idea popped in my head. “If you promise me that you’ll do that, then I’ll promise to stay out of the way. I’ll stick to school books, work, and training. And away from the action. I’ll let you do all the protector-of-the-masses crap.”
I know it’s selfish. Just please say yes.
Seth stared at me, minutes passed by.
“Okay.”
“Thank you.”
I offered him a faint smile.
Little did he know, my fingers were crossed.
I don’t know what else you’re keeping from me.
But I need to find out. I need my own answers.
Please forgive me after all of this, Seth.