Seduced by Darkness (6 page)

If it were now to die,

'Twere now to be most happy, for I fear

— William Shakespeare, Othello

DEREK HEALED. I
held his hand as his body stitched itself back together with the magic from his Druid roots and Shifter genes.

I couldn't stay mad at him, not with this. Not with what we'd just seen. As soon as he could walk on his own, we left the infirmary and went outside.

The cool air chilled my skin, making bumps appear on my bare arms. Derek draped his arm over my shoulders and held me close to him. I clung to his torn shirt, hiccupping a cry that I'd been holding back. "I was so scared. So scared he'd kill you, but I couldn't shift, couldn't do anything. Nothing worked. I had no control over any of my powers. I'm so sorry!"

He tilted my chin up and gazed into my eyes. "It's not your fault. And besides, you saved Sam. You made the Beast leave."

I shook my head. "I don't know what happened. It didn't make sense. None of this makes sense."

He kissed me, which shut me up. And I kissed him back, happy to be lost in his arms, tasting him and holding him and feeling him against me.

He pulled back and wiped a tear from my eye. "Does this mean we've made up?"

I considered a moment. "We still have things to talk about, but I can't fight with you anymore. Life is too short. Too fragile."

"I love you, Rose. I'd do anything for you. Anything."

"Then can you support me in my practice with Talon. I have to learn to control what I can do. It could get me killed if I don't. I need to train. Tonight."

I didn't want to leave him again, but I had no choice. We didn't know how long we'd have before the Beast came back for Round 2 and I needed to be ready.

"Can I join you?"

His request surprised me, but I nodded. "Sure. It's not as exciting as it sounds, so be prepared. Talon made a tent outside in the woods, said he'd feel too trapped in the mansion. I'm heading there now if you want to come."

In truth I was glad he came with me. It comforted me knowing neither of us would be alone tonight.

Talon had made a camp fire in front of his tent and sat meditating into the flames. He looked much like he did the first night I met him.

I sat across the fire and Derek sat with me.

I jumped straight into my worries. "I couldn't shift tonight. The Beast attacked and I couldn't do anything. I need to get better."

"I am sorry I was not in attendance," he said in a gravely voice, looking up from the flames. "I've been isolated too long to mix well in crowds. But I would have only been in the way. I was injured long ago," he said, his eyes taking a far away look and his voice dipping into a cadence of oral storyteller that had been lost in our print and digital time. "I once had a family like Derek's. A pack of Shifters. I was the eldest and it was my duty to defend the pack and teach them. We were attacked once, by hunters. I did what I could to save them all, but it wasn't enough. My family was slaughtered. It was that day that I shifted into something other than wolf. I transformed into a giant elk and killed the hunters with my horns. But when I turned back, I was not myself." He pointed to the horns on his head. "For days I writhed in pain and agony, until I taught myself to control my form bit by bit. Unfortunately, I learned too slowly and I was weakened because of it. In the years to come I mastered more and more of my powers, but never regained my physical strength, and often I retained a feature of an animal I struggled to control."

He saw the look of fear and sadness on my face and softened his voice. "I did not have help. No one knew what was happening to me. Fear not, my child, I can help you without the suffering I endured."

Derek cleared his throat and squeezed my hand. "I'm so sorry about your family. I almost lost my brother once." He glanced at me and smiled. We both thought back to the time I accidentally sent his brother's soul to a demon dimension. Derek had also almost been lost to me, but I'd risked everything to rescue them both. It was the only thing that exonerated me from my crimes.

"I can see how important it is that Rose trains. And I thank you for taking her as your student. She means everything to me. I would not survive if I lost her."

Tears formed in my eyes as Talon instructed us both to close our eyes so he could take us deep into meditation. Once again I met my animals in my special room, and I examined each, getting to know their signature and the feel of them. I spent the next several hours trying them on, learning to become them and learning to feel the differences as my shifting became more natural and less difficult.

But I still had so far to go before I'd be strong enough to defeat the Beast. I just hoped whatever I could do would be enough.

Come, be a man. Drown thyself? Drown cats and blind puppies!

— William Shakespeare, Othello

I HADN'T GIVEN
thought to how Beleth and I would get to wherever we were going. I guess I assumed a car, like a normal person.

Nope.

Beleth had other plans, yanking me off the ground and flying into the sky so high I would have turned into a red splat of nothing had he dropped me. I felt like the captured prey of a great hawk, being brought to the nest for dinner.

We flew for most of the day with no words spoken. It would be impossible to communicate at the speeds we were going. I expected my skin to freeze off or get wind burned, but my Nephilim powers had changed me and instead I felt like I belonged in the sky, craved it almost as much as I craved blood.

We landed somewhere high in the mountains, so far from civilization of any kind that only the birds would know of our deeds. Beleth placed me on the ground and stood in front of me, pulling two Nephilim swords from his back. Where did he keep those things, I wondered?

I took one from him and admired the ornate hilt inlaid with clear stones and the way the blade shined with its own inner light.

"That is yours by birthright," Beleth said. He threw a scabbard at me and I laid it next to my backpack and ran a finger along the blade of the sword, expecting it to be dull for practice, but it drew blood almost before I could feel it, so sharp and fine was the blade.

"We're going to fight with these?"

"Your abilities will keep you alive," he said. "But you
will
feel the pain."

Without warning he lunged at me, and I blocked slowly, with such awkwardness I felt ridiculous. I'd never trained with swords, not really. Being a kid with a fake plastic He-Man sword didn't count, I was sure.

"Your training will be complete if you can manage to hit me with that blade."

I figured that would prove to be a lot harder than it sounded.

I wasn't wrong.

I charged him with my sword, without grace or elegance, but with strength and speed, and Beleth jumped out of the way and stabbed me in the shoulder.

"Fuck! That hurt like a son-of-a-bitch!"

"Forget the pain," he said, his sword red with my blood. "Move. The Beast won't wait for you."

I pushed the pain out of my mind and attacked again, but he jumped in the air. I turned, expecting him behind me, but no. I looked up and saw him hovering with his wings flapping.

It was too late.

Beleth dove down and slammed into my shoulder, knocking me across the cliff as my sword fell to the ground.

He walked over to me and stared down at my prone form with no expression on his face.

"You will learn to fight. But first, you will learn to fly."

My noble father,

I do perceive here a divided duty.

— William Shakespeare, Othello

WE SET UP
guards around the school, mostly IPI agents, but also many of us teachers were rotating guard duty to help. My dad sent our pack to take wolf form and guard the woods as well. He couldn't come himself because he was overseas for business, but I appreciated his help. Things had changed a lot in my relationship with my family since I'd met Rose. They loved her for it.

I'd be on guard duty later this afternoon, but for now I had a martial arts class to teach. These kids needed to know how to defend themselves, now more than ever, though we all hoped they'd never need to.

Even with a breeze blowing through the trees and filling the air with the scent of jasmine, the twenty students in front of me dripped sweat with faces red from pushing themselves so hard.

"Again! Block, punch, kick. Block, punch, kick. Keep up your form. Use force, even with your block. A powerful block can be as offensive as it is defensive if done correctly."

I walked through the lines and corrected their stances, tested their blocks, and encouraged them to be stronger, fiercer, more focused.

Only one student needed no correction. Ever since Curtis's death, Paul, who was actually also a helper at the school, had thrown himself into the martial arts class, practicing day and night. I understood. It was his way to grieve the loss of his fiancé. His way of finding something to blame. Something to fight. If I were a different kind of person, I would have encouraged him to process his grief a different way, but since this is how I handled shit, too, I encouraged it. Father Patrick could handle the touchy-feely stuff. I would make Paul into a deadly weapon.

"Paul, you're with me."

He fell out of line and joined me at the front as I explained to the class what we were going to do. "All the katas, everything you're learning has practical application. Your first kata?" I went through the combination of punches, kicks and blocks to remind them. "This is a fight. An elegant fight, like a dance."

Paul nodded, knowing what I wanted of him, and began to attack or defend as I went through the kata, demonstrating the movements as a real fight. The students stood transfixed.

"And now, let's see what Paul's got when it's unscripted!"

A few chuckles as Paul and I took our fighting stance and began.

As we sparred, I studied Paul's body, his movements, his tells, and I had to admit to being impressed. In a moment of distraction, he even managed to land a punch on me, and it had bite to it.

My distraction came in the form of Bishop Alaric, who had toned down his Vatican finery and, though still much fancier than Father Patrick ever would be, now looked a little more comfortable. He stood off the side, watching us spar.

"Paul, you got this. Take over class while I handle something."

Paul bowed, a show of respect all the students had adopted, and I jogged off to find out why the Bishop was taking an interest in my class.

"How are they doing?" Alaric asked.

"They're scared. They don't know what this thing is or what it wants. None of us know the limits of its powers. All they know is that no one can beat it." I hated admitting that. Hated knowing that even with all of our resources, powers and allies, we still couldn't stop this thing.

"I should have been there, at the party. I could have fought. Could have helped."

"You had your objections, and it turned out you were right." Another thing I hated admitting, but I'd been working on my 'damn male pride' as Rose called it. "Besides, you needed to protect the children and Father Patrick."

Alaric gestured to the class. "Need another instructor? You could take on more students at a time with some extra help."

I knew he could fight in werewolf form, but I didn't realize he knew martial arts. "Do you know what you're doing?"

He chuckled. "I've lived a long time. I've studied many things over the years. You might be surprised. I just want to be of some use."

For a moment, I remembered Ryder bleeding in the snow, and my gut tightened. Then I brushed off the memory and fell into fighting stance. "Show me what you got."