Changer's Blood (Balancer's Soul cycle) (33 page)

When he settled down he continued.
“That’s true. So when are you planning
to do
this seminar?”

“Friday
morning
,
till Sunday midday.
I’ll have everyone
meet at pavilion nineteen.
”

“All set Connor. I will see you
on
Friday then.”
And they each hung up the phone.

“That went well. So what are you doing next?”
She
asked casually.

“I have to call my customers and tell them what they are allowed to bring
and where to meet us
.”
He
answered
mentally.

“Sarah
,
we
’
re here.” Mark announced,
pulling
her
mind away from Connor.

They
arrived at the rocky clearing.
Sarah
reached back to Connor and said
“We made it!”
and
then
severed
their
mental link.

Sarah’s
parent
’
s arrived later looking as good as ever.
Jillian
had on her usual red bikini top and brown short shorts.
Her dark brown hair was pulled into a ponytail.
Jack
attired blue jeans and nothing else; he
stood
shirtless and barefoot. Jillian
skipped up to
the three
. “Where is Connor? Is he still hurt?”

“No Mother, he is just making preparations for his job. He already has three parties lined up already.” She smiled at
Sarah
. As
Sarah
looked to
her f
ather his eyes twinkle
d
a
nd
had a hint of a smile on his lips.

“So what’s on the agenda today?” Mark rumbled.

“I’m going to shoot at the immortals!” Kara blurted out.

“WHAT?”
Jack
shrieked in his deep voice.

“Oh relax
,
Mr. Branderson. I have seen how well your reflexes are from your fights. I promise to miss on purpose if that will make you feel better.”
Jillian
started laughing along with Mark as he towered
behind
his spirited girlfriend
. “Just one thing; please don’t burn my arrows. I just made some new ones and they aren’t easy to make.” And that got
Jack
laughing as well.

First up w
ent
Jillian
. She stood
nearly
two hundred yards away from Kara. She raised her bow and loosed a
volley at
her ancient friend
. Kara intentionally
missed
by aiming just
to the
outside of
Jillian’s
torso.
Jillian
caught every arrow by its shaft and tossed them together on the ground.
Soon the entire quiver was loosed.

Sarah
too did the same as
she stood where her
mother
did and caught every volley Kara
fired.
Sarah
could see the arrows flight through the air like it was in slow motion
, captured by a high speed camera
.
Sarah
knew it wasn’t that, but
her
mind working much quicker
to
mak
e
time and the world
seem slower.
Her
body’s reflexes and speed allowed
her
to catch each projectile
by the shaft
.

Both Jack
and Mark did it as well and Kara
didn’t seem
disappointed
n
or surprised at how
they
all thought it was child’s play.

It took up just the perfect amount of time.

Connor ran into the clearing not long after Kara put all the unharmed arrows back into her quiver
,
after she examined each one intently. He came up beside
Sarah
and said to the group “I’m all ready for Friday and my
first
class as a teacher.” He looked down and winked at
her
.

“Connor
,
I am sorry about my behavior yesterday.”
Jack
said and Connor wa
ved his a
pology away with a smile. Jack
smiled and then said “Before we come out here tomorrow
,
I want you to come by our house in the morning.”

“Alright Jack.” Connor turned to look at Mark
. “
Now
,
since the three of us played all day yesterday
,
I think we should let the girls have some fun.”
Mark had a wild canine grin
as he looked at
the women,
and in a way
,
Jack
had one on
too
.

After a short discussion
the girls
decided that it should be that
Jillian
would fight
Sarah
in hand to hand
,
no powers were allowed.

Jack
embarrassed
his mate
by making her squeal after he pinched her bottom. She swatted at his shoulde
r, but missed as he ran behind M
ark for p
rotection. Needless to say the whole
group shared a small laugh at his teasing.
It felt good
to witness
her m
other to get embarrassed
for once,
rather than it always being Sarah on the receiving end
.

Jillian and Sarah
walked out to the arena
. Sarah
felt Connor enter
her
mind to give a suggestion.
“Princess
,
don’t be obvious about it, but you should only fight with one arm
. From my fights with Jack
,
I have noticed how much faster I am. See if it is the same
way
with you.”

“I can try.”
And she
would.

When they squared off Sarah
decided that since
she’s right hand dominant, she
’ll only use
the
left.

Jillian
charged firs
t and wasn’t holding back. S
he lunged and
t
ried grabbing
for
Sarah’s
long
hair.
Sarah was glad she
also
had it pulled back in one strand or
her m
other would have caught some
of the loose strands
and gained an
easy
advantage
. Sarah
pivoted on
her
left heel and caught
Jillian’s
arm a
s she tried sidestepping into her
path. With
her
left hand
Sarah
continued spinning and pulled
her
mother off her feet before throwing her fifteen feet away.
Jillian
rotated in the air
like a nimble cat
and landed on her feet before she lunged again. Th
is time she tried punching at Sarah’s
face.
Sarah
used
her
right shoulder
to deflect
the left punch.
Jillian
continued traveling past
her
, but
Sarah
then
plunged her
left elbow into the middle of her
Mother’s
back
,
making
her land face down in the sand.

Seconds later
Sarah
thought
her mother
was finished, but she rolled on her back and tried tripping.
Sarah
jumped
,
avoiding the sweep and
Jillian
used her momentum to spin up on her heels. As
she
was coming down
,
Jillian
tried one last strike. She swung her right leg around in an arch. Just before
the
roundhouse kick landed in the middle of
Sarah’s
sternum
she
leaned forward and wrapped
her
left arm around her
mother’s
toned
upper leg
while
minimizing the impact
by shorting the distance and spreading it across her sternum
. Before the pain could register
Sarah
swung again and threw
her
mother across the gravel.

Jillian
’
s golden eyes looked at
Sarah
in an impressive manner. “Not bad
,
Sarah. Have you been doing any special training with your mate?” She arched her eyebrow
in a provocative manner
.

“You just
never
know.” Sarah
said in a drawn out manner.

Connor entered her
mind.
“See. I knew you could do it. You did remarkably well.”

Sarah
love
d
getting praised by him. It made
the dull pain in
her
chest
all
worth it.

“I can’t let my mate always show me up
,
now can I?”
Sarah
looked
over
at him to see
Connor
smiling a smile that is strictly for
her
.

It made life worth living.

“MY TURN!” Sarah
heard from a chirpy voice.
Everything had gone silent.
Sarah
turned to it and saw Kara walking up to
them
without her bow or quiver
.

“What do you mean
your turn
?” Jillian
asked
politely
.

“I want to see how
well
I stack up to you guys.” Her honesty and innocence is still astounding.
Does she even understand the dangers?

“Ok then, who would you like for a partner?”
The eldest woman
asked with a gleam in her ey
es that meant;
‘She
is so
adorable
.
’

Kara
glanced at
Sarah
and smiled in a knowing tightlipped smile.
From the look in her m
other
’s eyes Sarah knew she
entered
Kara’s
mind. Her
golden
eyes went wide and went a little pa
le. She asked breathlessly to Sarah
“You intentionally fought me with only one arm?”

Sarah said nothing and diverted her
eyes back at Connor.
“Did you tell your sister your plan?”

“No I didn’t.
D
on’t forget she also trained like I did so don’t put anything past her.
”
Sarah
knew that he
had
said nothing to his sister because he allowed
her
to look into his most recent memories
and conversations
.

“Jillian
,
would you please give me a workout?” Kara asked and
her words
almost sounded like a plea.

Jillian
pushed
some of
her
loosened
dark brown
strands
back behind
an
ear and smiled. “It would be a pleasure.”
Sarah’s
mother looked at
her
and
she
felt her wanting access to
her mind. Sarah
granted it and she said in an annoyed fashion
“At least I’m stronger than someone around here.”