She took a deep breath, moving slowly through the tai chi forms as he instructed. Painfully slowly. Her muscles were tense and quivering. Beatrice tried to focus on her balance and the weight of the blade in her hand.

“Would it be better if I just stayed practicing with the jian?”

“And be limited to one weapon? What do you think?”

“I think it’s always better to have options.”

Beatrice took a deep breath as her instructor stepped into her line of sight, eyeing her up and down as she moved. “Yes, it is,” he said in a rough voice.

Beatrice blushed, not sure if they were still talking about swords.

“So”—she cleared her throat—“after this, do I get to try out the pike? I’ve been curious about that one spear with the thick base.”

“So many jokes.” She heard him say under his breath. She burst into laughter and stumbled, shaking her head when she saw his eyes dance.

“Okay, I walked into that one.”

He laughed. “You, my dear, walk into them all the time.” He grabbed the saber from her and hung it back on the wall. “I’m just forcing myself to be on my best behavior.”

“Oh really?” She blinked at herself when she heard the flirtatious tone of her voice. What was she doing? She shook her head and turned back to her teacher.

Yes, Baojia was her teacher.

Her instructor.

Baojia was… distracting.

He narrowed his eyes as he looked over the weapons Tenzin had decorating the walls. She saw a devious smile cross his face as he walked to a rack of spears and chose two. He held them up for her.

“So, spears…” He lifted one eyebrow. “European or Asian? What’s your preference?”

She rolled her eyes and reached for the one in his right hand. “This is your best behavior? And European, if you’re asking.”

He shrugged. “Pity. You really should try both.”

“I’m sure the European will suit me fine, thanks.” She examined the weapon, enjoying the razor-sharp point and smooth wooden grip. Baojia brushed past her.

“Strange that you chose the Asian one, then.” He walked to the other side of the practice mat and bowed. “Now, watch, and I’ll show you how to handle this.”

Harmless flirtation was the furthest thing from her mind an hour later when she finally handed the spear back to Baojia. He had demonstrated the hook swords, or shuang gou for her, knocking the long wooden spear from her hands at a distance when he hooked the two lethal weapons together to demonstrate their reach. The spear had splintered in her hands as she held it, and she was more determined than ever to learn to wield the complex weapons, no matter what Giovanni thought.

Baojia was encouraging and smiled a little as they put the weapons away. “You’ll be ready within a year after you turn, I think. Given what you are learning now and your natural aptitude for weapons, you will be ready to wield these as soon as your reflexes catch up with your mind and your amnis.”

“What do you mean, ‘catch up with my amnis?’”

Baojia shook his head. “It’s impossible to explain to a mortal. Even a bright one like you would not understand it.”

She grimaced. “Oh, well, I guess I should be flattered you’re willing to teach a mere mortal like me anyway.”

“Yes.” He smiled and walked behind her to stretch her arms. “You should be. I usually don’t bother with humans.”

“So why me? Ernesto’s orders, huh?”

She couldn’t see him as he lifted her arms, stretching them before they moved into hand-to-hand combat practice.

“Why you?” he murmured. “What an interesting question…”

That I notice you’re not answering.

“Yeah, well, I’m Miss Popular for some reason. Even the bad guy wants to hang out with me.”

He lifted her arms, running a hand down her tricep to knead it. His fingers were cool and strong against her sore muscles. “I told you not to worry about Lorenzo. Take a bath later. Soak your arms, or they will be stiff.”

She cleared her throat. “Well then, I’ll just put all those icky thoughts about murdering him out of my pretty little head, won’t I?” She pulled her arms away and walked across from him. They bowed and began practicing. Baojia never really hit her. Not like Tenzin. He seemed more interested in teaching her how to attack. If he did manage to land the odd blow, he usually apologized very formally.

“You should leave killing him to Giovanni or Tenzin. Or me, if he threatens you.”

“Oh? Why is that?”

He frowned as if she was speaking Farsi, which was on her list of languages to learn after she turned. Come to think of it, she thought, it was entirely possible that Baojia already spoke Farsi.

“Why should you leave killing Lorenzo up to Giovanni, Tenzin, or myself? Because he’s a vampire and you’re not, foolish girl. Don’t kill yourself by being an idiot.”

“Now there’s the kind of sweet talk I expect,” she grunted as she struck his shoulder. She went to land a kick, but he grabbed her leg and held onto it.

“I’m serious, B.” He waited until she met his dark eyes. “Don’t think you can challenge him. Compared to Giovanni or myself, he’s not that strong, but he is very smart. He’s a survivor, and in our world, strategy counts as much as strength.”

She scowled at him. “It’s not like I’m going to go hunt him down right now. Let’s just say it’s… on my list.”