Page 33 of A Spark in the Ash

We tumble and claw and roar and wrestle. Over and over, we tumble across the desert ground. Renwick might be stronger, but I am faster and smarter. I roll over on top of him and pin him down with my spindly legs.

But with brute force, he whips me around, flinging me back with the momentum.

My face isn't the same in my darkling form, but still, I smile. This feels good. This is what I was trained for, what I've been doing for a very, very long time.

Ascelin barks commands at the lot of us. To anyone outside of the situation, this would look like an absolute nightmare from hell. It's a stretch of desert being covered with forty-seven writhing smoke monsters, every one of them absolutely deadly, and every one of them trained to kill. And at the head of us all, is one of the most apt commanders that has ever lived in either verse.

We implement different fighting tactics. It's not the same, knowing that we’re fighting each other, darklings, instead of the ultralights that are our true enemy. But still, it's good to have this refresher. It really does feel like the old days when we were back at the Academy, fresh, brand-new students all being trained to be good little exorcisers of evil.

It's been so long I can hardly even remember what it feels like to exorcise a dusk. In all honesty, I have only ever exercised six of them in my entire life. The amount of time between when I manifested and when we went through the gate was only a matter of months.

I almost feel like I got sidelined in my calling in life. This is what I literally evolved to do in life. But I spent all this time simply trying to survive—looking for someone.

It's what I evolved to do, but maybe my fate lies in a different direction.

Maybe, it's why I feel so different from all of the other darklings now. Why I feel so disconnected from the DarkVerse.

I'm too in my head. I can't fight well with all of these heavy thoughts rolling around in my brain. So for now, I gather every ounce of self-control that I have and push it all out.

I focus on my claws. My teeth. On the shadows that twist and shape my incorporeal form. I throw myself into the training. I execute every one of Ascelin's orders with precision.

Sometimes I get a little bit of an ego on me. I know I'm good at this. But here, with all of these other darklings who have survived for a century and a half, while they have been hunted down, I am simply…adequate. Every one of us is exceptional.

I ground myself in the present, and I train harder than I have trained in a long time.

Chapter Twelve

The next dayand a half go by in a blink.

Ascelin continues to train Jaxon one on one. They work hard, fighting for hours on end. I could only stand to watch it for so long. I feel a little twisted and messed up that it's turning me on. So finally, I head back and down into the compound and begin preparing for what I know is coming.

By night, the darklings continue to train further.

And every moment, we track the Kindred as they travel farther south. They’re currently in Sacramento. We’re not really sure what it is they're looking for there, because there are no new ultralights that are popping up on our system, about to manifest. Maybe they’re finally just doing their jobs.

On Wednesday morning, I step in front of the mirror in my bedroom and look at the mess that is my body.

Black handprints are everywhere. My hips are the worst, but there are fading marks on the side of my neck, over my abdomen, all the way down to my ankles.

I startle when my door opens, considering I’m only in my bra and underwear. Jaxon steps inside, raising his eyebrows.

He shakes his head, not knowing what to say either, as he looks at the damage he’s done. But I just smirk and reach for his shirt. I pull it right off, taking stock of his own damage.

He’s covered in little black marks. They stretch up over his chest. They’re all over his back.

Last night, I may have left a few scorch marks when we both lost a little bit of control. But neither one of us slowed down. We both took it all, accepting that this was us.

“Can you imagine the aftermath if we were to take it all the way?” Jaxon asks with a thick voice as we both look at ourselves in the mirror.

I just chuckle and shake my head.

We’re a mess.

“Pick your clothes wisely,” I say as I raise an eyebrow at myself.

We get dressed, knowing we have a lot to accomplish today. We head down the hall and find Davorian in his office with the door open. Inside, there are two other agents.

"Serena, you remember Sybil and Azrael," Davorian says as he indicates the two of them. Sybil is a tiny woman with darker skin and jet-black hair. Azrael is so blond his hair almost looks white. "They are going to accompany the two of you into the city. Keep your distance," he says as he looks to the two other agents. "We don't need to let Jaxon's family know the two of you are tailing them. But I don't want to get into any sticky situations."

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