Like clockwork, Lailah showed up at his door at the same time every morning, and they trained. Lailah was growing increasingly more impressed with his work ethic, and admired that no matter how hard she made Shaegin fight him, he never seems to give in. They trained for seven days, and on the seventh Lailah decided he was ready to fight her.
"Thank you Shaegin. I can take it from here." She handed him the meal cards as usual, and took his spot in the court yard.
"I've never fought a girl."
"It's just like fighting a boy."
"What if I hurt you?"
"Then you're doing well."
"What if I don't want to hurt you."
"Then you won't win." He understood what she was saying. Disconnect from the instinct telling him not to hurt her and hone into the killer instinct she had been talking about. He needed to focus on his moves, tracking her technique and anticipating her next move. The began. Lailah beat him four times. "You're pulling your punches." She said.
"I know."
"Stop doing it then."
"I don't think I can hurt you."
"I'm not going to stop coming at you until you beat me."
"I wouldn't expect you to."
"So win." So they fought again. She beat him another 3 times. "Jed."
"Go again." They fought again. But this time was different. He tracked her, followed her, moved with her. caught her off guard and before she knew it he was on top of her. She was flat underneath him on the ground, their bodies touching everywhere from the neck down. They held each others stare.
"You're ready."
~
That afternoon he joined the training session with the army. Nat was there, and Lailah joined her in the supervision. He knew Lailah had still been going easy on him, but training with the army was harder than he had expected. Vampires were ruthless and never seemed to tire, and beyond that, they had supernatural strength, speed and agility. He understood what Lailah had been doing, and thought she was brilliant for it. Showing him the moves and the way Vampires fought, just slower. He was able to follow most of the exercises, although he finished last. Either way, he was proud of himself. His muscles had gotten bigger, he had noticed, and he had noticed Lailah noticing as well. Whether or not she was impressed by it was another story. She was like an unreadable book. The only person that ever seemed to know what was going on in her head was Nat. Jed was just about to walk over to them when everyone in the room paused and kneeled except Lailah. He quickly got on his knee's, but he was in the back of the room so he was able to look at who had entered. The Queen, it seemed, had entered. She was stunningly beautiful, in a very plain way. Her hair is black like most Vampires, with Lailah's eyes. He knew that the Queen wasn't Lailah's mother, but Aunt, but he could see the resemblance. Only in Lailah that plain beauty was replaced by something more striking.
"Rise" She said. The soldiers all continued on with their training, however Lailah motioned for him to come over. He was there in an instant.
"What is it, Aunt. Is something wrong?" Lailah queried.
"Very wrong. A Vampire was killed on a simple surveillance mission on the outskirts of the Eastern border."
"Hybrid Territory?" Nat replied, coming up beside Lailah.
"Correct. Good to see you again Nat." Nat nodded. They seemed well acquainted.
"Do you know for sure it was a Hybrid that killed them?" Lailah asked. Jed could almost see the clogs turning over in her mind.
"Yes. I need you to rally a team of your best soldiers and go and suss it out. The Vampire that was killed was young and alone, I hope that a team will be able to gather proper intelligence and return it to us."
"Am I not to lead this mission, Aunt."
"No. You are to take Jed to the Witch Sector." With that, Lailah met her Aunts stare. "You must convince her to ally with us as they have in previous years."
"And if they don't"
"Convince them." So this was where Lailah got her stubbornness from, then.
"Your Majesty, if I may, why am I to go?"
"To prove that if a human of all species could sense a threat before it happened, something must be very, very wrong. I trust that is why you ventured all this."
"Yes."
"Good. Then you will go." And with that, The Queen left. Lailah turned around and looked at her troops training hard. She looked at Jed and Jed met her eyes.
"Lailah" Nat said from beside her best friend. "Let me lead the mission."
"You must be mad. I am not letting you go. A Vampire was killed Nat, what if you don't make it back."
"I promise I will."
"Don't make promises you can't keep." The stared at each other and Lailah nodded. "Okay. You can go. But be careful, Nat. I can't loose anyone else." She said and Nat nodded in understanding. Who else had she lost in the past. Jed wondered if she would ever tell him. WHy would she? "Nat." She said one last time.
"Yes."
"Please. Be careful." She nodded. Lailah turned to him. We leave immediately."
"As you wish, Captain." She raised one eyebrow, and as per usual, looked bored. He wondered if he had ever seen her really smile. He didn't think so. He supposed his next mission would be to make her laugh. Shaegin, Alloy, Finnagin, Stawley. You will go with Nat. She leads you, do as she says." She turned to Nat. "Go, now." Nat hugged her and marched out the doors, the four sweaty men following her closely. "Let's go." She said to him. How long did it take to get to the Witch Sector? Were the Witches nice or cruel. He had alot of questions, but as they walked across the field and out of the city walks, Lailah was silent and did not seem to be in the mood for talking. Although she was silent, the further they got from the city, her shoulders seemed to relax and the swagger he hadn't noticed she had seemed to drop away. Jed wondered how many sides to Lailah there really was.
