Wake of Darkness (16 page)

“Like hell,” Sophie growled through
gritted teeth, but she still didn’t attack.

Zoey’s smile faded. She leaned
forward until her face was inches from Sophie’s. “Prove it,” she challenged.

Sophie shoved her back. “You talk
too much.”

Zoey stood her ground. “That’s a
first. Of course, I sometimes feel compelled to tell the truth,” she replied.

“What are you saying?” Sophie
asked, taking a step forward. Zoey’s attitude was really starting to piss her
off.

“That there’s a weakness in you,”
Zoey replied, drawing the words out. “That someone could have their way with
you and there’s nothing you could do to stop it. I mean, you’re not fighting
back.”

“Shut up!” Sophie yelled, swinging
for Zoey.

Zoey jumped out of the way and was
behind her. “Missed me.”

Sophie swung her arm behind her. Her
fist connected with Zoey’s ribs, but the redhead danced out of her way,
cackling. Sophie bit her lip and tasted blood.

Zoey was harder to gain an
advantage over; she had to change her tactics. Even in her rage, she was
thinking clearly enough to realize that. She became very still and closed her eyes.

“What are you waiting for?” Zoey
taunted.

Sophie listened to her footsteps. They
sounded like light brushings on the concrete. Zoey was walking counterclockwise
around Sophie. She stopped, changed direction and starting walking clockwise in
another circle.

“I don’t know, Alexander,” Zoey
started to say, switching direction again in her circle around Sophie. “I don’t
think she’s going to fight.”

Sophie lunged. Her right shoulder
caught Zoey in the side and sent her to the ground. They fell like two snarling
cats. Zoey tried to shove her off, but Sophie was just as strong as she was.

Zoey struggled harder and pushed
off the ground and was suddenly on top of Sophie. Jim leaned over to say
something to Alexander, but the latter waved him a way. Zoey was on her feet,
but Sophie tackled her again, pressing her forearm into the redhead’s neck.

Zoey’s hand shot out and suddenly
Sophie was being lifted off of her. Sophie tried to struggle against the arms
that held her, but Jim was too strong when for. He pinned her arms behind her
back, but she tried kicking at him when she couldn’t free her hands.

“I’ve gotcha,” Jim whispered in her
ear.

Sophie relaxed at the sound of his
voice.

Zoey was quickly on her feet, and
Alexander stepped between the two women as Jim continued to drag Sophie
backwards.

“I told you not to make her too
mad,” Alexander said to Zoey.

The redhead chuckled and wiped her
busted lip with the back of her hand. She inhaled a whistling breath through
her clenched teeth. “Thanks. ‘I told you so’ never gets old.”

Alexander turned to Sophie. “And I
have seen her angrier.”

Sophie leaned against Jim. She
didn’t want to hurt anyone, but she’d already bloodied Zoey’s face and now
Alexander stood between her and the redhead. Sophie watched Alexander.

“You are doing well,” he said. “Just
calm down a bit and Jim will let you go.”

“I’m calm,” Sophie replied grimly. “I’m
just pissed.”

“Sorry about that,” Zoey replied
genuinely. “I hope I didn’t strike a nerve.”

Zoey’s words had been too accurate
for comfort, but she shut that thought out of her mind. “It’s fine,” she said. “I’m
fine.”

Alexander nodded to Jim, who
loosened his grip on Sophie. She pulled her arms forward and rotated her
shoulders a bit.

“You okay?” Jim asked.

“Yeah,” she replied. “Thanks.”

“That was very good, changing your
tactics like that,” Alexander observed.

“She’ll be ready to get out there
soon,” Zoey said to him.

Alexander nodded.

“So, I passed?” Sophie asked
incredulously.

“
This
test,” Jim answered,
elbowing her in the side. “Let’s go. I’m starved.”

She started to follow him, but
someone grasped her arm from behind. She turned and was face to face with
Alexander. She looked over his shoulder, but Zoey was already gone.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m good,” she replied.

“You are doing very well. Your
control is impressive.”

She shrugged. “I don’t
want
to hurt any of you.”

He nodded. “It’s your instinct to
fight back. We all understand.”

“So, am I going to be able to hunt
vampires with you soon?” she asked, a grin spreading across her face.

His eyebrows furrowed into that
expression she didn’t quite understand, but he nodded. “I have another test for
you first, but it can wait for another day.”

“Good,” she replied with a sigh as
her stomach growled. “Because I think Jim was on to something. I’m pretty
hungry myself.”

“Let’s go then,” he replied.

He switched the light off along the
way, and they were plunged into darkness. Sophie felt like a live wire. She
could practically feel the energy radiating off of him as they stepped into the
light.

Chapter 14

            Sophie and Alexander stood across the room from
one another as Jim looked on, a few days after their first experiment at her
combat instincts.

            “Do you recall what happened when the vampire
attacked you on campus?” Alexander asked.

            Sophie shuddered, but nodded firmly in response.

            “He was able to exact such power over you
because one of their abilities is hypnotic control of their victims.”

            “Really?” Sophie asked, surprised.

            “Yes,” Alexander answered. “If he had attacked
you without the benefit of the psychological assault, you could have easily
fought against him.”

            “Okay…”

            “So, Jim is going to help us,” he went on. “He
is going to distract your mind, similar to how a vampire would distract it,
while you and I practice.”

            “Alright.”

            Jim grinned almost maliciously at her.

            “You said you wanted to learn,” he reminded her
with a shrug. “This is the best way to teach you. You need to learn to take us
on before we let you out to face our enemy.
We
won’t kill you; they will
try to.”

            She nodded and looked him directly in the eye,
waiting for his first move.

           
You’re getting very sleepy.
Jim silently
taunted her in an eerie old-Hollywood thought.

            Sophie snickered and looked at him with humored
disbelief just as something hard slammed into her chest, knocking the breath
out of her. By the time her head swung around to see what hit her, Alexander
had propelled her into the far back wall with the force of one hand to her ribcage.

           
What the hell?!
She thought. She pushed
off of the wall and charged toward him.

           
You don’t want to do that,
Jim suggested
with a soft thought. Suddenly, Sophie lost some of the motivation that
propelled her toward Alexander.

            She shook her head to try and clear it while she
felt the rage start to boil up in her chest. More resolutely, Sophie ducked her
head and crouched down, waiting for Alexander to attack her once more.

           
Come on,
he challenged her.

            He mirrored her crouch and a subtle growl
crawled its way up his throat. He rocked back on his heels and hurled himself
at her, charging towards.

           
Hey, over here!
Jim silently called,
pulling her attention away from her attacker at a critical moment.

            As soon as her head turned toward Jim,
Alexander’s shoulder slammed into her chest, momentarily bruising her ribs.

            She hissed in reply and ducked out of his grasp
at the last minute. She dove for Jim’s knees and knocked her unsuspecting
brother off of his feet.

            Alexander turned as Jim hit the ground with a
flurry of curses before Sophie turned back on him.

            Sophie ran towards Alexander. She would no
longer be distracted by Jim’s vain attempts to call her attention away from
Alexander who jumped just out of her reach at the last minute. She turned on a
heel. She swept her foot under his, attempting to knock him to the floor as
she’d done with Jim. Alexander was quicker than his brother, though. He jumped
quickly, just to reappear behind her.

            He grasped her from behind, his arm tightly
around her neck as she kicked and screamed. He dragged her backwards away from
Jim. She twisted, sinking her elbow into his ribs, knocking the breath out of
him and returning the favor of an aching bruise. She pulled out of his grasp
and turned once more so that she was facing Alexander. She kicked his knees so
that he landed with a resounding crash on his back underneath her.

            She pressed her hard forearm into his neck as
she pinned him there, panting violently through her teeth with the effort.

            He kept calm and showed no surprise as he looked
her sternly in the eye. “Let me up, Sophie,” he commanded.

            She growled at him once more, but suddenly leapt
backwards and off of him and landed in a defensive crouch, waiting for his next
move. She glanced maniacally over her shoulder at Jim who had just stood up.

            “Satisfied?” She asked, in control of herself,
but still on the defensive.

            Jim began to laugh at himself. “Man, I quit,” he
said, swatting at the air between them.

            Alexander nodded, straightening his shirt. “That
was unexpected, but you’ve done well,” he said. “Have you got control of
yourself?”

            Sophie slowly stood and exhaled. She smiled
quickly at his compliment and nodded her head. “Yeah, I’m good,” she replied. “Wait!
What do you mean, ‘that was unexpected’?”

            “He means nobody’s ever done that before,” Jim
explained, stretching his arm across his chest.

            Sophie shrugged at him. “Sorry, Jim,” she
replied.

            He shook his head. “That’s not what I mean.”

            “What he means to say,” Alexander interrupted,
“is that we have never met someone able to resist a simultaneous mental and
physical assault on the first try.”

            “Yeah it usually takes practice,” Jim said, “and
nobody’s ever attacked both of us at once like that. You’re somethin’ else,
girl.”

            “I’ll take that as a compliment, I guess,” she
said with a grin.

            “Good,” Jim replied. “I’m gonna go now, though;
before he gets you riled up again.” He winked at her and the heat spread across
her cheeks.

            “Thanks for that,” Alexander replied
reluctantly.

            Jim had disappeared.

            “Is he okay?” She asked, looking away from where
Jim had been standing.

            “You’ve just bruised his ego,” Alexander replied
with a chuckle.

            She snickered and looked around.

“I think you will do well against a
vampire or two. You are learning very quickly.”

“Thanks,” she replied with a smile.

Her eye fell on the bow Alexander
had used in training against her.

            He followed her gaze. “Would you like me to show
you how to use it?”

            Her eyes widened. “Would you?”

            He nodded. “Of course.”

            She grinned. “Sure,” she replied.

            “Follow me,” he said, gathering the bow and
several arrows and stepping through a doorway she’d somehow not noticed before.

            As she stepped across the threshold, Alexander
flipped on the light and Sophie found herself in an indoor firing range.

            She froze. “Wow,” she whispered, looking around.
“How big
is
this place?”

            “Come here,” he said and she followed him to the
far end of the underground room.

            At the end of one of the firing alleys, there
stood a wooden target board ready to receive arrows. He held the bow out for
Sophie to take. She reached up with her left hand to take the grip.