The Immortal Guardians: Book II

Chapter Five

"Birthdays? Like from a boyfriend" Henri's lips twitched. I rolled my eyes at him.

"No, I don't have a boyfriend" Henri grinned at me.

"Well if it makes a difference, the bands look really cool" there was cute smile on his face. "Was the tattoo procedure painful?" I knew what he was asking. Had I freaked out when the artist had touched my arm?

"Surprisingly no" I answered immediately. "I thought it was going to be er um, bad but Ezra and Thomas were with me the entire time and I just concentrated on the needle the time besides I knew he was just a tattoo artist" I shrugged. "He couldn't hurt me" I added.

"You are..." he hesitated. I met his eyes. "different. You aren't what I expected you to be."

"What?" I shook my head slightly. I didn't understand him.

"I mean it as a compliment" he let out a nervous laugh. "You are brave, you are the bravest person I know"

"I don't feel brave, Henri" I sighed. I adjusted my bag. "Brave isn't a word that I would use."

"Hey" Henri put a hand on my right arm. I backed away from him. "Sorry, I forgot. You are incredible Iris. I mean that- and we have to work on that because guess what, there will be a lot of touching between us" he winked at me. I didn't have time to freak out on him because I stared at him confused.

He wasn't joking.

"Adjust your stance more" he stood behind me. He didn't touch me but I could feel him behind me. "I'm going to put my hand on you to adjust you" he had been deliberately saying that every time he had to adjust me. It was rather annoying but it actually was helpful. I knew what to expect. He was just careful to not touch my right arm and side.

He was having me practice, aiming. I didn't have a knife yet.

"Tilt" he pointed at my body so that I could adjust myself. "Alright, lift your dominant arm" I lifted my right arm.

He took a deep breath. He eyed me for a second.

"Pretend to aim something at that bulls eye" he went to stand behind me. I did what I was told, he made me hold my position.

"Look at your trajectory" he pointed at my hand. I looked at the end of my fingertips and followed the path to the target. It was nowhere near the bulls-eye. "Use that as a guide" he pointed from my finger to the target. "I'm working on getting us some different kinds of knives so you can practice. Are you sure you are comfortable in holding one?"

"Yes" I rolled my eyes. "I've got to get over my fear sooner or later"

I eyed the table of knives. There were various shapes and sizes. He wasn't joking when he said different kinds. Byron was present. Henri had probably asked him to be around just in case.

"Well pick one out and see how it feels" Henri encouraged. "It should be able to fit in your hand perfectly."

I couldn't help staring at the sharp point. It was making me rather nervous but I pushed my anxiety aside. There was no time for being nervous. I had to start practicing with a real knife.

I glanced up at Byron and Henri. Byron met my eyes.

I took a deep breath and picked one up. My heart started to speed up. I saw the edge of the knife near me and I dropped it.

A flame exploded out of my hand. I grasped my hand tightly and backed away. Byron came towards me with a concerned expression.

"I'm fine" I smothered the flame and I lifted the knife. I felt like if I was going to faint or worse have a giant bon-fire explode out of me. "Just you know. I'm nervous" I tried to smile but my face was stuck. I took in the knife. My fingers wrapped around it perfectly.