Page 1 (1/2)

Claws gripped ainst my mouth It was a triumphant rumble, feral and heated, but the aripped me "Yesss," he whispered, mind to mind, "where are the wheels?" The claws relaxed and I inhaled a scent, cloying and intoxicating, like lilacs and jasrave "Your heart beats with the fragrance of Amethyst and her wheels Where are they?"

I tried to open ht, instinctively hiding the knowledge deep in my mind where the whisperer couldn&039;t find it And, I&039;rip the sword hilt, the metal cold in my unresponsive pal, a portent A lynx

Distantly, an alarm sounded, muffled, flat tones The door of e I opened my eyes A Darkness recoiled, wrenched away, over le ripped the handle ofstick and pulled the sword from its sheath, rolled from the bed, and attacked Blade and sheath whirled in a frenzy, upward, together, and back out in the sleeping cat - a move that could disembowel an ene Audric&039;s belly His blades shushed overfully awake, I dashed the tears frolimpsed the bed, covers tossed to the floor, barely visible in the predawn light The loft was icy, the frigid cold chilling my skin I breathed the floral reek, and the sickly sweet scent of decay An incubus An incubus had been in my bed

Audric, a half-breed warrior, rotated, andof steel on steel as I leaped high and cut down, placing my feet with precision when I landed "Where is it?" he roared, ducking under th, he beatht and my own diminutive size, I danced under his arms and landed three bloith the sheath, any one of which would have been a mortal wound had I used a blade His elbow impacted my jaw I collided with the bed and rolled over the mattress with the momentum The scent of old death billowed out of the cotton sheets and silk duvet Behind nored My voice answered on thea asped

Audric stepped back and crossed his swords, offering a respite "Rape?" he asked, curt as all half-breeds are in battle His eyes rakedMore formally, he said, "You are naked"

My breath heaved I looked down I was naked My neo e-power, h quartz crystal My a look found theled withot here in time" ButIt shouldn&039;t have been able to get in My ho outside; all were conjured to keep ht is odd Purple?" Audric scrutinized ht with hope "You used the aht the demon?"

I inspected the apart with exertion, ripped from dreams of arousal and sex to battle in a heartbeat The loft was radiant, an irregular lavender thruht the stone in itsflare of power, noA dull headache started overwith er use "No," I said, hating the timbre of defeat in y, it&039;s residual"

Audric raised his weapons again, the blades still crossed "And the incubus?" With his half-lowed likefrom his dark skin

"Got pastelse And yes, it still calls It&039;s getting creative"

"It will te as it has your blood Get dressed"

I sheathed the blade, knowing it was true A Power of Darkness on the left peak of the Trine hadbattle dire Noanted all I had, all I was, all I knew If I didn&039;t get my blood back, I&039;d ultimately succumb to its lures, saddle my horse, and ride north, up the Trine, the tri-peakedMineral City, tomy cue from Audric&039;s choice of attire, dressed in white practice dobok, a padded, fores when they created savage-chi and savage-blade Courteously, Audric kept his back tos at the south and north sides of the loft A frozen wind blew through, winter having returned with a vengeance, but the chill air took with it the smell of death, or froze it out Before I was dressed, he as-log fireplaces, turning the flah I could feel their heat instantly froe gloas blue with cold, yet I could still se-heat, like cookies and almonds and blood "Weapons?" I asked

"Baht" I heard a cloth-on-cloth abrasion and peeked around the screen to see Audric stripping ht my eye he said, "Stinks" Audric was typically laconic in battle h he never lost the fore second-unforeseen

The sheets tied in a hobo&039;s knot, he leaned against the front door to clear a wedge of snow, letting in another blast of cold air and the uncertain sound of sleet peppering the outside world He tossed the sheets onto the porch and closed the door The smell of the loft improved quickly, especially when he lit two scented candles, bayberry and fig The big man surveyed the aparthed When he rearranged the furniture, I was in for a hard practice session and lots of bruises It ood mood and wanted to share, or was in a very bad mood and wanted to take it out on me Either way, I would be sore Still hidden behind the dressing screen, I slid to the bathroom and took two ibuprofen I wasn&039;t human, but the anti-inflammatory worked as well on me as it did on the ah I was te to release it now I pulled on socks, two pairs, thick and warm, and slapped on soft-soled practice shoes

While Audric busied hi tea, I slid from the screen and approached on silent feet "If you want a thorough drubbing," he said without turning around, "you&039;ll strike when my back is turned Otherwise, you&039;ll wait until I&039;m ready"

"Snarky half-breed," I said, sotto voce

"Indeed I a bamboo staves from under his arm, he tossed a pair to me and slapped me twice before I could snatch therace than a ten-year-old, little e," he said dryly, "and you&039;re as slow as a hue-fast, I whipped around him and pricked him three times "Dead, dead, dead," I said "Noho&039;s slow?"

"Look down," he said

I flicked led to rip liver and kidney Not so dead, dead, dead, after all He slid into the swan and rapidly into the horse, al h the sequence I leaped into the proper blocks and parries, war into my chilled body as battle-lust wrestled with the cold of dreae-heat created by the incubus Sweat glistened on my arms and trickled down my spine I couldn&039;t help what the incubus made me feel, but I could choose what I did about it Battle was better than sex with an incorporeal Darkness In fact, al was better than sex with an incorporeal Darkness

When I arht a child "Fight, little " I snarled at the affront He chuckled "You nearly let that thing seduce you, little girl As if you were nothing ain, playfully

Audric was deftly er The fact that he had such control of my emotions made me even more furious "You let a minor Power lie with you, in your bed You are slow and lazy as a hu on insult But he was right Evil had been inas fast asdeadly blows over his heart, over his left kidney, and over the artery feeding his liver Three deadly strikes slid in under his guard Audric knew it "Better and better, little e" He danced away "Someday, if you dedicate yourself to battle and battle alone, you may defeat me It isn&039;t likely, but it is possible"

"I&039;d rather have you at ons"