Changer's Blood (Balancer's Soul cycle) (18 page)

Kara shot five more
arrows
and they were all clustered together
in the size of a person’s clenched fist
.

The lone human
went up to the tree and removed her arrows. She walked up to everyone and asked “Would anyone
else
like to try?”

She held the bow out toward all of
them
.

Instantly Jillian
started bubbling
over
with excitement. “I do. I do.” When Kara handed the bow and some arrows over
,
she
said to herself
“It’s been
nearly fifty
years since I’ve did
any
archery.” Quickly
Jillian
hurried
over
and fired a volley of arrows that all hit the tree, but they weren’t anywhere near as clustered as
the human’s
.

While
Sarah
tried
her
hand at archery
she
found
that she
was the worst of
them
all.
She only hit the tree twice and
even lost one of
Kara’s
homemade
arrows. Luck
ily
for her
she didn’t mind.

Sarah had an idea to use her
knife.

From where Sarah
stood
,
taking
the
archery shots
,
she
slid
the
dagger out of its sheath. With
her
superhuman strength
Sarah
threw the dagger an
d hit dead center of the target
,
burying the dagger half way down the shaft of the blade. Connor whistled and
she
co
uld feel how proud he
i
s for her
.

When she walked back Sarah
heard Mark ask
everyone
“What made this crater
-like impression
?”

“Connor did.”
Jillian
said quietly
,
wearing a grin
.

“Brother
,
you did this?” Kara asked in shock.

Sarah
looked at the impression in the rocky ground. The surrounding rocks were still scorched black from the
fiery
incident.

“I
was demonstrating
something dangerous for Jack. I showed him what happens to fire if you put it under pressure.” Connor said in
simple
explanation.

“Can you show me?” Kara asked with a smile.

“NO!”
Jack, Jillian, Connor and Sarah
yelled at the same time.

She shrunk back into Mark
’
s chest as he held her and watched
them
at the same time in confusion. Sarah
said in a calm voice “Kara
,
it is too dangerous. Connor had to show my father for him to comprehend the danger. Do you know what the Back Draft Phenomenon is?”

“I don’t know how dangerous it is, but I have heard of it
before
.”

“Sis
,
how about I show you a form of the dangers of fire. It won’t be the real thing, but just to give you an idea.” Connor said
,
looking serious.

“Ok, Brother.” She
sounded
barely audible.

“Be careful.”
Connor walked away from
the
group
as he smiled at Sarah
. When he
stood
fifty feet away
,
he turned to
them
.
Sarah
felt Connor call upon his power as he gathered
the heat from the atmosphere. She
then saw
his mouth open
and heard Connor take a deep breath
into his massive chest
. His chest swelled
with the heated contents
and before he
quickly
released the air
from his lungs
at once
,
he pursed his lips.

As he pushed the superheated air from his lungs
,
the outside air ignited
in a roaring blaze
of superheated fire
. Connor blew a red
and orange
stream of fire from his lips. She
could feel the intense heat kissing
her
face as it radiated from the flames.
She wasn’t alone in feeling the
strength of the
heat.

After Connor released all of the air in his lungs
,
and the flame jet disappeared
,
he walked back up to
the
group.
“I was careful
,
right?”
He smiled
her
favorite smile that makes
her
heart beat rapidly
and the goose bumps
began
to rise
all over
.
Sarah glance at her
parents
who wore unreadable expressions, then she
looked over and almost laughed
doubled over
as
she
saw the other two.

Mark’s muzzle was completely hanging open and h
is
long
, pink
tongue
also
lolled
off
the side
. His silver eyes were wide with shock. What
proved to be the most
funny was
K
ara looked the exact same way. Her hyperactive
personality
was
finally
put on hold.
Ev
en their postures remained identically
stunned
and slumped
.

A minute went by
before
Mark spoke quietly to his friend. “You’re a
lso
a
fire breather?
I’ve only seen Keepers breathe fire.
”

“No I just figured different variations of
that element
.”

“Buddy, that was Amazing!” Mark started
a barking laugh. He turned to Sarah
asking “Can you do it as well?”

“Yes. Connor taught bo
th me and my father.” And if a
wolf could
ever
whistle
she
’d bet Mark would try.

Connor walked up to his sister and knelt on one knee as he looked her eye to eye. Mark released his hold on her and took a step back
to give
them
some room
. His clawed feet scratched the rocks as he walked backwards. “That ability I just showed you
is nothing compared to the destructive capabilities of what came from that.” Connor gently turned his sister and pointed to the charred crater.

An hour later after everyone talked and rested under the shade of another Red Pine
did
Kara ask “Brother
,
you said that you spar. Can you show me
exactly
what you do?”

Kara couldn’t help herself as she immersed herself in the world of immortals
, fantasies brought to life
. She watched her brother and saw him in a new light. Throughout his entire life she’s seen him hide and not have fun with anyone,
afraid to let go,
but out here she could see that he enjoyed showing off in his own way. She liked seeing him do things that other people couldn’t and she wanted to see him really push himself. Sparring would be the best show of his skills. She just knew it.

Her
brother turned his head
sharply
when she asked
. Sarah sat by his side in her beaut
iful black top that looks good o
n her. Both of her parents sat acr
oss from Kara
and Jillian smiled at
the youngest one
’s
curiously.
Kara
could also feel Mark
’
s eyes on
her
, but
she
didn’t need to look.
They looked at
her
like
she
grew another head,
that was
until
Connor
sighed.

Connor
smiled at
her
and then he looked at Mr. Branderson. “Jack
,
are you up to a match? I’ve come up with some new moves.”

“I can
’
t
wait to see this.”
The silver haired ancient
said looking at Jillian and then
began
laughing. He then looked at
Connor
while
asking “Weapons or hand to hand?”

Her b
rother stood up saying “Doesn’t matter
to me because
you
’
r
e going to lo
se this
particular
match
either way
.”
a
nd
then
he smiled
over
at the silver haired man.
Connor
looked at
Kara and
handed
over
Tool and
continued
smil
ing
.

“Don’t get
cheeky
with me
,
S
on.
You’ll regret it.
”
Mr. Branderson
warned
while
smiling and standing
,
looking forward to the challenge
. He picked up his metal club that
Kara
rec
ently learned its name; Haunt.

“I’m not being cheeky,
just confident.” And
Kara
then stoo
d with everyone to watch the spectacle
about to ensue.

As
S
arah’s father and Kara’s
brother walked into the rocky clearing
,
she
felt Mark standing behind as he rested one of his clawed hand gently
up
on
Kara’s
shoulder.
He made sure his
sharp
claws didn’t cut into her
.
She
looked up
in
to
his dreamy silver eyes to
see him
intently
watching the two combatants. Both Jillian and Sarah
were
standing on either side of Kara
,
watching their mates prepare for a skirmish
.
Sarah i
n her black sleeveless shirt had
her hands clasped in front of her. And Jillian had one hand on her hip a
nd
that red
bikini
top
made
most women take a hit on their self esteem
.

When Kara’s
attentio
n was riveted on the spar
she
forced
her
self not
to
blink. Remember
ing how quickly both Mark and her
brother ran
this morning
Kara
knew that this was going to be too quick
and undivided attention was a necessity
.
Earlier she marveled, between bouts of nausea, that t
hey didn’t ru
n
into anything in the forest, but all
she
saw from the woods
had been
a blur.

The speed of combat would be faster than that.

Mr. Branderson made some fire and coated his weapon with the
liquid-like
f
lames. “Isn’t that cheating?” Kara
asked, but no one answered
her question because she
soon found out it wasn’t illegal at all.