Here Be Sexist Vampires(9)

“It is,” he agreed with a nervous smile. “But it’s not going to do you much good against high voltage electricity.”

I snorted. “As you Americans say – duh! You’re forgetting that I can practice electrokinesis now as well.”

“So you’re planning on defeating me by using my own power against me? Sounds a little like cheating.”

“Oh I’ve no time for pretty sparks. I can do something much more interesting than that.”

“Oh yeah?” Doubtful, his expression said.

“Yeah,” I said as I let the whip fade away. “Feeding on energy means that I can tap into the natural energies, which means...I can do this.” I absorbed more energy into my palms and then sharply released it as a blast of air. The gust of wind swept him up like he was no more than a leaf on the ground and sent him crashing into the wall behind him. “By natural energies, I meant the classical elements; air, water, fire and earth.”

Jared was on his feet in seconds, looking somewhat bemused and confounded.

“That wasn’t even full force,” I told him. “Are you sure you want to do this? I tell you what, I’ll give you one more chance to leave with your pride still intact.”

He wasn’t pleased to hear his own words coming back at him. Unsurprisingly, the blue sparks headed for me again. The strong sizzles in the air told me that this discharge was double the voltage of the last.

One single, sharp step to the left took me out of the reach of the electrical discharge. I enjoyed the sensation of my palms sucking in energy which I used to generate a blast of fire. It tingled as it left my hands. I could have burnt him alive but I settled on simply setting his clothes alight. Then I took a brief, morbid moment to enjoy his dismay before easing more energy into me and sending a long swish of water at him, calming the flames. And drenching him.

“You alright, Commander?” My tone was mocking. “You’re looking like something off an appeal poster.”

Totally peeved now, Jared growled as he raised his hand high and projected a massive lightning bolt. The voltage was so high that there was a ripple in the air. But I’d pre-empted him.

I squatted on the floor, slapped my palm to the ground on my right side and raised my arm over me to then slap my palm on my left side. Simultaneously I had tugged at the surrounding energy, making a beautiful silvery-blue energy shield appear over me like a tent. The lightning ricocheted off the force field, slamming into the eastern wall.

Before Jared could act again I sprung up in less than a blink, remoulding the energy from the shield into a silvery-blue ball. I blasted it at him. He moved fast, but not fast enough. It struck his arm.

Trying to appear unfazed, he emitted another stream of blue sparks but using both hands this time. Wow he really wanted to hurt me. And that really would hurt.

I pounded my foot twice on the ground, absorbed the energy of the Earth into me and let it sprout out as a mound of earth that rose speedily in front of me, building a protective bolder. Jared, relentless, was zapping the mound of earth when I darted out from behind it – my energy whip back in hand – and cracked the whip around him, pinning his arms to his sides. I yanked hard on the whip, bringing a tied-up Jared toward me. Just for fun, I cracked the whip again, making him slam once to the ground before I then let the whip fade away.#p#分页标题#e#

I looked down at a coughing Jared and arched a brow. “Now who’s the pretty girl?”

Although he appeared a mixture of nettled, flabbergasted and stupefied, his mouth twitched slightly in some form of dark amusement.

I offered my hand to him but he bounced independently to his feet, still staring at me. He seemed undecided whether to be extremely exasperated or pleasantly surprised. Either way, there was some respect there in his gaze. It was hard for me not to look smug considering the way he had dismissed me earlier. But I didn’t give him an ‘I told you so’ look or a quirky grin. Disconcertingly, I was actually more caught up in this little silent exchange of respect than I was in the glory of having won the duel. He might be a chauvinist, but he was a gorgeous one.

“Didn’t I tell you she was fast?” said Green as he joined Jared.

Slap-head came next. “Definitely a disguised Pagori on crack,” he decided as he clucked me. “Know that you can practice on me with that whip anytime.”

Jared didn’t look amused by that and squared his shoulders. “Could you all return to the line while I consult with Commander Sherman and Commander Norton.”

“And I thought my gift was cool,” said Slap-head as we joined the end of the reforming line below the spectator’s box.