Page 68 of Dancing with My Elf
“I’d like to be trained to better defend myself. I mean, I know basic self-defense skills for fighting off an attacker, but not, you know, a supernatural one.”
“Oh, right.”
“Can you help me?”
It would take time to train her fully. After all, I’d been showing Nova all magical defensive skills for months. But Gianna was right, and she needed the basic elements to defend herself.
“Yes. I can train you on something that would help.” I lowered my voice since I shouldn’t be sharing this outside the Network. If our weapons got in the wrong hands, we’d be screwed. But I sensed I could trust Gianna, and she was starting to feel like a friend. Besides, if there was a rising threat, it was better to arm her immediately, rather than later. “Can we meet up at seven?”
“I need to be at the Danger Zone then. Would you be able to meet me there?”
“Yes,” I replied. “Do you have someplace private so I can train you without us being seen?”
“My office.”
“That should work.”
At seven,I entered Gianna’s club, the Danger Zone, a retro rock themed club north of Boston. White Lion’s “Wait” played. I did my usual scan for any shady characters or anything suspicious before I became comfortable.
Gianna wore a slinky black dress and heels as she strode over from the bar. It was so different from her more relaxed outfit from last night at the house when she wore jeans and a flowing pink shirt and flats.
“Zoe, thanks for coming.” Gianna greeted me with a warm smile. “Come, we can meet out back.”
I followed her out a door from the main club into her office with a computer and printouts of inventory on the desk. I assessed the space for how much room we had. It wasn’t much but enough to move around in for basic movements.
“I’m glad you know some basic self-defense,” I said. “Have you ever carried pepper spray?”
She nodded. “I have it on my key chain.”
“Good.” I pulled out our version. “This is pepper spray but enhanced to work on supernaturals. It includes a defensive potion with silver shavings that is pretty potent. It is not considered safe or wise at the Network to arm everyone with a weapon this powerful so keep this under wraps.” I raised it and mimicked the motion. “Just spray it in an assailant’s eyes and get the hell out of there.” I handed it to her. “It should blind him and cause enough pain for you to get away.”
“Got it.” She took it from me and examined it. “Will it have enough to kick a demon in the balls?” She tilted her head and grinned. “And maybe a little twist for good measure?”
I exhaled. “Gianna. You should run the hell away and then call the Network. Have me on speed dial, if you’d like.”
“Okay.”
I hesitated before pulling out the next weapon. It was a short knife with a curved blade that I’d specifically designed against dark beings like demons. I’d spent a decade studying defensive magic and worked with witches on magic to make our weapons more effective against dark beings. With so many types, it was difficult to create one type of magical weapon that countered all, but this was an overall effective one that had come in handy many times.
I pulled it out and showed it to her. “Do you want to learn how to use this?”
Her eyes widened. “Absolutely.”
An hour later,Nova met up with us at the club. Cinderella’s “Nobody’s Fool” played around us.
“I thought we’d have a Girls’ Night, so I called Zoe to come down,” Gianna said.
A girls’ night? That wasn’t something I knew much about besides seeing them on TV and in the movies. When I went out with any girls, it was usually with others at the Network to talk about work.
We sat at a high top with a pitcher of sweet, fruity cocktail called “Pour Some Sugar on Me.”
After I told Nova about how I’d armed Gianna with a couple of weapons, Gianna said, “I feel like a total bad ass, like the two of you.” She motioned to the front of her body. “If any vile ass demons step up to me and try to put their disgusting fingers on me, it’s a full blast of anti-demon in its face.” She raised her hand, mimicking the action. “And then a swift kick in its decrepit demon balls. And maybe a scrotum twist.”
“Gianna, remember the main goal is for you to get to safety, not twist a demon’s testes into a pretzel,” I pointed out.
She laughed. “Right. I need to book it out of there and call you.” She snapped and pointed at me. “I can’t help it, getting a little carried away. Especially when I’m around the two of you, like when we went undercover in the club. It was awesome and so—fun.”
I might have a different definition of fun, since we were on the lookout for demons. Then again, I did enjoy dancing with Lucas quite a great deal.
