Blood Of Fire (The Blood Burden Series) (27 page)

Claude turned his head toward Loch who
was watching the scene play out with eager attention.  He gave Claude a nod
then walked away from his seat in front of the window.

"Shall we begin?"  Claude
motioned to a balance beam that hovered a few inches off the ground.  "One
rule:  No using your fire power.  You are allowed your speed and strength but
that is all.  We have a special area we use to train those more…explosive abilities." 
He waved a hand towards a tall woman who was positioning herself on the far end
of the beam, "Shala will be your sparring partner for this exercise."

Shala was the embodiment of
intimidation.  Her slender but solid frame screamed discipline.  The composed stance
she took with a wooden staff in her hand did not project arrogance, it screamed
confidence and strength.  Nicole would have guessed her young enough to be in
college except the hardness of her eyes said she was much older and wiser than
a woman in her early twenties.

With a deep breath Nicole pushed away
the intimidation and planted her feet on the narrow beam, quickly finding her
center.  She took the cold, wooden staff that was offered to her. It felt bulky
and awkward compared to the baton she had trained with in the police academy,
but there was no time for test swings.  Shala lunged forward slamming her staff
into Nicole's with a loud bang.  Nicole pushed hard shoving the warrior back a
step but Shala immediately swung the staff low sweeping Nicole's legs from
underneath her.  Nicole landed with a thud on the beam but didn't fall off.

The hoots and cheers for Shala by the
warriors barely registered in Nicole's ears.  She lurched to her feet and
balanced on the narrow piece of wood again.  Giving Shala a confident smirk,
she drove forward in a blast of warrior speed.  Shala managed to block the
swing of Nicole's staff but not the head butt that followed.  Seeing her move
had stunned her opponent Nicole swept her leg out knocking the warrior's feet off
the beam and sending her backwards to the mat below.

Shala's eyes glowed bright red as she
stared up at Nicole.  The woman was struggling to contain her anger as the
faint glow of crimson pooled in her palms.  Fire roared to life in Nicole's
hands just as Shala slammed her fist against the floor then pushed to her
feet.  The fire was gone from her extended hand.  Nicole stared at the woman
confused at the sudden change.  "Seems you may be able to teach me a thing
or two, freak."  Shala gave a small smile that bordered on friendly.

Nicole let the warrior shake her
hand…well, it was more like her wrist because that's where she placed her hand
on Nicole's arm giving it one strong shake before she took a step back.

Claude nodded his approval then pointed
Nicole to the next section of her training.  A large obstacle course containing
a track of barbed wire inches above the ground, two story tall walls and a long
rope bridge but that wasn't the worst of it.  All along the path were warriors
of all shapes and sizes who intended on blocking her path and the last one she
would face on the bridge would be her favorite scar wearing warrior, Brien.

Claude explained the route to her then
stepped back.  "Don't let them get to you," he whispered.  If they
see your fear they will kill you.  You don't belong here and they want you
gone."

"Well the jokes on them because I
don't belong anywhere," Nicole shrugged her shoulders flashing a cocky
grin.  "Let's do this."

Claude gave a quick nod,
"Begin!"

Nicole had been through the academy and
seen enough military movies to know what she needed to do.  She dove below the
barbed wire and slithered on her stomach, expertly keeping her body from
touching the spikes.  Just as she neared the far side gunfire erupted around
her. 

Blanks
, she instinctively thought just
before a burning sensation ripped through her calf.  There wasn't time to check
the wound and really no point.  She knew by the warmth of the blood and the
heat of her leg a bullet had struck her but she lunged forward again using her
arms as much as she could.

Jumping to her feet she blurred to the
climbing wall hoping for shelter from the shower of gunfire.  The shots kept
ricocheting off the concrete floor and even embedding into the wooden wall she
was expected to climb.  Grabbing the rope she started to hoist herself up when
another bullet grazed her tricep.  "Sitting duck," she mumbled. 
Claude was right, so far they were giving her minor injuries but if she left
herself open for too long they would try to kill her. 
Was this Loch's
Plan?  Would he let her die in a training scenario?
 She didn't think so. 
This felt like pure hate by the warriors that had been told to follow her. 
Egos and pride were being bruised and she was at their mercy….unless.

Images of training with Luke flashed in
her head.  She called wind to her, creating a shield that wrapped from her left
side, around her back, and ended at their right side.  With a smile she grabbed
the rope again and started to climb.  She wasn't in the mood to test the limit of
her immortality today.  After all, there did have to be a limit or neither fae
nor warrior would fear war.  Immortal doesn't equal invincible.

The wind roared around her making it
almost impossible to hear anything but the clink of bullets as they tried to
penetrate the barrier.  At first her footing was difficult because of the blood
that had dripped from her leg down to her boots.  But after the first few steps
the slickness wiped from her soles leaving a trail of red shoe prints behind.

As she pulled herself over the top a
silver knife dug into the wood between her fingers.  Scarface, the nickname she
had given Brien, wasn't wasting any time.  Positioned halfway across the rope
bridge he slung knives with every step.  Nicole could still see the streaks of
dried blood from the wound she had inflicted though it had already healed but
what really caught her attention was the look of pure hatred that came from
him.  He wanted her dead.

The wind shield wouldn't allow her to
see where she was walking so she dropped it just as Brien reached to pull
another knife from his waist.  She discreetly drew the knife from the wood as
she stood keeping it tucked inside her palm.  Running forward she side stepped
when he threw another knife narrowly avoiding being stuck in the eye.  She hit
the rope bridge hard causing it to sway wildly so Brien was forced to hold on
then she rolled forward and sprung straight into Brien landing hard on top of
him.  "Don't move!"  Nicole held the blade against his neck cutting a
small crimson line to get his attention.

Brien's nostrils flared and his eyes
were glowing red but he remained still as she stepped over him to the other
side of the bridge.  Nicole turned to run but just as she reached the edge of
the platform she heard it
—
the roar of
fire.

Slammed forward by the force of the
flaming ball Nicole landed on her stomach sending all the air rushing from her
lungs.  The lick of the flame didn't completely devour the fire retardant
military fatigues but she could still smell the stench of burning cloth as she
rolled to her back.  Shouts were echoing around her then hands were rolling her
back to her chest.

"I'll put it out."  Shala
covered Nicole with a jacket and began patting frantically.  A few moments
later she removed the cloth and gave a satisfied grunt, "All good."

"Thanks," replied Nicole.

Shala held out a hand pulling Nicole to
her feet just in time to see Brien jumping to the floor below.  He bounded into
a group of warriors laughing and exchanging high fives until Claude's voice echoed
off the walls.  The barrage of profanities that flowed from Claude seemed to
wick the joy from Scarface.  "Sucks to be you." Shala said dryly to
Nicole.

"That's an understatement,"
joked Nicole as she accessed the damage.  Her uniform shirt was crisp and flaky
as she pulled it off but the t-shirt underneath was untouched.

"Well, at least the fire didn't do
much damage.  Why didn't you fire back?"

"I think death is senseless."

"But he tried to kill you.  The
fact that you're still alive is amazing because Brien never misses.  That's his
gift and it's a deadly one."

"Doesn't change my stance on this
war and really that's all this is about.  The fae want me to see how
destructive warriors are and the warriors want me to see the evil in the fae. 
In turn the majority of both sides seem to hate me."  Nicole started
rolling up her pants leg to see how bad the bullet wound was.

"You're in a very hard place,
that's for sure.  Maybe you should just wipe us all out."  Nicole's
eyebrows shot up at the boldness of Shala's statement but Shala lowered her
voice and continued, "Has either side really been pure good?"

"Is anyone pure?" Nicole let
the question hang in the air, turning her attention back to her leg.  She took
the sleeve of her ruined shirt and wiped at the blood.  The longer she wiped
the more her brows crumpled together, "Do you see this?"  Pink flesh
as smooth as a baby's butt was hidden under the crimson fluid.  There was ,lood
that hadn't had time to dry.

"I see." replied Shala with a
hint of annoyance, "A normal warrior's body would have taken hours to heal
from that."

"Another perk of being a
freak."  Nicole joked.  The shine of silver caught Nicole's eye.  Sticking
a finger just inside her boot she pulled out the slug that had been in her leg
only moments ago.  "Hey, Brien!" She tossed the lead to him. "A
souvenir from an event you will never get to relive."

Brien fisted the slug tightly but held
back the remark she could see fighting to burst out.  Nicole had a feeling this
wasn't the end of butting heads with him.  His hate ran too deep.  Honestly,
after today, the feeling was mutual.

**~***~**

After a full day of training Nicole
found herself back in her room.  The guards had taken their places so it was
back to business as usual
—
guards guarding
and prisoner imprisoned.  She lay across her bed her hair still wet from her
recent shower.  Her body was tired but still fueled by adrenaline from the
day's events so she was restless.  A day full of watching your back in a room
where everyone wanted to kill you has that effect.  Half the time she didn't
know if the attack was real or part of the training.  Confusion of that degree
could have ended very bad.

One thing she did know was there were a
few people high on her list to watch out for.  Of course Scarface took the
number one spot but there were also a couple of brutes that she had dubbed the
twins.  They didn't resemble in physical traits like family members would but
instead it was their skills with the sword that peaked her interest.  Nicole
had watched them sparring from a distance at first but was drawn closer by the
intensity of the two men.  Each had an identical stance.  Each swung the blade
with such ease and never once did the other let the steal touch him.  It was
like a deadly dance, perfectly choreographed to hint at danger but never
stirring it.  The duel was eventually called a draw and left Nicole with a new
respect for the swordsmen.

Strangely enough number four on the list
was Shala.  Nicole couldn't gauge the tough-as-nails woman.  At times she
bordered on friendly but there were those moments when calculation was clear in
Shala's dark brown eyes.  The look was of someone studying hard to figure
something out but what exactly Nicole wasn't sure.  Maybe she was just curious
about the limits of Nicole's powers or maybe she was looking for Nicole's
weakness.  Either way there was no letting her guard down for anyone.

Rolling onto her back Nicole closed her
eyes.  She tried, as she had each night since her imprisonment, to reach out to
Luke's mind.  Her heart hoped for a response but her mind told her it was
foolish to keep trying.  True to logic no response came making her situation
all the more unbearable.
She
wanted to know that they were preparing, she wanted to tell Luke what she had
learned, but most of all she needed to hear his voice.  Not knowing if he was
safe, never feeling the tug of their warrior's connection and being left with
an empty hole in her heart was weakening her spirit more and more with each
passing hour.

At some point while deep in her thoughts
sleep did pull her under and for the first time in a long while her spirit
awoke in Titania's company.  The graveyard, though over-ridden with weeds, was
in full bloom.  The willow's limbs were a bright green with opening buds and
dandelions exploded into hundreds of cotton dancers pirouetting on the salty
breeze.  Even the small yellow flowers that marked her path in this magical
place on her first visit were exceptionally vibrant.

"Spring is beautiful,"
whispered Titania staring out across the landscape.

"My favorite time of year,"
replied Nicole.

"Yes, mine too.  After a hard, cold
winter the world needs spring.  It reminds us that good things always return to
our lives.  It's a timeless formula that never fails to repeat."

"Do you really believe that?  With
all you've been through?"

"Yes."  Titania said simply.

"But you're trapped in this
limbo." Nicole waved her arms around the spiritual graveyard that had been
her grandmother's prison.  "You chose death over immortality so how can
you tell me you believe things will get better?"