DISCONTINUED - Lights That Shine Mysteriously - Fablehaven Fanfiction

Chapter 9

Alexander eyed Kendra curiously. "What's around your neck, Kenna?"

Kendra swallowed, and looked away from him, faking sadness. "An old gift from Seth for Christmas." Her eyes flashed back up to meet Alex's. "And for the love of Christ, stop calling me Kenna!"

Alexander leaned closer. "Why? Does it make you uncomfortable?"

Kendra rolled her eyes. "I only receive nicknames from my closest friends and family members," she teased.

Alex put his hand on his heart and pretended to dramatically sigh, though real hurt flashed on his face for an instant. "You wound me, Kenna, you truly do."

"You're so dramatic."

"You know you love it," Alexander winked. "Ow!"

"Quit flirting with Kenna and get back to kicking her ass." Emma ordered, after smacking him on the head.

Kendra blushed, then groaned, for two reasons. "One, I've already been beaten countless times, by both of you. Two, that nickname is going to stick, isn't it?"

Emma gave her a wicked, but genuinely joyous smile. "Of course it is. Have fun with Alex beating you to the ground, Kenna."

"I hate you two."

"Love you too, Kenna dearest."

The three teenagers were hanging out in the yard, practicing hand-to-hand combat, after notifying Grandpa Sorenson of their whereabouts. Emma and Alex had both fought Kendra to assess how much she'd been trained in this field of fight.

And they had both knocked her to the ground and pinned her within seconds.

"Straighten your back, Kendra. Bend your knees slightly. Watch your enemy -- well, Alex's -- every move, and try to predict what they're going to do. Make sure that you're defending yourself as well as going as on the offensive, you seem to do only one at a time," Emma critiqued.

Kendra scowled. "I'm beginning to see why I gave up on these lessons with Warren. I never learned much from them unlike Seth."

Alex's eyes tightened, and he gave a feral smile. "Well, we were trained by an unordinary person, and when you're taught by strange people, you tend to become a strange person."

Emma sighed. "She did love a good fight. She may not have enjoyed her assassin years, but she did like fighting. A bit sadistic and masochistic, she was. Her mate was perfect for her."

Alex rolled her eyes. "He may have been perfect for her, but they didn't realize they were mates until a couple of years passed. We kept nudging them together, but it just ended in knocking us repeatedly to the ground." The last part was directed towards Kendra.

"Who trained you?" Kendra asked curiously.

"A woman named Annabelle. Her sister Isabelle would help too, but she only dropped by every few months or so to teach us a few tricks she picked up. Annabelle helps out the Knights of the Dawn every so often, but isn't an actual member." Emma said.

"Wait," Kendra said, realization dawning over her, "You were trained by the Annabelle Hale? As in the one who brought down an army of demons?"

"Actually, she had help from her mate, and it was an army of lower class demons. And she's gifted with fire, so all she had to do was set them on fire and pick them off," Alex corrected.

"Still, there are so many stories about her! She's as famous as Taylor Swift!" Kendra practically squealed.

Emma laughed at her excitement. "She's still a woman. And she owed a debt to my father, and he asked her to repay him by training us for a year. It turns out she liked us and stuck around an extra two years."

Alex wiped his long brown hair out of his eyes (his hair is about a little above shoulder length). "A wonderful woman, she was. A bit temperamental, a pyromaniac, and lover of cursing, but absolutely wonderful. I kind of miss her. She disappeared last year. She sent us a clue, saying that she was going home. She never talked about where her home was, though. She just said that in our time of need, she would appear, no matter where we were."

"Do you think that time of need would be now?" Emma wondered.

Alex shrugged. "I don't know. No one, including her mate and twin, knows what goes on in that head of hers."

Kendra was wide-eyed. "Your family has so many stories to tell!"

Emma gave a cocky smile. "Yes, we do, but it would take ages, so let's get back to training. If we see improvement, we'll tell you some."

Alex snorted. "Bribing. Very nice, Emma."

Emma shrugged. "It works. Now can we please get back to fighting?"

"Bloodthirsty brute," Alex teased.

"Narcissistic ass," Emma retorted, then playfully lunged at him. They ended up rolling in the grass, trying to pin each other.

Kendra laughed quietly, watching the twins wrestling. Oh, how she wished that Seth was here as well so she could fight with him. She would give anything for him to be with her again, safe and alive, being his usual idiotic self. She would give anything .