IZEL

"Where were you?" The Roi growled at me. "You are supposed to make your way to me if anything happens, do you not know that?"

Of course I knew that, but he was at the bottom of the list when it came to the people I would risk my life for.

"You are my Vanquisher," he stated, and I fought a sneer. I wasn't some object that he could just claim. "If you keep behaving like this then—"

Hope lit within me and I bit my tongue to stop myself from smiling. If I kept behaving like this... would he have no choice but to assign me elsewhere? 

"—I'll have no choice but to increase your hours." He finished.

"What?!" That was the opposite of what I wanted.

"I'm not fond of having you around either, but my protection comes first. It's me before everybody else."

You self-centred son of a—

"Do you understand that?" He demanded.

"And why is it that you come first?" I asked in as formal a manner as I could manage.

"Because I am the Roi," he said pompously, lifting his hands and closing his eyes as if absorbing energy. 

It was an effort not to roll my eyes. He didn't deserve any of my respect or reverence. Not when his belly was proof of his gluttony. When his ignorance was evidence of his disregard for the villages. When his want for several guards was evidence of his laziness. 

"I manage and maintain peace within all the different villages," he finished.

"There's nothing left of most of the villages anyway," I mumbled.

"What was that?" He asked.

"Oh, nothing," I said grinning, "continue."

"You must put me first before anything and everything, understood?"

A muscle ticked in my jaw. The Roi thought he was above everybody else. All he cared about was himself and his protection. He never once truly interacted with his people, in Lilliville or the other villages. He never once looked for a solution for the vampire attacks. He never once gave a suggestion towards solving or winning the war. He never once visited the injured or sick, and neither did he once care about the people. He just roamed the Fortress all day and every day. 

I would never put his life first. Never.  But I still said, "Understood."

"Good, you may leave."

As was the custom, I lowered my head and tapped my heart three times before leaving his presence. I then ran out of the Fortress and rushed to the Tactics Room, where a meeting that I was already late for was taking place. They were discussing the ambush that took place less than a couple of hours ago. The Hunter Vanquishers had turned around and headed back to the village immediately after hearing about the attack, but by the time they arrived, it was already over.

I made it to the Tactics Room just as the summaries were being delivered.

"We lost 47 people out there," said Smith, our Commander Vanquisher. "19 were Vanquishers, the rest..."

He didn't have to finish, we lost a lot of innocent lives today at the hands of those heartless vampires. There had been 25 of them, 25 vampires that came and ambushed us, 25 vampires that took out 47 of our people. Among the innocents lost, 12 of them had been children, and it would have been 13 if the Masked Slayer hadn't brought Raya back, which, even if it pains me to admit, I was glad he did. 

I hated him so much more now for making me feel grateful towards him.

Damn him.

 I hoped he died alone with a sword lodged in his chest, a sword that I lodged myself.

A tap on my shoulder broke me out of my thoughts. I turned around and saw Raymond, Raya's older brother, but he was looking beyond me, purposefully not meeting my eyes. 

"I, umm, I wanted to say thank you," he started, running a hand through his curly red hair, "for going after Raya. I wasn't there and—if you hadn't been there then..."

His voice almost cracked. Seeing Raymond all teary and emotional was not on my agenda today, even if I could make fun of him for it once everything went back to normal. I guessed he didn't know that, even though Alek and I had gone after her, we weren't the ones who brought her back, it had been the Masked Slayer, but I supposed the details didn't matter right now. 

"Raymond," I said, "don't get all sentimental on me now. I'll make fun of you for the rest of your life if you do." I said sweetly and he chuckled. "Raya's like a little sister to me, of course I'd go after her."

A smirk pulled at his lips and he looked at me now, his brown eyes glimmering, "so if Raya's like your little sister, then that makes me like your big brother," he said and I rolled my eyes, turning to leave but he followed. And he was back. The same old annoying, teasing Raymond.

"You ought to call me big brother from now on then, and show me more respect," he joked.

I snickered, "you wish."

"Do you not look up to me, little sis?"

I stopped and faced him, "how can I look up to someone shorter than me?"

His brows scrunched and he crossed his hands over his chest. "I am not shorter than you."

"You are."

"Barely, it's just by a couple of inches," he clarified.

"Doesn't change the fact that you're closer to the ground than I am," I teased in singsong.

*****

Evening came, but Lilliville stayed awake.

People were afraid to go to sleep after what had happened last night. All lights remained on and there was movement both within and outside of homes. I had visited Raya earlier in the day, to make sure she was okay, and she was. She didn't seem too traumatised by the experience.

"What are you thinking about?" Alek asked, handing me a cup of hot chocolate and sitting beside me with his own hot drink in his hands.

"Just Raya," I said, sipping my drink. "I mean, why did the Masked Slayer do that? Maybe he's scheming something and—"

"You're thinking too much on it," he cut me off, "the important thing is that she's okay, right?"

"Right."

She was okay. We were all okay. I should be grateful for that, that was all that mattered, but I couldn't help the pessimistic thoughts that racked my mind. We were okay, but for how long? Once the vampires came for us we would all die. Our numbers and strength didn't add up to theirs. They only sent 25 vampires, but what about when they sent more? Would there be Supremes and Quearus' too when they ambushed us?

From the corner of my eye, I noticed a Tergot walking by. They were harmless when they were few, but dangerous when they were many. The little critter was the size of the nail on my pinky finger, with tiny, sharp pinch razors for teeth and eight miniature legs. It was probably making its way to the millions of others at the critch—the deep hole where all the corpses were deposited. 

I extended my leg and squished it. Who knew, maybe this Tergot might have been among the thousands of Tergots that ate me when I died.

"There used to be around 800 villages," I began, recalling the stats that seemed to be updated almost every week with each ambush. "But because of the vampire's ambushes, there's less than half that number left. I thought the creation of the Hunter Vanquishers those many years ago would stop our extinction, but it only slowed it down. The ambushes have been happening for years and yet not one human has managed to survive one. We were lucky that this wasn't the ambush, but judging by how things turned out, I don't think we'll survive when we are ambushed, by their full numbers. Millions—no, billions—are already dead and there are only a couple hundred villages left.

I looked at Alek to find that his expression was grave, his eyes searching mine intently.

"We're among those couple hundred villages, so we'll be among the dead soon too. Once our village is the main target..." I shook my head, not wanting to think of our unavoidable bleak future.

"Where's all this dark pessimism coming from?" He asked, concerned.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "This war is taking out our people. Any time I save someone I think, 'well, your life's been extended but you'll die soon anyway.'" I sighed again, "I just keep losing hope with the more villages that get attacked."

Alek wrapped an arm around me and I rested my head against his shoulder, his warmth wrapping around my body. He didn't say anything but I knew he was listening, which was all I needed right now.

"Our Roi is hopeless and the Zas is ruthless by sending his vampires to kill us off," I said. In all honestly, I thought Smith would make a better Roi. He was more involved, he cared about the people and he was selfless. "I just don't want to end up being a Tergots' next meal."

"Neither do I," Alek said after a long pause.

"We're going extinct," I whispered. "Our numbers are dropping substantially. We just need more people."

"Should we try then?" Alek suggested.

"Try what?"

The corner of his lip tugged up mischievously as he slowly whispered, "reproduction."

I shot him an incredulous look before we both broke out laughing. And just like that, Alek completely changed my mood. My pessimistic, depressing thoughts were wiped away with laughter. He was always good at cheering me up and—even when I tried—I couldn't stay upset for long when he was around me.

"You're so stupid," I said, punching his shoulder.

"Ow," he whined mid-laugh.

I shook my head and punched him again. "You're so weird." 

I heard a faint chuckle from beside us and I whipped around to see Raymond standing there.

"How long have I been here?" He asked the question for us, "long enough. Sorry to bring your hopes down Alek but Izel won't be able to sleep with you."

My eyes went wide as soon as those words left Raymond's mouth and I imagined Alek had the same expression as me.

"At least not tonight," he added with a smirk. "The Roi sent me to call you, Izel, he said you're to sleep in the Fortress tonight, so if anything happens, you'll be there."

"What?!" I shouted.

"I know, you were probably looking forward to your evening," he glanced between us. "You weren't planning to sleep in the Fortress but you were planning to sleep someplace else," he said, cocking his head at Alek. 

"I'll talk to you on our signal," Alek said, taking the cup from my hand, knowing I was seconds away from pouncing on Raymond.

"I'll close my eyes if you guys want to give each other a goodnight kiss or some—"

Raymond's words were cut off when I leapt at him and caught his head in a headlock.

"Say that again," I challenged him, "I dare you. I double dare you."

"It's never easy to say goodnight to a loved— ow," Raymond complained when I tightened my grip.

"Stop complaining," I chuckled. "It's not that sore."

"Not as sore as what— ow!"

I tightened my grip again, knowing exactly what he was about to say. Raymond and his dirty mind. 

We walked to the Fortress like that, with Raymond's head between my arms in a headlock, and it was oddly satisfying. 

"I can't breath," he said, dramatically taking deep breaths of air. "Stars, I see stars. I see the light, I'm walking toward the light."

"Oh, shut up."

"If I die, promise me one thing."

"What's that?" I rolled my eyes, playing along.

"That you and Alek will name your baby after me," he said fast.

"Stop!"

*****

I was seated on the bed I would be sleeping in tonight in the Fortress, waiting to hear from Alek.

I had my official earpiece in my left ear, which I only took out when I was bathing. I put my personal earpiece in my right ear, the one that I used to talk to Alek on. He had managed to find a frequency that no one else used so that we could talk to each other whenever we were apart.

Finally, static kicked in and I heard Alek's voice. "You still awake?" he whispered.

"Yes, I've been waiting for you for like an hour," I lied.

"Liar," he laughed. "Sorry it took so long though, I was summoned. What are you doing?"

"Sitting on the bed, staring at a wall."

"Sounds like a blast," he teased.

"You have no idea," I said, sarcastically enthusiastic. "What are you doing?"

"Sitting on my bed, staring at a wall."

"Wow, our lives are so great right now," I said, getting a chuckle from Alek. "I'm so bored."

"Yeah, my life wouldn't be any fun without me either."

A smile crept onto my lips, "why am I not surprised?"

"What do you mean?" he asked innocently.

"I had a feeling you were going to say something along those lines."

"It's true though."

"Is it though?"

Alek and I bantered back and forth like that, then spent the rest of the night simply talking. It was at times like this when I realised how grateful I was for him, how much I cherished our relationship and cherished him as a person. 

The signal in our earpiece began cutting, meaning the battery was about to die, and I was just about to mention it when Alek suddenly said: "Raymond asked me a question earlier." 

I rolled my eyes, "let me guess, it involves me, and you, and us?"

Alek chuckled, "precisely."

"What'd he ask?"

A short pause before Alek finally answered, "he asked me whether I've seen you as more than a friend before."

"Really?" I said. "And what did you say?"

"I mean, I obviously didn't answer him," he told me. 

"Obviously," I chuckled, but now I was curious. "But if you did, what would your answer be?"

A longer pause followed. "That I have," he answered me. "I still do, actually."

The meaning of what he said hit me, and I was speechless for a second... for much longer than a second. He still saw me as more than a friend? Did that mean he liked me? Before I could formulate a response, my earpiece ran out of power and cut off. 

I was too surprised to be irritated at that and just blinked for some time before rolling off the bed to put the earpiece to charge, and it was only then that I realised how fast my pulse was. 

The only thing going through my mind when I got into bed was his answer: I still do, actually.