“Knees to chest!” Brokk commanded.
Lexi did everything she could to get her knees to her chest as she ran, but she felt like an idiot as her knees nearly hit her boobs. She didn’t exactly love running, and she’d already run around the lake three times. However, this added knees-to-chest thing was making it almost impossible to keep going.
“Knees to chest!” Brokk yelled like a drill sergeant.
Lexi stopped running, turned to face him, and planted her hands on her hips. “I’m trying!”
“Not hard enough,” Brokk retorted. “You’re the one who asked to learn how to fight.”
“What does me hitting my knees against my chest have to do with fighting?”
“Nothing,” he said with a smile. “I’m just entertaining myself.”
Lexi gawked as she resisted hurling a bunch of curses at him. Bending, she picked up a handful of dirt and threw it at him. Brokk laughed as he danced away from it.
“Come on,” he said. “Get back to running.”
Lexi was beginning to regret her decision to ask him for help with this, but at least his drill-sergeant-like ways were a distraction from her thoughts because none of her thoughts were good.
Cole had been gone for five days. Five days in which there was no word from anyone on what was happening. Five days in which Brokk hadn’t given her much time to sit and wallow, but the nighttime was different.
At night, she tossed and turned before giving up and rising from bed. She’d pace from the window to her bed and back again. She’d stare at the moon and search for crows while praying Cole returned to her.
Sometimes, she would creep down to the library and try to read, but she could never concentrate on the words. For the first time in her life, reading didn’t bring her solace from the world.
The other night, she returned to the tunnels to deliver what little food they could spare. Orin wasn’t there, but she found Nessie and the other refugees in the section where they had taken to living.
Nessie was a pretty brunette with gray eyes and a timid smile. Behind that smile was a spine of steel. The woman was determined to keep her four-year-old nephew, Jayden, safe no matter what it took.
When she first met them, Jayden looked so much like Nessie that she assumed he was her son, but his mother, a mortal, died during childbirth. Nessie stepped in to help care for him afterward and loved him like he was her own.
Jayden’s father was a vampire who fought against the Lord during the war. Because of that, the Lord would ruthlessly hunt his child.
While Lexi hated keeping this secret from Cole, when she looked at Nessie and Jayden, she knew she’d made the right choice. They deserved better, and she would do whatever she could to make sure they got it.
Nessie didn’t know where Orin had gone, but that wasn’t unusual. There were times he slipped away for a day or two, but he always returned. She hoped he was extra careful about his comings and goings.
Since that night, she hadn’t returned to the tunnel, but they should be set for food still, and Orin should have come back by now. She would have to go below again soon to make sure. If they got hungry, they might try to leave, which could be disastrous for all involved.
Until then, she concentrated on running, lifting, punching, kicking, and trying not to lose her mind. Brokk must have sensed this as every free moment she had, he used it to drill her into exhaustion.
Every night she fell into bed, certain she would pass out; every night, she was proven wrong. That didn’t mean she wasn’t tired. Every muscle she had ached, she was covered in bruises, and she’d come to despise running.
But every day, she dragged herself back outside to care for the animals before training with him again. He’d started training her on how to use a sword he took out of her father’s armory, but the weapon was awkward and cumbersome.
She was much better with a short sword. However, Brokk didn’t know how well she would do with using it in battle. Things were pretty up close and personal with a sword no matter what, but they were a lot more so with a short sword.
He didn’t think she could handle being that close to an enemy and watching them die. She would do whatever she could to survive, and she excelled with the short sword compared to the longer one.
She was also pretty good with throwing stars and getting better. Brokk focused her on these as she could hit an enemy with them without ever getting close. Which meant, she could inflict damage against what would probably be a stronger immortal without putting herself in too much danger.
And as he drilled it into her head every day, once she inflicted that damage, she should run fast. Outrunning a vampire who could transport was impossible, but she was fast enough to outrun other immortals.
She just loathed the idea of running.
Sometimes, as they trained, Sahira would stand nearby scowling, wincing in sympathy, and sometimes pumping her fist when Lexi got in a solid blow against Brokk. Often, after those signs of encouragement, she would smooth down her shirt and pants and walk away.
She would never admit it, but Lexi saw her aunt’s pride in what she was doing, even if Sahira was determined to hide it. Today, Sahira never left her garden.
As the sun started to set, they ended her training with a sparring match by the lake. Lexi ignored the sweat trickling down her neck and sticking her hair to her nape as the late June sun beat down on her.
She couldn’t help feeling some pride as she traded jabs with Brokk. She was getting better at this. She would still get her ass handed to her by a trained, full-blooded immortal, but she might be able to take down one who had no fighting experience.
“Good, good,” Brokk said as he danced before her.
If Malakai ever attacked her again, she might not be able to kill him, but she would make him regret it. She would tear him apart before he killed her.