by D. N. Hoxa
He emptied the box of dirt on a white piece of paper.
“Touch it. Feel it,” he instructed. I hesitated for a moment but then pushed my fingers into the damp dirt. It would be caught up under my nails and make a mess out of them.
I felt it as soon as my skin touched it, like I did with water back at the meeting with the Elders. Without hesitation, I closed my eyes and tried to do what I’d done with water. I felt the texture of the dirt, and I focused on it.
“Feel it inside of you, hear it,” Smith said in his scratchy voice. “Your power comes from nature, not magic. You need to become one with it, feel it as a part of your own body. That is the only way you can think of it.”
I nodded, focusing harder, but I didn’t feel a connection strong enough, so I tried again. Aaron was way too deeply rooted in my thoughts, and I knew I had to get him out if I was going to do anything. Harder than it sounded, though.
Freeing all my senses, trying to feel the dirt like it was a part of me, I listened to it. It was a little damp but not uncomfortable. I waited patiently for the feeling that was apparently in me, as I concentrated on nothing more than the soft tingle on my fingers.
I don’t know how much time passed, but very slowly, I started to feel its energy on my fingertips, vibrating on my skin, stronger, more pronounced. It felt like the water, only more concrete, more there. I played with it, pulling and pushing my fingers around it, my mind blank. I was thinking only of the small buzzing it was making and the vibes, stronger now, around my fingers and on my palm.
It was amazing. The dirt was practically a living thing to me in that second.
“Hear it call you…”
Smith’s voice brought me back, breaking the connection. I was ready to bark at him to keep it shut, but I composed myself. He was a lot older than me, and my mother had taught me better.
“I think I know what to do, Master Smith. Thank you for your patience. ” That was the politest thing that came to mind.
He nodded, watching me suspiciously. “Well enough.”
He rested on his chair and took his glasses off. I kept waiting for him to yell, curse or kick me out. My trainers at Lyndor did that all the time. But he didn’t. He fell silent and watched me with his warm, whiskey brown eyes and an unreadable expression.
I closed my eyes again.
20
——————————
The third and last day of training. I was scheduled to leave at one after midnight. Outside, rain was pouring down, announcing a very wet autumn. The woods was dark, and the many big, scary trees around us dripped water from their branches. We were positioned only a couple of minutes’ walk from the entrance of the base. It was safer that way. You never knew who could see, and if anyone could, we’d be far enough that they wouldn’t get the chance to find the entrance. The ground was wet, and there was mud everywhere. I tried not to move my feet too much and destroy my boots. No such luck. The brown mud covered the better part of them.
I was working with the rain, keeping myself and old Smith dry. It was actually easier with rain. The falling water was lighter, purer. After the first night and about five hours of floating dirt around the small office, trying to light candles with my hands and making water balls on my palms, Smith decided to start outside the very next day.
I worked for sixteen hours every day, two hours alone before and after my scheduled training with the old man. I couldn’t make more than a two-foot-deep hole on the ground if my life depended on it. It was driving me crazy.
Fire was the worst. I had some nasty burns on my fingers. It completely ruined my nails. But other than to put my fingers in the fire and not get burned badly, there was nothing else I could do with it.
Water was still the easiest to control. Today, I could even keep it from falling on me after hours of practice. I was still wet to my core, but at least it wasn’t very cold outside.
Smith let me work alone most of the time. He stood there with me but didn’t say much, just watched me, studied me. He believed I was better than he thought I could get in less than three days. I thought it couldn’t get any worst. I didn’t know why I was so sure that I could master controlling the freaking elements in three days. It had looked pretty easy in the beginning. It was anything but.
I didn’t see Aaron around at all. I was glad and disappointed at the same time. I forced myself to concentrate on the glad side. I would leave in a few hours and never see him again. It was for the best. And it wasn’t like I wanted to have anything to do with him. It was just stupid physical attraction.
I focused on the rain, felt it humming the second the drops left the clouds. They were soothing. Calming. My hands in front of me, I tried to will all the drops to change their natural course and drop on a very big tree in front of me, as Smith instructed.
“You have to control it, make it bend, obey your will,” he said, right before he turned and walked away, at least fifteen feet away from me. Something about my energy being able to be tracked through him. I didn’t listen to the details because I didn’t care.
I tried my best, keeping my mind blank at all times, thinking of nothing but the texture of the water, fire and earth. Air was a no-go. I could feel it whispering in my ear, I could almost see, it but never control it. I couldn’t even make it blow. I tried with a tree branch, a small piece of wood and even a leaf. Nothing.
Eventually, Smith gave up on air and concentrated on the ground. He wanted me to pull up a single stair from the ground. So far, I’d only been able to make holes on the ground, not raise it.
“Never mind, you’ll master it when you resume your training,” he said, after the hundredth time I failed.
He still thought that I was coming back. I never argued or corrected him. What good would that do? Call me selfish, but I had enough people throwing daggers at me with their eyes, and Smith was one of the few—well, two, counting Jack—who seemed to have already accepted me. He never mentioned my killings, something everybody tended to think about whenever they saw me. With reason, I knew, but it still felt bad, really bad.
Finally, at about five in the afternoon, he stopped me in the middle of my growing dirt ball.
“That is enough, girl. You leave tonight. Get some food into that thin body of yours, and get some rest. We will continue this after you return,” he called from where he was standing. I just nodded.
“Can you tell me where the training room is?” I asked, running to catch him before he disappeared behind the rock. I’d trained hard on the elements, but I hadn’t had any real action in days.
“First door on the left of the living area,” Smith said. His white robe was covered in dirt all around the edges.
I stood alone for a few more minutes before I walked inside, dripping water and leaving mud prints on the floor as I walked to the kitchen. I wondered who did all the cleaning. And cooking. And laundry. But I didn’t have time for that. Controlling the elements had been so calming, so relaxing, but it drained me. I was eating more than I ever did in my life.
The good thing was that all the stress was out of my system whenever I trained with the elements. They felt a lot closer to me after three days. I liked to treat them like little children, smiling at them, approaching them, feeling them, and then gently making them obey.
I wished I could see them fully developed, like Smith believed they’d be one day. He believed I’d be able to master fire—all the elements actually, with just a thought. I felt a little sorry that I’d never get to do or see that. I wasn’t going to let myself practice anything after I ran away with my family. And just when I found that I wasn’t as magically empty as I’d always felt…
In the kitchen, there were a couple of people who just nodded at me but never said a word. They just eyed my dripping wet clothes. I opened the big fridge and took some ingredients to make a sandwich. I was hungry almost all the time lately, and I wanted to train a little, too, so I needed the strength. The wet clothes would slow me down, but I didn’t have
it in me to go and change. They would dry eventually.
I took some paper towels and wiped the remaining mud off my boots because I was making a mess all over the place. I made the sandwich and ate it on my way to the training area. Those in the living room looked at me in silence while I passed through. I kept my head low, chewing on my sandwich. I didn’t want to provoke any of them, even though I knew no one would attack me physically.
I reached for the first of the three doors, and before I opened it, the sick feeling in my stomach made me dizzy. I stopped and looked over my shoulder. I seriously doubted I would ever get used to that. Good thing I was leaving soon.
I’d been having nightmares every single time I closed my eyes, and I hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in three days. The bags under my eyes were almost completely blue.
“Murderer!” a man called.
Shivers washed over me as the word echoed through the large room. I kept my face expressionless but inside, I felt sick.
“You will burn in hell!” someone else called. “Murderer!” Again.
My fingers started to shake. I needed them to stop, so desperately. I couldn’t handle it. I was afraid I’d break down right there in front of them, and I couldn’t. Not now. Not while my family was in Lyndor. I just really needed them to stop calling me names, but they didn’t. They never would, I realized.
So I did the one thing I knew would shut them up. I turned and faced them, and looked at each of them in the eye, measuring their fear, smiling my most evil smile, which had never been harder to produce. But it worked. No one said another word.
I stayed there for another ten seconds, looking at them and smiling, before I turned on my heels and disappeared behind the iron door. As soon as the door closed, I fell against it. My knees were shaking badly. Tears threatened to spill out, but I squeezed my eyes shut and inhaled deeply. This was not the time to be weak. Not the time to feel guilty. It would be a long time before I would be able to forget those words, but for now, I had no choice. My family needed me.
I walked along the wide hallway, not really seeing where I was going until the scent of leather and sweat filled my nose. I’d missed that. I needed that. Those three days were the longest I’d gone without kicking something in the past four years. As I approached the main room, I heard faint voices. Someone was already in there.
The room was maybe half the size of the main one. The floor was set with bright yellow mats. On the right side, there was a big table with weapons thrown on top of it. Knifes, daggers, swords, even guns. They’d left them there, just like that for anyone to take. The walls were white, the ceiling filled with light bulbs. Of course, it had nothing on Lyndor, but it would have to do.
In the middle of the room, circling one another, were Aaron and Jack. I think my heart skipped a beat at the sight of Aaron. They were both topless. Aaron was wearing blue shorts and was barefoot, and Jack had only his black trousers on. My eyes went to Aaron of their own accord. His eyes were fixed on Jack, his forehead lined with beads of sweat. He’d recently shaved, I could tell. The hairs on his face were barely there. He looked even more of a kick ass like that, like if you saw him walking down the street, you’d be certain he was off to kill someone.
His wide shoulders and long arms were perfectly defined. His hips were narrow, his stomach was ripped, his abs just a little wet and shiny from the sweat. His shorts hung low, lower than necessary and very, very distracting. I could picture my hand sliding down from his neck, to his chest, down to his perfect square abs, and even farther south. I was already hot.
They were circling one another, and his back was turned to me. Freckles! He had the cutest freckles on his shoulders. I wanted to kiss and touch each one of them, right before I shook my head and slapped myself. Mentally.
Just focus on the fighting. So many different emotions in such a short time were making me dizzy.
Aaron had a stronger hit, but Jack was fast, like every other vampire. Aaron left his waist bare on his left side. He moved gracefully, but his feet were too rooted, and he had the ugliest toes I’d ever seen. The second and third toes were bigger than the first. They were just perfect.
I watched them until I decided it was time to stop torturing myself with thoughts that would remain just that—thoughts—and I stepped inside.
“Hi.” I offered a smile and a wave. Before I could blink, Jack was in front of me to give me a bear hug.
“I thought old Smith killed and buried you under all those books in his office,” he teased.
He wasn’t too far off. Smith was a hundred and fifteen years old and a shifter. He used to turn into a bear, no less.
“It takes more than a hundred-year-old shifter to knock me down, Jackie.”
Jack hated when I called him that. More fun for me. I grinned, and he just shook his head.
Aaron didn’t approach me. He just waved his hand weakly.
“Are you…wet?” Jack said, looking down at my soaked clothes, but I wasn’t in the mood for those kinds of jokes, not after the thoughts I’d just had.
“Raining outside. Sorry to interrupt. Thought I’d come in and exercise. It’s been three days.”
“Oh, you’re not interrupting. In fact, Aaron was just leaving,” Jack said, grinning.
“No, I wasn’t,” Aaron replied, shaking his head.
“Sure you were,” Jack said, walking backwards to him, never leaving my eyes.
“You don’t have to leave because of me. In fact, maybe we can help each other,” I said, walking to the middle of the room.
“Of course. I’ll be your opponent, and Aaron can watch,” Jack continued to tease.
“Or we could continue where we left off, in the middle of my kicking your ass,” Aaron said dryly. He wasn’t even smiling.
“How about you two against me?” I said with a shrug.
Jack broke into a laugh. Aaron didn’t.
“Are you serious?” the vampire asked.
“Sure. Why not?” I said, smiling my seductive smile. That’s all it took to convince Jack. He immediately nodded.
“Okay, then. Sure thing.”
Aaron finally met my eyes. I kept my smile on. He studied me, his expression unreadable. Finally, he nodded, too, though he didn’t seem too happy about it, and they both took their positions in front of me.
“You might wanna take your Calvin Kleins off. It tends to get slippery in here,” Jack said, eyeing my boots. He was enjoying this, obviously.
I smiled. “Tall, dark and has a sense of style,” I teased back. “I’ll keep them for now.” I positioned myself. “Don’t hold back, boys.” It was no joke but Jack still laughed.
And it started.
Jack tried to kick me in the waist, but I stopped his leg midair with my elbow and dodged the fist coming from Aaron. My adrenaline kicked in immediately, and my cold mind was calculating again, putting every one of their moves in slow motion in front of me. See? I wasn’t broken. I still worked. It was just Aaron that fucked me up in the head for a little while, but now I was back.
Aaron tried to kick me with his leg, but I hit him in the knee first and blocked Jack’s fist aiming for my jaw. Dodging down, I took Aaron’s legs from under him, and he fell on his back.
Things heated up after that. Jack started to take me more seriously and was moving like lightning with his incredible vampire speed, and Aaron’s kicks never stopped, each one faster and harder than the last. I was having so much fun!
We fought for another half an hour, kicking, hitting and dodging, two men against one woman, and it still wasn’t fair. I was kicking their asses, a wide grin on my face the whole time.
Jack tried to kick me, and I grabbed his ankle tightly, pushing him until his back was pressed against the wall. I turned fast to Aaron, but he blocked my fists and tried to come around with a kick on the side of my waist. I blocked it just when Jack recovered and stepped behind me.
I pushed the tip of my foot in Aaron’s stomach, waited for less than half a second un
til Jack was beside my right shoulder. I swung my arm hard until I heard my elbow connect with Jack’s chest, and he dropped on the floor on his back. I took advantage of Aaron doubling over from my kick and took him by his throat, pushed him up and brought him down on his back, right in front of me.
Silence.
I was still on one knee in case I needed to get up fast. Jack’s legs were to my right. My left hand was still around Aaron’s throat, pinning him to the ground. He watched me, pissed and annoyed, and I held his gaze. Such lovely eyes. His torn lip had mostly healed. I wanted nothing more than to close the short distance between us and feel his lips against mine.
Then Jack spoke. “Man, I could do this all day and just for the view,” he said.
I let go of Aaron and turned to find Jack with his eyes pinned on my ass. I smiled and shook my head as I walked away.
“What? It’s a nice ass!” he tried to reason, and this time got an elbow in his ribs from Aaron.
Why, thank you very much, I said to him in my mind. A compliment was always appreciated. But I doubted Aaron would appreciate it if I said that out loud. I don’t know why that stopped me, but it did.
“Again?” I asked, looking at Aaron.
Didn’t mean to be rude, but I liked to fill my nose with that tangerine smell mixed with a light scent of sweat. And I got to touch him when I hit him which was a much appreciated bonus. He nodded, not amused.
“I’ll just sit back right here,” Jack said, as excited as a little kid, making himself comfortable on the yellow mats.
Aaron was in front of me again, his eyes never leaving mine. He took his position. We circled one another for a while, analyzing.
“Move your feet more.” I said, “Your hits are strong, but you need speed and distraction. Moving around more will distract your opponent even if it is only for a little bit. It will give you a much needed advantage.”