The Darkness Within

34 - New Friends

Lucienne studied her opponent, the both of them taking a break from sparring to catch their breath. Today, the fifth day of having been at the vampire's castle, Lucienne had taken the time to spar with her power-bound, this time with swords. They had discovered the indoor training room and decided to use it for this morning. Having only their two Champions, the werewolf twins, and Lucienne's angel guards allowed Ciara to be in her true form.

And Lucienne could honestly say, she had never had a harder opponent.

To have her panting and sweating, against any other opponents, it would take at least three. Maybe two if her head general was one of them. Her new nickname for her mate, little warrior, was indeed proven true as the female fought with a speed, ferocity, and skill Lucienne had been genuinely surprised by.

She smiled wickedly at Ciara who was still catching her breath before swiping at her with her sword in hand. When her sword cut through only shadows, Lucienne growled in annoyance, spinning to block her power-bound's attack from behind. The incredible, but also immensely infuriating female, had teleported behind her. And not for the first time during this session.

The two of them exchanged blows and Lucienne appreciated the healthy weight that the female had gained back these past few days. The female was filling out, getting stronger, and as a result, was ravenous from the energy being spent on it. She thanked the Goddesses of Creation for blessing Ciara with such unreal healing abilities, at the same time she cursed them for providing her with such speed and accuracy with her attacks.

Lucienne blocked a stab from Ciara's sword and was immediately met with a large gust of wind that knocked her off balance. The magical attack was unrefined and sloppy but Lucienne was still impressed that the female had managed the attack at all. Ciara was truly talented when it came to her magical gifts or honing her body, her strong will and determination allowing her to surpass the bounds of even what Lucienne had been able to complete when first training. It was a thing to be proud of and had Lucienne not been trying to block both physical and magical attacks from her mate at that moment, she probably would have been glowing with pride.

Despite her talent, Ciara ended up being knocked over as Lucienne threw her off balance by sucking one of her feet up into the ground with her powers of the earth. They were on the ground level and this was a very old castle with stone flooring. The moment she began to fall, Lucienne hit the smaller witch-forged sword out of Ciara's hand and placed her own sword at the female's pale-skinned neck. Ciara was talented, yes, but she was still a fledgling in comparison to Lucienne's over seven hundred years of practice.

With a sigh, Ciara submitted. When she did, Lucienne pulled her up and checked her for injuries, deciding they were done for the day. Besides a few bruises from harder hits and one small cut where Lucienne had nicked her with her sword, there were no injuries. She healed the minor scrapes with her magic, standing close to her mate.

The past few days, Ciara had become more affectionate with Lucienne. They cuddled together after long days of working with the leaders to come up with plans and to work out logistical issues as they came up, they roughhoused in the evenings during magic sessions, they shared a bed cuddled up as close as they could get, and Ciara's emotions no longer held anger or embarrassment when Lucienne helped her eat. When they were near each other, Ciara now often reached out and made small motions of contact- holding her hand for a bit, grabbing her elbow, intentionally brushing shoulders, letting Lucienne guide her more often than Tala. It was almost as if Ciara had to frequently reassure herself that Lucienne was there and safe; the flicker of panic before the moment of contact and the wave of relief afterward. However, the acts of affection were usually small if around others, saving the larger signs of affection for when they were alone.