Warrior (Relentless #4)(122)

The image of her emerging from the barn covered in blood filled my mind.

“See, there you go again.” She glared at me. “Callum wouldn’t think twice about teaching me to fight. He’d have no problem giving me a few bruises and throwing me across a room.”

“He throws you around?” I asked darkly.

“Gah!” She moved past me toward the door. If she left, it would be even harder to get her to work with me again.

“I’ll teach you a few strikes and blocks, and then we will put you through a workout to see how much work we have to do.”

She stopped and gave me a look of surprise.

“We’ll spend time on your fighting technique and your workouts every day. Once you have mastered the basics, we’ll move on to more difficult moves.”

I had her full attention now. Suppressing a smile, I went to the center of the room and pointed at a spot in front of me. After a brief hesitation, she joined me.

All right, moy malen'kiy voin. Let’s see what you’re made of.

Two hours later, I watched her lean shakily against the wall, her breath coming in quick pants, and her hair damp with sweat. I’d put her through a grueling workout to see how long she’d last, one that would have knocked any trainee on their ass, but she stubbornly refused to give in.

I hung her discarded skipping rope on a hook to hide my smile. “Ready to call it quits for today?”

“No, just catching my breath,” she replied in a voice that trembled with exhaustion. “What’s next?”

Admiration filled me. She could barely stand, yet she would push on rather than admit she was tired.

I began stacking the weights we’d used. “I think that’s enough for now. You don’t want to overdo it in your first session.”

“Okay,” she said weakly, failing to hide the relief in her voice.

I grinned at the wall. “Tomorrow we’ll start working with the bag.”

“Yay,” she muttered.

I waited until the door closed, and then I laughed for the first time in days.





*


Sara returned for training the next day, which told me she’d given up the idea of going back to working with Callum. She’d been okay yesterday once we got into the workout, so I kept the training as businesslike as possible to prevent any discomfort for her. It worked, and we had a good session.

The day after that, she opened up to me about her fight with the vampires.

“I zapped a vampire at the barn.”

I set down the weights I was holding and turned to her, waiting for her to say more.

“Tristan told you?” she asked.

“Yes.”

She bit her lip. “Why didn’t you say something?”

I leaned against the wall. “I figured you would tell me when you were ready, and when you felt like you could trust me again.”

Her eyes met mine. “I never stopped trusting you.”

The weight on my chest eased a little at her earnest declaration. Knowing I hadn’t lost her trust gave me hope, and it was a step toward regaining what I’d had with her. I would not push her for more than that. Instead, I turned the conversation back to a more neutral subject.

“Do you want to tell me what happened? Tristan said you were able to sense them.”

She nodded. “Derek was showing us the loft because he’s turning it into an art studio. We were about to go back to the house when I got this cold feeling in my chest. I’ve felt it before, but never that bad. I could barely breathe. Then Derek’s friend Seth showed up. I didn’t know he was a vampire, not until I saw his claws growing. It got kind of crazy after that. Derek got knocked out, and Jordan killed Seth.”

She rubbed her breastbone absently. “And then I felt the cold again. That’s when I realized what it meant.”

“What happened next?”

“Seth’s girlfriend Dana showed up with another vampire. Jordan took Dana, and I took the other one. I fought him with my knife until I lost it. Then I jumped on his back to hold him so Jordan could finish him off. But when my hands touched his face, my power shocked him. He fell down, and I used a knife to kill him.”

She gave me a frustrated look. “I tried to call on the power like we practiced, but it wouldn’t come until I touched him. Then it just jumped out of me like it did with the other demons. I don’t understand why it burned him, but it didn’t burn you.”

“A vamhir demon is always close to the surface because it controls the body. You couldn’t feel my demon until I called it forth.”

I was proud of her, but it was hard to move past the thought of her being so close to a vampire, especially after Eli. But a trainer wouldn’t dwell on those things, and that was all I could be to her until she was ready for more.

“This is good. It means you have a built-in defense against vampires, young ones at least. We need to keep working on it to make sure it is reliable.”

“What about my vampire radar?” she asked hopefully. “Can we go somewhere and test it?”

“Not until we spend a lot more time on your training. There will be plenty of time to test your other abilities.”

“Okay,” she conceded. “When can we work on my power again?”

I picked up a jump rope, pleased she wanted to work with me. “Let’s finish your workout and we’ll meet up after lunch for your other training.”