Gauntlet Rite of Ascension (24 page)

              “Are you going to stand there all day marveling at the wonders of the forest, or are you gonna come get me?” She said with a mischievous smile.

              I narrowed my focus on her. It wasn’t a hardship. She stood in an easy stance, her hand resting on the pommel of her Spanish style sword. She wore a tight black tee shirt that was cut low in front, showing just enough cleavage to draw the eye. Her shirt was short enough to expose her lower abdomen and her pants were low on her hips letting that space just above the belt but below the navel show. Her legs were on display in her tight jeans and as she shifted her weight it did marvelous things to her shape and the contours of her stomach.

              It was all a distraction, an attempt at drawing me towards her sexual appeal and causing me to lose focus on the task at hand. A month ago I wouldn’t have been able to take my eyes off of her, but now things had changed. I wasn’t as easily distracted and I smiled right back at her, making her think her ploy had worked as I made a point at looking at all of her glorious womanliness.

              In the second I took my eyes off her in a serious way and started looking at her like she was a piece of meat, she attacked.

              I was not unprepared; in fact, it was exactly what I wanted her to do. If she could try to use her feminine appeal to weaken my focus, I could use them to make her think she had succeeded.

              She was fast, faster than Abaddon, but he was far more powerful and could anticipate most moves, making her speed less of a factor.

              As she came in, I acted surprised. Her smile deepened as she thought I was caught flat-footed. At the last second before she reached me, I dropped and kicked out, connecting with her knee. I heard it buckle and she let out a satisfying grunt of pain as her charge faltered and she fell.

              I heard a deep growl come from her as her knee realigned and healed.

              “Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t think you’re gorgeous, but I’m not some kid to be dazzled by a pair of boobs, no matter how nice they are.” I said.

              “Well, let’s see how mature you really are. Shall we?” She said.

              When she fell after I kicked her knee she landed on all fours. She never got up while her knee healed and it was from this position that she came at me again. This time there was no distraction, no attempt at subterfuge. The ferocity of her assault took me by surprise, but I defended against her blade with my gauntlets. She came at me with a series of strikes, each one powerful and fast. I was forced back as she pressed me with her sword.

              Normally I would have started panicking. My brain would be furiously working out what I had to do next or where I could go. It would have actually gotten in the way of my body and I would have stumbled somehow and Katrina would find my weakness and exploit it.

              That didn’t happen this time. I let her attacks come, but didn’t really analyze it so much as let my body do the thinking. She was extremely skilled and her attacks were disciplined and efficient. She wasn’t sloppy and it took all I had to counter her sword. I waited, like a wolf who stalks a deer. The deer may be fast and strong, but during the hunt all it takes is one misstep to gain the upper hand. Ideally, you want your prey to be weak or sick, but when your prey is strong and dangerous you have to pick your attack carefully.

              I let her move me around the area, she never relinquished and I went with her, letting her think she had me on the defensive. We moved around the space and every once in a while I would block and then try an offensive maneuver, to keep her from suspecting my tactic.

              She was so good and skilled it took a long time for my opportunity to arise. Even though we are werewolves and had enhanced abilities, it all revolved around the strength of our will. We were only as strong as our minds.

              She swung a powerful backhand slash at my neck and I stumbled on a root that poked out of the hardened earth. I saw a gleam in her eyes as her eagerness to finish our fight pushed her to make her one and only mistake.

              I twisted my ankle and found purchase where it appeared I had stumbled. Katrina made a quick and sloppy stab for my chest, but I had already started moving in. I took one powerful step inside her thrust and while she was lunged out in an attempt to skewer me, I came inside her range and with the power of the Beast punched her one time in her chest and sent her flying out of the arena into a small bush.

              I heard a deep snarl and a few seconds later the bush exploded as Katrina in her Beast form flew from the foliage with murder in her eyes.

              This time I was taken off guard and she closed the distance between us and hit me hard.

              We went down together and she raked my chest and arms with her claws. Her impact threw me onto my back and as I rolled over I kicked Katrina off of me. She landed on her feet and crouched on all fours, preparing for another charge.

              She left her sword somewhere in the bushes which meant this had turned from a weapons lesson into a test of skill with tooth and claws, fine by me.

              She launched at me again and I willed my body to change. She hit me before I could finish and again was able to bring her claws to bear and stinging pain screamed from where she used them.

              Our sparring session quickly became a down and dirty struggle for survival, she bit and scraped, I hit and clawed. We wrestled and fought on the forest floor. It was nasty and not the least bit civilized.

              I was able to get on top of her and pin her arms down, using the power of my Beast I forced her attacks to stop and when she lunged forward with her mouth attempting to bite me I head butted her. I had to do it several times before the lesson set in and she realized I had beaten her.

              I had used more of the Beast than I had intentioned to get her under my control and it rose in me, driving me to lean down and clamp on her neck. It pushed me to end her struggles like was the wont of prey. I saw myself do it, I saw my jaw close on her neck, cutting off her air and severing her artery. I imagined the warm salty sweetness of her life’s blood as it filled my mouth and I caught myself an inch from her exposed neck.

              I inhaled deeply, relishing her scent and realized I had come a hairsbreadth from killing her.

              “ENOUGH!” Abaddon commanded from a few feet away.

              The power of authority filled his voice and I was startled out of my thoughts and back into the situation at hand.

              Katrina lay perfectly still, unable to break my grasp and presenting a form that was void of fight, hoping to still the Beasts urges within me.

              Understanding how close it had been, I quickly got up and put distance between her and myself.

              She reverted back into human form and got up walking into the bushes to retrieve the clothes she had left there. I had a hard time averting my eyes as the sight of her bare flesh sent a wave of pleasure through me.

              Abaddon stared at me without flinching, accusation in his eyes.

              “I wasn’t going to hurt her.” I said, knowing what he was thinking.

              “You were thinking about it.” He said.

              “Yeah, I was, but I didn’t.” I answered.

              “The Beast is close isn’t it? You feel its power now more than you have in a long time, don’t you?” He asked.

              I didn’t trust myself to speak so I just nodded my head up and down.

              “Good. Prepare yourself.” He said.

              “Wha?” I sputtered as he strode towards me with two very sharp and very silver swords.

              He came in with purpose and full of offense. I began parrying his attacks and we fell into an almost easy rhythm. As we sparred he began asking me questions.

              “We left the loft and moved out here to try and investigate what has been happening, what is the status?” He said, while trying to get an opening in my defense.

              “Max has been able to sift through the false internet stories and narrow his focus on actual attacks that meet the vampire’s particular effects.” I said.

              “And?” He asked.

              “And we have determined that they are operating in a wide expansive area. Their victims have been found in a very spread out pattern that has given us no clues as to what they may be doing other than feeding.” I said.

              “So we are no closer to figuring out what Vicktor and the Lord are doing?” He asked.

              His thrusts and swipes had slowly started increasing in speed and strength, making it harder for me to concentrate while giving him the answers to his questions.

              “We know the vampires have been taking people from all walks of life and ethnic variations. We know they have been very careful in their killings in order to keep them spread out. We know they are varying their method of death so they don’t leave all their corpses a dried out husk. We just don’t know what they are planning or doing.” I said.

              “So what do we need?” Abaddon asked.

              He began concentrating on lower attacks and I had to adjust my tactics in order to keep my legs from being cut off.

              “We need more information. We are at a standstill and need a way to get a better understanding at what they are doing.” I said.

              “How?” Abaddon asked.

              Again, he increased his speed and ferocity of his assault.

              I struggled to keep up, but managed.

              “We need someone on the inside or some help from members of the Pack that may have the Intel we need.” I said.

              “But?” Abaddon asked.

              “But we can’t just stroll in and start asking questions without tipping our hand; we need a reason to go there, something that will keep them from suspecting why we are really there.” I said.

              “How?” Abaddon asked.

              Before I could answer he again made his offense more aggressive. I had to focus completely on his attack to keep his silver blades from connecting. I had no doubt that he would if given a chance.

              I needed more room to keep his blades at bay. With a push of will I extended my own blades and with the added reach was able to keep a small amount of space in between us.

              I hoped this change in dynamic would give me a break from his attack so that I could maneuver myself into a better position, but Abaddon had other ideas.

              I watched in dismay as he shifted forms and I had to fight him as he possessed greater speed, agility and strength.

              I knew my only hope was to concentrate entirely on the fight and I willed my Beast to give me the strength, speed and instinct needed to keep up with Abaddon’s swords.

              Our fighting quickly became a blur as his swords came at me faster and faster. In order to keep myself from being struck I tapped deeper and deeper into the Beast and pulled from its energy more and more.

              Soon I was nothing but pure instinct, operating on a level I never had before. I hadn’t even realized it, but the Beast was almost solely at the helm. I had the knowledge of how to fight, but it had the instincts.

              I fought with Abaddon like that for what seemed like hours, our weapons flying at each other faster than could be followed. Sparks would occasionally erupt from the metal of our blades as our fight intensified.

              I knew Abaddon wasn’t going to give me an easy opening. I had been fighting him long enough to know that he hardly, ever made a mistake. If I was going to successfully win this hunt it was going to take patience and willpower.

              I willed myself to keep patient as our battle went on and on, neither of us showing any decline in our strength or lessening in our aggression.

              I lost track of time and at some point understood that if something didn’t change, we would be fighting like this for days.

              My fighting skills had increased enormously since the first day Abaddon kicked my ass. He still always beat me but it had begun taking longer and longer. He had me start sparring with Katrina so I wouldn’t get too comfortable with fighting just him, but I soon advanced past her skills.

              I had never lasted this long against Abaddon and I knew he wasn’t holding anything back. I had fought with him too much and could tell when he did. Today he sure as hell didn’t.

              I also had never willed myself into pushing the Beast to aid me as hard as I did today. My vision began to get red around the edges and it narrowed in its focus so that all I could see was Abaddon and his swords. I knew what was around me from the input of my other senses, but it wasn’t something I consciously focused on, it was just an innate knowledge my heightened awareness gave me.

              I felt and heard more than saw when Abaddon over extended a thrust and gave me the opening I had been waiting on.