“And you just happened to bring the equipment with you.” He raised an eyebrow. “What about workout clothes?”
Zeke didn’t love the idea, but he was keeping his word to let me handle the training. “I brought shinai sticks to use. As for a change of clothes, you can’t tell your opponent to wait while you change into a comfortable outfit for a fight. Part of the exercise is to fight in what you’re wearing when the conflict finds you.”
He looked at his clothes and shook his head. “I really liked this shirt.”
I laughed because it was a blue Henley, and I could buy him a dozen more if he ruined this one. “Win and it won’t get ruined.”
“Blow it out your ass, Orion. If I was good enough to win, we wouldn’t be having this, ‘let’s see how I can throw Zeke for a loop’ exercises.”
I laughed at his description of things. It was accurate, but I loved his grumpy attitude. “Fine, if it gets ruined, I’ll buy you a new one.”
“Make it two, and you have a deal.”
I held out my hand so we could shake. “Deal.”
“Marvelous,” he said as he got in the car. “Clearly I should’ve held out for one shirt in each of the twelve available colors.”
Despite his protests, he knew this was the right move. “Do you really think you’re getting even one shirt?”
“You couldn’t let me dream for even a little bit, could you?”
I liked his playful side. The world might be crashing around us at any time, and he still had fun trading comebacks. “Where would be the fun in that for me?”
“Wow. You really know how to woo someone.” He rolled his eyes. “Some date this turned out to be.” He stiffened in his seat. “I’m just playing, Orion. I know this isn’t a date.”
It felt like a slipup. “Don’t get weird on me. I got it.”
The sad part was I would have gladly called it a date if he seemed more receptive.
I drove us to a secluded area that had a large copse of trees we could use to keep prying eyes away.
We retrieved the shinai from the trunk of the car and trudged up a grassy hill. I checked to see if we were alone, and as far as I could tell we were.
I tossed him the practice weapon. He surprised me by attacking without warning. Zeke lunged forward, whipping his shinai through the air. Sneaky child. He got high marks for trying, but his execution sucked. I deflected the strike easily and countered with a flurry of blows, putting him instantly on the defensive.
Unlike our first sparring session, I didn’t hold back. Michael and Gabriel were taking a massive risk putting an angel as inexperienced as Zeke in a situation with stakes this high. I needed to see how he responded under the harshest conditions. He needed a taste of the relentless onslaught he might face from the Drevlin.
I pressed the attack, not letting up for an instant. My sword became a blur, raining down strike after strike while Zeke struggled to keep his guard up. When he left an opening, I surged through, sweeping his legs and sending him crashing to the ground.
This continued through dozens of rounds. Over and over, Zeke picked himself up off the grass, battered and filthy, only for me to put him back down again just as quickly. After a particularly vicious series of blows that left him doubled over and wheezing, I called an end to the exercise.
Zeke tossed his shinai aside and gulped in air by the lungful. “I hope you worked out whatever was bugging you. I’d rather not be your punching bag again.”
I opened my mouth to apologize, but he cut me off with a raised hand, his chest still heaving. “No, save it. This. . . .” He gestured at the practice swords. “This is what I can expect from someone who really wants to kill me. At least this time, I only thought you wanted to.”
Tossing my words back at me didn’t make me feel better. “Zeke. I’m sorry. I pushed too hard.”
He fixed me with a look, utterly unintimidated despite the clear evidence of my physical dominance over him. “Let’s not do it again, okay?”
With that, he turned and started walking toward the car.
I stood there, appalled at what had just happened. Zeke hadn’t said it out loud, but he let me know he saw through me. My intensity hadn’t only been about preparing him. It was about trying to reassert control, to reestablish the boundaries that had allowed me to retreat into isolation for the better part of a century.
Abruptly, I felt disgusted. What a terrific job I was doing looking after Ares’s son. Beating him to a pulp because I couldn’t deal with my own past. This was exactly why everyone thoughtI needed this mission. To snap me out of this spiral of solitude and self-loathing. Squaring my shoulders, I collected the shinai and headed for the car. It was time to get my head out of my ass.
By the time we made it back to the house, Zeke didn’t seem the worse for wear. We talked about his satisfaction with the placements, his confidence they wouldn’t be found, and what we could expect next. Everything but our training.
He asked if he could shower first and went to his room when I agreed. I watched him go and was sure I saw a hitch in his step. Still angry at myself, I put our gear away and went inside.
