Page 64 of Dark Cravings

"You're not always going to have your toys with you," he said.

I grunted. Fair enough.

I rushed him, deciding to just get it over with. At least I was ready for him to sweep his leg out to knock me off balance, but I had no sooner leapt to avoid his kick than he grabbed me by the front of the shirt and flung me onto my ass.

I groaned as I hit the floor hard. Even with the mat, it hurt. It had been a long time since I’d gotten thrown around like a ragdoll, if only because Castor and I tended to fight with weapons when we trained, which was somewhat rare now that we were hunting together.

"Cas is still going soft on you, huh?"

I rolled onto my stomach before getting back on my feet. "It's not that. We just haven't had time to train much lately."

"Sure," he taunted. "He's probably just afraid you'll go into rut again."

My face warmed and I took another swing at him. It missed, but it still felt good. "Do you always have to be such a dick?"

"It's kind of my thing," he said dryly, flipping me onto my back again the next time I got even close.

I hit the ground hard enough that my teeth rattled, but I forced myself to get back on my feet even if it was only to be a human punching bag. "I've been taking vampire blood for months," I protested. "How are you still so much stronger?"

"Because I've been doing it a hell of a lot longer than you have," he said, as if it should be obvious.

"And you’re a paladin," I added, regretting it immediately when I saw the murderous glint in his eyes. He swept his leg out again and my knee made a popping sound as it bent in a direction I was pretty sure knees weren't supposed to bend.

"And that," he said bitterly. "But it's not just a genetic cheat code. It's no more of an advantage than being an alpha werewolf."

"I wasn't trying to be an ass, I was just wondering something," I mumbled, holding my leg. I was pretty sure he had already snapped a few.

"And what's that?" he challenged.

I hesitated, knowing I needed to choose my words carefully, or he was going to kick my ass even harder than usual. "You know we ran into your brother a while back, right?”

His gaze darkened immediately, but he didn't retaliate like I feared. "What about it?"

"It's just… he seems to have it out for me, and now that I'm hunting with Castor, I know it's only a matter of time before some shit goes down again. Last time, that freak he was with kept me writhing on the ground with this sonic dog whistle only I could hear the entire time, and I couldn't do anything."

Arrow snorted. "That freak is my sister, Madaline.”

I grimaced. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's by far the nicest thing you could say about her," he said, clearly waiting for me to attack again. I decided to try a different technique and approached from the side, which simply resulted in me getting thrown to the mat from a slightly different angle.

I hit the mat facedown, groaning. When I brought my fingers to my lips, they came away bloody.

When I looked up at Arrow, there was a strange look in his eyes, and I had been hunting with him enough times to know that was his response to the sight of blood. He was as bloodthirsty as any vampire. Maybe even more so. It probably wouldn't kill him to lay off the transfusions, but who the hell was going to be the one to suggest that?

Sure as fuck not me.

"She's psychic, which I'm sure you already figured out," he said. "If you're asking if there's a way to block her out, the answer is no. But you can mitigate the effects."

"How?" I asked eagerly. I had never felt more helpless than I had that night, save for my shoddy memories of the night I had killed my family.

"Desensitization," he said with a shrug. "Psychic manipulation is a lot like poison. If you expose yourself to it gradually, in small doses, you build up an immunity. With a psychic as powerful as my sister, it's doubtful you'd ever be able to fight it completely, but you can get better at resisting it. Maybe even enough to hold your own."

"So I just need to find a psychic who’s willing to do that?" I asked.

"That's the idea," he answered. "And before you ask, no, I'm not psychic. It's a rare trait, even if it's more common in our family line than most of the others."

"Oh," I said, unable to hide my disappointment.