Grave Debt

by D. D. Miers

  "No!" I shouted. Cole put the tip of the stick in the dirt and leaned on it, waiting. I glared at him, offended, my back still stinging, but I knew I couldn't stop the training here. I sighed. "Fine, I—"

  Once again, he launched at me, swinging full force. I reeled back out of the way and threw out a hand, trying to imagine the sharpened point of energy. Nothing happened, except that he got me right across the head with the stick.

  "Son of a bitch!" I shouted, falling into the grass, feeling like my head was split open. "What the fuck!"

  "Shit, sorry, are you okay?" Cole asked, kneeling in front of me. Ethan also hurried across the grass to check on me. I ran a hand over my scalp to check for blood and found none.

  "Yeah, I'm fine," I said, gritting my teeth at the pain radiating through my head. "Just try to avoid the head next time, please?"

  "If this becomes a regular training technique," Ethan said, his arm around me, "I'd suggest investing in some nerf bats. Or maybe helmets."

  "Yeah, that might not be a bad idea," Cole admitted, grudgingly.

  "Could I maybe help a little?" Ethan asked. "I took Tae Kwon Do all through school and after the curse, I took a couple of refresher lessons. I thought the discipline might help, you know? Meditation actually is pretty useful."

  "I'm trying to teach her to rot people's flesh while it's still attached to them," Cole said impatiently. "Not do Kung Fu."

  "I'm just saying," Ethan held his hands up defensively, "if you both know how to do a proper takedown, you don't need to hit each other with sticks. You can flip her into the grass pretty much harmlessly. A bit safer."

  Cole sighed but allowed it. Ethan spent a few minutes showing us how to fall safely and where to avoid putting pressure, giving us a rough basics to keep us from hurting ourselves, then moved on to the actual takedown.

  "I'll show you on Cole first," he said. "Then you can try."

  "That's fair," Cole said.

  "I think you owe her that much for hitting her with the stick," Ethan said, and I laughed. Cole, beneath his usual glower, looked slightly sheepish.

  "There's two easy takedowns I can teach you right now," Ethan said, correcting Cole's stance. "Both are good for dealing with someone bigger than you are."

  Cole, who was probably a half a foot shorter than Ethan and much skinnier, raised a critical eyebrow.

  "I'll just show it to you really quick," Ethan said. "Remember how I taught you to land."

  He moved so quickly, I didn’t really process what he'd done. He just moved forward and suddenly Cole was on the ground on his back, wheezing, with Ethan leaning over him.

  "You didn't land like I told you," Ethan said, grinning down at Cole.

  "You did that on purpose," Cole said.

  "Yup." Ethan got to his feet and offered Cole a hand up. "Now I'll do it more slowly. Pay attention. Grab here, high on the tricep."

  Ethan reached across Cole's chest with his right arm, under Cole's right to squeeze the underside of his upper arm. His other hand had Cole's right wrist.

  "Pull him in and aside," Ethan explained. "So that you can get your leg between his and around."

  He moved forward smoothly into a kind of kneeling position, wrapping his leg around Cole's, his other leg out behind him. Kneeling with his head near Cole's hip, he paused. Cole wobbled, struggling to maintain his balance. Ethan caught him by the hips to steady him, grinned, then went back to holding his arm.

  "See how I've got control of his balance now?" Ethan explained, ignoring how red Cole turned. "Now I lean forward with the hip and—"

  He barely needed to lean into it at all to send Cole toppling backward, unable to maintain his balance. Ethan's head was near Cole's stomach, but as Cole tried to catch his breath, Ethan moved forward.

  "Make sure you follow through with motion," Ethan said, sliding up until he was fully covering Cole. "Or they can easily trap you. Once you're even with them, you can safely disengage."

  "Now I see why you wanted to do this," Cole said sarcastically, looking up at Ethan. Ethan cleared his throat and rolled off, helping Cole up again.

  "You want to try, Vexa?" he offered.

  "Definitely," I agreed, my head still hurting. I took my spot in front of Cole and Ethan stood behind me, leaning in close to direct me.

  "Arm first," he said. "Under the tricep, like I showed you."

  I slid my hand up the back of Cole's arm, conscious of how close both men stood near me. Cole's wiry muscle under my fingers was almost as distracting as Ethan's breath on the back of my neck.

  "Now, pull him in and go for the leg," Ethan said, his hands on my back and my arm guiding me forward as I wrapped my leg around Cole. Ethan's hands moved to my hips, pulling me back before I could fall into the kneel.

  "No, no, watch your feet," he said, pushing my hips into a more controlled roll forward. "You can't just throw your leg forward. You have to turn into it."

  Cole watched Ethan's hands guiding my hips with a strange expression. I focused on controlling my suddenly too fast heartbeat while paying attention to Ethan's instructions. Once I had the hip motion down, I moved forward with my leg again. It was harder than it looked to get that motion right, but Ethan was there to catch me and guide my motions, his fingers as gentle as his voice. As I moved into the kneel, I looked up at Cole, who looked down at me with a familiar spark of interest in his eyes. Ethan's hands squeezed my shoulders. There was a pause, all of us becoming aware simultaneously of the fact that none of us was alone in the sudden heat beneath our skins. I swallowed hard, and desperate to break the tension, leaned in with my hip and knocked Cole back into the grass.

  "Fuck!" he shouted as he went down, caught off guard. I fell forward with him, unable to do anything else, and laughed into his stomach.

  "Remember to follow through," Ethan reminded me. Cole squirmed, maybe hoping to escape, and I moved quickly to pin his shoulders down. I smiled down at him, flushed and breathless, relishing the heat in Cole's eyes.

  His hands brushed my hips, and suddenly I realized the awkwardness of the situation. I rolled off quickly and moved away, glancing up at Ethan, guilt clear on my face, but Ethan smiled at me, shaking his head. Had he not noticed, or did he just not care? I wasn't sure how to feel about either option.

  "Your turn, Cole," Ethan said, helping the other man up again.

  "Finally," Cole said.

  "You ready for this?" Ethan asked me. I nodded wordlessly, still too flustered to manage words. Cole was red up to his ears. Only Ethan kept his cool.

  I took my place in front of Cole, and Ethan moved behind him to guide him the same way he'd guided me.

  "Let's try it slowly once," Ethan said. "You remember how to fall, Vexa?"

  I nodded and braced myself as Ethan coached Cole through the moves. Cole's face got redder every time Ethan touched him, and Ethan’s hand trembled. It wasn’t just me they were both getting worked up over, was it? Had Cole really been onto something last night? Was I going to get left behind? I shook it off for now. I needed to have a conversation with Ethan—soon.

  Preoccupied with my thoughts, I didn't notice Cole moving forward until I was on my back in the grass with a yelp.

  "Very good," Ethan said with a laugh. "You all right, Vexa?"

  "I'm fine," I wheezed from underneath Cole, who moved off of me quickly.

  "I think I can do it fast this time," Cole said, offering me a hand up, which I took. "Ready to try and stop me this time?"

  "Sure," I said, taking a deep breath and getting into position again. "Sharp point, right?"

  "I'll spot you both," Ethan said, staying close as Cole shook himself out and reached for me. "Remember to watch the angle of your hips."

  Cole nodded, then moved at me quickly, grabbing my arm.

  I was on my ass in the grass before I could blink. Cole followed through. I coughed to catch my breath.

  "Did you even try?" he asked.

  "Of course!" I said. "It was too fast."

  "Aethon
isn't going to go slowly for you!"

  "I know, I know! Let's try again."

  It took three more tries before I even managed to start visualizing before he threw me in the grass. My back hurt, but less than where he'd hit me with the stick. Everything had ceased to be sexy after the fourth or fifth time I ended up in the dirt. Now I was just pissed off.

  "You're still not making a point," Cole said, as he landed on top of me again. I wanted to scream. Instead, I took advantage of the fact that Cole hadn't followed through with the move to throw a leg around him and shove him into the dirt.

  "I can't do the point!" I said, sitting on him as he thrashed to get loose, holding on to one of his legs. "It takes too long to sharpen it! It doesn't work!"

  Cole made a pained sound at the same moment Ethan suddenly lunged toward me, shouting my name.

  I took my hands off Cole quickly and horrified, I saw the black, withered mark under where my hand had been. I grabbed him again immediately, working on instinct to wash the negative energy away, restoring healthy flesh within a few seconds.

  "Sorry! Jesus!" I said, shaking, kneeling next to Cole as he flopped onto his back, breathing ragged. "Are you all right? I'm so sorry!"

  "I'm fine," Cole said, immediately. "You're getting the hang of it apparently. Just needed to get you mad enough."

  "Looks like you've figured out that healing thing, too," Ethan said, kneeling beside me and putting an arm around my shoulders. "You fixed it so fast I barely saw it."

  "I barely had time to feel it," Cole agreed. "Like bumping against a lit burner on the stove."

  "At least I'm good at one thing," I said with a tired laugh. "Should we try again?"

  Cole sat up, nervously, then shook himself off.

  "Yeah, let's keep going."

  Chapter 10

  We kept going for another half hour. Mostly it was Cole throwing me in the grass, but I got a few more good hits in, and I had a good grasp on the healing thing. However, my ability was reserved to injuries caused by necromantic energy. Cole skinned his knee on a rock and I couldn't do a damn thing about it. As long as I could do something, I didn't care. I was just glad there was at least one thing I could do without trouble.

  I flopped into the grass next to Cole after healing him again, panting. Ethan sat down on the other side of us, looking pretty tired himself. He'd been staying close, catching us when we went down and coaching us through the throws and falls. Mort flopped over beside us as well, his shaggy head on my shoulder.

  "You all right?" I asked Cole, breathless.

  "Yeah, give me a minute," Cole said, his voice strained. "That one hurt."

  "Sorry," I said.

  "Don't be," he corrected me, quickly. "It's good. Slap Aethon in the face like that a couple of times, and we may even have a chance."

  "Told you the point thing didn't work," I said, closing my eyes. "Slap fight was the answer, after all."

  "You should probably still learn to do the point," Ethan said, leaning over me to brush my hair out of my face. "You might not be able to get close enough to Aethon to slap him in the face."

  "Right," I said, not looking forward to it. He smiled and leaned down to kiss me, sweet and brief.

  "Gross," Cole said, rolling away from us. He didn't sound like he meant it.

  "You're gross!" I teased. His shirt had ridden up a little, and I rolled over to tickle the strip of exposed skin. He gave a bark of harsh laughter and curled up to escape. I shared a look with Ethan and a second later, we were both diving in to tickle any part of him we could reach. Mort jumped around us, barking with excitement as we tussled.

  "Stop, stop!" Cole begged through his laughter. "Fuck! I'll kill you!"

  I pulled his shirt up and blew a raspberry on his stomach, which made him shriek so loudly that Ethan and I both fell away laughing. Mort tackled Cole as soon as we were out of the way, covering him in slobbery kisses.

  "God, you guys are weird," Cole said, still laughing, shoving Mort away and falling back into the grass again.

  "Yeah, well, so are you," I said, flopping back with my head in Ethan's lap and my legs draped across Cole's. "Birds of a feather."

  "You're too weird to be a bird," Cole said, smiling at me. "You're too weird to be anything but human."

  My heart skipped a beat at the sight of his smile. It was the first genuine smile I'd seen on him. It lit up his whole face like sunlight, banishing, however briefly, the shadows that so often lingered around his eyes. I squeezed Ethan's hand, my breath caught in my chest.

  "Whatever I am, I'm the same thing you are," I told him.

  "You three alive out there?"

  We all looked up as Aunt Persephona called from the sliding glass door.

  "Mostly," I confirmed, as Mort jumped up and ran to Aunt Percy, who ruffled his ears fondly.

  "Dinner is just about ready," she said. "Come and help me set the table."

  I saw Cole's face fall. For a moment, his anxiety was clear. He wasn't sure if he was welcome to stay, or if he should stay even if he was welcome. His walls were back up a moment later, his expression hardening as he distanced himself to endure whatever happened. I swallowed hard and rolled to my feet, offering him a hand up.

  "Come on," I said. "You're staying for dinner, right?"

  Cole hesitated. I could see the indecision. I steeled myself for his refusal, ready to let him go if that was what he wanted.

  "Cole!" Aunt Persephona called from the porch again. "You said you liked garlic bread, right? Because I just made way too much!"

  The smile touched Cole's face again for just a moment. He took my hand and pulled himself up.

  "There's no such thing as too much garlic bread," he called back.

  I shared a smile with Ethan as we followed Cole into the house. I could tell he was as glad as I was that Cole was staying for dinner. I still needed to talk to Ethan about what this was or where it was going, but for now, having both of them near felt good.

  Dinner was one of the nicest I'd had in a long time, full of laughter and good conversation. Cole was a little reserved, clearly unsure about his place. We didn't press him, and when he was comfortable adding to the conversation, we welcomed him. He had an easy rapport with my aunt. There was an instinctive understanding there between two people who'd spent years trying to learn the secrets of magic despite all the obstacles life threw in the way.

  "We'll go and see the fairy tomorrow," Ethan said, as dinner wrapped up. I helped him with the dishes while my aunt retired early to study in her room. "We could probably do it tonight. He keeps odd hours. But . . ."

  "I'm pretty sore from practice," I confessed, rolling my stiff shoulders. "Tomorrow is probably better."

  "I'll go with you," Cole agreed, pulling on his jacket. "I can meet you here around nine."

  "You don't want to stay?" I asked. "The couch is still open. It would be a lot more convenient."

  "I can find my own place to sleep," Cole said, a little defensively.

  Ethan stayed carefully silent, as he gripped the plate he was drying. Considering how Cole had reacted to Ethan trying to insist last time, I didn’t blame him.

  "It would just make things a lot easier for us tomorrow," I said, not to pushing too hard. "It doesn't have to be forever. We're just . . . worried about you."

  "I don't need you to worry about me," Cole said, sharply and I winced, sensing I'd messed up.

  "Too late," Ethan said, without looking up from the sink. "We're gonna worry, anyway. You fucked up and made friends, man. Worry comes with the territory."

  Cole's jaw tightened and for a moment I thought he'd storm out. But after a moment, the tension faded from his shoulders.

  "Fine," he said, grudgingly. "I'll sleep on the stupid couch. Just for tonight. Because coming up here first thing in the morning is a pain in the ass."

  "Sounds great," I said, unable to hide my smile. Ethan smiled, too, though he still wouldn't look away from the sink.

  It was early, so we sat in th
e living room for a while, chilling out, nursing our bruises from earlier in the day. Cole had dumped a stack of books on me, mainly basic necromantic texts and a few general wizardry guides to "give me a good theoretical base." I read through one, taking lazy notes on my phone while Ethan and Cole talked shit about a movie they'd both disliked.

  Eventually we wandered off to bed, throwing blankets and a pillow at Cole on the couch before Ethan and I retreated to the guest room. Morgana had decided early on that she liked Cole better than me and spent most of the evening curled up in his lap. It looked like she intended to spend the night there. Mort followed us to the bedroom, however, jumping up onto the bed and settling in at the foot immediately.

  Ethan and I had been sharing Aunt Persephona's guest room since Aethon attacked the funeral home, but so far, he'd been too exhausted for us to do much but sleep next to each other as he recovered from his near-death experience. As we changed for bed, carefully not looking at one another, I realized this was no longer the case. But now we had another problem. I remembered how he'd reacted to our little fling on the patio table, and how close he'd come to disaster at the drive-in. What if next time he couldn't control it? I wanted him. But we weren't safe for each other.

  As I lay down, he pulled me close, nuzzling into my throat and pressing kisses to my skin.

  "You were amazing today," he said. "Practicing with Cole. I've never seen anything like it. The wizards at the library wish they could do something as impressive as that. Uther is the strongest and the little teleport thing is the most impressive trick he has. Which is why he uses it every time he shows up."

  I smiled and rolled to put my arms around him. This relationship was still new, but there was so much to love about him. The scent of his hair, the callouses on his hands, the crinkles at the corners of his eyes when he smiled at me. It was almost terrifying. I could fall in love with him so easily, I thought. And I still knew so little about him. If I rushed into this, would there be anything there to support a real relationship?

  "You're worrying," he said, and reached up to rub the spot between my eyebrows. "You get these lines here when you're worrying. What's up?"