The next time Jed saw Lailah, she was wearing battle armour. He didn't blame her. He knew she felt them coming. The were most likely on their way to the city right this second. She had two small braids down either side of her head, but for the most part her hair was in a high pony tail. It was curlier than usual, but still as black as ink. She was looking again to the East. He approached her.
"What do you feel."
"They're coming."
"Can I ask you a question."
"You? Ask another question? No way."
"What startled you that first day you saw me." Lailah looked at him quickly and then back out to the open sky.
"I had hoped you would never ask me that question." She looked at him. "In the vision I had, I saw...you."
"What?"
"I saw you, you were one of the people dead at my feet. And when I saw you, that was more grief than I had ever felt in my life. Even when Nat died."
"Did you see Almar?" Lailah paused before she spoke.
"No."
"I see." Jed said, he looked down, and then towards the East. That's when he saw movement. "Lailah look." But she was already on the move. She had a sword drawn, and was walking across the barracks before Jed even realised the movement was the Hybrids. Maybe if Jed had Vampire vision that wouldn't have been a problem, but nooooo.
"Gather your team. Grab your weapons. Meet at the Eastern entrance of our Sector immediately. There is no time to waste." She wasn't panicking. Jed realised with a start he had never seen her action. The way she gave orders without needing to think and how her troops didn't think twice before following her exact words.
They were marching through the city. With haste. Lailah wasn't playing any games. But by the time they got there, it was already too late. The Eastern entrance of the sector used to be a large stone archway, but that had been completely knocked down. Almost all of the smaller houses and building along the boarder was on fire. And there were Hybrids. Everywhere. Time seemed to slow down for Jed. There was small children crying, calling for their mothers. Jed had never seen a Vampire child before. Then again he had never really been outside of the palace. And what's more, there was blood. Lots of it. Jed realised then that just because it didn't flow around their bodies, Vampires were still made up of blood. Frozen in their original forms. Without needing to be told, Lailah and the 50-or-so troops that had made it with her took cover behind anything they could, and she dragged Jed along with her.
"Jed. You need to go back to the palace. Now." Lailah said.
"Are you kidding me."
"No. I am not. I literally just told you that you die here today. Do as I say."
"If I am going to die anyway, then I will go down fighting with the rest of you."
"Jed, please. I can't loose anyone else."
"What was the point of training me if you we just going to tell me to go back to the palace anyway?"
"No." They starred at each other. There was an explosion, more screaming, snarling and the sounds of biting. It was in no way romantic, but Jed kissed her anyway. Full and hard on the mouth.
"If I see you again after this, I hope we can work something out." He said, and he ran out of their cover.
"JED." She screamed after him. She turned to her troops. "GO, GO GO, NOW. FIGHT." She yelled, and she, too, ran out. That's when she saw her first Hybrid. They were the ugliest species she had ever seen in her life. Now would be a great time for the witches to show up. But how could they know. She hadn't even known. She had expected this attack in a few hours or even days. She had been caught by surprise. Her troops were fighting. Hard. She saw Almar giving his all to her left, fighting with his bow and arrow/daggers, and to her right she saw Shaegin, along with many of her other close friends, Alloy, Finnagin, Stawley. Hybrids up close were much scarier than she had anticipated. They were larger than regular sized wolves, and their fangs twice the size of hers. No sign of magic yet. But what's more, they were violent, and they were relentless. They did not kill easy. But her troops were strong and had experience, so they lasted a very long time. So did Jed. She always knew he would fight, that he wouldn't go back to the palace no matter how much she begged, that he wouldn't give up, she didn't know whether it was because of his pride or because of who he was, but either way it didn't matter because still he fought, just as hard had as everyone else. Smoke from the burning building was clouding Lailah's vision, and she was nearly fighting blind. She could barely see what was around her. So when the Hybrid came at her, she didn't see it before it was on top of her. Her sword was knocked from her hard, and she struggled holding back the creatures face from hers. She didn't want to loose her eyes completely. That would be most inconvenient. She punched the thing as hard as she could, and something must have worked along with her thrashing and kicking, because it moved off her with a squeal. She was up on her feet in an instant, and in front of her was Almar.
