At sunset, Beleth relented and stopped throwing me in the air. "We must eat."
I was ready for a big bowl of pasta, but instead I got a blood pack.
Sadly, it smelled so good it made me drool, but I held it out to him. "I can't." Never mind I'd taken Sam's blood. This couldn't become a thing.
"It will give you strength and help you heal. Drink."
"I understand, but I don't want to get addicted. I don't want to go through what I did before. It nearly killed me and ruined my life with Sam."
Beleth drained his pouch of blood and tossed it aside. "You already are addicted. You have to learn to control it, and to do that, you must drink so that the bloodlust never takes over."
Bloodlust. Great. I rip open the bag and drain it, reluctantly enjoying the coppery richness flowing down my throat.
Beleth nodded in approval. "Now, I'll show you how to hunt, so you can get blood yourself whenever you need it."
"No way. That's my line and I'm not crossing it. I refuse to kill unless I must."
"Do you eat meat?" he asked.
"I became a vegetarian after I lost my powers. My new abilities made eating meat… difficult."
"You must learn to hunt, son. Even if you don't rely on it as your main source of blood, you have to know how to protect yourself and feed yourself or you will be at great risk."
"I'm sorry, I can't."
He sighed and stared at the night sky. "We will train again tomorrow."
I woke to a strong wind. We were higher up on a rock formation than we'd been last night.
Beleth held out a live rabbit, white with grey ears. "We're trying something new today."
"I told you, I won't kill unless I have to."
"Good," said Beleth. Then he dropped the rabbit over the cliff. "Let it fall, or catch it. It's up to you whether it lives or dies."
"Shit." I didn't think, just jumped off the cliff, knowing Beleth wouldn't let me die.
I fell fast, the wind cold against my skin, but the rabbit fell faster and I couldn't catch up. I needed my wings. Trying to push myself, I willed myself faster, harder, feeling the wind on my back, through my body, connecting with every part of myself.
And then I felt it. Pain in my back, like my bones were growing and stabbing out from my skin. I pushed harder and my speed increased. More and more. Faster and faster. I could see the rabbit through misty white clouds. It was falling but I was now moving faster. I felt the wings moving through parts of my body I didn't have before, extensions of myself I didn't have time to look at but could feel moving out of me.
The ground came for us, moving faster as I did.
I gave one last push, grabbing the rabbit and curling my body around it just as I crashed into the earth and everything went black.
When I woke, a new kind of pain greeted me. My back ached and shoulders burned. I looked around and saw Beleth playing with the rabbit.
"You're the devil," I said, smiling—then wincing as I tried to sit up.
Beleth grinned. "Your love of life is a weakness, but every weakness can be a strength. You reminded me of that."
"I'm learning pretty fast, aren't I?"
Beleth let the rabbit run free, and his smile disappeared. "Don't get cocky. Tonight, we fight again."
THIRTEEN
Strongly Loves
ROSE
Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves!
— William Shakespeare, Othello
I LEFT MY shifting class with Talon, excited that I came closer to 'getting it.' With thoughts split between the computer design class I was about to teach and the shifting I'd been working so hard at, I didn't hear Ocean walk up behind me and pull my ponytail.
"Ouch!" I turned and smacked her arm. "Bitch."
She grinned, her copper hair gleaming in the sun, green eyes mischievous as always.
I hugged her hard. "I've missed you. Seems like I haven't seen or talked to you in forever."
She frowned, linking arms with me as we walked back to the mansion. "I know. I'm sorry. I've been working with IPI."
"How is it? Still trying to decide if you want to take up their offer to join?"
"Yeah. I'm not sure. I love the idea, but it's so… rigid, with all these rules and shit. Not sure it's my thing."
"What will you do instead? Stay here?" A girl could hope.
She pinched my arm. "Nah, this place isn't for me either. But we're family. I'll always come back."
We passed Derek's martial arts class, which had doubled in size with Bishop Alaric and Paul teaching half of it. "When did Alaric start working with the kids?" Seeing him sparring and taking time to work one-on-one with students was… shocking.
"I don't know. That man surprises me sometimes."
I waved to Derek, who smiled at me. We weren't fighting anymore, not really, but we still hadn't had time to talk.
"Uh-oh, trouble in paradise?" Ocean always could read my moods.
I told her about Ryder.