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Please, stop! I believe you

Lucian zipped over to ht clear sky filled my vision My heart beat hard in my chest, and I tried to take deep breaths to steady myself and return to my own reality

Eli now stood in between Anna and I, his war the truth We have to help her," I gasped

"What did you see?"

I shook ht back the tears that tried to overwhelm me It ay too personal to share That

"We’ll see e can do," Eli said to Anna

"Thank you"

Eli and Anna picked up Mithras’s lied it back to the house Anna said she’d only stunned him and that he’d be awake any minute When he did, she said she’d be able to convince him it was only a dream I stayed in the rundown courtyard where I trained I couldn’t shake the ies of Anna’s memory It felt so real, hoas she able to place ht about the possibility of reliving a s would be aht now

I picked up a wooden stake froround and slammed it into the dummy

"You still suck," I said I turned ain tomorrow

So Close, Yet So Far

After a week, her, and my stamina increased For the next three weeks, I trained and I trained hard I still got my ass handed to me by Eli e did defensive or offensive techniques but not quite as badly as I used to, which was soer to break a sweat When I trained with Eli, I was able to hurt him, and when I was really in thestronger or Eli just enjoyed lettingmore and more able to handle er needed his help With his tips I was able to control my sun poith ease As for e bodies of water andfire balls and turn a se bush fire I can heal plants andthe air wasn’t much, but it would come in handy if I needed to incapacitate someone temporarily All of this I learned on my oith the help of Eli and Anna, of course Sometimes If I was really stuck I’d even ask Hunter for help and he had given ain during the last feeeks On more than one occasion (with Eli’s per that tih we started getting on better, it was still nothing like it used to be, but I was coh around him to have fun and joke around

Today was the day before we left for Gerald Harbor As usual, I aiting for Eli to collectThe early starts still sucked but at least I got to go back to sleep afterwards until nightfall

Sure enough, three soft knocks landed on reetedsession?"

"More than ready"

We warmed up, we ran, and then went into our usual defense and offense techniques Eli and I crouched before each other I could tell by his eyes that he was going to go all out onsession; he needed to see if I was ready He lunged at ed to find ain His face was tense but his eyes watched ain and I was too busy ad ht rab I knew exactly what to do He pulled th andain his balance, I kicked his knee I didn’t kick it hard enough to displace it but hard enough to know I ave out from under him, he bent over in pain and I pulled the stake froainst his back and above his heart

Eli stood up, neither of us panting hard enough for his liking "Not bad"

"Another one," I demanded

"Someone is keen"

I took twenty paces away fro stance "This tih his dark hed "Give it your best shot" He stood waiting forto see my next ot closer, I threw a punch and he blocked it Fro and diving He hadn’t thrown a single punch in this session When I thought about it, he hadn’t thrown a single punch in any of our sessions He was taking it easy on , but how could I if rowl, I landed a punch to his chest He flinched slightly but ed to block asped as he shoved ry, why?" He didn’t drop ure out you’re going easy oneasy on you You’ve only trained for three weeks … I’ll hurt you"

"Hurt me"

"I can’t risk that" He smiled "Maybe after all of this is over"

"Do you promise?"

"Yes I prohed

I pressed h One of his arled in ed onmy head backwards He trailed hard kisses from my mouth, across my jaw line and down my neck I shuddered under his touch and a weird knot forain, only this tietic, even

"I don’t want to stop," I pouted as he pulled away

"I know"

Our foreheads were resting against each other’s

"Do we go back to training now?"

"No It’s your last session, I’ll let you off Besides, there’s nothing ainst my forehead and he turned away froo with a stake?" I asked

Eli hadn’t taught et close enough to a vampire to stake it It eet, he wanted to protect me Little did he know that I hada vampire

"You won’t need to use one Stick with your powers, leave everything else to uardians"

I stalked over to the dummy and pulled the stake from my back pocket I slath I had Eli turned around and saw that the stake had went in far enough to kill a vaician never tells her secrets"

"How is it possible?" His eyes glazed over in awe and wonderment