Make The Unknown Known

II

(Image is Max)

I woke up the next day in Max's arms. The sun broke through the window of the tree house and there were no signs of anymore demons or dark entities. I sighed and tried to get up but Max's grip on me tightened. Turning, I saw he was still asleep and dreaming. He nuzzled his head into the crook of my neck and didn't move until a few minutes later when Ford came through the door. Max opened one green eye but other than that, he didn't flinch.

"Wake up. We have work to do."

"Already been up." I say in a voice that was a mix of sleepiness and annoyance.

"Then stop the love fest. We have training to do." Ford pulled a bag onto his shoulders.

"Fine." Max replied, still holding on to my waist. We stood and I looked for a brush and began brushing my hair. After I finished we jumped to the cool morning ground and followed Ford. Stopping at a clearing, he set down the green bag. He pulled out a sword, two daggers, a bow and some arrows, a hatchet and brass knuckles.

"Pick one." I walked over to the heap of weapons and reached for the daggers.

"Are you sure?" Ford's voice was close to my ear and I shrugged him off.

"Which ever weapon you choose will be empowered by your parents. Hephaestus has crafted all of the weapons layed out before you. The one you choose, your parents will give you strength every time you use it." Max's words spun in my head for a moment before I chose the daggers.

"Let's begin." Ford's voice broke my thoughts before he took a swing at me with the hatchet. I dove to the side and swiped him with one of my blades.

"Hey! I thought we agreed to take training slow Ford!" Max rushed over.

"Oh please, Max. She's the daughter of Ares and Bellona. You honestly think she wouldn't automatically pick up her parents fighting abilities?"

"She didn't when her 'father' beat her every day endlessly." Max's face was filled with rage at the mention of my father. I slunk back in to the shy girl I was before the demon appeared and all of this blind sided me. The green eyed guy walked over and hugged me. I didn't notice the tears falling down my face until he pulled out of the hug to wipe them away.

"I'm sorry, Katrina. I didn't mean to make you cry.." He held on to me for a little bit as my tears stopped falling.

"Barf. We need to get back to training. Hurry up."

"You're an ass." Max retorted and let go of me, allowing me and the Lycan to spar once more. I went after him with one dagger, forcing the hatchet away with the other. Hit. His side was now leaking blood. We took positions again. This time, he lunged at me with his weapon. I didn't realize where the hatchet was until it hit my leg. Staying silent, I whipped around and stabbed him in the shoulder. When I tried to retrieve my weapon, it was stuck in his jacket and skin. I ducked just as he swung his hatchet at my head.

We went back and forth like this for a while. After a few hours, we took a break; covered in sweat and blood we began walking to my house, careful to not be seen. I dashed up to the shower and quickly hopped in.

"Cause all we are.. is broken glass. Thrown to the floor, we were never meant to last." I began to sing Broken Glass by Three Days Grace. When I had finally cleaned the mix of Ford and I's blood and sweat off of me, I turned off the water and grabbed a nearby towel. Someone knocked on the bathroom door.

"You decent?" Max's voice called from the other door. I quickly got dressed and put some Vans on, opening the door for him to enter. His green eyes looked at me with worry.

"I'm fine, Max. I promise." He kissed me and smiled but I could tell he was still worried for me. It was something different, though. Something he wasn't telling me.

"Max what's going on?" He held me close, both of his arms draping over me.

"It's nothing Katrina.. Just stay by my side, okay? And be quiet." I nodded and we krept through the house. A sight I didn't expect to see momentarily made me lose my train of thought. A Nachzehrer was in my living room. Eating someone. Body and soul. It turned to look at me.

"Shh. Stop moving." I stood still as Max whispered in my ear. It turned back around and we finally snuck the rest of the way out of the house. However, we were still not safe. The both of us jogged away from the house and when we were sure we were far enough away, we stopped.
We had thought we escaped but as we turned towards the house, it was staring at us. At me. Max was about to attack when Ford held him back.

"Let her fight her own battles. She can take it."

The Nachzehrer was in front of me in seconds. It lunged and I dodged it. Soon, I saw my daggers on the ground and picked them up. I began to fight the creature with every angry feeling I've been holding in. I fought it like I was fighting my father. All of the hits and cuts he gave me, I returned to the being underneath my blades. I had defeated him long before I began to hit and stab and hit its corpse. Ford had to pull me away before I regained my normal self. The two guys looked at each other then at me.

"What?" I was confused.

"Nothing.." Ford replied.

"..It's nothing." Max added. I held both knives in one hand and rubbed my forehead with the other. I was getting light-headed. Max caught me before I fell to the ground.

"This normally happens after using a blessed weapon for the first time. She'll be fine. For now, we have to get out of this town. Gods, devils and demons will be after her if we stay." Ford came to a conclusion.

"We'll leave tonight." Max agreed.