Page 38 of Dark Captivation

“Maybe I did it so you’d stop talking so much.” Liza made a blabber mouth gesture with her hand, rolling her eyes.

“Don’t listen to them. You’ll catch them making out in the corner by lunch time, trust me.” Ferina whispered to me, brushing her hand over my arm.

“Not if she begged!” Liza hissed dramatically.

Samantha smoothed a lock of hair behind her ear, the uneasy look that scrolled on her face saying she might have gone too far.

“Okay, now that I have your attention. I want to introduce you to the famous Lady Sunny!” Ferina heralded, vigorously tossing both hands my way, palms up.

“We’ve heard so much about you. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” The tallest of the trio reached a hand my way. “I’m Tabitha.”

“I’m Livy, but I guess Sunny is what I’ve been going by since I got here, so Sunny it is.” I laughed while shaking Tabitha’s hand.

“Did you change your name for Princess Ferina’s benefit? She can be a bit of a control freak, but having you change your name just because she doesnt like it does seem a bit much, even by her standards.” Tabitha pinched her chin thoughtfully.

“Hey, I’m not that spoiled princess the press has tried so hard to label me as! All I know is that my brother introduced her to me as, ‘Sunny’ so everyone calls her Sunny. It’s that simple.” Ferina shrugged wildly. “It’s a cute pet name and she does kind of look like a Sunny, right? She smiles so brightly.”

“Let me look.” Samantha’s muscular arm reached for me, her coarse fingers gently pinched my cheeks. Her face drew close to mine, her breath thudding like the bang of a drum.

She was more handsome than pretty, with a square jaw and thick muscles filling out her camouflage uniform. “Smile for me, babe, please.” She sang the word please in a way that almost sounded flirtatious.

“Are we here for training or what? We’ve only got the room for another hour.” Liza smacked Samantha in the chest, jealousy forming lines on her forehead as she scowled.

Samantha’s hands went up as if she spotted a gun, before shooting a cocky grin at Liza. “I thought you said you wouldn’t kiss me if I begged. Looks like you’re the one about to start begging.”

Liza and Samantha went at it, engaging in a lover’s quarrel that was more whimsical than furious.

Ferina and I used the time to lace up our sneakers and did a few stretches, getting good and warmed up.

“Okay ladies, it’s time to get to business.” Ferina clapped her hands twice, breaking the girls’ bickering. “As you know, we had a mage break in at the palace last week. With Sunny being new to the horde, we need to make sure she is fully up to speed on all our group defensive maneuvers, just in case there’s a larger scale attack. If that happens, she’ll need to fight alongside us and know what to do. So, why don’t we start with the vertical swarm maneuver?”

“Sounds fancy. What’s that?” I rubbed my hands together.

“For this maneuver, a squad of five demons team up to take down a single opponent who possesses incredible strength. Like a grand mage or an alpha wolf.” Samantha explained and immediately my mind wandered to thoughts of Chasten, Blake and Payton. I wondered where they were right now and what they were doing.

I shook those thoughts away. I shouldn’t care where they were. After what they did to my parents, I was just happy they weren’t anywhere near me.

“The maneuver is simple, yet deadly.” Liza folded her hand on her hip. “We surround the enemy on all sides, first attacking their ankles, knees, hips, and shoulders, going all the way up to the neck. Each demon chooses a joint to attack, the fastest demon takes two joints. Once the attack is over, the opponent should be on the ground. By that point we go for the head, crushing it with all our heels combined.”

“Ganging up together to take down your enemy with overwhelming and unrelenting force. I like it. But who’s going to be the enemy? Will we be using one of those cool robots I saw on the monitor?” Excitement whirled in my voice.

“Sorry, Sunny. Only newbies can use those. We’d wreck every robot in the storage unit if we relied on them. As you can see, my friends don’t know the meaning of the word ‘gentle’.” Ferina glanced at Samantha from under her lashes.

“Hey, I’m here to please. Liza knows she likes it rough. She told me so.” Samantha winked at Liza playfully.

Liza’s jaw gaped to say something and before she could utter a word, Tabitha barked, “Assume battle position now! Samantha is the target.”

Samantha blinked rapidly, my head jerked in all directions as she messily prepared for the surprise attack.

Liza, Tabitha and Ferina sprang into action like eagles swooping down to strike their prey.

I lunged into the fray after them, trying not to be left behind.

Tabitha struck Samantha’s ankle with brute force, Ferina went for the knees, kicking them hard enough that Samantha stumbled, almost falling forward. Samantha threw a fist at Ferina and she twisted out of the way before it could land.

Liza aimed a kick at Samantha’s left hip, but she was too slow as Samantha expressly shoved Liza back with a push to her gut.

Samantha was the fastest and possibly strongest of the women here. That had to be why she was chosen as the enemy. Still, as all four of us swarmed her like flies to honey, she began to struggle. We all aimed at her hips and shoulders at once.

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