The Stake (Shadowborne Book 1) by Kennedy Morgan

Author:Kennedy Morgan
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2017-02-03T06:00:00+00:00

7

JAX

“Sit,” Lin instructed as soon as he reached the front of the class. We quickly sank down on our knees, our butts on our heels like the budding martial artists we were and fell respectfully silent. For several seconds, the professor merely surveyed the class almost as if he were struggling with what to say. “The argument between the chosen and those who choose has raged on through the ages at Shadowborne. Which one is better?” He shook his head. “There’s no better, only different.”

The room hummed as the students murmured amongst themselves.

“Silence,” Lin hissed. He stood calmly before the room while eyeing me and Ash. I began to feel uncomfortable under his gaze. “Carter.” Ash hopped to her feet and bowed. “Miller.” I copied Ash’s actions. “Come to the circle.” He backed to the center of the circle, which served as a sparring ring. I guessed this was his usual position.

Ash and I rushed purposefully to stand opposite each other with Lin in the middle. We stood in fighting stance and waited.

“Bow,” he ordered. We did, never losing eye contact. Then we shifted back to fighting stance. “Fight.”

Ash stayed in position waiting for me to make the first move, clearly on guard and ready. I had some issues with this. I didn’t want to fight a girl, especially this girl, with an audience.

“Problem, Miller?” Lin shook his head. “Do you think there aren’t female vampires?”

I watched as Ash’s face clouded over. I shook my head. “No, Master Lin.”

“Then fight!” He nodded at me.

Taking a deep breath, I rushed Ash with a combination of punches that she managed to block with little effort. Seeing her skill helped me relax. For some reason, the idea of hurting her actually bothered me. Given my purpose at the school, this was no time to develop a conscience. Ash fired back with a spinning kick combination that caught me in the jaw. I grinned in approval, but I think she may have thought I was laughing because she came at me with another combination and actually ended up flipping me on my back. She slammed her hand into my gut.

“Reset,” Lin shouted.

We both moved to face off again at the line. This time when he shouted for us to fight, I was ready, and I caught Ash with a side kick combination that pushed her out of bounds. Fighting with her, sparring with her, bantering with her…anything involving Ash was really the best part of the academy.

While we sparred, Lin began to speak again. “Watch these two skilled fighters. Can you tell which is the chosen and which one chose?” He stood silent a moment. Given the distraction, Ash caught me in the gut again. “Okay, you may return to the line and kneel.”

We moved to kneel opposite each other in the circle. I watched as Ash closed her eyes for a moment and slowed her breathing. After less than a day, I had picked up on some of her mannerisms. She was working on calming her nerves.

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