As she stepped in, she saw that the two vampires were moving so fast that she saw just their blurred shadows and the sparkling encounter of the weapons. She stopped next to the door and watched them until Trent cut David on the arm. They stopped on the thick carpet panting from the fight.

“Nice hit, Trent” Dave said smiling and checked his upper arm where a scratch showed where his friend cut him.

“Thanks, David. You seem out of practice. Don’t say that you forgot what Gerard taught you. You shouldn’t spend that much time in bed having fun…” he laughed in a deep tone and Viola knew that this sentence was meant for her. She felt the anger boiling up inside, but stopped it and lifted her head a bit, not letting Trent see that he hit her with his words.

“You pig” Dave laughed as he stretched his arm and looked towards their audience “Viola, my dear. Would you fight against Trent?”

“I’m not sure…” she looked at the other vampire and saw a smug grin on his face as if he was waiting for this answer.

“I think she’s afraid of my power” he noted.

But before the Duke could answer, Viola stepped next to David “This is not the cause why I’m unsure. I think David, your guest doesn’t think that I’m a real opponent because I’m just a mere human.”

“Well, if this is what Trent thinks, then he has nothing to fear. You two can give it a try…” he smiled and waved towards the fighting area. Viola looked questioningly at Trent – she wasn’t afraid of him no matter how hard he wanted it. The other vampire nodded, but didn’t put the mask on. Viola quickly changed her outfit and faced the smiling vampire. She knew that he thought he’ll finish her off quickly, but she had enough practice and power from Dave not to lose after a few clashes.

Viola concentrated hard on her opponent, she didn’t even blink when they bowed as the start of the fight. She saw that Trent was watching every little move she made, trying to guess what her next step’ll be. She decided to wait until the vampire attacks first. As if Trent knew she was playing at this, suddenly he was out of her sight, but Viola didn’t let the surprise take her off guard. They were practicing like this with Dave, so she knew the possible attacks in this situation.

She tried to avoid every disturbing noise, as Dave taught her, and concentrated onto her ears with closed eyes. “Gotcha!” she thought and moved her hands to the left as she turned around half way. The loud clash of the swords was audible in the hall. It seemed that this action of hers surprised Trent a bit, but he didn’t let her rest too much.

Their fight seemed to be endless for Viola. Of course she needed all of her strength to avoid Trent’s attacks and she already felt that her arms were aching because of the strong preventions. She gritted her teeth the next time after 15 minutes and felt the sweat rolling down her temple. She was slightly panting, but she didn’t give up. They attacked again, but it seemed that Trent knew every step of hers. And after a moment she realised that he was reading her mind! She got angry and tried to close her mind like she did with Dave, but during this process she stumbled and to avoid the vampire’s sword, she threw herself onto the floor, rolling a few times, ready to jump up, but when she wanted to do it, she felt the edge of Trent’s sword under her chin.

“Nice try” he looked at her for the first time closely “I see Dave did a good job with you.”

“Thanks” she said “Would you take the sword away?”

He didn’t answer just stepped backwards and swung with the sword once before he walked to Dave, not bothering himself giving a hand for Viola to help her stand up. She straightened herself and wiped the sweat off of her forehead, still panting a bit.

Viola wasn't actually sad or disappointed. She was sure that Trent would easily win. What she was doing was that she was noting every little nuance in connection with Trent. She was a samurai in her soul. She calmly examined him in the nanoseconds between the strikes of his. She wasn't afraid for a second, and this gave her confidence. She already had a hard life as a human, and since she was living with David her every day was a full wonder itself.

By now she knew Trent's right wrist was moving a bit slower, with a tiny wee difficulty, almost nothing. But because of this his strikes from the right side were weaker a bit. If he hit from the left, the strike was strong, even too strong, but as he was right handed he couldn't aimed it as precisely. So, in a nutshell, he was strong like a bull, but his technique and wit in the fight wasn’t as perfect as Dave's. One advantage he had though. He was an experienced warrior. David wasn’t cuz his elegant personality found fighting too rude, he didn’t like face to face violence, despite he was a perfectly educated warrior, the best of his kind.

She could understand her love’s point of view too. They were different personalities, but it seemed that good friends too, although Viola couldn’t say that Trent was too kind, but friendship in this world could mean much more than kind words and gestures. Despite Trent’s rude behaviour towards her, Viola could bet on it that they’d help for each other in need. She discovered this while she quickly changed back a bit further away from the two vampires. Yes, in such times like this she felt herself like an outsider, a weak human, but now it didn’t disturb her. She was wiser than pouting because of this. She just looked at them again and when she finished, she walked to Dave’s side. A little smile crossed her still flushed face when he took her hand and praised her with his soft words.

---

“Our world is always dangerous, my dear. One bad step…” he smiled under his nose, searching for something in the wardrobe.

“At least you could try not to make me worry to death. A few reassuring words wouldn’t be bad…” she exhaled loudly, already pouting as she sat down onto the bed.

Dave looked at her and smiled again “Well, I don’t know exactly how things’ll turn out on this meeting, but I have to go. The elders ordered me to do so, so there’s no way to avoid it.”

She didn’t say a word, and looked down at the watching Asher, who seemed to stick to Viola lately – especially since Trent was around, as if he wanted to protect her from the other vampire.

“Viola, my love” Dave kneeled beside the bed when he saw her expression “Everything’ll be fine, I promise. I did such meetings with other vampire lords not once.”

She looked at him and grabbed his cold hands “How long will you be gone?” she asked unsure whether she wanted to hear the answer or not.

“It depends… maybe a few days or weeks.”

“Weeks?” she asked on a higher voice.

“Yes. But no need to worry, you won’t be alone. Trent will be here to keep you company.”

“Ah… Trent, yes” she answered on a bald tone.

“You don’t like him, do you?” he examined her face, but when she didn’t answer and looked down at their hands, he continued “Look, he’s a good friend of mine. He helped me a lot and I did favours for him too.”

“But he doesn’t even like me” she noted “Why must I stay with him?”

“Aw, honey, you act like a pouting little girl now…” he smiled but met just a slightly angry face “Okay, listen, he’s one of the best warriors in my clan. He’ll teach you martial arts. Like an advanced level of self-defense. You can learn a lot from him. I asked him for his help. Please don’t disappoint me.”

Viola considered his sentences and nodded “All right, I’ll be a good girl. But you take care!”

“Of course I will. Don’t worry” he smiled up at her and leant closer for a soft kiss.

---

This impatient thundering was of a warrior's one, one who was used to command people and was awaiting a prompt answer. She invited him in - intentionally not getting up, laying on the bed only wearing a nightie - and he stepped in. He was shocked, to say the least to see her still in her sleeping outfit and in bed. Also, he was embarrassed and turned his back to her, not wanting to look at her like this. He was saying that he wanted to start the training and he wanted to start it now. Viola calmly said yes, and to Trent's even bigger surprise, she stood next to him in a nice hunting outfit in less than three whole minutes.

At last they were there. It was a barren spot behind the stables and farm buildings. It was once a meadow but after it was flooded by the salty water of the lagoon, now it was all dry and muddy. Ideal terrain for a lil torture.

“So?” she asked and tried hard not to pant after this march.

“I won’t be soft on you just because you are… human…“ Trent started and pressed the last word unmistakably with negligence “I’ll handle you like a newborn vampire. I heard that you have decided to join our lines. But you must know that pure blood in your veins isn’t enough to survive… especially when you steal it without shame…”

“What…?” she looked at him questioningly, but he waved with his right hand to silence her.

“Of course, of course… you don’t steal it, he gives it to you willingly… sure…” he continued in a skeptical tone “But this isn’t the real point now. As I said, I teach you like I’d teach any new members of my detachment. So your self-defense teaching’ll start just the same.”

Viola looked straight into his eyes and nodded, her long ponytail floating in the soft wind. “What should I do?”

“See the ground?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me what you see” he looked into the distance over her head.

First Viola looked a bit confused, cuz she didn’t see what was the purpose of this, but the she answered: “The ground is dry but partly muddy on certain places.”

“Exactly” he looked down at her “And we’ll use this. I’ll teach you how to fight between uneven circumstances, like when your foot suddenly can’t find solid ground…”

„I see” said Viola a bit confused “So, we will wrestling again?”

”Not quite” answered Trent slyly grinning “You have to cross it with clean feet. If you sink into the mud you have to try it once again. And again. And again. Until you are able to make difference between the different type of soils, not just by sight, but using all of your senses, including the strong intuition of our kind. Well, I know you are not one of us, but.....”

”Yet!!!” Viola was shouting back looking back behind her shoulders as she was hopping from one bunch of wet grass to the other. Her grace and sure movements surprised Trent. It wasn't bad from a human after all. Very soon, with her feet dry she was on the other side and was just watching Trent with a self-confident smile. Trent - despite his averse to humans - had to admit for himself that he liked what he saw.

”Okay” he shouted to her “now come back to me!” And she did. Her feet were just as clean as before. ”Well-done” he murmured between his teeth, but Viola had a good ear and she was pricking her eyes shamelessly. She heard it all too well, but still she asked him.

“Did you say something Trent?”

And Trent had to repeat his previous sentence. He knew she knew, but also that he deserved this slight „punishment”. He didn't mind it. He started to like her, but he didn't trust her. Humans, just like her destroyed all his blood folks around him, including his very good friend recently, so, still he was a bit edgy when had to counteract with humans. He took his revenge. Oh, yes, he did, slaughtering alone all his murderers, but by that time it didn't help on Raymond. He was dead, as dead as he could be.

It was not the time for mourning, though he knew he would mourn for long. Raymond was more close to him than a brother. They had known each other since ages and were real soulmates and now he was gone. Gone forever. The proud soldier let a tear rolling down on his face. Viola looked at him surprised. His tear was almost black, very dark in colour. And she never knew that vampires had real emotions. She already noticed that David had, but seeing a vampire crying, and a tough warrior was something that she didn't expected. She said nothing, though she felt an urge to wipe it off from his face with one of her red silk handkerchiefs with her very own monograms. David's present, of course. She didn't ask why he is crying, deep inside she felt it. Her intuitions got so much stronger since she tasted her lover's ancient and rich blood. Strangely, she felt Trent deep inside her mind and was trying to understand what she felt. She was experiencing a whole whirling bunch of emotions - now the sorrow was the strongest among them.

She heard a voice in her head suddenly. ”Don’t feel sorry for me. Our world is merciless and living as a vampire goes opposite to the way of easy living. Well as I heard you had a hard life anyway, but I have to tell you how much I appreciate that you are able to love a vampire, who badly needs it. I know David since the French revolution; we met in Paris, but never have seen him as happy as he is now – thanks to you. I am sorry if you feel me rude and hard, I don't want to cause you any harm, but this is what I am. Centuries of constant fight, pain and suffering at different stages, mourning and sadness made this soldier who is standing in front of you now.”

She whispered a mere “okay” in her mind and became also so sad, just felt his pain. Then she felt a bolt of electricity and the freshness as her blood was running through her veins. He intentionally changed his mood by concentrating on the task he had to do. Viola was so curious now and she too started to like him. If he could feel sorrow, he couldn't be that bad – she thought.

Trent hailed for her and gave a silver bottle into her hands, and let her drink. It was blood diluted in red wine and some liquid she didn't know. After just a few sips she felt the energy circulating in her body.