In the Face of Darkness (Lily Culpepper Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

and turned it over in my hand.
    Tino swung his wooden sword in a large circle that framed his body.  It was a challenge that I could not ignore.  I mimicked the sword movement.  Then he struck.  The blow would have decapitated me had I had not blocked it.  Becoming a vampire had its advantages, like extra strength and lighting fast reflexes.  But even with my vampire strength, I was never a match for Tino, and he knew it.  He was playing with me, and I would let him.  I wanted to get in every blow I could before he tired of the game.
    One of my blows had more power behind it then I expected.  Tino looked at me in surprise when it knocked him to the ground.  I felt something new rage through me.  It felt cold and empty.  It made me forget where I was and I hesitated just long enough for Tino to trip me.  Then I felt the pain of his sword as it pierced me just below my heart.  He twisted the sword till it broke inside me.  I cried out in pain and fell to my knees.
    I could feel my organs being ripped apart as I felt the wood splinter inside me.  Vampires heal very fast except when wooden splinters are in the wound.  The pain had been the worst pain I had ever experienced.  I could feel my organs trying in vain to put themselves back together.
    “I got a little carried away” Tino said.
    “A little carried away” I yelled back at him.  I tried to stand, but the pain was too much, and I fell back onto my knees.
    “Don’t worry, I’ll get Endora.  She will know what to do” he said as he left me alone in the training room.  He returned with an angry looking Endora.
    “Damn it, Tino, of all of the times.  How could you do this?” Endora yelled as she knelt beside me on the floor.  “Lily dear, I’m going to have to get the pieces of wood out of you, and it is going to hurt”.  Endora and Tino moved me from the floor of the training room to a couch in the main room.  I had to lay still as Endora cut me open in ways that would have killed me if I was still alive.  She had to use a sharp, wooden knife.
    “You’re lucky none of the splinters got in your heart” Endora said.  Any wood in my heart would have killed me instantly.  It made me think that even though vampires were technically immortal we could still be killed.  “Of all the stupid things that the two of you could to do the night before Castor’s visit”. 
    I knew that letting Tino goat me into a fight was a mistake, but then I seemed to be making a lot of mistakes lately.  I wondered where that power had come from.  I had fought with Tino before, but I had never come so close to beating him.  I could have beaten him, and it scared me.  I didn’t know where this power came from, but I knew I didn’t want it.  I flinched as Endora removed the last splinter.  I felt my body close its wounds and heal.
    I climbed the stairs to my room.  After showering I put on a pair of dark jeans and a pink cotton cami that I covered with a black sweater that wrapped around and tied into a bow at my waist.  I dried my long, candy red hair.  I overly applied the dark eye shadow and then red lip stain to complete the look.  I thought the dark eyes and red lips would make me look more dangerous, but I just looked like a little girl playing in her mother’s makeup.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER 4
     
     
    When I returned to the main sitting room everyone else had already come down.  I noticed Tino first.  He was wearing one of his Italian pinstriped suits.  He looked me over and gave me a disapproving look.  I didn’t expect him to approve.  I knew that Tino and Endora would expect me to wear a tight fitted dress, but I thought there was going to be enough stress tonight, and I just wanted to wear jeans.  Endora, of course, had to make her grand entrance, walking down the grand stairs in her customary long, flowing white dress. 
    “Where are the girls?” Endora asked as she reached the bottom of the staircase.
    “They