Seeing his direct approach, Serena smirked and vanished. As the end of the staff broke through the air where she’d been standing a moment ago, he growled.
Of course the girl knew how to go into overdrive!
And that meant she would try to…
He brought the staff around and held it behind him—letting the length run parallel with his spine—in time to deflect Serena’s attempt to attack him from behind. The thunderous impact of the two weapons coming together filled the room and was quickly absorbed into the padding as Zane spun to face her.
But she was already gone again!
He smiled at her tenacity as he pushed himself into overdrive. As his vision shifted to accommodate the new speed, he spotted her as she sprinted in a semi-circle to try and take him from the side. Spinning around to deflect her attack and came in with the opposite end in an attempt to catch her behind her leading ankle, only to have her move that foot in time to avoid the strike…
… and drive it into his stomach.
The force from the kick was enough to knock him back, but Zane was able to stay both on his feet and in overdrive as she came at him again. As the vicious attacks continued, both held strong against the other, the combined force of their strikes straining the staffs and filling the room with a prolonged roar of supernatural battle. Another strike was thrown and blocked and both of the weapons gave out under the other’s force and as the wood tore apart their fragments and splinters froze in midair—frozen in the mortal time-stream while the two supernatural beings sparred—and hung there as if mocking their lost weapons. Neither of them deterred, they darted through the bits of wood with their fists balled and ready. Two punches landed simultaneously and the room slipped back into normal time as the two were knocked out of overdrive and across the room until they came crashing down onto the unforgiving hardwood floor.
Zane groaned and rolled to his knees, struggling to stand up, and when he’d finally gotten to his feet, grabbing his shoulder in pain. Wincing from the contact, he glanced at the floor and let out a heavy sigh at the sight of the massive crack that he’d put there when he’d fallen; two perfect indents showing where his back and shoulders had broken through.
He silently thanked Gregori for his vast wealth and the assurance that the damage would be easily repaired.
The sound of metal straining caught his attention and he looked towards the opposite side of the room in time to see one of the weapon racks—loaded with a series of Oriental swords and daggers and cracked in half down the middle from Serena’s fall—start to come unhinged. As he watched the collection of weapons start to shift, he watched as a short sword slipped free and stabbed into the floor several inches from Serena’s head.
And the rest were sure to follow!
Growling, he fought through his own pain and dizziness and rushed towards her, pushing his already-drained body into overdrive and struggling to maintain the superhuman speed as the room slowed around him long enough for him to snatch her body from the floor and hurling them both out of range of the slew of razor-sharpness that rained down behind them.
Zane groaned and blinked against his worn-out body’s blurring vision and saw Serena below him; pinned to the floor by his body.
Biting his lip at the compromising position, he hurried to pull himself off of her, hoping that she hadn’t gotten the wrong idea or that he hadn’t done any damage in falling on top of her. The sound of another crash reverberated in Zane’s ears and he gritted his teeth as a second wave of falling weapons rang out and startled Serena into an upright position; holding her chest and coughing as she tried to catch her breath.
Zane sighed; at least she was safe.
He dropped his head to look at her, she was breathing softly and her chest lifted and fell in slow breaths. He chewed his lip as he realized he was staring at her chest still and turned his attention to her face. Her dark bluish-purple gaze was pulled into his and he frowned, realizing he’d been caught. She smirked and licked her lips. Realizing he was being teased, Zane looked away and growled.
“Like what you see?” She smirked.
“I was... I was just trying to help you; to save your dumb ass from getting sliced to shit!” He glared, “And, for the record, no. I don’t like what I see! I prefer my women to have tits!”
****
Even filled with anger and embarrassment, his mismatched eyes were so beautiful. She’d caught him and he knew it; knew it and was pissed about it! She smiled to herself. She knew just how to get to him. Knew exactly what buttons to push.
Which worked to her benefit, because he was hot when he was angry.
While she’d known that her teasing would get him riled, she had not anticipated her own body’s response to his piercing gaze. Even then, in the midst of celebrating her own victory against his emotions, she felt tingles along the length of her arms at the memory of his stare.
Trying to move past her own thoughts, she dusted herself off and cleared her throat; “So what the hell happened, anyway?” she asked, motioning to the condition of the room.
“A lot...” he turned his attention and pulled back, “and the expensive kind of ‘a lot’, at that,” he sighed, pushing his hair from his face.
She chuckled at all the damage and gave Zane a look, “Blah blah blah! I see my father’s legacy lives on within you.” She sighed and stretched out, shaking her head, “Bastard always bitched and moaned about cost! ‘This costs this’! ‘That costs that’!” she growled, “Just another reason why I left in the first place. It was all that the old man could talk about; the only thing I’m sure he thought about! Well, one of the only things at least,” she added quietly.
****
Zane frowned and looked over at her and tilted his head as he thought for a moment. She was so different than most the girls he had met. Something about her that irritated and enticed all at once; an arrogance that bordered confidence—or was it the other way around?—and a perception that seemed to skew everything it took in.
He smiled softly; she was definitely a mystery to him.
And he’d always loved a good mystery.
