Short sword in hand, Julia stabbed forward toward the opening Ren had left thinking she would get him this time. The highly polished jade-basilica-metal of the anti-light fae sword shined as it sliced through the air. With a grin Ren stepped to the side and flicked her blade away with his in one swift movement, then slapped her arm with the flat of his anti-dark fae blade. The silver-byzantium-metal sent painful electric shocks pulsating up her arm. Causing her to yelp and leaving red blistering where the blade had touched her skin.

Julia cursed trying not to jump up and down and fan her arm in the air. She wasn't enjoying the fact that her new dark faerie powers included the delightful side effect of her skin having a mild reaction to anti-dark fae weapons. Even if the reaction was mild and the pain and blistering only lasted seconds before her body healed itself.

Ren laughed joyfully; she knew he was having fun. "You'll have to do a lot better than that if you want to beat me." Then he twisted around her, grabbing her waist in one hand and holding his blade to her neck as he drew her in. "You keep leaving yourself wide open, Jules," he whispered in a mischievous tone.

"I did not," she replied, frustrated that he beat her yet again.

"You so did. And you, Tinkerbelle, need to stop taking it easy on her. How is she ever going to learn anything, if you're always going easy on her?" Véronique said, her voice dripping with disdain.

Ren glared at her. "Oh shut up, you leech. I still don't understand why you insist on coming down here. You're less than useless and frankly unwanted. Do us all a favour and crawl back under the rock you slithered out of."

It had been four weeks since they started training. In that time Julia had vastly improved in both swords and hand to hand combat; but the obstacle course was a different kettle of fish. No matter how hard she tried, she could never make it across the poles at the end or jump over the wall.

Julia directed her own scowl toward Véronique, sharing Ren's sentiments. Since she'd started training, Alex and Julia strengthened their relationship. He would come to her room after training and spend the night with her and watch her sleep in his arms. Unfortunately, it lasted only a week before Véronique and Damien sensed something brewing.

Véronique made her concern more than clear by pitching up to training and keeping Alex occupied, making sure he couldn't walk Julia home. Damien on the other hand, wasn't as blatant, though he insisted on be the one to walk her home every night. As the days went on his pursuit to show her he wanted to be more than friends became more and more obvious. If Julia hadn't known better, she would've figured Véronique and Damien were working together to sabotage her and Alex's relationship.

Damien walked over to Julia and Ren and said, "Véronique, you really need to cut it out. You are not helping in the slightest."

Véronique folded her arms over her chest and leaned back in her chair. "And the two of you are?" she asked sarcastically. "In real combat you're fighting for your life and your opponent will not take it easy. You both say you want to give Julia a fighting chance to defend herself. She needs to know what it feels like to be in a real fight; where the other person is fighting to survive."

Alex walked over. "That's fine if we had more time. But we don't and Julia's not ready for that."

"How do you expect her to survive a battle with Thorsen then?" Véronique grunted in disapproval.

"Enough, Véronique," Alex shouted. When he calmed down he said, "Thorsen wants Julia alive, so he will not kill her. Our goal is not to teach her how to fight in combat; it's giving Julia enough skills to defend herself if need be. So she won't have to be a sitting duck when the time comes."

Alex held out his hand to Julia. She was about to take it when Véronique stood up. Out of the corner of her eyes Julia saw the fury on Véronique's face.

"If none of you will man up," Véronique said through clenched teeth, "and teach the girl the hard lessons she needs to learn I will." She bit her finger and flicked it at Julia.

Véronique's blood whip shot out coiling around Julia's leg as fast as lighting, no one had time to react. Julia toppled over hitting the mat with a loud bang. Véronique didn't stop there. She flicked Julia high in the air, lifting her off the ground, making her yelp in shock. Véronique jerked her arm down hard and fast, slamming Julia back on the ground. Julia's head hit the mat first and made a sickening thud causing her vision to blur.

Alex was the first one to react. Baring his fangs at Véronique, he ran over to Julia, and shouted, "You've gone too damn far, Véronique. If you don't let her go I swear-"

"You'll what?" she cut Alex off and glared at Julia. "Coddle the girl to death? I'm doing the useless half-breed a favour. If she wants to kid herself into thinking she won't be a burden in a battle, that's fine by me. But if you guys don't stop playing make-believe with her; at best she will get herself killed, at worst she will get someone else killed."

Véronique pulled her whip toward her, dragging Julia along with it. Julia could see Alex tensing every muscle in his body ready to tackle Véronique. Julia knew if he did this it would not only let everyone know how much he cared about her it would also back Véronique into a corner. That was the last thing they needed at the moment.

Julia's hand shot out stretching as far as she could and grabbed Alex's hand. She shook her head and whispered, "Don't do anything, Alex."

He squeezed her hand before she was yanked away. Julia watched him at war with himself trying to control his rage. He fisted his hands in tight balls and she could see blood dripping out of his hand; where he had dug his nails in until they cut his skin. Just when it looked like Alex would lose it and go after Véronique, Ren jumped in front of him holding him back and threw Julia his anti-dark fae short sword.

Flipping on her back, she caught it, and swung the sword at the blood whip. The whip shattered into a thousand tiny shards as soon as the byzantium contacted it. Julia scrambled to her feet taking up a defensive pose. Both Ren and Damien had told her it was better to defend when starting out instead of attacking. Giving her time to spot an opening on her attacker and go for it.

Véronique flashed her fangs and the look she gave Julia told her Véronique wasn't playing. Véronique sidestepped over to one of the swords nestled in the rack along the wall. Julia knew Véronique was going all out. The chances Véronique would try to kill her were very high.

Like a rocket being fired into outer space, Véronique launched herself at Julia. She lunged and cut deep into Julia left arm. Burning pain lanced through Julia's arm as Véronique ripped the blade out causing her to scream out in pain, blood flowing out of the wound.

Véronique spring at her again; Julia barely twisted out of the way. Véronique started to swing her sword up and Julia spotted a tiny opening on Véronique's right. Julia dove forward with all her might and nicked Véronique with her blade.

This only annoyed Véronique further; she bit her finger again and flicked her whip at Julia's face, catching her on the cheek. The blood-whip caught in her skin before being ripped away. The pain was excruciating and felt as if the whip had thousands of tiny barbs on it. Julia bit back a scream and plunged her blade into Véronique's leg, causing Véronique to scream out as the anti-dark fae blade burned its way through her skin and muscles.

Julia almost threw from the stench of burning flesh as she withdrew the sword. It was clear Véronique was in severe pain yet; she didn't give up. Catching Julia off guard she swung her sword out and it sliced right into Julia's side like a hot knife through butter. Julia let out a cry dropping her sword and fell to the floor clutching her side in agony.

Véronique limped over to her and looked at Julia with a touch of respect, "Not bad. But you never ever drop your weapon." Proving her point, she held the tip of her blade to Julia's heart. Then flung it on the ground and limped out of the basement.

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