The Star Moon *SECOND IN THE MOON SERIES*

Twenty-Four|| Please Come Home

||Taylor's P.O.V||

"Ouch!"

I jumped back, raising the staff to block Kate's hit. "Kate!" I complained.

"Stop whining." Uriah said from the bench at the side of the wall.

"We're supposed to be going normal with this. You used super strength," I said to Kate accusingly. She rolled her shoulders once and just laughed.

"Come on, Taylor. I'm a vampire. You're a werewolf with super powers. Fighting normal isn't what we do," Kate said. She lunged at me again and I spun around to miss her swing. Her staff hit the mat and I quickly stomped on it, wrenching the weapon from her hands.

I hit her legs out from underneath her, but she hit the mat in a somersault and popped right back up to her feet.

I kept advancing, but she fluidly dodged my every hit. After about a minute of this, she finally got her hands on the end of my staff and sent it back, smashing it into my ribs.

While I coughed on air she yanked it from my hands and spun it around to hit me. I jumped backwards, barely avoiding her swing.

When she swung again I spun around in a full circle, raising my leg in a roundhouse kick and knocking the staff directly out of her iron grip.

I have no idea how I managed to do it.

I barely had time to process my achievement before Kate was on me, her fist landing on my face.

That actually did hurt. I would most certainly have a bruised jaw by morning.

"Damn!" Uriah whistled, his eyes widening slightly.

Kate was back in the spot she had once been, her hands raised, fingers curled into fists, her brown eyes blazing with determination.

"Come on, Luna," she said in a mocking tone. "Show me you're worthy of those powers." I frowned at her.

"If you're trying to get a rise out of me, it won't work. I've seen first hand what losing control of your emotions can leave in your wake- I have far too much control."

"You think too highly of yourself," Kate replied.

"No," I disagreed, shaking my head. "I don't think highly of myself at all. Which is exactly why I have control. Because of the mass destruction I could cause if I let my emotions get the best of me."

"Kate, getting a rise out of the strongest person here probably isn't the smartest idea," Uriah said warily.

"Ariel is the strongest," I objected.

"Ariel is not the strongest." Kate shook her head. "She has the most powers, but she is not the strongest. You are the strongest. You and Jess have the ability to read the powers of other people. You have the power to create a crater in the ground and walk away unscathed. You have the powers of destruction... Ariel has the powers of protection."

"You are the strongest because of your capability to destroy." Uriah agreed.

"I don't want to be a destroyer," I said, frowning.

"You can cause infinite more damage to a group than Ariel can." Kate stated. "In this war, you may need to let go of that control."

"I can't control who gets hit when I black out like that," I frowned deeply. "I almost killed Evan and Lance last time- as well as myself."

"And yet you healed yourself by drawing energy from another," Kate continued. "Something Ariel couldn't do."

"Ariel has healing powers," I shot back.