Seraph

9

Danny had been watching Serafina throughout the speech. He felt the sudden spike in her anger, and then he felt its sudden disappearance. As soon as she raised her chin to Benny, he knew she had to be taken care of. Benny's glance just confirmed it. He stepped towards her. But Serafina had expected it. She quickly turned around and punched him square in the face. He wasn't expecting it and hadn't braced himself. There was a loud crack, and he stumbled back, holding his nose in shock.

"Do you think my father never taught me to defend myself? Please. As soon as I was ten years old, he had seen the way some men looked at me. He knew it would be dangerous for me and taught me to protect myself in case he or my big brother weren't around." She stated while giving Danny a contemptuous glance before looking at her nails. As if thinking they would've been chipped or damaged during the punch, even knowing that they wouldn't have been. She only did it to annoy him.

It worked. Danny's anger built up again. Serafina looked back at him to see him getting bigger in size right before her eyes. From where he was only a bit taller than her before and fit, now he was about a head taller than her with a bodybuilder-type physique. He was heaving with his hatred. His hands clenching and unclenching as though he were trying to get a physical grip on his own emotions. She was still surprised that this was an ability. She was impressed, but she still didn't care for the hostility he always held toward her.

She didn't react to his change. But she just continued, "As I was saying, my father taught me to fight. But my big brother was still worried. He said there may be a time when my opponent was bigger than me or stronger than me, so I had to be prepared. I should do whatever was needed to make sure I stood a chance," She felt Danny's approach and immediately struck out again. Using her open palm to slam into his neck, he was really not expecting this; although he didn't need to breathe, it was still painful, plus it was instinctual to grab his throat to protect it and attempt to ease the pain. As soon as he did grab his own neck, she reached out, grabbed his shoulders pulling him down a bit, and kneed him in his groin, throwing his body down face first. "My brother said to never be ashamed to fight dirty. Then he gave me a dagger and told me that if needed, it was alright just to flat-out cheat." She finished.

She looked back up to Benny on the stage and dusted her hands while looking him in the eye. "I'll warn you right now; I no longer need the dagger. I have something better that tips the odds in my favor, even with your numbers. So I suggest you do what I asked and get me my hostages."

Something caught her eye past his shoulder, she couldn't help but take a look. There appeared to be three women standing on the small mountain range that was nearby just looking down at them. She was about to ask Benny who they were when he immediately lost his temper while looking at Danny's downed body and shouted for his vampires to "get her" referencing Serafina. She immediately forgot about the women and gave him a look of surprise. As the other vampires neared her, loosely surrounding her.

"I came to your town and spoke to you directly. I didn't show any hostility, did I? I didn't even kill your second-in-command when he was openly showing me hostility and even attempted to inflict bodily harm on me. I let him live. I'm not without mercy here. He'll be fine. It's not my fault if you're embarrassed your right-hand man dropped so quickly. Just do as I asked, and I'll take them away. But if you go this route, I will defend myself. Benny, think about it. I don't want to be enemies. Hell, I actually want to learn more about our kind from you. I'm just going to take the prisoners to a safe place and come back so we can speak more." She stated, attempting to be reasonable. Causing the vampires to pause and look to Benny. This seemed familiar. It seemed not even vampires were willing to think for themselves.