Torn (30 page)

We were too used to
the movement, the sudden slashes and lightning strikes of hybrid
combat. We'd see the appropriate opening, but not take it where
Jasmin lunged in without even considering the fact that a miss would
mean she was dead.

Without any other
options, I'd spent hour after hour sparring with Isaac and James, but
there was only so much you could learn from fighting the same two
opponents when they were your same skill level.

It made me long for
the days of Jaldul. In addition to breaking the southern shape
shifters at roughly the current-day border with Mexico, he'd created
a school for his sons and his most loyal hybrids.

It was one of the many
things that'd fallen apart with his death. We'd become little more
than barbarians. Each pack passed on the tricks and techniques they
learned over the centuries, but when a pack was as decimated as
ours had been, relatively little expertise survived.

Mallory hadn't been
able to demonstrate any techniques, but at least she'd been able to
describe them to me. It wasn't much, but it was part of the reason
we'd survived against Brandon's larger pack as long as we had.

I'd expected the
infighting among our pack to get worse as we got closer to Ashure
Day, but instead it seemed as though everyone made their peace with
what was coming. There was no telling how much James' mother had
come through on her promise to calm him down, but he'd settled into a
grudging acceptance that we were all likely to die. Even Jasmin had
stopped haring off unpredictably.

If the pack had been
one bit more unsettled I never would have agreed to let Adri come to
one of our last remaining training sessions, but they weren't and I
couldn't deny her. We'd been in my room reviewing her Biology when
she'd looked up at me with those clear blue eyes and all but begged
to be let a little further inside our terrifying world.

I never really had a
chance, but once I'd agreed, I put in as many safeguards as I was
able, and made sure I'd have plenty of time to wear the rest of the
pack out before she arrived. We went up to the north end of the
estate where the two spurs that cradled the family land came back in
and attached themselves to the mountain.

It was our usual spot,
deep enough in that stray hikers wouldn't chance upon us, just like
the unusually dense canopy also served as protection from discovery
by fly overs. The trees had been planted almost simultaneous to the
original pack's arrival in what came to be known as Sanctuary. It
showed astonishing foresight for a time when the idea of human flight
had been so fantastic as to be completely unbelievable.

Once we'd all arrived
and discarded our normal forms I set James and Jessica in particular
against each of the other pack members in turn in an effort to wear
them down to tractability before Adri arrived.

The half hour passed
incredibly quickly. It seemed only moments before Donovan was
leading her into view. The breeze had been out of the north all day,
so her arrival came as a complete surprise to everyone but me. The
other five turned to watch her hesitant progress up the cultured
gravel path, but I spared only the briefest of glances for her. My
attention had to be on the pack, and I'd felt my beast roar up with
surprising strength at the prospect of Adri being injured.

Donovan led her to
within twenty feet of the sandy square Jasmin jokingly referred to as
'Donovan's Zen garden.' Jess had been tensing up with each step that
Adri took towards us, but when she growled I struck out before my
conscious, human mind realized what was happening.

I managed to turn my
hand, catching her with the back of my fist rather than the deadly
claws that otherwise would have disemboweled her, but even so I sent
her flipping end over end with a yelp of pain that brought Isaac
around with alarming speed.

I'd counted on Isaac's
control withstanding whatever it took to keep Jessica in line, and
for several seconds I thought things were going to devolve into a
bloody mess, but Jess rolled back to her feet, apparently no worse
for the wear, and Isaac calmed back down to something more near his
usual demeanor.

The threat of sudden
death having lapsed, I turned back to Adri and felt a pang of concern
over how she would respond. This was the first time she'd seen this
form since I'd killed Simon and Nathanial, and there was still a
chance she'd run away screaming.

Dom slowly passed
Jessica, who was pacing back and forth with her hackles raised. Adri
gasped slightly as two hundred pounds of midnight-furred jaguar
slowly stalked towards her, and I let a low growl make its way out of
my throat.

Everyone was well
aware of just what would happen if they harmed Adri, but Dom was the
only one I'd have let get even that close to her. Dom dropped to the
ground at the sound, rolling onto her back in a clear display of
submissiveness as she looked back at me for permission to proceed.

I let her remain for
several seconds before finally nodding. I could have spoken, but I
found myself oddly unwilling to speak around Adri in this form.
Maybe if I could keep this me and the other me safely
compartmentalized she'd be able to continue to ignore the savage
animal that didn't belong in her world.

Moving with caution so
as not to spook either Adri or I, Dom stood up and walked over to
Adri. She reared up onto her back legs, rested her paws on Adri's
shoulders so that they could look each other in the eyes, and then
walked around Adri, reminiscent of a common house cat in the way she
rubbed up against Adri's legs.

Adri didn't really
relax until Dom butted her head up against Adri's quivering hand. An
obviously bewildered Adri watched as Dom then bounded away to change
shapes.

Dom could no more
speak in her cat form than Jess or Jasmin could as wolves. The
hybrids being able to speak was one of the few advantages we'd had
over the southerners. Body language could communicate an awful lot,
but it still left room for the kind of misunderstandings that led to
people killing each other.

With no 'generals'
among their ranks to serve as voice for the pack, the cats had
reverted to a solitary existence. All of South America was a
complete snake pit and had been for years. The last feline uprising
had been put down by unknowing Spanish conquistadors who'd done the
weakened wolves an incredible favor. Most of us prayed every day
that there wouldn't be another one in our lifetimes. There were
plenty of other things that needed killing without us wasting
ourselves killing cousins.

My thoughts served as
a distraction until Dom reappeared, gingerly picking her barefoot way
back to the sand. She had shoes on the other side of the court, but
it was typical of Dom not to want to make anyone else wait on her.

Donovan gave both
two-legged ladies a bow, nodded to the rest of us, and then retreated
back towards the house and the mountain of duties awaiting him there.

Confident that Dom
could handle Jess if she tried anything, I turned back to Isaac and
James and motioned them to begin.

The rest of the
sparring session went about like normal. We practiced every
permutation of wolf against wolf, hybrid against hybrid and wolf
against hybrid before moving to uneven groupings where one of us was
up against more than one opponent.

The three hybrids were
careful to use fists instead of claws, but even so things got heated
nearly every fight. James could be counted on to lose his temper
anytime things didn't go his way, and Jasmin and Jess weren't much
better.

I took nearly as much
damage separating combatants when things boiled over as I did when it
was my turn to spar. I was careful to stay between the rest of the
pack and Adri, but the worries proved to be for naught. It was a
tired, bloody group that finally shifted back to human form, pulled
shoes on and then walked back to the house carrying their clothes.

Adri had been
exceptionally quiet on the way back through the tall hedge maze that
Andrew and Donovan took such pains to maintain. It wasn't unusual
for her to spend fairly significant chunks of time quietly thinking
though, so I didn't worry until it extended through dinner. It only
took a few minutes of thought to realize the likely cause of her
mood.

The sight of the five
of us fighting had finally been too much, and she'd realized we
really were monsters. I'd been too busy to listen to her
conversation with Dom, but maybe there'd been some indicator there.

I was sitting on the
bed, waiting while she changed in the bathroom when the realization
struck me. I was still looking for the right words when she came out
clad in her usual shorts and tank top.

She paused momentarily
before the massive, two-handed sword hanging from my wall, and then
went silently to the bed and took her usual spot on the left side. I
turned the lights off, and then went back and stretched out next to
her.

"Alec, what's
the sword for?"

Past experience had
shown she didn't always remember our conversations when she got this
tired. Still, it wasn't the kind of thing I should be telling her.

"It was forged
in the days of Jaldul. He was the first king over the northern shape
shifters, the wolves. Our people were strong and fast, but we were
faced with enemies who were still stronger and faster. The king feared
his people and the dayborn he'd been charged with guarding would be
destroyed, so he ordered the creation of swords that could be wielded
by the hybrids, and they swept their enemies away before them."

She was quiet for so
long that I almost thought she'd fallen asleep. When she did speak
her words were quiet, almost indistinct.

"Why don't you
use it in your fight with Brandon?"

I suddenly felt every
blow I'd taken over the last several days of sparing. I'd been tired
before, but now it was as if even breathing was too much effort for
my battered body.

"I'm not really
trained in its use. My father was the last of the royal line who
could have trained me. More than that though, it's been outlawed.
It's a symbol of nobility in a world where depravity now rules. I
can keep it as an artifact of ancient times, but to take it out and
wield it in battle would be a death sentence for the entire pack."

Adri sighed in
puzzlement but didn't comment so I continued.

"Even the beasts
it was created to destroy have become untouchable. It really is
nothing more than a relic of the ancient, dying past. Not even worth
an equivalent weight of scrap metal."

Adri turned her face
slowly towards me but didn't open her eyes.

"It's not
worthless because it reminds you of what you need to do, of who you
really are. I trust you. You always do the right thing, no matter
the cost."

She'd slipped into
true slumber which precluded further conversation, but I remained
where I was nevertheless. She'd once again said exactly what I
needed to hear.

We hid now for fear of
humanity, its countless numbers and terrible technology. It hadn't
always been that way. Once we'd protected them because might was
responsibility, we'd had the ability and accepted the obligation.

The exhaustion was
gone. I'd still need to sleep before the night was over, but I no
longer felt the leaden listlessness that'd nearly overcome me just
minutes earlier. I quietly rolled out of bed and padded across the
carpet towards my studio.

I might not have time
to finish this particular piece, but it was pulling at me, demanding
to be brought into being. It would be the crowning achievement of my
life so far, but at least I'd have my subject close at hand for the
short time remaining me.

It'd become almost
painful to be separated from Adri. I'd driven myself away from her
long enough each day to take care of the most important of my duties,
but it was becoming harder and harder.

Ashure Day dawned
clear and sunny. By the time the pack finally finished a light
training session I was trembling like a heroin addict two days into
forced abstinence. I raced ahead of everyone else and returned to
find Adri studying in my room.

Her smile warmed the
icy spot in my chest that woke each day convinced she was going to
finally decide it was time to leave while she still could.

"How was
training?"

The lilting sound of
her voice pulled me back from the mental precipice.

"Fairly well,
all things considered. We took it easy though..."

It was more and more
work to keep her in the dark regarding things like the Coun'hij and
the bloodsucker plague that was slowly taking over the eastern
seaboard. She read me more easily even than Donovan or Rachel. She
knew I was leaving stuff out, but didn't press me anymore.

"Only you would
come back dripping in sweat and say you took it easy."

The mischievousness
curl to her lips pulled at me in ways that felt simultaneously good
and bad. I nearly reached out to her, but instead shook my head in
resignation.

"I don't know
what I'd have done without you these last few weeks."

She didn't respond, so
I changed the subject before things could get awkward.

"How's your
homework coming?"

The question earned me
a frown. "I think my mind's going to explode if I look at my
Biology book even just one more time this weekend. Other than that
things are great."

Only Adri could manage
melodrama without becoming ludicrous. I chuckled almost despite
myself. I'd convinced myself that taking Adri with me to see Mallory
would be the wrong thing to do, but now that I was here with less
than twelve hours until the challenge match, I couldn't bring myself
to be parted from her again.