chapter 22

I managed to dodge, and jump back before she got any closer.

"what are you doing?" I asked as I felt my throat for any damage.

a stupid thing to do when you heal from basically anything.

"well, isn't it obvious... we're sparing, I need to get an exact reading on your current abilities." she said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"you couldn't of just said we're sparing, or something?" I muttered as I to a defensive stance.

"that would take away the opportunity fo a surprise attack..." Elise said with a smile.

I'm not very good with a sword, mainly because I've never used one, let alone a greatsword. so I'll take a defensive approach to this situation, and maybe pick up on how she wields her sword, and implement it to my own.

Elise didn't say another word, the smile on her face widened as she lunged at me.

I watched her movements, and as she was about to impale me with her sword, I sidestepped. with the small opening, I swung the greatsword horizontally, towards her waist.

Elise acrobatically twisted herself, in an attempt to reorient her center gravity, and swung her sword right at my head.

I managed to pull back my sword and put it up just in the nick of time to block the upcoming attack.

the attack felt like a freight train hit my sword, and dispite all my efforts to stay grounded, I was sent tumbling backwards.

but Elise wasn't finished.

without giving me enough time to reorient myself she came at me with an overhead slash.

and being the idiot I am, I decided to block.

the sound of clashing swords resounded throughout the area as I desperately held her attack back.

I knew it was only a matter of time before my arm's gave out, and I didn't have any way to escape this situation.

'damn it, she's strong... what the hell am I supposed to do?' I thought as I started to loose the struggle.

"what happened to all that spirit? I thought you would at least put up a decent fight..." Elise taunted, as she continued to push me farther into the ground.

"w-well, I-it's hard to surpass a ogre in s-strength..." I chuckled through gritted teath.

"w-what? I'm not a damn ogre!!!" she yelled.

'that's it! she's lost focus, now I push back with all my strength.' I planned internally as her face became red with anger.

I pushed her back with everything I had, the sudden action caused Elise to go into the defensive, but she was to late.

I grabbed her, and placed my right foot behind her left leg, and used the momentum against her.

she hit the ground with a thud, and before she could get up my sword pierced the ground next to her head.

"honestly I thought you'd be stronger, guess you just like to run your mouth..." I chuckled as I teased her.

her face got even more red, as her eye's widened.

"w-well, I held back, so don't think it would be that easy in reality..." she stated without making eye contact.

"heh, I don't doubt that..." I chuckled as I reached down to help her up.

I don't doubt her words one bit. I bet if she was serious, I would be splattered all over the grass.

"good... don't forget that..." she muttered as she took my hand.

...

a hour passed by after Elise and I finished our sparing session. we were now sitting on the couch, watching TV as I waited for Sam to give me a new target.

this was my normal routine for the last three year's. wait for Sam to find a target within my level, give me the details, I go kill them, and rinse and repeat.

the only difference now is Elise.

I don't really know what her role is going to be after she finishes helping me with training. but dispite her prideful personality, she's growing on me.

"Ugh. finally, I've found a good one..." Sam sighed as he walked down the stairs.

"is it in my range?" I asked without looking back towards him.

"hmm? yeah, it should be at least..." Sam said as he sat down on a reclining chair.

in an instant, Sam already had a joint in his mouth, and put the lighter up to his mouth.

"don't worry, you are far more powerful then you think jake..." Elise consoled.

"... fine, tell me what I need to know about it, before I go..." I said with a sigh.

"well, this guy is running multiple operations, the interesting thing is, this guy is dealing with both the wolves, and the vamps..." Sam said as he puffed out a cloud of smoke.

"both werewolves and vampire's... isn't that odd?" I asked as I looked at Sam.

"in most cases, yes... after all, dispite the current peace agreement, we aren't really buddies with each other." Elise answered.

"yup. but here's the best part, this guy is running a blood bank... and do you know what that means?" Sam asked with a grin.

"we can take the blood for ourselves?" I asked.

"exactly... two birds one stone Jake, we kill this guy, and squash his operations.

and on top of all that, we got a supply of blood. this is pretty much a jackpot bro!" Sam cackled.

"I guess you're right, where's he located?" I questioned as I shook my head approvingly.

well, I don't exactly know... but what I do know is, he is almost always at his penthouse in Hollywood... now getting into that is beyond me, so you'll have to get creative, while breaking in there..." Sam explained.

"I'd suggest gathering information, before making any drastic moves..." Elise chimed in.

"what information should I gather?" I asked as I looked over at her.

"anything of use... plans, objectives, what he'll be doing for the next week, everything we could use against him..." she said as she wrapped her fingers around her chin.

"that way, we could make a more thorough plan before straight out attacking him..." she stated.

"mhm, ok I'll start by gaining information, than we can figure everything else out..." I confirmed.