Recovery

Tempting the Demon

Ryker

Ryker did not know why Carbry thought he was a good person for the job of teaching all these new, young, untested recruits how to fight. Sure, Tim was otherwise busy, but there were others who would have the patience to walk through hours and hours of the basics with the myriad of supernaturals who had joined Knight Corp in the past weeks and months. It was a haven, a promise to rebuild from the bullshit that had gone down, and a lot of these kids were doe eyed innocents that had seen far more bullshit than they needed to.

Some could fight, and those were in the advanced rooms with Bryn and Shiloh, though he knew his former teammates would be leaving on more missions, just the same as he would be, but they were taking the time to try to do their best to spread their experience and training out. To teach as much as they could before risking their lives in the petty skirmishes of stabilization in the world.

Ryker would rather be out in the field working, but Car and Tim had been nudging him to do more than be a simple grunt on the ground for a while now. He used to be able to ignore them, but he somehow found himself following along with their plans and thoughts without the same vehemence of resistance that he once had.

Ryker smelled the demon before she stepped into the room.

Not that Urdu smelled strongly, or bad, but he recognized her scent, mingled as it was with that of Tim and Samantha. There was a time when the demon was the most powerful, otherworldly creature they had to deal with. But even if she hadn't been tortured to shit, she'd still be several pegs down from that title, what with the three ancient beings that they worked with and loved now.

The level of power was unfathomable to him. Sure Meri could probably snap her fingers and he'd be less than dust and thinking about that was beyond his comprehension. But he had seen this demon take out tanks and helicopters and hunt down some of the worst killers they'd had without batting an eye, leaving their heads on Tim's mantle like a gift.

To consider her as low in the hierarchy of beings he had to deal with was absolutely ridiculous.

Tim didn't talk a lot about what had happened.

Ryker knew that Urdu left, Tim and Sam got sad, the world went to shit, Tim and Sam became gods. And then they brought Urdu back. And Tim and Sam were still sad, but Ryker knew enough about torture to know that coming back physically was a lot easier than coming back mentally. You never truly came back to who you were. He couldn't fathom the struggles Urdu was having, and how hard that would be on her mates to see.

The demon that slipped in the door, unnoticed by the students whose backs were to that part of the room, looked similar to the woman who had decimated a company of Hunters single handedly. Same dark bluish skin and white hair. Body made of dangerous curves in all the right places.

But the swagger was gone.

Ryker didn't even give a shit about the lack of horns, or the fact that it looked like someone had poured liquid metal where her eyes should be. The woman had been tortured by another god-thing. He had figured that much out from Tim's furious rants in Carbry's office. It actually surprised Ryker to see how well the woman had healed, considering that. Considering how worried Tim had been, and how upset Meri said Sam was.

It was the lack of swagger that Ryker noticed the most about Urdu. How she didn't walk into the room knowing she owned it. As if she needed power or eyesight to probably rip apart every supernatural in this room.

"Sir. Why the fuck do we have to do these same fifteen moves over and over again. We get guns. I know how to shoot a fucking gun." The girl who spoke up was a wolf shifter, a mouthpiece that Ryker liked, if only because she was incredibly blunt and he could see her giving Tim a hard time once she got past the fact that she couldn't fight her way out of a wet paper bag against anyone who wasn't human.

"Because you're shitty at fighting, Roz." Ryker.

"Yeah. And you're probably a Jedi Master, right?" The girl snorted and rolled her eyes, drawing a couple snickers from the shifter's group of friends.

Ryker frowned and held out his hand to one student, catching the staff when they finally caught on and tossed theirs to him. With a nod of his head, the rest of the class backed up off the mats, leaving him and Roz facing off. "Ok. Beat me and you can move on to the advanced sparring."

Roz was ferocious, as wily and brutal as any kid who had scrambled to survive as Hunters were cutting down family and friends. But she was sloppy, and Ryker effortlessly deflected her attacks for several minutes, before finally disarming her and taking her to the ground.

"See."

"You're an ancient vampire. Who's been doing this for years. Of course you won." Roz snorted and climbed to her feet, grumbling and brushing her pants off. "I bet you couldn't hold your own against someone better than you."

Ryker shrugged. "There's always going to be someone better than you, no matter how good you get. I'm pretty fucking amazing, but yeah. That's why I keep training. So if my gun fails. If I don't have my back up, I can do my best. And not be a casualty."

"Why can't we get trained by someone better than you?" Roz bit back, glaring at him.

It was funny. He felt no anger at her attempts to insult. He understood where she was coming from, that she was defensive at having lost, so he shrugged and turned to look to where the demon still stood, half obscured in the shadows, behind the rest of the class.

"There is no one better than me here, right now." Ryker smirked.

Urdu snorted.

And he didn't know why he cared.

Ryker didn't know why this demon who had kicked his ass in this very room, who had barely given him a passing glance in the few times she had been around, mattered. But she had also helped Daryl and Meri when they were as sick with Sam. She had also kept his team safe when she had taken on the Hunters on her own. She was also Tim's mate. And despite what Ryker would ever admit to, that counted for something too.

Either way. The fact that she snorted, drawing attention to herself and smirking toward him, caused Ryker to grin.

"I mean. Urdu here used to be half decent. But she's fucking blind now. Do you even know how to fight when you can't see, sugar?" Ryker grinned as his students back pedalled to give the demon a path to the mats.

Urdu frowned before standing up off the wall and walking toward him. He saw the battle in her features, the anger warring with that broken, absent look. "I see you haven't learned manners, Ryker."

"I'm trying to teach." Ryker rolled his eyes and idly spun the staff, pretending not to notice as she tilted her head, clearly able to follow the sound of it moving through the air. "I can get Roz to take you back up somewhere safe."

"Who the fuck is she?" Roz, always the mouthpiece, spoke up, though the shifter wisely took several steps away from Urdu when the former general stepped onto the mat and continued to approach Ryker.

Ryker shrugged. "She's Tim's mate. You used to be a fighter or something, didn't you, Urdu? Now I'm certain that Roz here could probably beat you. I'd ask if you were lost, but you probably don't know."

Urdu snarled then.

And the sound was equal parts terrifying and heart-warming as she bared her teeth, her expression clearly telling him that she was going to kill him. "I don't need to see to know that you're still as much of an over-inflated asshole as you always were."

Urdu held out her hand and Roz's staff flew off the ground and into her hand, causing the class to take a couple more steps back.

Power.

Ryker had listened enough to Tim and Sam and their worries to know that Urdu had not shown a lot of that in the past months, either.

Ryker grinned. "Ok. So... we'll play nice. I know Timmy is super protective of you. Now.... Find your stance. There's a good girl."

The demon attacked then, and Ryker was suddenly regretting his decision.