"Are you ready, Ms. Whitlock?" the coach asked me and I nodded, "Good. One of the teachers swapped the list for the first round. You have a human girl it should be easy, go on. At the sound of third horn you start the match," he said as a horn was blown.

The teacher, the coach was talking about must have been Leo. I thanked Leo in my mind as I got outside to see many people seated in the arena like a place. It was noisier than I had expected and crowded too. Ahead of me, a girl stood holding a sword in her hand like me. I wondered if Ruka was here, watching us now.

"Ready?" asked a man who I assumed was a new teacher with a paper and a pen, both of us nodded simultaneously and heard the second horn blow, "Alright then, take your stance," he instructed us, making me grip my sword tightly.

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and saw the teacher walk back to a shaded area. Before the third horn was blown, thousands of thoughts passed through my mind and I wanted to shush my mind but it just kept talking. Finally, when the third horn was blown I could feel the arena go silent. I let her attack me first so that I could take the advantage of observing what she was going to do in that spare second before our swords clashed. Thanks to Louis's training and my opponent's slower movements, it was easier to defeat her.

After all the training I received from a vampire, defeating a human was a walk through a park. It was like training with a lion and getting a cat as your opponent. I could hear the cheers when I won the match and it felt good. My opponent didn't seem to mind it but she definitely looked relieved to get out of the match.

When I went back, I was engulfed in a huge bear-like hug, "Evie, that was good," it was Eric and I was more than surprised to see him here.

"It was awesome," I heard a small voice and looked down to Simi, the little girl I had met in Benjamin's party, "I want to be like you one day," she said making me awe at her.

"More like she needs Louis as her teacher," I heard Jessi laughing, "I told you, you would do well. It's going to be easy."

"What are you doing here?" I asked Eric as I placed the sword down on the bench, "Don't you have work?"

"I did and so I am here," he replied, making me furrow my eyebrows in question. He then shook his head, "I'll explain it later, for now, concentrate on this. One step at a time. Isn't Louis in this too?" he asked me looking around the room to see if Louis was around.

"He told he'll be there when they call out his name," Bella said coming towards us.

"How's Lizzy doing?" I asked her and she shook her head with a sigh, "Terrible huh?"

"Terrible is an understatement and her mother being there watching her enact a scene is not helping. What exactly happened? I just got the bits and pieces from Aiden," Bella asked us.

"Her mother is trying to get a suitor for her as she feels its time Lizzy got married to one of the noble's which our friend doesn't want. When I spoke to Ruka about it he told it's an opportunity for Lizzy to break free. I didn't understand what it meant though," I said and heard her hum.

"Next we have Louis and Peter," the announcers announced it through the speakers and we looked at each other before going out so that we could view the match.

Louis was standing there as bored as ever when they blew the third horn as he would rather stay home and sleep than waste his time here. His opponent was impatient, attacking him the very second after hearing the sound of the horn. Peter went at him without a break while he kept dodging every single attack of his, making him furious with every passing second. After some time I believe Louis got bored and decided to end the match, moving his sword swiftly like it was a toy and ending the match in thirty seconds.

The second set of the match was easy but when the third set was being matched, my mouth was wide open looking at the chart displayed in front of me.

"How did this happen?" I asked while Aiden and Jessi stood on either side of me. Bella had gone to see how Lizzy was holding up with her mother while Eric and Simi went to sit in the arena.

"This must be fate," Aiden said staring at the chart just like me. I was paired opposite to Louis now and I knew I had zero chances of winning against him.

"All the best for loosing, Eve," Jessi said patting my back.

"Well well, isn't this interesting," Sebastian chuckled standing behind us, "I would love to see you bite him again like last time."

"You bit what?" Aiden asked not able to control his laugh, "Isn't it supposed to be a vampire biting a human and not the other way round?" he asked.

"It was defense," I defended myself, "Hey, is Ruka here yet?" I asked Sebastian.

"Yeah, he's been there the whole time watching along the sidelines," he replied as he went to inspect other names on the chart.

"Sidelines?" I asked him and he nodded.

"Yeah, I don't know why he picked to see from the sidelines. Maybe it has a better view," he said thoughtfully and I heard my name being called, "That's me, see you guys later."

When I entered the arena for the third time, I saw Louis standing there and inspecting his sword like it was something new. The teacher said something and he lifted his head to see him with a blank expression. The teacher without another word left the spot and we heard the last horn blow.

"Eve," he said.

"Hey, Louis."

"You know who's going to win right?" He seemed c.o.c.ky right now.

"You won't know until the end of the match. My trainer must have been bad if you are telling I might lose," I said and saw his eyes look across me.

"Ruka was going to visit some place so I believe you have to lose so that you can leave early," he explained and I was about to turn my head but due to instinct, I raised my sword blocking Louis's attack.

"You were tricking me," I said as our swords clashed.

"Everything is fair in love and war," he said not giving me a second to breathe.

"If I didn't know you, I would have thought you are trying to kill me," I said through gritted teeth to push the sword away.

"You won't know until you try to find out," he said and came charging at me.

I almost missed my balance and he got the opportunity to contact my skin with his sword on my hand, drawing blood out of it. He was serious about this fight but he didn't have to slash my skin. I gave my best and fought back as I had never done before but it was hard to keep up with his speed.

I tried forcing my sword on him but to only get one more slash on the same arm. I was running out of energy slowly and as we fought, he swung his sword with a huge amount of force leading my sword to fall out of my hand.