by A. M. Hudson
“What else would it be for?”
“Not sure.” He rubbed his brow. “I need to think.”
“Okay.” I took a step back. “Shall I come back later?”
“No. I’ll come see you at training. Tell Blade I’ll be there: he can get the others to back off.”
“Okay.” I looked at the door then back at Jase. “So this is what the crazy scientist part of you looks like?”
He stopped writing and slowly looked up, turning his gaze on me a second later. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” I held both hands up. “Go ahead and theorise. If you can figure out how to make me melt stone again, that’d—”
“I’m more worried about your headaches, right now, sweet girl,” he said, and turned away to scribble things down. “If you wanna melt stone again, just go sit on the beach with one in your hand, Ara, and think back to how you felt the other day. Reliving the same emotions should give you the ability to recreate the scenario. Just—” He stopped and held up his arm, sporting a smart grin. “Do it alone.”
I laughed. “Okay. Maybe I’ll go out there after training today, if I have time.”
“Okay.” He went back to his pages. “And, Ara?”
“Mm?” I stopped by the open door.
“Don’t forget this.”
“Oh.” I skipped over and took the translated spell from him. “Thanks.”
“Any time,” he said, without even looking up.
The training hall was empty, except for the lone knight in the corner, taking out what looked like a year’s worth of fury on the punching bag. His arms were tight, the muscles lean and long, covered in a thin layer of perspiration, which I gathered wasn’t so much from the punching but from the restraint he was using not to break that bag.
“Mike?”
He looked up and wiped his wrist over his chin, then hit the bag again. “You’re early.”
“I know. I uh—” I looked out the windows to see if anyone else was coming. “I wanted to talk to you.”
“What about?”
I stopped with both hands on the weighted bag to steady it. “You okay, Mike?”
“Yeah.” He gave it another hit, the sheer force absorbed by my buckling knees. “Just girl troubles.”
“Girl troubles?”
There was something odd about the way he looked at me then, as if maybe he thought I already knew—or should know. “What’d you want, Ara?”
“Um.” I wiped my hands on my jeans. “Do you remember the night I fell off the lighthouse?”
He frowned at me, then turned to the bench behind him and grabbed a towel, disappearing under it for a second. “Why?”
“If I tell you something, will you promise not to investigate further until I say so?”
His scruffy hair stuck up from out of the towel first, followed by his wide caramel eyes. “I make no guarantees.”
“I thought you’d say that.” I spun on my heel and headed for the door.
“Wait,” he called, grabbing my arm. “Just . . . what do you know, Ara? If it’s something that puts you in danger, I can’t—”
“It doesn’t. But I’ve heard from two people so far that if I know the full story, it could lead to some problems between David and I.”
“See? Now, that’s concern enough right there.” He flopped the towel over his shoulder.
“I know. But you either agree to my terms, or I walk.”
He repositioned the towel. “What terms?”
“Promise me you won’t rough up my source.”
He rocked back on his heels, his lip curling in disgust. “Your source is Jason, isn’t it?”
I nodded. I could see Mike was in a tough spot here. He knew I wouldn’t come to him unless the information I had was good, but he also knew I wouldn’t share one shred of it if I thought Jason might get hurt.
“Fine,” he rescinded. “I won’t torture the little shit for information. Now, what d’you wanna tell me?”
“You hit me.”
His brow folded, but then he laughed.
“Seriously, Mike. You hit me because you thought I slept with Arthur.”
“What?” he coughed. “Ara, that’s . . . I’d remember thinking something like that.”
“Precisely.” I smirked.
His arms fell heavily to his sides. “Nob-head erased it.”
“Jason, yes.”
“And that’s why I don’t remember coming down here the night you fell.” He looked over to the weapons shelf where the cuffs sat—all lined up like shining reminders. “So, what, you were down here, and I. . .?”
“You could smell Arthur had been here, too.”
“What were you doing here with him?”
“Talking. Where no one could hear—”
“Why?” he cut in before I could finish.
“We were trying to find a way to save David.”
“From what?”
“Using the dagger to kill Drake—”
“You knew about it then?”
I nodded. “And I didn’t have sex with Arthur, Mike,” I promised. “Except. . .”
“I wouldn’t listen,” he said with a nod. “And I. . .”
“You slapped me.”
He looked at my face for a long moment, his eyes going smaller with thought. “I’d never do that, Ara.”
“I know. Jason said he found you the next day, packing to leave because of it. He knew I needed you here, so he erased it.”
“And you believe him?”
I nodded.
Mike’s hands went into his hair. He walked backward until he found the bench, then sat down. “Ara, I’m—”
“It’s okay, Mike.” I appeared beside him. “You were stressed and worried. I get that. But I know you. I mean, I don’t have any memory of you coming down here, only my talk with Arthur beforehand,” I said. “But I know you wouldn’t have hurt me. It was probably a pathetic little tap.”
“That doesn't make it okay, Ar.” He stood up again, slipping a shirt over his head and down his ribs. “I’m the chief of security—the one person in the world who is trusted to protect you, and I . . . I hit you?” His eyes narrowed as he muttered the last words in stunned disbelief.
“Aw, Mike?” I stood up. “Maybe I shouldn’t have told you.”
“No.” He opened himself up for a hug. “I’m glad you did, Ara. It’s . . . I should know.”
I fell into his sweaty embrace. “If it means anything, Mike, I forgive you.”
“Aw.” He kissed my head firmly. “You’re a good girl, Ara. But, I. . .”
“You?”
“You ended up falling off a lighthouse after that. Are you sure I didn’t—”
“You didn’t throw me off it, Mike. You went up to your room, and Jason took me back to bed.”
“Then . . . does he know how you ended up out there that night?”
I nodded. “I think Arthur knows something, too. But. . .”
“But?”
“Well, Falcon and I have been doing some research, and—”
“Falcon?”
I nodded. “He’s my go-to guy.”
Mike half frowned, half smiled. I could tell he was as pleased as he was shocked.
“Anyway,” I continued, “we think maybe I jum—”
“Ara?” Falcon swept into the room, flanked by Blade and Quaid, the three of them making an awful lot of racket—certainly enough to drown out anything I might have said.
“Whazzup, guys?” Mike flashed them a toothy grin, turning his head to whisper, “We’ll talk later,” under his breath.
I nodded, patting his arm, and Mike skipped off into the mix as if the guys hadn’t just tried to silence me. However, I was not so willing to play nice. Instead, I marched straight up to Falcon at full speed, grabbed his giant arm and hauled him outside. “What was that all about?”
He leaned down a little so the general distance from his mouth to my ear wouldn’t factor out discretion. “If you tell him you jumped, yo
u can forget living, Ara. He’ll cover you with guards twenty-four-seven, and he’ll call David home.”
“He has a right to know, Falcon. How can he protect me if he doesn’t know what’s going on?”
“He’s not the one protecting you right now. I am.”
“He’s my friend.”
“I know. But when it comes to your safety, that is the very thing clouding his vision. I still don’t know why you jumped or if it might’ve had something to do with David, so I don’t want the king back here until we’ve had a chance to figure it out.”
We stepped apart as a group of knights walked between us and into the hall, both of us staying quiet until they were well and truly inside and the only noise out here was the gentle summer breeze and the chirping of birds in the trees.
“Mike knows you butted in deliberately then, Fal.”
He nodded. “And I’ll tell him it’s because you were about to say something I didn’t want Quaid and Blade to overhear.”
I looked at the three of them in the centre of the training hall, laughing loudly like they were trying to hear their own voices over a storm. “They know, don’t they—Blade and Quaid?”
Falcon nodded. “I briefed them.”
I folded my arms in, watching the man across the room that I was once so close to—the man I could trust with anything. “It’s so wrong that you’re leaving Mike out of the loop, Falcon.”
He looked at Mike, too. “I know. But he’s too close to you, Ara. I believe this is best—and I’ve got ten years of Special Forces training to back my claim.”
“Special Forces, huh?” I elbowed him softly.
“Come on.” He winked, leading me away with a gentle hand to my shoulder. “Let’s finish up with training for today, then we’ll go to the library and put in a few more hours’ research on the Mark.”
“M’kay,” I said glumly. “If I’m not crippled with a headache after.”
“Something tells me you’ll be fine.”
I frowned up at his grin. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing.”
“Ara?” Mike cut in, jogging over. “You’re up first today. We’re gonna do weapons training after dinner instead. I need to make a report on your blue light for David.”
“Why?”
“He asked about it—said his reasons were on a “need to know” basis.”
“And you don’t need to know?” I asked, winking at him.
“Guess not.” He backed away. “I think he’s just worried. He said something happened on the beach the other day.” He eyed Falcon suspiciously, then asked me, “Anything you wanna share?”
“Um.” My gaze flicked to Falcon, whose face pretty much said ‘Don’t you dare’. “I’ll check with David first.”
“Fine with me. So—” Mike clapped his hands loudly and looked around the room. “Volunteers?”
Everyone in the room went dead quiet, half of them casting their gaze to the floor—fifty strapping young lads, shirtless and manly, all cowering before a girl half their size.
“Fine.” Mike rolled his sleeves up. “I’ll do it.”
“Mike?” I started. “You—”
He leaned in and cupped my arm. “I’m pretty sure I deserve it, Ara.”
At first I was confused, until I realised he meant that he deserved the pain for the slap he’d given me. “Fine.” I grinned, rubbing my hands together. “Pay back time.”
He laughed. “Then we’re even, right?”
“Not even close.” I bared my teeth at him. “But I might consider forgiveness if you make me some of your famous brownies later.”
He shook his head, smiling, and moved to the centre of the room. “Clear the space, everyone.”
Everyone moved back five paces, giving Mike and I plenty of battleground.
“Where would you like me to fire, Mikey?” I asked, resting my hands on my knees. “Cause, personally, I’d like to shoot you in the ass.”
“Ha! Good luck.” He turned and offered me a small glimpse of his butt. “This knight is way too quick for—Ah!” He jolted forward and hit the deck, a rush of blue filling the space around him, as if a glow-worm just farted, retreating back into my fingertips after.
The entire room of knights, both vampire and Lilithian, broke into burly laugher, and from the corner of my eye, I saw greenback exchange hands.
“Where shall I shoot you next?”
Mike stumbled to his feet, rubbing his bottom. “Why not aim for the heart?” He faced me again. “You did a pretty good job of banging it up last time, maybe you can finish it off.”
The crowd roared, half with laughter, the other half with a very long “Ooooh.”
“Heart sounds great,” I said, and flicked a bolt of energy toward him, but he ducked to one side and swept under it, charging forward fast before I even realised I hadn’t hit him. I coughed out as I went down on my back, the ground rattling my spine like an iron hammer on a twig. I was sure I even heard something crack.
“You okay?” Mike leaned back a bit.
“Sure,” I said in a squeezed voice, using my pain to distract him, then hooked my ankle up and around his chest, forcing him onto the ground as I rose up to pin him flat with both knees. “I’m fine. How are you?”
He whacked the ground with a flat palm three times, and I eased my kneecap back off his throat.
“Sorry, too much?”
“No way.” He shoved me back on my butt and skittered away. “Silly girl. You had me then, were it not for your compassion.”
I got to my feet and stood ready to take him on, but he waved in three more knights from the sidelines, and the odds suddenly changed in their favour. But I had a new weapon up my sleeve, something none of them could fight if I could just figure out how to use it.
“To your right, Majesty,” a man called, coming in from my left.
I saw him shift before I heard his voice, though, so his attempt to distract me was futile. My fist drove a new path for blood through two bones in his ribs, burning the hole closed with a bolt of blue energy after. He fell to the floor just as knight number two dove into the fray and cupped the side of my face from behind, twisting my neck to the highest point of resistance. I dropped my hand down by my hip and shot him in the balls, logging his screams of horror in my feel-bad-about-it-later thoughts. It wasn’t over yet. We had fifty more knights in here that’d willingly take me down.
But it was Mike’s hands that wrapped my waist. “Going for a man’s family jewels, Ara. That’s low. Even for you,” he whispered in my ear, then flipped me upside down, dropping me to the floor with one knee on my chest, the other pinning my head by the ponytail. “Yield?”
“Never.” I struggled against him for a second, then pushed a hand into his chest and shot him right through the heart. I smelled the flesh burn, saw it melt as the shock registered in his eyes a second before he flew back. And two knights grabbed me as Mike hit the ground, dragging me to my feet.
I yanked my arm from one grip and elbowed the guy in the ribs, swinging my wrist up to his jaw with another jolt of energy. He went down hard, but the knight on my right wasn’t giving in, and the pain in my head slowly grew, strengthening for each shot.
This guy was twice my size in both height and weight, and he was a vampire. I had nothing on him physically. But . . . mentally.
I focused hard on his arm, feeling my face and hands go hotter, the pain in my head rippling throughout my jaw and neck. My blue light seemed useless against him—the man wearing it like a Christmas tree parades its candles, and the telekinesis wasn’t working either. I couldn't find that place in me that’d awakened when I broke Jase’s arm. Maybe it was there, maybe it was afraid to come out again because of how devastated I felt after I hurt Jase. But if the power didn’t surface, I’d lose this battle to a vampire and, in turn, probably lose a lot of respect among the Core.
One of us was going down in the next ten-seconds, though, and it wasn’t going to be me. I knew this guy’s
strategy: he’d stand there and cop the pain until it got too much for me—until I threw the towel in. But he was hurting, too. That much was clear, and if my energy was at full strength like it had been when I first shot Mike, this guy wouldn’t even be standing. But the colour was fading, the light more of a white than a blue. I knew the vampire could take the pain, but I was sure even he had a limit.
I brought my hand up to his face and pushed him backward. He fought me for a second, but his weight shifted suddenly and mercifully, and he let go of my arm, stumbling back a few steps.
“Get back in there, Phelps!” the knights surrounding us called, barking like dogs on the sidelines.
I blocked them all out and sent another jolt at the vampire to finish him. He dodged, though, and the pain in my head intensified, rising up my arm. I screamed, caging my head in my arms as I landed on my knees. I had to get up. I couldn’t quit now, not when I was this close.
“Ara?” Mike called.
I turned my head and saw myself in the reflection of his eyes as they met mine—saw all the fear and amazement he felt inside radiating out of him, right into the deepest part of me. I heard him speak, saw his lips move and even felt him run a finger under my nose, collecting something wet, but the words didn’t really register. My electric hold was locked onto the vampire, and he was going down, come hell or high water.
“Ara, stop,” Mike yelled, pulling my hand down. “Look at the floor.”
My eyes drifted away from the lock of an angered gaze at the standing knight, and saw a pool of blood flooding my feet. I wondered how it got there—if someone had been hurt. I wondered why Mike hadn’t called for them to see the nurse. I was about to tell him to do something, tell him to help the person who was bleeding, when Mike’s words shot past me in a mighty growl, “What are you doing here?”
“Saving her life,” Jason said.
I felt him touch me—felt his hands on me, felt the world move under the swaying in my head, but I didn’t see him move me. I didn’t see anything until I felt the grass under my fingertips, Jason pinning my wrists to the ground, holding them there.
“Don’t move,” he demanded, then looked up at the approaching crowd. “Everyone stay where they are damn well standing, or her head will explode.”