Squad Leader Lena

Aileen POV



The next day I found myself at the Demon Slayer's Society. Squad Leader Lena was explaining a mission she, her second in command, and two other promising members of our team would be going on shortly.

To be truthful, I did not want to be here. The DSS' design reminded me too much of home. With everything going on in my mind; well let's just say I'd rather be any where else than at a meeting here.

The walls were stone like home, but brightly lit with light bulbs instead of candles. There were suits of armor in the halls here. The DSS says it's to honor those who original fell to Shiuku thousands of years ago.

Trevor knows more about the DSS' past than I do. Any time I here Shiuku's name, my body freezes and my mind closes off in fear. SL Lena was obsessed with any information about him and the original guardian who had lost to him all those years ago. At least she came to the right job.

There was one thing Lena and I did have in common. Both became tense for very different reasons upon hearing his name. She might outright kill me if she knew the demon lord's plans for me. My hand went to lay on my tummy before my brain caught up with the action.

"Aileen!" She shouted my name. Her eyes were very firm; unwavering. The way she always got when anything that may lead to Shiuku. I quickly returned my hand to my side.

Her brown hair was always in that tight ponytail. Maybe SL Tom had a fetish for that kind of thing?

She had a strong face, but expressive. A squad leader needs to be able to turn their emotions on and off. Lena tried, but if you knew how to read people; well she was easier than a paid girl in a brothel. At the moment, her lip was split ever so slightly from her last fight. A demon had gotten a good hit on her before she killed it, or so I heard. I don't normally see combat like they do.

"Do you accept?" Lena tilted her head waiting for an answer. "I'd suggest you say yes. You've been slacking quite a bit this last week."

"Yes?" A question, more than answer. I had no idea that she had even been speaking to me.

She rubbed her temples in annoyance, "you weren't listening...again. I need you to do some research into some attacks that happened in the park. The one a few blocks from Aston High School. Any information you can gather from there needs to be reported back to me as soon as possible."

I nodded. Normally I was used for research missions, or intelligence gathering. The DSS may have trained me how to fight, but I was no where near as strong as them. Not just physically either. Every member here can manipulate one of the elements. (Water, Fire, Ground, Wind, or Mind) An element that resinates with the individual person.

Typically they only get one; although, there are a few people who resinate with two of the elements.

From what I gather there are only two people capable of using all four. That is my tormentor demon lord Shiuku, and my squad leader Lena. I have not seen her use more than water, or playing with ice. Perhaps I would see more if I fought more on the bigger missions.

"I'll go with Aileen just in case there are some unpleasant faces hiding around." That was from the lean member of our team. I am told that he can move very fast and is good with defensive maneuvers. As for the rest of him, blond hair framed an oval face. His nose was fairly large, though that could be from being broken and healed so many times. His enemies seemed to have made a habit of aiming for the largest portion of his face.

He was very loyal with a soothing voice though. When I first joined I had a bad first mission. I landed in their hospital with two broken ribs, a bruised up face, and an overwhelming realization of how much training I still needed. Jacob had come into my hospital room and talked to me. His voice soothing while I was in pain. He would smile and just sit quietly if I was in a bad mood stuck in that bed.

Lena sighed,"alright, make sure she stays safe. We will need her to go through some files and do some research. We may even need her to decipher some codes. It all depends on what we find."

"You expect Shiuku to just leave this information lying around?" I asked. Shiuku wasn't an idiot. The DSS would have taken him down hundreds of years ago if he was so careless.

"You really weren't listening at all. You're even more spacey than I was!" Lena barked. "We are meeting with someone who is betraying Shiuku. It's why I'm taking a small team. Less people means less likely to be noticed by any of Shiuku's subordinates.

She rubbed her temples again in aggravation before continuing, "He doesn't want to risk any of his group thinking anything suspicious. So, he is just handing me probably a flash drive, maybe some kind of disk. We won't talk to him; just pass by. Still, Shiuku may have some scheme planned, so I'll have a small team on stand-by in case things get rough. In case we have to fight."

"I'll have you soon my little one." "I'll taste those sweet lips soon." "I can't wait to finally feel you." "Soon" "SOON" Should I tell SL Lena about those dreams? According to Shiuku he would be coming for me soon. He would have a plot already in motion. Then again, she may think I'm a traitor or evil. Why else would the demon lord want me. No, I can't tell her.

I said nothing.

"Jacob, make sure you bring your sword. Aileen, I want you to take a knife. Hopefully your speed is still improving and you can dodge any incoming attack. Just dodge and leave the attacking up to Jacob okay?" She gave me a small smile. Lena may have been upset with me, but she did worry.

I wasn't born to be a demon slayer like the rest of the team. I wonder what the rest of them would think to find out I'm a princess that had no combat training before this.

I snickered at the thought. Jacob looked at questioningly. His face scrunched up made his nose look all the bigger. "Come on let's go!" I held up my hand as I stood to leave.

Maybe one day I would tell them all about how I should be in silks and splendour; and Lena would just be Tom's baby maker rather than an irreplaceable squad leader. My dimension sure did have plenty things backwards. Lena would go insane!



I let Jacob lead me out of the building. He would think I was just in thought again, but in reality, I just didn't want to get lost. The DSS was a huge and tall building. Unfortunately, I can't blame the buildings giganticness on my bad sense of direction. Even back at home, I would take wrong turns and be lost. Nothing was more fun than having a guard have to escort you back to the dinner table, late, again. Just to wind up with a lecture from the King in front of his advisors and personal guards.

Both my parents were so focused and strong. They both had great sense of direction. I did not have the benefit of inheriting that. All these years later, I'm not better at remembering my where everything is in big places. I do have say that I remember secret escape routes and rooms exceptionally well. And hey next time Father gets upset, I could just play him that Hannah Montana song. After all, no one is perfect. I'm sure he has his faults too! Just picturing him with head phones in trying to figure out how music was coming out of a small CD player brought a smile to face.

The sun brought me back to reality. Damn, so I had spaced walking behind Jacob. The DSS is in the middle of an off-limits forest. Tall oak trees would provide us much needed shade on our walk back to civilization.

The trail we took was one created by constant walking through rather than built in by machine like so many paths in this dimension. The DSS allowed no paving or smoothing in the natural landscape. The only man made parts out here were the giant castle like building that is the DSS and the training grounds.

I stopped off to the side of the trail about an hour into our walk. There were lilacs in full bloom just to the left of where we were walking. Jacob eyed me, but remained silent as I smelled them. Lilacs used to calm me. Thanks to my last dream, I lost that bit of comfort. "Even in a dream, you smell just like lilacs"

I could feel his lips against my neck. My hands instinctively going to cover my neck as a chill ran down my body. The heat of the day would not reach me as I heard his voice, felt his disgusting hands. Remembered his promise.

A loud cry broke me out of my trance.

"HELP!!!!" We heard a loud desperate shriek coming from just a head of us.