Warrior (Relentless #4)(97)

I didn’t try to hide my surprise. “You felt sorry for demons?”

She lifted her chin. “I didn’t find out until later that bazerats are demons, but I still wouldn’t have killed them just because someone thought it would be fun.”

I pictured her standing up to Celine, who did not like being challenged, especially by other women. But when Sara believed in something, no amount of pressure would sway her.

Sara chewed her lip. “And then I killed the lamprey demon, but I did that on purpose. It was me or him, and I figured if I could hurt one demon, I could hurt another. I think I expected to knock it out like I did with the bazerat. I didn’t know it would explode like that.”

I wasn’t sure what to think about the things she’d shared with me. It was clear her power was growing and it was deadly to demons. A tiny cold knot of fear formed in my stomach. What would happen to her own demon if her power continued to grow?

“Have you told anyone else about this?” I asked, keeping my tone light.

“Only Tristan and Roland.”

“Good. Keep it between us for now, and let me know if it happens again.”

She met my gaze fearfully. “You didn’t answer my question. Will my Fae power hurt my Mori? Could I hurt another Mohiri?”

“Honestly, I don’t know.” I said the only thing I could think of, and I hoped I was right. “The way I see it, you’ve had the two of them inside you your whole life, and if you were going to hurt your Mori, you would have done it by now. Did you feel like your demon was in danger when you had these flare-ups?”

“No.”

“There’s your answer then. Let’s not worry about that unless we need to.”

She visibly relaxed, and I felt better as well. If she was able to shield her Mori when she used her Fae power, she could continue to do that as her power got stronger.

“What now?” she asked.

She needed a change of pace after the emotional session, and I had just the thing in mind. There was nothing like nature and some good old fashioned exercise to clear your head.

“Now we do some other training.”

She stared at me warily. “What kind of training?”

I removed my sword and sweater, and laid them on my rock. Turning back to her, I said, “Nothing difficult. How about we go for a run?”

She burst out laughing. “You expect me to keep up with you?”

I smiled. “I’ll try to dial it back a bit.”

She made a face and stretched her legs. “Gee, I feel so special. How long will it take me to be as fast as you?”

Distracted by the way her jeans hugged her backside as she warmed up, I almost forgot to answer her. “About a hundred years or so.”

I wished I hadn’t spoken when she abandoned her stretching to stare at me. “A hundred years?”

“Give or take a few. Your Mori will give you strength, but it’ll be a long time before you develop that kind of speed. Didn’t anyone explain that to you?”

“I think Callum was too busy trying to get me to use my Mori to go over that stuff. But what you’re saying doesn’t make sense. How can warriors fight vampires if they can’t keep up with them?”

I crossed my arms, wondering if Tristan knew about the serious gap in her education, something I planned to rectify, starting today.

“Apparently there is a lot they haven’t told you. How much do you know about vampires and how they are made?”

“I know a vampire drinks from someone and forces the person to drink their blood and that’s how the demon is passed into the new host. It takes three or four days for the new demon to grow strong enough to take control of the person. Oh, and only mature vampires can make another vampire.”

“That’s all true, but did you also know that new vampires are weak and their strength grows over time?” I asked.

She shook her head, her eyes wide in disbelief.

Her lack of knowledge angered me. One of the first things she should have been taught here was how vampires matured and how to tell a young vampire from an older one. That knowledge had saved many warriors’ lives in battle.

“They are stronger than a human, but no match for a trained warrior, and it takes them almost as long as it does us to develop the kind of speed you’ve seen. Most of the vampires we saw in Maine were mature, and it’s unusual to see that many mature vampires together. Many of the vampires warriors deal with don’t have that kind of strength or speed.”

“I knew baby vamps were weak, but I thought that only lasted a few months,” she said, looking very relieved to hear that was not the case.

“We’re going to need to add some studies to your training. We’ll start this afternoon.”

Normally, we had people who handled the trainees’ studies, but I was reluctant to entrust her education to anyone else. I told myself it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that it gave me a reason to spend more time with her.

“But right now, how about that run?” I said.

“Okay.”

We ran the whole perimeter of the lake, which was roughly five miles. I slowed so she could keep pace with me, and I wasn’t surprised she never fell behind. She’d spent half her life outdoors with werewolves and trolls, and she’d probably had to push herself to keep up with them.