Love and Darkness (The Cause Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

routine until I call for you, later.”  Ma’am Billington was a medium-tall heavily muscled woman, about five-seven, with light brown skin.  She didn’t approve of Del.
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    Del exercised, careful of her newly healed left arm, ate, attended a lecture by Richard Kerwin, a normal, who spoke today about police procedures.  After the lecture she exercised some more, ate again, and then went to the library to study.  She signed the reading logs, took down some books on military organization and began to read.
    A half hour later, the other student Arm, Student Maynard, walked in and hissed at her.  “Ma’am Keaton wants you in meeting room two,” Maynard said.  Maynard was the only other Student Arm in Ma’am Keaton’s school after Arm Kent’s graduation, and she progressed slowly.  The techniques and knowledge Ma’am Keaton required took Maynard extra work to master because of her calendar age, 14.
    “Thank you,” Del said, voice flat.  She stood and walked to the door. She carefully avoided coming within Maynard’s reach on the way by.  Maynard delighted in hurting Del, and Del found she couldn’t remain in the same room as Maynard without becoming aggressive herself.
    At the door to the meeting room, Del knocked and then knelt on the small oriental carpet at the entrance.  Procedures.  “Enter,” Ma’am Keaton said.  Del stood, entered, and then knelt again before Ma’ams Keaton and Billington.  Besides the chairs holding Ma’ams Keaton and Billington, five sturdy pale oak chairs and a cheap, thick rug smelling of old blood were the only furnishings in the spare room.  Ma’am Keaton sat in her chair, a swiveling rocker, and showed no expression at all.  Ma’am Billington sat on a low-backed chair to her right and attempted to conceal her emotions as well.  Del read her unhappiness despite the older Arm’s attempt at emotional masking.
    “Stand.”  Del stood.  Controlled.  Quiet.  She stood in the precise center of the bloodstained carpet.  From the sound and feel of her weight as she stood, she sensed the presence of plastic sheeting underneath the carpet.  The sheeting would keep any blood from soaking through to stain the immaculate floor.
    Keaton swiveled her chair and examined Del for nearly three minutes.  Ma’am Keaton had been doing a lot of examining for the past week, ever since Arm Kent’s graduation.  Ma’am Keaton hadn’t said anything, though.
    “According to the log books, you picked up just over nine weeks of standard training in the past ten days.  I would like you to demonstrate each of these to me, now.”
    “Yes, ma’am.”  Del demonstrated.  Weapons handling, muscle control, breathing techniques.  Stretches, lesson summaries, speed drills.  She walked across the room on her fingertips, a technique she had mastered only hours before her hunt.  Del knew Ma’am Keaton’s judgment should terrify her, but without the fear only reason remained.  “Ma’am, several of these…”
    “Require the use of the gym to demonstrate.  Yes.  Let’s go.”
    Ma’am Billington’s jaw tightened with anger and her eyes followed Del with wary unease as they walked to the gym.  Del picked up nothing from Ma’am Keaton.  She never did.
    In the gym, Del demonstrated the other techniques she had learned and signed for.  Tumbling, combat forms, balance.  Her knife throwing skills made her the most proud, as she could put ten knives into the center of the target at forty feet.  So soon after a kill, her pride expressed itself as an aching in her loins.  Eight hours of release after a kill wasn’t enough.
    “Out back to the yard.”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “We did this once before, and I want you to explain the differences,” Ma’am Keaton said.  Keaton sent Billington out along the narrow road that wound through the back section of the estate grounds and left the estate.  Del recognized the exercise as one to measure the range and acuity