Lana had not packed up her tent and stuff yet so she went ahead and made herself ready to set off. Then looked at Shalt. "Do you think I'm strong enough to help you evolve? Want to try?"
"But you're a human. I'll hurt you!"
She engulfed herself in both levels of armor and brought out her whip. "Challenge accepted." She had never been hit with vampire powers before but she decided she trusted in herself and her powers to help someone who was probably her equal in overall combat strength. She cracked her whip toward his stomach to get him to move. Caser went to join in and she told him to stay. She didn't want a dead vampire and she didn't know if he knew the difference between friend or foe.
Shalt flashstepped out of the way of the whip having seen what that thing can do. He wanted no part of it. He threw out a blood swipe. A red line was heading toward Lana and she easily dealt with it with her whip. She was realizing how strong this thing was with all the energy she put in it but she also didn't want to hurt this vampire too much. She truly hated sparring for that reason. Still in this case, this was Quinn's family member now. She felt it her duty to help him. She withered her whip closed the distance choosing to flip a few times to gain momentum and hit him hard with her feet. He moved out of the way just in time and threw out a punch. She saw it in time and threw out a counter-punch. She had added strength, speed and agility. She wasn't fast enough to keep up with Fex, but she was with this person. Both punches ended up missing as they ended up in a sort of dance with kicks and punches being dished out and neither landing a blow. She noticed he was starting to get winded. She activated wind walk in her boots and flash-stepped to get behind him and kicked the back of his knee before he had the chance to react. He started to stumble but then he put his weight on the other leg and swung that one backward in a spinning back kick. She smiled and flash-stepped out of the way. Back in front of him, she went for a jump kick to his head. He was almost done with his move and unable to do anything. He ended up on the ground. He rolled to get up, "I'm done. I'm out of tricks. I can't believe a human can keep up with me."
Lana responded, "You don't know all the vampire fighting moves you should at this stage, do you?"
He shook his head.
Lana looked at Fex who responded, "I tried teaching Quinn and was terrible."
Lana looked at Shalt, "do you want me to teach you? Or do you want to keep living on a prayer that another family will bring you in?"
Shalt sighed, "Tell me one thing. Who is this Quinn?"
"He's the guy who prevented your gang from stealing the blood."
Shalt nodded. "Can you teach me to fight like him? He had vampire moves, right?"
"No. I only know the flash-step so far. I had other training in the human world. Here's the thing. You are in the tenth. Its strength was always embracing something different than the other families. The question you need to ask yourself is are you okay with being different? I would say yes since you are literally working for a human right now." She gave a smile.
He looked at his feet, "I'm desperate."
"Desperate to get out or desperate for change? Change is coming. The question is, are you going to embrace it or run from it?"
He dropped to a knee and put his fist on the ground. "You saved my life today and bested me in battle. Human or not, I pledge myself to your service. I will learn what you will have me learn. I will aid you in any way you need me to."
Lana was shocked. She was just looking to see if he was willing to allow her to teach him how to fight. She had heard from Kattie that Fex didn't give much effort to learning from Leo and figured all vampires would have a problem "lowering" themselves to human ways.
"Are you sure you want to pledge yourself rather than just take a few lessons to get yourself stronger? You think things are hard for you right now…"
He looked up at her, meeting her eyes, "I agree there is something going on at the tenth. We are not blind that there are people in the castle now. We see them come and go. I know you know more than you are saying and that is fine. But I want to be part of something better, stronger than what we have now. I also want out of here. Just don't tell anyone I said that."
Lana smiled, "then I accept your pledge on one condition."
"What would that be?"
"If you ever want to change your mind, let me know and I will release you from your pledge."
Shalt smiled and stood back up. "Let's get hunting!"
For four days total everyone stayed out. Lana, Fex, and Shalt hunted during the day and rested at the mountain-side. Logan, Vorden, Borden, Timmy, and Leo stayed at the lab inside the mountain learning all they could about how the dalki were made by vampires and the Green family in some form. The girls stayed with Amy and Xander as they waited for the transfer request to go through for them to move to the tenth. Xander had purchased three ability books for Layla so she could relearn telekinesis. She found in the fight being able to shoot her magical energy with a bow was beneficial. Quinn and Edward emerged from the room below on the fourth day and with Peter, Quinn began learning some things about running the castle. Shortly after emerging, all the vampires got a telepathic message stating those outside must return. Humans had found the settlement and they were being invaded. Leaders were recalled to the main castle.