What I’m not expecting is the hand that’s holding his head under water is big, clawed, and belongs to none other than Gabe. Gabe, the hunk from the office that tried to kill me only a few short days ago. His eyes are no longer green, they are all black and staring straight up at me like he’s tempting me to do something about it. He lifts Nate’s head back up as he tries to catch his breath while gulping down chunks of water. Nate’s arms are flailing around trying to grab onto something to defend himself, no to avail. “Sera!” he sputters out before Gabe shoves his head back down into the water. This time I know he’s not going to let him back up for air. He will kill him. There is no time, no thinking, Nate needs me. I extend my arms out like a bird’s wings, somewhere inside me I feel like I can fly. I dive off the cliff to help Nate. I open my eyes to see, it’s working! I have wings, big white glorious wings and… I’m flying! I think excitedly as my eyes lock on Gabe’s dark ones only instead of the fear I expect to see, he laughs at me. A strange, haunting laugh like he wanted this to happen.
I land on the ground hard before my eyes fly open. Nate is on top of me screaming words my mind can’t quite make out yet. I glance around in shock, I’m outside in the grass by the cliff. Stars are sparkling above me and in a stupor of confusion my mind is trying to make out what Nate is yelling.
“Sera! What were you doing? Tell me what was that?” his hands are shaking in anger.
“What?” I don’t seem to understand, “What happened?” I ask shaking my head as I begin to sit up.
“What do you mean? You were about to jump off the cliff!” he yells putting his hands on his head and paces back and forth in front of me.
“But, I was dreaming…” I try putting my thoughts together.
“Sera, I heard you walking past my office so I followed you out here and you were about to jump! I dived at you at the last minute and caught you just in time!” He states angrily waiting for an explanation.
I’m so confused. “I was dreaming you were in the river and I needed to save you, I was flying down to save you…it was a dream, at least I thought it was…” I rub my forehead.
Processing what I had just said with his silent angry face he finally softens and states, “Let’s get you back to bed,” before picking me up and carrying me back inside the house. By the time he’s climbing the stairs, I find myself nodding back off to sleep in his arms. I can feel him tucking me in and his footsteps trace back to the door. Suddenly I’m wide-awake, frightened that I could sleep walk again.
“Wait, Nate!” I softly yell.
“Yes?” he responds over his shoulder pausing in the doorway.
“Please don’t leave. I’m scared to go to sleep.” I admit quietly. He doesn’t have to respond I know he will stay. He probably wanted to anyway knowing his overprotective self. He walks back to the other side of the room, grabs the green chair from the corner, and pulls it up beside my bed. Leaning back he puts his feet up on the edge of the bed, I can’t tell if he’s sleeping or not but I feel better knowing that he’s there.
I roll over facing away from him as I try to close my eyes. Instead of drifting to sleep again, I find my mind wandering to how I could have walked all that way unconscious, what would have happened if I had jumped? How could this happen? Is this another gift? Or is it a curse? Unable to sleep, I roll back to face Nate. The moon is shining in through my window falling on Nate’s face. His eyes are closed and he looks so peaceful, but I know he’s not going to get any sleep tonight. I find myself wondering what I would do without him. Finally, unconsciousness finds me as I’m falling asleep wondering how I won the Angel lottery.
Chapter 8: Lions, Tigers & Bears…Oh My
“Sera!” I hear vaguely whispered against my lips as I continue to kiss Nate. “SERA!”
I blink, the urgency in his voice woke me out of my trance. My eyes widen and I gasp when I see what I’ve woken up to. I’m straddling Nate on the green chair beside my bed, my clothes are covered in soot, and in my hand is the poker from the fireplace ready to strike Nate in the neck. I jump off him and stare at the metal poker in my hand before I drop it like it was scalding me. I stare over at Nate with my dirty hand prints all over him returning my glare of complete and utter shock, what had I done? What would have happened if he didn’t wake me up?
“Sera? Are you okay?” he whispers, “were you asleep for all of that?”
“All of what?” I respond confirming his fears.
“You woke me up telling me you couldn’t sleep and began to kiss me. We were kissing for a quite while when I saw you raise that!” he states pointing to the instrument on the floor.
I stare down at my hands, covered in dirt. What was I doing? Why can’t I remember?
“I don’t remember a thing,” I finally admit looking up to him desperately trying to search my mind for answers.
“It’s okay Sera,” he tells me with his hands out like he means me no harm. I let him come to me slowly and wrap his arms around me my eyes still wide against his chest. What the hell is going on with me?!
I’ve changed my clothes and washed the dirt from my nails by the time we eat breakfast. Nate has cleaned up too and never mentions what happened and I’m more than happy to pretend like it never did. I know that we will eventually have to talk about it, but until then I’m more than happy to leave it safe under the depths of my unconsciousness where it belongs. We head out to the porch again to go on my daily run. Instead of pausing like last time, as soon as I feel the cool breeze on my face and the fresh air in my nose, I jump off the porch and into the forest. Besides kissing Nate, this has to be my favorite part of the day. Nate is right, with every passing day I feel like I’m becoming more and more in tune with the ‘New-Me’, so to speak. I no longer cringe at the slightest sound, I’ve adapted to the sights, smells, and sounds all around me. But no matter how advanced I become the smell of the outdoors, the sun on my face, the wind in my hair, and the sound of my crunching footsteps as I push myself to my limits will never get old. When I finally come to the realization that Nate isn’t behind me, I stop beside an oak tree and close my eyes. He’s nearby. I can feel him! I’m walking towards where I sense him, it’s like I can see with my eyes closed. I feel the smile cross my lips as I mentally compare it to something in between sonar and night vision goggles. My mind can sense the life around me, so I dodge the trees as my feet trace their way to where I can feel Nate. When I finally open my eyes, I see him leaning up against a tree with his arms crossed.
“What took you so long?” he asks and I know Training Day Two has commenced. I let out a scoff before he taps my shoulder and states, “You’re It!” before disappears in a blur dashing into the dense forest.
I roll my eyes before closing them, following him a little faster this time; I catch him within a few seconds. He dashes away again as soon as I catch up to him. Breaking into a run after him making my way around trees and bushes until I come face to face with something I’m not expecting. My eyes fly open when my mind can’t comprehend what I sense. My eyes meet the red ones of a large black bear standing directly in front of me with drool dripping down from his large jowls. I freeze, afraid to even breathe, he’s on all fours and this animal is still twice the size of me. I slowly look around, Nate is nowhere to be found. My eyes meet the large red eyes of the gigantic creature again and he lets out a growl that blows my hair back and shakes the very ground I’m standing on. I reflexively take a step back and I find myself against the trunk of tree. I’m thinking maybe I can climb out of his reach, but then the memory of an episode of National Geographic comes to mind in which I saw a bear climb a tree to get to her cubs. I look up as the thought crosses my mind and my eyes meet the brown eyes of a tiny squirrel peeking their head out of their hole. The squirrel looks from me to the bear and I think he puffed out his chest a little bit. I watch him sizing up the bear about to make a dive for him. Something in his eyes is calling me into action. It’s telling me I can’t shy away from this. I am not weak anymore. I
can defend myself! Not understanding where my confidence comes from, I push myself off the tree and walk right up to the bear. I can tell he didn’t expect this when he stops to look at me for a few seconds before growling again a tad quieter this time. This time I yell back as loud as I humanly can. It’s the bear’s turn to take a step back this time. Realizing I’m not going to back down he crouches in a stance that tells me he’s going to attack. Instead of running like my mind is telling me to do, my body is bracing itself into a defensive stance. I find myself wishing I had some kind of a weapon besides my bare hands. The bear takes another step back before he begins to run at me. I crouch lower, preparing for the impact, when my eyes catch sight on a glimmer of something in the grass next to me. I reach down and grab it, turning it around in my hand I notice it’s the jewel-encrusted dagger I saw in the basement yesterday. I grip it in my right hand as the bear is leaping at me, I slide under him, jab up and stab him where his heart should be. He lets out a horrible sound as he transforms into flakes of black ash that fall like an evil snowfall, all over the ground and me.
“Sera!” My head whips around to see Nate staring at me covered in black ash. Glancing down I can see the dagger in my hands has disappeared as well and I look like I’m playing in the dirt for the second time today.
“I… there was a…” I try and explain.
“I saw,” his voice is firm and combined with a face that tells me this is the last time I’m going to see fresh air.
Climbing to my feet and looking down at my white shirt and green cargo pants that are now covered in soot, “Nate…” I whisper in unbelief.
“It’s okay, let’s go home,” he tells me and we both simultaneously break into a run towards the house. I don’t try and out run him. I restrict myself so we can run side by side. I’m a little nervous, I notice, as my eyes are scanning every tree and bush we pass for another attack. We don’t say a word until we climb the steps of the house and close the front door behind us.
Chapter 9: The Art of Weaponry
He clicks the lock on the door behind us before turning to me, “Did you see where it came from?”
“No, I was looking for you and I ran right into it!” I tell his serious glare.
“It just appeared?” He asks out loud, but I can tell he was talking to himself.
“The dagger!” I scream before whipping around grab open the basement door and dash down the stairs two at a time. Jumping over the banister as I reach the last few steps my eyes are scanning the weapons display to find that the dagger is still in its spot on the wall. I reach out to touch it just to make sure.
“You created the dagger in the forest, it wasn’t this one,” Nate informs me as he follows me down the steps.
“What do you mean?” I turn to ask him as he reaches the basement floor.
“Remember what I told you about ‘conjuring,’ you can create things with your mind.”
“Really?” I mutter in disbelief, “I was able to do that without training?” I don’t seem to believe it, didn’t he say it takes a lot of energy and concentration? How was I able to just do it in a time of need?
“Don’t worry, I’ll teach you how to control it, but first…” Drifting off as he grabs a small knife off the wall and with one arm throws it across the room to land in the middle circle of a round target. Turning around I notice the basement has transformed yet again, to some strange shooting range. The ground is hard cement under my feet and across from me are random targets some round, while others are in the shape of a human shadow. There are lines scratched into the floor.
“Weapons?” I ask with an eyebrow raised.
“You seem to need some help,” he teases as he hands me a dagger.
“Hey! It worked didn’t it!” I try and defend myself. I think I did pretty darn good for my first time handling a weapon other than stilettos.
“I want you to be able to whip these things around like it’s second nature.” Telling me as he twirls a knife in between his graceful fingers.
I roll my eyes as I pull my arm back and release the dagger towards the same spot that he hit. Unfortunately, I didn’t put as much power behind it as he had and it falls to the floor just short of the target. I look over at Nate who is giving me an ‘I-told-you-so’ face, “Not a word!” pointing my finger at him in a flirtacious warning.
He laughs it off, before walking me over to a line painted on the floor. He comes up on the side of me, places the dagger in the palm of my hand, and wraps my fingers around it. “Extend your arm,” he tells me as he lifts my arm up to point towards the target. “Aim!” I close one eye to see the tip of the knife line up with the red of the middle of the target. “Then flick it with all the power behind your wrist,” he whispers in my ear before my eyes glance over to meet his and he takes a step backward. I take a deep breath to get his sexy serious face out of my mind before I focus once more on the target. Aim and Flick, I think to myself, Simple, you can’t screw this up come on. I line it up again with one eye closed, before I inhale deeply and I extend my elbow back and flick it towards the target on the exhale. I watch in slow motion as the dagger flips around and around in the air before hitting the target one circle away from the middle. I look over at Nate, but he is already at the wall getting me another one. Handing it to me, I nod and try again. I extend, aim, and release on the exhale again and it lands right next to the one Nate threw. I turn in triumph when I notice it’s within the inner circle of the target, but instead of recognition I get another dagger and he points to another target. This target is in the outline of a human. I sigh, before I begin all over again. I aim for his head, extending my arm I aim and flick. I hit the target directly in the middle of the head, before reaching out my hand for another weapon. I feel him hand me one and this time I try and hit the heart. Extend, aim, and flick. The knife lands in the middle of the chest on the target. Nate nudges me to move to the next target, so I take a step to my left, this target is a little farther away, but I accept the challenge. I grab another knife from Nate’s hands and I find I don’t need to take as much time aiming, I extend and whip it at the target and it’s a direct hit to the targets head. I hear a noise come from Nate’s throat like he wants to say something but doesn’t. He just hands me another dagger and I do the same thing I extend, flick and it hits the heart. I reach for another knife right from Nate’s hands when his eyes meet mine and I can tell that I’ve sparked a little bit of pride in him. Without breaking his gaze, I extend my arm and flick it at the target without looking. He smiles at me as I grab the last knife from his hands and flick it yet again without breaking our gaze and I hear it lodge itself into the target. His eyes break away first to look at my handiwork and I watch as he takes in the perfect cross I’ve created with the four handles sticking out of the human shaped target. A smile crosses my face in triumph when I finally turn to see the handles sticking out.
“Throwing knives- Check!” he pretends to check off an invisible list with a smirk before walking to the wall and grabbing two daggers that look something like an Egyptian artifact. He hands them both to me before grabbing himself a pair. Grasping my fingers around them I can tell they are made of solid gold, they have three throngs like a trident, but they are short handled and the throngs themselves are short. I run my finger along one of the prongs and without noticing I cut myself. My finger heals over in seconds, but I realize these weapons are no joke. I look up to find Nate is waiting for me in the middle of the room. I’m walking up when he takes a defensive stance, I do the same before he takes a step to his left and I mirror him by taking a step to my right. We are sizing each other up as we defensively dance around in a circle waiting for the other to make the first move. Is he taunting me? He did tell me not to be on the offensive... This could be a test… I process all my options before I resolve to wait for him to make the first move. When he finally does I think I see a wink in his eyes. It was definitely a test. He comes at me and twirls in the air with such grace as he comes down upon me with one of
the daggers aimed at my head. I don’t know where the reflexes come from, but instead of crouching, I meet his dagger with my own and they lock right above my face before I push him off of me. He turns into a kick aimed at my head, but I duck around it before aiming my own dagger towards his chest and our knives lock again before I twist out of them and twirl around to elbow him in the chest. He bends over in pain for a second before spinning around to meet my dagger again and twists me around like a ballerina before pushing me against the wall. I kick off the wall and come at him again I’m twirling and meeting his advances with such grace it’s as if I was a weapons expert my entire life. If I had to describe it, it’s as if defense is in my genes. Now I understand what he meant when he said stick with defense, because it’s like a reflex to me. Our daggers lock again and he smiles at me as he breathlessly states, “You’re catching on fast,” and I jab my knee into his gut before tripping him with my foot. As his back hits the floor, my three prongs are at his throat.
“Maybe, too fast!” He laughs against the knife at his throat. I pull it back and extend my hand out to help him up, he grips it hard and I lift him up. “I think you’ve got this down, you hungry?” He asks me as he walks over to the targets and begins dislodging knives from the boards I’ve punctured.
Seraphina: Initiation Page 5