Lovers' Oath Ch. 05

"I see." he clasped his hands in front of him, and placed his chin on the clasped hands.

"It would be wise to tread carefully with him, Kiel. He is your oldest and closest friend. He is not disloyal either. If you are to prevent a potential defection, you need to consider his need for protecting Rayn, too. Don't do anything rash." she flashed a grin before continuing, "Besides, you need to get friendly with Rayn for her safety, too. I can't grant her request for separate quarters. Out of The Den, she would be too exposed and in danger. We can't afford that."

As she said those words, the frustration within him emerged again,

"Well, how the hell am I supposed to even touch her if she goes the other way whenever she sees me?" he blurted out with vexation. As he saw Kendra blink, he realized what he had said, and silently prayed she wouldn't understand it.

"Touch her?" Kendra surveyed him with amused interest, "I was thinking more like you forming a friendship with her, but obviously, you have other ideas. Hmm. Tell me, Kiel..." she leaned forward, "Who is it that you see in your dreams?"

Hearing the amused curiosity in her voice, he quirked his eyebrow at her. "Now now, Kendra, I don't kiss and tell." he said smoothly.

"Oh come on Kiel, you can tell me. May be I will help you, even." she smiled knowingly. His grin was back on his lips, too. He stood up, then leaned forward and looked at her with his palms flat on the desk,

"Kendra, why don't you tell me what language that book is written in, and may be I will help you finish reading it, even." he suggested cordially.

"Ah!" her lips quirked.

He nodded. "That's what I thought." straightening up, he strode towards the door, "Have a nice day Kendra, and thanks for the information. I'll keep it in mind."

"You need to win her over Kiel." the sincerity in her voice touched him. Turning his head, he saw her again immersed in that book. His curiosity flared again. But with the amount of information she had just given him, he knew he would have to wait to get things worked out before he could look for information on this book.

*****

A few hours later, Rohan casually walked in the main hall when Johan hurriedly approached him from behind,

"Um, Rohan..." as Rohan turned towards him, he quickly continued, "Kiel was looking for you. He is currently waiting for you in his office." as soon as the message was conveyed, Johan hurried off before Rohan could say anything.

Looking up at the glass window of Kiel's office he caught a glimpse of his friend looking straight at him before the glass darkened.

*****

"I have been looking all over for you, but no one seemed to know where you were. So, what exactly were you up to?" Kiel's question didn't have the bite he was expecting. It sounded humorous.

"There was a communique from sector 31 about recovering a vampire who was reported missing some time ago. Seems it was the demons. He had valuable information he wanted to give us."

"Hmm. So you went down there to check it out?"

"Yup."

"Alone?" Kiel's eyes were steadfastly observing a speck of dust between two buttons of a keyboard.

"Uh... Er... Yes." Rohan didn't know exactly what would be Kiel's reaction.

"It could have been a trap."

"Uh... Yes." Kiel was still confusing him.

"It was dangerous, Rohan."

Rohan nodded, "I can take care of myself." he grumbled.

"Not against a whole troop of demons, you can't. I know that a majority of our operatives are engaged, but you could have taken me along." The concern for his friend's safety leaked into Kiel's voice. Then he saw a guilty look flit across Rohan's face. "What?"

"Er... Nothing." a sheepish look came on his face, "He had asked to speak to you. But it was too dangerous for that." as he saw Kiel's nose flare, he grinned broadly, and before Kiel's growl could go any further, he quickly continued, "But as it turns out, it wasn't a trap, and he indeed brought us valuable news."

"Oh?" Kiel decided to ignore the anger he was feeling at Rohan for now.

"Yeah." Rohan looked straight into his eyes, "The Demon Lord knows about Rayn." as the meaning of Rohan's words sank in, Kiel's body went stiff.

"What else?"

Rohan handed him a disc, "Most of the information he gave me is compiled in it and cross referenced with our data base. The only information I haven't put in is regarding Rayn."

Taking the disc, Kiel strode towards one of the monitors to play it. As he went through the data, he heard Rohan's retreating steps.

"Rohan" Kiel waited for Rohan to turn towards him, "Thanks."

Blinking in confusion Rohan nodded, then after staring wonderingly at his friends back, he slowly walked out of the office.

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Five days later, La Lumière Headquarters.

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Kiel's eyes followed Rayn as she emerged from one of the corridors opening in the main hall below. As she walked towards the opening of the corridor to the training area, he saw her stop and turn around with a smile on her face. Following her gaze he saw a man approaching her. As the man's back was towards him, he couldn't see who it was. As he waited impatiently looking down at them, it became quite obvious that whoever it was, he was on friendly terms with her. Unable to see his face, Kiel tapped his fingers on the glass. 'Who the hell was that man, and why the hell was he that close to her?' he grumbled silently. He wished she would hurry up and reach the training area soon. 'And stop standing so close to that man.' his wolf agreed, growling.

After what seemed like an eternity to him, she parted the man's company to start towards the training area. As Kiel stood watching her back, the slight sway of her hips caught his eyes. His eyes followed her until she went out of sight. As his eyes traveled back to where she was standing before, he found the man still standing there. He frowned. Obviously, that man could still see her, and was reluctant to let her go out of sight. As Kiel saw the man raise his hand and give a small parting wave in Rayn's general direction, he bristled. He knew he was being jealous. And irrational. But he couldn't help it. As the man below walked away from the spot, he tried to decipher who it was. For some reason, right then it seemed the most important thing in the world to identify the man. As he strode away without once turning towards Kiel, a snarl of frustration broke free of Kiel's throat.

*****

"What, are you tired already?" Rayn playfully asked, parrying his attacks with ease. They'd been practicing sword fighting today, and surprisingly, Kiel seemed to be completely distracted.

"Not really. Just letting you play today."

She frowned. "I don't want to play. Fight back, Kiel." with that she rained some fast blows on him, most of which he dodged, and blocked a few with ease. Having gotten his attention, she circled him while pointing her sword at him. He simply held his sword leisurely at his side, ready for defense, but not in a mood for attack. She was growing frustrated with his lack of enthusiasm at this. She again attacked, this time he blocked her blow, and then with a swift twist of his sword, managed to pin her sword down. With a growl, she pulled her sword free and took a step back.

"Who was that man you were talking to?" he casually flung the question at her.

"What man?" she guardedly asked. In the past few days, she had learned not to let her guard drop at any moment while fighting with him.

"The man you were talking to in the hall just now, who is he?"

"A friend. A close friend." she gritted out. 'What does he care?'

"Yes. I understood that. What is his name?" he continued calmly, blocking yet another attack from her.

"What do you care?" She was getting even more irritated.

"I just do." watching her reaction closely, he asked again, "May I know who he is?"

"No. It's none of your business." she kept circling him, trying to get him to attack this time. His laid back attitude was getting on her nerves.

"You seem to be very reluctant to mention the name of a man who is supposed to be a close friend." he stated in a matter of fact way.

"Kiel, back off. My friend circle is none of your business." She barely kept from snarling at him. 'That self-assured, arrogant ass.'

"Hmm. Let's make a deal." he suggested, his voice placating her, almost patronizing her.

"What deal?" she growled at his patronizing tone.

"If you win the next round, I won't ask about your friends."

Damn right, you won't. "What if I lose?"she asked.

"You'll agree to have dinner with me, tonight." his eyes twinkled. "Of course, if you would rather not take on the deal, I'll understand." he grinned.

Her eyes flashed at the challenge. "Fine, deal."

"Wonderful." his smile broadened.

"Now pay attention." she spat at him, instantly going on attack.

After a few minutes of swift attacks and twirling bodies and flashing blades, her sword flew out of her hand to land a few feet away. Dropping his own sword point towards the floor, Kiel smiled,

"Tonight at eight, meet me at the main hall of The Den. I'll drive." watching her turn back and walk away, he chuckled, "You really look beautiful in blue you know." she didn't stop as she threw daggers with her glare before exiting through the door.

*****

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Same day, 7:30 p.m., La Lumière Headquarters.

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Rohan strode towards the comm center, fixing an ear piece in his right ear. Watching the men work frantically, he asked Johan, "Do we have confirmation?"

Breathless, the man answered, "No. Not yet."

"How much longer would it take?"

"I'm not sure. Their broadcasts are not coming clearly. Seems one of the Senders have decided to put a Haze spell on them. It's taking a while for our Receivers to single out the original message from all the noise surrounding them."

"We need to hurry up. Kiel and Rayn will be leaving for point one within half an hour. The secondary team lead by Rogers will leave five minutes later, once they get confirmation from Rayn. And she can't give it, unless we can confirm the target to them first."

"Yes, yes, I know." Johan snapped, frantically, but methodically ordering everyone else as he himself worked on the incoming stream of data. "Wait, did you say Rayn?"

"yeah. Why?"

"Umm, she was saying something about a date tonight. You sure she's with Kiel?"

Rohan frowned, his mood souring instantly. "Yes, I'm sure. Her date is Kiel. And they're going to the Diva."

Johan's eyes widened. "He's taking her to point one of a mission on their first date?" as he read Rohan's face, he realized what was going on. "Erm, she won't be gushing to her friends about this date night, would she?" pausing a little, he added, "Does she know?"

Rohan shook his head. "He will tell her once we confirm the target. Tonight is her initiation. Tonight determines her capability."

"Ah! I see." Johan stared blankly at the screen to his left side. "Well, what is he gonna do about the weapons? How would he give them to her?"

Rohan sighed," You ask too many questions, Johan. We'll see once they get there." He pointed at the screen playing live feed of the various parts of the restaurant. "But confirm their entry point and the target first."

Johan nodded, "Doing it now. The data is almost complete."

"Good. Hurry up. They should be leaving in about ten minutes."

*****

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7.55 p.m., The Den.

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Kiel stood in the hall way, impatient. As he checked his watch the third time within the last 2 minutes, he growled in frustration. They were supposed to leave in five minutes, and she still hadn't come downstairs. He started pacing, but as he caught the smirk on Sam's face as they crossed each other, he stopped pacing.

"Kiel..." he heard Rohan's voice over their connection.

"What?"

"Have you two started?"

"No. We will in five more minutes."

"Good. We don't have confirmation yet. If they have discovered Meyer's disappearance and his link to us, it is possible they might not want to take a chance and change their plans altogether. You two have a booking at The Diva for a table for two, it should be a table somewhere around the middle from where you can keep an eye out. We will contact you as soon as we get the confirmation."

"Yeah, alright... Sure." Kiel sounded distracted. Rohan frowned.

"Kiel, are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah. Umm... I'll talk to you later."

Rohan felt worried for a second, before he caught an image of Rayn from his friend's mind. He would have wondered what had caused Kiel to drop his Shield, but the image of Rayn said it all. Smirking, Rohan broke their connection.

As Kiel stood stock still in the hall way, his eyes never left the beautiful creature descending the stairs. He could see she had taken his observation into consideration, and was wearing a beautiful dark blue off shoulder, calf length gown. A simple yet elegant pleat ran all along the front of the gown, starting at a point slightly right to her cleavage fitted with a floral design made out of some kind of white metal, then continued down to the hem where it curved and disappeared within the folds. The gown hug her body closely, flaring out at her hips and then flowing down to cling slightly to her shapely legs, giving her body a nice shape and accentuating her curves. A thin white chain ran around her waist and the ends twisted around each other as they hung a little off to the side. A drape of a lighter shade of blue was wrapped around her shoulders, their ends coming to hang down from her arms. As he finally realized he was staring, his eyes quickly traveled to hers, and then he almost blushed seeing her watching him closely, standing still on the third last stair, her right hand resting on the railing.

Had she put on make up? He couldn't tell. He also completely bypassed the elegant style in which her hair was done up. His eyes only took in her green eyes framed by the thick lashes, and her luscious lips. He internally groaned. How the hell was he supposed to concentrate on the mission with that woman at his side? Mentally giving himself a shake, he stepped forward and offered her his hand, his eyes riveted onto hers. She slowly descended the last stairs, and placed her palm in his. When she stood by his side, his lips curved up in an appreciating smile. He leaned into her ear, his smile broadening as he saw her eyes widen slightly, "You look beautiful." her sudden intake of breath was unmistakable. Pulling back, he saw a blush creep up her throat. "Shall we go?" at her nodded assent, he put her hand in the crook of his elbow and led them out towards the waiting car.

*****

Descending down the stairs, Rayn was a little nervous about this date. Yes, he was grumpy, yes, on more than one occasion she had called him an ass. And then he goes and does a 180 degree and uses his ass-y ways to take her on a date. What's more is the jealousy he had been displaying, however subtly, whenever she interacted in a friendly way with another man. That, she had checked time and again by intentionally doing so whenever he was around. And then the way he demanded to know the name of the man today... She had wondered what was that about. Descending down the stairs, she was trying to anticipate what to expect from this evening, until she saw him, waiting impatiently in the hall. And boy oh boy, was he looking good.

If she didn't think him to be an ass, she was sure she would be drooling over that man. His shoulder length black hair was swept backwards in an attempt to but barely succeeding in taming the unruly hairs, giving away his wildness, while his clothes gave off the impression of a wealthy, habituated to luxury and not so wild man. If she didn't know better, she would have mistaken him to be one of the innumerable businessmen who went about their businesses all week and came to Raymond city's superb restaurants to woo their women on weekends.

She could almost see the muscles beneath those clothes moving sensuously as he stepped closer and offered his hand. Descending the stairs, she took his hand, taking her sweet time to rove her eyes on the delicious looking treat in front of her. One glance had told her the fabric was something she had only seen in magazines and in shows that featured costly designer clothing.

Coming to stand in front of him, she looked up at his blue eyes that twinkled away as his lips curved up in a smile. Seeing his lips this close in a situation when they were not going at each other with weapons in hand she was suddenly feeling an insistent need to lock her own lips with his. Just as she was trying to resist that particular urge, he chose that moment to lean in towards her ears and seductively murmured "You look beautiful." He might have said other things too, but she didn't hear them, because as soon as he had leaned in, his rich, deep, masculine scent washed over her, instantly lighting desire inside her. She sucked in her breath and held it in an attempt to control herself from jumping him in the middle of the hallway. She knew she was blushing profusely at this point. Fortunately and a little to her disappointment, right then he took a step back and asked her "Shall we go?" she nodded, letting him lead them towards to waiting car.

*****

The demon growled in frustration, "What are we doing here? We should be at the restaurant overseeing the deal."

"Keep quiet Dral. It is the Demon Lord's orders that you are following, not mine." Kan snapped from his hiding place. Then, seeing a green light flash twice, he gestured to move forward and stepped out in the moonlit street. As he made his way towards a nondescript house, 10 more bulky shadows stepped out behind him and followed him. Stopping a few feet away from the house, he turned towards them, "Two of you, cover the back door. Two keep an eye on the front door and warn us whenever they return. Three of you check out the ground floor rooms for anything of interest to us. The rest come with me to the first floor and check the bed rooms there. I'll check Rayn's room myself. Be careful while checking her parents' rooms. Don't leave a trace of our searches just in case they have tracking abilities."

His followers nodded and padded silently towards their indicated positions. Approaching the house, a little tampering of the locks had the door open in no time. As they stepped in, one of the demons wrinkled his nose,

"This house smells of human, boss. No way they can have tracking abilities."

"Regardless, follow orders. Any wizard or witch will be clever enough to cover their smell, and these people are the parents of a powerful magical creature."

"But..."

"Keep your mouth shut unless you have useful information. Carry out the orders as is." Kan barked out at the protesting demon. He didn't wait to see the demon nod and start searching before walking up the stairs.

After 10 minutes, all the demons had joined Kan at the first floor corridor in front of the door to Rayn's room from which Kan emerged within a few more seconds. "Any findings?" his voice clearly gave away his irritation at anticipating their answers. They confirmed his suspicion by shaking their heads. Frowning, he nodded. "It seems she hasn't been living here for a long time. Probably she has broken her ties with her parents. That poses a problem for us in finding her weaknesses." he muttered under his breath. His brother was not going to like this very much. He looked up as the demon he had barked at before cleared his throat. "What?"

"Boss, these people are human. I'm sure. No trace of any magic in the house. Are we sure they are her parents?"