(One Month Later)

The day of the race had finally arrived. Aselia got up early and after taking a shower, she dressed up in white all-leather attire. Covering her hair and ears with a matching bandana she stepped out of her room and went to the kitchen.

"Ready for your race?" Esma who was preparing breakfast asked, seeing her all dressed up.

"Yes, ready to beat him," the determination on her face made Esma smile.

"You show him, Leia. Girl power," and both women fist-bumped and chuckled.

Soon Yurian joined them as well and after breakfast, Esma wished her luck and they headed out. There hadn’t been any recent attacks and very few missions had been coming their way in the last month. It was eerily peaceful.

The race was to be held on a dirt track which was located at the foot of the huge mountains which touched Lahoire. It was about 5 km long and ended near a magnificent waterfall. It had been decided that whoever will reach the waterfall first will be declared the winner.

Yurian and Aselia reached the starting point of the race, where Jaguar was already waiting for them, his arms crossed as he leaned on his heavy bike and smoked a cigarette. He seemed calm as a cucumber while Aselia felt anxious. She stopped her bike near him and got down.

"Good Morning White Falcon, are you prepared to lose?" he casually asked while puffing out a ring of smoke.

"I don’t lose, prepare your ass for it," she gave him a knowing smile.

"This time you will, I want that date," he whispered so only she could hear. They hadn’t told anyone about that little promise they had made each other.

"Yahh, yahh. We shall soon find out."

"I will see you at the finish point. Good luck to you both but I want my partner to win," Yurian gave Aselia an affectionate hug before leaving in his car.

"Your partner is biased but it won’t matter. I will still win," Jaguar threw the stub of cigarette on the floor and snuffed it out with his boot.

"You dream too much, they are going poof today just like the smoke you just blew," Aselia indicated by opening her hand in front of him and making her lips into an ’o’.

"Dreams are good, dreams keep you focused. I also dream about taking you out on that date," he leaned so close to her that she could feel the hot air on her ear. Their eyes momentarily met, while his held passion and desires, hers were curious.

"Stop trying to act charming and sexy, it doesn’t work on me," she playfully shoved him away and he laughed. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"One day it will work," although any girl would have been happy to have him whispering in her ear. Aselia didn’t feel anything whenever he tried to charm her and she wondered what was wrong with her. She should have felt something, a tinge of excitement but there was none.

"Let’s race now," she positioned herself on the bike and wore her helmet. He did the same and both of them approached the starting point they had chosen. Jaguar offered her a thumbs up and Aselia did the same before counting down to one and starting their race.

She felt an adrenaline rush as the strong wind blew past her and blood rapidly flowed through her veins. Her silver bike came to life and off she went but Jaguar was faster and more skilled.

His manoeuvring skills were top-notch, whereas Aselia struggled to keep her bike steady on the bumpy road he operated with ease. A scowl appeared on her beautiful face, seeing him go ahead of her and she sped up.

But the road didn’t offer much help and bump after bump hit her, she had to use all her focus just to keep the bike steady. This was harder than she had anticipated. Jaguar turned around to watch her with a mischievous glint descending in his dark eyes.

Aselia wasn’t a quitter, she gritted her teeth and sped up. The gushing sound of the river flowing along was like constant music which played in the background as both bikers raced to the finish line. Sometimes Aselia would take lead but Jaguar never let her have a substantial one. She would poke her tongue out at him and he would do the same.

"My granny could drive faster than you, White Falcon," he taunted in a loud voice while overtaking her. This riled her up and her nose flared, with annoyance marring her beautiful face, she sped up and tussle to overtake him began.

The road had narrowed and he didn’t give her an opening, blocking her every time she tried to surpass him. He had extensive experience in riding the bike and she could sense that it will be near to impossible to defeat him.

Yet in her tenacity to surpass him, she sped up and missed a pothole. The bike swerved due to speed and she fell along with her bike. It toppled on her and a sharp pain travelled through her leg and arm, as a slight scream escaped her.

Jaguar who was a few meters ahead of her heard the crash and instantly stopped and rushed back. All excitement dissipated from him and was replaced by anguish and concern.

"White Falcon!" he called her as he stopped the bike near her and got down. Removing her helmet he took her face in his hands to see if she had a concussion. She was conscious but her face was grimacing in pain.

"It’s going to be alright, stay calm," he tried to console her. Taking out his phone, he saw that there were no signals in this area.

He scanned her body and her leg was bleeding while her arm was dangling at an odd angle, most probably broken. Then the sweet smell of her blood hit him and he stiffened for a second.

He had never smelt anything so heavenly, what was she? He needed to stop the bleeding or something dangerous could be attracted to her.

Jaguar pressed down on her wound to stop the bleeding and she let out a small squeal of pain. And Then he heard a whooshing sound, a vampire was already here and he was a fast one.

"Something smells divine," he heard a voice filled with mirth. Jerking his head around he saw a vampire with blue eyes staring at them. Jaguar knew from the look, he was not an ordinary vampire. He had to make a quick decision.

"I won’t let him harm you," he whispered to Aselia and gently laying her down he got up and jumped towards the vampire, transforming into something else.