Night Calls - Nyx Slaughter Book 1 (21 page)

I bounce up and run to collect my
knives from the bathroom. Not wanting to fight with bare legs, I
also run to the bedroom and switch into one of my usual outfits
before returning to the living room. I have both sets of throwers
on and a sword sheathed across my back. He said knives and it is
really just a bigger version, so hopefully it is okay.

“You aren’t going to go easy on me,
right?” I ask.

“No, love. You will probably feel
it in the morning and I will be somewhat sorry for that, but you
need to know what is really out there. You have only dealt with
young wolves and vampires. For your previous line of work, that is
somewhat acceptable based on the targets you usually went after,
but to bring down the Collective our targets are going to be a lot
harder to beat. Follow me,” he says standing, making his way
towards the kitchen.

I follow and feel the rest of the
gang following right behind me. I am smart enough to know I am
going to get my brains beat in and I don’t know that I really want
them all watching. From my first days in training at the
Collective, I am used to being embarrassed in this manner, so I
decide not to say anything.

Sebastian hits a button above and
behind the fridge that causes the fridge to move out and the wall
to open behind it. I really am going to have to just go around
touching every surface of this place to find the fun stuff. We
continue following until he stops and flips a light switch
revealing a large open area with a track, many cardio and weight
lifting machines and several large wrestling mats.

“Where do you keep the pool?” I ask
sarcastically wondering how big this top floor really is or if we
even are on the penthouse level anymore.

“Just through that door,” he
responds pointing at a door to the right of us. “It is Olympic
size, in case you were wondering.”

I just shake my head and trail him
to one of the mats. The rest of the guys stand against one of the
walls looking on. “I think you have been holding out on me all
these years.”

“There are many things for you to
learn about me, love. Thankfully, we have many years for you to
explore my dwellings as well as my person,” he replies. I roll my
eyes and take a position opposite of him. “First thing you need to
learn about older vampires is they are super-fast.”

Before I know it, he is no longer
in front of me and I feel my body being pushed to the mat. There is
no way for me to prevent the fall. Crap. He is even faster than
Tommy. He holds me down for a second and then kisses my neck before
releasing and returning to his side of the playing
field.

“I am slow, I know. Since I am part
vampire, will I ever be able to prevent that move?” I
ask.

“From me, who knows? I am a few
years above you in training. I doubt even Marcus moves as fast as I
do and he is the closest I know of to my own age. The key for you
will be about anticipating the move. You won’t be able to see me
coming, but maybe you can hear it if you really try. I think the
first exercise you need to learn is to trust that hearing. For that
reason, I would like to blindfold you. It will allow you to focus
on my movements.”

He takes a piece of cloth out of
his pocket and starts folding it to make it less see through. “You
know I don’t like this idea,” I tell him.

“I know that is why I am in charge
of training and you get to just stand there and do everything I
tell you. If you want to be this big private detective that chases
after kidnappers and killers, you are going to have to be prepared.
Your Collective missions were nothing compared to what you are in
for.” He moves to place the cloth around my eyes and I can feel him
tying it tight above my ears, so they are not covered. “Can you see
anything?”

“Just the little squiggles I
sometimes see when I shut my eyes.”

“Good. I will start off somewhat
gentle. I don’t want you bruised too early.”

I hear nothing else as he starts to
move around me just poking me here and there, as he goes. It is
quite annoying and I am thinking about breaking his fingers when
this is done. I feel that playtime is over when I get my knee
kicked out from behind. It still isn’t as strong a hit as I know he
can do, but it hurts and I drop to my knees.

“I guess I should be glad I am here
and not over in Emerald Town,” I hear Alex say. “I can handle the
pain a little better when I know the cause.”

I tune him out and try to
concentrate harder. There has to be a way to hear Sebastian moving.
I stand back up and am met with a punch to my left arm causing me
to grimace. I get over the pain and listen. I finally start to hear
this really quiet whistle. It is coming from my right, so I swing
around to face it pulling out a knife.

The whistle changes directions
before it gets to me, so I start turning as I hear it coming from
other places. A couple times, as I thought I heard it getting
nearer, I lash out and make contact with something. No other noises
were made, so we continued our little dance. Every once in a while
I get a punch or a kick, but I feel a lot better that he doesn’t
seem to be able to get through as much as he did at first. There is
no way that I could move after him and try to mount an offensive,
so I stay in my spot and try to be as defensive as
possible.

After probably hours, okay maybe an
hour, the whistling stops. I wait a second to confirm he isn’t
moving and then sit down. It is a lot of work concentrating that
hard on something and I feel exhausted.

“Not bad. You picked up the
movements pretty quickly. You couldn’t really fight back, though,
and a couple of those baby jabs seemed to ring your bell,”
Sebastian says from right behind me. I feel his hands as he removes
the blindfold and kneels down on the ground in front of
me.

“Baby jabs? Some of those felt like
I was running into a wall. No wonder you don’t carry weapons. You
have hands made of steel,” I say still catching my
breath.

“I was only using a quarter of my
strength, love, if that. Most paranorms have to spend a good month
recovering if they take a full blow from me. I know you have
excellent fighting skills, so hand to hand isn’t something we need
to focus on, neither is your use of weapons.

“We need to work on speed, strength
and endurance. Your improved eyesight doesn’t seem to be available
yet, so we will work to improve your sense of hearing and smell, as
well. It is going to be hard and grueling work. I know you have
your new business and you should spend a few hours a day dealing
with that, but any free time you have, I would like you to spend it
here preparing.

“Also, I prefer you didn’t take any
more Collective based cases until you are at least able to hold
your own against Smitty. He is the youngest of us three, but still
quite old and will give you a brutal fight. His full strength
punches are harder than the ones I gave you today and he only moves
slightly slower than I do.”

“You expect me to turn people away
if someone else is taken by the Collective, just for supporting
you?” I ask.

“No, I ask that you come to me and
let me make plans to rescue them. Your plan tonight was good and I
knew you would not be seriously hurt with me close by, so I did not
protest. Finding out they have been doing experiments on their
wolves, does make a difference, though. If you had met with more
than an altered wolf enamored by you, there could have been
trouble. I am not going to shackle you to my bed, but I do want you
to use your head about these things,” he replies.

“Fine,” I say remembering how
quickly Tommy got the gun from me. “I will run any cases that I
think are Collective oriented by you to ensure I don’t get my ass
handed to me when I pursue them. Do you have a specific schedule in
mind for my training or do I get to go at my own pace as long as I
make progress?”

“Good question, young grasshopper.
You can do what you want, but I will be around watching and if I
think you need pushed, I will gladly do the pushing,” he
responds.

“Great. Can I go shower again and
head back to the office? I need to work on putting a contract
together for future cases. I don’t want to have to resort to
threatening to kill someone if they don’t pay every time I take a
case.”

“Do you need anyone to scrub your
back?” he replies with a wink.

“No, my hands still reach,” I say
standing, feeling more like myself.

“Speaking of backs,” Alex says.
“Can you show me now?”

“I know you well enough to know it
is just going to make you mad, but if you insist,” I say lifting
the back of my shirt up to my neck.

“Son of a bitch. He is dead. That
is all there is to it. I may just go back there tonight to finish
the job,” Alex says as he takes quick steps to reach me. When he
does, he carefully runs his fingers along the scars.

“I appreciate your concern, but if
Tommy ever dies it will be by my hand. I have put up with him
enough over the years that it is my right to kill him. No one will
take that privilege away from me.” I put my shirt down and exit the
room quickly leaving them to consider my vow.

Chapter 22

The night that just won't end

“So, who is coming with?” I ask
after taking my second shower of the night and redressing slash
arming myself in the bathroom.

“Marcus and Jonas. Alex is going to
head back to Emerald Town now that he knows you are okay and I am
going to head to work. Smitty has some errands he wanted to run and
Jake needs to sleep. If you need any of us, I have programmed all
of our numbers in your phone,” Sebastian relays.

“Sounds good,” I say making my way
over to Alex. “Hey thanks again for dropping everything for this
visit. I will attempt to not cause you grief again, but it is me we
are talking about, so I make no promises. Maybe next time you visit
I will make you a cake. Since neither of us are probably big on
starch or sugar, it may have to be a couple steaks wrapped in
bacon, but it will look like a cake.”

“Keep safe, okay pumpkin. I need at
least two more weeks before I can join you here on a more permanent
basis. I have gotten a lot of things done, but there is still much
to organize. I trust you to keep alive in the meantime. You up to
the challenge?” he asks taking my hand and placing it on his
chest.

“I will see what I can do. I kind
of like breathing, so it is high on my priority list,” I say
smiling.

“Glad to hear it. Would you mind
walking me out to my car?” he asks.

“I am going that way already, so I
might as well,” I respond.

“Give us five minutes,” he tells
the others and then leads me out. He doesn’t speak again until we
reach the parking area. “You know I am really sorry,
right?”

“About what?” I ask.

“Treating you the way I did when we
first met. It really wasn’t cool. I was always told when you meet
your mate you are instantly in love with them. The world only
begins to make sense when they are near, that kind of stuff. I have
seen it happen, so that is what I expected when you finally saw me,
but it didn’t happen did it?” he asks.

“Sorry, no.”

“It didn’t happen for me either. I
don’t understand it. I know we are mates because I feel connected
to you, but I am not feeling the emotion I expected. Maybe it is
better this way. Even though you were raised by wolves, they didn’t
really teach you our lifestyle. This way you can learn about it as
we learn more about each other.

“I am hoping I can find a way to
make your heart expand past Sebastian. I know he will always be
there in our lives and I am coming to terms with it. For a vampire,
I know he is a good person to have on your side. To have as big of
a mouth as he does and live as long as he has, probably took a lot
of head bashing along the way. I don’t know how old he is, but he
has to be pushing the millennium mark,” he states leaning against
his car.

“He has told me a number, but I
don’t think it is my place to divulge it. We have a long time to
figure out this love triangle we have fallen into. I know you said
January is going to bring a required mating between us, but since
our bond isn’t normal, who’s to say it will actually happen for us?
I am totally good with spending more time together to prepare just
in case, but right now I am hoping it isn’t thrown at us. It’s not
you,” I say putting my hands on his chest. “I am not rushing into
things with Sebastian either and I have had pretty strong feelings
about him for a while now.”

“I hope that isn’t totally my
fault. When you are with him, I don’t feel pain just the same
feelings you guys are experiencing. It’s a little weird, but I
don’t want you abstaining if you don’t want to,” he replies pulling
me in close to him for a hug. I am not sure we are really at the
hugging stage, but for now, I let it pass.

“I will admit that finding out you
would share the encounter with us is a little creepy, but that
isn’t the main reason. I like to be my own woman. Sebastian has
always been important to me, but I didn’t used to see him more than
once a month. Now I have two guys connected to me and I am feeling
a little smothered. Not that you guys are actually doing anything
wrong, it’s just my life has totally changed and it is going to
take some time to settle into the new routine,” I
explain.