Dark Survivor Echoes of Love

by I. T. Lucas

  Anandur chuckled. “Get her drunk, and you’ll hear more than you’ve bargained for.”

  Wonder eyes widened. “Really? Like what?”

  “You’ll have to find out for yourself. Those are her stories to tell, not mine. Come on.” He opened the door to the training room across from his. “Let me introduce you to Kri.”

  29

  Wonder

  “Kri,” Anandur called out to get the Guardian’s attention.

  Wonder forced a smile, but as the instructor turned, her long blond braid whipping around to land with a thud on her back, the smile got broader and more natural.

  Kri wasn’t what Wonder had expected. So yeah, she was tall and muscular, her shoulders as broad as that of an athletic male, but her face was feminine, and her breasts were even larger than Wonder’s.

  Maybe they weren’t so different after all.

  “Wonder, I assume.” She walked over and offered her hand.

  “In the flesh. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Kri. I heard a lot about you.”

  Kri narrowed her eyes. “What did the big oaf say about me?”

  A big oaf? Wonder cast a quick glance at Anandur. He didn’t seem offended at all.

  “He thinks your intermediate class is a good fit for me.”

  A hand on her hip, Kri regarded Wonder with a critical eye. “From what I heard, my class might not be advanced enough for you. A beginner could not have taken down the undefeated duo.”

  “It was a fluke. I took them by surprise.”

  Kri snorted. “I bet.” She gave Wonder another look over. “Well, if you want to join, you’re welcome. But not in those clothes. Do you have a workout outfit?”

  Wonder shook her head. “All I have are the things Amanda gave me. I guess I can use a pair of leggings and a T-shirt.”

  “You can borrow some of mine. I have a locker full of outfits, and you can grab whatever you want. Number one hundred and eight. It’s unlocked.”

  “You mean now?”

  “Yeah, why not? We are almost done, but I’ll stay after class to assess your level.”

  “That’s so nice of you. But I don’t want to keep you here. Maybe I can come to your next class?”

  Anandur tapped Wonder’s shoulder. “I need to get back. I have another class after this one. If you stay with Kri, we can walk home together.”

  “Okay.”

  After an entire day of missing him, she wasn’t going to give up a chance to spend time with Anandur, even if it was only the few minutes it took to walk back to her house.

  Her house. It sounded so strange to say that.

  “Do you know where the locker room is?” Anandur asked.

  “Yeah, I do.”

  For a split moment, he looked disappointed, but then smiled and took her elbow. “I’ll walk you there anyway. I don’t want you to get lost.”

  “I’ll see you in a few,” Kri said and turned back to her students.

  After making sure she could find her way back, Anandur dropped her off at the locker room and returned to his class.

  Kri’s locker was stuffed to bursting, and not only with workout clothes. There were a couple of black T-shirts with cartoon characters printed on their front that didn’t look like they were meant for exercise, a pair of black combat boots, and athletic shoes in a variety of colors. There was also a stack of fluffy pink towels on one of the top shelves. The one above it was home to a pink teddy bear with a big white heart on its tummy and the word ‘love’ stitched over it.

  It seemed Kri had a softer side that she was hiding in her locker, or maybe not. Perhaps she didn’t care if everyone knew that she liked fluffy pink things.

  After changing into one of the Guardian’s many outfits, Wonder found an empty locker, put her folded clothes inside, and headed back.

  On the way, she passed several of Kri’s students who were going in the direction she was coming from.

  When she got to the classroom, the door was open, and the Guardian wasn’t alone. There was a guy with her. The two were in a tight lip lock and had their hands on each other's butts.

  Wonder started to back away, making as little noise as she could, but Kri heard her.

  Releasing the guy, she turned around and smiled. “Wonder, come in and meet my boyfriend Michael.”

  “I can come later.”

  Kri waved a hand. “Don’t be silly. We can continue smooching at home.”

  Michael glared at Kri. “I’m not your boyfriend. I’m your mate.”

  She patted his cheek. “I know, sweetie. But Wonder is new to our world. Mate might sound weird to her.”

  Kri was right. It did sound a bit strange but only because she hadn't heard people use it in reference to their partners.

  The explanation seemed to mollify Michael, though. “I’ll see you at home.” He kissed Kri’s cheek. “It was nice meeting you, Wonder. I’ll see you in the Guardian training program.” He said it as if it was a foregone conclusion that she was going to join.

  “I’m not sure about the program yet.” She had no intention of joining but didn't want to get into the whole discussion with yet another person.

  He shrugged. “I’ll see you at the café then. I heard that you started working there today.”

  It seemed news traveled fast in small communities. “That's why I can't start the training.”

  “You can train with Kri in the evenings. She’s an amazing fighter. It will take me years to get to her level.” He looked at his mate lovingly.

  It took a lot of confidence for a guy to admit that his girl was a better fighter than him. And he’d said it with so much pride.

  “Let’s start with what you know,” Kri said as the door closed behind Michael.

  “I don’t know what I know. It just comes to me instinctively when I need to protect myself.”

  “In that case, let’s get right to it. Stand in the middle of the mat, and I’ll come at you. We’ll see what you’ve got.”

  Wonder hesitated. “I’m very strong. I don’t want to hurt you.”

  Kri lifted a brow. “I’m a Guardian with decades of training behind me, and I’m strong as well. If anyone is going to get hurt, it’s you. Are you ready for that?”

  Not really. But backing out was not an option.

  “I guess I’m going to find out.” Wonder walked to the center of the mat.

  30

  Anandur

  “Good work, guys. I’ll see you here same time tomorrow.” Anandur pulled his shirt on, turned the lights off, and stepped out of the classroom.

  Except for Kri’s, the doors to all the other rooms were open, with sweaty people spilling out into the corridor and heading for the locker room.

  That was why Anandur never used one.

  What was the point? His house was a short walk away, and he could shower and change in his own bathroom, thank you very much.

  He waited outside Brundar’s classroom until everyone but his brother was gone. “Are you in a hurry to get home?”

  “Always. Why?”

  “Kri is training Wonder, I thought you would like to see her moves.”

  “Indeed.” Brundar lifted his long, heavy gym bag off the floor and slung the strap over his shoulder. Unlike other people’s bags, Brundar’s didn’t hold a change of clothes or shoes. By the rattling noise, he had more than one sword in there, and probably several knives.

  Anandur glanced at the walls, looking for the evidence of Brundar’s knife throwing. “Where are the holes?”

  “I got a memo from Onegus demanding that I use targets for practice and stop damaging the walls.”

  A very reasonable explanation, except there were no targets in the room either. “Don’t tell me you used your trainees for that.”

  One corner of his brother’s lips lifted in a ghost of a smile. “The thought crossed my mind, but no.” Brundar transferred the bag to his other shoulder and reached inside the exterior pocket to pull out his phone. “Interesting.”

  “What is
?”

  “Did you read the text from the chief?”

  “Damn. I left my phone in the classroom. What is it about?”

  “Go get your phone. We’ll talk about it later.”

  “I’ll meet you in Kri’s classroom.” Anandur turned around and jogged back.

  Fortunately, his phone was still where he’d left it, and no one had taken it to the lost and found.

  “Sweet,” he murmured as he read the text from Onegus. Apparently, Magnus had been busy.

  Tucking the phone into his pants pocket, Anandur jogged to Kri’s.

  Wonder turned to look at him as soon as he entered the classroom and smiled.

  “Eyes on me, Wonder,” Kri said. “Allowing yourself to get distracted in a fight is bad. No matter what goes on around you, you don’t take your eyes off your opponent.

  “Got it.”

  “Okay.” Kri turned to Brundar and him. “Don’t be quiet. I want to teach Wonder to ignore distractions.”

  “Yes, ma'am.” Anandur gave her a two-finger salute.

  “Let’s try this move one more time.” Kri assumed a fighting stance and Wonder mirrored it.

  “So what do you think?” Anandur asked.

  “There is nothing to think about. I want a piece of the action.”

  Did Brundar want to train Wonder?

  Nah, he must've misunderstood. “Are we talking about Wonder’s training?”

  Brundar cast him a sidelong glance. “I meant the raid.”

  Now that made much more sense. “Onegus didn’t say anything about a raid, but it’s safe to assume there’s going to be one.”

  Brundar’s smile looked evil as he leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m looking forward to kicking some Doomer ass.”

  “Same here.” Anandur leaned against the wall next to his brother. “The dog idea opens new possibilities. I’m not sure how we can utilize them, though. I’m pretty sure they can be trained to sniff out immortals. The problem is where to start. This time, Magnus had a lead, so he knew where to start looking.”

  “True. Maybe Turner can come up with something. If anyone can, it’s him.”

  Anandur turned his attention back to Wonder. She was doing great, and it seemed that she’d learned how to tune out the background noise because she hadn’t faltered again.

  She was a natural, strong and fast, but her moves didn’t seem to be the product of professional training. It was street fighting at best.

  “Someone must’ve trained her,” Brundar said.

  “I’m not sure. She is powerful and quick and has good instincts, but other than a few basic moves I didn’t see her performing any of the known sequences.”

  Brundar shrugged. “Nevertheless, she is not a complete novice. She has those basic moves down.”

  “Which proves once again that it’s all in the attitude. Wonder believed she could, so she did what needed to be done. No hesitation.”

  The primary tenet of combat training was to drill attack moves into fighters until they became automatic, second nature. When shit was going down, overthinking the next move was not an option. It took a lot of grueling training to achieve that level of mastery, but it seemed Wonder was one of the rare individuals who had it naturally. All she had to do was learn the moves, and they became part of her flight or fight instinctive arsenal.

  Next to him, Brundar sighed wistfully. “I wish she would reconsider applying for the force. I’ve never had the pleasure of working with a natural. I could make her magnificent.”

  “She already is.”

  31

  Nick

  Nick glared at Eva. “Are you serious? You want me to go with Sharon on an assignment to Rio?”

  Eva put her hand on her belly. “I can’t go on assignments like this, and I need Sharon to take my place. She needs you to provide backup and handle the surveillance equipment.”

  The last thing Nick wanted was to go to Rio. Things were going great with Ruth. She was thriving because of the great sex they were having, and Nick had never felt as happy and as content as he did now.

  Heck, he was planning to propose.

  So yeah, he was young, but he was no fool. He and Ruth had a good thing going, and he didn’t want to chance losing it. Not that marriage provided any guarantees, but it was a legal commitment that made it a little harder to walk away.

  It was like a business contract. Any of the parties could break it at any time, but it provided a stronger pledge than a handshake, and there were consequences to violating the terms of the agreement. If he had his way, he would put a ring on Ruth’s finger as soon as he could.

  He had to wiggle out of this trip somehow. “Sharon is not ready, and I don’t want to go.”

  Eva rolled her eyes. “When my biggest and best-paying client is asking me to do this for him, I’m not going to say no because my employee has a new girlfriend he doesn't want to leave behind.”

  “But you can still go. The pregnant belly is a better disguise than all the prosthetics you usually put on. Who is going to suspect a pregnant woman of spying on them?”

  Eva waved a dismissive hand and wobbled over to the couch. Putting a hand behind her, she lowered herself slowly to the seat. “Look at me. I can barely move. And what if I go into early labor?”

  He eyed her huge belly. She really looked like she was going to pop any day now. “Are you sure you don’t have twins in there?”

  She shook her head. “Although it feels like that. Just one very active boy who likes to kick and punch his mommy from the inside.” She rubbed her belly lovingly.

  “Come on, Nick, man up,” Bhathian walked into the living room with two beers, and handed one to Nick.

  “As if I have a choice.” He took the beer and popped the cap.

  “It’s going to be fun.” Sharon opened her mouth for the first time since Eva had dropped that bomb on them.

  The thing was, she didn’t sound sure at all. Eva had been training her for months to take her place, and Sharon had even gone on a few simple assignments already, but this was a big one, and if they screwed it up their agency would lose one of its best clients.

  “Does Robert know?” Nick took a swig of his beer.

  Sharon shook her head. “Eva told me about it right before she told you. I didn’t have a chance to talk to him yet.”

  “He’s not going to like it.”

  Sharon’s boyfriend was the silent type, but he was very protective of her. He was going to flip out. Not that Nick could blame him. If Ruth had told him she was going on a potentially dangerous mission, he would have flipped as well. In fact, he would have probably asked for a vacation and gone with her to make sure nothing happened to her.

  “I bet Robert would want to come with you.”

  Sharon grimaced. “I’m sure he would, but I doubt he can get time off from work.”

  Bhathian sat next to Eva on the couch and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Since we became a couple, Eva has gone on missions many times. I won’t lie to you and say that it was easy to let her go when I knew she would be facing danger. But that’s her job, and I didn’t want to make her life more difficult by giving her a hard time about it. I learned to live with it, and so will Robert and Ruth.”

  Sharon groaned. “I know Robert is going to be miserable without me. And I’m going to be miserable without him, but I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to prove that I can do it. My first big solo mission.”

  Resigned, Nick plopped down on the armchair and took a big gulp from his beer. “So, who are we going to be spying on?”

  32

  Anandur

  “Did you have fun?” Anandur asked.

  Wonder took her clothes out of the locker and tucked them under her arm. “I like Kri.”

  “I don’t want to say it, but I told you so.” He smirked.

  “Ground floor,” Wonder said as they entered the elevator.

  Naturally, nothing happened.

  “Willi
am needs to program the elevator to respond to your voice. Ground floor,” he repeated. “Tomorrow I’ll take you to him.”

  “Thanks. Can I use the buttons?”

  “Until William debugs the voice recognition program to respond to the different accents, the buttons stay on.”

  “Why do you need it? Are there people in the village who are not allowed to use the elevators?”

  “It’s just another level of security.”

  They exited into the pavilion and then through the sliding glass doors into the cool evening air.

  “I think Kri is cool, and she really is an amazing fighter,” Wonder said. “She is also a very good teacher. But I don’t think we have anything in common. Kri is a Guardian through and through. It’s like this is who she is, not what she does.”

  Anandur arched a brow. “I’m the same way. Does it mean that we can’t be friends?”

  Wonder frowned. “You’re more than that.”

  “I’m sure that Kri is too. You just need to get to know her better.”

  “I guess.”

  She sounded embarrassed and unsure, and he should’ve let it go. But he couldn’t help himself. “So you think there is more to me than just being a Guardian, eh?”

  Wonder nodded.

  “Like what? I’m curious to hear all about my many good qualities.”

  Wonder cast him an amused glance. “The walk to my place is too short for that. I can’t possibly list all of your attributes in ten minutes.”

  He took her elbow. “No problem. I’m all in for a long stroll.”

  “Sounds good to me. But can I drop off my clothes first?” She patted the bundle under her arm.

  “Sure. Let me hold them for you.”

  “No, that’s okay. I can carry them.”

  He pulled on the bundle. “Let me be a gentleman and do this little thing for you.”

  “Fine.” She handed him the neatly folded and rolled clothes. “That’s attribute number one, not in importance, it’s just the first one that comes to my mind. You’re a gentleman.”