Moon Tortured (Sky Brooks Series Book 1) (40 page)

Winter made no secret that she was only helping me because my protection should be my responsibility alone. She approached training me in the manner she seemed to approach most things—intensely, aggressively and with intent. Her only request was that when we sparred, I treated it as though I were fighting for my life. Unfortunately, for the eight hours a day we practiced, I felt like I was. Fighting with all I had still didn’t seem like enough. My kicks weren’t quick enough, my strikes clumsy, my holds just firm hugs and my punches laughable. “Your only goal is to bring me down. No love taps—save your girl crush for a better time!” Her shrill voice haunted me even in my sleep.

Practicing daily served as a good distraction for both of us. The vampires seemed to have abandoned any ideas of more attacks or they were taking time to prepare for another, more elaborate, one. Josh hadn’t returned since the attack and I was starting to worry. I had read everything in the library that was relevant to me and couldn’t look at another page.

“Why are you on the ground? Get up! You are not adapting. You know my moves. Use your instincts. Within minutes, if not seconds, you need to adapt; anticipate what they are going to do. I am just asking you to take the few things I have shown you and apply them. How hard is that? You can’t be this pitiful!” she finally said on the sixth day of us working together. As I lay on the ground, I reluctantly met her deep penetrating glare.

Disgusted, she frowned, turning her attention toward the door. “Perhaps you are," she ground out. Then she walked out.

I waited for fifteen minutes for her to return, but she never did. That day I practiced for three hours alone and beat the hell out of my make-believe opponent who didn’t happen to be a meticulously trained snake that moved like lightning and hit like a sledgehammer.

On the ninth day, I lay on my back with the familiar taste of blood in my mouth, metallic and bitter. I had been in this position so much that I had learned to accept it. “Get up,” she commanded standing over me. I was slow to respond, having a hard time trying to find the motivation to continue. Winter was still dominating me with what she considered basic techniques that even “a child could defend themselves from.”

I contemplated giving up. Beginners luck had run out days before and the intensity of our sparring increased. I hadn’t adapted and there wasn’t anything instinctual about my responses. It’s not as though she dealt with me cautiously in the beginning but now she treated me like I was a skilled fighter without any excuses for my defeat. The problem was—I wasn’t.

My body ached and I hoped my skin would eventually change from its deep raspberry and blue that covered most of my upper body.

“Get your ass up now!” Winter commanded angrily.

I didn’t move, my body refusing to be subjected to further abuse. I needed some time to embrace the defeat. “Fine. I’m done here,” she stated walking away.

“Wait.” I urged, hobbling to my feet.

When she turned to face me, I was met with hostile eyes. Charging at me, she pushed me to the ground. She locked both my arms and legs, rendering me immobile. Leaning into me, she sneered. “How does it feel to know that you are this helpless? You’re nothing more than a victim … prey, unable to protect yourself from the things that hunt you. Embrace it; own the powerlessness, because it’s yours to bear. It’s what you are—a perpetual victim. You make me sick,” she hissed inches from my face.

She released me. As she stood over me, her loathing rushed over her in a wave. Shaking her head slowly, she spoke in a rough voice, “It’s not hard. The only thing you have to do is stop me from kicking your ass. Protect yourself. You’ve shown the ability to perform the techniques with textbook precision, yet you suck at integrating it to defend yourself. I can’t work with this. You are a pitiful excuse for a were-animal. A greater species? Hmm, I think not. ” She headed toward the door.

If things were as they should be, I would be at home with a significant other or friends enjoying a simple human life. Full moons would be nothing more than a lunar phase and Winter would be gracing the pages of numerous fashion magazines as nothing more than another overpaid and underfed model. If things were as they should be. But they weren’t. Instead, she was here, a constant reminder that I was defenseless in this world. I was part of the greater species that had proven to be anything but great.

No, things weren’t as they should be, and the reality of it hit me hard. It was a cold rude awakening, slapping me in the face—it angered me.

“Go ahead and leave, you sadistic, narcissistic bitch!” I snapped, coming to my feet. She stopped abruptly and turned, seemingly less surprised by my outburst than I was. “Nine days you have trained me, which should have been eleven; but you were so disappointed that I didn’t meet your unreasonable expectations that you stood me up two days in a row. Daily you have beaten the hell out of me and not once did I give up, though I assure you I wanted to. You have been unnecessarily cruel and exceeding brutal. I have done everything I could to meet that challenge. I never asked you to treat me with any form of mercy. At some point, you could have pretended to possess some shard of human decency and not gain so much pleasure in bringing me pain. I am not your enemy, but you treat me as such. I asked for your help and you made me wish I hadn’t every moment. I think I have earned some level of patience from you. If you want to give up, fine—do it. But know that it is not my failure, it’s yours.”

She was now standing inches from me with an indiscernible look on her face. I was so enraged that the fear of her retaliation was the furthest thing from my mind. “I am tired, my body aches, and as disappointed as you may be with me, I assure you it cannot be any more than I am with myself. You think I don’t want to kick your ass? Believe me, I do. You deserve it.” I was fuming at this point, grinding out each word through clenched teeth.

“Then do it.” She challenged in a brusque voice as she took a step closer to me. We stood nose to nose.

I took a step back and jabbed which she blocked with little effort but missed the second blow that hit hard against her face. A spin-kick landed hard against her side and she stumbled. When I attempted a sweep, she blocked it, countering with a strike that sent me tumbling to the floor for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. She leaned in, “Know that if you can’t do better than this, I will be the only one walking out of this gym today. I will break you, like I did Gabriella, into little pieces,” she barked angrily in my ear.

I lay there, once again defeated and hurting. My desire to jump up and give her the beating she deserved didn’t trump the utter feeling of abject failure.

“That was a wonderful speech you gave. Almost epic. Too bad it’s not like in the movies where you make this dramatic speech that leads the underdog to victory. Here you need to actually have skills to win. You are not the first person I’ve trained, just the slowest to adapt. Sorry but it isn’t my failure. It is all yours. Get. Up. Now.”

I looked at the door, seriously considering what my chances were of making it before Winter stopped me in the most painful manner possible. Perhaps she was right. I was always going to be prey. Predatory behavior was innate to them. Why was this so hard for me? I was stronger than her, and at some point, I should have dominated her at least once. I gently touched my bruised swollen face.

“Fine,” she stated in a calm voice. “Don’t get up.” She hit me in the face and then again and again. By the third time, everything was numb and I barely felt her fist smashing into my face. When she went to hit me again, I blocked and countered with a sharp strike into her nose. She looked surprised as she faltered back and covered it. She pulled back blood, smiled and wiped it away. A look swept over her face … respect? But it was gone so quickly, that it could have easily been missed and even misinterpreted.

I came to my feet and attacked her with everything I had. It ended with her locked in a hold. I had no idea where to go from there. It was intended to dislocate the joint but I wasn’t able to get the hold entirely correct, leaving two advantage points. If I saw them, I knew she had to as well. The only thing holding her in that position was force and my desire not to be pummeled by her again.

When she broke the hold, we came to our feet almost simultaneously. “See how hard was that? You brought it. That is all I was asking.” I was a better defensive fighter. While I waited for her to attack, I admired my handiwork. Winter had bloodstains from the nosebleed, a black eye and some minor bruising on her arms and face. I am sure I looked a lot worse.

“Are you ready to give up?” she asked.

I shook my head.

“Good. But we are done for now. Go see Jeremy; he’ll give you something that will have those bruises healed in no time. He’s like a mad scientist with all types of questionable concoctions. Don’t question the stuff; just take it,” she admitted before leaving. Once I was sure she was gone, I collapsed back onto the mat.

I showered instead of going to see Dr. Baker. Someone knocked on the door as I examined the extent of my bruises. I looked as though I had gone through the windshield of a car or worse. My whole body was a giant bruise.

When I opened the door, Ethan was leaning against it. “How bad does it hurt?” he asked with a frown as he walked in. I cringed as he gently touched the bruises on my face. No matter how gentle the touch, they hurt.

“I’ve never been hit by a car but I’m willing to bet it feels a lot like this,” I stated, forcing a smile onto my swollen lips.

“Put this on your face,” Steven suggested, holding up a cold pack as he walked into the room. He stopped for a moment to take in my appearance. He made a soft whistling sound as he held the cold pack against my lips.

“You should see the other guy,” I muttered through freezing lips.

“I have seen the other guy, and unless Winter is suffering from internal injuries, then she fared well. Have you gone to see Dr. Baker?” Steven said with a smirk.

“Not yet.”

“Make sure you do. I can’t begin to imagine what you are going to look like in the morning.” Steven frowned, looking away from my battered appearance.

“No matter how good you are, you will never beat Winter. She has to win at all costs and cheats when she begins to lose,” Steven stated, loud enough to be heard outside the room. He must have known she was close.

“I do not!” Winter retorted from down the hall.

When she walked into the room, she had a small jar in her hand. Showered and dressed, it didn’t look like we were involved in the same fight. Ethan’s lips twisted up into a crooked smile. “Winter, you do cheat,” he taunted. “You changed to animal form the last time we sparred, and that, my dear, is cheating.”

“Really. I’m a snake, how is that cheating?” she responded with a playful smirk.

“It wouldn’t be cheating if you went into midform and was just a cute little four inch snake, but when you change to true form and I’m fighting a five-foot venomous snake, then that is cheating. And don’t forget the fact that you poisoned me.”

She smiled coyly, “It’s still not cheating if the person you’re fighting is over five feet.”

“You poisoned me!”

“I was there. I don’t need the recap. It happened six months ago. It’s time to let it go. Besides, you were paralyzed for like what … five minutes. No need to whine about it,” she huffed as she handed him the jar and started to walk out of the room. She reversed back toward us, “I’ll meet you in the gym at noon. You need to convince me it wasn’t a fluke.”