what she was—and that her becoming a vampire had left real, deep wounds between us she had never fully acknowledged. Then she got up and ran away.
I felt an aching in my chest. I had loved Savannah. I had thought of her as my wife. But now she was a vampire, and a part of me was glad she was running away—and the rest of me was just a big old bundle of guilt and pain.
Then Jinx grabbed my hand and squeezed it for support, and in the sudden silence I realized everyone was staring at me. Realized everyone could see I’d been knocked off my personal pedestal of invincibility. Realized everyone—wait for it—pitied me.
I tore my hand out of Jinx’s and twisted up to look at Phil. “I can’t go on like this. I can’t let myself become a victim. I have to—I have to—learn to defend myself.”
Phil scowled. Rand nodded. And Darren rode to the rescue. “That’s easy enough. You’ve got some recovery time ahead of you, but you’re a big, confident woman. There are things we can do right now to make you safer.”
Philip caught his breath, and did I hear a touch of jealousy in his voice? “Now, look, Darren, we appreciate what you did—”
“No, I want to hear this,” I said, focusing on Darren. All I wanted to do was hit something, and hard, and maybe this guy could help me. “In the restaurant I overheard you talking about a fight in Colorado. How you took a guy out with one kick. If you weren’t shooting off your mouth to impress me, I want to learn to do that—”
“You’d be better off learning how to deal with your anger,” the priest said.
“I suppose you’re going to tell me to turn the other cheek,” I said hotly.
Canon Grace stared at me sadly. “I suppose I am.”
“You should listen to him,” Darren said, so cheerily that at first I thought he was joking. “It’s totally good advice.” At the cold glare of the priest he raised his hands and said, “No, I’m completely serious—controlling your anger is a good place to start. The best fights are ones that never happen. Once I was on the beach sunbathing, and some jerk threw water in my face to try to pick a fight.”
He slid out of his chair smoothly, a well oiled machine, dropping into a low, coiled stance with one arm shot forward like a blade and the other fist raised behind him in the air.
“So I dropped into jodan, it’s your basic low stance, and just sat there. The guy stood there in front of his buddies, cussing, calling me a coward—and then walked off, thinking he’d showed me. If I’d tussled with him, I would have ended up hurting three people—or getting hurt by three people. Instead, we had a perfect outcome—we both walked away winners.”
He seemed to notice he was in a ‘low stance’ and uncoiled, windmilling his hands so he went back to a normal standing position with seemingly no effort.
“I tell my students to turn the other cheek because that shit works,” he said. “It keeps you out of trouble. Everything else I or these guys can teach you is all about how to deal with trouble if you’ve failed to keep out of it. First rule of martial arts—if there’s trouble, don’t be there.”
“Don’t be there,” I said. “Easier said than done.”
He nodded. “But you can learn to look out for trouble, with a little practice. In the meantime, listen to your friends,” he said, indicating Philip, Rand, the priest, all with a simple gesture. “They’re looking out for you. You’re not going to go give up tattooing and go become a cop just to get back at this guy, are you?”
“No,” I laughed. “Don’t think so—”
“Lord knows we need the help,” Philip said, a little forced, but holding the green monster of jealousy at bay. “Darren, I think I misjudged you earlier. Where do you teach?”
“I teach the Emory University Taido karate club,” he said, “and also I teach some of the children’s classes at the main Taido school in Norcross.”
“You’re a… kid’s karate teacher?” Rand said, arching an eyebrow.
“I also do some mixed martial arts,” he said, shrugging.
“Well, soon as I get out of here,” I said. “I want you to show me how to mix it up.”
“No promises, other than hard work won’t bring miracles,” he said.
I looked at Jinx. “Speaking of miracles… tell Savannah to come back,” I