She winced. “There’s no cure?”
“No real cure to speak of. The only thing that can be done is to try to flush out the poison as quickly as possible and not let it get absorbed into the system. That involves a major blood draining and a massive infusion of untainted blood. Once the poison has been absorbed and causes internal bleeding in all the major organs, it’s invariably lethal.” He cocked a sandy eyebrow at her. “Not that you’ll be handing out drugs or poisons in the middle of a fight, but at least now you have a basic overview. Let’s head back.”
They turned to retrace their steps, and after a few minutes, Raoul continued, “We’re going to focus more of your training on missile weaponry—gun training, knife throwing and archery. That doesn’t mean we’ll neglect the close combat sessions, but if you can avoid going hand to hand, you’ll have a greater chance of hitting kill spots with a higher chance of survivability. Most creatures are vulnerable around their eyes, and your best asset is your hand-eye coordination.” He cocked an eyebrow at her. “You know, you could become a hell of a sniper, if you chose to.”
She had finally earned a compliment, from Raoul? Trying not to show how much pleasure it gave her, she said, dryly, “Good to know, although it’s not a career choice I’d ever considered before.”
He chuckled.
Looking down the shore into the distance, she tried to sound casual as she asked, “What about the more exotic Elder Races creatures, like the Djinn? What’s their kill spot?”
The laughter died from his face. “They don’t have one, not physically, anyway. If you ever run the risk of tangling with a Djinn, you run away. I run away. I’ve heard of them being killed before, but that’s a rare, dangerous event. It calls for a coordinated attack from a team of creatures who are far more Powerful than either you or I.”
The darkness of disappointment overtook the sun’s bright light. Her shoulders sagged. “That’s what I thought.”
When they got back to the gym, they worked through the details of a new schedule that started later in the morning, took into account the time she would be spending with Xavier in the evenings and incorporated more time on the gun range, and introduced archery. Then Raoul sent her off for an afternoon run.
She let herself out the main gates and started down the road, which was striped with intense sunlight and dark shadows thrown by the surrounding, towering redwoods. Watching her feet as she ran, she stepped in light, then darkness, then light again.
Her thoughts followed a similar pattern.
Light: Malphas hasn’t found me yet. Maybe he won’t. He doesn’t know how humans think, or how we can behave.
Dark: You know that’s a lie. It’s just a matter of time. He got to Eathan, didn’t he?
Light: Eathan wasn’t trying to hide, and I am. I’m virtually living off the grid here. I don’t go anywhere, or use my bank accounts. I haven’t given my Social Security number to anybody, I never do anything meaningful on the Internet or use similar passcodes, and I never let myself develop any kind of search pattern that has anything to do with Las Vegas, or gambling, or Djinn.
Dark: Stop trying to fool yourself, and plan for it to happen. He’ll find you, and when he does, he might do more than just kill you. He might hurt people on the estate, just for sheltering you.
She slowed to a stop, staring blankly down the deserted road.
Turning in a semicircle, she looked back the way she had come. The estate had disappeared, and cool forest surrounded her. Because of how the road curved, she couldn’t see more than a hundred yards in either direction.
Her answers weren’t down either stretch of road, anyway. She already knew what she needed to do.
After a moment, she resumed her jog, but at a slower pace. After all, she didn’t need to push herself. It didn’t matter how fast or how far she ran now. When a half hour was up, she turned and made her way back to the estate. She keyed in the code that would open the gates and stepped back onto the grounds. As the gates swung closed behind her, she walked at a sedate pace back to the attendants’ house.
She could just see the corner of the ballroom, and it was as beautiful from the outside as it was from within. Now that she knew she had to leave, she could spare herself another evening spent in Xavier’s company, but surprisingly, that idea didn’t hold any appeal.
For a few fleeting moments last night, she had felt as if she winged weightlessly over the floor. Xavier’s hold had been both assured and gentle. As soon as she had relaxed and trusted it, he swept her along in the dance and the world turned around them.
She forgot about her clumsy feet, or that she was in hiding. She forgot he was supposed to be a repulsive monster. She didn’t feel a single bruise or aching muscle.
All she felt, all she heard was the music. All she saw was the slow widening of his smile that lit his intent gaze and turned his intelligent, naturally reflective expression into something much more keen and transcendent.
She really wanted to find out if they could achieve ninety seconds like that one more time.
After staying for six weeks, she thought, a few more hours won’t hurt.
I can leave in the morning.
That evening, for dinner the attendants had Spanish paella, with rabbit, chorizo sausage, shrimp, clams, mussels and calamari, and for dessert, they had a simple, delicious homemade ice cream. All five of the other trainees—Marc, Jeremy, Aaron, Scott and Brian—were absent, and nobody mentioned where they had gone, but everyone else was present and ate a hearty meal.
Tess sat beside Angelica at one end of the farm-style table. As was her usual habit, she kept her attention on her food while she listened to everyone else talk. This time, instead of focusing on how the conversation seemed almost deliberately innocuous, she noticed instead the teasing banter and genuine warmth.
At the end of the meal, she glanced sidelong at Angelica and said quietly, “I haven’t really taken the opportunity to get to know you, and I’m sorry for that.”
Angelica turned to her with a look of surprise that melted into a warm, crooked smile that deepened all the lines in her face and made her beautiful. “You’re a good kid,” the older woman said. “And you’ve been busy. We’ve got time.”
She nodded without replying, because, of course, they had no time, and she would be gone before breakfast. After she helped clean up, she went upstairs to her room to make sure she hadn’t dropped any food on her shirt. Tidying her hair by putting it into a short braid, she brushed her teeth and headed for the main house.
This time when she reached the dining room, it was empty. A small pile of old books had been stacked by one of the place settings, and a note rested on top of them. She picked it up.
Written in a strong, slanting hand, the note said, Please begin reading these. I will join you in the ballroom at sundown.—X.
Of course, he must be a very busy man, doing whatever he did for the Nightkind demesne. Setting the note aside, she examined the books. Most were written in English and dealt with the different etiquettes for several Elder Races, but a few were in French. He had remembered that she could read French.
One book was much more modern than the others, a heavy trade paperback on biofeedback techniques.
Choosing that book, she settled into a chair and began reading. Most biofeedback therapies were done in a clinical setting, with electronic and thermal sensors, but one section concentrated on exercises one could do outside of a clinical environment to change one’s thoughts, emotions or behavior.
Funny, how it all came back to the same thing that Raoul had said to her—she had to change the conversations in her head. Deep, steady breathing could slow the heart rate. Focusing on things other than what produced a strong fear response could calm panic attacks. So could positive imagery.