Blood and Blades: An Urban Fantasy Action Novel in the Veil (Seattle Slayers Book 3) by Ken Bebelle & Julia Vee

Author:Ken Bebelle & Julia Vee [Bebelle, Ken & Vee, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sixth Moon Press
Published: 2023-03-31T16:00:00+00:00

14

STUDENTS

My practice didn’t go well. I couldn’t get my second tattoo to kick in and instinctively I knew that it was supposed to help me the way the ink on the back of my neck did. But the key to unlocking it eluded me. My head certainly wasn’t in the right place for the kind of training I needed. I climbed back over the concrete and ivy and went home.

The only thing on my calendar for this evening was to get over to Wen’s place. He’d been working with these disciples for two moons and he was really proud of their progress. The Rainier Valley Dharma Temple had welcomed Wen with open arms and he’d found a ready cohort receptive to training with him. For him, it had filled the void after exiting the Slayers and been more in alignment with his values.

I’d gone out a few times to train with him and it had felt good to spar with him, even if Wen had the totally unfair advantage of walking on air.

Rainier Valley Dharma Temple, or just Dharma Temple, looked like it had emerged fully formed in the middle of a forest. Douglas firs rose tall and imposing, like silent soldiers surrounding the vast grounds of the Temple. The building itself was a modest, yet impressive structure. The brown, single-story building was adorned with intricately carved wooden trim and framed a square pavilion at its center. The pavilion stones were large squares worn smooth and white with age. Mature cherry trees shaded the pavilion and it all looked like a place out of time, completely separate from the urban landscape of Seattle. The air smelled fresh, like right after the rain and I breathed deeply, enjoying these beautiful surroundings.

A female student dressed in freshly pressed gray robes greeted me at the main doors. When I told her who I was she invited me in. Stepping over the stone threshold, a tingling sensation passed over my shoulders. This land was consecrated, and the stones that surrounded and supported the temple had soaked up years of the monks’ magic. These two factors combined to give the temple a unique kind of protection from both shifters and vampires. Anyone entering these grounds without explicit invitation would find their magic muted and unresponsive inside the temple. It provided the safety Wen needed to teach his students in peace.

As usual, Delia was early and had beat me here. She looked perfectly at ease standing under the cherry trees, her silver cloak fluttering with the breeze. She contemplated a small pond under the shade of the trees, watching fat koi swim about and I wondered if this place was more like her home in the Hinterlands. She never talked about it, but after the big Yule festivities she had set up for Ulf, I realized that she must miss her home and her family. The way I did.

“Delia!”

She turned, and her hood came down revealing a long blond braid. Her golden eyes searched behind me for a moment and I realized she was looking for Ulf.

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