A Friend to the Darkness. Katherine Rathbone

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СКАЧАТЬ to fight.” He said it resignedly.

      “What? Why?”

      He rolled his eyes. “So you stop getting your arse kicked, and my siblings stop worrying about you getting your arse kicked.”

      I shrugged. “Why not? I’ll just get changed.”

      He settled back on my bed and eyed me up and down. “Ok.” He said with a smirk.

      “OUT!” I demanded.

      “You’re no fun.” He pouted as he flounced through the door, slamming it behind him.

      He took me to a mountain clearing. The air was clean and smelled of eucalyptus. “Where are we? It’s beautiful!” I said wonderingly, taking in the sights.

      “Tasmania.” He replied softly. “I love it here.”

      “I can see why.” I turned to smile at him, and found myself sprawled on the ground, flat on my back. “Oof! What the fuck, dude?” I yelled.

      He grinned down at me. “First rule, always be aware of your surroundings.”

      I kicked out at his shins, and he leapt backwards. “That’s it!” He laughed.

      Five.

      And so began my training. Every time my mum worked late, Seth would appear, whisk me off to the mountainside, and beat the crap out of me in the name of teaching me. He was a good teacher, I’ll give him that. Every time I mastered a new skill, he showed me a new way that he could avoid it, and the increasingly difficult moves I would need to counter that. After a while, he told me it was time to get the others involved too.

      “Why?” I panted, looking for an opening. “Am I getting too good for you?” I teased as I dashed close and tried to sweep his legs out from under him. I ended up underneath him, with him sitting on my back and twisting my arm up behind me. I tapped out. He climbed off me, and I sat up and pouted.

      “Not yet. But you are developing a fighting style, and it’s very similar to mine. Time to introduce some new teachers so what you end up with is all you.” I nodded thoughtfully.

      That weekend, Lucifer was there again when I met up with the others. I glanced at Seth nervously. He shrugged and nodded.

      “Hiya, Katie!” Sebastian called. ”Want a drink?”

      “Actually, she has something to show you, first.” Seth interjected.

      “Oh yeah? What’s that?” Sebastian was curious. Everyone was watching me. I swallowed nervously.

      “Hit her.” Seth commanded.

      “Hit her? What? No! It’d… oof.” I’d stepped in close and swept his legs out from under him. “What the fuck?!” He yelled as he clambered to his feet. I grinned at him, my hands in a defensive posture.

      “Oh, it’s on, bitch.” Sebastian laughed as he came for me.

      We fought. I was determined to make Seth proud. I kept moving, dancing in and out of Sebastian’s superior reach, dodging his much stronger arms. He stopped laughing, and became more serious, concentrating harder. I landed a decent kick to his abdomen, and his face changed. Suddenly he was pushing more, swinging harder. I copped a couple of fairly hard hits, and realised this was the lesson Seth wanted to teach me. These guys were a lot stronger than I gave them credit for. So far, Seth had only hit me with a quarter of his strength at best.

      I was beginning to tire. I backed away and raised my hands. “I yield.” I panted. Nevertheless, Sebastian came at me. Suddenly I was fighting harder than I ever had. “Sebastian!” I cried. “I yield!” He threw a punch that I barely dodged, ducking under his outstretched arm and dancing behind him, before spinning to face him. “Seth! Help me!” I had no pride in that moment. I was vaguely worried that Sebastian was going to kill me, but mostly concerned with keeping my feet and keeping out of his reach. My legs were trembling.

      “Sebastian! Enough! She’s done, can’t you see that?” Seth yelled, grabbing his arm. I wilted with relief. Sebastian snarled at him, shoved him away, and leapt towards me. I backed away, holding one arm up weakly in protest. Sebastian grabbed me by it, spun, and threw me over his shoulder, hurling me into the ground, holding my arm at a weird angle. I heard a snap, and saw stars.

      “STOP!” Lucifer roared. The power in his voice rolled across us like a physical blow, and Sebastian let go of me and dropped to his knees beside me. I scrambled further away, noting that Sera and Seth were kneeling too. I looked up at Lucifer. He was standing at his full height, silver eyes flashing with fury. He was magnificent. He strode over to me, and knelt beside me. “Let me see.”

      I allowed him to examine my arm. I looked behind him. Seth was now straddling Sebastian, raining punches down on him. Sera watched, hands on hips. “Shouldn’t you stop that?” I asked Lucifer worriedly.

      He glanced behind himself briefly, before turning back to me. “Sebastian deserves to get his arse kicked for that. Sera will stop them if need be.” His voice was cold. I struggled to sit up, and he helped me. I winced as my arm moved. “Are you done? Can I look at it now?” He sounded exasperated. I held still. “It’s broken, I think. We need to get you to a hospital.” His voice was gentle now.

      “Alright Seth, that’ll do.” I heard Sera say, and I waved Lucifer out of my way with my good arm. Seth was ignoring Sera. “SETH!” She yelled. He ignored her, his face in a snarl as he pounded on his brother. “Fucks sake.” Sera muttered under her breath, took a couple of steps back, and launched herself at Seth, rolling him off Sebastian, coming up on top with a knife at his throat. I hadn’t even seen her draw it. “Enough!”

      “Fine.” Seth snapped.

      “Are we done?” Sera increased the pressure on the knife.

      “We’re done.” Seth sulked. She got up and offered a hand to him. He took it and pulled himself up too, before offering his hand the same way to Sebastian. Sebastian paused for a moment before taking it. He clapped Seth on the shoulder, and turned to me.

      He took in my hunched form, huddled over my arm. His face fell. “Oh, fuck!” He exclaimed, and fell at my feet. I scrambled back a little, and unconsciously grabbed Lucifer’s arm. He patted my hand gently.

      “Katie, I am so, so sorry.” Sebastian’s voice was genuine, and he had tears in his eyes. “I… I lost my temper and I forgot you were only human. I’m so sorry!” His eyes were wide, and I believed him.

      “Yeah, ok. But don’t forget I’m a fragile fucking flower, dude.” I pointed at him with my good arm.

      He barked a short laugh. “How can I make it up to you?” He gazed at me like a puppy.

      “Come here.” I beckoned to him. He crawled closer to me, emerald eyes locked on mine. He knelt right in front of me. I leaned back on my good arm, and kicked him in the balls. Hard. He went down like a tonne of bricks.

      “Now we’re almost even.” Sera roared with laughter, and Seth said appreciatively,

      “You crazy fucking bitch.”

      “If you’re done with vengeance, I’ll take СКАЧАТЬ