"What?" Aselia was perplexed.

Frila handed over a beanie and mask to Aselia, which she was carrying in her bag. The mask and beanie matched each other, both were white.

Aselia took them and looked at Xiran with a confused expression. Xiran had worn a mask as well which not only hid his face but also his hair.

"Wear them Aselia and let’s go." She slowly put them on as Xiran offered his hand to her. She placed hers in his and he led her out the door.

Aselia was met with another surprise as she stepped outside with Xiran. A steel blue racing car stood outside their gate, it was sparkling under the sun as if it had just been bought. It screamed speed and luxury at Aselia.

"Wow," Aselia exclaimed with excitement. Although Xiran couldn’t see her face, her eyes showed him how excited she was to see it. She slid her fingers along the metallic exterior of the car.

"You like it." He asked leading her to the front door and opening it for her. "I love it," she squealed in joy as she got in and Xiran closed the door behind her. He then went on to the driver’s seat and got in.

Both of them buckled their seat belts and Xiran started the engine, it purred as they sped away from the house.

"I didn’t know you were into racing as well," Aselia spoke excitedly. Her hands were moving as she spoke, showing she was super psyched about it.

"When you live for this long. You pick up on everything." His hands clutched the steering wheel as he effortlessly controlled the car. Aselia noticed the black leather posh interior, silver speedometer, automatic stick shift, dashboard, and slick sound system. As a hunter, she owned a first-class vehicle, a black racer but it was not on par with Xiran’s racing car.

"Where are we going?" She asked while tracing her fingers along the dashboard displays.

"You will see." His effortless driving told her he was an expert in this department as well and she thought is there anything this man can’t do? She wanted to have a car race with him, she knew she would give him a tough time for she herself was an expert driver. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Her mind took her back to a memory from four years ago. Yurian and her had partnered up a year ago and she had just started to accept him as her partner.

They were on a mission. A band of vampires was wreaking havoc on the villages located on the outskirts of the continent Tremais. Aselia was wearing her white and golden body armour. She always carried a special sword, laced kuneis and pistols.

Hunters carried their special pistols called "Executioners". The bullets they carried were laced with a special neurotoxin that paralyzed vampires. This made it easy to capture or kill them. The only way to kill vampires was by decapitation or ripping their hearts out.

Aselia was driving her Black Racer while Yurian was going through their plan from the passenger seat. Their mission was to capture at least two vampires alive. As they neared the villages, the dirt road became bumpier and she had to slow down.

The attack came from the right side of the car and was aimed at Aselia.

" Watch out," Yurian shouted as he grabbed the car seat readying himself for impact.

Two vampires almost moved at the same pace as her car and attacked her through the open window. She swerved the car while Yurian extracted his pistol and shot one of them, paralyzing him as he fell.

The car came to a halt, the second vampire tried to grab Aselia through the window but she banged the driver’s side door in his face, as he staggered back she retrieved her weapon and shot him.

Yurian and Aselia stepped out of the car and the three more vampires arrived. Aselia’s scent was driving them insane so they approached with their fangs baring and circled her. She unsheathed her sword and a blood bath followed as she slayed all three of them. They were low-ranked vampires and stood no chance against her. Low rank meant slower speed and reflexes.

Yurian stood against the car with his arms crossed and watched her do her magic. Her face and hands were bloody as she approached him and he threw a water bottle at her, which she effortlessly caught.

"Thank you for not killing those two," Yurian spoke, lazily.

"Well, I would have if they hadn’t asked us to bring two back alive. Let’s load them up." Aselia headed for the trunk of the car and pulled out specially designed steel chains which rendered vampires powerless when bound in them.

Once they had safely secured them in the trunk. They decided to head back. On the way, they met another hunter team. They owned a sports car, so it was decided a car race would be held in the vast expanse of desert-type terrain of this particular area.

"Yurian, fasten your seatbelt and hold tight. This will get ugly." She changed the gear and sped up the car. Yurian had seen her drive fast but today she was hitting 150-160 Mph in desert terrain. Her face was flushed and her eyes were focused on winning the race.

The other car was trying to catch up and they would go neck to neck at times but Aselia didn’t like to lose. Poor Yurian was hanging on for dear life and the vampires in the trunk must be thinking it would have been better to die like their friends than be in a car race involving Aselia.

"Losers, they really think they can beat me?" She scowled as the car sped up, even more, spewing sand behind it. She shifted the gear again as the other car tried to take over but she skidded too close to them and they had to hit breaks to avoid her.

"Huh," she smirked at them as they tried to catch up with her again. The other hunters were both guys so now it was hitting their egos. The steering wheel was frantic in her hands as she swerved it left and right, not letting the other car get ahead.

"Partnerrrrrr," Yurian was clutching the car seat with both hands. "I would like to reach the headquarters in one piece." He finally spoke earning an angry glance from Aselia.

"We will, let me focus now." She glanced ahead and sped up.

The tug of war between the two cars continued for 15 more minutes but Aselia emerged victorious in the end. She flew out of the car after stopping it and went to mimic and gloat. They weren’t happy and Yurian wanted to hide somewhere. He looked so embarrassed.

"You still with me?" Xiran’s voice pulled her out of her reverie.

"Yes," she peeked at him.

"What happened? You have gotten quiet."

"Nothing, I am just enjoying the ride." She was staring outside now and observed that they had left the city behind and were heading away from it.

"Then let’s hit the music, shall we?" He inquired eyeing her.

"Yes, please." Xiran fumbled with the buttons at her response and soon a rhythmic beat of a pop song began to fill the car. She observed he had begun to drum his fingers on the steering wheel with the rhythm of the music as he sang along. His adam’s apple bobbed with every word. She closed her eyes and focused on his voice. It was so relaxing, calm and soothing to her senses. She didn’t want him to stop.

The landscape outside had drastically changed. They had left Fritz City and its skyscrapers behind. Mountains surrounded them which made up most of the topography of this particular region. The serenity of her surroundings and his melodious voice was filling her with warmth, so much warmth.

She could see a clearing coming up and a bunch of racing cars and people huddled together. Xiran slowed down and spoke: "Aselia, stay in the car as I go and talk to them. Don’t come out, no matter what happens." There was an urgency in his voice as he took a sharp turn and parked the car away from the crowd. He stared at her, seeing she understood and when she nodded, he opened the door and got out. Locking the car with his keypad, he strolled towards them on his slender legs.

She observed that everyone was wearing some kind of mask here so she couldn’t see their faces. Maybe it was a tradition here or all of them wanted to keep their identities secret. There was an assortment of racing cars, dragsters, stock cars, sports cars, and modified cars. Ranging from colours blue, red, yellow, black and orange.

Xiran spoke to them for a while and then he took out his wallet to pay the man in charge and shook hands with him. He then returned to his car and sat beside Aselia.

"What are we going to do? Aselia asked him calmly.

" We are going to race. Are you up to it?" His eyes twinkled with excitement as he asked her.

"Hell!!! yeah," she chuckled with enthusiasm, her eyes not living his. And somehow he was not surprised.

"Let’s race then."