Emblazed (20 page)

“Yeah, that totally throws me off. I can be in the zone and then an Earth Elemental
comes and fucks it all up,” Brielle commented.

“I have to admit, I really hate Air attacks. Maybe Brielle or Kiera can attack us
so that we can practice defensive techniques since that’s a common weakness among
us,” I suggested.

“I think Brie should do it since her Air is stronger. Plus, since she has power over
all the Elements, she is better able to defend herself against attacks, and doesn’t
need as much practice as the rest of us,” Kiera said.

Brielle shrugged as she said, “Works for me.”

“Okay, first, we can work individually with Brie. Then, we can work as a group defending
her attacks. Zane, you go first,” I instructed.

Kimber, Kiera, and I positioned ourselves on one end of the backyard while Brielle
and Zane stood in the middle. “Okay, Brie, go ahead and attack Zane. Zane, you’re
strictly working on evasive and defensive. Do not attack Brie or I’m going to have
to kick your ass,” I directed.

Kimber snorted at my threat as Brielle and Zane got into defensive stances. Zane asked,
“Go easy on me, okay?”

Brielle nodded with a smile before launching her assault, throwing Zane backwards
through the air about ten feet. He landed on his ass with a grunt as I teased, “Already,
bro? I thought you would last a little longer than that.”

Zane hopped back up as Brielle threw another blast of air. He sidestepped, but Brielle’s
Air still managed to graze him and knock him slightly off-balance.

“Keep moving,” I shouted, noticing that it was harder for Brie to hit him when he
moved around.

Zane did as I advised, constantly moving as Brielle tried to target him. He even threw
in a few ground rolls to dodge her attacks before he started getting tired. When Brielle
hit him again, sending him flying and landing with a thud, I stopped the exercise.

“Okay, baby, that’s good for now.”

Brielle relaxed before going over to help Zane up. They both walked over to me as
Zane attempted to catch his breath.

When they reached me, I informed them of what I noticed, “It looks like it was harder
for Brie to hit you when you were moving. Was it harder for you, Brie?”

“Yeah, it was definitely harder to target him when he was moving,” Brielle replied.

“The only problem with that is it’s also tiring for me to be running around without
stopping. I assume that that would be a common problem for all of us,” Zane added.

The others nodded their agreement. Zane had a point; we would get tired much faster
than our opponents if we were running around nonstop trying to dodge Air Elemental
attacks. “I think the only way that we can fix that problem is to build stamina and
speed. The best way to effectively strengthen both of those is running.”

Brielle and Kimber groaned before Kimber cursed, “I fucking hate running.”

“Well, you better get used to the idea. From now on, I want us to run either every
morning or every night until this whole thing is over. We’ll start with a mile, and
then increase as everyone progresses,” I stated.

“The bag can also help build stamina,” Zane added as he gestured to the punching bag.
“And it will help with hand-to-hand combat techniques.”

“Great point. We can take turns working on the bag every day, too. Today, we’ll do
one more exercise with Kiera and Brie defending against Zane’s Earth, run a mile,
and then we can be done for the day. We can practice more on defending against Air
attacks tomorrow, since we figured out the main problem already,” I concluded.

Kiera, Brie, and Zane returned to the middle of the backyard while Kimber and I observed.
The ground shook, knocking both girls on their asses.

Zane laughed, “That’s for earlier.”

Brielle flipped him off as she stood and helped Kiera up. Zane resumed shaking the
ground, and both girls braced themselves using each other for stability, which seemed
to help. They looked at each other and nodded, and then both threw out a hand towards
Zane. The ground stopped shaking as he was thrown backwards on his ass again.

I laughed as I said, “I think Zane’s had enough for today. You just can’t win, bro.”

He shook his head as he stood back up. We all joined back in the middle as I speculated,
“So far it looks like the best defense against an Earth Elemental attack is to eliminate
the Elemental. Using one another for support was a smart tactic, but I don’t think
it would last in the long run. Tomorrow, we’ll work some more on that, too. Any questions?”
When no one spoke, I asked, “Ready to run?”

Everyone groaned their response. We each grabbed a water bottle before setting off
towards the beach to run.

Once we finished with our run, everyone was pretty exhausted. Kimber, Kiera, and I
didn’t exercise often, so we had to stop a few times to catch our breath and drink
water. Jace and Zane were both in excellent shape, given they both had trained regularly
before meeting us, so they had no problem running.

We decided to run at night since us girls were definitely not morning people. I sure
as hell wasn’t going to wake up at the ass-crack of dawn to run. I’d much rather sleep,
especially since sleep was becoming a rarity for me.

I decided to make spaghetti and meatballs with salad for dinner, something quick and
simple since we had such a long, tiring day.

Zane and Kimber decided to stay and eat with us, so they wouldn’t have to worry about
dinner once they got home. Kiera excused herself to retreat to her room after barely
touching anything on her plate.

I looked at Jace as I said, “I’m going to go check on her. It’s been a hard couple
of days.”

I stood and made my way to Kiera’s room, the door of which was slightly open. I peeked
in and asked, “Can I come in?”

Kiera was curled up on the small loveseat in her room with her head buried in between
her knees, and her arms wrapped tightly around her legs. I immediately went to her
side and draped my arms around her, hugging her close to me as I tried to comfort
her while she cried.

“Everything’s going to be okay, Kiera. We’ll get through this.”

“You don’t know that! Everyone agreed that he might come back for me to get to you
again,” she sobbed.

“I don’t think he will. I think he’s getting impatient, and won’t risk taking you
again because of what happened with Persephone.”

“You’re protected here. I’m not. He’ll come back for me, and it’s all because of you!”
Kiera accused.

I already felt guilty for what happened, and she twisted the knife in my heart with
her statement. I hated that I couldn’t protect my family, especially when they were
used against me so often.

“I’m … I’m sorry, Kiera. I never meant for this to happen. I never asked for any of
this,” I mumbled apologetically.

Her head snapped up before she angrily swiped the tears off her face. “Well, we all
have to suffer because of you, while you remain unharmed because you’re so special.”

Wow, that was a slap in the face.
Tears began to rim my eyes from her harsh words. I knew she was just upset, but that
didn’t make her words less true. I put everyone around me in danger constantly, and
that was something I needed to change. I let go of her and stood before heading for
the door.

I turned back as I apologized again, “I’m sorry, Kiera. I really am.”

She said nothing, so I took her silence as my cue to leave. Jace was standing in the
hallway just outside Kiera’s door, and I figured he was waiting for me because he
could feel my hurt and sadness.

“Where’s Kimber and Zane?” I asked, attempting to avoid discussing my conversation
with Kiera.

“They left. What’s wrong,
mi amante
? You can’t hide your feelings from me. I know you’re upset.”

The tears that I had been holding back spilled over as I sputtered, “Kiera blames
me for what happened.”

“Baby, it’s not your fault. She’s just upset. She didn’t mean it,” Jace said as he
pulled me into his embrace.

“Hermes took her because of me. How is that not my fault?”

“You can’t control his actions. You didn’t mean for any of this to happen, and you
can’t blame yourself.”

That was easy for him to say. People weren’t in danger because of him. People didn’t
get hurt because of him.

“
Mi amante
, stop. Don’t think that way. We all need you to be strong.”

He was right, I needed to be strong. Actually, I needed to be stronger, and I knew
just where I could start. “Will you show me some moves on the bag?”

Jace gave me a concerned look as he replied, “You’ve had a pretty tiring day. Maybe
you should get some rest.”

“I need to relieve some stress, Jace. I’ve heard punching bags are a good way to do
that.”

“That’s true, they definitely are. I’ll just show you a few moves, for now. Let me
wrap your hands first and see if I have some sparring gloves that will fit you,” Jace
said as he headed towards the stairs.

I cleaned up the dishes from dinner, finishing a few minutes before Jace came back
downstairs. “I found some gloves from back when I first started training in middle
school—I think that they’ll fit you.”

“You kept gloves from that long ago?” I questioned.

“They were my first pair; they remind me of where I started. I guess I’m somewhat
sentimental,” he shrugged.

I smiled at his endearing response as he walked up to me. He reached out his hands
to take mine before wrapping them with some black athletic tape and slipping on the
gloves, which surprisingly fit pretty well.

“They’re pretty worn, but that’s a good thing—you don’t have to break them in,” Jace
commented as he led me out into the backyard.

I was so excited. I could definitely use practice in fighting techniques, and there
were a few Gods that I could easily visualize while working with the bag.

“I don’t want to do too much since we just ate, so we’ll work on basic punches and
kicks,” Jace stated when we reached the bag.

I eagerly nodded, ready to begin as I positioned myself in the fighting stance Jace
had taught me when we first started training.

Smiling proudly, he positioned himself in the same stance next to me. “Remember when
you’re not punching or using your Elements, your hands need to be up like this, protecting
your face. Do you remember any of the techniques I showed you when we began training?”

Jace had briefly shown me some punches and kicks, but we didn’t spend much time practicing
them because we had to focus on developing my Elements.

“Somewhat, we didn’t practice them that much,” I recalled.

“True. I’ll give you a little refresher. This is a jab,” he stated as he punched the
bag straight with his right fist. He hooked his left arm around before hitting the
bag on the side and saying, “That was a hook. Now, you try. Right jab first, then
a left hook.”

I did as Jace instructed, but not as graceful or powerful as he had.

“Again,” he instructed.

I repeated the combo again, and several more times, per Jace’s instructions, before
he said, “Okay, now we can add some elbows in there. The elbow is one of the strongest
bones in the body, and can do some serious damage to someone’s face. Bring your right
elbow up, and then send it down into the punching bag as hard as you can.”

Once again, I did as he requested, forcefully hitting the bag with my elbow.

Jace praised, “Good, now add the jab and hook before the elbow.”

We worked on that combo a few more times before Jace added in a left elbow and two
right knee hits. I carried out that series a few times, breaking out in a slight sweat
before Jace decided that we should call it a night. Draping his arm over my shoulder,
Jace led me back into the house as I removed the gloves and unwrapped my hands.

I needed to take a shower since I hadn’t been able to earlier. Jace had already taken
one while I was cooking dinner, so he watched TV downstairs while I showered.

As I was rinsing my hair, Hermes appeared in the shower with me, causing me to yelp
in surprise. I knew that he wasn’t going to listen to Persephone’s threat, but I hadn’t
expected him to come so soon.

As I was about to yell for Jace, Hermes shoved me against the tile and clamped his
hand over my mouth, muffling my cries. His naked body crushed mine, pressing his erection
against my stomach.

Jace, help me! Hermes is in the shower with me!

He didn’t answer, but I felt his anger and fear rise, so I knew he’d be there within
seconds. Even though he was coming, I didn’t want to wait around like some damsel
in distress. I used what Jace had taught me earlier, slamming my right elbow into
Hermes’ face. Then, I fluidly brought my knee up into his groin twice, causing him
to grab himself and fall to his knees.

I lit my hands with Akasha as Jace entered the bathroom, his own hands ignited in
flames. Hermes spat blood on the tile floor before threatening, “This isn’t the last
you’ve seen of me. I’ll be back for you.”