Etheric Researcher
By S.R. Russel & Michael Anderle
Snippet 2
Unedited
Jinx twisted as much as she could, but she could not evade the kick. While her armor protected her body from serious damage when a Yollin mercenary kicks a one hundred and twenty-five-pound dog with three hundred pounds of force, the dog goes tail over nose.
You alright? Anne asked her friend and partner. Seeing Jinx go flying across the room ignited that part of her that she didn’t like to acknowledge. The part that didn’t mind hurting people. She pushed her speed even higher, faked a punch at the head of the man in front of her and then drove her left foot through his knee joint. She ignored the satisfying scream he made as he went down and shifted to intercept the Yollin who was still focused on Jinx.
Yes, Jinx reassured Anne, my armor is working fine, it’s just that guy who got hit in the head with the apple that bit me that time.
?? Anne sent back to Jinx, not one hundred percent focused on their conversation once she was assured Jinx was alright. She dodged the kick the Yollin sent in her direction, grabbed the leg that was still in the air and flung him ten feet into the three humans that were with him.
Some human from years ago. Matrix was telling me about him. He was sitting under a tree and an apple fell and hit him on the head. Jinx had recovered and was circling around their opponents looking for an opening. Supposedly caused him to write some laws or something. What it comes down to is if a raging bull hits a china shop then shit’s getting broken.
OMG, you’re hilarious! Anne couldn’t stop the smile that resulted from Jinx’s banter. She was pretty sure that if Jinx had been talking with Matrix about Newtonian physics there hadn’t been any conversation about bulls in china shops. There was a time when Jinx had a difficult time understanding nick-names and other odd human phrasings, like hot-dogs, but nowadays it seemed that she collected metaphors. Bull in a china shop indeed.
Anne ignored the Yollin who was still tangled with two of the humans, ducked and spun, hands spewing fireballs in an arc towards a new threat she sensed.
“Shit!” Gabrielle cursed as she hit the floor “Enough! Stand down, everyone!” She waited for the blast of heated air to subside before she got to her feet. She looked at Anne who was holding her hands behind her back. “Was that an invitation to spar?”
Anne shook her head vehemently, “No, sorry, I just sensed someone approaching. Peter surprise attacks sometimes, I didn’t realize it was you.”
“Good reflexes, then,” Gabrielle praised the young woman, then surveyed the carnage in the training room. She noticed a Were with his leg bent the wrong way and knelt beside him. “This is going to hurt,” she warned.
He nodded, used his hands to brace against the pull Gabrielle was going to apply to his leg and grit his teeth. It was a testament to how tough Weres are that he only grunted when Gabrielle yanked on his ankle to straighten his leg, so it would heal faster.
“I’m going to have to learn to cover more area with my fireballs …” Gabrielle heard Anne mutter, “I totally missed her when she hit the floor.”
Gabrielle stood from attending to the wounded Were, “Anyone else need treatment?” She asked the others.
A chorus of “no, we’re fine,” came back to her from the group who had made up the aggressor force attacking Anne and Jinx.
“What happened to the young lady who didn’t like to hurt people?” Gabrielle couldn’t help but ask as she walked over to Anne.
“Bethany Anne and Jinx.” Anne replied cryptically.
“You want to expand on that?” Gabrielle arched an eyebrow as she asked for clarification.
“Bethany Anne declared that we had to train, and train as strenuously as everyone else. Jinx and I decided if we had to work out that we were going to go all in and make sure that we handed out more bruises than we took.” Anne stood, from where she had been checking over Jinx, reassuring herself that Jinx was all right. “And, Jinx took a hard kick that sent her flying across the room. I always get more aggressive when I feel, well Jinx especially, but any of the dogs really, if they are getting hurt …” Anne looked down at her feet for a moment, then looked back at Gabrielle. “If the dogs are getting hurt, well, all bets are off!” she finished ferociously.