Lilac chuckled. She gave Tordoff a smug smile, and his jaw dropped upon seeing the boldness of the guardian angel. She stood up there, dusting the dirt from her dress, "Like I told you, I am more than capable of taking care of myself. Don't worry about me, I got me. Alright now, let's see what this thing is!"
Now, she was leading him. She sashayed away towards the bushes to see whatever she caught earlier. It took the general seconds until he brought himself to follow behind her. Like the lycan he was, Tordoff didn't like it at all to be dominated, surpassed in power by a young girl. While at the same time, he just couldn't help himself but to be impressed by this girl.
"Over here!" Lilac waved her hand, Tordoff let out an annoying growl. There they found an old man. But, they weren't some ordinary creature who can be deceived easily with the old man's appearance. For he was not an ordinary old man. He was a weak demon. Although weak, he was still a demon. "Is this the creature that you smelled earlier?" Lilac glanced over her shoulder to find Tordoff was there.
Without caring for what he would think, Lilac reached to her ankle and pulled her silver dagger that she always kept there. This time, the dagger was not meant to be pointed at the lycan. Meanwhile, the old man was struggling to free himself from the snare of her tendrils all over him, he would've cussed at Lilac if only she had not covered his mouth with the tendrils.
She looked at the silver dagger in her hand, and with a swift move, Lilac cut her palm to draw some blood. It looked like she had done this countless times. But then she stabbed it too deeply when Tordoff startled her. For seconds, she was oblivious of his presence. That's why she got startled. But Tordoff was there to snatch the dagger from Lilac, "What are you doing?" he said. The both of them grimaced.
He dropped the dagger, "Silver," and hissed.
"Argh! It hurt!" Lilac glared at Tordoff while holding her bleeding palm. But upon seeing what the girl just did to herself, was only making him alarmed. "Are you out of your mind? Why did you cut yourself!" said Tordoff while tearing the edge of his clothes. He wrapped it immediately on her palm to stop the bleeding.
"For this!" Lilac snapped at him. She raised her other hand that was coated with her blood, and smeared it on the demon before she squeezed him with her vines. Immediately, the demon's body billowed into black ashy smoke, and disappeared into thin air.
Tordoff raised his eyebrows in confusion, "You don't have to do that! Even though there are not many demons in this area, the guards can easily throw them out of our territory."
"Driving them away is not the same as destroying them. What you just saw now, was me completely getting rid of them. We need to destroy them completely Tordoff, don't you see that the darkness is getting stronger now? Don't you feel it?" After that, Tordoff was still not replying. Lilac realized that she needed to explain more of it so that he would understand her point.
"You see, their number had doubled increasingly. Sooner or later, you will definitely see these demons often than before. It is one of the signs that the war with the darkness is imminent. And I am sure that you have heard about the other sign, which involves the resurrection of the guardian angels. And here I am Tordoff, I'm one of the signs. With all the signs here, and you all are still going to ignore it?"
Tordoff shook his head. "I know about the prophecy, but whether we will participate in the war or not, that is not for me to decide."
"Oh, you know it will happen Tordoff! I know that you can at least put some words about it to your King!" Lilac now sounded frustrated.
In return to her outburst, Tordoff gave her a bitter smile, "His Majesty the Alpha King listens to no one."
Lilac dropped her hand, immediately realizing how foolish she was to even elaborate her important point to Tordoff who was only a general, knowing that the only one she needed to actually talk about this matter to, was someone else. "Oh, you're right! It's Jedrek that I need to convince about this. Let's go!"
"No, wait." Tordoff stopped her.
"What?" Lilac raised her eyebrows questioningly. "The demon is gone."
"It's not the demon that I smelled." Tordoff sniffed the air. "Plus, demons don't have any scent to begin with." He turned his head to his left side, and followed the odd scent.
The girl attempted to sniff the air, hoping she would catch a little of whatever the lycan smelt. But she couldn't smell anything in particular. With her wounded hand cradled on her other hand, she followed behind Tordoff. The general walked through the bushes easily. Lilac just needed to flick her fingers to get through. And, the bushes around her would make a clean way for her to pass through.
Laying there on the ground with eyes closed, was a body of a woman. It was not that far from where they found the demon. Seeing just a glimpse of it, made Lilac walk faster as she gasped in shock. Lilac stopped beside Tordoff who were crouching down beside the body. "Is she alive?" Lilac stretched her hand to see if there were any signs of a beating heart through the pulse on that woman's hand.
But before she could actually do that, Tordoff pulled her hand away, preventing her from touching the poor woman. "She is alive." he answered under his breath. And then he muttered some words that she couldn't hear.
"What happened to her?" she asked again, because she knew that there were more to it.
Instead of giving the girl some answer to her question, Tordoff tilted his head to look at her. From the way he was frowning, she knew that whatever it was, he knew the answer to her question but too hesitant whether or not he should tell her.
He was unsure about how much information that he could give to this guardian angel. His Alpha King indeed had ordered him to look after Lilac, but to what extent? Was that including sharing a few information? "I can't answer your question now." Tordoff shook his head and helped Lilac to stand up. "We have to leave, it is getting dark."
"And we leave her here?" Lilac widened her eyes in disbelief, but Tordoff didn't need to answer that when two guards came to the scene.
"Let's go."
And with that, they leave the woman under the care of the two guards.
==============
Jedrek was standing on the balcony. The sky above him had turned to dark once more. It was night already, and the crescent moon was shining dimly. There he was, gazing off into the distance to the gate. "So, you finally decided to let her stay," said Maximus who approached behind him. He handed him a glass of liquid that he should drink regularly.
Jedrek held the glass in his hand but didn't seem to have the desire to taste it.
"As I expected, in the end you will listen to your father." Maximus looked at Jedrek. He was still silent. It would be just like most of the time that this would be a one-sided conversation.
"See? There will always be benefits of keeping her by our side. I can feel it, this girl is different from the rest of her extinct race." Maximus nodded to his statement. "We can kill her at the right time. No need to worry, the pain you will feel afterwards can be handled properly."
From afar, Jedrek caught a glimpse of Lilac, who was walking side by side with Tordoff. They were just walking through the main gates. A sudden jumpy feeling came to him the moment he caught the sight of her. There was one thing that caught his attention. Her left hand was injured.