Page 37 of Vengeance & Sin

“You want me to just attack you?” She asks and there is a hint of humor in her words as if she thinks the idea is ridiculous. I hate to admit it, but she’s right; it does seem ridiculous.

She stands perfectly still in front of him. His back is to us, so I can’t see his face, but I’m almost positive he's about to burst. Zander is easily excitable, and the thought of his new infatuation being a badass probably has him ready to bust a nut and shriek like a schoolgirl all at the same time.

He gives her a nod, and that’s all it takes. In the moments that follow, a lot of things happen. Jade’s posture shifts as she drops into a fighting stance, her smile melts away, and the look in her eye is so intense the only way I can describe it is murderous. But that’s where my ability to track her movements ends. In the blink of an eye, she’s on him.

Immediately, he’s flat on his stomach on the mat, with his arm bent back behind him, as she sits on his back, holding him down. She braces his arm on his back with one of her arms and legs, and her other hand is on the back of his head, holding it to the mat. He wiggles a bit but can’t seem to move, and after a second, he goes from playfully trying to actually trying and still gets nowhere.

As quickly as it started, she releases him, sitting back on her heels next to him on the mat. Her eyes refocus on him, and she no longer looks like she’s going to kill him, though her smile doesn’t return.

He rolls over onto his back as soon as she releases him, and I swear, he’s got hearts in his eyes as he looks back at her. I can hardly hold back the groan that threatens to escape because, of course, Zander is excited by this instead of worried about the possibility that she could kill him.

I look at Rick, and as if he can feel my eyes on him, he looks over at me, his brows furrowed in thought. At least he seems to understand what this could mean for us. He stands from the bench and walks over to the mat, and I decide to follow after him.

“What are you trained in?” He asks, stopping at the edge of the mat. She turns to look at him before looking down at her hands that now rest on her legs in fists.

“Just about anything I could get my hands on.” Her voice comes out low, but it’s easy to hear with how quiet the room is.

“Alright.” Rick nods before he walks over to the long row of metal cabinets on the back wall behind the mats. He throws each door open as he walks the length of them, revealing weapon after weapon as he goes. We have a vast collection, from knives to swords, nunchucks to Bo staffs. Most of these things we train with, and at least one of us can use, but we each have our strong suits, and there are a few things we just never got the hang of.

She tracks his movement as he walks the wall, and I watch her. With each cabinet that opens, her eyes grow wider until I feel like they might actually fall out of her head. Finally, when he gets to the end, he stops and faces her.

“What can you use?” He asks her as he gestures back to all the weapons now on display. And while I know what he’s doing is necessary, clever even, I can’t shake how uncomfortable it makes me. Yes, we need to know what she can do, and yes, it’s best to have all the information, but we just gave a potential threat access to just about every weapon we own. It’s like a psychopath's wet dream.

She takes a moment to rack her eyes over all the cabinets again before she briefly looks at each of us.

“I could kill someone with just about any of these things.” She says before she pushes to stand in a fluid motion that makes her seem more like a dancer than a girl who was sold for sex all her life. I guess when you have to survive, you learn to be whatever you need to be, and I’m sure she can adapt to most situations.

She walks past the first three cabinets full of all means of hand-to-hand combat weapons and stops in front of our gun cabinet.

“I can use everything but these.”

Everyone is quiet for a moment as we let that sink in.

“You can use all of those?”

“You can’t shoot a gun?”

Zander and I speak at the same time. Both questions are valid, but I still glare at him because who cares if she can’t shoot a gun when she can useeveryother weapon? If Zander feels me trying to burn a hole in his head, he doesn’t acknowledge it. Instead, he stays focused on Jade.

“It’s not exactly like people let you have a gun when they purchase you.” She says it like a joke, but as I look at her again, I can see the simmer of anger just below the surface.

“I get the idea of a gun, point and shot; I’ve just never done it. As for the rest of these, I have used something close to each, so I imagine using the actual weapon wouldn’t be so different.” She goes to the first cabinet and pulls out a Bo staff spinning it around in her hand like it’s nothing special. I keep myself where I am as I watch her, even though my body screams at me that this is dangerous.

“This isn’t so different from the broomstick I trained with.” She tests the weight in her hand before swinging it around her body a few times.

She puts it back and steps away from the case, and my shoulders sag in relief. Her eyes dart over to me, and I know she caught it. Her face falls as she turns back to face Rick and Zander by the cabinets.

“Jade, would you mind demonstrating some of your skills?” Rick asks her, and her head snaps up to look at him while I keep mine carefully trained on her. She seems uncomfortable, but I don’t understand why?

Before I can voice my concern, Zander walks over to her and grabs her hand, bringing it up to his lips.

“It’s okay, Doll. We just need to see how well you can defend yourself.” He tells her in a voice that’s so calm and understanding that it sounds strange coming from someone who’s usually so loud and chaotic.

She looks from Zander to Rick and finally to me, and as she looks me over, I stand taller. I’m not sure what she’s looking for, but if it's a weakness, she won't find it here.

She gives a small nod, and Zander all but drags her over to the cabinet to pick a weapon, where she once again grabs the Bo staff. She seems to favor that, and for a moment, I wonder if maybe that’s why she’s nervous. Perhaps that’s the only weapon she can use and doesn’t want us to know.

I guess we’ll find out.

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