Sapphyre: Rise of an Angel (Sapphyre Saga Book 3) Read online

  I sit on the ground making sure to keep out of sight and watched them. Donavon is taking it very easy on her, but I can see the effort on her face. She’s doing all she can to fight him. I can also see the deep concern on his face.

  Zach sits next to me not making a sound. He’s watching them too just as curious as I am.

  Donavon continually pins her several times in a row. I see the defeat on her face as she’s getting upset. They go again and Donavon allows Katrina to pin him to the ground. She sits on top of his stomach as he lays there looking at her. She hits him in the chest and starts to cry, covering her face as she tries to get off of him. He gently grabs her arm and pulls her down to lay on his chest wrapping his arm around her waist. He sits up with Katrina in his lap with her legs on either side of his. She holds her face into his chest as she cries. Donavon keeps a hand around her waist as his other hand strokes her hair. He gives her a kiss on the head and I see his lips start to move.

  I don’t want to hear what they are talking about and I take that as a queue to let them have their time together. This is their private time and I know if it was the other way around, I wouldn’t want Katrina watching from a distance.

  Zach and I get up and stay in the tree line as we get closer to the house. I don’t want them to see us snooping. Once inside, Zach and I find Garcia in the kitchen. She’s making dinner.

  “Need any help?” I asked.

  Garcia turns to look at me, then smiles. “Sure. You can start cutting the tomatoes if you like.”

  I nod turning to grab the tomatoes. “Sorry I haven’t exactly been myself recently,” I apologized.

  She looks at me a little surprised. “There is no reason to apologize. We all know you need time to grieve. You lost someone very near and dear to your heart. So no worries child, you were never expected to be all cheery and happy.” She gives a small smile.

  I smile back. “Thanks for understanding.”

  Zach nudges my back giving a small whine. I turn toward him.

  He gives me a big lick, covering my whole face.

  “Eww!” I said wiping my face off and punching him gently in the shoulder then laughed. “I guess you forgive me too.” I smiled.

  He nods toward his mom.

  “So, basically what she said then.” I smiled then hugged him again. “Thanks. I love you.”

  He makes a rumbly whine that sounds like ‘I love you too.’

  I kiss him on the nose and get to dicing the tomatoes for the tacos.

  Winner

  Two weeks left…

  October 31st is coming too fast and I’m so afraid I will not be prepared for this. No matter how much I train, no matter how much time I spend sparring with my friends, still cannot get me ready for the real battle. Everyone knows I’m holding back with them, I refuse to actually hurt any of them. How could I? I love them too much.

  “Where is she!?” a voice snarls from outside. “I’ll kill her!” she yelled. “Get out here and face me you coward!”

  Katrina turns to look at me with horror on her face. “You know who that is don’t you?” she choked.

  “I was hoping I didn’t, but I have a sick feeling I do.” I don’t want to face her again. I couldn’t stand her in high school and I hoped I would never see her snarling face again.

  Rashel…

  I feel the need to throw up.

  “Get out HERE!” Rashel demanded once again.

  I slowly walk my way over to the door and look out the window. Rashel is staring toward the house with a rage so vibrant it looks like her whole body is on fire. Standing on either side of her is Thatch and Donavon holding each arm as she struggles against them. She keeps managing to pull them closer toward the house and I know how strong Thatch and Donavon are. She is over powering them both.

  “She’s gonna kill me…” I whisper to Katrina who is looking out the window in pure shock.

  She swallows hard. “Yeah… good luck with that one.”

  “Geeze, thanks for the support.” I roll my eyes.

  “Sorry, but I think I will stay in here if you don’t mind.”

  “That makes two of us.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” Garcia said coming up from behind me. “Time for a work out. Now get outside,” she demanded opening the door.

  “What do you mean!?” I ask horrified. “You don’t expect me to fight her? Do you!?” I squeaked.

  “We most certainly do. Its time you stop holding back. Rashel is defiantly not going to take it easy on you. She’s out for blood, so I suggest you not hold back or you are going to get hurt if not killed. We are not doing you any favors not giving you a true opponent to fight with. One you can hurt and not feel bad about. Now get yourself out there and prove to her you are strong enough for ‘her’ Zach. And by the way, she knows nothing about your abilities. We kept her in the dark about that one.” Garcia grinned evilly.

  I swallow hard.

  Garcia pushes me out the door onto the deck.

  Rashel snarls once she sees me. “About time!”

  Garcia steps forward and nods her head. Thatch and Donavon let go of her arms. They unleashed the monster and I now have to fight for my life…

  Rashel grins cracking her knuckles. “I’ve waited a long time for this!” she growls with an over confidence that only suits her personality.

  She takes several steps toward me. “Zach was meant for me! It’s time you learned that! Because of you, because you’re nothing but a weakling, he has to suffer! It’s your fault!” she hissed.

  I feel my rage flare up, but also sorrow. I know it’s my fault he is the way he is.

  Squaring my shoulders toward her I say, “I know it’s my fault and it is something I will never forgive myself for. But… never under estimate me, I am stronger than I look Rashel. And never forget, he chose me over you.” I grin. This is becoming fun.

  The fire flares up in her eyes.

  “How does it feel to be second? He never wanted you, you were nothing but an annoyance to him.” I snapped. It’s a low blow, but she had this coming for a long time.

  “How dare you!” she snarled as she ran toward me.

  I swear I seen flames coming off her feet.

  Just before she reaches me, I jump in the air flipping myself over her head and facing her back.

  She comes to a dead stop and turns toward me with a confused face. She cocks her head and smells the air slightly.

  Grinning bigger than I have ever seen her, she says, “This is going to be interesting. Seems you have a few secrets your hiding.” She laughed. “Hope you’re ready, cuz your dead!”

  She takes off running again, but it isn’t toward me. She’s running for the woods.

  I’m not quite sure what she is doing until she tries to ambush me from behind in her wolf form. She’s midair about to bite into my shoulder. But Zach has done this to me so many times its second nature to grab her paw and send her flying in the other direction. She lands with a yip and I can only imagine what she is saying.

  Coming back out of the woods, she looks at me trying to strategize. I have to admit, she is a beautiful wolf. She’s completely silver in color but her fur is longer than Zach’s, but yet she is a bit smaller than him too. Still way too big to be a normal sized wolf though.

  “Nice try. But I’ve sparred with everyone here and won each time. So you’re going to have to think outside of that small box you call a brain.” I smiled.

  She growls deeply.

  “Oh, scary.” I roll my eyes.

  She charges toward me once again, but as I jump up to avoid her attack, she jumps and grabs my arm in her sharp teeth, clamping down hard. I think she bit down to the bone.

  She slams me to the ground keeping a hold of my arm. I see her smile as she bites down harder and I hear my bone crack as I cry out in pain.

  A huge snarl comes from the house. As I turn to look, I already know who it is. Zach is about to attack Rashel as he starts heading off the porch.

  “Zachary
that’s enough!” his mother demanded. “She needs to do this on her own, it’s the only way she will learn!”

  Zach doesn’t stop and I see Thatch and Donavon step forward to get in his way.

  Before I can watch what is happening on that end, Rashel starts biting down harder. I have to stop her before she fully snaps my arm in half. Something tells me I won’t re-grow an arm.

  With all the power I have in my free hand, I pull back and punch her square in the nose. I hear it crack and I know it’s broken. Blood starts pouring out her nose as she screams, letting go of my arm.

  Looking at my arm, I know it’s going to take a while to heal from this and I can’t use it to finish the battle with her. I will probably fully break it if I do. She is about to lunge for me again when I jump straight in the air and onto a large tree branch. I look down at her as she snarls fiercely at me. I know I have to get the upper hand. I can’t allow her to get a hold of me like that again.

  I start jumping from tree to tree making her follow me. Once I go to the tree I’m looking for, I climb as high as the tree will allow. Opening my wings, I take flight and head for the clearing of the yard. Once I land, I close my wings and called out to Rashel.

  She comes running, ready to attack me again. I know she is expecting me to jump in the air, but I have to use a different tactic. Once she is close enough I spin off to the side just allowing her to pass by me. I grab a hold of the fur on her neck with my good arm and hoist myself onto her back. Rashel completely loses it, spinning in circles trying to grab a hold of my leg, but I manage to land a kick to her muzzle which infuriates her more. I wrap my arm around her neck and hold on as tightly as I can as she starts rolling on the ground, crushing me into the dirt. I hold my bad arm against my body making sure not to use it. It’s difficult not to, but if I do, I know I will regret it.

  Her body is crushing me into the dirt, trying to get me off her back but I have a tight grip. She stands up and runs wildly around the yard like a bucking bull. I have to get her to stop. I can’t stay up here forever. I’m glad I have experience being on the back of a wolf, thanks to Zach and all the times we ran through the woods. It helped me a lot.

  I lean down and plant my teeth into Rashel’s neck, but I’m sure not to hit her jugular, the main vein. I don’t want to kill her.

  She yelps out shaking her head fiercely trying to get my teeth out of her neck. In the process she whips so hard, she forces my teeth to rip from her neck with a chuck of flesh. She again screams out.

  I jump from her back to face her as she continues to whimper. She starts losing quite a bit of blood from her wound, but I know her jugular is still intact. She will live.

  She flashes her eyes toward me. She badly wants a piece of me, but I’m not going to let that happen. She leaps in the air heading for me. She’s trying an aerial attack, but I have better plans for her. I keep a close eye on her chest, it’s my next target. As she flies through the air, I manage a hard kick to her chest. She is sent flying backwards a dozen yards and collapses to her side not moving.

  I stand guard watching, making sure it isn’t one of her tricks. She lays motionless for a few moments before she comes around again. She stands on shaky legs breathing heavily.

  We lock eyes once again.

  “Rashel, we need to stop before one of us gets seriously hurt. I don’t want to hurt you,” I speak softly hoping she will call it quits, but somehow I know better. She won’t stop until she wins.

  She lets out a feral growl. She isn’t going to stop. She has too much pride to stop at this point.

  “Suit yourself.” I shrug. “Bring it! Let’s end this!”

  She snorts and starts running toward me. I do the same and run toward her. This needs to end.

  We collide with such force it knocks us both off balance. She regains her balance quicker and bites into my shoulder, dislocating my good arm. I yell out in the pain. I can’t fix it on my own and being dislocated it won’t heal by itself. I’m in trouble. My other arm has not healed yet. I may have gotten in more attacks, but she makes her attacks count…

  I need to do the same, but this is going to be difficult.

  She has me pinned to the ground with a winning grin. But I kick her in the ribs causing some to snap. She growls as she falls to my side. While she’s on the ground, I manage to get up, she too gets up quickly. I see she has some labored breathing due to her broken ribs, but she is willing to keep going. I have to keep my attacks up or she will take me down again. I give another kick to her jaw just as she lunges toward me. I manage to dislocate her jaw. Now she can’t bite me anymore.

  I give a small smile. I need my bad arm to finish this and I know it will hurt like hell when this is done.

  I pull back my arm, and slam my fist into her temple, just behind her eye.

  The bone in my arm shatters and I scream in agony as Rashel collapses unconscious to the ground. The fight is over for now and I hope she doesn’t wake up for a while.

  Garcia rushes to my side as I scream again. The pain radiates up my arm and through my body. Blood starts flowing again and I know my wound, which was partially healed, re-opened.

  “Is she going to be okay?” I ask Thatch as he looks Rashel over. She has turned back human while unconscious.

  Garcia is busy with me wrapping and placing supports on my arms. I grit in pain as she ties my dislocated arm up, but that is nothing compared to my shattered arm.

  Thatch nods. “I think so, but she is going to take quite a while to heal. You did some good damage here. Though I must admit, I am glad you have held back with us,” he laughed lightly. “I don’t think these old bones could handle all this,” he smiled.

  I smile lightly. I hate the fact of hurting anyone, but I also have to defend myself.

  Garcia gets my attention. “You did a good job Lexi. Don’t feel bad for doing what you did. Also, I want to let you know, she volunteered for this. We had to get someone who disliked you enough to actually want to hurt you. We knew that was the only way to see how far you have come. Now we know some of the things we have to work on.” She smiled lightly. “Like still holding yourself back.”

  I wince as she helps me stand up. “Hey, don’t judge me. I do what I gotta.” I smiled.

  She shakes her head. “You should be good to go in a few days.” She smiled. “Let’s get you inside.”

  Donavon and Katrina are on the porch.

  “Good job mutt. Glad to see you’ve learned some things.” Donavon grinned.

  I roll my eyes. “Yeah, so try not getting me mad.” I laughed.

  Katrina smiles, “She had it coming.”

  I grin. “I do feel better now.”

  She shakes her head with a smile.

  Bond

  Thatch carries the still unconscious Rashel into the house. I notice that I did do a lot of damage to her. She is black and blue and covered in blood. I feel a little guilty, but she did volunteer after all.

  Garcia bandages me up better and tells me I need to rest for a while. I will be back to one hundred percent in a few days. I don’t have a few days to be laid up. Two weeks left and I only have that time to finish preparing.

  I look around and notice someone is missing. “Where’s Zach?” I know he was outside during the battle, but then he just disappeared.

  Garcia looks a little uncomfortable. “He’s fine. He just needs to cool off for a while.” She smiled unsurely.

  I’m a little confused. “So where did he head off to?”

  Donavon walks in the room. “He’s in the basement.” He smiled devilishly.

  “Why?” I raised an eyebrow. I’m not too thrilled at the thought I’m having.

  Donavon laughed. “Let’s just say he needed a time out.”

  I turn to look at Garcia, but she disappeared.

  I sigh. “Show me where he is Donavon.” I’m not going to be happy with what I see, I already know that.

  “Suit yourself.” He shrugged. “This way mutt. Oh, I’m sorry, the one
and only Lavama is it?” He laughed. “Still not sure how you came up with that one.”

  I roll my eyes. “Just show me where Zach is… Donna.” I jabbed.

  He grumbles as he takes me outside to the basement door. I can say I have ever been in the basement. I’ve never been a fan of them, that’s for sure.

  He opens the heavy metal doors and steps down disappearing into the darkness. “Watch your step. The first one’s a dozy.” He laughed darkly.

  I step in expecting my foot to hit at some point, but I don’t stop until I hit the basement floor. I groan as the fall jars my wounds. “Thanks for the warning. Idiot…” There isn’t any stairs.

  “Over here,” he called out to me.

  My eyes finally adjust and I’m able to see a bit better now. The walls are built of large brick and the floor is nothing but dirt. As I get closer to Donavon’s voice, I enter another room and the scenery changes. The floor turns to solid cement as do the walls and ceiling. In front of Donavon are large steel poles which enter the ceiling and floor. It’s a large cell.

  I push Donavon aside with my hip to see Zach laying on the floor of the cell. He’s not happy at all and I can’t blame him. His eyes are locked on Donavon.

  “Zach? Are you okay?” I asked him.

  He nods looking toward me. His eyes widen as he takes in my two bandaged up arms. Concern covers his face.

  “I’m fine. I’ll be as good as new in a few days.” I smiled then turned toward Donavon. “Why is he down here caged like an animal!?” I snapped.

  “You can take that up with his mother,” he said with sarcasm. “Here.” He handed me the key and walked out of the room.

  “Seriously, you are an idiot!” I yelled after him.

  Using my semi good arm, I put the key in the lock and open the door grimacing as I turn the key. Zach lets out a low whine but I reassure him I’m fine.