Dirty Blood (20 page)

In the two hours we’d spent together, I think I’d
done more pushups and sit ups than I’d ever done in my entire life,
combined. I’d also run – for a ridiculously long time. We ran a
trail through the woods, so I couldn’t be sure the distance, but
any time I stopped or even slowed my pace, Jack was behind me,
barking an order to get moving. I was exhausted and sweaty and
desperately wanting a shower and my bed - in no particular
order.

So, we were a fair distance away from the house
before Wes’ clipped silence dawned on me – and before I finally
felt like I was breathing normal enough to hold a conversation.

“What did you do while I was with Jack?” I asked.

“Cause business.”

“Anything interesting?”

He glanced at me quickly and then back to the road
again. “Vera needed me, so she could finish reinforcing the
wards.”

“What are wards?”

“I guess you could call it a security system. Vera
weaves a spell that spans the edge of Jack and Fee’s property. It
keeps unwanted guests out, and lets Jack and Fee know when someone
– or something – crosses over it.”

I guess it shouldn’t have surprised me, that Vera
could do magic. And in a way, it didn’t. She was exactly the sort
of modern day witch I would’ve pictured, but the fact that magic
existed, on that level, never ceased to amaze me. “So why did she
need you there?”

“The spell can be programmed to let certain
individuals pass, but you have to present them, properly. She was
programming me in, so I wouldn’t get zapped with a thousand volts
of electricity next time I come over.”

“Good idea. So what about the rest of The Cause
members? How will they get through?”

“Vera will be at the end of the drive, to meet them,
and program them in as they arrive. Then, they’ll be okay to come
and go until she has to redo the spell.”

“How long will that be?”

“A couple of months. It probably lasts longer, but
with everything going on, we aren’t taking any chances.”

Somewhere during our talk of magic, his shoulders had
relaxed, and his tone had become less strained, his words not as
short as when we’d left the house. “Did you ask Vera if she saw
something about me?”

Immediately, the tension returned. “No. I
forgot.”

He was lying. And poorly, at that. Usually when he
kept something from me, he did a better job of concealing it, so
that I only suspected, without any real proof. But this one had
been obvious. His eyes had shifted and he still wouldn’t look at
me. I wondered what Vera had seen. Was it something bad? Was it
about Leo hurting someone else? Or me? Did he think I couldn’t
handle it?

“I thought we had a deal,” I said. “Training in
exchange for full disclosure.”

He shook his head and kept his eyes on the road. “I
promised I’d share everything I knew about Leo. And I have.”

“You’re still keeping something from me.”

“But it’s not about Leo,” he said, as if that made it
okay.

I clenched and then unclenched my teeth. “You
would’ve made a fantastic lawyer.”

He grinned, like it had been meant as a
compliment.

I shook my head. “I’ll find out, you know. Whatever
it is you’re keeping from me.” He just stared at the road, so I
went on. “The truth always comes out. And if something happens, or
if someone gets hurt, and it could’ve been avoided if you’d just
been honest with me. That would be hard to forgive.”

“What if telling you would hurt someone?”

I might’ve argued that the truth was always better,
and secrets always had a way of coming back to bite you, but the
sincerity and quiet desperation in his tone stopped me. Whatever he
was keeping, it was wearing on him. For a split second, it made me
feel bad for him, but then I realized how dumb that was. If he’d
just tell me, we could face it together, and he wouldn’t have to
feel all ‘world on my shoulders’ about it. Besides, all of this
over-protectiveness was reminding me of my mother.

I sighed. “I still deserve to know. Even if it
hurts,” I said.

“I’ll keep that in mind."

~ 20 ~

“No, don’t point your toes, unless you want them
broken. Keep your foot flat, leg straight. That’s it,” said
Jack.

I breathed in, making sure to balance myself
correctly, and then kicked hard against the pad in Jack’s hand. His
wrist barely budged from the hit, though I felt the vibrating
impact all the way to my knee.

“Better,” he said.

I blew out a breath. “Whatever,” I grumbled. I was
frustrated at my lack of progress.

Jack either didn’t hear or, most likely, pretended
not to. “Again.”

My brow lifted. “Seriously?”

“Again,” Jack repeated firmly.

“Jack, I’m done. I’m out of breath and energy and our
time’s up.”

Jack didn’t bother checking his watch. “We’ve got
five more minutes. And I’m in charge, not you. So I say when you’re
done. Besides, do you think your enemy is just going to stop
attacking to let you catch your breath? Push through. Again.”

I glared at him but fell into a fighter’s stance
anyway. I balanced and then kicked out, almost missing the pad
completely this time.

Jack gave me a scolding look. “You know, tomorrow I’m
going to start fighting back. This is the easy part. Get it
together,” he said, gruffly.

I opened my mouth to argue but he cut me off with a
snarl. Before I could react, his padded hand came up and whacked me
across my cheek. My head jerked to the side and I froze there in
surprise. Slowly, I turned back to him, glaring. “What the hell was
that for?”

He grinned. “Motivation. Again.”

With renewed energy, I kicked out and made contact,
pleased to see that I drove him back a step this time. Okay it was
more like a quarter step, but I’d take what I could get. Jack was
like a wall. I kicked again, and again, each time with the same
angry, determined energy as before.

After the fourth kick in a row – just as I was
getting into the rhythm of my movements - Jack abruptly
straightened and dropped the pads. “Good, okay, that’s it for
today.”

I stared at him. “What? But I was on a roll.”

“Time’s up, like you said,” he pointed out.

I put my hands on my hips. “So what? Let’s keep
going. I’m feeling better now.”

“No.”

“No?” I repeated.

He stepped over and leaned down until he was in my
face, all traces of smiles and teasing gone. “You need to learn to
fight just as good when you’re not mad.” Then he spun and headed
for the house.

I watched him go, too dumbfounded by his response to
argue further. The back door swung shut behind him and I wiped at
the sweat on my forehead with the back of my hand. My arm muscle
protested against the movement; everything felt like jell-o. Then
again, that was becoming routine for my body. I’d been training
with Jack for four days now and my body just hadn’t made the
adjustment yet. I was sore and stiff and because of that, I was
afraid I would be useless in an actual fight, if it came to that
right now. Which was probably part of the reason I was so easily
pissed off at Jack’s teaching methods and my own lack of
progress.

I gathered up the pads from where Jack had thrown
them on the grass in his backyard, and returned them all to the
container marked ‘Padding’. Jack had a room full of similar
containers, all marked with different labels. I’d noticed the ones
labeled ‘Weapons’ the previous day, when he’d asked me to retrieve
this one. I was impatient to get to that one but Jack kept putting
me off. So far, we were focusing only on hand to hand combat. Jack
insisted this was more important; a weapon wasn’t always
guaranteed.

“He’s tough but he’s good,” said a voice behind
me.

I spun around. A tall man with dark hair stood
leaning against a nearby tree. He looked familiar but I tensed
anyway.

“Sorry if I startled you. Miles Ducati. We met at the
meeting last week.”

“Oh, right. I thought you were going out of town or
something.”

“I did but I’m back now. Just waiting for Jack to
finish so we can talk business.”

“Oh.” I didn’t really know what else to say.
Something about this Miles guy put me on edge, like I could never
tell if he was messing with me or being serious. I wandered over to
where I’d set my water bottle and took a swig to fill the silence.
I could feel Miles’ eyes on me and it was a weird feeling. If he’d
been ten years younger I would’ve said he was checking me out;
maybe he was. But there was something else behind his smile,
something calculating. I started gathering up my things, expecting
him to say something else but he didn’t. “Well, I better get
inside. Nice seeing you again,” I called.

“And you,” he said as I walked away.

I found Jack waiting for me at the back door, a grin
tickling the edges of his mouth. “Still mad?”

My earlier aggravation with him returned, though not
quite as strong. “No,” I lied.

He laughed good-naturedly, the sound coming from deep
in his chest. “Same time tomorrow?” he asked, completely
transitioning out of his trainer role and back to ‘friend’.

“Yeah, same time,” I muttered.

“Tell Wes to get you a heating pad for your
shoulders,” said Jack.

“What makes you think I need a heating pad?”

Jack laughed. “Because you’re walking like you’ve got
wooden limbs. Alternating hot and cold will help loosen you’re
muscles before we start combat training.”

“I’ll tell him,” I said, though I wasn’t sure if I
really would. Things had been awkward between Wes and me the past
few days. And even though he was still driving me to school in the
mornings, and picking me up every afternoon, we hadn’t said much,
and I wasn’t even sure how to fix it. It made it almost worse that
Wes acted like nothing had happened. His responses were all
friendly and cool; there was a distance to him that I couldn’t push
through and couldn’t figure out.

I finished helping Jack put away the box of training
gear and then left him sorting through containers in his
study-turned-stock room. I found Wes in the living room, locked in
concentration and staring at a chess board sitting between him and
Fee. She looked much more relaxed than he did, and had a smug smile
on her face to prove it.

“I’m telling you, its check mate,” she said,
cheerfully.

“It’s not. It can’t be. Give me another minute,” he
grumbled.

She just laughed. “Take all the time you need but it
won’t do you any good. You’re only hope against me is a full
moon.”

He glared at her and then caught sight of me in the
doorway, his face going carefully blank. Fee turned and smiled at
me. “Tara, how’s training going?”

“Fine, I guess.” I shrugged and regretted the
movement instantly.

“She’s doing great,” said Jack, coming up behind me
and laying a hand on my shoulder.

“He uses that word loosely, I think,” I said, trying
not to make a face at the soreness the weight of his hand
triggered. “Then again, we haven’t tried to kill each other
yet.”

Fee laughed. “Well, that is something.”

“You’re too hard on yourself,” said Jack, settling
into his usual chair and propping his feet up on the coffee table.
“You’re two weeks old at something most Hunters would have been
learning when they were babies.”

Fee nodded. “Jack’s right, you have to remember how
new you are at this.”

“Great, so I’m like the slow kid, the one who got
held back in kindergarten,” I muttered. I eyed the couch; torn
between wanting to get off my feet and not sure if I could get back
up again without help. I leaned harder on the doorway, instead.

“I think you’re doing a little better than that,” Fee
said.

At my sarcasm, Wes’ lips inched up at the corners,
giving off a ghost of a smile, and despite my body’s exhaustion, my
stomach fluttered. I pushed it away, refusing to notice. The past
few days with Wes had been beyond frustrating. It had started the
first day of my training with Jack. He’d been quiet and distant and
closed off ever since and I’d yet to come up with a good theory as
to why. Every time I asked him about it – or anything else – his
answer was the same. “Cause business.”

I’d even tried bringing up the kiss we’d shared when
I’d been doped up on morphine, figuring it would at least throw him
off enough to give a real reaction. And for a split second, his
eyes had sparkled in amusement, and the wall had come down. Then,
just as quickly, it returned, and his expression went carefully
blank, and he made up some excuse to leave or make a phone call. A
part of me wanted to just let it go and give up on whatever had
been beginning between us; but the part that still fluttered when
he smiled knew it was impossible to even try.

“You ready?” Wes asked, pulling me out of my
thoughts.

“Yeah, sure.”

“See you tomorrow, Tara,” Jack called.

“Can’t wait,” I mumbled.

The last thing I heard before I closed the door was
Jack’s booming laughter.

~ 21 ~

Wes dropped me at my front door and went to park
around the corner. I let myself in and punched in the code for the
alarm. The beeping turned shrill and the whole thing started to go
haywire. I mumbled something I was glad no one was around to hear
and then punched in a different set of numbers. It beeped once more
and then fell silent. My mother had reset the password after Julie…
anyway, I kept forgetting and setting it off.

I went straight to my bathroom and turned on the
shower. I turned the water up as hot as I could stand it and then
leaned my head against the cold tile while the steam filled the
space around me. Slowly, I felt my muscles begin to relax and
loosen under the constant stream. I was enjoying the perks of a
quickly healing body on days like this. Unfortunately, I was
apparently so far out of shape that every new training session left
me just as sore as the last one, and my muscles just couldn’t keep
up anymore. Still, the soreness faded faster than it should.