Refuge(54)

A gleam entered his eyes. “Now we do some other training.”

“What kind of training?” I gave him a wary look as he pulled off his sword and thin sweater and tossed them on the rock he’d been sitting on. I got a good view of a ripped stomach before he tugged his black T-shirt down past the waistband of his jeans. Heat unfurled in my stomach and I looked away quickly before he caught me staring.

“Nothing difficult,” he said, showing no sign he noticed my pink cheeks. “How about we go for a run?”

I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped me. “You expect me to keep up with you?” I was a good runner, but Nikolas was as fast as a vampire.

A corner of his mouth lifted. “I’ll try to dial it back a bit.”

“Gee, I feel so special,” I retorted and began to stretch my legs. “How long will it take me to be as fast as you?”

“About a hundred years or so.”

I straightened and stared at him. “A hundred years?”

“Give or take a few. Your Mori will give you strength, but it’ll be a long time before you develop that kind of speed. Didn’t anyone explain that to you?”

I shook my head, trying to figure out if he was kidding me. “I think Callum was too busy trying to get me to use my Mori to go over that stuff. But what you’re saying doesn’t make sense. How can warriors fight vampires if they can’t keep up with them?”

Nikolas crossed his arms looking displeased. “Apparently there is a lot they haven’t told you. How much do you know about vampires and how they are made?”

“I know a vampire drinks from someone and forces the person to drink their blood and that’s how the demon is passed into the new host. It takes three or four days for the new demon to grow strong enough to take control of the person. Oh, and only mature vampires can make another vampire.”

He nodded. “That’s all true, but did you also know that new vampires are weak and their strength grows over time. They are stronger than a human, but no match for a trained warrior, and it takes them almost as long as it does us to develop the kind of speed you’ve seen. Most of the vampires we saw in Maine were mature, and it’s unusual to see that many mature vampires together. Many of the vampires warriors deal with don’t have that kind of strength or speed.”

“I knew baby vamps were weak, but I thought that only lasted a few months.” His explanation surprised me, but it also filled me with a sense of relief to learn not every vampire was as fast or as strong as Eli had been. It was another reminder of the holes in my education and how much I had to catch up on.

“We’re going to need to add some studies to your training,” he said as if he’d read my mind. “We’ll start this afternoon.”

Oh yay. All day training with Nikolas.

“But right now, how about that run?”

Part of me was still mad at him for taking off the way he had, but the thought of running free through the trees again like I used to at home was too tempting to resist. And it was hard to stay angry after he’d been so supportive in training. “Okay.”

“Follow me.”

We set off around the lake, and it wasn’t until we were at the halfway point that I realized the lake was bigger than it looked. There was no trail so I had to dodge rocks and jump over fallen trees, but that hardly took away from the pleasure of just running. True to his word, Nikolas slowed down so I could keep a few feet behind him, and unlike me, he showed no signs of tiring by the time we got back to our starting point.

I didn’t say much on the walk back to the stronghold, and Nikolas seemed content to leave me to my thoughts. I felt different, changed somehow from the experience with my Mori. I had never really thought of my Mori as a sentient being with thoughts and emotions, but after today, I could never think of it as the beast again, either. I knew it was still a demon with demon urges, but it was also a part of me.

“Get some lunch and rest for a bit,” Nikolas said as he opened the door for me and I entered the main hall ahead of him. “We’ll meet up again at two.”

“Okay.”

“Here. This is to replace the knife you lost.” He unclipped the sheath on his hip and passed it to me. I pulled the knife free and saw that it looked identical to the last one he’d given me.

I slipped it in the pocket of my hoodie, touched by the gift.

“You did great today.”

“Thanks,” I turned away before he could see me flush with pleasure at the unexpected praise.

Shouting and pounding feet interrupted us, and we both turned as Mark came tearing around a corner. “Shut the door! Shut the door before they get out!”