“So what’s the end game here?” I ask casually while Edge and I walk briskly down the corridor to the gym for our first lesson on becoming “bonafide vampire meal on wheels / hunters”.

“What do mean “end game”?” He was genuinely confused by my question.

“You know, taking out a massive organized group of evil vampire’s hell bent on world domination, bringing about world peace, that sort of thing.”

“You have fought in the war, do you see peace in your human life time?” I look away from him and feel the same sense of guilt that I follows me daily. I have asked myself that question so many times and it hurt when I realized that peace after what I have survived and witness seemed like a pretty fairy tale. As long as human arrogance and greed exists war will always exist, because a world where we all coexist is just a pretty story we tell ourselves.

“I was once stuck under heavy fire in what I can only say was the worst day of my life. I was sure I was going to die. One of our own had tipped the enemy to our location and we were plastered with bullets. One of my superiors at the time jumped over me and took all the fire. I had to stay there until I was sure I was in the clear so I could call for help. A good man risked his life to save mine and I had to go back to our camp and point a finger at the man I was sure has sold us out. I was sick to my stomach and I wanted to leave the army. I was willing to break my own shooting arm to do it.”

“I’m sorry Ainz.”

“It all sounds very dramatic now, but I knew I could power through. I’m built that way.”

“You sure are.” He smiles.

“Maybe next time you’ll tell me more about your life.”

“That actually sounds pretty fun.”

We round the corner and may I just say that I was prepared for big, but what I didn’t expect how big this place would be. The ceiling was extremely high like it went up a few floors. There were balconies along the walls so people could comfortably observe in safety. The majority of the floor was covered in a thick mat and I expected there to be a lot of exercise equipment, but there wasn’t any.

“Where is all the exercise gear?”

“It’s in another room. You’ll quickly see that this place is this big for a reason. Vampires need this much room to train. And we can leap quite high which is why it’s got such a high ceiling.”

“I am assuming vampires don’t need to work out?”

“We do, but it’s more of a hobby for us.”

“Can it alter your body in anyway? I mean if it does I would spend eternity just getting ripped.” I flex my bicep for emphasis.

“No it doesn’t, we have minor changes in our bodies, but you die this way you stay this way.”

“Well that sucks.”

“Trust me it does.”

“There is a lot of downsides to being undead. I assumed it would be more fun and I don’t know magical.”

“Most people do, but it’s a common misconception that humans assume we like drinking blood. Thank God for our dulled taste buds.” You learn something new every day.

At the farthest edge there is a small group of people that I instantly recognize and a wave of relief passes over me.

“Everyone made it back alive. Excellent!” I holler and they all turn their heads my way.

“I am surprised your personality didn’t get you beat up.” Reyes says with a smile. He lifts his hand up in the air and I high five him.

“They didn’t get the chance. How about you guys?” I ask him and Dawn.

“Not bad on my end either. We were tracking a single vampire through a swap, so apart from my boots being ruined it was easy.” Reyes said. He only got one vampire?

“Same, but our vamp decided he wanted to find prey in a mall of all things. It was a bitch avoiding all the security cameras.” Dawn recalls.

“Wait you guys only got one vampire?” They both looked at me and nodded.

“Of course and we tracked them with our buddies.” Was that actually what I supposed to call Edge? My buddy?

“Did you get two?” I shook my head.

“Try four.” Why did we get four vampires if this was supposed to be a beginner level mission? With how fast we got done I automatically assumed this was a normal mission.

“That’s… ambitious.” Dawn mumbles. “Maybe they thought you could handle it?” I snort at that idea.

“I doubt it. Gerry might have been hoping to do me in.”

“That’s what you get when you antagonize your commanding officer.” Reyes says giving me a disapproving stare that reminds me of Winch’s “watch your mouth” talks.

“In my defence-”

“There is no defence really.” Dawn join in to scold me too.

“Don’t gang up on me!” They both laugh.

“How was Valentine?” I try to distract them and it worked. Dawn’s smile turns into a full on rage filled glare. She clicks her tongue and strokes her tied up hair.

“I don’t want to talk about it. Bastard might as well pinned me to a wall since I was just decoration.”

“Does that mean he didn’t let you do anything?” She nods and I let out a thoughtful “huh”.

“What was the “huh” for?” Her eyes squinted at me.

“He seems more like the kind of guy who would use you as a shield.”

“If you had been my partner I would have opened a vein and used you as bait.” My hair stands on end and if a vampire had any breath the man standing behind me would be panting like a hungry animal. I turn my head slowly trying to look unfazed and I must have pulled it off because Valentine’s eyes light up and he growls in anger.

“Step away, Val.”

“If that’s your nickname here I don’t like it. It’s too friendly sounding for you.” He gets in my face and snaps his teeth at me, but all that does is make me smile in delight. “You really can’t stand me can you? Does the fact you couldn’t compel me scare you that badly?” I move in closer, but an arm on my waist pulls me back. I look over my shoulder and Edge’s eyes are lit up just like Valentine’s.

“Back away from my partner.”

“Tell it to watch its mouth.” People are starting to sound like broken records about my mouth. Maybe the all had a point? Nah. Although, maybe I should consider reeling in my attitude. I was over stepping my boundaries with some of these people. Thankfully you don’t have to like someone to do your job.

“Step back Ainz.”

“GATHER ROUND!” I hear another annoying male voice. I turn to see Gerry walking into the gym with two guys it tow holding large cases. One of them I know very well as Jolene’s case. If I had to guess today we were going to start drill by using weapons. Adjusting to the new bullets wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, but practice did make perfect.

They two men line up the cases and leave when instructed too. “Congratulations on making it back in piece.” Gerry looks at all of us.

“A few things before we begin. After this you will all report to the med bay for a standard physical. Don’t be alarmed.” I just had physical why would I need another one right now? I hated being in a room with a doctor. Nothing good comes of it most of the time. I want to let a loud frustrated groan leave my lips, but my mouth zipped.

“Next some rules that I didn’t get a chance to tell you yesterday. We don’t put any restrictions on any of you while you are in and out of these walls. However, while you are a part of this team you will abide by some rules.” He lifts his hand and starts to count them off. “One, no fighting outside of training. Two, no carrying any form of silver on your person, except while on missions. Three, there is no blood sharing unless it’s with your designated buddy.” Yup I guess that’s what I am going to start calling Edge. Yuck! Hearing Gerry speak with such authority actually made him look like a Commander and it was eerie. “Lastly, and if I have to tell you this I should have you out of here in the next ten seconds!” He yelled. “No talking about Folklore!” What idiot would walk around telling people Hey guess where I work? an person with a death wish that’s who.

“At this point you all have an idea on how to kill a vampire and one of you has shockingly kill two already.” He turns to me and if he could he would be giving me the bird right now. “Good job.”

I had instinctively stood at ease like in the army and it was a good thing, because even though I nodded in gratitude, my hands behind my back where gripping each other so tight that I could feel my nail about to break my skin. A light tap on my foot pulled me out of that dark moment and Edge gave me a reassuring wink. I return the light tap on his own foot and I resume listening to Gerry.

“We have taken the liberty of adjusting your own personalized weapons for this specific job. We will be doing some light training with them today to get you used to handling them. For now we will be using paint guns and rubber knife for this exercise. Don’t want any of you get trigger happy and shooting my best vamps!”

“You’re all the best vamps?” Edge grin glow with pride.

“You bet I am. Currently, Highlander and Lewis hold that spot since Mark retired five years ago. I plan to get that back.” So I was partnered with one of the best. If there was something that got my juices flowing was being on the A team. What the point of doing something when you can’t be the best at it?

“Grab a gun or knifes. Whatever you’re more comfortable with.” Gerry orders. I walk to the table swaying my hips out of excitement and I grab a gun along with a few clips. When I turn to walk back Edge looked away instantly. Did I just catch him staring at my ass? He even looked embarrassed which for some reason makes me blush.

I walk back thinking if I should joke about it, but when I open my mouth this comes out. “It’s cool. I look at women’s asses too.”

He slowly turns his head my way with a “you could have not mentioned it look” and I bite my lip. “That’s because you’re working with two flats.” Well I never!

I quickly turn to look at my ass. It wasn’t flat, but at the same time it wasn’t shaped like two balloons either. I couldn’t help how my body was shaped, I had to be lean instead of curvy on this job.

“It isn’t that bad.” I bit my lip and look away. He taps my foot again letting me know he was joking.

“Once again I shouldn’t have to state the obvious to you, but just in case you’re all working with one brain cell listen up. No vampire is going to stand still and let you shoot them. These drills are to get you used to shooting at fast moving targets. I don’t expect you to hit them right in the chest on the first try. Just hit them.”

“And if I hit him in the chest?” I smirk and Edge mouths “bring it” my way.

“If you can shoot him in the chest Ainsley, I’ll let you off your drills permanently.” Gerry smiles to himself. I am liking this situation. I didn’t actually want to be exempt from drills and I am sure he is also bluffing, but the chance to make Gerry swallow his own tongue. “And since you’re so enthusiastic. You can go first. Are you ready, Edge?” Gerry calls and Edge gives him a thumbs up.

He speeds a few meters away making this way too easy for me. He starts bouncing from foot to foot and I was spellbound by how that hood wasn’t falling off. Is it sawn to his head?

Edge looks at the gun focusing on its movement, but that was a big mistake. You never look at the weapon, but where the shooters eyes are focusing. And my eyes where aimed directly on his upper body.

“BEGIN!” Gerry signals us with his arm coming down like an axe.

Edge speeds my way and I know exactly how he is going to move. I watch his feet turning to the left and I raise my gun aiming true. He begins to zig zag to confuse me, but he was being too obvious with his movements and I feel a wave of familiar coldness flow through my body.

I hated this moment. The moment when all of my human emotions and human preservation instincts leave me. I feel cold and still like a statue, because if I even breathe the wrong way my shot won’t be straight and that extra millimeter can mean losing a target and failing the mission. Both of those were never an option.

I focus all of my attention on his chest and my finger on the trigger. Edge moves left, I move my gun to the right predicting where he was going to move next and when he moves into my view I pop the first shot hitting him on his chest and when he moves again I fire off two more shots, both landing exactly where I need them too. I shouldn’t have taken more than one shot, but Edge hadn’t noticed until I fired thrice that I had shot him.

I lower my gun when Edge stops moving. In complete shocked silence his eyes look down towards the three green splatters of paints on his chest and looks back to me.

“What the fuck?” He mumbles. I turn to Gerry and smile victoriously.

“He let you shoot him.” Gerry accuses dumbfounded.

“Of course he did Sir.”

I expected Gerry to be the most surprised one, but I was wrong. It was Valentine. His eyes where blazing with fury. I could almost hear his condescending thoughts. How dare a lowly creature do that to us?

“Don’t swallow your tongue Val.” Edge spoke from behind me. “What where you expecting? She was an ace snipper. Did you think we hired her for the entertainment and the nice view?” He placed his hand on my shoulder lightly and I felt a surge of happiness wash away the coldness and I wanted to jump up and down like a school girl at his words. Why do nice words from him make me feel like this?

“There must some trick to this. You must have memorized his movement patterns.”

“In two days? Well, I guess that’s possible.” He was right, but he was also very wrong. To do what I do, you have to familiarize yourself with the target, but you also have to be ready when the target behaves irrationally. You can’t be a snipper without being able to read people in some way. It’s my one talents. I can analyze my targets movements and adjust my shot as needed.

“You wouldn’t be able to do that with me.” He challenges and I smile widely. My anticipation and excitement rang through every cell in my body. I smiled like a hunter watching its prey.

“Don’t you dare!” Edge warns, but I don’t listen.

“Was that a challenge, Val?” I purr.

“Yes!”

“I wager I could empty the other three shots in this clip on your chest.”

“If you could hit me at all that would be a miracle. I am not like your partner. I am faster, deadlier.” He snarls.

For a split second I had forgotten that, but I wanted to prove that all of us humans weren’t just animals and meals for him. I wanted him to know, his food can bite back.

“Name your conditions Val.” I say and Valentine laughs at me.

“I win, I want her. I want you to make her my partner.” Valentine says to Gerry. I look down for a moment and see his long finger nails pointing at my own chest.

“You aren’t getting anywhere near her!” Edge jumps in between us.

“Agreed.” I say feeling a bit comprehensive, but I knew there was no way I would miss. I look towards Danni and she has her head bent towards the ground sadly. I would be too if Edge had just asked for a partner change.

“I will make you eat floor, Valentine.” I say. “I don’t even want anything.”

“I can’t believe I am allowing this.” Gerry complains. He gestures towards the other end of the room.

Valentines zips there and await Gerry’s signal.

I plant myself like a mountain and raise my gun straight. I don’t plan on moving for these shots. Because like I said before, I knew how to read my targets and even before Valentine moves I knew exactly how he was going to strike.

First, I knew he wasn’t going to wait for Gerry’s signal he was impatient and angry. Before Gerry could signal Valentine ran in straight line towards me.

Secondly, Valentine was an animal and animals always go in for the quick kill. He was going to aim straight for my throat. He barreled my way and like I promised I empty the rest of the clip in his chest.

I sighed bored and looked at my gun. A whoosh of wind blew my hair out of my face and I didn’t even bother to look at the blond vampires petrified expression.

“Oh shit.” I heard Reyes says and a few chuckles followed.

“You just shot a Type B.” Gerry marvels.

I hand the gun to Gerry and walk towards Edge. “How the fuck did you do that?” He asks not taking his eyes off the three identical paint splashes on Valentines chest.

“I aimed.” I smile and Edge touches my cheek lightly and I flinch.

Edge retracted his cold hand quick, but our eyes stayed locked together. I didn’t expect that and neither did he. It was gentle and affectionate. I wasn’t sure what to make of it, but a small touch on my cheek shouldn’t feel like this big of a deal and yet it did. Not just for me, but him too. I could see it in his dark eyes.

“You piece of shit.” Valentines tone was dark and threatening.

I turn around and I see his body contracting almost as if he was being possessed from the inside. It was so violent like he was in pain.

“Valentine calm down!” Gerry rushes to his side, but he was pushed out of the way. More like thrown across the floor. Yay!

“Ainz, run!” Edge shouts.

“WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?” He bellowed. I gulp and drop my gun. I look at the door, because I think I may have to run. Valentine turned around and I saw his eyes. They were bright purple and they were livid. He really was an animal now. There was no reasoning with him.

“Stop him!” Gerry shouts from the ground to other vampires. He lifted his phone from his breast shouting something into it. An alarm sounded through the entire gym that was so loud Valentine and the other vampires held their ears for a few seconds before shacking it off.

Edge charges into Valentine, but he might as well been a fly zooming around his face. All that did was annoy him. He grabbed Edge by his head and hurled him across the room. Edge’s body crashed through the wall opening the view of the corridor. He was coughing and grunting.

I almost scream when I see Edge had been impaled by a piece of the steel wall. It was wedged into his back and he couldn’t dislodge himself from it. He wasn’t bleeding like I expected, but there was still blood dripping on the ground. I am so glad right that he was dead.

Tokyo charged at Valentine too, but it was the same result. I spot Jolene on the table and curse that none of the fucking gear is real. All of the silver was locked up in the armory.

Tokyo gets back up and zooms around Valentine managing to grab him in a head lock.

He was able to mobilize him for a few seconds. “Move now!” I order Reyes and Danni.

I turn on my heels casting one more look towards Edge on the other side of the room. My breath caught in my chest and in the heat of the moment, powered by my own fear I made a mistake. A very big mistake. I didn’t run towards the exit. I ran towards Edge.