Skye Morrison Vampire 2 Sins of the Father (19 page)

“Oh, good,” Archer said as I walked into the
kitchen to get a bottle of water. “You’re finally awake.” He was
standing at the kitchen island drinking from a tall glass of warm
blood.

“Yep,” I said as I nodded my head and walked
over to the refrigerator. “Where is everyone?”

“They’re out running errands.”

“Oh,” I said digging around in the fridge for
the water. “You acted glad that I was awake, did you need
something?”

He downed the rest of his glass and had me
throw him another bag of blood. “You have training today,” he said
as he placed the bag in the microwave and hit start.

“Right now?” I ask in a bit of a whine. I had
really been looking forward to my run on the lake shore this
morning.

“Yes, right now,” Archer said as he chuckled.
“Hagan said he would help train you. I strongly advise that you
take him up on it. He’s one of the best fighters
An Dílis
has and certainly the best fighter YOU will ever meet.”

I bit my bottom lip and sighed, resigning
myself to the inevitable. I’ve learned that Archer gets whatever he
wants, so there’s no point in arguing with him. I’d just lose.
“Alright, I guess I can go running afterward. So, where are we
doing this…in your office?”

Archer got his bag of blood out of the
microwave and signaled me with his hand to follow him. I grabbed my
bottle of water and trailed after him. We walked through the
archway in the foyer and stopped by the west staircase. I watched
as he hit a few numbers on a small keypad and when he was done,
part of the wall popped open. My jaw must have dropped because
Archer laughed. He pushed the hidden door open and I followed him
in and down some concrete stairs.

There were grunting sounds coming from below
us and a constant metal-on-metal clanking sound. When we got to the
bottom of the stairs, I was shocked to find a massive basement that
was almost the length of the entire house. I looked around and saw
sparing mats, crash pads, targets, kick shields, focus mitts,
punching bags, gloves, staffs, swords, shillelaghs, and a veritable
playground of other goodies.

“Son of a bitch!” I said with a huge happy
smile as I lightly smacked Archer on the arm. “You’ve been holding
out on me, old man.”

He laughed as I glanced around trying to
figure out what I wanted to play with first. I saw Hagan across the
room and he was in the middle of a fast, fierce sword fight with
Trey. My jaw dropped as I watched them spar. It was beautiful the
way their bodies moved and responded to threats. They were
incredibly fast, skilled, and absolutely lethal with a sword. I had
never seen anything like it before in my life. Not even in the
movies.

“They’re beautiful,” I unconsciously
whispered in awe.

“Trey is still learning,” Archer said and I
looked up at him with wide eyes.

“You’re kidding, right? He’s amazing. How
could he possibly be still learning?”

As if on cue, Trey screeched loudly as
Hagan’s sword cut his arm. “Oh, fudge! That really smarts!” Trey
whined, dropping the sword as he put pressure on his deltoid with
his opposite hand.

I quickly jogged over to Trey and took his
arm in my hand. “Let me see how bad it is, honey,” I said as I
pulled his hand away. I watched in amazement as the deep gash on
his arm slowly knit back together. The only evidence of his injury
was the bit of blood that had spilled. “What the…”

Trey chuckled and took his arm back. “Never
seen one of us heal before? It’s a sight to see, isn’t it? It
doesn’t take but a few seconds; it is rather unpleasant,
though.”

“Wow,” I said taking a step back as Archer
joined us. “That was so cool!”

Hagan put his sword down and walked over.
“You’re not supposed to lower your weapon in the middle of battle,
Hatfield,” he rumbled deeply. “Injuries WILL happen, son. Your
opponent will not give you a time out to attend to them. Fight
through it. Channel your pain into your attack.”

“Yes, sir,” Trey said respectfully as he
bowed his head. “Sorry, sir.”

Hagan slapped his back with one hand. “Good
man.”

Archer looked at Hagan and nodded his head in
my direction. “This is Skye Morrison. She is the one I was telling
you about earlier. I’d like you to work on
Scianóireacht
and
Gráscar Lámh
today if you don’t mind.”

Hagan inclined his head to Archer. “You’re
human,” he said, finally turning and addressing me.

I shrugged one shoulder and smiled. “Last
time I checked. Is that going to be a problem?”

Hagan smirked and raised an eyebrow. “We’ll
see. I’ve never trained a human before.”

Archer motioned for Trey to follow him out of
the basement. “Try not to hurt her, Hagan. Our healer is not
home.”

“Aye, sir,” he said and turned to put his and
Trey’s sword away on the wall while they went back upstairs.

I sat down on the floor and started
stretching. “So, what are we going to work on first?”

Hagan turned to me after a second and I saw
he had an eight inch silver dagger in his hand.
“
Scianóireacht
,” he said plainly, watching me stretch.

“That’s pretty and all, but I don’t speak
Gaelic, so you’re going to have to repeat that in English for me,”
I said a little annoyed but trying my best not to show it. It was
really difficult being around people who insisted on talking in
languages I didn’t understand. I mean, I could speak a little
French, Spanish, and German…enough to order a beer, find the
bathroom, or ask for a taxi, but that was pretty much the extent of
my vocabulary. Gaelic had never even entered my universe until last
week.

Hagan crossed his arms across his massively
muscular chest and said something in Gaelic under his breath.
“
Scianóireacht
means knife arts,” he said glaring at me.
“You should learn our language, Morrison. I don’t like repeating
myself.”

I pursed my lips and got up off the floor.
“Sorry. But I’ve only been working for Archer a week. Cut me a
little slack, bro,” I said as I bent into a Revolved
Downward-Facing Dog Yoga pose and stretched deeply.

Hagan scoffed. “Bro? Did you seriously just
call me Bro? I’m 900 years old.”

I looked up at him and smiled. “Okay, gotcha.
Nixing the Bro,” I said with a chuckle. “I’m sure I’ll pick up some
phrases and words after a few years of being around you guys, just
not any time soon, okay? So, let’s just stick with English, shall
we?” I asked as I maneuvered my body into an Intense Side Stretch
pose.

Hagen cracked a smile and shook his head.
“What on earth are you doing, Morrison?”

I felt my brow furrow. “What? It’s
Yoga…haven’t you ever seen it? It stretches the body perfectly. I
do a little of it before any physical activity. You should try it
sometime,” I finished with a smile.

He laughed and shook his head. “I don’t think
I could get my body to bend like that even if I tried.”

I slowly finished in a Standing Forward Bend
pose and stood up. “Alright Sensei, let’s do this shall we?” I
asked with a clap of my hands.

Hagan walked closer to me and held up the
silver dagger. “This, Morrison, is one of the few things that can
actually kill a vampire,” he said as he handed it to me. I took it
in my hand and looked it over. It was made of silver and had a
gorgeous green stone inlay on the handle. The blade was light but
the handle was sturdy. I gripped it in my right hand and tested the
weight.

“How does it feel?” Hagan asked, watching me
closely.

“It feels…good,” I said a bit surprised.
“It’s the perfect weight.”

“I thought so,” he said with a smirk. “Now,
come at me.”
My brow furrowed in confusion. “What? What do you mean come at
you?” I asked nervously. “You want me to attack you…with this
thing? But, I’ve only really studied defensive techniques before.
I’m not sure what to do.”

Hagan smirked. “Just attack me. Do what feels
naturally to you. I just want to see what your strengths are and
what your weaknesses are.”

I bit the inside of my bottom lip and looked
down at the dagger in my hand. “But it’s real. I’m afraid I’ll hurt
you.”

Hagan threw his head back and laughed.
“That’s not going to happen, Morrison. I bet you couldn’t even get
close to me with that thing. You are a human, after all…and a
girl,” he chauvinistically smirked.

I clenched my teeth together and squeezed the
handle on the dagger. I was so tired of men thinking that women
were weak. I had been dealing with that stereotypical bullshit for
years. Men in my Krav Maga class would always go easy on me when we
sparred. I didn’t want easy, I wanted fair…I wanted a challenge. It
had taken me a full year to show them that I was just as strong and
skilled as they were and they finally got the message.

I pursed my lips and zeroed in on him. He was
standing with his arms folded across his broad chest and he looked
completely relaxed.
Well, show him what you’ve got
.
If
you cut him, he’ll heal, right
?
He’s a vampire after
all
.
Man up and attack him
! I swallowed hard and
prepared myself. The silent pep talk had helped very little.

I flipped the dagger around in my hand, blade
down, and attacked Hagan. I slashed at his chest and he immediately
grabbed my wrist, twisted it, and moved around to hold it behind my
back. I cried out in temporary pain as he brought my arm up too
high and my shoulder threatened to dislocate.

Hagan quickly loosened his hold and
apologized. “Are you okay?” he asked concerned, his body pressed up
against my backside.

I took a deep breath and pushed back with my
hips, simultaneously elbowing him in the throat, twisting my arm
out of his grasp and whirled around. My knife grazed his chest as I
spun and it sliced his shirt open. Hagan looked down at the torn
fabric, growled and attacked me this time.

I started to panic and he seemed to come at
me in slow motion. I did the first thing I could think of and I
kicked out his knee as I slashed at his chest again with my knife.
He didn’t go down like I anticipated and we ended up furiously
grappling with our hands. Thank God for all my Krav Maga training,
because I had needed every inch of it to keep up with his fists of
fury. After about three whole minutes, I got lucky and ended up
breaking through his defense as I slashed his hands with the blade
of the dagger, eventually stabbing him in the chest. He silently
bent forward as the knife impacted.

“Oh shit! Oh fuck!” I said as I covered my
mouth, pulled the tip of the knife out, and stepped back. “Are you
okay? I’m so sorry, Hagan. I didn’t mean to.”

Hagan groaned and stood up straight. One
severely cut up hand covered the chest wound as he took a deep
breath. “That hurt,” he said as I watched the cuts on his hand
heal. “You only got two inches into me, but that was enough. Silver
burns.”

I set the knife down on a nearby folding
chair and grabbed a towel off the back of it. I took my water
bottle, quickly wet a corner of the towel, and went back over to
Hagan. “Let me see your hands,” I said as I reached down to grab
ahold of one.

Hagan jerked his hand back and scowled at me.
“What do you think you are doing?” he growled.

I pursed my lips and looked up into his eyes.
“I’m just going to clean the blood off you.”

He scoffed and took a step back. “I’m a
warrior, Morrison. I don’t need your help.”

I rolled my eyes and took another step
forward. “Oh, shut up Hagan. I’m not doing it for you; I’m doing it
for me. I don’t want your blood getting all over my outfit,” I lied
easily as I roughly grabbed his hand and started to wipe the mess
off. When I was done with his hands, I tentatively reached for his
shirt and started lifting it up. He growled lowly, obviously not
happy to have me fussing over him, but I told him to hush as I
examined the healing wound below his heart.

“You almost got me,” Hagan said as I gently
wiped the blood from the two spots on his chest. “You’re really
fast. I didn’t anticipate that.”

“I’m sorry I stabbed you,” I said, watching
his skin knit back together as I wiped around it. “You said attack
and I did. I didn’t think I’d be able to outmaneuver you. I almost
gave up, but it was pissing me off.” I looked up into his eyes and
he was watching me closely. “You know, girls can do anything that
guys can do. Not all of us are delicate little flowers. Some of us
can actually kick some ass when we need to.”

He chuckled and smiled crookedly. “I know. I
was just trying to anger you. I could tell you were afraid of
hurting me and I didn’t want you to think about that. I wanted you
mad so that you’d attack me the way you would in an actual
fight.”

I smiled a small smile. “I think it worked,”
I said as I cleaned the last bit of blood off his chiseled abs.

He smirked and placed a finger under my chin,
tilting my eyes up to meet his mocha ones. “I underestimated you,
Morrison. I won’t make that mistake again.”

I opened my mouth to reply but was
immediately thrown into a headlock. This lead to two hours of hard
core ground fighting, triangle chokes, defensive blocking,
grappling, and elbow strikes to the face. There were a few
instructional moves and holds taught, but mostly I just got my ass
handed to me. By the time we were done, both of us were sweating
profusely and I was breathing hard.

“Damn,” I said to Hagan as I grabbed a clean
towel and dabbed my face with it. “That was harder than I thought
it was going to be. You completely kicked my ass.”

He laughed and grabbed a towel of his own.
“You held your own, though. You’re a tough son of a bitch,
Morrison, I’ll give you that. I didn’t expect that when I agreed to
train you.”

I chuckled as I fixed my lopsided ponytail.
“I surprised myself a few times,” I said as I took a seat on the
mat and grabbed my water bottle. “The guys in my Krav Maga class
would have never manhandled me the way you did today. I love it.
Training with you is actually challenging…and freakin’ scary!”
Hagan chuckled as I chugged down the contents of my bottle. “When
can we do it again?” I asked eagerly.