by Roh Morgon
“But no more personal questions.”
Nodding, I walk past him. He stops me with a hand on my arm.
“And Sunny. No one is to know about her.”
I glance up. I’ve never seen a more dangerous expression on him, and a little flutter of fear tickles my scalp.
“No problem. You can trust me.”
“I’m counting on it.” Red flashes within his pupils.
He’s the last Chosen I’d want as an enemy.
“I understand the chance you’ve taken bringing her here. Your secret’s safe with me.”
“I wouldn’t have done so if I thought otherwise.” He releases my arm as Jeanette opens the door, and turns to wait for her. I head into the dining room.
It’s nearly eleven o’clock when we agree to quit for the evening. Jeanette has turned out to be a very patient teacher and I’m grateful Colin has decided to include her in my education.
She’s also vivacious, filled with warm life and good humor. We’d laughed over and over at my pathetic attempts to mimic her pronunciations. I can’t remember the last time I shared genuine laughter with someone.
I couldn’t help but notice Colin’s scrutiny as we worked together. I suspect he was monitoring my reactions to her and would’ve intervened if I’d shown any undue interest in her—or the blood pulsing through her body.
What I found interesting is that even though I was aware of her blood scent, Colin’s was so thickly woven within it that it almost felt like a barrier. Perhaps that’s how Chosen mark their donors—a clear biochemical signal stating “fangs off” to other Chosen. Whether it’s for the donor’s protection or a territorial thing, it seems to work. I had no real desire for her blood, which was a great relief to me, and I’m sure to Colin as well.
When I walk them to the door, Jeanette turns to me.
“I am very happy to know you. You will be good to run his European offices.” She reaches out and takes both of my hands.
“Uh, thank you. It was nice meeting you, too.”
“I had fun. We will have more lessons, oui? I teach you French and you teach me better English.” She leans forward and lightly kisses me on each cheek.
Okay. That’s a little too close.
I swallow as my gums twitch. I step back, but hopefully not so quick as to offend her.
“I look forward to it,” I manage to stammer out.
Colin misses none of it. He moves in and takes her gently by the shoulders.
“Come, my darling. It’s late. Let’s get you home.” He guides her outside. “I’ll meet you in the car.”
She nods and heads toward the Aston Martin.
I turn to Colin.
“I’m sorry—”
“Not to worry. Some reactions are instinctive. The important thing is not to act upon the impulse behind them.” He smiles. “You did well.”
“Thanks.”
“We do need to discuss our schedule. I’m afraid that since I’ll be bringing Jeanette over in the early evenings for your French lessons and she needs to go to bed at a reasonable hour, I won’t be available for sparring practice. It’s time you start working out with different partners anyway. I’ve been in contact with the local fight promoter, and he has several excellent female fighters who should be a good match for you.”
Female fighters.
That’ll be an interesting change. My skin ripples in anticipation of the fresh competition.
“He’s sending one of them over tomorrow night around eight. I have an appointment in the city, but I’ll stop by on my way in and make the necessary introductions.”
“Do you know who he’s sending?”
“No, not personally. But I know of them both and have seen them fight. They each have excellent form and technique, yet fight in a completely different style from one another. This will be good for you.”
“All right. Then I guess I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
Colin nods and turns toward his car.
“And Colin—”
He pauses.
“You have a lovely wife. You’re very lucky.”
Nodding, he continues on to the car.
“I know.”
I head back into the house, which suddenly seems very empty.
FRIDAY
CHAPTER 70
Colin and I are waiting in the barn when I hear the roar of an approaching motorcycle.
Electricity shoots through my veins at the sound.
But as I listen to it, I realize it’s not an engine I recognize. This one sounds different, beats in a lower, deeper rhythm than either Taz’s or Redd’s bike.
I sigh in relief. And, to my chagrin, disappointment.
The rumbling sound shuts off outside the barn door.
When the door opens, the dark shape filling its frame is definitely not female. It is, however, a shape with which I’m intimately familiar. Too familiar.
Shit.
It’s Taz.
“Heard you were lookin’ for a fight trainer.”
My jaw clenches at the sound of his voice.
I just can’t seem to get away from him.
Colin steps forward.
“I thought Jeffers was sending Delilah or Carmen.”
“They couldn’t make it.” Taz glances at me, his customary smirk hiding within those damn eagle eyes.
Colin stands his ground.
“This isn’t going to work. She’s not ready for someone of your size.”
“I can make her ready,” Taz slowly responds as he looks sidelong at me, the corner of his lip twitching.
Colin snarls at the innuendo. Taz looks down at him, red flashing in his pupils.
Oh crap.
I step between them and face Colin.
“I got this, Colin.”
“Do you have any idea who—”
“Actually, I do. We… we’ve spent some time together. Unfortunately. But I can handle him.”
Taz snorts.
Colin frowns, looks past me at Taz, then back at me. He places his hands on my shoulders.
“You’re sure about this?”
I nod.
Colin takes a deep breath, his blue gaze searching mine.
“Just remember why you’re here.”
“I know. Trust me—I won’t forget.”
He looks back up at Taz. His expression darkens and his whole body radiates danger.
“If you hurt her,” he says, his eyes flashing red. “I will kill you.”
Taz’s only answer is a rumbling growl.
Colin releases me and heads outside without another word.
As the barn door closes, I turn around to glare at Taz.
“What are you doing here?”
He folds his arms and returns my glare.
“I suppose that’s who you’ve been lookin’ for?”
“Who, Colin? No. He’s just a friend. And it’s not your business anyhow.”
“He made it my business when he threatened to kill me.”
“What do you want from me?”
“Thought I was pretty clear about that.”
“Thought I was pretty clear every time I’ve said no.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m here to teach fight training.” He leers at me. “You got something else in mind?”
Asshole.
Taz stares at me, the smirk briefly slipping away to reveal something else, something I’d rather not see. I glance away.
This is not going to work. I need to figure a way out of this.
“Blonde doesn’t suit you. I like your real hair better.”
“Is that what you call a compliment? You need to work on that.”
“You’re not wearing the ring.”
I glance at my hand.
“I don’t need it anymore.”
He laughs.
“Look, Taz. I appreciate you coming out here, but your techniques just won’t work for me. I don’t have the body mass or reach you do. I really need to work with
someone closer to my own size.”
“Hit me.”
“I mean it. And I was really looking forward to training with another female.”
“Is that it? You prefer women?”
“No,” I sputter. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Hit me.”
“I’m not going to hit you.”
Taz steps closer.
“Hit me.” His tone takes on a threatening edge.
I shake my head no and start to turn away.
He reaches out toward me as though he’s going to touch my breast.
I whirl and kick him in the gut.
There’s no give at all. I might as well have kicked a steel beam.
“Again. Hit me.”
I deliver several sharp jabs to his ribcage. He doesn’t even grunt.
“You’re right.” Taz takes off his leather jacket and tosses it onto the incline bench. His black tank top only emphasizes our physical differences. “You can’t fight like me.”
He tenses, then lunges at me. I spin out of the way and leap across the barn.
“So you have to make me fight like you,” he says. His body lowers into a crouch and he launches in my direction.
I dart to the side, easily avoiding him, and sprint for the other end.
Taz knocks me flat on my face before I take the third step.
I flip onto my back, claws and fangs ready. But all he does is offer me a hand up.
“What just happened?” he asks as he pulls me to my feet.
“What do you mean? You knocked me down. Isn’t that obvious?” Disgusted, I brush the straw from my clothes.
“Before that.”
“You leapt at me and I got out of the way.”
“And how did you know which way to run?”
I think back.
“Because you came at me from the left.”
“Which made you do what?”
“Move… to… the… right.”
Taz smiles.
“So even though you think you got away several times, who was really in control?”
Apparently not me.
“What else did you see?” He studies me, his eyes flashing gold beneath the barn lights.
“What do you mean, what else?”
Impatience darkens his expression. He glances to my right, then lunges straight at me. When I spin away to the left, his fist is suddenly there, missing my cheek by a fraction of an inch.
“Why’d you move that direction?” he snaps at me.
“Because you looked toward the other.”
He shakes his head.
“You always tell your kill which way you’re movin’?”
My kill?
“I’m not out to kill anyone. I just want to save my own neck.”
Taz looms over me, fangs bared. I step back.
“That’s exactly what’ll get you killed. Especially you.” He jabs his finger at me. “Every fight is to the death—don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
Especially me? Great.
“What’re you good at?” He crosses his arms.
“What am I good at? I don’t know. Bartending. Staying alive. That’s about it.” Well, not quite alive. It’s all rather sad, when I boil it down like that.
Taz rolls his eyes.
“Still pretty. Still dumb.”
“Screw you.” I wince as soon as the words leave my mouth.
“Like I’ve said, anytime.” His slow, taunting smile just infuriates me more. “So how do you stay alive?”
“I feed on blood, like every other Chosen.”
He raises his eyebrows.
“Okay,” I admit. “So not like other Chosen.”
“I’d guess if you’ve survived this long on nothin’ but deer and bear, you know how to hunt.”
I nod. That is something I know how to do, and do pretty well.
“You just need to train for a new quarry. Learn their body language, and how to move them wherever you want. Once you view every Chosen as nothing more than your next kill, you’ll stay alive a whole lot longer.”
That’s a pretty vicious outlook on life.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t hate the world. I’m not like you.” I shake my head.
Taz’s chest is pressing me against the wall before I can blink.
He breathes into my ear.
“You’re exactly like me. I can sense the violence in your blood. You love to kill.”
“Get off of me.” I shove him back and he surprisingly gives ground.
Chuckling, he saunters over to the punching bags.
“Come over here. Let’s see what else you got.”
Fuming, I clench my fists and look toward the door.
“Running away won’t help. It’ll just delay the inevitable. Now get your ass over here if you want to learn how to fight someone like me.”
Bastard.
With a deep sigh, I do as he says. Again.
It’s about two a.m. when we quit for the evening. Except for his occasional rude comments, Taz behaved remarkably well. He kept his hands to himself, only touching my arms and legs to guide them in various trajectories when delivering punches and kicks.
Unfortunately, when he did so, it also meant that his body was close to mine. As the evening wore on, I found myself hoping he’d accidentally brush against me. The punching bag took an extra beating each time that happened, until the leather case finally split open beneath my last flurry of blows, ending that part of our training.
It was worse when he was demonstrating a new technique. His absolute concentration only enhanced the raw animal beauty of his movements, and at times like those, I’d find myself so mesmerized that I’d fail to hear either his explanations or his questions.
And unfortunately, he’d caught me several times, accusing me of daydreaming.
His secretive smirks told me that he knew exactly what I was daydreaming about.
Relieved that our session is finally over, I follow Taz across the barn.
“What time tomorrow?” he asks.
“I don’t know. I need to check with Colin.”
“Well, after you talk with your little boyfriend, you let me know.”
“He’s not my—” I glare up at him. “Oh, go to hell.”
“I tell you what. You want me to come back, you call me.”
Taz holds his left forearm out, the underside exposed. He jams his nails into a vein.
What the—?
Appalled, I watch as his dripping fingers paint the first part of his phone number onto the vinyl-covered incline bench. He punctures his arm a second time to finish it, then wipes his hand onto his jeans and picks up his jacket.
“That’s twice I’ve given you my blood.” Those eagle eyes fix me with their piercing stare. And then he stalks out the door.
Unable to stop myself, I follow him outside. I now see why I didn’t recognize the sound of his motorcycle
He’s riding the red devil bike, the one I saw in his shop.
The fanged skeleton frame takes on a new meaning in view of everything I’ve heard and learned about him lately.
The Executioner. Deliverer of the Final Death. Killer of Chosen.
The open-mouthed skull clenching the headlight between its fangs disappears behind the bright beam as Taz starts the engine. Its deep, throaty roar, like that of some beast from Hell, shatters the quiet country night.
It heads down the driveway and fades into the dark, leaving me as conflicted as ever about its ruthless rider.
CHAPTER 71
I’m finishing another set of pull-ups when I hear the Aston Martin outside the barn. Colin had said he’d stop by around three a.m. on his way back from the city. That’s the main reason I’m taking my frustrations out on the workout equipment instead of the deer I’d rather be hunting.
Colin’s nose wrinkles as he steps inside. He glances around the barn, lingers over the punching bag with its guts spilling onto the floor, then settles his gaze on the bloody phone number
painted on the incline bench.
“What a barbarian.” He looks up at me. “Everything go okay?”
“Yeah.”
“I can see that.”
“He just irritates me.”
“Is that all it is?”
Instant fury tenses my body at his implied accusation.
“Yeah. That’s all it is. I just thought I was rid of him.”
“You mentioned you’d spent time together.”
“It’s more like he held me prisoner.”
“I’m surprised you agreed to train with him, then.”
“We still had some unfinished business. And, it turns out, he knows what he’s doing when it comes to fighting.”
“Of that, I had no doubt. But nonetheless, I contacted Jeffers, the fight promoter, and requested he send someone else next Monday night.”
I nod and glance at the incline bench.
Colin follows my look.
“Sunny. There’s something you need to know about him.”
“I don’t need to know anything more about him. I’m done with him. We still on schedule for tomorrow night?”
Colin nods.
“Jeanette and I will be over around eight o’clock. I promised her a night on the coast, so that will give us a little more time for your lesson.”
“All right. Well, if we have nothing more to talk about, I need to go hunt.” I turn toward the barn door.
“Sunny. Be patient. You’re almost ready.”
I pause.
“Colin, all I can say is… the sooner, the better.”
What I don’t say is that the sooner I can put miles between me and that damned Indian, the better for all of us.
SATURDAY
CHAPTER 72
Learning a new language easily doesn’t seem to be one of my talents. Understanding it isn’t a problem. Speaking it, trying to roll my R’s and twist my tongue around the foreign words, is another matter entirely.
Fortunately, Jeanette is endowed with an extra dose of patience, which makes me dig deeper for mine.
But by the time we’re done for the evening, I’m all tapped out. I wave goodbye to Colin and Jeanette as they pull away from the house and gratefully shut the door.
I’ve just finished changing into my hunting blacks when I catch the distant sound of a motorcycle. It’s growing louder and louder, until it’s right outside the door.