by Justin Sloan
She leaped up, ready to pounce, when Ricky came from the side, picking her up and slamming her to the ground. He could have gotten a good punch in, but instead went for an ankle lock.
He was good, but she was too fast, and managed to escape the hold.
A strong kick sent him onto his butt, and he cursed before rolling out of the way of her heel to the groin and coming back at her with a fist.
Destiny grabbed his arm and used the momentum to carry him down.
“What in the world are you doing?” she shouted, and Katherine stood there panting, waiting for an answer.
Only, both of them were staring at her, pissed. Others were appearing out of hiding spots in the tall grass or behind trees, to see what was happening.
“Wait, me?” Katherine looked each of them in the eye, and then saw Triston smirking. “Oh, son of a… It was a drill?”
Ricky was fuming, but he pulled his arm back from Destiny and massaged it. “Of course it was. You think we’d attack you? Mauro and Merriam told us to get you out here, get you warmed up and ready for something big.”
“Couldn’t warn me?” she asked, glaring at Triston now.
“Your friend only just found out,” Ricky said. “The element of surprise makes it more real.”
She shook her head. “Well, someone twice my size attacks me, I take them down. Simple as that.”
“Right…” Destiny glanced at Ricky and couldn’t help but laugh. “She did take you down pretty fast, though.”
“I don’t want to hear it,” he said, then turned and walked off. “New guy next, let’s go.”
A couple closest to Triston turned on him, and now it was his turn. Katherine quickly learned the rule of the game—it was like sparring, where light hits were fine, but the goal was to get them to the ground and tap them out.
They went at this for a bit, first with several on one, then multiple groups at once, and finally in an all-out brawl, to simulate being in the midst of battle.
“Not bad,” Destiny said with an impressed nod. “You two haven’t been exactly slacking off, I take it.”
“We’ve trained, and we’ve fought,” Triston said. “Nearly died…”
“You pretty much did die,” Katherine corrected him.
“This we gotta hear,” Ricky said, and a couple of the other soldiers gathered around. Daniel and Troy were both there too, looking out of place among the grownups, but at least not frowning at her this time. Everyone was staring, waiting intently.
“It’s not the type of story that’s fun to hear,” she said. “I mean…” Memories came back to her of Danny, and she felt her voice quiver as she said, “I’d rather not talk about it. Seriously.”
Catching on, Destiny turned back to the others and said, “Nothing to hear here, children. Get back to work. We got a run ahead of us. After that, let’s see what our friends here know about weapons.”
A couple of the soldiers cheered at that, and they all turned to get back in formation, waiting.
“You sure you’re okay?” Triston said. “We can just tell them we’re not up for it.”
Destiny glanced over her shoulder, apparently hearing those words, and frowned.
“No, I can do this,” Katherine said, loud enough to make sure the woman heard. “If we’re attacked, the enemy won’t care if I’m feeling emotional. So screw that.”
“I like your attitude,” Destiny said with a laugh. “You’re with me.”
“With you?” she said, shrugging and walking over to her.
“Yeah. For this part, we need teamwork. Tell your lover over there to find someone his own size. Trust me.”
Triston nodded for her to go on and then looked at the other soldiers, debating, looking like a lost puppy as Destiny pulled Katherine away.
“Roll out!” Destiny shouted, and the soldiers took off at a jog, which was just fine by Katherine, since going at a faster pace in these military boots would be a huge pain.
They jogged along, Katherine and Destiny, the others around them but much less focused on keeping in line now. The sun was rising higher in the sky, but was at the exact angle to hit them in the eyes as its light danced between trees.
“You all do this every day?” Katherine asked, her breaths coming heavier now.
“Not every day,” Destiny said. “Only when we aren’t looking for rare artifacts or fighting the bad guys.”
“Rare artifacts? What do you mean?”
They jogged through a section of the path that had a puddle in the middle, and swerved to go around.
After clearing it, Destiny said, “There are certain items in this world that hold… abilities, let’s say. The ability to make things happen.”
“Like magic?” Katherine’s mind went back to the colored stones she’d see in her dream, with the temple and vampires.
Destiny shrugged. “Sure, you could say that. Though that word has a negative connotation for some, less so for others.”
She must have seen Katherine’s frown, because she smiled and made a motion with her hand. A small light glowed before expanding into a hawk that flew into the air above her, circling, looking for any attackers.
“A lot of us try to avoid using this stuff too often, you know, to avoid the whole witch association. It’s not really magic, per se, but in today’s world, anything that isn’t easily explainable gets labeled as so. Not a problem when dealing with the younger crowd that grew up loving witches and wizards, but when you start interacting with people who don’t understand it? Yeah, that gets a bit out of whack.”
“How…?”
She held a finger to her lips. “It’s a spirit animal. I’m sure Gabe will go through it in our lessons today, that and who knows what else. We’re usually off on duty, but with your arrival he pulled us back for this, so I imagine it must be pretty damn important.”
“Not important enough to call Allie back, though,” Daniel said as he ran past.
Katherine glared after him, and Destiny laughed. “He’s just a boy. Well, seventeen, but you know. Sometimes I’m amazed by the man he’s becoming, but often, when he’s not with Allie and especially when he feels anything encroaching on her turf, he acts like the teenage boy he never really had time to be.”
“Yeah, I see the teenage boy part, not much else.”
“He has both nearly destroyed the world and, on more than one occasion, helped save it. That’s asking a lot from someone who started off on all this in his young teens.”
“I’ve never heard of him.”
“You wouldn’t have. How good would we be at this if everyone in the world knew there was this ongoing war between good and evil? Let me put it this way—you’ve heard of those Seal Team Six guys who went blabbing about their missions when they weren’t allowed to?”
Katherine shrugged. She didn’t remember the details, but yeah, she had heard about it.
“Well, Daniel puts that guy to shame, and has never once tried to go to the press or even make a secret blog or whatever.” Destiny leaped over a log that looked to have been put there as an obstacle. “So, all I’m saying is you should give him some credit. Give him a chance.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s him not giving me a chance,” Katherine said, leaping over the same log.
“Patience.” She paused with a smile. “Come on, this is my favorite part.”
Katherine looked around, confused. “What is?”
Destiny just winked, and then stepped into the field before them. A roar sounded from the other side, and then howls. First a bear appeared, lumbering into the field, and then she noticed the wolves moving through the tall grass on either side.
“You gotta be kidding.”
“They’re just Jason’s spirit animals,” Destiny said, gesturing to the wolves. “Don’t worry, the pain will only last until the exercise is over.”
“And the bear?”
“That would be Gabe’s,” she said with a laugh that seemed to say you are so screwed.
“Gabe’s sp
irit animal?”
“Don’t go easy on him, he can take it. It hurts the creator if it’s defeated, but the spirit animal can be recalled after a bit. They don’t die or anything.”
“And you’re not witches, you say?” She raised an eyebrow Destiny’s direction, but the woman waved her off.
“Keep making jokes and see how well those help you survive out here.”
Chapter 12
Katherine took a defensive stance, wishing her power allowed her to transform during the day. Heck, wolves were like her crew, right? But out here in the middle of the day, surrounded by wolves and with a bear approaching, she wasn’t exactly sure what to do.
Run? Fight?
She heard someone shout in the distance, and then the grunt of an animal being hit, and she figured Triston was going through some similar sort of test.
Her best bet was to get out of their reach, make it so they didn’t have her surrounded. Knowing this, she turned abruptly back to the trees.
“Running so soon?” Destiny asked.
“Not on your life,” Katherine replied. Her time spent training with Aldrick and later keeping it up with Danny meant she knew plenty well how to maneuver through trees and keep her opponents to one side of her.
She hit the first tree as the wolves realized what was happening and charged in for the attack.
Planting one foot on the base of the tree, she pushed off for a jump, grabbed a tree branch, and swung. The harsh bark scraped her skin, but nothing to be worried about. Grabbing the next branch, she pulled herself up and ran along it to the point that it wouldn’t carry her, then she leaped and rolled.
She came out of her roll as the wolves were realizing what had happened, and were behind her now. Maybe the point of this test was to fight them and win, but she didn’t much care for striking an animal, even if it was some sort of spirit animal made from magic.
A better idea presented itself in the form of a shape she spotted while in the trees—someone halfway up a hill nearby, trying to hide.
Sprinting to take advantage of the head start she now had, she reached the hill and sprang up onto the large stones that lined its edge, just as the bear arrived to plow into her. It sent her flying to slam into one of the large stones, and the wolves began to gather around her.
One nearly had her ankle, but she pulled it away just in time and then leaped onto the rock, cringed as she kicked the bear square in the nose, and then ran up the hill.
“Call them off,” she shouted with a glance over her shoulder to see the bear had pulled back slightly, but the wolves were in hot pursuit.
One leaped for her, but she was close enough now. The man in hiding looked up just in time to see her leaping for him, grabbing him by the shoulders, and thrusting him into the wolf’s path.
Instead of making contact and tearing the man to shreds, the wolves dissolved as they came close to him.
“Does that count?” Destiny shouted down from the bottom of the hill. “We’ve never had someone go straight for you before, Jason.”
The man, who Katherine now saw was only a teen, turned to Katherine and nodded his approval. “I’d say it counts. But…” He motioned back down the hill. “You still gotta deal with the bear.”
“Remind me to ask you all later what the point of this is,” she said, letting him go and turning to face the bear. “And remind me to ask in a very violent way.”
He laughed nervously, then slowly backed away as the bear charged forward.
“Pleasure to meet you, though,” she called over her shoulder, and thought she heard him say it back, but was too focused on charging the bear to listen. “You’re not going to like this, bear.”
The bear stood on its hind legs to challenge her, and she raised up as if she was going to meet it head on—but then, at the last second, she threw herself to the ground, glad they were on a decline, and slid right between its legs, on her back and head first.
She brought her knee up into its crotch as she went past, and then kicked off of its rear to push herself the rest of the way down and flip backwards onto her feet.
A groan of pain came from somewhere nearby, and she guessed Gabe had either felt the pain of his bear or was doing a great job commiserating.
“Sorry!” she called out, then ran to the opposite side of the field.
Destiny stood there, hands on her hips, shaking her head. “I’m pretty sure that’s the fastest anyone’s ever cleared this area.”
“Yeah?” Katherine beamed, but then shook it off. She’d had her fair share of successes in the past, often when it really mattered. This was just training after all.
“Come on,” Destiny said with a smile. “We got hand-to-hand next, and then some obstacle courses before lunch.”
Katherine gave her a skeptical look, wondering if the woman was joking. When she turned and walked off, calling out to the others, she realized these people were serious.
If she had wanted to join the army and do pushups and run all day, she would have. This was getting ridiculous.
Triston, however, came running over and clapped her on the shoulder with a huge smile before saying, “Fun, right?”
She laughed, deciding right there not to dampen his spirits. “Oodles of fun,” she replied, and took off running after him.
The rest of the day was much of the same, though they took a lunch break and allowed for thirty minutes rest before getting back at it again. During the downtime, Katherine found herself staring off at the rolling hills and wondering when they were going to take action instead of training.
When the time came for more hand-to-hand training, she watched Triston go up against one of the younger soldiers, one who looked to be about Triston’s age. She had to laugh at the way her man took a fighting stance, as if he were straight out of a kung fu movie.
“Take it easy on him, Davies,” Ricky said.
“Hey, I don’t need any handouts,” Triston said, then looked at Katherine for help. “Tell ‘em. You’ve seen me in action.”
“Every kind of action you’ve been involved with, you’ve performed exceptionally,” she said with a wink that distracted him so that he took a jab to the gut. “Ooh, sorry.”
He laughed and swatted away the next punch. “I might not be as trained as you all, but I’ve fought my fair share of werewolves.”
Katherine frowned. Sure, at times he had, but for the final battle against Aldrick he had pretty much served as a damsel in distress.
Davies spat at that and said, “You ever put me up against a werewolf, I’d tear his throat out and pour molten silver into its body. Vile creatures.”
Triston looked about to say something, but had just circled Davies so that he caught Katherine’s slight shake of her head. That didn’t stop Triston from giving the guy a good kick on the shin that he followed up with a right hook across the jaw.
Davies stumbled backwards, nearly falling.
“Hey, keep it civil out there,” Destiny said, then nudged Ricky. “You reffing this or what?”
“Like she said, boys,” Ricky grunted, and Katherine could have sworn she caught him giving her a suspicious glance.
Did these guys not know about them? About Mauro? Could they really have three werewolves among them and have no idea? She had assumed it would be common knowledge in these circles, what with the way Mauro and Merriam were so close.
If they didn’t know, they would have a rude awakening when night fell and the first sign of danger reared its head. Katherine was damn sure not going to stay human if it meant the difference between Triston, or any of the team members, getting hurt.
A couple more blows were exchanged, with Ricky reminding them to keep it fun, when Katherine noticed Gabe limping over. He held his lower abdomen and forced a smile.
“Sorry,” she said as he sat next to her on a horizontal tire. “I didn’t know the bear’s injuries would translate over to you, I mean, not like this.”
“They usually don’t, but… I’m getting older in a
ge, and usually the connection grows stronger at that point. It’s especially the case when you stick to one animal, like I’ve done with Brutas, instead of several like Jason does.”
“You named your bear?”
“Brutas. Yes, of course.”
She smiled at the old man, then turned at the sound of an oomph as Davies caught Triston with a kick to the thigh. Triston took the moment to wrap an arm around the kicking leg and swept the other, bringing Davies to the ground so he could straddle him and work a choke hold.
“Okay, that’s enough,” Ricky said, after Davies tapped Triston’s forearm a second time. “That’s enough!”
Triston still wasn’t letting up, though, so Katherine stood and said, “Triston!”
He seemed to snap back to the present at that, and relaxed the hold enough to let Davies break free. The man stood, coughing and glaring.
“What’s your problem?” Davies asked between breaths.
Triston stood and sulked off the sand pit to sit on the other side of Katherine.
“Still having fun?” she asked.
In spite of his frown, he couldn’t help but smile. “Actually, that felt damn good,” he whispered, making sure the others were still occupied checking on Davies.
Gabe, however, was still there and looking between them. “I’d advise you two to watch your emotions. Keep them in check until the right time.”
Katherine was pretty sure that meant he knew, especially with the way he was eyeing Triston. Which at least meant Mauro had told Gabe and Merriam the truth about them being werewolves, but why did they not pass it down to the troops yet?
As if reading her mind, Gabe nodded and said, “Just be patient.”
She frowned at him, but then heard Ricky calling her name.
“Huh?”
“You’re up,” Ricky said, and nodded to Destiny. “Let’s see what you’re made of.”
“Oh, I don’t want to hurt anyone,” Katherine said.
Destiny laughed. “Girl, you’re badass, I’ll give you that. But how ‘bout you jump into the pit with me before making assumptions?”