Warrior

by Karen Lynch

  Remembering my talk with Tristan, I schooled my expression before she could see the effect she had on me. I turned my gaze to Chris, who gave me a knowing smile.

  “I’ll leave so you guys can take care of business,” Sara said quietly, a note of discomfort in her voice that could only have been caused by my arrival.

  Damn it, I had upset her this morning. Or someone had mentioned it to her. Only yesterday, I’d told Tristan I could train her and be around her without revealing my true feelings, and I’d already caused her distress.

  Tristan shook his head when she moved to stand. “No, this concerns you. Nikolas has been investigating the kark attack.”

  He looked at me expectantly. “I assume you have something for us.”

  I sat on the couch, very aware of the girl sitting three feet away, and the fact that she averted her eyes when I looked at her.

  “We examined Sara’s shirt. The karks destroyed one side of it, so we focused on the scraps of fabric left there and found traces of what looks like scarab pheromone. The only way Sara could have gotten it on her clothes is if someone put it there.”

  “I cannot believe anyone inside these walls would try to hurt one of our own,” Tristan said, no longer smiling.

  I met his skeptical stare. “I find it hard to believe as well, but the evidence speaks for itself. Sahir said he found it odd there was no pheromone spray in the crates with the shipment of eggs. It’s likely someone took it out before he searched them.”

  Chris leaned forward. “Why would anyone here target Sara?” He looked at her. “Your beasties didn’t snack on someone, did they?”

  “Ha, ha.” She grew serious. “It’s not like I don’t have enemies out there.”

  “Out there, yes, but not in here,” Tristan replied confidently. “And we’ve found nothing to indicate the vampires believe you are still alive. Even if they did, there is no way a Mohiri would betray one of their own people for a vampire.”

  The idea of someone here betraying Sara to our enemies seemed unthinkable. But God help anyone who caused her harm, Mohiri or otherwise.

  “I agree,” I said, looking at Sara. “There must be another motive.”

  Chris pursed his lips. “Trainees have been known to prank each other. They were brutal back in my day. Perhaps one of them did this as a practical joke and it got out of hand.”

  “I don’t know any of them that well, but they’ve all been nice to me,” Sara said, looking genuinely confused. “I really can’t see one of them doing something that would hurt me.”

  “Jordan? Nice?” Chris gave her a disbelieving smile.

  She shrugged. “She has her moments. I like her actually. I took her to meet Hugo and Woolf today, and they didn’t go all growly on her so she must be okay.”

  I nodded in approval. “Jordan will make a great warrior one day. You could learn a lot from her.”

  If I could have picked a friend for Sara, it would have been the blonde trainee, but not just because she was a skilled fighter. Sara didn’t open up to people easily, but she’d looked happy the few times I’d seen her with the other girl.

  “She is already teaching me a lot,” Sara said. She stood and looked at Tristan. “I should get going. I need to call Nate because I forgot to ask him yesterday if he’s still coming for Thanksgiving.”

  Tristan chuckled. “I doubt you could keep him away. I’ve already arranged for the plane to pick him up in Portland in two weeks.”

  Her eyes sparkled. “I can’t wait for you guys to meet each other.”

  They walked to the door. Chris and I followed.

  “I’m looking forward to it, too,” Tristan told her. “He sounds like a nice person on the phone.”

  Sara stopped walking. “You talked to Nate?”

  “We speak at least once a week. You didn’t know?”

  She wore a small frown. “No. What do you talk about? You don’t even know each other.”

  Tristan darted a look at me before he answered her.

  “We are getting to know each other. He wants to make sure you are happy here; he knows how much you miss your friends back home. The last time we spoke he wanted to know if you’d started dating anyone yet. Apparently, the boys back home were not to your liking.”

  I almost growled at Tristan. Why was he talking to her about dating other males when he knew she was bonded to me?

  A flush crept into Sara’s cheeks. “Excuse me while I go kill my uncle.”

  Grinning, Tristan opened the door for her. “I will see you tomorrow.”

  Sara turned to Chris and me. “Good night.”

  “I’ll walk with you so we can talk about tomorrow’s training,” I said, although training was the last thing on my mind. I wanted some time alone with her to get back to where we were this morning before the kark incident.

  Tristan raised a hand to stop me from following her. “Actually, I need to speak with you, Nikolas, if you don’t mind.”

  I would have glared at him if Sara hadn’t been looking at me. Instead, I just nodded.

  “I will walk my sweet little cousin out.” Chris pulled on her hair playfully, and she smacked his hand. He chuckled. “Just trying to make up for all the years I missed out on.”

  She gave him a warning smile. “Before you get any ideas, Dimples, I should remind you my best friends are boys and I know many forms of retaliation. I even picked up a few tricks from Remy.”

  He winked. “I’ve learned to never underestimate a girl with troll friends.”

  Sara rolled her eyes and looked at Tristan and me. “I’ll see you later.”

  “Tomorrow,” I replied.

  Tristan shut the door, and I rounded on him right away. “What was that about?”

  He walked back to the living room, unfazed by my outburst. “I needed to talk to you.”

  “Why are you and Nate discussing Sara’s relationships?” I followed him and sat across from him. “You said you wouldn’t interfere.”

  Tristan sighed. “I was only relating to her what we talked about. And Nate actually mentioned you specifically when he asked if she was spending time with anyone. He suspects there is something between you.”

  I relaxed. “I spent time with Nate when Sara was missing. He’s a smart man, and I’m not surprised he picked up on my feelings for her.”

  “He speaks fondly of you. I think he is just concerned about Sara getting involved in a serious relationship. To you, she is a young woman, but to Nate, she is still his little girl.”

  “And she is your granddaughter. I understand you are both protective of her, but she is my mate. Nate doesn’t know what that means, but you do.”

  “I do,” he replied wistfully. “But Sara is still so young.”

  “She is almost eighteen, two years younger than Josephine was when you bonded with her.”

  “Yes, but Josephine was raised a Mohiri, and she knew about bonding and mating before she met me.”

  I kept my anger in check. “What are you saying? We’ve already agreed that I would hold off on telling her about us. Are you asking me to stay away from her?”

  “No. You need her, and she needs you even if she doesn’t understand why.”

  “But.”

  “No buts. I promised I wouldn’t come between you, and I won’t. I know how much you care for Sara, and I trust you to do what’s best for her.”

  “Is this why you asked to talk to me?”

  “I actually wanted to ask how Sara’s first training session went this morning.”

  I smiled. “Very good. We talked for a while, and then she spent some time getting to know her Mori.”

  His brow arched. “Getting to know it?”

  “I know how it sounds, but Sara thinks of her Mori as a separate part of her. She’s only connected with it once before, and the experience terrified her because the demon tried to dominate her. That’s why she can’t tap into her Mori’s power. We are starting slow, getting her past her fear before we move on to traditional training
.”

  I didn’t go into the details of our session. Sara had shared personal things with me today. I’d asked her to trust me, and I would not betray that trust.

  Tristan nodded, pleased. “It sounds like you’ve made a lot of progress already.”

  “I think so.”

  He ran a hand through his hair. “Crazy day. Remember when it used to be so quiet here?”

  A laugh burst from me. “I hear it’s a lot quieter in Maine these days.”

  “You weren’t kidding when you said trouble knows how to find Sara.”

  “I’m pretty sure I said she knows how to find trouble. I just didn’t expect it to happen here.”

  Tristan sobered. “Do you honestly believe one of our own would try to harm her?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Has anyone here shown animosity toward her?”

  “Not that I’ve seen.”

  I’d spent the afternoon scrutinizing the possible motives of anyone who’d been close enough to put the scarab pheromone on Sara’s clothes. Celine desired me, and it was possible she was jealous of the time I spent with Sara, but physically attacking someone wasn’t Celine’s way. She’d consider it beneath her.

  “From what I’ve seen, Sara interacts mainly with the other trainees, and they all seem to like her.” For a moment Tristan stared out the window thoughtfully, and I wondered what he was thinking. “I just can’t see anyone here wanting to hurt her. Maybe Chris is right, and it was a prank.”

  “Maybe.”

  If he was right, I hoped the prankster had learned a lesson about pulling such a dangerous stunt. If they hadn’t, they’d have to deal with me.

  And I wasn’t laughing.

  Chapter 19

  “So, are we done training for now?”

  I sat on one of the arena seats and motioned for Sara to sit beside me. “We’ll take a short break, and then I want to try something new.”

  She’d spent the last hour working with her Mori, and I was pleased to see her progressing so quickly. Yesterday, she’d been afraid of her demon, and today she had allowed it to connect with her for a short while, even tapping into its strength to help her lift heavy weights. She still had a long way to go, and merging with her demon was hard on her, though she pushed through it.

  She joined me on the seats, and I was glad to see she was comfortable with me again. We sat in companionable silence for a few minutes before she spoke.

  “Can I ask you something? You know all about my life, but you never talk about yours. What was it like where you grew up? Where is your family now?”

  Her sudden interest in my background filled me with pleasure. “I grew up in a military stronghold just outside Saint Petersburg. Miroslav Fortress is nothing like Westhorne. It’s surrounded by high stone walls and run more like a military base, although there were a number of families like mine there. My parents were advisors to the Council and very involved in planning military operations, so it was necessary for us to live there instead of in one of the family compounds.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “It doesn’t sound like a fun place to live.”

  I understood her reaction, knowing how much she loved her freedom and being outside. She found Westhorne, with its wide-open space and miles of forest, restrictive.

  “It was actually a very good life, and we had a lot more luxuries and conveniences than most people had at the time. Back then, even the wealthy didn’t have running water, indoor plumbing, or indoor gas lighting, just to name a few.

  “My parents were busy and travelled a lot, but they were very loving, and one of them always stayed home while the other travelled. They pushed me hard in my training and schoolwork, but I knew they were preparing me for the dangers I would face when I became a warrior.”

  “So, you’re an only child?”

  “Yes.”

  She gave me a little grin. “Well, that explains a lot.”

  I couldn’t hold a scowl. I loved seeing this side of her.

  “Did you have many friends? What did you do for fun?” she asked.

  “I had a few good friends over the years. Most families moved when the parents were transferred to other strongholds and others moved in. I don’t think I was ever lonely.”

  I smiled as I thought back to those days. “I liked to watch the warriors train, and I spent a lot of time hanging around the training grounds. They all taught me how to fight and use weapons. By the time I started formal training, I was so advanced they had to place me with the senior trainees.”

  “I bet your parents were very proud of you.”

  “They were; they still are.”

  She toyed with her ponytail, making me remember how her hair had framed her face last night when she’d worn it loose. My hands itched to reach over and free it from its binds, to run my fingers through the silky waves.

  It took me a moment to realize she had asked me a question, something about why my family had left Russia.

  “My sire was asked to assume leadership of a key military compound outside London when its leader was killed in a raid. We lived there for eight years before my parents were asked to help establish several new strongholds in North America. By then, I was a full warrior and I found the wildness of this continent appealing, so I tagged along.”

  “Where are your parents now?”

  “They went back to Russia about fifty years ago. My sire is the leader of Miroslav Fortress now. My mother was offered leadership of another stronghold, but she did not want to be separated from him. I see them at least once a year.”

  She looked around the room then back at me. “So, um, what do you do for fun besides killing vampires and bossing people around?”

  I studied her, wondering what had brought on this new curiosity about me. Not that I was complaining.

  “Come on, you have to do something for fun,” she pressed. “Do you read? Watch TV? Knit?”

  “I read sometimes.”

  A fire lit in her eyes. “Me too. What do you like to read?”

  “Anything by Hemmingway. Some Vonnegut, Scott.”

  “My dad’s favorite Hemmingway book was The Old Man and the Sea,” she replied with a nostalgic smile. “What else do you like to do? For some reason I can’t see you sitting around watching TV.”

  “Why not?” She was right, but I was curious about her impression of me.

  She gave me an appraising look. “You could never sit back and watch the action. Plus, your sword would probably get snagged in the couch.”

  I chuckled. “I don’t watch television or movies. I enjoy music, but not the music that is popular today. Dylan, the Who, the Stones – those are more my style.”

  “The sixties, huh?” she said, surprising me. Her eyes widened, and she smirked. “If you tell me you went to Woodstock, I may have to rethink this badass warrior thing you have going on.”

  I laughed at her description of me. “Actually, I was at Woodstock, along with Chris and about two dozen other warriors. Half the people there were either stoned or drunk, making it the ideal feeding ground for vampires and a few other demons. We were too busy to enjoy the music.”

  Her eyes gleamed with amusement. “I can’t imagine you and Chris dressed in sixties clothes, especially what they wore at Woodstock.”

  “They had leather jackets and jeans in the sixties. Although, Chris joked about becoming a hippie after that week.”

  She huffed softly. “By the way, why didn’t you tell me Chris was my cousin? What if I’d started crushing on him like every other girl back home?”

  The thought of her being attracted to any other male sent a ripple of jealousy through me, but I quashed it. I wasn’t going to let irrational emotions ruin this time with her.

  “You were spooked when you learned what you were, and I thought it was too soon to introduce you to your Mohiri family. If it makes you feel better, Chris didn’t know at first either.”

  “Just promise, no more keeping things from me.”

  “Ask me anything
and I’ll give you an honest answer.”

  My Mori shifted, filling me with longing. It wanted me to tell her the truth about the bond so we could be with our mate. But the demon acted on instinct, and it didn’t understand why I waited.

  She didn’t say anything, and I knew it was time to get back to training. If the lamprey and kark attacks had taught me anything, it was that Sara needed to learn to defend herself. She had a long way to go before she reached the other trainees’ level, but she had one weapon they didn’t have. She only had to learn to wield it.

  “You ready to try something different?”

  She leaned forward eagerly. “Like what?”

  I turned in my seat to face her. “I’ve been thinking about what you told me yesterday about your power getting stronger. You were worried it might hurt your demon or another Mohiri, but I don’t think it will, at least not intentionally. The bazerats and lamprey demons were in their true form, which made them more vulnerable to your power.”

  I took her hand. “Our demons live inside us and are shielded by our bodies. I think that, and the fact that you also have a Mori inside you, is why your power is not flaring up right now.”

  She eased out of my grasp, looking slightly flustered. I wondered if it was my touch or my words that affected her.

  “Was that what you wanted to try?” she asked.

  I hid a smile. “Not quite. We know your power doesn’t react instinctively to me, but I want to find out if you can use it against me consciously.”

  “What?” She leapt up and backed away, her eyes wide with horror. “Are you crazy? I could kill you.”

  “You won’t,” I reassured her.

  “You don’t know that!” She paled and shook her head. “You didn’t see what I did to that demon in Boise. If you had, you wouldn’t even suggest this.”

  I stood slowly. “I saw the pictures our guys took before they cleaned it up.”

  Her voice shook. “Then why the hell would you ask me to try to do that to you?”

  “I’m not asking you to do that.”

  She took another step back, ready to bolt.