by D. N. Hoxa
“Can you two give us a second before you get going?” Ross said to Palmer and Nash. This couldn’t be good.
“Of course,” Palmer said, as if he couldn’t wait to get out of there already. He seemed very uncomfortable suddenly.
“And don’t forget what we talked about,” Ross said to Nash before he walked out.
With a nod, Nash turned to me. “I’ll wait for you outside.”
When they closed the door, tension grew almost instantly in Ross’s office. It didn’t help that the walls were made of glass and everybody could see us.
“You’re new to all of this, I get it, but you have to understand things: in our world, the Senior Order calls the shots. In this station, I am them,” Ross said. He was trying to keep it together, but he was really pissed off. “I took a chance on you because I want those devamps caught as much as everybody else, but don’t think for a second that you can continue to make demands like this in the future.”
“The only demand I’m making is for what you promised me,” I reminded him. I didn’t appreciate being spoken to like that, but I did lie to him—and he didn’t even know it yet—so I bit my tongue and kept from saying anything else.
“The promises I made were before what happened, happened. We’re taking a lot of risks because of you, and I want you to remember that when, a week from today, you sit in that chair and I ask you where the devamp is. I want you to remember that we’ve already been attacked once by their servants, and we’re in danger of being attacked again. Most importantly, I want you to remember that I put my job, my whole life on the line when I let you do the procedure without an official approval. I’m doing the best I can here, Nova.”
Shit. Now, I felt sorry for the man, but I still couldn’t bring myself to regret what I’d done, because if I hadn’t lied, I would have never even gotten into the game to begin with.
No, I had to do what I had to do. If regret wanted a piece of me, it was going to have to wait until Luke was out of the coma.
“I’ll remember that,” I said to Ross. That was the best I could offer him.
For now, I was going to take what I could get, lie or no lie. And I was going to do everything in my power to make sure that, a week from today, when he saw what I’d learned with Nash, he would let me join his team.
***
Nash waited for me right outside the door. He could probably tell that I was a bit breathless from rushing out so that nobody would notice me, but to his credit, he didn’t comment.
“You sure you want to get started wearing that?” he said, looking at my sweatpants and hoodie. If he’d woken up covered in ice, unable to even move from it, he’d understand my choice of outfit.
“Yeah. I’m fine.” And warm. I was going to stick to the clothes.
He gave me a tight-lipped smile and waved for me to follow him across the hall, and to the glass that separated us from the training hall. Just like Aiden had done, Nash went all the way to the corner, then pressed his palm to the glass, and voila! the door opened.
“How do you do that?” I asked, hoping he wouldn’t say magic, because magic wasn’t something I could even begin to understand.
“Technology,” he said, and I grinned. Good. Technology was something I understood pretty well. “There’s a scanner right here. If you get right in front of it, you can’t miss it.” He waved for me to approach and take a look.
Nash was right. As soon as I got in front of it, a thin blue line appeared right in front of my face on the glass. “So I just put my hand in the square?”
“Not sure if you have access yet, but yeah, pretty much.” A lot easier than magic.
I followed him inside the training hall, which was empty, save for the people on the other side of the bridge, who had almost completely sealed the hole in the wall. Nash walked all the way to the middle of the room without a word, then went to the wall to our right. He took off his sneakers and threw them aside, before he turned to me. Without word, I went over to him.
“How much do you know about what it is we do here?” he asked me.
“Uh…you train?” Wasn’t that what Terrin said?
“Yes, we train. The program we follow is provided in a computer with very clear instructions. Since we’re going to train together, I’ll be your computer for now,” he said. “The training halls are equipped with the best of the best—magically infused technology.” As if to prove a point, he turned to the wall and reached for it. I’d seen the light waves on the surfaces, but I’d had no idea that that meant the walls could swallow your hand.
It took all I had not to step back when I could no longer see Nash’s hands. “That’s…” amazing? Terrifying? I hadn’t made up my mind yet, but I just knew that Luke was going to love to see this.
“This is an arsenal wall,” Nash said, smiling at the look on my face. When he pulled back his hands, he had two rather large knives in them. “What it means is that, every weapon and training gear that’s at our disposal can be found in it.”
“So, you just think about what you want and you take it?” Because if that were the case, I was definitely going to have to go with awesome.
“Not exactly.” Nash laughed. The sound covered my arms in goosebumps. I was tempted to smile, too. “Think of it this way: each wall is a separate tool box. This one right here is where the swords and knives are. The next is where the firearms are. The other is where the dummies and bags and marks are stored. The manual to everything we can use in here comes with the computer program I mentioned, but you’ll get the hang of it soon.”
“I’d like to read the manual, if that’s possible, because I don’t exactly have time to waste. Ross promised me a week and that’s all I’m going to get, so I’d rather make the most of it.”
Slightly raising his brows, Nash looked a bit confused. “A week is very little time to learn how to fight.”
“It’s going to have to do,” I said reluctantly. I’d never been in a fight before and even I could imagine how little could be done in a week, but I had to try.
“Well then, let’s get started.” Nodding for me to follow, Nash walked over to the middle of the room. I thought he’d give me one of those knives, but no. “Bear in mind that I’ve never trained anyone before, and my methods might seem a bit too much, but—”
“Just teach me the best way you know how.” It was going to be much better than what I could teach myself.
Smiling, Nash nodded and took a step back. “In that case, I’ll hold onto these. Fear is a strong motivator,” he said showing me the knives. “You’ll be more focused if I attack you with these, rather than my fists.”
“Attack me?” Like for real?
“Yeah, attack you. We don’t kid around here, Nova Vaughn. You’re going to get hurt in this training.” Nash grinned like what he said brought him pleasure. “But don’t worry, I’ll show you a few things first, like how to hold your feet and your arms. How to dodge and how to get out of the way.”
“Can’t we start with guns first?” Guns were easy. Aim the barrel, pull the trigger, end of story.
“We’ll get to guns eventually. For now, the most important thing you need to know is that nothing can help you if you can’t hold your own in a physical fight. Weapons can be lost. Bullets can be spent. Magic can be useless—but your body will never let you down.”
That actually made perfect sense. Taking in a deep breath, I raised my head and convinced myself that I was ready. “Show me.”
“If you want to know more—” he started, but I cut him off.
“No, I don’t. I just need you to show me.”
Nash seemed pleased to hear me say that. “Alright, then. Buckle up, because this is going to hurt.”
He was absolutely right.
Chapter Sixteen
Three hours later, I was on the floor, panting, bleeding, hurting, and sweating so much, I never wanted to feel heat, ever again. What I’d give to be covered in ice in those moments.
“Get up,” Nash said
, and I cringed.
Get up? How the hell could I do that when he’d cut my legs in several places, connected his fist to my face and chest too many times to count, and introduced the floor to my ass fourteen times in the past three hours?
I wanted nothing more than to tell him that I needed a break. That I wanted to just stop. But I bit my tongue and gathered my strength, because breaks weren’t going to get me where I wanted to be in a week. Stopping wasn’t going to save Luke.
Standing on two shaking legs was like walking barefoot on very sharp needles, but Nash didn’t seem to care.
“Take your position,” he said, position meaning to put my feet a little farther away from one another, and to put my weak arms in front of me. I did as he asked, but I was only counting the seconds before I hit the floor again.
“Look into my eyes, Nova,” he said. “My eyes will tell you when I’m going to move half a second before my body does.”
Right. Maybe my eyes told him that—though to be fair, I hardly moved at all—but his eyes only promised me the pain I was going to feel next. And that just made me angry. I couldn’t be so weak, could I? How the hell was I going to handle a demonic vampire, when I couldn’t even stand in training?
“Block me,” Nash said, and jumped forward. I tried to look into his eyes, but it was impossible to keep my eyes from the way his arms moved, and how he swung his left arm but ended up hitting me with his right. Definitely unexpected, but when I blocked him with my arms crossed in front of my face, I didn’t fall down.
“That’s better,” he said. So unfair to see that he wasn’t even breathing a bit more heavily, after having knocked me over for hours.
“When do we get to the point where I attack you?” I could hardly wait for that part.
Nash laughed. A cold shiver washed down my back, providing me with a second of relief. Did I mention that I was never wearing sweatpants again?
“You need to learn how to defend yourself first.”
“So, what, I just learn to take a hit and never hit my opponent back?” It sounded to me like that was what he was saying.
“What do we have here?” someone said from behind us, and we both jumped back.
Aiden, Pixie and Lucian had entered the training hall, and they were walking over to us slowly, with weird smiles on their faces, as if they’d caught us doing something we weren’t supposed to.
I looked at Nash. I did not want to make an even bigger mess out of everything by talking, but if those guys didn’t stop, I couldn’t be held accountable for what I might say. After all, I was exhausted, hurting, and had long run out of patience.
To my surprise, Nash didn’t look all that calm when he looked at the others. Instead, his shoulders were rigid and his chin high, almost like he was nervous and in tension.
“We’re training,” he said to them. “We have this hall until evening.”
“I don’t think so,” Lucian said, then his eyes fell on me. “Ross wants you to train in the old room from now on. We need to be in shape much more than she.” He spit the last word as if he were disgusted. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms in front of me. If they thought they could get to me, they were dead wrong.
“You know, she killed those servants with a blast. One blast,” Pixie said. She was looking at me, too, except her expression was one someone got when they swallowed something they didn’t like. “She froze that room you melted, too. And you should have seen her with Miles.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I asked her, and she didn’t hesitate to tell me.
“It means we’re all better off away from you. Even predictable, magic is dangerous. With you?” She shrugged and looked at Nash. “I’m surprised you haven’t dropped dead yet.”
“Fuck you, Pixie,” I hissed, only because I had nothing else to say. She was right. Not that I knew anything about magic, but I was definitely unpredictable.
Nash took a step forward, his hands in fists by his side. “Who I train with doesn’t concern you,” he said.
“Of course, it does,” said Lucian. “You’re on our team, remember? We’re supposed to fight together, and you know damn well what we went through to get to this point.” Now that got me curious as much as angry.
“Exactly. We’re one team. You should all be helping her, instead of behaving like children,” said Nash.
“Helping her? She’s going to get us killed!” Pixie cried. Aiden, who had lowered his head and refused to say a word, took a step back as if he wanted to distance himself even more from the conversation.
“Then leave! Why are you even here? If you think I’m going to kill you, why come in at all? You could see me through the window.” It was impossible not to let her get to me, no matter how hard I tried. I wasn’t going to force anyone to stay with me, and I did realize that they didn’t trust me after everything that happened, but they didn’t have to be such assholes about it. I wasn’t the one controlling anything.
“Because it’s you who needs to leave,” Pixie said. “Not just this room, but the whole building.”
It was like a slap to my face, no matter that I didn’t let it show on my expression. I wasn’t one to let others change the way I thought, but damn, this girl knew just what to say.
“Let’s go, Nova,” Nash said. He was standing next to me now, his hand on my shoulder. He was right, we needed to leave before the situation got even more out of hand.
But when we passed by them, I couldn’t help myself. I stopped in front of Pixie. “I don’t owe you any explanation, but I’m not here because I want to be. I’m here because I don’t have a choice. If you’re so afraid of me, I suggest you avoid me like the plague.”
“I’m not afraid of anything,” she hissed and took a step back. My heart almost soared out of my chest, but I smiled anyway.
“We’re all afraid of death,” I whispered, and when Nash pushed me toward the door again, I walked forward, ignoring both Lucian and Aiden.
Out in the hallway, the air was cooler, and it was much easier to breathe.
“Nova,” Nash whispered, but I just closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I needed a second to clear my head. “Nova, what…” his voice trailed off.
“I know, but I couldn’t help myself,” I mumbled. Maybe I shouldn’t have said what I said to Pixie, but she had it coming.
“No, Nova, you’re…you’re freezing me.”
My eyes popped open. His words were ridiculous, but somehow, I was sure that he wasn’t kidding. Slowly, I turned my head to the left, where Nash was standing right behind me, his hand still on my shoulder. On my shoulder covered in ice, just like his fingers, knuckles and wrist.
“Don’t move,” Nash whispered, a second before I had my mind made up to jump away.
“Take your hand off me,” I said, suddenly terrified.
“They can still see us,” he said. “Walk over to the elevator, but don’t look back.”
“Are you kidding?” His hand was attached to my shoulder.
“Just walk. Come on,” he said, and nudged me forward.
Taking in a deep breath, I took the first step. I didn’t freeze completely, and neither did Nash.
By the time we made it to the elevator and he called the car up, I was already sweating again. This couldn’t be right. Why the hell were things freezing around me? What the hell was wrong with me?
“Just a little longer,” Nash whispered as if he could sense that my head was about to explode from trying to figure this out. I bit my tongue until I tested blood to keep my body in check, and when the elevator doors opened, I jumped into the car without a second thought.
“Move!” I begged Nash and tried to pull my shoulder away from his hand.
“I can’t! I’m stuck,” he said. “Just stand really still. I’m going to melt the ice. Don’t scream if I burn you.” That did not sound like fun.
I closed my eyes and held my breath, trying but failing to keep my shit together. The warmth coming from Nash’s hand tickled me
, at first. But before I could even tell him that, it grew warmer and warmer until my ears began to whistle.
“Almost there,” he said, but the heat didn’t stop. Flames licked my skin and every cell inside me screamed for it to stop. “Got it!” Nash shouted, and he pushed me forward with his other hand between my shoulder blades. I almost fell against the doors, but that didn’t matter.
The fire was gone.
I looked at my shoulder, and the ice was gone, too. Now, the hoodie was soaking wet, water dripping down my hand. We’d already made a mess out of the car, too.
“When the doors open, just pretend like everything is okay, and follow me,” he said, and before he’d even finished his sentence, we’d arrived at our destination.
Whether he’d taken us up or down, I had no idea, but I walked out into the corridor and waited for Nash to show me the way. The corridor was wider than the others around the building, this one with seven doors in total. No sign on them, but Nash seemed to know exactly where to go—to the only door across from us, at the very end of the corridor.
When he pushed it open, bright light made me put my hands in front of my face. A breath later, and I realized we were outside. It took a few blinks to clear the dark spots in front of my eyes. We were on the roof of the building, right in the middle of it, in fact. The three towers stood proud to our sides, but around the building there were only trees across the street. The horizon stretched wide but there were no other buildings I could see. Or cars. Or people.
“Where the hell are we?” I asked Nash.
“We’re in Forter.”
“Forter?” I’d never heard of such place.
“Basically, it’s a small town you need permission to access. There’s nobody around but us.” But I could already see that, and it did not make me feel any better.
“Can you go through everything that happened since you got here, Nova?” he asked after a second. His hands were on his hips, and he looked at my profile while I kept my eyes on the street in front of us. With a sigh, I turned around to look at whatever was behind the building.