My breathing stopped at his words and my head began to spin, my heart jumping wildly within my chest. This was it, wasn't it? The way that love drives you crazy and makes you want nothing but every part of the person you are in love with? I wanted to crawl into his arms and never leave, protected by his sheer will for the rest of my natural life.
That's when it happened—a quick snapping noise in my the back of my head that brought me instantly to attention and zapped the passion that I had been overwhelmed with just seconds ago, deflating the desire and dousing it completely. I began to shake as a realization hit me. Dylan. He had insisted...no, demanded that I stay away from Solomon. And just what was I doing at that very moment? Breaking the rules, of course.
I placed a shaky hand against Solomon's chest as he continued to kiss my neck passionately, pulling me closer to cause my mind to race and my pulse to scream out to him. My heart fluttered at the thought that I was preparing to push him away, but what could I honestly do? I had to protect him in any way possible. Pressing my hand against his chest with a tiny bit of pressure, I signaled that we had to stop what we were doing.
Solomon responded to my physical request, pulling away just enough so that he could look into my eyes. He spoke the only question to be asked in a situation like this..."Why?"
"We have to go." I nodded towards the window, trying desperately not to sound winded. Were we supposed to use the window like Leo? I wanted to laugh hysterically at the thought, and I realized just how extremely tired and stressed I honestly felt. I needed a good laugh.
"To the training grounds?" Solomon's eyebrow shot up as he tilted his head towards the window that I was eyeing with deep question.
"Yes."
His eyes darted to the window and then back to me, questioning me with his confused expression. He finally gave up and shrugged his shoulders. "Okay then. Let's go."
10
I'm not really sure what I was expecting to see when we finally rounded the corner of the medieval castle and came upon the 'training grounds.' I guess I just expected to see more grounds and less 24-Hour Fitness on steroids. There was a covered pavilion of section after section of marked-off sparring circles. Workout equipment was everywhere, including elliptical machines and Slo-Fit equipment.
It's not as if I knew anything about exercise equipment. I had actually accidentally walked into a Slo-Fit building once, thinking it was the place my friend said I could find some adorable new yoga pants. Boy, was I wrong...at least at this location anyway.
Licking my lips impatiently, I continued to scan the huge pavilion for anyone that I recognized. There was some music pounding away in the background—AC/DC's Back In Black—and it drew my attention to the corner of the pavilion, where a large crowd of male bodies was gathered.
Turning to look up at Solomon, I could see his body angling towards the crowd as well. "Let's go," He said as he began walking in the direction of the music.
The sounds of the rockin' tune swam through the air as the tremor of bass pounded in my chest. It was damned loud and I doubted if I was going to be able to hear anyone if they wanted to ask me a question or share any information with me.
I let my eyes finally rest on the center of the sparring circle because it felt as if every eye was drawn there naturally. It honestly didn't surprise me that it was Cora standing in the middle as if nothing in the world mattered to her. She was dressed in a pair of black capri yoga pants and a solid black workout shirt that came down to her midriff and scooped down around her neck. I was immediately appreciative of the fact that that she wasn't wearing just a sports bra because I hated it when girls wore only pants and a bra to workout.
Scanning the circle, I noticed that besides our team of five (Solomon, Von, Gabriel, Leo and me), there was a respectable-sized crowd gathered around the outline of the sparring pad. Everyone was deathly quiet except for the music that was pounding out of the speakers.
Cora was gripping two bars that looked similar to night sticks as she paced around the circle like a caged animal. She looked as if she was eyeing the center of the circle with plans to begin breakdancing. A shudder shot through me as my eyes finally settled on Cora's capable form. Everything about this was foreign to me. Releasing a frustrated huff, I realized that I didn't recognize the weapons she was carrying at all.
"Bahng Mahng Bars." Solomon whispered in my ear.
"What?" I refused to look up at him.
"She is using Bahng Mahng Bars. It's the weapon we warm up with." He whispered and I could hear him even though the music was so loud I felt like I had to scream to hear myself think.
"Bah Mong Bars. Yeah, okay." Solomon snickered at me as he tilted his eyes upward and then back over towards Cora.
Cora was moving the bars in time to the music as she began to sweep around the circle in broad strokes, like she did with her blades. She flicked the bars around as if they weighed nothing, finally tossing them over to the side as the song ended. She nodded sharply to a demon and he tossed her a fresh pair of what appeared to be nunchucks. I remembered seeing those in the Bruce Lee movie I loved—Enter the Dragon. I loved Bruce Lee—he was so hot for a skinny little guy. Nothing like Solomon, but boy was he cut.
A smile snuck across my face as Cora whipped the nunchucks behind her back, tucking one end underneath her armpit. Her hand gripped the hard wooden handle as she spread her other hand out in front of her from the center of the circle. All eyes were on her.
"Ssahng Jeol Bongs. Combat quality." Solomon nodded at Cora again. "It takes an awful lot of concentration to be able to use those and not knock yourself silly with them." He gave Cora an encouraging smile as she looked in his general direction with a quick nod.
"Are you talking about the nunchucks?" I liked thinking of them as nunchucks, really, but I did know that the correct pronunciation would be nunchakus. I honestly didn't care—I liked my version.
"Ssahng Jeol Bongs." He corrected.
"Nunchucks." I said firmly as he shook his head at me with a funny smirk on his face and a look of patience in his eyes. I stuck my chin out a little higher than usual. He knew that he wasn't going to bend me on this, so he chuckled as he looked back at Cora.
"What song are you going to use this time, Cora?" A familiar voice floated from behind the crowd near the corner of the pavilion.
"Folder 5, track 3, Jack." She squared her shoulders as she spread her feet apart and centered herself.
Motorhead's Ace of Spades began to grind out of the speakers at an incredible rate. Cora immediately went into motion, flicking the nunchucks around the sparring circle so quickly that she was nothing but a blur of sticks and limbs. She stood still in the center of the circle and flicked the bars in rhythm to the music, behind her back, around her waist, over her shoulder and behind her neck. Her movements were so fluid and beautiful that I wanted to cheer until she wacked one end of the very dangerous bars into the ground with a loud WHACK! I immediately jumped at the sound and placed my fluttering hand over my heart.
Cora continued her exhibition as she began to flip around the circle in smooth tumbles, jumps, and roundhouse kicks. It struck me that her movements were as choreographed as a graceful ballet, which made her appear to be that much more dangerous. She was marvelous and never missed a beat. She kept up with the incredibly fast tempo until the end, and finished with a loud "HA!" as she stood with both bars spread between her hands, holding them out straight in front of her like she was going to break them in half. Was she strong enough to break them in half? Probably.
Everyone nodded in approval around the circle. Even the demons were impressed by her skill and speed, which must have been pretty formidable if those wicked creatures were eyeing her with complete respect.
I allowed my eyes to drift around the circle until I noticed Von's menacing figure over in the background. He was standing with his arms crossed, unforgiving and unbendable in his convictions. His stubborn demeanor oozed from every pore, and I disliked him that much more for giving
me such a hard time.
I looked back towards the center of the circle as I noticed that Cora was now holding a long staff in her hands made out of metal, but covered in a grip material that I couldn't place. It looked a lot like electrical tape, but I knew that couldn't be the case.
"Yeah, yeah, it's a bo staff." I said as Solomon had ducked down closer to me to help explain. He nodded down at me and turned back to Cora as she centered herself and stood with the staff held out in front of her, at the ready.
"Number 5." She called over her shoulder before closing her eyes and releasing a deep, all-consuming cleansing breath.
"Got it." Jack's voice came from behind the crowd and I knew immediately that he was judging her by her music as much as she was judging him by his actions. As if Jack even stands a chance of impressing her.
The music began to click out and I recognized the tune instantly because it was one of my all-time favorites—Staring at the Sun by The Offspring. Immediately, I was called back to the center of the ring, waiting to see what Cora had in store for the crowd.
Starting with the relatively stringy intro, Cora began to move around the circle in smooth motions, moving the bo staff in tight rolling movements from one side to the other as she spun it around in rhythm with the music.
My heart skipped a beat as I thought about how quickly the music picked up tempo through the body of the song. It just seemed to get faster and faster as it went along—hence the reason that I liked it so much. My eyes were glued to Cora, but I noticed as Jack pushed his way to the edge of the circle, curious about Cora's little display of power and skill. I eyed him suspiciously as I recognized again that there was an undercurrent about the way he reacted to Cora, and I was pretty sure that her family was not going to approve.
"As you're staring at the sun. Wo 'oh 'oh 'oh. As you're staring at the sun. Wo 'oh 'oh 'oh. As you're staring at the sun." The music belted out as Cora continued to glide around the circle, making "HA!" noises as she struck a pose, slicing down with the staff at specific points to match the music, whacking the heck out of the padded circle underneath her. "Wo 'oh 'oh 'oh. As you're staring at the sun." That's when the music was going to pick up the pace and I knew I didn't want to miss it.
I settled my eyes back on Cora just when the music kicked into high gear from a pounding rhythmic beat to a head-pounding, hair thrashing speed. It didn't escape me as Jack began to beat out the tempo on his pants like he was strumming his bass guitar. His head bent forward slightly to the quickened pace and it was clear that he was fighting the desire to thrash his shaggy head forward in rhythm to the music. He couldn't help himself—it was in his blood.
I kept my eyes trained on Cora as she mouthed the words while she began to flip, spin, HA! and dazzle her way around the circle. The staff was a blur of swirling metal as the air was sliced with swift swish noises and guttural HA! HA! HA!'s. I couldn't help but watch in awe—this was my (cough) daughter and she was kickass! Every move, every HA came in time to the music and I loved her for that. She was definitely mine. All mine.
My heart stopped as she leaned backwards, arching slightly as she spun the bar in over her body in an arch all the way around her position in the middle of the mat. It instantly reminded me of The Matrix. Her lower body and leg strength must have been beyond normal comprehension, because no typical person would have been able to bend that far back without falling. Yoga, it must be the yoga. Yeah, and the vampire/demon blood coursing through her blood couldn't have anything to do with it.
I sighed as I continued to watch her mouth the words "So forgive me but I won't be frustrated by destruction in your eyes as you're staring at the sun, Wo 'oh 'oh 'oh. As you're staring at the sun. Wo 'oh 'oh 'oh."
I couldn't help myself as I began to bang my head to the beat as well. "Ha! When I ran I didn't feel like a runaway. When I 'scaped I didn't feel like I got away..." I continued to sing to the song as Cora's body glided into incredible acts of motion and speed, basically giving Cirque du Soleil a run for their money, but with weaponry. She was definitely entertaining the masses with this crazy exhibition.
My heart pounded to the closing bars of the music and, when the song finally ended in one deep, pounding row of drumbeats, Cora was standing with a deadly look on her face, pointing the tip of her staff directly at Jack's chest as she stared him down. Not a soul dared breathe in that instant, and I worried for Jack because I knew...I just knew that he was going to mess everything up. He was going to talk!
"Huh," Jack's voice came out without a quiver. "I was thinking we were having a moment," he shrugged at her as he pushed the tip of the staff down with the palm of his hand. "Don't point that damned thing at me, Princess. Not unless you plan to do some sparring." He drew out the word "sparring" like it was a sexual act. My hackles went up just as Solomon cleared his throat to draw everyone's attention.
We all flicked our eyes over to Solomon to see his disapproving gaze. "Jack...I doubt that Cora's fathers would appreciate you putting the moves on Cora in front of us, much less in front of this entire gathering."
My eyes scanned the circle for the reactions of everyone that mattered. Leo was staring menacingly through Jack it seemed, Gabriel was frowning at Jack like he didn't approve of his choice of clothes, Solomon was snarling at him slightly under his breath, and finally there was Von, uncomfortable and disapproving of the entire situation anyway. It didn't seem like he was reacting to the Jack-Cora situation at all. He just didn't seem to care.
Cora straightened as if she had been struck, tossing her head back and accentuating the fact that her eyes had just grown to the size of saucers. "Put the moves on me?! Dad! You are just so disgusting!" Her eyes turned to bore into Jack as he raised his hands in the air in mock surrender.
"I didn't say I was putting the moves on you, Princess." He took a step back to ensure that she didn't read his actions as aggressive, and Cora's eyes followed his movements with hawk-like vision.
Cora finally eyed him from head to toe and then set the tip of her staff on the ground, casting her eyes towards Solomon. She squinted and stared at him as if she was trying desperately to read his mind. Huffing, she finally tossed the bar to the demon that was in charge of the weaponry standing just to her right. There was a loud ring of metal as the demon caught the bo staff directly against his chest, precisely where Cora had intended.
"Guess that's enough with the workout." She brushed her long brown hair over her shoulder and held her hand out as a towel was tossed to her. She then began to wipe the sweat from her arms and shoulders while eyeing Jack suspiciously. "I need my MP3 player back." She snapped at a nearby demon who ran to the stereo system and came back to hand her a slim black Walkman MP3 player. I knew the exact model because I had it in black, purple and red. Personally, I never liked to mix my music, so there were always multiple players prepared so I could just grab them and go, depending on my mood.
We all watched in stunned silence as Cora stormed towards the castle and blinked out of view the moment she stepped into the first shadow and disappeared. My breath caught as it dawned on me that she truly had command of a wealth of powers that I wasn't even aware of. I did know that she could pop in and out of shadows, but I never had the feeling that she did it casually like this. Or maybe she was just trying to escape the scrutiny that she was under at the moment.
Sighing deeply, I turned to Solomon and noticed that his eyes were set on Von, basically zeroing in on his clueless expression as Solomon contemplated going for the jugular. Von was deep in thought, his forehead furrowed, as Solomon stormed up to him and stood within arm's length when he accosted him.
"So, what now?" He spat at Von. "Are you going to deny her now?"
Von laughed at him in annoyed disgust. "Do you really think that I would be impressed with that little show that she just put on? She's definitely your daughter but not mine." He shook his head as he looked past Solomon's shoulder and straight into my eyes. He looked hurt, devastated, and I blinked instinctively as it r
egistered with me. He was trying to strike out at me, but he wasn't absolutely sure how to do it.
I could feel myself reactively biting the inside of my mouth as I considered what Von was possibly feeling at the moment. Crap, he must be so incredibly confused right now... I thought about it for a second and instantly grew angrier than before. Well, who the hell ISN'T confused?! Get in line, Von!
I stared him down as the words flew from my mouth before I could filter them. "She's yours as well, Von. As soon as you come to grips with that we will all be able to do what we have to do to ensure that the future is safe." My heart beat at the thought that everything could fall apart because of Von's blind ignorance.
"What do you mean by that?" Von growled at me and Solomon immediately stepped back into Von's view, cutting off his direct line to me.
"It means..." Solomon's icy voice drew Von's attention away from his search for me behind his back, "that Celeste will die and the kingdom will fall if Cora is not born."
"What?!" Von took a step backwards to look at me around Solomon again. "Who told you that? Cora? And you believed her?!" His voice shook with fierce determination and my hope began to wane again as I watched him with deep frustration. Everything about what he said practically screamed that he believed the wool had been pulled over our eyes. That Cora was a plant, intending to sucker us in and bring the ultimate end of everything that we held dear.
No, it's not true. I shook my head to clear the frustration.
"We trust her, Von." My voice sounded soothing, like I was trying to talk him down from a ledge. Or was I the one on the ledge?
"Well, then, you're idiots." He spun around on the spot, turning his dark blue cotton t-shirt away from me so that I could see his back muscles flinch. "I need to be alone." Von stormed away from us in the direction opposite the castle, his broad shoulders raised with stress, and his narrow waist twitching as he moved.
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