Changer's Blood (Balancer's Soul cycle) (27 page)

Sarah
turned to see the two men at the center of the rocky clearing
stand
ing
off
.

Jack
started the match by creating two long whips of
angry looking
fire. Connor stood there and studied this new development. The tw
o whips were each attached to her
father’s hands and they were
blazing a deep
reddish orange
color
. Jack
whipped the twenty foot twin strands of fire back and forth and at the apex of each snap a small ball of fire would escape the ends of the whip. The small balls of fire would only be dangerous at close range because they would dissolve after five yards
or so
.
If one were caught before it fizzled
,
the orb would still incinerate the opponent.
“I
’ve been saving this for a very long time! Let’s see you copy this.”
He
shouted at Connor and for
other’s
to hear.

Sarah’s
husband laughed and instantly made his own whip
without effort
. His single whip was
n’
t only long
er, but burned much more intensely
. He
turned his back to
her
f
ather
,
thr
owing
the whip back and swiftly threw it forward
.
W
hen
the fire whip
cracked the sound barrier
,
a beach ball sized flame shot from the end of the whip and disappeared twenty yards away.
Sarah
could feel him cut the flow to his power and the whip vanished. “Not bad, but it doesn’t feel
all that
accurate!” He shouted to her
stunned father
as he turned back around
.

Sarah
entered
her f
ather
’
s mind for a moment
just to hear what he had to really say
.
This can
’
t be possible. He saw it only once and made it far more powerful than I ever could have. This child has just surpassed my
only
trump card.
She
saw
her
father smile as he wouldn’t accept defeat just yet.

Jack
threw the flaming whips behind him an
d started barreling at Connor. A
s
he
whipped his left arm forward to ensnare his opponent, Connor took to the sky.
Sarah
heard
her
father curse up at Connor as he kept gaining altitude. Connor kept going straight up
without looking back
.
He was on a mission and no one could stop him.
Connor
then
vanished into a low hanging cloud.

“What’s Brother up to?” Kara asked
the
group.

“I got it!” Jillian
stated as she turned to see
Sarah while
smiling
.
H
e did it to Sarah
yesterday
when
they
were practicing outside
.

Sarah
pointed to the cloud. “He’s done. Watch this.”
She
saw the cloud
he entered
quickly began to
disappear
and in it
s place hung
a small dot in the sky.
Connor
was
holding a
gigantic sphere of water he pulled from the cloud.

Connor plummeted to earth with the sphere
twice his own height
. When
Jack
realized what
Connor
had in store
,
it was too late to run away. Connor hurled the water and completely encased
Jack
for a moment before saturating the entire area around him. Connor did what he aimed for; he put out the flaming whips.

Jack
quickly stood up
,
still not ready to
admit defeat
.
He
threw a softball sized sphere of
hungry
fire up at Connor as he still floated in the air. Connor easily dodged the flame
and shot one of his own. Jack
didn’t dodge as
Sarah
expected. He made the fire shield that Connor taught him; he put the shield up
to protect his face
. As Connor’s flame struck the shield it started spinning faster t
o absorb the energy back into her
father.
When the shield absorbed the flame
Jack
lowered his arm away from his face
and then
he froze as he saw Connor.

While flying
,
Connor made the water reform from the saturated ground,
Sarah
then felt him summoning a
third
element.

From a
ll around
,
the ground
,
rocks and dirt started rising
skyward
. As Connor called upon Terra
,
he made the dirt and rocks enter the
wet
sphere
above his head
. He kept forcing more
and more
debris into it until he controlled a gigantic mud ball
three times his
own
size
. “Ready to give up
yet
?”

Jack
fell to his knees in absolute defeat. Connor slowly drifted back to the ground
,
throwing the mud behind him as he touched down.
The impact made the ground shudder.

They
walked back to
the
group,
suddenly laughing. When they arrived
back
Kara blurted “That was the oddest scene. Why are the two of you laughing?”

Jack
then said “He told me he would pay me back for the time I made him trip during our
first
race.
Well he just got his revenge.
”

Wanting to go on
with the tasks Sarah
asked the group “What’s next on the agenda?”
She
placed
her
hand on the hilt of
her
dagger and
handed
Tool back to his rightful owner.

Mark
walk
ed
forward
.
“I’m next. Jack would you like to fight with me?”

Jack
tapped his chin in thought. “Sure Mark. I hav
en’t challenged your kind in
close to
two
centuries.”
Mark
’
s eyes started glowing as
Sarah
watched his hair become armor again. As they walked away Kara suggested
“Let’s all go sit over there.” She pointed to a shade tree.

Connor sat down first followed by Kara
,
after taking her silver longbow off
,
Jillian
sat on her heels
as she watched her mate prepare to fight a Changer
.
Connor wasn’t breathing heavy, but he was breathing slower and
more
deep
ly
.

Sarah
saw how much energy
her
husband expended so
she
decided to give him a little boost.
She
spun on one heel and said directly on his lap
while making sure the
dagger
’s scabbard
didn
’t stab him
. He stared chuckling as
she
shifted
her
bottom
,
trying to get comfortable.
Jillian
didn’t pay any attention to
them
as she saw
her mate getting ready to spar,
golden
eyes intently watched
t
hem
.
Sarah
grabbed his hand and
her hands started glowing as she
gave him some of
her stored
energy.

Kara noticed and asked “Sarah
,
what are you doing?” Sarah turned to see her studying her
glowing hands with childlike innocence.

Sarah
had no reason to lie so
she
told the truth. “We have the ability to transfer
our
extra
energ
ies
to others when they are tired. We have to be touching skin to skin for the exchange.”

Jillian cut in on the
explanation while watching the two men spar. “
Skin
is the operative word.
The more skin that touches
,
the more
stamina
that
can be transferred.
It especially works best when you
’
r
e
naked.” She turned
her eyes to look directly at Sarah
while arching her eyebrow
pro
vocatively
.

Her face flamed and Sarah
entered
her
mother
’
s mind
and began
chastising
“Don’t be such a pervert. She didn’t need to know that
much
!”
Sarah
felt Connor’s mind brushing with
hers
as he eavesdropped, but he didn’t show any ou
t
ward
reaction. His bond with her
explained
that he was just as embarrassed.
All
her m
o
ther did was smile, and before Sarah
pulled
her mind out she
saw a mental picture she made of her future granddaughter.
“Connor
,
it looks like she has been thinking
a
bout it
a
lot
since you put
that suggestion in
her mind.”

“You
’d
have to admit that it was a beautiful baby
,
Princess.
I liked the mixture of blue and green eyes your mother gave her.
”
He did have a point.

Kara went on with another question. “Can
you show me what it feels like…
this energy transfer thing?”

Sarah
sighed
while becoming worried
. “Kara
,
I’m afraid that my powers aren’t honed yet. I could accidently give you too much
for your body to handle
.”

She also sighed saying “That’s too bad.”

Connor
swiftly spoke to
Jillian
while
Sarah
was still transferring
her
energy into him.
“Jillian
,
you did it for me once. Can you show her
for us please
?”

Jillian
smiled at his faith in her
.
S
he scooted closer to Kara
until they were almost thigh to thigh.
She
gently rested the palm of her left
hand on Kara’s
exposed
thigh. Sarah
could feel her transferring energy without making her hand glow.
Her mother
truly was the best
option
.
Kara said in awe as she looked at her thigh “Wow that feels great. It feels
so
warm
.”

Jillian
took her hand off and smiled “Now imagine that feeling all over your naked body.”

Sarah
yelled “Mother!” but
it
was drowned out by Kara
’s robust laughter.
Sarah
could
feel embarrassed again, but
Connor also
started laughing.
Her
flamed face was all that could be seen of
Sarah’s embarrassment.