Page 46 of Rising Reign

“I’ll show him a threat of death,” Brix growled as he rose from the bed and prowled toward Rhys.

The vampire simply tapped the side of his head. “Remember who gets the visions.”

Brix kept right on moving. “If we remove his head from his body, think the visions will keep coming?”

“Possible,” Ender said, stretching.

Princess leapt from the couch and stalked over to Rhys. She swiped at his calf and hissed before taking off down the hall.

“Ouch,” Rhys said, bending down to rub his abused leg.

Puck grinned. “At least I’m not the only one she hates.”

The windows to the gym were open, letting in the air that had tipped cooler with the arrival of early fall. I stretched toward one leg, grabbing my shoe.

“At least she’s bendy,” Rhys muttered.

“Stop staring at her cleavage,” Puck griped, then smacked Rhys upside the head.

“Ow,” Rhys said, affronted.

Puck simply arched an eyebrow.

Rhys straightened. “I can’t ignore the fact that she’s beautiful.”

“I could pluck out your eyes,” Brix offered. “That would help.”

Locke snickered. “I’m so glad you haven’t fully lost your edge.”

Rhys’s nose wrinkled as he warily looked at Brix. “I did think that whole feral-demon thing had eased.”

“The psycho twins are still in full effect when they need to be,” Puck assured him.

Kingston crossed his arms over his muscular chest. “Tell us what we’re doing here.”

“I told you,” Rhys began. “Training. But we’re waiting for one more.”

“I’m here, I’m here,” Hera grumbled. She half-stumbled into the gym, wearing pale-green sweats with different types of plants emblazoned on them. Her face was bare, and her strawberry-blond hair was tied up in a haphazard bun.

Rhys studied her. “Not a morning person?”

Hera bared her teeth at him. “You woke me up at five-thirty. In the morning.”

“No rest for the wicked,” Rhys said cheerily.

“Easy for you,” Hera muttered. “Bloodsuckers don’t sleep.”

“You know,” Rhys began, “I could start taking serious offense to that term.”

“Maybe you’ll remember that the next time you try to wake me up before dawn,” Hera snarled.

Rhys held up both hands in surrender. “Touchy, touchy.”

“Why do you need Hera here?” Locke asked. “No offense.”

Hera waved him off. “None taken. I’d much rather be in bed.”

“We’re going to need her magic as the training progresses,” Rhys explained. “But first, I wanted to go over some weaknesses I saw in Wren’s hand-to-hand skills.”