Enticing Blood

chapter eighteen

"It's all about balance." Sam instructed, standing beside Melanie and looking her head from toe, examining her posture. He slowly made his rounds, slow foot in front of slow foot, straightening her back, pushing out her shoulders and squaring her hips. Melanie, who had one foot on a small ball, maybe as big as both of her feet together, stood as straight as a board, with her left leg propped up and in a triangle form with the bridge of her foot resting on the side of her knee. Her previous dance years would call this position a passe. Her arms were extended on either sides of her, palms facing up, and shoulders relaxed.

"Good." He said in a breath, nodding in appreciation as he stopped directly in front of her, one arm crossed across his chest and another stroking his chin, as if in deep thought. "Now," He said. "Slowly bring in your arms and fold yourself together, bringing your leg down onto the ball." Melanie did as she was told. Slowly, she exhaled and brought herself together, folding in like a beach chair.

Melanie was pretty experienced with balance since she danced for ten years on her school's dance team, along with Isabel, and took yoga classes every Saturday evening. Balance was her best, but she didn't want to think of it being because of the angel in her blood, because that would make her question everything she was ever good at.

She would feel like a cheater, like the only reason she was the first one on her team to get her forte perfectly was because she was a nephilim, and not because she was actually good at dance. She cleared her mind of everything that was negative, trying to focus on the task at hand.

One thing she new, was that it was hard to balance when your mind was elsewhere.

Taking a deep breath, She could feel all her muscles, especially in her core, contracting and tightening, holding her body up and straight. She was surprised at how steady she was and how well she kept the ball in the bridge of her feet, steady and still.

"You're a natural." He complemented. "Now go ahead and unfold yourself and step off the ball, we're going to try something more advanced." Melanie gulped, but she followed his orders and carefully stepped of the ball, kicking it to the side and out of the way. "So you took yoga." He said, not the form of a question, like her knew for sure.

"How did you-"

"I know things, especially about you." He explained as he grabbed a chair from the sidelines and set it in front of her, about four feet away. Sam and Melanie stood in a room that was filled with weight sets and big, heavy machines. Melanie was not aware that this room existed inside Wylde and Dean's house since a stairwell beneath the stairwell leading upstairs, went down into a weight room and was out of site. The weight room was filled with different machines that resembled all sorts of pulleys and dangerous machines for torture. "Now, how are you with handstands?" He asked, eying her closely. Melanie lifted her shoulders in a half-heartfelt shrug, and he nodded slowly.

"I'm pretty good I guess." She said, looking at the chair with a skeptical gaze. She had a feeling she had to do a handstand on the chair, and the thought made her stomach turn with unease. She hoped she would be able to do it without falling on her face, possibly breaking her nose and losing a few teeth.

"Good. Climb up on the chair." He instructed. Melanie hoisted herself up on the seat of the chair, squaring her knees with the back of the chair. "Now you're going to combine balance, as well as controlling your body and keeping it centered and tight. This is going to be difficult, I'll understand if you can't do it after a few times." He said as he moved himself in front of her. Even now as she stood on the chair, Melanie being nearly two feet taller, her chin reached his nose. His height was astounding, shocking her each time he stood next to her. "I want you to use the back of the chair as your base, and kick your feet up into a handstand. All your weight will be on one side of the chair, so It'll be hard for you to balance and keep it from falling backward."