Page 62 of Natural-Born Cullers

Giving a look towards the door, he headed out after Light.

Chapter 19

The Deal

Gray made it into the lounge of the summerhouse, but only silence played around inside. The coffee Simon had made him twenty minutes ago cooled in the kitchen, and the only noise camefromSimon as he eased back into the hall outside of Light’s bedroom. A nod came Gray’s way, and as Gray removed his jacket, he headed over.

Light lay on his bed, his look on Simon, and the silence off him told Gray all he needed to know.

“You, with me,” said Gray, folding the cuffs back on his shirt as he flicked Light a look.

“Not fucking playing anymore.” It came so flatly.

“Yeah?” Gray looked him up and down. “Join the fucking club.” He turned away, his look resting on Simon. “He moves his ass now or he goes on full lockdown in Martin’s cell, all privileges retracted. We clear?”

As Simon gave a look to the guard who had brought Light over to make the call to get all that transferal started with Ray if Light didn’t move, Gray headed into a hall at the back.

All wood floor, soundproofing, and oak beaming, this one he walked into was as spacious as the summerhouse itself, and Light had been given a choice over what this hall was used for too. Either his music or training. He’d yet to use it for the former.

It was no surprise as a push of door came open behind him, and Light held his look as he came in, long hair tugged free. Gray had used the threat of a more prison-like environment against him, a fear that had gotten Light running far and wide not so long ago, and the anger simmering in his eyes said he knew it. As Simon followed him at a distance, Light tugged off his jumper, leaving behind a T-shirt that shaped such slender hips.

“I—” Simon started to say, but not looking back, Light grabbed a staff off the wall and went over to the stereo and thumbed at a few buttons.

Music hit the hall a moment later, and it was the first time in eight months Light had been anywhere near it.

The danger signs playing here now shut Simon up. He really wasn’t playing anymore and wasn’t hiding the fact.

The hard Mongolian-rockers bite to “Wolf Totem” by The HU brought the hall to life, and as Light started on a kata, the arcs of staff showing Light’s natural way of playing the beat as a musician, more so how his body naturally shifted within the beat, Simon flicked Gray a look as he headed over to him.

A sharp whistle off Gray stopped him, and Gray reached for something off the wall and tossed it Simon’s way. He caught the Chinese Bo staff, and his look went Light’s way.

Light wasn’t in any mood to talk, if ever, but his aggression… Gray would always control that, especially when it came to how anger could blind. But he doubted Light would see his point yet.

The Bo staff would help, mostly because it had that deceptive quality to it with its history as a walking aid: it carried a nonaggressive quality, with no obvious offensiveness means a gun or a sword carried. It also came with none of the laws surrounding carrying a lethal weapon, so it would also always be the poor man’s weapon, and had been one for monks and pilgrims throughout history, easily replaceable if broken, where someone had instant access to more if people looked around hard enough, even in London.

Here, it was just the safest option, all movement, footing, and focus when it came to learning to use a Bo staff. But where learning had been the intent over the past six months with Light and Simon, it wasn’t today.

Simon bowed to Light, and Gray gave a hard sigh. Mostly because Light’s one-handed arc of his staff hit the back of Simon’s knees in the next breath, taking him down in one fluid movement.

As Light drew the staff behind him, all kata stopped along with gentlemanly conduct, but then Gray knew it would. Light really wasn’t in the mood to play anymore.

Simon got back up, anger in his eyes, his look not leaving Light even though Light ignored him, and he made his second mistake in that moment. Both hands on his staff, he sent a lunge Light’s way, but Light shifted so quickly, hitting first one hand, then the other in hard and fast succession with the thick of his staff.

Simon had had years of living life by a firearm; Light had had years of being taught martial arts by one hell of a tough SAS officer: his stepfather. Gray had stepped up Light’s Dan grades, and it showed now as Simon hissed, dropping his staff and stuffing his hands under his arms to ease the hurt.

Again Light drew the tip of his staff back behind his feet, but now a smile played his lips as he watched Simon pick his up with bloodied knuckles on one hand.

Yeah. Last night had changed the interplay between them—the contempt from Light and the anger creeping into Simon’s eyes showed it. Gray had been teaching Simon martial arts too, but he’d started from scratch, and no one became skilled overnight. The arts were something no one ever really mastered, because there was always something new thrown your way that put the best to the test.

Light knew how to fight with a Bo staff. He also knew its weakness as a weapon came with how it exposed both hands to broken fingers if hit by another staff, and as Simon took stance again, this time trying to avoid his hands getting hit by using a pinch hold, one which should have protected his knuckles from another beating, Light hit the staff from the back, causing Simon to cry out this time as he was again forced to drop his staff.

Simon’s look was so hard, and Light shook his head at him.

“And you’re his first choice for a culler, huh?” Light looked him up and down. “Stick to your laptop…mate. Less painful, right?”

Light’s no-nonsense handling of Simon each time said all of that. Simon had multiple arrests under his belt and was the dark web’s culler in his brutal game play, but his skill was with a mouse, and Gray knew that as well as Light. Point being: Light’s staff would always hit harder, faster, when it came down to the crunch of them being caught in the same room together, but it was being able to step away from the rules and take a life outside of the safety of all laws that made a culler. Light’s handling more than questioned whether Simon had killed, period. And in that way, Simon wouldn’t ever be a culler.

So keeping the same quiet of the hall, Gray took his own staff off the wall, and Light’s look came his way as Simon picked his up, watchful of Light’s every move. Light shifted, his movements more defensive now as he dominated the fighting space with wide circular swings of staff, followed by faster Bo staff spins in a figure 8 around the body that were used to warn off multiple attackers. It trained the body to push itself through the aggressiveness, but as Simon went in to counter the fight—

---