AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Nico’s arms flashed up to steady me, and he grinned down at me. “Stopping is the hard part.”
His big hands were warm on my shoulders, and I found myself wishing we had time for a different kind of exercise before we went back to the infernal realm. But time was of the essence. I didn’t want to waste much time training, especially when I wasn’t sure what use vampiric powers like compulsion would be in the infernal realm.
Then a thought occurred to me. “Ty compelled me easily before I turned without meeting my eyes. Do you think he’ll have a harder time now that I’m a vampire?”
“I hope we don’t have to find out,” Hudson said. “But for now, let’s focus on one thing at a time. Take a run at half-speed around the house. Nico can be your pacer.”
Nico started at a jog, and I followed alongside him. Then he picked up the pace, still running no faster than a reg. When he sped up, it was only to a speed I was already familiar with — I’d used a variety of speed artifacts over the years, provided by the agency. At last, he surpassed a speed any witch could hope for, and the world blurred by.
Hudson was right — cornering was difficult at such high speeds. I wished the ground curved upward like a racetrack to support me, but my outer leg was constantly having to work harder, while my inner leg supported my weight. It wasn’t something I normally thought about when running, but at this speed, I had to consider it.
Nico surged ahead of me, a blur in a blurred world, and I lost track of whether we were at the front or back of the house as I chased him. We lapped the house again and again, and then unexpected motion out of the corner of my eye startled me. I tripped over my own feet and went sprawling out on the ground, my arms scraping painful across the dirt and rocks beneath the grass.
I got up, shook myself off, and stared at the furrows I’d plowed into the ground.
“Thank goodness for extra strength as well,” I muttered, then looked up to see Hudson blurring toward the house. When he zoomed back outside, he brought a bloodbag with him.
“Now for your next lesson — healing,” he said with an apologetic smile, holding the bloodbag up like a peace offering.
I raised my arms, looking at my bloodied palms, wrists, and forearms all the way up to my elbows.
“Ouch.” I took the bloodbag and drank deeply from it, watching in awe as the scrapes healed almost instantly. The blood was still there, and Nico gazed hungrily at me.
I said nothing, and he was at my side in an instant, raising my wrist to his mouth, his tongue lapping in long licks up my forearm. Hudson grinned and took the other side, and before I knew it, I had two sexy men licking their way up my forearms.
How was that so sexy? It made no sense.
“I’d rather you did that to my inner thighs,” I grinned at Nico, then Hudson.
“Say the word,” Nico growled before continuing his ministrations, cleaning up my arm completely.
What would a threesome with the two of them be like? Hudson wouldn’t want to interact with Nico any more than he had with his brother, and the dynamic might be just as awkward. Someday, though… I wanted to try it.
We just had to survive the infernal realm first.
Hudson squeezed my hand and straightened. “I want you to run again, but this time be prepared for me to surprise you.”
When I looked toward the house, Tempest sat in the front yard. I frowned at her, not sure what the neighbors would think if they saw my ‘pet.’ It was one thing to have witch neighbors. Quite another to have vampire neighbors out zooming around their house, showing off how outclassed witches would be against us. To add a demonic pet to the mix?
“Let’s see it,”Tempest called inside my mind.
“Tempest, I don’t think…”
With a haughty swish of her tail, she turned the corner of the house and headed for the back.“I’ll watch from back here, then, speedy. I don’t want to miss the fun.”
“Of course you’d want to see me wipe out,” I grumbled.
Nico took off running again, and I followed, this time with more awareness of my surroundings. We lapped the house again and again, and Hudson jumped out to surprise me at various points, sometimes lapping the house in the opposite direction to change up his position relative to us.
To Tempest’s dismay, I didn’t wipe out again. Eventually, I worked up quite a sweat, and stopped to catch my breath beneath the hot summer sun.
“We may not be allergic to the sun like the myths say,” I panted. “But this kind of practice still would’ve been better at night.”
“The infernal realm will be hotter than this,” Hudson pointed out.
I raised my hands, examining my forearms again. It was like I’d never been injured.
“We heal faster at night,” Nico mentioned when he came to a stop next to me.
