I studied the three of them, wondering exactly what I had gotten myself into. What my mother had gotten me into.
16
Okay. I knew Ryuu was good but come on. An archangel?
“I don’t believe you,” I said, meeting Ryuu’s eyes. Qinglong let out a long whistle—I didn’t know how—as if I had just sealed my coffin. “I know you are a great warrior, but you are human,” I said, ignoring the Azure Dragon.
Xuanwu sighed.
Ryuu did not look offended at my rebuke. He looked…thoughtful. “Draw your sword, White Rose.”
I narrowed my eyes, shooting a questioning glance at Xuanwu and Qinglong, but they said nothing. “Wait. What?” I asked, turning back to Ryuu. “We don’t have time for training.”
“There is always time for learning.”
“In all fairness, I’m surprised it took this long,” Xuanwu murmured to Qinglong, seating himself down on the ground with a crackling sound from his frosty skin. He sighed contentedly.
I turned back to Ryuu. “This is a waste of time. I have magic.”
He shrugged. “Do you only trust in your magic?”
“I could just wrap you up in air,” I argued, flinging up my hands.
“You are welcome to try that,” he said, sounding utterly unconcerned.
I stared into those cold, dark eyes, seeing something dangerous lurking beneath the surface. “Go to hell, Ryuu,” I finally snapped, angry that my voice had a faint tremor to it.
Xuanwu pulled out a small thermos from the belt at his midsection. He lifted it to Qinglong. “Care for some tea while we watch them try to kill each other?”
Qinglong nodded sagely. “Splendid, brother.”
“No one is trying to kill each other!” I shouted at them.
Xuanwu ignored me. “Sugar?” He asked, tapping a small pouch with his claw.
The dragon shook his head, walking in a circle like a dog who was searching for the perfect spot to sleep. “Thank you, no.”
Xuanwu poured the tea into two cups—I had no idea where they’d come from—and handed one to the serpentine dragon.
I frowned uneasily and turned to Ryuu. I blinked to see that he had tucked his right hand behind his back and into his belt, and that he was holding the warped blade with his left—his non-dominant—hand.
He was mocking me. “This is insane. I’m not fighting you with real swords. And that one is damaged, anyway,” I said, pointing.
He lifted the blade to inspect it in the pale gloom of dawn. Although the metal was warped and chipped in places, the edge was still razor sharp. “It is serviceable. And yes, you are. You made the claim. Now stand behind it.” He stared at me, settling into a fighting stance as he lifted his warped katana in preparation for our fight. Knowing how fast he was, and that he would pull absolutely no punches, I drew my own Silver katana and held it out before me—if for no other reason than to deflect his attack when he made his move.
Part of me knew I could destroy him with my magic—no matter what he claimed. That I could whip him like a schoolboy, embarrassing him.
And…
Another part of me knew that I would only do so as a last resort.
He had already mocked my reliance upon my magic by asking if that was all I trusted. This was important to him, and I didn’t have time to deal with it later. Starting off by beating him with magic would just delay the inevitable, encouraging him to continue on with a wounded ego until the matter was resolved.
I knew he was proud, but I hadn’t been doubting his finesse with a blade. He was claiming that paper didn’t burn. That the Angel of Death was scared of him. But…if that was true, how had Nate bested him to give him the warped blade in the first place? Judging by the sudden twinkle in his eye—as if I had asked the question out loud—I suddenly wasn’t so sure Nate had beaten him at all.
Ryuu gave me a very slow nod, glancing at the warped blade as if to say our little secret.
Why would he have done such a thing?
No. That was just ridiculous. I was letting my imagination get carried away with me. I narrowed my eyes. “I do not have fucking time for this. The Seven Sins are here, and I need to get answers…right now.”
Ryuu nodded his agreement. “We are very busy, so you should stop stalling.”
I gritted my teeth. “Stupid fucking men, thinking only with the hair on your chests—gah!” Ryuu’s blade lunged for my heart as rapidly as a shadow retreating to a corner when a light switch was flipped on.
I batted it away as my breath suddenly thundered in my lungs. Three more strikes followed the first, all in rapid succession and with full force.
They were so fast and unexpected that I wasn’t able to simply deflect them—I had to essentially attack back at them, resulting in crackling clangs that made my ears pop and sparks fly.
My fingers numbed from the vibration. Then Ryuu was calmly, slowly sidestepping, holding the warped blade out before him in one hand—his weaker, left hand, because his right was still tucked behind his belt in mockery of my skills. “It’s like riding a bike,” he murmured with a smug smile, rolling his wrists fluidly to twirl the blade in great swooping arcs.
“I’m not fighting you, Ryuu—”
Clang!
His attack almost sent my sword flying, forcing me to use both hands just to hold onto it. Xuanwu and Qinglong watched in silence, the only sound was them occasionally sipping their tea.
I realized, with a flicker of fear, that I might actually have to use my magic to have a chance. I would wait until the last possible moment, but—
Clang. Clang. CLANG!
I sucked in rapid breaths, settling into a more stable stance. “Okay. Fuck this, Ryuu. You asked for it.” It was time for some magic.
He laughed delightedly. “I did, didn’t I?”
I ripped open a small Gateway at my side and thrust my sword through the opening. A matching Gateway appeared directly behind him, and I watched as the tip of my sword stabbed out of it, inches away from his lower back. I reflexively pulled short, not wanting to actually impale him, but I needn’t have bothered.
Ryuu had twisted his body and spun, swatting away my attack without effort. He did this so powerfully that I almost dropped my sword. I tugged it back from the Gateway and released the power before it could slice my blade in half.
Ryuu did not wait for me to get my bearings. In fact, he used my distraction to press his attack. He was already spinning in a full-strength, overhead blow before the Gateway had winked out. I gasped, immediately Shadow Walking behind him, struggling for a moment of reprieve.
His sword whipped through the space where I had been and continued right around in a full circle to lunge towards my new location. I twisted, allowing the blade to graze my stomach, hissing as his sword scored a searing line of fire across my abdomen. I felt the blood immediately seeping into my shirt and my eyes widened in disbelief. He’d almost fucking gutted me—the woman he had sworn to protect! A quick glance showed me that the wound was superficial, but it could have been fatal.
I realized, in that stark moment, that this was nothing like our earlier sparring sessions with wooden swords. That those infuriating sessions had been to prepare me for the real thing, not just to keep me in shape or let off some steam. That this was not about a wounded ego. He genuinely needed me to understand exactly just how dangerous he was—so that I could formulate better decisions in the future.
And that I had truly pissed off the ninja with the deceiving note I had left on my pillow.
I met his eyes, expecting to see a look of guilt at the almost fatal wound he’d given me…
And I was rewarded with him calmly flicking my blood from the warped katana with a calm, emotionless look on his face. Then he came at me in earnest.
17
A second and third attack screamed my way, and I batted them back with a furious snarl, no longer remotely fucking concerned with his well-being. I didn’t even care about the lack of reaction from the two Divi
nes watching from the sidelines.
All that mattered was the ninja before me.
His dark eyes glittered invitingly. “Now you are beginning to see what kind of man you earned respect from the night you claimed sanctuary at Xuanwu’s home.” My heart skipped a beat at his statement. The night before I’d fought Roland outside the church. The night before I’d invaded Castle Dracula with Samael. “Now you are beginning to see what kind of man has volunteered to risk a blade to his heart in order to safeguard yours.” He wasn’t even breathing heavily.
I was no novice at sword fighting. In fact, I was pretty goddamned talented, thanks to my decade of study under Roland’s tutelage. But Ryuu…yeah.
He’d married his sword decades before I was born. In fact, I wasn’t even sure how old he was. He was Xuanwu’s most trusted disciple, and the Black Tortoise was a god. Had Ryuu been one of the first humans to master a blade?
Perhaps.
Or he wasn’t as human as I believed. But none of that mattered right now. I wasn’t just a swordswoman. At first blood, I realized that Ryuu would not hold it against me if I used every tool at my disposal. I felt guilty for using it earlier in the fight, but that had been an emotional decision. Now…
I had learned from Roland, and the code of the warrior was to use your every ability to the utmost to win. So, just like that, my magic was back in my toolbox if I saw an opening.
The only way to truly win was for both of us to hold nothing back.
Anything less was dishonorable, and I’d already made that mistake once.
Ryuu lunged forward to attack. Rather than defending or attempting another jolting parry, I evaded enough to take the strike across my arm, accepting a shallow slash—which he hadn’t expected me to do—in order to break his follow-up attack. I immediately countered by lunging forward with my katana, and his eyes widened a fraction of a millimeter in surprise. His body reflexively leaned upon the use of his right hand—which was still tucked behind his waist—causing him to stumble ever so slightly. My blade scored his inner arm and then his inner thigh before he leapt back with a sound of approval.
He continued moving laterally, briefly checking his dripping wounds with a respectful nod. Then he calmly lifted his hilt to his lips and kissed it. As he lowered his hand, he now wore a black face mask that covered everything below his nose, and a black sash was wound around his forehead, tying his long hair back. Magic? The two ends trailed down his shoulders, seeming to shimmer like oil in the morning light, yet they moved as if underwater, following his movements like floating streamers intended to distract.
His feet began emitting tendrils of smoke, obscuring his movement. I narrowed my eyes, angrily. Yeah, he had other powers and he wasn’t afraid to use them either. Not so human, after all. I’d always assumed he was mostly human, but with supernatural gifts. But this was something else entirely, and I suddenly realized why calling him human earlier had led to him telling me to draw my sword.
Part of me wanted to cheer at my small victory—that I had pushed him into tapping into his additional abilities. But, because I wasn’t a psychopath, I tried reasoning with him again. “You have proven your point. Enough is enough. I’m sorry.”
He shook his head. “Not just yet,” he replied.
Before the calmly spoken words had even finished escaping his lips, he was whipping towards me in a whirlwind. I did my best to parry and block, gripping my sword as if it were a cliff and I was hanging over an eternal drop into inky obscurity. I clenched my teeth at the painful vibrations and the thunderous clanging, but I managed to block each of them—a feat in and of itself.
But he was a fucking bastard, because with each strike, he taunted me in a laughing jeer.
“She loves me!” CLANG! “She loves me not!” CLANG! “She loves me! She loves me not!” CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!
He even laughed between strikes.
“This isn’t about love, Ryuu,” I snapped, panting desperately as I tried to puzzle out the reason behind his choice of taunts.
He scoffed, laughing harder—which hurt more than deflecting his strikes. “It is what one says when plucking petals from a flower. Like this!”
My momentary distraction earned me three slashes. One across my forearm, another down my cheek, and the last across my thigh.
But I slipped in three of my own. One slashed across his chest—deeper than any other cut in our exchange, judging by his grunt and stumble. It also allowed me to dart close enough for two more. One struck his upper arm, and the other slashed away his face mask. Blood dripped down his jaw as he stepped back and calmly dipped his chin.
Then he sheathed his sword, smiled warmly, and gave me a respectful bow. “Good.”
I blinked, panting and trembling—both from pain, raw nerves, and disbelief. I couldn’t even feel my fingers and I was soaked to the skin with blood and sweat. “What, you don’t know how to take a hit?” I asked, shakily pointing my sword at the wounds I had given him.
He smirked, shaking his head. “I won.”
I grunted. “It was a fairly even fight. And my cut was deepest,” I said, pointing out the deep fan of blood spilling down his chest and ruining his shirt.
“Have you counted? Because you’re currently in danger of becoming indecent,” he said, keeping his eyes slightly averted. “Twenty-one, by my count, but feel free to check my work.”
I frowned, glancing down. My eyes widened to see that I was practically wearing rags, resembling a bloody mummy. There were cuts through the fabric all over my torso, my arms, and my legs. I stood there, stunned, lowering my sword. “How?” I stammered, still trying to catch my breath.
Xuanwu cleared his throat. “Because he is my student. The bloody slash to your abdomen numbed your pain receptors and gave you a shot of endorphins, preventing you from feeling the little ones. Those are much harder to deliver, as I’m sure you know. Cutting fabric but only grazing the skin.”
I shook my head slowly, trying to process the flogging I’d received. “I still got you,” I grumbled.
Ryuu chuckled. “You did,” he said, lifting his shirt to show me his wounds—
“They’re gone!” I gasped. Blood still marred his skin, but the slashes were healed.
He nodded, lowering his shirt. “And yours are not, which was the real purpose of this exercise.”
I frowned. “To show me that you heal faster than a shifter?” I demanded.
“To teach you that some people are irreplaceable, and should be used wisely,” Qinglong said, pointing a claw at me with a stern glare. “So how about you let the foolish man protect you and stop making things more difficult than they need to be. You’ve got bigger, harder battles to fight. Let him help you get to them in one piece.”
I nodded slowly. “Okay.”
“Splendid. Let’s go,” he grumbled. The two Divines finished off their tea and Xuanwu began packing away his mobile beverage stand.
I hadn’t actually eaten anything, and sparring with Ryuu had taxed me heavily, so my legs were feeling rather jittery. I tried sheathing my sword and one of my legs buckled, almost sending me to the ground. Ryuu caught me with an arm around my waist. “I’ve got you,” he said, taking my sword and sheathing it for me.
“I’m fine,” I assured him, embarrassed of my stumble. “Just running on an empty tank.”
He shot me a wry look. “Huh. Maybe you should have actually gotten breakfast at your coffee shop this morning,” he teased.
I sighed, resting my head on his shoulder in a gesture of peace. “I really am sorry, Ryuu. Even?”
Ryuu chuckled. “Of course. Let’s commit to brutal honesty from here on out. I’m not going anywhere.”
I nodded, smiling at Xuanwu and Qinglong to assure them that wobbly knees weren’t an indication of impending doom. I was bleeding, but I’d taken dozens upon dozens of worse cuts over the years while training with Roland. That’s what happened when you advanced to real blades.
Ryuu leaned closer, speaking in a low tone
as Qinglong and Xuanwu wrapped up the last of their gear and made their way over. “For the record, I had a healer waiting on standby before I left to find you. I would never put you in real danger just to prove a point. My ego is not that frail.”
“But you did,” I murmured back, smiling.
Ryuu stiffened. “No, Callie. You were never in real danger. I swear it on my name.”
I chuckled. “No. You did prove your point. You’re a badass angel killer. Ginsu Ryuu,” I said, tugging at my shredded clothes with a pinch of my fingers. “There are easier ways to go about taking a girl’s clothes off,” I quipped, dryly. Then my eyes widened, wishing I had the words back as my cheeks flushed red. “I didn’t mean—”
Ryuu laughed loudly, drawing startled looks from Xuanwu and Qinglong as they huddled around us. “I know what you meant,” he said.
Xuanwu rested his claw on my shoulder, and Qinglong reared up on his hind legs to complete our circle by extending his claws to Ryuu and Xuanwu.
I felt a gust of icy wind, and the world went dark as Xuanwu whisked us away from the ruined playground. A moment later, I gasped to find us standing in the training area behind Xuanwu’s home.
A petite, remarkably pretty woman with straight, shining black hair was waiting for us. Since she was the only other person in the garden, I took a wild guess that she was Ryuu’s healer. She wore an elaborate, black silk robe, and her hands were folded into the long, wide sleeves. She flashed me a warm, inviting smile as Xuanwu and Qinglong quietly walked deeper into the garden, speaking in low tones.
I kind of just stared at her for a few seconds, gobsmacked. It was the woman who had given me a sponge bath the night I had claimed sanctuary here. The same night Ryuu had mentioned when we had been fighting a few minutes ago—the night he had decided to become my bodyguard.
Ryuu cleared his throat, sounding amused, and I snapped out of my daze. “Hi,” I said, awkwardly, realizing I’d been staring at her for entirely too long.
“Good morning, White Rose. If you would please come with me,” she said, stepping to the side and gesturing with her hand towards the house. She kept her eyes downcast.
Anghellic: Feathers and Fire Book 8 Page 10