Halfling(1)::Deal

Isaac was tied down to a chair while the rest of us talked. Turns out Nalia just slayed a whole underground village of Audrey's upper-level demons. I congratulated her but she merely said she couldn't have done it without her team. I had a hard time understanding them at first, Nalia and Will translated for us. The other female's name is Dani. They males are Will, Gavin, Luis, and Romeo(ironic?)

"So where are you staying?", I asked Nalia and Will, seeing how they were the only ones we could understand- without translators.

Gavin answered for her, it surprised my brothers and I that we understood him, "In nessun posto". it surprised us even more when we answered, in their language! Once asked how we knew, we lied and immediately said that our "grandparents" taught us before they died. Ace and I exchanged nervous glances. He and I have always been close, him being the only sibling knowing that I saw Dad's blood cover the windows and heard Mom's screams 13 years ago. No matter how tough a five-year-old I was. I couldn't handle it when I saw my Dad's head roll out the door. That's the main reason we became demon hunters. A demon killed our parents, so we were told. We aren't sure, but we made a promise to each other that we would kill demons until we knew the truth. After that- if the person was still alive who killed them- we would go after their murderer(s).

I heard Isaac faintly mutter, "I'll be damned..", but I shrugged it off. Then more loudly he said, "This is all sweet, but can we get this shit over with? I'd like to be out of here!!". I glared at him and he froze. It's sort of like my junior year in high school. I saw some muscle-heads picking on a few exchange students, so I interceded. I walked over and touched two muscle-heads on the shoulder pulling back sort of like a door on a saloon( in those old westerns ). I helped the exchange students up off the ground. One had a bleeding nose, the other had a cut on her cheek. I had gotten so angry. I took out all my anger on the muscle-heads and I ended up sending one to the hospital- the others steered clear of me, and anyone I talked to.

We all exchanged glances, unsure if we should trust him. Will(one of the heads of the his team) and Nathan(the head of ours) talked. Eventually deciding to untie Isaac's hands and legs but hitting him with enough potions to keep him from trying anything. When I told him to keep his eyes on me, I meant while he was explaining, not the whole time. With a sigh, I turned to Nalia. I needed something to cheer me up. Something active...something we used to do all the time.

As if reading my thoughts, Nalia jumped up and grabbed her sword. I grabbed mine with a grin. We went to a less crowded area and started at each other, our swords clinking against each other. I'd move left, she'd move right, we'd slowly move in a circle, then charge at each other. I spun and raised my sword just in time to block her. Pushing her back, I did a back flip and landed on some stacks of plastic. Nalia did the same, landing on one in front of me. I laughed as we leaped into the air and came to the ground on opposite sides, deflecting each others blows and moving with each other harmoniously. It felt as if we had choreographed this. We were now in each other's faces, her blade against mine, my cheek next to hers. We gave each other a peck on the cheek and laughed as we danced away from each other. Dropping our weapons and started hand-to-hand combat. Her leg went up and I blocked it with my arm. My fist went straight, she knocked it side ways and thrust her arm out, just barely missing me. I did a kick and she caught it. She did a kick, I held her legs and she flipped out of my grip. I did the same.

Clapping stopped us in our paths, we turned around and saw Dani standing there, a friendly smile on her pouty lips. Nalia and I exchanged glances, Want to join us? we both ask. She smiles and nods, then a problem erupts. It's uneven. We never do combat for fun- unless it's even. I concentrate, there aren't anymore girls...

"Alright, which one of us gets to fight the guy?," I ask. They look at each other, then to me, then to each other, then to me. They shrug. I sigh, I've got a way to settle this. Be right back., I run to the guys and stop in front of them," Does one of you have a straw?." They look at me like I'm crazy. I glare and they smirk.

"Nope.," Gavin says. I sigh.

"Dammit! Now how am I gonna...hm...be right back.," I say and run back to Nalia and Dani. They look up at me from their places on the floor, expectantly.

"They don't have any straws.," I say. Then inspiration sparks again, Right back.. I spring the short distance to the guys. They look at me again, like I'm crazy," I'm not crazy, dammit! I just need some straws...or something I can cut..."

"We don-," Romeo begins but I see something and practically grin with happiness. Straws! Or actually pipes but still. I run over, grab one and bring it back to the guys. Who have the bigger weapons.

"Can I use one of you guy's swords?," I ask innocently. I receive a few glances but they nod anyways. I pick Luis's cause it's the sharpest and biggest. I pick the pipe up, and the sword and move a little away from them. I bring the sword above my head and let it fall and cut the pipe. Two pieces. I take one of the new pieces of pipes and cut that. Picking up the pipe pieces, and the sword, I skip back to where the guys have been watching me with amused expressions," Thanks guys!". I thrust the sword back into Luis's grasp, and turn to walk away, I look over my shoulder, "By the way, I'll need one of you in a minute," I call and walk back to Dani and Nalia. I stand behind a stack of boxes, so that the bottoms of the pipes can't be seen. They walk in front of me and pick one. Dani gets the shortest out of them. Nalia takes my place and rearranges the pipes and unfortunately, I wind up with the shortest. I pout all the way back to the guys.

"What is it now?," Mark asks, clearly amused by my antics. I growl.

"I need one of you to fight. The rest can come and watch.," I reply coolly. They laugh and I scowl, "What's so funny?!" And they laugh harder. I scowl and pull a hidden dagger from its place around my leg. In the blink of an eye, I'm standing in front of Romeo," I said, what's funny?!." I hiss. He stops laughing and his eyes bulge at my speed. I smirk and turn to the others," Who's it gonna be?." After some thought, and jokes on the fact that they were gonna get beat by a girl, it was decided that I would fight against Romeo. I grabbed his hand, much to the annoyance of Isaac, and pulled him to where we were fighting earlier. He grabbed his sword once everyone filed in, but I took it from him and threw it on the ground.

"No weapons.," I smirked and we got into a crouch. He leaped and I dodged, smacking him in the back, sending him to the ground. He jumped up and kicked my arm. Hell yeah it hurt, but in battle you aren't suppose to show your opponent when you're your weakest. Just as he was about to punch me in the face, I jumped over him and tapped him on the shoulder, he spun around and went right into my foot. He doubled over and shut his eyes tightly.

"Calm down.," Nathan urged. I scoffed.

"Relax. I'm playing. He shouldn't go easy on his opponent because she's female.," I grabbed Romeo by the shirt and pulled him upright," Now this time, don't underestimate me.. "He nodded and we fought again. I don't know when, but Dani and Nalia broke their fight and fought with guys. To be honest, we were kicking their butts. Romeo puts up a good fight. In the end though, we wound up tied. When Dani, Will, Nalia, Gavin, Romeo, and I sat down, Ace, Luis, Mark and Nathan got up and started sparring, a few moments later Gavin and Dani were fighting, again. This time with each other. I watched as the went back and forth, I thought mine and Nalia's skills were graceful! Luis and Ace's fight looked more like dancing! Though Mark and Nathan weren't quite as graceful, they still put on a great show. No one even broke a sweat. And to think people we've befriended in high school thought we were normal! Which would be expected since no one knew about our...after school activities. I stand up from my seat on the crate to go sit next to Isaac, on the cold- yet comfortable- ground. He looks at me curiously.

"Tell me something.," I say. He nods his head and his raven hair swings forward. He tucks one side behind an ear and smiles at me.

"Anything for you, love.," he says. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear he... no, never mind. That's probably a ridiculous thought. I started feeling bad for Isaac, despite the fact he took innocent lives- whether he had a choice or not. I mean he loses his mom and dad to a man who tells everyone he's dead. He said he saw their bodies, it had to traumatize him, right? Wait...something has got to be wrong with me! I sitting here filling sorry for a demon, who wants to marry me. We did agree, though unwillingly.We keep true to our word. Isaac wasn't lying when he said going after Aubrey alone would be suicide.

I was going to ask him if he knew who killed my parents, but decided against it. Instead I asked him a less, and more, complicated question. I still can't understand why this matters to me, but it does, "Why me?." I look at him, slightly embarrassed. He startles me by taking my hand in his. It's warm, and soft. Unusual in his line of work really. I was sort of expecting him to have rough, calloused hands. It also startled me the way my heart started to accelerate. I was sure he could hear it.

"Because.," he states simply, rubbing circles into my palm with his thumb.

"Because why? I mean there has to be...what? A billion other ...humans... and demons...that'd be more...suitable for you. It seems quite odd that you'd choose the one person who's tried to kill you hundreds of times. It doesn't make any sense.," I felt the blush creeping onto my cheeks. What the hell was wrong with me?! I shouldn't...it's not rational...it's...it's insane! I looked around nervously, making sure no one was looking. I practically died with relief when I saw everyone either fighting or watching intently at the fights going on.