“How do you envision your pitiable attempt at rescuing the oh-so blameless humans going?” Resent asked Rodrigo as he reached for the guest room's doorknob. The prince hadn’t spoken in so long, Rodrigo assumed he had fallen asleep.

“I can’t just do nothing while the world’s falling apart around me.”

“How about at least learning the basics of the sword, instead? The way you use it is downright shameful.” Refamiliarizing himself with the weapon wasn’t a bad idea, and it’d definitely distract him from thoughts of a doomed one-man war against demonkind. But he would need a wider area.

Going from the dark room to the brightly lit hallway made Rodrigo squint in annoyance. As he drifted toward the staircase that led up, steps partially covered at their center by a burgundy Persian stair runner, a voice came from behind him, “Good evening. Are you looking for Miss Adena?”

Rodrigo jumped. He was surprised to see Stefan still awake and was a bit unsettled by how easily the butler had sneaked up on him. “Not really. I can’t sleep and was wondering if there was anywhere in the house I could go to work out?”

“We have a small gymnasium that might suit your purposes. Please, follow me.” Stefan started up the steps and Rodrigo trailed behind him.

It seemed rude to say nothing, so he made small talk. “So, Stefan, been working here long?”

“I’ve been employed by the Eckhart family for twenty years now.” At Rodrigo’s puzzled expression, he elaborated. “Yes. I was hardly much older than you when Master Lucas hired me, and I had nothing in the way of professional experience. Bonds forged through hardship run deep, you see.”

After accepting that Stefan wasn’t going to describe said hardship, Rodrigo went with a less intimate question. “Do you keep this place running all by yourself?”

Stefan chuckled. “Oh God, no. I am the sole live-in employee, but we typically have a full staff here during the day, including twenty-four-hour security to guard the premises.”

Rodrigo didn’t say anything about not having seen a single security guard outside. He figured Stefan was aware, and imagined no matter how well they were paid, it wasn’t enough to worry about their employer while their families were in danger. “Has Adena always been...how she is?”

The butler paused for a few beats. “To you, she must come across as rather cold. What you need to understand is that during her life, Miss Adena hasn’t had many opportunities to connect with people her own age. Or, of any age, for that matter.”

Stefan stopped in front of double doors on the third floor, just past the shooting range. “Here we are. If you need anything else, I’ll be on the first floor.”

“Thanks.” As Rodrigo shoved open one of the doors, he staggered back, his head swimming. It was like he had teleported in front of an open-hearth furnace. Standing in a space away from the weights and exercise machines, was the obvious source of this dizzying heat wave. Adena was wearing a black sports bra and leggings, with scarlet flames dancing in the palms of her outstretched hands. The surrounding air seemed to be bending in response.

Since she had been bundled up all this time, Rodrigo hadn’t realized how lean with muscle she was. Her arms and long legs were toned, and she even had well-defined abs. Below her neck, the skin he could see was covered in flat, pale scars of varying sizes. Whatever she was doing must have been enthralling, because she ignored his entry. The air conditioner blowing furiously in the corner was doing little to counteract the sweat dripping off her in rivulets.

Rodrigo felt like he was intruding on something private and considered coming back later, but curiosity got the better of him. “What are you doing?”

“Seeing how high I can raise the temperature before I get second-degree burns,” Adena said, unperturbed by his presence.

“You’re not immune to fire?”

Adena sighed as the intensity of the flames died down, brightening into a more standard orange, then fizzling out entirely. She went over to a small fridge and grabbed an ice-cold bottle of water. She chugged down half of it before rubbing the bottle over the swelling red spots on her hands. “I’m resistant to it, but I have to keep building up my tolerance. And what do you want?”

“Just came to brush up on my sword skills. Didn’t you say you were going to sleep?”

“I said the rest of you should. No one who drinks twenty-ounces of coffee has any intention of sleeping. Anyway, why a sword?”

“Huh?”

“I saw the medals on your wall. I know you were a two-time fencing champion as a child. But there’s a world of difference between fencing for points and kill or be killed. And against a demon, even an Olympic fencer with the right equipment would be nothing but prey. So, why not keep it simple and use a gun?”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Who knows? Maybe I’ve watched one too many samurai movies,” Rodrigo said.

Adena frowned at him as she dried herself off with a towel. Her hair was plastered to her forehead and her skin was glistening with perspiration. This close, he could feel the heat emanating from her body, and decided that was the reason his mouth had gone dry.

“Honestly? Ever since we met, I’ve felt like a newborn, having to learn everything from demonology to the nebulae from square one. And I’m more dependent on you and Resent than I’d like to be. That’s why when I saw this sword, something I know at least a little about, I took it as a back-up. But I’m years out of practice, and if my life ever depends on it...” Rodrigo stopped because Adena walked past him and out of the room.

“Your stupidity sickened her to such a degree she had to distance herself from you,” Resent said. “So, you were a fencing champion, eh? How low the bar for swordsmanship must be in this world.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just teach me how to use this thing.”

As he waited for the room to stop feeling like the Sahara, Rodrigo noticed the gym had no TVs or mirrors. He could appreciate that. For someone whose training could be the difference between life and death, the fewer distractions, the better.

Seconds after Rodrigo drew his blade, Adena returned with a razor-sharp long sword in her right hand. He recognized it from period dramas set in ancient Rome, as a spatha, successor to the better-known gladius.

“We don’t have time to re-drill proper technique into you, and frankly, most of what you learned would be counterproductive,” Adena said. “In a fight with a demon, the goal’s not to score touches, but dismember, or better yet, decapitate them. So, we’ll do this.”

He scarcely raised his sword in time to block her blade from slicing into his cheek, the impact reverberating through his arm. “Whoa, wait up. I barely remember what I’m doing here. Shouldn’t we use practice swords?”

“Because the demons will be using sticks, right? I won’t get cut and you’ll heal, so it’s fine.” She came at him again, this time faster than he could defend, and slashed his right shoulder. He gritted his teeth. It was a shallow cut, but it still stung.

“Advice would be great!” Rodrigo yelled.

Being a prick, Resent ignored him, probably agreeing with Adena’s sink or swim method. Rodrigo went on the offensive and attempted an overhead strike. She parried it effortlessly and then stabbed him in his left thigh.

“Jesus Christ, take it down a notch!” Rodrigo cried as he stumbled backward. Confronted by his own limitations, he was astounded by his arrogance from only moments earlier. He had trained for hours, several days a week for years before he’d become one of the best among kids his own age. What did he think he was going to accomplish against demons after a few sessions?

“If I let your mistakes slide, you’ll get killed out there for repeating them. So, tell me, how did you rise to the top of your age group as a child?”

“I don’t know. Being a southpaw?” He was being facetious, though with lefties making up only ten percent of the population, it had undeniably given him an edge.

Adena scoffed. “I’m sure that helped, but it’s deeper than that. Right now, your every move is full of hesitation. Just like on the roof, you don’t think you can beat me, and your family isn’t in immediate danger, so you’ve lost the drive to try. This is usually the point in the fight where Resent takes over, right? But what if he can’t? You die. And now that nowhere is safe, who do you think dies next?”

Rodrigo sucked in a breath. She was right, of course. If he was going to commit to this, he couldn’t concern himself with how wide the gap between him and anyone else was. Only with doing everything he could to close it.

She gave him a few seconds to collect himself, then whirled at him again.

They sparred for about twenty minutes before Rodrigo needed a break. He was breathless and drenched in sweat, his clothes ripped and bloody again. Adena didn’t seem tired at all. None of his attacks had connected, and every time their blades clashed, she parried into a riposte.

“Give me your sword,” Adena said.

Rodrigo passed it to her and went over to the fridge for a bottle of water.

Her arm slumped slightly at its unexpected heft. “No wonder you were so slow. This would be heavy for a Zweihänder.”

Rodrigo realized his movements had been sluggish, but he was hoping he’d adjust to it. The blade didn’t seem too bad while using it briefly, though prolonged use left his arm aching and the rest of him exhausted. “Aren’t all the demons’ weapons like that? I figured their swords weigh more since they’re way stronger than us.”

“Weapons and armor from Hell are made primarily with nethntine, a metal of a quality that makes titanium and carbon steel seem like papier-mâché. That’s why they’re far more effective. The trade-off is they’re several times heavier than their human equivalents would be. To demons, this weight is nothing,” Adena said and then returned Rodrigo’s sword.

“What other choice is there, then? I’ll have to get used to it.”

“You did see my armory, didn’t you? The majority of the weapons there are—”

Stefan barged into the room, looking several shades paler than he had half an hour ago. “Miss Adena! Something’s wrong. The radiant orb you placed in the living room has gone dim.”

“Impossible. It should have lasted at least until...no. It doesn’t matter. If that’s the case, then demon activity has increased, and we need to move.”

“Don’t you still have the other thing that dulls their energy sense?” Rodrigo asked.

“Not enough. Without that orb, we risk any demon breaking in here and catching us unaware. Wake the others up. Now.” Rather than waiting for a response, she stormed out with Stefan hurrying after her.