IZEL

It had been a week since our mini attack, and two new villages had been ambushed since then, leaving no survivors once again.

"Derkville and Freeds were attacked this past week, and as usual, no survivors," Smith told us grimly in the Tactics room as we went over stats.

"The rate at which they're attacking has reduced though," I said. "Right?"

"But they're still attacking," added another Vanquisher.

"But it's less," I pointed out. "From one village a day to less than three a week."

"That's because the villages are bigger now," Smith explained. "The vampires plan out their attacks rather than just going out in numbers and fighting, so because the villages are bigger, it takes them longer to attack."

And that was when it went off. A bulb.

"Let's reduce the rate of attacks then." I suddenly said.

The room suddenly went dead silent and all eyes shifted to me. Alek lightly nudged me, "This is the part where you elaborate," he whispered into my ear, no doubt also waiting to hear what I had to say.

Alek and I hadn't brought up the conversation we had about him seeing me as more than a friend. I didn't have enough courage to bring it up, and I was quite relieved when Alek didn't say anything about his confession either. It didn't make anything awkward between us or anything, but I couldn't help but notice that there had been a shift in our relationship, what with the constant glances during training, more skinship than usual, and the fact that I felt a foreign sensation every time I saw him.

"Oh," I cleared my throat before continuing. "The more populated a place is, the longer it takes to attack, right?"

"Right," Smith confirmed.

"That's because they want to make sure they leave no survivors, right?" I asked again.

"Right," Smith confirmed again.

"They want to be aware of any escape roots, any weaknesses, any hidden bunkers. Aware of tactics, formations and numbers. Our day-to-day routines. They want to finish the job in one go, right?"

"Stop saying right and just keep talking," Alek said. "We're listening."

I cleared my throat again, "so I was thinking, we should be consistently inconsistent. And not just us, but all the villages as well."

"Consistently inconsistent?" Asked Raymond on behalf of the whole room.

"We need to stop being predictable," I explained. "If we have a consistent way of guarding, one formation, one pattern, it'll be easier for the vampires to memorise it and attack us. They would know what they need to look out for and what to expect. But if we're... discombobulated," I blurted out for lack of a better word.

"Unpredictable works fine," Alek said, aiding my terrible English.

"Right, that," I said. "If we're unpredictable then it'll be harder for them to memorise anything, reducing the rates at which each village is attacked, and increasing the chances of survivors."

The room went quiet, taking in what I said. The silence was either because what I said was really dumb, or really smart, but judging by the grin I noticed playing on Smith's lips, it was the latter.

"That... actually makes sense," he said surprised. "That might just work."

Then from there, Smith helped me bring my idea to reality.

We came up with a bunch of formations, schedules and tactics to run with, and each day we selected—at random—which one to follow. Smith informed the remaining villages of the plan and they followed through with it just as we did.

Each village had their own unique ideas piled up. Practice times, guard times, food times and even sleep times changed every single day. We never knew what was planned, meaning the vampires didn't either.

One of the villages, Kremer, created some sort of alarm system where if one village was being attacked, a press of a button or a flip of a switch would sound an alarm in the nearest village so that they could send troops to aid the village under attack.

There was the likely problem of the vampires attacking the village that sent out their troops, just like how they attacked us when we sent our Vanquishers out, but that was easily solved. Smith suggested that the number of Vanquishers to go aid a village under attack should be 25 at most and that the village that sent the Vanquishers out must immediately go on lockdown until their Vanquishers returned.

So we did that and a week passed.

Two weeks.

Three weeks.

A month and there had only been two attacks.

Two attacks in one month!

I hadn't fought with the Masked Slayer during that time either, which was weird because I was used to fighting him often. It got to a point where whenever I went into the forest with Alek, I found myself looking around, expecting to see The Masked Slayer, but he never appeared. I didn't like not getting to try to kill him. Sure, we got attacked by other vampires but it wasn't the same. It wasn't as thrilling as fighting with the Masked Slayer.

I wondered if he regretted saving Raya and was avoiding me because of that, or if he had somehow died. The latter thought made me feel anxious for some reason, and I imagined it was because I wanted to be the one to kill The Masked Slayer, that I didn't want him to die at anyone else's hands but mine. Yes. That was it.

At least my plan was working though, and it was working perfectly. There were even survivors from the villages that had been attacked. For the first time, we had a fighting chance in the war and a spark of hope flared in my chest.

We may not go extinct after all.

*****

My schedule for today had me on night guard again. It was much better than last time because this time Alek and I got assigned to the same post. I formally requested Smith that Alek be at the same post as me...

"Please!" I begged. "You have no idea how boring it is to stand guard when you have no one to talk to. I almost fell asleep last time. I was this close," I said, pinching my fingers close together for emphasis. "What use is it if I fall asleep? There is no use! If I'm asleep then I'm as good as dead because you know how hard a sleeper I am."

He agreed to my formal request and said that Alek and I couldn't be at the same post all the time, but that he would make sure I was assigned with him at least 4 times a week, which I agreed to. Formally...

"What's the time?" I asked Alek.

"Half-past nine."

"Only!" I complained, standing from my chair and stretching my back.

"You tired?" Alek asked me.

"A little."

"Let's walk then," Alek suggested, standing too.

We did four rounds, walking up and down our post. I was trying to focus solely on the task at hand and regain some energy, but that was difficult when Alek's hand kept brushing against mine as we walked and I didn't like the way my heart responded to that contact.

Did I like Alek? Nah, there was no way. I've known him for 11 years, where would those feelings suddenly come from?

I stumbled suddenly, which was something I never did, but Alek caught me before I could hit the ground. I tried—and failed—to ignore the warmth of his hand against my arm.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to get my arm out of his gentle, warm grip without arousing suspicion.

"You stumbled," he stated, "you never stumble."

I awkwardly chuckled, "I have legs, so it's normal to stumble."

"What's bothering you?" He asked.

"Not you, that's for sure." I cringed as soon as those words left my mouth. I lost control of my legs and my tongue.

He raised a brow. "What?"

"Death," I suddenly blurted out, surprising him and myself at the same time. When did I get so dark?

"Death?"

"Yeah, are you afraid of death?" I asked, just going along with the topic and not wanting to dwell on what I said.

"Yeah," he answered warily.

"So am I," I agreed. "I mean, what's scarier than death."

"Losing you," he responded, and judging by the way he froze and averted his gaze, he didn't mean to say that out loud.

"What?"

He scratched the back of his neck before looking into my eyes again. "Death," he said quietly, "it doesn't scare me as much as losing you does."

It was my turn to freeze. I literally lost all ability to move any of my limbs.

"Is that weird?" He asked.

"I— well— I don't know."

"I guess the idea of losing someone I care about scares me," he clarified.

"Ah," I nodded. "Because we're friends, and you care about your friends. Well so do I." I was rambling now. "I care about you too, because you're my friend and all so—"

"Izel," he cut me off. "What's wrong with you today?"

"What's wrong with you today?"

He cocked his head to the side, "are you okay? What's on your mind?"

"What makes you think there's something on my mind?"

"I've known you for 11 years, Izel, I know when something is bothering you."

"That's not a good enough answer."

"Do you have something you want to say?"

"No."

"Do you want to ask me something?"

"No."

He sighed, "Okay, what is it."

"How did you know I wanted to ask you something?!" A slow grin spread across his lips, and it was then that I knew he lured me. I sneered and turned away.

"What do you want to ask me?" He asked, gripping my shoulders and turning me so I faced him again.

"Nothing," I said, finding it hard to maintain eye contact for some reason.

I was so confused. What was going on with me? Did I like Alek all of a sudden? Nah... then why did I feel so nervous?

He narrowed his eyes at me and seemed to read something on my expression because he said, "Oh," then released my shoulders and took a step back. "Is this because of what I said that day?" That day, he didn't need to clarify which day. I already knew what he meant. "Did that make you uncomfortable?"

"No!" I declared.

"I can see the way you shy away from my touch and you can't even look me in the eyes anymore."

"...Was it really that obvious?" I asked, rather than keeping my mouth shut like a wise person.

"Very."

"Oh."

"I didn't bring it up again because I could tell you were uncomfortable."

"I wasn't though," I admitted. I didn't know what it was I was feeling, but I knew it wasn't discomfort. He raised a brow so I clarified, "it's just... well, I've been feeling... weird."

"Weird?"

"Like... like you're on my mind a lot more than you ever have been," I said, and I honestly didn't know why I was saying what I was saying. "And I've been constantly aware when you're close to me, that kind of weird."

"Ah," was all he said.

"Just 'ah'?"

He watched me for a long moment before saying, "can I ask you a question?"

"Uh, sure."

"Have you ever seen me as more than a friend?"

I swallowed. The thing was, I didn't know. I didn't know whether the affection I felt was a friendly kind or more than that.

"I... I don't know," I finally said. "How am I supposed to know? I mean, I told you the way I've been feeling weird but does that mean I like you? And if I do then will that ruin our friendship? But if I don't will that ruin our friendship too?" I added with a concerned whisper. "If I were to go with my own intuition I would say yes but you know how my intuition is messed up sometimes and—"

"If I kissed you, would you kiss me back?" he suddenly asked.

I was not expecting that. At all.

My mouth dropped open and I just gaped at him. He chuckled but took a step toward me and placed a hand on my chin, closing my mouth for me. But he didn't step back. And he didn't remove his hand from my chin either.

"I... well... " I took a breath, giving up on words.

Alek looked at me intently, as if searching for some sign of disapproval or discomfort. I don't think he found any because the next thing I knew he was leaning forward, slowly closing the distance between his lips and mine.

I smelt his woodsy scent first, then felt his warm breath against my skin. He raised my chin slightly as he leaned down until his lips were a breath away from mine and—

A loud, beep sounded, startling us both but we didn't jump away from each other, we just froze, our eyes still locked and our lips a whisper away. Even as red lights flashed on and off along all the buildings and...

Alek and I figured out what was going on at the same time. He released my chin and looked around. The flashes, the loud beeps...

There was an attack on another village.

"We should go."

"Yeah," I agreed.

He hesitated but eventually nodded and we ran towards the Tactics Room, all while I inwardly cursed the vampires. I wasn't sure how much I liked Alek but I knew that if we had kissed then our relationship would change, and I wasn't a fan of change. So long as he remained in my life, I supposed I didn't mind whether we were just friends or more.

We entered the Tactics Room just as Smith said, "It's Pertin, 10 km west from here." He looked up from his device to us all and began counting our numbers in his head. "All of you, let's go."

"All of us?" I asked.

"All of you." He confirmed.

My heart rate picked up, excitement filling my bones. I was going out with the Hunter Vanquishers, and I wasn't breaking any rules this time. I geared up along with the others, prepping myself for battle. I wasn't sure whether it was the urgency of the situation that had Smith forgetting that I wasn't technically 21 years old, but I sure as daggers wasn't about to ask and ruin my chances of going. Or maybe I proved myself to him and he finally saw me as capable.

"The Roi has summoned for Izel," announced a Vanquisher suddenly as he entered the Tactics Room.

"What?!" I demanded, hoping I misheard.

"The Roi has ordered for you to stay and guard him, Izel," he repeated.

My chest started burning with rage, annoyance and irritation for the Roi. This was my chance to fight alongside the Hunter Vanquishers, and now that opportunity was gone, because of the Roi.

"Okay Izel, looks like you'll have to stay," Smith said.

"But—"

"No buts, you're staying," Smith ordered. "If the Roi asked for you, you have to stay. You know that."

"I'll help her guard him," Alek said, removing his gear too.

"He only requested that two Vanquishers guard his chambers," said the Vanquisher.

"Two guards? And I have to be one of them?!" I complained, and I could tell the Vanquisher was having a hard time keeping a straight face. Did he find this funny?

"But I don't have to be in chambers," Alek said. "I can guard another room. Knowing the Roi, he would appreciate the numbers anyway."

Alek and I were replaced before Smith and the other Vanquishers took the vehicles to aid the village Pertin, while Alek and I were left to guard the Roi.

"You didn't have to do that," I said to Alek as we made our way to the Fortress. "You could have gone."

"I prefer staying and guarding Lilliville anyways," Alek said. "You know that."

"Yeah but—"

"Izel!" Raya's voice called from the distance, and I looked to find her running toward me. I dropped to my knees, and opened my arms, greeting her in an embrace.

"Hey Raya, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"I want to stay with you. Can I stay with you?" She begged.

"Stay with me?"

"I don't like being huddled in a room packed with..."

Her voice trailed off as she noticed the Vanquisher beside me for the first time. She narrowed her eyes as if trying to decipher something. I looked at the Vanquisher and noticed he was purposely trying to keep his gaze away from hers.

Raya suddenly gasped. "It is you," she exclaimed and she got out of my hold to hug the Vanquisher instead.

I heard the Vanquisher curse under his breath but he said, "hi child, do I know you?"

"Yes! You're from the forest. You wore a—" the Vanquisher brought a hand to her mouth, blocking her words.

He glanced at me but said to her, "Oh yes, Raya. I remember you, now do you remember what I told you," he asked with a wink.

What was up with him?

"Oh," Raya whispered then laughed, "that was close. I almost told your secret."

The Vanquisher awkwardly laughed, "now why don't you run along then, to the safe room."

"I don't want to," she complained. "We don't have a proper safe room. We just huddle in different rooms and call it our safe room. It's stuffy."

"Raya, you—" I started but the Vanquisher cut me off.

"Well, those rooms are the only places the blood-sucking vampires won't find you," the Vanquisher said.

"Hey!" I exclaimed. "Why would you say—"

"Promise?" Raya asked him, cutting off my protests and leaving me nothing short of surprised.

"Promise."

Raya turned around and then ran in the direction of her mother before following everyone else. Huh, that actually worked.

"How do you know Raya?" I asked the Vanquisher.

"Doesn't matter," he said then continued walking.

Alek and I looked at each other confused but followed the Vanquisher still. We left Alek at a post on the first floor while we continued up the lavish grand stairs all the way up to the Roi's chambers.

My breathing quickened, not because of the stairs, but because I hated the fact that I had to guard the Roi rather than going out and fighting with the other Vanquishers.

"You seem displeased rather than honoured that you were summoned by the Roi," the Vanquisher said.

"Honoured?" I scoffed, "I've never felt honoured being in the presence of the Roi. He doesn't deserve honour, he deserves..."

I trailed off, realising what I was about to say. There were only two times I allowed myself to curse the Roi, which was when I was on my own or with Alek. I didn't know how loose this Vanquisher's tongue was.

"You were saying?" he asked.

I looked at him for the first time since we entered the Fortress, intending to dismiss my near slip-up, but was taken aback by his stark features. He was nothing short of beautiful, and I was only noticing the extent of his beauty because of the better lighting in the Fortress.

He had gorgeous, hazel eyes which were made more prominent by his clear tawny-brown skin. His hair was brown and curly and looked so soft that I was tempted to touch it. He had quite the figure, with broad shoulders and I had no doubt he had a defined body under his dark clothes. He was taller than me, much taller than me actually, which was the first. I only reached his shoulders.

I hadn't realised I was staring until I noticed the Vanquisher's lips curve upwards. "Do I have something on my face, or my clothing, perhaps?"

My breath caught up and I racked my brain for an excuse. I was not going to admit that I was checking him out, not when I barely knew the guy. "I— umm, yes, but it's gone now." Nice save. "You're not from around here, are you?" I deciphered. "I don't recognise you." He had a face that one couldn't easily forget.

"Yeah, I'm from one of the other villages," he said with a wave of his hand. "Anyway, you were speaking of the Roi, he deserves what?"

His voice sounded chillingly familiar, but I said, "nothing," before entering the Roi's chambers.

"Izel, you're here?" the Roi exclaimed. "You actually heeded my warning from that day."

I didn't even bother to make conversation with him. I just lowered my head and tapped my hand on my heart three times when I entered and went to my assigned corner of the room where I inwardly cursed the Roi. Why would he act surprised when he was the one who had summoned me here?

"Where is everybody else?" The Roi asked when the Vanquisher assigned with me closed and locked his chamber doors.

"Only two were assigned to your chambers, Roi," the Vanquisher said.

"I always have at least seven with me," stated the Roi.

"Then why did you ask for two this time?" I asked, my irritation making my words come out sharper.

"I did not ask for two," the Roi clarified.

"Yeah, you did," I stated, remembering what the Vanquisher had said. Unless...

"Having Izel here is the equivalent of having seven Vanquishers, is it not?" the Vanquisher asked, glancing my way.

A smile played on my lips, the irritation in my chest faltering as the Roi's irritation grew.

"I've heard you always ask for her, saying you need the best of the best with you. Well, here she is," the Vanquisher finished, shooting me a wink.

I didn't know why that wink made me feel so uneasy when I approved of what the Vanquisher had done. He did this purposely, making sure to bring two Vanquishers and count me as six to irk the Roi. It was his fault after all because he had said something along those lines to get me to guard him when I had better things to do.

"Izel is as strong as six Vanquishers combined," is what the Roi had said. "So she needs to be my guard, no exceptions."

"Be careful what you wish for next time," I said to the Roi.

"I highly doubt we'll be attacked, Roi," said the Vanquisher when the Roi snarled at me. "But I can assure you, there are plenty of Vanquishers within the Fortress who are watching as well. You should just focus on resting and we'll do the rest."

"No pun intended," I added with a smile and both the Vanquisher and the Roi just looked at me. "You told him to focus on resting then said we'd do the rest, so... get it?"

The Roi just rolled his eyes but the Vanquisher watched me for some time. He finally looked away but I caught a glimpse of an amused half-smile and... whoa did that make him ten times more attractive.

Which village was he from? And did they all look as stunning as he did?

The Vanquisher made his way toward the opposite corner of the room, closer to the Roi, and I struggled to keep my eyes to myself the entire time we stood on guard.