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Since he wasn't wearing a coat, I knew we'd be working inside today, which was good news. It<br />
was freezing out. Yet even the happiness I felt over that was nothing compared to what I felt<br />
when I saw what exactly he had set up in one of the training rooms.<br />
There were practice dummies arranged on the far wall, dummies that looked amazingly lifelike.<br />
No straw-stuffed burlap bags here. There were men and women, wearing ordinary clothes, with<br />
rubbery skin and different hair and eye colors. Their expressions ranged from happy to scared<br />
to angry. I'd worked with these dummies before in other trainings, using them to practice kicks<br />
and punches. But I'd never worked with them while holding what Dimitri held: a silver stake.<br />
"Sweet," I breathed.<br />
It was identical to the one I'd found at the Badica house. It had a hand grip at the bottom, almost<br />
like a hilt without the little side flourishes. That was where its resemblance to a dagger ended.<br />
Rather than a flat blade, the stake had a thick, rounded body that narrowed to a point, kind of<br />
like an ice pick. The entire thing was a little shorter than my forearm.<br />
Dimitri leaned casually against the wall, in an easy stance he always pulled off remarkably<br />
well, despite being almost six-seven. With one hand, he tossed the stake into the air. It spun<br />
around in a cartwheel a couple of times and then came down. He caught it hilt first.<br />
"Please tell me I get to learn how to do that today," I said.<br />
Amusement flashed in the dark depths of his eyes. I think he had a hard time keeping a straight<br />
face around me sometimes.<br />
"You'll be lucky if I let you hold it today," he said. He flipped the stake into the air again. My<br />
eyes followed it longingly. I started to point out that I had already held one, but I knew that line<br />
of logic would get me nowhere.<br />
Instead, I tossed my backpack on the floor, threw off my coat, and crossed my arms<br />
expectantly. I had on loose pants tied at the waist and a tank top with a hoodie over it. My dark<br />
hair was pulled brutally back into a ponytail. I was ready for anything.<br />
"You want me to tell you how they work and why I should always be cautious around them," I<br />
announced.
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