Logan was walking the halls of The Temple. After dropping off Sarah at the barracks he was told that Amara wouldn’t be needing him for the rest of the day. She said that because he and Sarah were such a surprise addition, she still needed to reorganize much of her schedule to match both the needs of her new cadet and how he would assist her. As such, he had a half day.

  It only just reached noon and he was already bored. He had been moving near non-stop for the last week so any time to himself felt slow. He started going over his options. His beast was still satisfied so he didn’t need to go on another hunt, he wasn’t the biggest fan of modern movies or shows so wasting time in front of a tv was out, and while he knew many of the beings at HQ it was more as acquaintance than friends. Maybe he could go to the workshops and see if he could grab a bench. It had been a while since he’d carved something.

  As he turned to head toward the crafters he felt a breath on the back of his neck. He reflexively jumped forward and turned with his sword drawn. In the previously empty hall there was a tall and distinctly female…something. It was as if the world had a piece of it cut out revealing nothing but darkness. The stark difference between the silhouette and colored halls was almost dizzying. There was something about it that his brain refused to recognize as being possible. Thankfully, he had seen the technique before. He was still wired when he matched the outline to the few who could execute the technique.

  He relaxed and returned his sword to its sheath. “Hello Lilith. What are you doing here?”

  The darkness faded to reveal the Top Ranking Hunter. “I just saw you wandering around and thought I would say hi.”

  “That doesn’t answer the question on why you’re here.”

  “Oh that,” she said, taking a step closer while clasping her hands behind her back. “I heard things are about to get noisy and thought HQ would be a good place to keep my finger on the pulse.”

  “And you are bothering me because?”

  She took another step and entered his personal space. “Because I was bored and you were here.”

  He turned to keep facing her as she tried to slide around him. As she passed she touched a finger to his arm. At the contact he had a feeling flash through him. It felt like excitement. No, it was more than just looking forward to something. It was the feeling of meeting with a friend he hadn’t seen in a long time or the thrill of someone’s crush randomly talking to them.

  He swatted her hand away. “Stop doing that,” he growled. He didn’t know how she was able to mess with his mind like that and he didn’t like it.

  She hummed and put a finger to her chin. “Mmmm…No.” She giggled when he bared his teeth at her. “Alright, alright, I’ll stop. For today.” She moved back enough to just be at the edge of a comfortable distance.

  Logan pushed down his beast. “What do you actually want?”

  “As I said, I’m bored and you’re here. I’m hoping to spend some time with my favorite wolf.”

  Logan squinted as he started weighing his options. On one hand, he could spend time with a powerful being whose life was always interesting. Or, he could tell her to leave him alone in which she’d completely ignore him and do whatever she wanted anyway.

  He sighed. “Fine. What did you have in mind?”

  Her mischievous smile shifted toward genuine. “I have a thing or two that could be fun.”

  “And that would be?”

  She looked over her shoulder as she turned and started walking away from him. “I think we can start with getting nice and sweaty before cooling off in a nice spring.”

  “You mean having a spar then going to the caverns.”

  Her eyes sparkled, “isn’t that what I said?”

  He wouldn’t say he was against a spar, it would be a nice way to get in some exercise. What happened after that he was more reticent about. She was always planning something and these plans were rarely malicious, were always annoying

  He followed Lilith as they moved deeper into the mountain until reaching the underground sparring field. No matter how many times he had used it, he couldn’t help but be amazed at the work that went into the construction. The field was also designed to be a bunker for if the humans finally decided to turn the world into a nuclear wasteland. According to the builders even an ICBM detonating overhead wouldn’t be able to crack the defenses. The only downside was that there was the whole radiation problem. He was just glad beast-cursed weren’t susceptible to radiation sickness, three cheers for magical cellular regeneration.

  As it was the middle of the day the two had the whole thing to themselves. He didn’t doubt the crowd they would collect if it got out that the first and fourth ranked Hunters were going to spar. No matter how much they might learn from watching the event he hated being a spectacle. Being an instructor was one thing, an exhibit was another. He pulled himself from his musings as they reached the center of the arena.

  “So how hard are we playing?” Lilith asked as she clasped her hands behind her back, making her already taught clothing hug her even tighter.

  Her simple stretch quickly turned into a display of sensual flexibility. He watched as she closed her eyes and seemed to enter into a state of meditation. She moved with grace Logan had rarely seen in human or being. It was a show of a woman in full command of her body, every muscle was a tool to show her control.

  She flowed with impossible grace from one contortion to another. Each transition lingered just long enough to feel intentional, like she somehow could hear Logan's breathing and was able to perfectly match the tempo. With every inhale she shifted to another impossible form. With every exhale slowing the shift until she was perfectly balanced.

  His eyes were drawn to her hands as they traced her body. Every shift and curve caught his eye as she moved. His fingers twitched as he felt the urge to join them in their journey. It was more than just some base urge that pulled him in. Together they could create a mixture of passion and art that would put anyone viewing it into a trance. It had the potential to be a dance fit to be forever captured in paint or stone.

  His beast paced in barely suppressed excitement. Before them was a being that was the epitome of both beauty and power. She was a being of bloody ferocity barely hidden by a mask of flirty sensuality. It shook at the thought of claiming and being claimed by such a creature. Logan’s beast felt that even though the battle would be rough, the success would be worth every wound. And that their struggle of supremacy would light both of their fires greater than any hunt or ceremony.

  He was only taken out of his fascination by the realization that he had actually taken a step forward toward the silent show. He growled at himself as he violently suppressed his beast and wrenched back control over his body. For an instant he thought she had somehow magically influenced him again before his beast told him that wasn’t the case. No, she was just that good of a dancer. The only thing he was thankful of was that she kept her eyes closed throughout the performance so she wasn’t able to see his reaction.

  Only a few seconds later she stopped in a courtly bow, opened her eyes and met Logan’s gaze. “See something you like?” He did his best to control his reaction but apparently let something through as her smile widened. “I guess you did.”

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  Logan could feel his blood pressure rise as he had to control himself. He wasn’t some pup that could be so easily led around by a pretty face. He was a Top Ranking Hunter and was the master of his own body. He refused to be further manipulated by the demon.

  Instead of drawing his sword he brought his fists up and entered the brawling stance Master Sigurd had taught him.

  “Oh, we’re starting bare handed then,” Lilith said with a tinge of wild excitement as she entered her own stance. Instead of the steady rock Logan turned into, she was more like a whip ready to strike. She coiled with open hands, lowered neck, and weight on her back foot.

  “Muay thai?” he asked.

  “Yup, I saw a human fight with it and I’m trying it out. It's a great combination of soft and hard.”

  If she was trying out a new style he might get a couple of hits in. He had to leverage his greater strength and reach against her experience and agility if he wanted to win. All he needed was a few solid hits while avoiding any critical blows.

  Logan started the spar with a probing jab which she easily sidestepped. Not letting himself lose the momentum he followed up with a jab-cross combo before trying a low kick.

  Like the dancer she was, Lilith easily bent and avoided the attacks before lashing out with her own strikes. Her loose hands snapped into fists as they moved like vipers looking for an opening. She let out four rapid fire hits before moving back outside his range.

  Logan was able to dodge one hit while blocking two others. Unfortunately the one that slipped through his guard was an almost perfect kidney shot. It was in that instant as the pain of one of his organs being hit he wished he was wearing his body armor. He grunted as he moved back and went on the defensive.

  “Is that all you got?” she asked as she bounced on the balls of her feet. Before Logan could respond she dashed in.

  The second clash had Logan on the defensive as he focused on avoiding any critical blows. He grunted as the occasional punch got through but kept going. He understood how much of a beating he could take and so far was nothing compared to the sparring sessions Amara had put him through.

  The two Hunters went back and forth as the spar picked up. At the beginning it seemed one sided with Lilith landing two hits for each glancing blow Logan was barely able to slip in. As his collection of bruises started to grow he was able to get a better read on Lilith and her new style.

  The longer the fight went the wilder Lilith got. Normally such a development meant that technique was abandoned for ferocity but that wasn’t the case. Instead of becoming reckless it was like her focus tunneled until everything that mattered was her opponent and putting a beatdown on them. As the woman turned into a beast, every strike hit harder and her ever-present smile turned bloodthirsty.

  Logan saw he was losing and if he didn’t change something he’d probably be laid flat. Resigning himself for some potential internal damage he blocked a little too high leaving his side open. Just as he hoped, she delivered a roundhouse directly to the opening. As Lilith’s combat boot shifted his internal organs he dropped his arm and caught the leg. As quickly as he could he turned his prize so the knee was facing up and delivered a knuckle strike directly to a pressure point on the inner thigh. The spot had some sort of latin nonsense as a proper term, but he liked to call it the charliehorse point. A good hit there could lock up the entire leg for a few minutes.

  “You bastard of ten fathers!” Lilith cursed as she hopped around while cradling her injured leg.

  Logan laughed at the insult. “Does that mean I win this round?”

  “Fine, I’ll give it to you,” she said as she massaged the no doubt painful cramp. “You know, that is the first time you’ve ever left my legs numb,” she leered. “Not my preferred method but pain has a pleasure all its own.”

  Logan rolled his eyes as he drew his sword. Now that the unarmed round was done, the real spar would begin. He had to bring his A-game if he wanted to last more than a minute.

  He mentally smacked himself at the unintended innuendo. The tease was rubbing off on him way too quickly, not that he wouldn’t mind a little extra rubbing from her. He had to admit that the leg he held was amazing. The perfect combination of toned and generous, just like the rest of her.

  Damn it Logan, focus. He chided himself as he saw Lilith do something with her shadow.

  She returned to her fighting stance without a hint of her injury slowing her. As she solidified her stance her shadow moved. Two wisps of energy rose from the darkness to curl around her arms. When they reached high enough the energies spread to cover each arm from shoulder to fingertip. The energy then dissipated revealing that instead of her uniform sleeves, her arms were covered in conjured armor. Seeing the use of magic he pulled internal energy from his core and did a general infusion to both his muscles and senses.

  The shifting plates shone like polished obsidian under the sparring field’s artificial light as she started to circle him. Although the armor itself was a concern, his biggest problem was the long claws tipping each finger. Normally he would consider an opponent using claw armor as an edgelord trying to look intimidating and begging for broken fingers, not Lilith. He wasn’t entirely sure how she did it but each of those claws were more than strong and sharp enough to slice through any flesh or armor they touch.

  Just as before, Logan was the first to move. With a lunge he stabbed his sword forward aiming at the center of her chest. She deflected the strike with the palm of her hand with the sound of metal sliding across stone and moved in. He stopped her approach with a slash and a backstep.

  That started a back and forth without a clear winner. The spar turned into a game of strategy as much as one of technique. He would keep her back while she tried to get in clawing range all while the clang of steel on stone filled the empty field.

  One mistake was all it took for Lilith to land the first blow. It was in one of his attempts to keep her back when he overextended. Faster than any human she deflected his sword up and dashed in. With a single move she slashed and left four cuts each around fifteen cm long across his chest. He grunted as the searing pain hit.

  Before she could hit him again he brought his sword back for a cross body strike aiming at her neck. When she ducked the blow he tried to knee her but, like always, she dodged and slipped out of range. He was glad it was just a spar or else she would have probably left more than a few furrows in his leg as she moved back.

  With more energy than before she got back in her stance. She paused when she saw the blood on the tip of her right claws. While keeping eye contact with Logan, she extended a too long tongue and licked a drop off the blade on her index finger.

  “I guess first blood belongs to me,” she almost purred. “How about we play the best of five real hits? Scrapes and small cuts don’t count.”

  “Sure.” he said while pushing internal energy into the wound to boost the regeneration. The bleeding stopped as the wound visibly began closing.

  A bloody version of their back and forth started as she attacked both faster and more recklessly than before. After two minor cuts, one to his left forearms when he blocked a strike and one to his side, Logan landed his first strike. When she kept her hand flat and tried to spear him, he was able to bring the pommel of his sword down hard on her collarbone. He was aiming for her head but was happy enough when she wasn’t able to get entirely out of the way. The deep thunk that the strike caused made him gain his own grin.

  She briefly stumbled from the hit before recovering.

  “Damn,” she said, rolling her shoulder. Any human that got hit like would've walked away with a shattered bone while she looked like it had only been a nasty punch.

  “1-1,” he said as his own excitement rose. He was finally having some fun.

  “Yup,” she laughed. “I guess I should get serious then.”

  Logan’s heart sank a little as she didn’t return to her Muay Thai stance but instead got low to the ground and held her clawed hands facing him. He recognized it as what Lilitch called “Demon Style” kung fu. It was a mixed martial art she invented that combined Choy Li Fut, Leopard, and Northern Tiger style techniques for devastating strikes and claw techniques.

  That was the moment when the kind of even spar turned completely one sided. By the time she landed two more point-worthy hits she had left Logan with about fifteen smaller cuts across his body. By the end the only lasting wound he was able to leave on her was a cut too small to be worth a point on her thigh that she stitched close in under a second.

  They were both breathing hard as she literally pulled her two-knuckle deep fingers from his shoulder with a sickening shlick. Logan’s breathing was from working through the pain of his healing wounds and the exertion from keeping up with his opponent, he wasn’t entirely sure why she was. He suspected that the majority of her state was from battlelust or excitement instead of any kind of exhaustion. The biggest hint was that her pupils were noticeably dilated and her smile was a little too wide for comfort. Logan grimaced as his wounds stretched while he put away his sword.

  “You win, good spar,” he said, hoping she would accept the victory.

  She gave him a quick confused look. “Oh,” she blinked, “I guess I won then.”

  She stood tall, closed her eyes, and took a deep meditative breath. When she opened her eyes they were back to normal and her mischievous grin in its usual place.

  “To the springs then?”

  Logan nodded, “after you.”