Reese threw punches and kicks at the wooden dummy so fast that the sounds of clacking wood and thumping blocks and punches resonated loudly through the basement along with her controlled breathing as she focused all her attention on the dummy before her. Her arms effortlessly twisting into block and punch, punch, block, punch until she was in an undisturbed rhythm of jab, cross, jab, block, jab, cross. She began to coordinate in leg work, timing the raise of her leg to block a kick, followed by a jab and block of the arms. Reese moved back and slammed her flat palm into the centre of the wooden block before moving forward again and continuing her work, barely registering when someone made a brisk decent down the stairs and sat on the bottom step before observing her work. She sent one more powerful jab into the centre of her dummy before stepping back lightly on her feet and taking in a deep breath, grabbing the towel slung over the stair rail and wiping her face as Wyatt handed her a bottle of water to drink from.
"Still training?" He asked simply, watching as Reese removed the strapping from across her knuckles and nodded simply.
"You've been training non-stop for over a month now. What's up?" Wyatt queried, concern crossing his face as he crossed his legs into a sitting position and clasped his hands together.
"Nothing's up, Wy. I just want to be prepared for anything. You never know what's coming next." Reese explained and Wyatt nodded slowly though didn't believe her.
"So, it has nothing to do with a certain Demon of Fear?" He wondered out loud and Reese stopped un-strapping her hands momentarily and looked pointedly at Wyatt.
"No. Besides, the potion we made to remove whatever Barbas did to me worked and he obviously didn't anticipate that. You don't need to worry about him, we'll figure it out." Reese lied, knowing full well that her plan was to prepare herself and not get the Halliwell family involved. It was too dangerous to risk their lives when it was her fight. Barbas was her enemy and she had to deal with him by herself.
"Ree, you know you can come to me if something's wrong. I'm still your best friend, nothing has changed." Wyatt said, trying to pry out of Reese whatever had been bothering her this passed month.
"I know, Wy, and when something is wrong I'll tell you but until then, wanna practise?" Reese asked, clearly avoiding the subject and though Wyatt would have usually continued to pry, there was also no way he was going to turn down a fight with Reese and the chance to beat her. Even if she had been training for awhile, he had still been fighting demons long before she was and knew a thing or two about defending himself.
"Oh, you're on, missy!" Wyatt said, rising from the stairs and grabbing the long sword that Reese had casually tossed at him, swinging her own in an ark and getting into a fighting stance.
"Prepare to have your arsed kicked!" He added with a cheeky smirk, swinging his sword from side to side with power and speed.
"I would love to see that." Reese retorted, circling her opponent with a wide grin. She brought her sword up beside her face, its point directed straight at Wyatt and positioned her feet into a low grounded stance before swinging in an arc and clashing sword on sword with Wyatt, bringing her blade downward to push his sword away only for their swords to cling together once more in a fierce battle of will and speed. They matched each other strike for strike, Wyatt bringing his sword above his head to strike downward only to have Reese bring her sword across in a block before pushing him backward with her foot and swinging in for another blow which met the cool metal of his blade once more. They didn't notice Chris join them in the basement, nor did they see him take a seat at the bottom of the stairs, watching with an amused smirk as his brother and his girlfriend fought heatedly and saw his brother puffing and trying to keep up. He was never willing to back down, even when he knew he was out matched. He was just as stubborn as Chris was sometimes. He watched as Wyatt gained in her on, pushing his sword forward in a powerful thrust and Reese push all her weight on her arm, using the table in the corner as leverage and jumped high in the air, her legs skimming over the top of his lunge and rolling to her feet before turning on him once more, her blows powerful and ceaseless as she gained in on him. Reese swung a blow at Wyatt's head then unexpectedly kicked his legs out from beneath him as he blocked, then bent to place the sharp blade at Wyatt's neck, breathing deeply and her face covered in sweat from the fight. Wyatt put his hands up in defeat then got to his feet slowly as Reese brought the blade down from his throat and used her arm to wipe sweat from her brow.
"I think you just got your arse beaten, Wy." Chris chided, a delighted smile crossing his face.
"And by a girl no less." Reese added and Wyatt glared down at her and bumped her shoulder playfully.
"Just because you two are dating doesn't mean you can gang up on me all the time!" Wyatt retorted and Reese patted him on the shoulder and pouted.
"There there, Wy, I still love you." Reese said and received a glare from Chris which only made Wyatt laugh.
"You hear that, little brother? She loves me!" Wyatt retorted, waggling his eyebrows and pulling Reese into a suggestive hug.
"Urgh, Wyatt, get off me." Reese said in mock disgust, pushing him away then passed Chris on the stairs to go take a shower. Chris looked up at Wyatt once she was out of ear shot and asked, "Manage to get anything out of her?"
Wyatt only shook his head and sighed, saying, "She really won't budge with this one, bro. I think maybe she's in trouble." Chris nodded in agreement, his gut churning at the thought of Reese being in any kind of demon trouble. Especially when Barbas was involved.
"You have to talk to her, Chris. I know you said she told you nothing was wrong but if she is in trouble we need to find out what so we can help her." Chris dipped his head in a nod again and bit his lip, leaning his arms against his knees in thought.
"The Elders are worried too. They can feel something big coming but they don't know what." He said whilst brushing shaggy brown hair back from his face.
"Then we need to find out."
Chris wandered leisurely into the attic that afternoon to find Reese standing over the potions table with a festering, smoky brew bubbling in the cauldron whilst sprinkling some herb into the mix which made it blow up a huge torrent of green smoke before flitting away across the room. She didn't look up when he entered but instead grabbed for some empty vials and began bottling potion while reading something on one of the pages of The Book of Shadows, her lips moving slightly as she read.
"What are you doing?" Chris wondered out loud, crossing his arms over his chest and standing looking at her from the other side of the table.
"Making potion." Was Reese's brief reply, her eyes still focused on the book while she placed a stopper in the fifth bottle of potion in her hand.
"What for? Is there a demon we should be worried about?" He queried her as she bottled up her last vial and wrote down a few notes on a blank sheet of paper before closing and replacing The Book of Shadows.
"No demon. Just being prepared." Reese said bluntly, a determined stiffness in her shoulders as she sauntered back across the attic and grabbed her shoulder bag from the floor, heading for the door but Chris grabbed her hand and stopped her.
"Reese, what's going on? You've been acting so distant lately." Chris said, concern filling his voice and he saw Reese's eyes cloud over with emotion momentarily and she bit her lip, a classic trait that he knew all too well.
"Chris, everything is fine, I already told you that. I have to go out for a little while, I'll see you later." She said all at once, leaning in quickly for a kiss but when she pulled away she hesitated just slightly, though not enough for Chris to notice before she left the Halliwell Manor and channelled herself into the Underworld.
Hi everyone, here's another new chapter for you. Hope you all like it, please please please review as I haven't received any since the past few chapters have been put up and I'm wondering whether it's even worth continuing! The next chapter is written and ready to be put up, I have a lot of ideas for some twists, it's going to get interesting :) So please, all your love is muchly appreciated and keeps me inspired to write! Thanks loveys
alae-megallen