The Dark Ones

Chapter Nine

Sebastian ran toward me, but I quickly side-stepped so that he ran past me instead of into me. He turned around swiftly, his gaze meeting mine. It wasn't long before he began to charge toward me again, but instead of moving out of his way, this time I jumped up just before he could knock me over. I put my hands on his shoulder, pushing off of them to do a flip over his head. There was no crashing sound as I had thought there would be. Instead, I sounded as though I was weightless.

"Whoa!" I heard one of the boys shout, and I felt a sudden surge of authentic confidence rush through me.

"How are you so light?" Sebastian asked, and I saw that he was facing me again. He was in his fighting stance, but now he was moving slowly and more methodically. A vague memory surfaced in my brain, but I dismissed it, focusing on the here and now.

Once I stepped forward, he moved too, kicking one leg out and sweeping it across my legs. With the force of his kick, I tripped, falling backward to the ground. Before I could hit it though, he caught me. "I think," he said, lowering me to the ground and allowing his knife to hover just above my throat, "I win."

"I think not." I said, maneuvering myself to kick at the back of his legs. He was falling quickly to the ground, but stopped himself with his arms. I took that as an opportunity to move to my feet, and he was quick to stand up straight as well.

"Come on, Seb!" Dylan yelled, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Chase lightly shove him.

"Dude, who's side are you on?" He asked, before returning his attention to us, "come on, Clary!"

Noah was standing on the other side of us, arms crossed and watching every single move intently.

"You sure you want to do this, Clarissa?" Sebastian asked, raising one eyebrow again.

"It's. Clary." I said through my teeth, charging toward him. He grabbed me, lifting me into the air with ease just before I could reach him. "Put me down!" When he didn't listen, I began hitting at his wrists with my wooden blade, causing him to laugh. "I'll... Saw your hand off with this!"

He looked up at me, a look of amusement on his face. "I'm not afraid of you," He told me, shaking his head. "Plus, I think you'd have better luck stabbing me with that instead of sawing off my arm."

"Oh yeah?" I said, taking a breath. I pushed his hands off of my stomach, causing me to drop quickly to the ground. I landed on my feet with one hand outstretched and hitting the floor at the same time. Before he could move, I moved swiftly backward so that I could have a larger vantage point of our makeshift fighting arena.

I ended up with my back in front of Noah. Sebastian ran toward me with a blinding speed, but suddenly I was pushed out of the way to the right. Sebastian realized that I was no longer where I just was and he turned toward me.

"Forfeit?" He inquired, the look of amusement never leaving his face.

"Not a chance." I shook my head, grinning. My gaze caught on Noah for a moment as I realized that he had just pushed me out of the way. I turned my attention back to Sebastian, who was grinning.

"Alright, then." He responded, and I narrowed my eyes at him.

I took a moment to think once he began to charge at me again. Everything nearly came to a halt, moving in slow motion as I assessed the situation in my head. Within a spit-second, I realized what I had to do and everything moved in full speed again. I sidestepped, which was a move I had grown accustomed to, letting him move past me. Before he could rush all the way past me, I jumped onto his back, putting the blade to his throat.

"I'm not on the floor yet." He said, stopping mid stride.

"Not yet." I said, kicking at the back of his legs again. I jumped off his back as he fell to the floor, and once he hit it, I put my hand on top of his chest and pushed my blade against his throat. He put his hands up in mock-surrender, but a smile was stretched across his face, "This good enough for you?" I looked down to see that my blade was digging into his throat, and I pulled away slightly.