Changer's Blood (Balancer's Soul cycle) (12 page)

He really was hurrying as
she
knocked on the front door.

“Coming
!
” A
deep voice
announced from inside and a few seconds later Jack
opened the door. “Good afternoon
,
Sarah. How was the camping trip?”
H
e was wearing
blue jean shorts and a white t-shirt. His long silver hair and
azure
eyes a
re a trademark of his
seven hundred year old
Icelandic
heritage. His is as tall as Connor, but of slim build
and also looks
like a
middle aged
human
. Don’t let his size fool you because
he is faster and
far
stronger than any human.

“It was a good experience for me
,
Father.
May I enter?
” And he smiled
,
letting her
inside the house.

A few second later Sarah
noticed Connor swiftly heading
back
in this direction.
She
waited at the door as
her f
ather looked at
her
with an odd exp
ression.
Sarah
then opened the door and
Connor
stood there
,
breathing normally
and evenly
. His fist raised
in preparation
to knock on the
thick wooden
door.
He still wore his black shorts a
nd black sleeveless shirt, but
Tool
no longer
h
u
ng from his hip and
she
guessed he left it at home. Also on Connor’s chiseled arm
i
s his solid silver armlet
. The armlet
held
a
pentagram
,
which is the symbol of the Balancers
,
and the symbols for the elements were etched on the band as well
in meaning of her
.
And on his left hand
i
s his
steel
wedding band which is identical to
hers, but larger to fit
up
on his fingers
.

Her f
ather then started laughing
a quick laugh.
“I keep underestimating the bond yo
u two share.” He shook his head.
“Come
on
in
,
S
on.”

Jack led them
into the yellow
walled
living room. Connor and Sarah
sat down on the love seat
,
facing the window.
Her f
ather left
them
and came back in
from the kitchen
carrying three two-liter bottles of soda and four glasses
,
filled with ice. As
Jack
sat across from
them,
on the other sofa
,
he sat the glasses down on the coffee table
and started filling them
. After he handed Connor and
her
a glass,
Jillian
glided into the room.
She immediately became excited.

“Welcome home you two. I see that you look
like you just got back.” Jillian
chirped. She had her dark brown
,
almost black
,
hair tied back in a single braid.
She was wearing tight
,
hip hugging jeans and a snug red shirt that exposed her ample cleavage and
she
also
didn’t wear any shoes.
She looked them both
over with her golden eyes
, trying to find something to talk about that would keep her entertained
.
She looks about
Sarah’s
age
,
at about eighteen to early twenties, but she is well over seven hundred years old.

“That we did Jillian.” Connor said with a
gentle
smile
. “So how was your weekend
without us being so close
?”

“It was quiet and relaxing
…
”
She
said
,
sitting down next to
her mate
,
too
k a
filled
glass and
began
drinking
it
.
“For the most part.
I did some minor gardening around the front and side yard while Jack finished painting.
” She
then
arched an eyebrow at
Sarah
provocatively and then glanced happily at
Jack
.

The four of
them
talked pleasantly for awhile and
had
finish
ed
off the bottles of soda until Connor said evenly “There’s
been another new development.” Sarah
choked on
her
drink as
she
t
oo
k a sip.
She
was afraid that Connor might tell them before tomorrow.

Jillian’s
golden
gaze
zeroed in on
her daughter
.

“What kind of development are we talking about?”
Jack
asked
flatly
while leaning forward
,
giving
over
his undivided
attention
.

“Early this morning while everyone slept I worked on manipulating metal.” Connor said seriously.
Sarah now
knew where he was now taking the conversation
and mentally sighed
.
It wasn’t
the conclusion she first jumped to thankfully. He really likes to keep her
on
her
toes
and is an expert at it
.

Jillian
jumped in quickly
,
asking “Are you ok? Did you get caught
or something
? Did something go wrong?”

Connor waved off her questions
absently
. “
A
few weeks ago it almost killed all of us doing the affinity test for metal.”
Both
her father and m
other nodded simultaneously
in
remembering
that
vividly
stressful experience
. “This morning I turned a fork into a spoon
and
it
felt that I could have manipulated it all day without running out of my energy stores.”

Jack
turned his blue eyes on
Sarah
.
“What about you? Did you try it?”

“Yes Father
,
and
it
felt the same way
for me as well
.”
She
said quietly
while
looking at the ground.

“What do you think it means?”
Jack
asked
and
Connor answered
a few moments later
.
“I think that since Sarah and I can manipulate so many elements that we can store more energy than usual.
How much, I’m not certain.
”

They
’ve
suspected
all
this before, but now it
became
fact.
They
truly could store m
ore energy than the first time they
worked the elements.

“If what you
felt was real,
I
’d
believe that you
’
r
e
correct
in that assumption
.
It might be an effect of being able to use all five elements.
” He took a slow and deep breath before continuing. “Have you noticed anything else?”

“I’m not completely sure
,
Jack.”

“What do you mean?” Jillian
asked
attentively
and
Sarah
finally lifted
her gaze
to look at
her
confident
husband. She
then felt
her
mother trying to
gain access to her thoughts
, but
she didn’t allow her to enter. Sarah
glanced at her and saw
the strain press
ing
her delicate brows together, but Jillian
wasn’t near strong enough to enter
her
mind
anymore since she
bonded with
her k
night.

In the very least her mind would warn against any intrusion.

“When I know that it’s real and not
simply
my imagination
playing tricks
; I will let the two of you know.”
Connor interlaced his hands together and sat still.

“Fair enough.” Jack
said
,
closing the subject
for now
.

Connor changed the subject and asked
her m
other “Jillian, do you still have that dagger that I made
from the affinity test
?”

“Do you need it?” She had a coy smile on her plump lips.

“Yes please.” Connor said
politely
.
She
stood and walked into the kitchen and returned with the solid metal dagger and
its
metal sheath. “Here you go
,
my boy.”
Connor accepted it
while
saying “Thank
you
.” Connor then rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a solid piece of scrap metal.
Sarah would
bet that he brought it from the house.

Suddenly she
felt Connor gathering his power as he pulled the sheath off the dagger and laid the knife down on the table. He then put the metal sheathe and the metal scrap in one hand. Releasing his energy into his palm
they all witnessed
the metal rise and hover
an inch
above his hand. The scrap metal changed first and then while it was red hot
,
it fused itself to the sheathe flawlessly.
Not even the best welder could make such a fusion possible.
It looked to have been molded.
It
blended into
a perfect
oval,
just
large
enough for a belt to slide through.

“That truly and honestly
didn’t take much ou
t of you, did it?”
Jack
asked evenly.

“No
,
it truly didn’t.”
He
admitted
truthfully.

They
could all
observe
that he didn’t show any
outward
signs of fatigue.

A
few minutes later Connor stood
saying “We need to go shopping before we go home.
We are both famished.
I
also
wanted to ask if you want to meet us at the training grounds tomorrow
morning
?”

“You bet
we will
. I need a little excitement.”
Jillian
stated for the two of them as she rubbed
her mate’s
back.

L
ittle did she know that
her excitement might be more than she will suspect.

Getting up at three in the morning
Mark
took a
nother
warm shower
to further remove the fog of sleep
. During the
long
shower
he
remember
ed what he
did after
leaving
Kara’s home
and her side
.
He
first went by the grocery store and bought fifteen pounds of meat, three gallons of milk, five cartons of eggs and five loav
es of sliced white bread. When Mark
entered
his
apartment
he
began to cook everything
he
bought.