Changer's Blood (Balancer's Soul cycle) (34 page)

“Be gentle
,
Mother.”
She smirked at the
warning.

Sarah
walked back over to the standing crowd as they intently looked at
Kara and her first lesson with
an immortal
.

Sarah
stood at Connor
’
s side and placed
her
hand on the hilt of
the
dagger
,
absent mindedly. Connor put his
arm around her
as he could feel
her
apprehension
for allowing Kara to fight. When
she
looked up at him
,
he smiled as he continued watching his little eighteen year old sister and
Sarah’s
seven hundred year old mother squaring off. “Don’t worry about my sister. She’s not as defenseless as you might
believe
.”
Sarah
looked over at
her f
ather who was smiling and Mark was looking intense and worried.
At least he was using the right emotions
and expression
at this point
.

Before they began to fight Kara rummaged in her pocket and pulled out a long black cloth. Connor said
approvingly
“She’s using her head.
Good girl.” He looked down at Sarah
and explained. “She knows her eyes can’t keep up
with our movements
so she’s taking them out of the equation.”

Sarah
watched as Kara wrapped the black cloth around her eyes and tied it to the back of her sandy blond hair.
Jillian
started laughing
.
A
nd when
Sarah
saw Connor’s eyes fixated
she
knew this was going to be surprising
for
them
all
.

At the moment Kara finished adjusting her blindfold
,
she ran directly toward Sarah’s
laughing mother.
Jillian
took one step to her right and thought that Kara would run right past her; she
thought
wrong.

The moment
Jillian
moved
,
Kara adjusted her course as she ran.
Jillian
was stunned for
one moment
too long and Kara leapt in the air
,
tackling
the
statue of
Jillian
. Kara stood and said “I know you can do better than that.”

When
Jillian
finally stood she had to adjust her bikini top. When she was finished Connor yelled for everyone to hear. “Jillian
,
there is something you should know
.” She turned and looked directly at him. “Granddaddy taught us how to do things if we ever became blind
ed
. He would use blindfolds
for two or three days and sharpen our hearing
and teach us how to survive. When we went camping we had to learn to liste
n
for a person
’
s footsteps and follow them. We
even
had to learn to run as we followed him through the woods. The eyes can be tricked easier than your hearing. You’re at a disadvantage now because we are in a rocky clearing and your footfalls are amplified due to the loose gravel and stones.
This training helped develop our acute sense of hearing.
Nothing around here can break up the noises you’ll create.
”

Jillian
looked at the ground and tested Kara’s hearing. She took a small and soft step forward. As her foot touched the ground Kara turned
her head directly at her. She
tested her again by picking up a stone and throwing it a few fe
et behind her. Kara’s head snapped
to the new noise for a
glance and then back to where Jillian
still stood. “Nice try Jillian. I have been trained enough to know the difference between
a
person’s
step and a distraction.”

Jillian
smiled pleasantly and asked “Would you like to go again?” Kara squared her shoulders as she prepared for another round.

Jillian
started running slowly a
t
Connor’s sister and
she
had to step back as Kara kicked straight ahead and missed
Sarah’s
mother
by only an inch.
Her m
other tried something new. She stepped a few yards back and bent her knees.
Jillian
the
n lunged into the air and then Sarah
saw something frightening; Kara
’s
smile.

Just as
Jillian
entered Kara’s personal space, Kara leapt
up
into the air
,
colli
ding with
her
and
she
wrapped
her arms around her
elder’s
midsection. The force of the collision stopped the others momentum and the
y
both landed on the ground with a soft thud.

Mark couldn’t hold his feeling in anymore. He dropped
down and ra
ced
over to his girlfriend. The rest of
them
followed
after him
quickly.

Sarah
saw that M
ark helped Kara sit up and he took off her blindfold. Both of her knees were skinned up, but not bleeding
yet
.
Jillian’
s left knee
had been
skinned up
as she
intentionally
took the brunt of the impact.

Mark looked eye to eye with Kara and his bulky body matched his worried
tone
. “No more of this. It is too dangerous for you being human.”

Kara’s anger
bubbled
,
rising
to a new high and Sarah
knew she didn’t like being treated like a burden. “Well if I can’t spar as a human, does that mean you’ll turn me
into a Changer?” Every one of them
were stunned speechle
ss and Mark most of all. A
ll of his muscles tense
d, locking his joints
all over his body
and even his tail didn’t budge. H
is long jaw dropped
fractionally
and his
eyes went wide
with surprise and
alarm
.

A minute later
,
Connor touched Sarah’s
shoulder then
her
parents. With his mind
he told them
all
“They need a moment of privacy.”

They
didn’t need to be warned by him
twice.

When
they
left Mark and K
ara in the middle of the field Sarah
asked
“Connor
,
aren’t you worried about your sister
’
s choice?”

He turned and looked at her
with his predatory hazel eyes.
“Of course I’m worried for her.
I’m not heartless, just accepting because everyone is allowed to choose how they wish to live.
I remember you telling me that the virus kills almost every person it enters into.
I don’t want to even think of her becoming another statistic.
But I came to peace with a
difficult
choice a long time ago.”
He sighed heavily.

“What choice was that?”
Sarah
tilted
her
head
,
looking into his piercing hazel eyes.
His eyes weren’t nearly as intense
at the moment
.

“When
we chose to become mates
,
I knew that everyone around me would die some day.”
His eyes wandered to his
young
sister.
“She will grow old and die like
all
humans do and there isn’t anything I could do about it. It is
a
choice she has to make for herself. She can either grow old one day to eventually die or she can chance being with Mark. I know he is also struggling with her decision because of the past failures
and the pain it’ll cause
, but I know he won’t ever deny her anything
that
she wants. He loves her very much, I can see that.”
His eyes returned to
Sarah
again.
“I know that feeling personally because I am the same way with you
,
Princess.”
She
felt his love for
her
radiating through
the
bond and couldn’t help but embrace him.

Sarah
sat on Connor
’
s lap in the shade as
they
intently
watched Kara and Mark still having an intense conversation
and discussion
with wild gestures
. She
glanced to
her
left and saw that
her m
other
was
also
sitting on
her f
ather
’
s lap
,
also
watching the
couple with interested eyes. Connor
finally
broke the silence
an hour later
by asking “How long does the transformation take for a person to become a Changer?”

Jillian
answered evenly. “If the person survives it will depend on how much blood was entered into the subjects system. If it was very little
,
it would take six or seven days or if the persons system was flooded
,
at le
a
st twenty four hours.”

“Is it more dangerous to have more or less blood for the transformation? Is it more dangerous to change quicker?” Connor asked a few seconds later.

Jack
answered
this time
. “It doesn’t matter how much
is introduced
or how quickly they change. The survival rate remains the same, but transforming sooner ends the pain that much quicker.”

T
hirty
minutes later
they
saw Mark stand up and pull Kara up t
o a standing position as well. Sarah
looked up and judged it to be just past noon
now
. Mark and Kara walked
hand in hand
together to where the four
still
sat
patiently
. They kept glancing at each other intimately and sharing a personal smile. When they entered the shade and sat down
,
they did as the others
did. Mark sat down first
,
crossing his legs and
Sarah
saw his black fur was loose. Then Kara sat down in his lap and leaned her back into his chest.

Connor ended the silence
while
staring between
everyone
. “It looks like the two of you have finally come to a conclusion
. May I ask what you have decided?”

“Yes
,
you may
.
” Mark said
softly
in his animalistic voice.

Kara jumped in and spoke
seriously
to
Sarah
and Connor “Mark is right
,
I
’m not capable
of
spar
ring,
being that I am still a human
and all
.” She sighed as
Sarah
could see her steeling herself. “I’m going to be with Mark one way or another so we have decided to take the risk.
”

Jillian
asked
,
sounding a little worried “When do you plan to do this?”

“I will do it
on
Monday
,
after I return with Connor and the survival seminar.” Mark said a little more strongly as Kar
a grabbed his furry arm and clutched
it close to her chest.