Changer's Blood (Balancer's Soul cycle) (63 page)

Be
fore Jillian raised her hand Sarah
pu
lled
the
dagger fro
m
her
hip and held it in
the
left
hand. Connor taught
her
how to hold a dag
ger properly one night before they went to sleep. He revealed
how the blade should always be pointing away from
the wielder’s thumb
,
unless they were
cooking. He was right. Holding it this way
i
s not only more comfortable
,
but she
could
damage an
opponent and reduce hurting
her
self at the same time. When
Sarah
took
a
fighting
stance
,
Jillian
dropped her arm saying “Begin!”

Kara didn’t waste any time as she sprang and entered a sprint in
Sarah’s direction. She
stepped back as
Kara
slashed the air with her left claw
,
missing
her mark
.
Sarah
easily
leapt forward and used
her
sharp
dagger to graze
Kara’s
exposed
left shoulder.
H
er armor of fused hair repelled
the
attack and barely cu
t into the armor a millimeter. Sarah
sidestepped knowing
that Kara
might serve a counter attack. Instead she stopped and turned her head to look at the miniscule amount of damage
that had been i
nflicted. “That actually worked!
Not any damage at all.
”
S
he said
while
grinning at
Sarah
.

Normally the only way to cause any real harm to a
C
hanger is to use
elemental
or an immortal’s speed and strength
. This wasn’t about hurting Kara, but to teach her
survival skills in combat
. Sarah
looked into her catlike eyes
and said “Kara, if that was an elemental attack from an average Balancer
,
with no battle experience
, you would be dead right now.
” Sarah
spoke
evenly and watch her
silver
eyes widen. “Now that you understand the reason for all this; Focus! You are a Changer, use your gifts of speed
, weight
and strength to your advantage.
Otherwise you
’
r
e
wasting my time and yours
because in a situation like this your head would no longer be attached
.
COME!”
Kara
quickly
renewed her attack.

This time Kara
leapt into the air and
spread
her arms out wide. With her claws facing
forward she tried doing a cross-
slash
on the opponent’s sternum
. As her claws came arou
nd,
Sarah
stepped in
, much to everyone’s surprise
. H
e
r claws had no effect now that Sarah
entered
within her
defenses
.
Sarah dropped to her
back and placed
both
feet on her
opponents abdomen. She
used
Kara’s forward momentum and her
legs to th
row the young Changer
into an unstable launch
.
Sarah
jumped
back o
nto her
feet just before Kara landed. She landed
heavily
on her back
, but
didn’t make any painful sounds one would normally hear
from impacting the ground
.
Kara
remained
still for only a moment before she rolled onto her side
and met
Sarah’s
calculating gaze
. “My armor
took
all
the damage.
That didn’t hurt whatsoever.
” Kara said mockingly.

“This is a fight. You can talk when I’m the one who get’s floored
over here
.” Sarah
ran at her as she got the message that this co
uld one day become a real
life or death situation
.
She learned to quickly find her footing moment
s
before
the
blade met her body again.

Time
seemed to
pass
quickly until
Connor
firmly
yelled “That’s f
ifteen minutes ladies, times up!
”

Jillian
didn’t need to step in
the first time
and
Sarah
knew that Kara really did understand the lesson from yesterday. Kara was almost panting and she did put up a good fight, but she didn’t land a single blow on
her sister-in-law
.

Kara pushed herself on her hind legs and struggled as she tried finding her balance
to walk
upright
. Onc
e she did
the
sandy
blonde,
wolf
ish
Changer
carefully placed each step as she walked back to the shady area.

Once
they women
made it back,
their men
were all telling Kara that she did great for her first time
and soon they’d develop a training regimen for her in the days to come
.
Sarah
was getting a little jealous from all the att
ention Kara was receiving until she
remembered something. The first time
she
fought with
mother she
lost
,
and
she herself
had three hundred years more experience than Kara.
For her age and experience
Kara
really did
remarkably
well out there.

After a few more minutes
,
Kara decided to change back to normal. Her eyes began glowing again and soon she was back to
her ordinary looks
. As she brushed off all of her fur she walked behind the woods for some reason. A minute later she returned to
the
group and sat down in the grass and against a pine tree.
She had to get out the fur from under her leather top.

Connor regained
Sarah’s
attention as he spoke to Mark. “
I need an aerial combat expert; interested?”

Mark’s answer
ed with
a smile
and
glowing pupils. He started stepping back and stopped about ten feet away from
the
group
. Soon he grew into a black
wolf with black wings which he calls the form
,
Fwen
.
His
coat
became
a solid sheen of f
used fur and from fighting Kara
Sarah
knew
it
i
s
very sturdy
in battle
.

While Mark stretched his wings, Connor walked up to
his love
. “Princess, will you please hold on to these for me?” He
pulled
Tool out of his belt and dug his cell phone out of his pocket.

She
took
them off his hands and hooked
Tool to
her
other hip and shoved the Cell into
a
pocket. Connor then smiled his playful smile at
her
and immediately took off his shirt.
Her
hand moved automatically
to grab his black shirt while her
eyes were glued
indecently
to his chest. The solid black cross
ed
tattoo that was seared into his s
ternum
i
s the perf
ect contrast to his rippling
and
bulging muscles
of perfect proportions
.
She
was
instantly
and forever
entranced by the way his
godlike
muscles moved
as
he and Mark walked
out
into the sunlight.
She
needed to learn some restraint
, but didn’t want to even dream about getting used to them
.

While
Connor
started
summoning his energy
forth
Sarah
took a few
step
s
back
only a second before
he
shot
off in
to the sky. The dust and loose sand made his shockwave all the more dramatic. Then Mark extended his massive wings and w
ith one powerful flap, joined her
mate in the air.

“Sarah, sit down and get some rest. That was a long fight with Kara.”
Jack
said as he put a hand over
her
shoulder.
She
took his advice and sat next to Kara and leaned against the trunk
of a tree
.

As Sarah
made
her
self comfortable
against the rough bark just as
the two powerful men began their
aerial
match.

Just above the tree tops, Connor initiated the attack.
Her muscle bound
mate leaned forward in the air and a sur
g
e of power
began
emanating
from him. That
sudden and immense
burst of energy propelled him faster than he could
ever
run
normally
on the ground.

Mark’s wings
were just as fast. With a sudden beat of his wings,
Mark
corkscrewed to the left and avoid
ed
the initial
body
blow. Then Connor flipped midair and
changed direction faster than anyone
could blink.
He
was like a
n experienced
swimmer flipping in the water and us
ed
the wall
of a pool
to propel the swimmer in the opposite direction.
Mark also noted Connor’s
remarkable
aerial acrobatics
, but for a different reason altogether
.
This was a fight that would push their evasiveness to a whole new level that none have ever seen before.
Mark rapidly beat his
enormous
wings and gained altitude just as quickly
as
her
husband
. With her
mate right on his heels, Mark tucked in one wing and changed direction. Connor
eventually
caught Mark
’
s
long
tail and
violently
threw him higher into the sky. Connor didn’t move
from his position
as Mark struggled to regain flight stability.
Then the Fwen opened its impressive wings and leveled out.
When Mark looked down, he
saw that Connor was just
floating in the same position
, waiting
.

This time Mark went on the offensive
with a roar
.

As Mark tucked in his wings and
d
ive
bomb
ed
Connor,
the cell
phone went off
in
Sarah’s
pocket
.
She
struggled to
free
the phone out
of her
pocket while it
still
rang.
She
achieved victory when
she
stood up and retrieved it
.
Pressing the accept button
she
said “Hello
, this is Sarah.”