Lovers' Oath Ch. 05

Author's note: Yup, long time, no see. My editor tells me it's been almost 3 months since my last posting. I really don't have any excuse other than that there were a thousand things to get done which slowed down writing. But, here's chapter 5, good and pretty long, I hope. Go ahead and enjoy!

Huge thanks to Gabriel for editing this chapter. Another huge thanks goes out to my readers who have hung around this long. Go on people, enjoy the chapter.

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The next morning.

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Rayn slowly walked down the corridor that was supposed to take her to the training area. She was a little nervous and she was trying her best to hide that fact from showing. And yet, she couldn't speed up her pace to reach the training area faster. So, she walked down the corridor slowly.

While showering this morning, she had tried to think why she was so damn nervous about the impending meeting with Kiel. She didn't really think that it was due to fear. No matter how big and muscled and grumpy he was, she really didn't feel afraid of him. And while she finished the shower, she still couldn't think of a reason for her nervousness. And yet, there she was feeling jittery and worried a little about today's training. At the end, she had just chalked it up to the task of facing something unknown. Training with Rohan was easy, because she knew him, training with Kiel was, well, another story altogether. She had no idea, not any more, about what he would want out of the training. What would happen if she didn't do as well as he might want? Even as she contemplated that line of thinking, she realized she was again worrying despite deciding earlier that she wouldn't. She shook her head, this time quickening her steps. The longer she delayed it, the more it would worry her.

Turning around the next bend, a ringing sound greeted her ears. As she proceeded towards it, the sounds continued, as if a sword fight was going on. Growing curious, she sped up to a brisk walk, coming to a full stop in front of the door on her right. The door was made of reinforced glass, making the inside of the room clearly visible. As she stepped inside, she saw that a fight was going on in the middle of the room. Taking her eyes off the fight, she took a moment to glance around.

The room was minimally decorated. Along the right side wall, several weapons were displayed on racks and panels. Some bottles of water were also there. As her eyes traveled around, she saw a few more couples practicing towards the further end, but many more stood along the walls, their eyes completely focused on the pair in the middle of the room. Following their gaze, she also watched them, first with curiosity, then - as she saw one of them quickly proceeding towards victory - with appreciation. Trying to remember if she had seen these two before, she shifted a little to her right to get a better picture of the winning warrior. Then her mouth hung open.

One of the two sparring was Kiel, and he was the one winning. Thinking a little, she realized she had never thought he would be someone to spar with his subordinates. She had thought of him like the boss ordering people around, someone who had others do the work, not someone to be on the field with his people. 'Now why did I think of him like that?' she mused to herself, her eyes glued to his body. She might have been able to find the answer to it, only she was a little distracted by the grace with which he fought. She marveled at the fluid movements of his body, how he twisted and turned, blocking each blow and attacking, always aggressive, and yet, his face and eyes as calm as ever. She knew she was staring, but she couldn't help it.

Almost to soon, or at least, too soon for her satisfaction, the fight was over as the other man conceded and lowered his sword. Bowing, the man slowly walked away, apparently distracted, probably a little discouraged. As he went a few paces, Kiel called from behind,

"Rogers..." at his call the man jerked out of his distraction and turned towards him, slightly surprised,

"Yes sir?"

A small smile crossed Kiel's lips, "You fought well. Only there will always be someone a little ahead of you. Try to adapt more quickly to your opponent's style of fighting, and...keep changing yours, so your opponent doesn't get the chance to get a hold of you." cocking his head a little, he added,"You are a good warrior, Rogers. You just need to accept your flaws, so you can work on them."

As Rayn watched the other man's face to decipher if this was normal behavior from Kiel, she saw Rogers' eyes brighten up at Kiel's words of appreciation, conveying clearly how rare they must be. She saw Rogers nod to him.

"I will keep that in mind, sir." With another little bow, he walked away, now a little joy noticeably there in his steps. Looking back at the arena, she saw another man approach Kiel, and bow nervously.

As Rayn watched, she saw Kiel stride casually towards the arms panels and deposit the sword there. Then walking back to the middle of the arena, he took a very casual stance, barely aggressive, and giving off a laid back and relaxed posture. As if this is not at all a fight he is in, but simply talking to a child. Rayn noticed the other man relax somewhat seeing Kiel's laid back attitude, and he adopted a somewhat similarly loose pose and they started circling each other. Her eyes swung back to Kiel's face, already having anticipated Kiel's next move. Her throat itched to warn the other man.

Before she could give in to her impulse, Kiel broke the circle and one of his hands moved forward swiftly to connect the heel of the palm with the underside of his opponent's chin. Rayn's eyes widened in shock as she registered how quickly and fluidly his body moved. Her appreciation only increased as Kiel followed up the move with a swift sweep of his opposite leg under the other man's feet, effectively getting him off his feet. Without giving him time, Kiel brought down the other foot towards the man's throat, only stopping a few inches above to step back, giving the man time to get back on his feet. As the man did so, he was visibly shaken and shocked. Rayn regarded him for a little while, then thought back to the start of the session.

Shaking her head, she leaned back against the wall. She probably couldn't blame the man, but he should have realized that Kiel had only loosened his posture to get the man to tone down his guard and get him off balance. He changed his style to not give his opponent a chance to adapt to it, and also, to keep the other man from developing a fixed style. She watched them face off again, this time the man tightly winded up. Her eyes narrowed, 'Too high strung and nervous. He won't think or plan his moves clearly.' Assessing mentally, she shook her head again, then looked back at Kiel.

"Loosen up, Johnson. Getting high strung won't win you a fight with a demon." Kiel coolly instructed.

"Loosening up doesn't help either, sir." Johnson shook his head resolutely, his eyes fixed onto Kiel.

"Loosening up helps, losing focus because your opponent seems to be slow doesn't. You didn't even try to anticipate my move. A demon, low ranking demons, count on that. Their power is in their deceptively slow movement, which they compensate for by their strength and weight."

She rolled her eyes, he was again successful in distracting Johnson.

"Demons ranking a little higher, however," Kiel continued his lazy toned instructions, "do not count on the in-built lack of focus in their opponent. Instead, they work actively to distract their opponent, and attack." With that, he moved forward towards Johnson, startling him and leaving him with little time to get his defenses up. This time he lifted Johnson bodily and threw him down. Again he stepped back to allow the other man to stand up. As soon as he stood up, without losing a beat, Johnson moved forward with a swift one-two at Kiel's face and abdomen, followed by a round leg sweep, all of which Kiel avoided with smooth, serpentine agility. As Johnson followed up with a kick to his knee, Kiel blocked the kick with his foot and followed up with a kick to Johnson's head. Johnson avoided it by leaning back slightly, keeping his head out of reach.

"Good, you are learning." Kiel commented, simultaneously moving forward to Johnson's left side, grabbing him around his chest with his left hand and using the leverage given by his own left foot to drag him down on the floor, then pinning Johnson's body by placing his knee on his chest squarely, his hands pinning down those of Johnson.

"Apparently, not." Johnson gritted out, his eyes flashing, and surprising Rayn a little, his fangs elongating.

'He is a vampire!' Rayn mentally wondered, trying to recall what Kendra had said about the organization having employees of divergent kind.

Kiel stood up, regarding the other man with disinterest, "Well, yes, probably you are a little slow to learn, but you learn nonetheless." With that he turned around and started to walk away. As Rayn pushed away from the wall to approach him, she saw Johnson rise. Anticipating his intention she opened her mouth to warn Kiel even as Johnson jumped up in the air, his eyes riveted on Kiel's neck. Knowing that she had no time, she prepared to intercept Johnson's attack. But, rendering her intervention unnecessary, Kiel wheeled around and jumped up, using his momentum to bring down his foot to Johnson's chest, throwing him on the floor. As Kiel landed, Johnson stood up. But without giving him time, Kiel swiftly delivered two kicks - one to his knee and the other to his shoulder - both kicks followed by a resounding 'snap' announcing the breaking of both joints.

As Johnson collapsed on the floor, Kiel calmly said " As I said, you learn slowly. Attacking from behind would succeed in case of a lower ranked demon. Only, you forgot to factor in the fact that I am a wolf, and an Elder at that. And you never attack a Wolf from behind." starting to leave, he turned around once more to lock his eyes with the pain clouded eyes of Johnson, " Next time I'd expect better from you, Johnson. Good day." With that, Kiel turned around and walked out of the room, without glancing back at Johnson or at Rayn. She hesitated a little to follow him, looking at the injured man worriedly. As she saw two other men assisting him up, she followed Kiel out of the room.

Seeing him enter a room a little further up the corridor, she hurried to the room. As she entered, his calm voice greeted her, "Close the door behind you."

Having done so, she looked around the room. This one was a little larger than the previous room. A little to the left from the middle of the room, there was a dome like set-up on the floor, much like the dome of the comm center in the main hall, only instead of glass, this dome was made up of thin web like structure. Casting her eyes around, she saw a few exercising machines and a few things she was sure she had never seen before.

Looking back at the dome she found Kiel standing half way between her and the dome. Approaching him, she casually started, "Hey Kiel, I'm..."

"Yes, you are late. I'd assume you were going to apologize for that. Keep in mind that it doesn't happen again." He interrupted, and then turned around to walk towards the dome. Watching him walk away leaving her this infuriated with his back to her, she could almost understand why Johnson had attacked from behind. But, having learned by observing Johnson, she decided to shout instead.

"You broke that man's shoulder and knee, Kiel. What were you doing, training him, or trying to kill him?"

Kiel almost rolled his eyes, "He is a vampire, Rayn. He will recover instantly. And in case you didn't notice, he was trying to kill me. I merely defended myself. And yes, that is how I train my people."

"Well then, serves you right for turning your back towards your enemy." she muttered, getting even more angry at his pointing out the needlessness of her worry for Johnson.

"Really, you think so? Hmm." he answered her as if he had almost not wanted to, and yet answered because he was distracted. Pressing a button on a small, thin black remote, he powered on the Dome, and continued "Anyway, look here. This is the primary Training unit. This is where you train with simulations and several hurdle tasks where you will face with simulations of increasing difficulty. The simulations involve overcoming different battle situations with enemies of different nature, and of varying difficulty levels, at times the tasks will be time bound. Your performance will be assessed for your efficiency of time and ammunition management, and in some cases, on your strategy and tactical moves. Today, since it is your very first training session, I've decided on something light. For the warm-up, we will start with a little hand to hand combat training. " Looking back at her, he arched an eyebrow, "I heard you've had some experience with four lower ranking demons. Let's see what you learned from them, shall we?" He turned fully to face her.

Coolly regarding him, she casually replied, "Sure. Just give me the gun and dagger, and you'll be dead within five minutes. Then I can go get brunch." Her lips curved up at seeing the flash in his eyes that her challenge had earned her.

"Hand-to-hand combat, Rayn. Meaning, no weapons." Then, flashing a sly grin, "Of course, weapons don't include teeth. You can bite me all you want."

Listening to his teasing, she carefully eyed him taking position, a rather tightly wound, ready to spring kind of pose. She maintained her calm and relaxed stance, without hinting that she had noticed his tease. "May be I will if I get hungry again. Or may be I won't. Arrogant dogs don't taste good." she took a few steps to the left as Kiel started circling.

"You did like the smell of it, though. You almost drowned in it." as he saw his words bringing a rush of color to the creamy column of her throat, he quickly moved forward with a low kick to her thigh. To his surprise, she deftly captured his leg, lifted it higher, and swiftly twisted under it depositing him flat on his face on the floor, all in the space of a heartbeat. Not yet satisfied, she sat down heavily on his back and pulled his head back by pulling his hair.

"You play dirty." He groaned.

"Nope. I just learn quickly." She coolly supplied from atop him. Leaning in, she inhaled deeply at his neck. "Definitely don't like it."

Kiel's smile broadened slightly. He had noticed the little tremor in her voice. The tremor that told him she wasn't being completely honest. Without missing a beat, he reached behind, took hold of her shoulder, and rolled her off himself. As he tried to pin her down by placing his body on hers, she rolled away and sprung to her feet a little out of his reach. As he looked up at her, he flashed a boyish grin at her, and sprang up.

"Yes, you do learn quickly. And play dirty, too." he qualified. As they again circled each other, he appraised her style. In some ways, she was almost like him when he had first joined La Lumière. With a slightly rueful smile, he thought how things have changed over the years. With any hope, she will be a worthy companion in the fight against the darker side. But for that, her skills needed to be polished too. He fluidly moved forth, grabbing hold of her just under her knees and at the same time pushing back on her chest, succeeding in getting her on the floor. The next thing he knew, she was holding his throat with her calf muscles, her feet hooked behind his head. As his eyes widened, she deftly pulled her body up and punched his nose hard. Then she dropped herself back on the floor and got her feet under her with a vault.

"Good, very good." Kiel's eyes sparkled with excitement. He didn't meet such a good fighter on a regular basis. One that could meet his challenges and expectations like this."Let's play." he whispered, again beginning to circle each other.

*****

He could smell grass, and some flowers. His groggy senses kept faltering, not giving him enough stimulation to wake up.

'Flowers?' he wondered. He hadn't smelled anything but rotten flesh in several months. Was he going mad then, at last? He again inhaled deeply, almost again losing consciousness from the pain the action caused. But he held on. Yes! There it was again, fresh dew drops and flowers. He couldn't understand what flowers they were, but the smell brought up an image of calm and cold night. He liked those nights. He liked those flowers blooming under the black cloak of midnight, too.

"Fow..ers." he murmured softly. Then let the darkness overcome his senses again.

*****

Rohan quickly walked towards the Comm section. Entering, he softly growled at the seated man before him, "This better be good Johan. You just ruined a perfectly good day with a hot date."

Turning around in his seat, Johan lifted his eyes with mock surprise. " You mean a day with hot metal and cold guns? Yup this is definitely better than that." turning around at one of the screens, he quickly brought up two pictures, one of a man in his mid twenties, smiling up at the camera, flashing a pair of slightly elongated canines, the other of the same man, lying on the ground, bloodied, missing an eye and several fingers, his legs bent in an odd angle.

"Our agents picked up this intel at Sector 31 just a little over 10 minutes ago. This man, Meyer, was reported missing several months ago from one of the nearby Vampire covens. Last night, this man was found left near the Highway, severely wounded, unconscious from loss of blood and possibly starvation over several weeks. One of the shelters took him in and are treating him."

Leaning forward, Rohan carefully scrutinized the data. "Demons?" he frowned.

"Seems so."

"Why wasn't general protocol followed?" he growled. "He might be infected."

"Sir, we believe he has valuable intel that we can use."

"And he might also be a bait planted by the demons. They don't just let go of their slaves, Johan. They use them for any purpose they might serve. If he is infected, he will wreck havoc within hours. We can not extract information from him. Follow protocol."

"Sir, we didn't follow protocol because he was not infected. We are assuming from his unconscious blabbering that he somehow escaped."

"Escaped?" Rohan's brows went higher on his forehead. Then, frowning, his expression turned thoughtful, " Hmm... Now that indeed is valuable intel. Priceless. What has he already said?"

"Nothing much. When he was rescued by our team, he only said 'demons... Escaped...' then nothing until he regained consciousness in the shelter. There he asked the agents to contact La Lumière base, and get their leader to talk to him, he wouldn't say anything to anyone else." Johan made a face.

"Kiel? No, he's not expendable." as Rohan hummed a while studying the information on screen, he asked, "Can't we get him over here?"

Johan shook his head. "His condition is delicate. Any amount of travel might kill him. So far, he has only improved enough that we can hope he'd live long enough to give us the intel. Then he'd die anyway."

"I see. Then we must act soon." Rohan straightened, thinking fast. "Arrange transport for me to the shelter within half an hour. Needless to say, the vehicle shouldn't stand out, and, don't let word of my solo trip get out here in base. Clear?"

"Sir?" Johan asked, stunned.

"What?" Rohan asked in a slightly bored voice. He really didn't want the lecture about not going alone.

"He asked for the leader..."

"Well, who's gonna tell him I'm not?" Rohan snarled."Kiel and Kendra are not expendable. They will want to go if they hear this, but we can not afford it in case this is a trap. Neither can we afford the necessary time for arranging their security."