Devil Inside (32 page)

Harley made her way towards the showers.  The past three months had been tough.  Even though she healed quickly, her muscles were pretty much in a constant state of pain.  She was routinely so exhausted that she could barely think.  Her nights were spent in training—weapons, fighting, flexibility, agility, focus and concentration exercises.  She had barely had time for anything else.  When she was done training for the night she usually had just enough energy left to shower and briefly check in with Levi.

Harley missed Levi and as she thought of him her Nocte stirred again and purred. 
Don’t start
she admonished. 
I am entirely too tired to deal with that tonight.
  Her Nocte growled in complaint but shuffled off to the darkness again.  Harley was pretty sure that the dark devil living inside of her was as tired as she was.  They both had been fighting for control for so long that it only added to their physical exhaustion.  Harley wasn’t blocking the Nocte out on purpose—on the contrary, she would love to finish the bond.  She wanted to finish her mission.  Hell, she even wanted to finish her Nocte’s mission—go to Florida and hunt down the creature killing people.  She just hadn’t figured out how to make that happen yet.  It seemed like the stronger she got physically—the stronger her subconscious became.

Harley stood looking in the mirror after her shower and actually paid attention to how much she had changed since the bond.  Physically, she was stronger.  The muscles in her arms were more defined, her stomach tighter and even her butt was less squishy.  She was also carried herself with more self-confidence and inner strength.  It came from not only knowing that she could protect herself, but also from knowing that she had taken control over her own life—from the momentum of doing something—anything to change the course of her life.

Harley found that she missed Levi—but she was so motivated in her mission she found it wasn’t hard to focus on finishing her training.  Sometimes she found herself wishing she could talk to him, or touch him—
taste him!
—
I mean lay with him!
  She scolded herself.  She knew that Levi didn’t belong to her, or vice versa.  He could do whatever he wanted in Florida—her Nocte shook her fist in anger over that thought. 
Shut it
! She scolded. 
Despite how you feel, he doesn’t belong to us
. 
And we don’t belong to him
.  Her Nocte perked up at that. 
Don’t even think about it.  The only guy that has been around here is Rafe, and I would rather swallow broken glass than have sex with that man
.  Her Nocte grudgingly agreed with her. 
And before you even go there—the ladies really aren’t my thing.
  Her Nocte chuckled deviously.

The farmhouse-that-wasn’t-a-farmhouse was quiet but there were usually people coming and going at all times.  Other Praesidio members came for a day or so, checked in with Nya, took in some training and then left again to other assignments.  For the most part Harley liked them all.  They all seemed interested in meeting the woman that Levi had brought into the Praesidio.  They mostly all seemed nice and offered her respect.  She was pretty sure that the respect the other Praesidio showed her was the result of Nya’s inability to not discuss Harley’s training with everyone who asked.  Harley knew she should be proud that Nya thought she was good enough to talk about, but she couldn’t help feeling insecure about her unfinished bond at the same time.

The first sure indication Harley got of Nya’s opinion of her training was when Andrei visited the Den the first time.  Harley stepped into the training room to meet Nya and pulled up short to see a strange man standing in the middle of the room.  He had short black hair and eyes so brown they looked black.  When she entered the room he looked up at her with an easy smile.

“You must be Harley,” he said in a deep voice that carried an accent that Harley would place somewhere in Eastern Europe.

“I am,” Harley answered somewhat sheepishly.  She still hadn’t gotten used to people knowing about her before they met her.

“I’m Andrei,” he said shaking her hand.  He was about a foot taller than she was and he was heavily muscled which was incongruous with the relaxed way he carried himself.

“Nice to meet you.”

“And you,” he said with an easy smile.

“Have you seen Nya?” she asked.

“She should be here soon, I’m sure.  But you’ll be working with me today.”

“Huh?”

Andrei laughed softly.  “We will be sparring together today.”

Shit
.

Andrei must have noticed her apprehension.  “Don’t worry.  I’ll take it easy on you,” he said playfully. 

Harley still didn’t feel any better about it.  She didn’t hide the examination she gave his bulging muscles.  “Um, so why you?”

Andrei laughed again.  “I volunteered.  Nya seems so impressed with you—I wanted to help if I could.”

“Help?”  She felt her hackles rise.  Was Nya telling everyone about her unfinished bond?  While it wasn’t exactly a secret, she really didn’t like it being a topic of discussion.

“Yeah?  Help,” Andrei answered tilting his head.   “Training is one of the things that I do.  Just usually at a Den in Europe.  I just happened to be in the States to take care of some business with Nya.”

Harley realized that she was being paranoid and overly sensitive.  “Sorry,” she said.

Andrei continued, “She seemed really excited about you and I wanted to be a part of the training of the infamous Harley.” 

Harley’s brow creased.  “Infamous?”

Andrei laughed again, “Yeah, Nya has had a lot to say about you.”

Harley wasn’t sure what to say about that and luckily she was rescued from having to say anything by Nya entering the training room.

“Good evening,” she called pleasantly.  Both Harley and Andrei smiled at her.  Nya looked particularly gleeful today and even though it worried Harley, she couldn’t help but smile along with her.  “Introductions taken care of?” Nya asked.

“Yep,” Andrei answered for the both of them.

Nya gestured towards the open space.  “Whenever you two are ready.”

Harley swallowed hard and felt her palms go slick with sweat.  Her Nocte pushed against Harley’s resistance—pleading for her release. 
Trust me, I wish I could
Harley sighed.  If it wasn’t bad enough that she had her own anxiety gnawing at her belly over the fight, she had her Nocte’s frustration to deal with at the same time.

Andrei looked to Harley.  “Hand to hand?  Or do you want weapons?”

Harley considered briefly. 
Which is gonna hurt more?
  “Hand to hand?” she asked uncertainly.

Andrei laughed.  “Works for me,” he said and squared his shoulders.

The transformation that came over him raised Harley’s eyebrows.  As his eyes dilated to solid black he lost his easy going demeanor and turned into full on predator.  He bent his knees and began stalking Harley.  She only hesitated a second before settling into a fighting stance and matched his circling.  She was envious and regretted the fact that her eyes didn’t black out as did everyone else’s.  It was like being the last girl to need a bra—to use Nya’s twisted analogy.  It was made worse as she saw the door to the training room open and Rafe step inside.  Distraction and agitation crawled through her.  Looking like an idiot in front of a stranger wasn’t nearly as bad as looking like an idiot in front of Rafe.  Her distraction must have been evident on her face because Andrei made his move.

Harley had no warning when Andrei suddenly closed the distance between them and swung at her.  It was like a lion swiping at a gazelle.  The power behind his swing made her heart skip a beat. 
This is not going to go well
.   She was able to just barely duck out of the path of Andrei’s fist and her Nocte growled in anger.  Harley wasn’t able to duck the kick that followed the missed right hook.  Andrei’s foot connected with her thigh with such force that the leg was swept out from under her and she found herself on the floor before she even realized what had happened.  The force of the kick caused the muscle in her leg to seize with a burning agony.  She was pretty sure it had done some real damage—a theory that was confirmed by the familiar tingling that came along with muscle repair.  Harley rolled away from Andrei attempting to give herself a few seconds to recover.  She heard Rafe giggle obnoxiously from the sidelines and she tried to block him out.

The whole time they fought, Andrei stalked around her waiting to pounce.  She considered it a small success whenever she was able to avoid contact.  When she failed at that her body was punished with a punch or a kick that carried brutal force.   It didn’t take long for Harley to realize that Andrei was stronger than Nya—but not faster.  His size made him slower than the tall lithe Nya.  Harley often had trouble keeping up with Nya’s movements, but once she got used to the way Andrei moved, she realized that she could see the attacks coming much sooner than when fighting Nya.  The whole time that they paced and measured each other Harley was aware of Rafe’s presence as he taunted her.

“Come on, girlie.  You can do it.”  And “Oh, so close.  Don’t worry, I can massage that later.”

Harley gritted her teeth and tried her best to focus on her opponent, he seemed to not even realize Rafe or Nya were watching he was so focused.  Harley dodged several more kicks from Andrei while waiting for the timing to be just right.  Finally, she found her opportunity.  Andrei came at her with a heavy right hook again, but this time she was prepared.  As she ducked the punch she drove a punch of her own into Andrei’s diaphragm forcing the air from his lungs with a grunt.  It felt like punching a brick wall but she blocked out the pain.  Wanting to keep her momentum she followed up with a well-placed roundhouse kick that sent Andrei stumbling backwards.  Her small accomplishment sent her spirits soring and suddenly the pain of the beating that she had been taking lessened as her hope grew.  Her Nocte bubbled in excitement and Harley felt like giggling with glee.

She had caught Andrei off guard with the first two hits, but she made a mistake by not continuing her advantage.  Harley hesitated for a few too many seconds and Andrei recovered by spinning away from another kick.  The growl that rumbled out of him told her just how mad he was that she was able to hit him.  As he spun away from her kick he grabbed her leg, spinning her with him.  It threw her off balance enough that she had no time to dodge the kick that he landed squarely in her chest.  He hit her with such force that it felt like she had stepped into the path of a train.  The kick sent her reeling backward causing her back to collide with the wall.  Her shoulders hit first followed by the back of her head.  In a blinding flash of pain she felt, and heard, her skull crack as it hit the wall.

Harley’s world blurred as she sunk to her knees.  She was in so much pain she couldn’t form a complete thought.  She was buffeted about in a tidal wave of shear throbbing pain and she worried her head would explode from the pressure.  Her brain seemed to swell and push against the broken bones of her skull with every heartbeat.  She was sure that pieces of her skull must be embedded in her brain due to the blinding white heat of the pain she was in.  Shame melted with the pain when she realized that she was making a strange “nuh, nuh, nuh” sound and she may even be convulsing. 
If I’ve peed on myself I’m going to be really…pissed off
.  She thought dully as she finally blacked out.

Harley felt someone tapping on her face and she slowly opened her eyes.  She could see Nya and Andrei kneeling over her.  Andrei looked guilty and concerned.  Nya looked amused as usual.  She could see Rafe still on the sidelines laughing unrestrained.

“Are you OK?” Andrei asked her.  “I really shouldn’t have kicked you so hard.  I kind of just got carried away.”

Harley closed her eyes and forced herself to breath normally.  She knew that her skull had mended itself because the sledge hammer the not-so-friendly-giant had been slamming into her skull had dulled to a debilitating migraine level of pain.  But she was so angry with herself that she was sure her eyeballs were going to melt in the heat of her fury.  Her finger nails were digging into her palms she had clenched her fists so hard.  She didn’t want to be angry with Andrei, it wasn’t his fault.  But when he asked her again if she was OK she snapped.

“Just fuck off!”  She opened her eyes to see his eyes—now back to their normal dark brown—grow round and he leaned back out of the line of fire.  “Sorry,” she sighed closing her eyes again.  “It’s not your fault.”

Nya sniggered.  “I think you’ve had enough for the day.”  She helped Harley to her feet and stepped back as Harley tried to find her balance.  When she felt steady she looked at Andrei sheepishly.

“Sorry again.  I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”

“It’s OK,” he said with a shrug.  “Like I said—I shouldn’t have kicked you that hard.  You just got a couple of good shots in—it pissed me off,” he laughed.

Harley felt the corners of her mouth lift with a small smile.  “I did get a couple of shots in, huh?”

Both Andrei and Nya laughed.  She had managed to hit Nya a couple of times too during their sparring sessions.  The first time that it happened she had almost thought that Nya let her do it on purpose.  Until she was lying on the floor nursing a broken nose.  Other than a few lucky shots she had never had any real success in any of her sparring sessions.  She was just glad that Andrei let the fight go after that.  She didn’t want to dwell on her ass-kicking or discuss her lack of bond completion.  She felt like enough of an idiot with just having to discuss it.