“Madison, you are pretty much A-number-one on the hit list right now,"

Heda said, trying to be soothing without placating.

"This isn't about pride. This is just common sense. Falling a semester behind," she said holding up one hand, “or being kidnapped and probably murdered," she continued, raising the other.

"I'm pretty sure that the possibility of choice number two should be holding a lot more weight than choice number one."

“You're not planning on running," Madison said.

Heda snapped.

“I'm not the one he's after! Good grief, get it through your damn head that we're trying to help you! Why do you have to be so mental?" Heda was frustrated, but she still realized that the words she had just uttered were a mistake.

But rather than rail against Heda Like she had done before, Madison's bottom lip was just quivering. She turned around started to storm back into the house. After Billy raised his eyebrows in a “hey, she's your girlfriend" kind of look, so Heda pursued and tried to wrap her arms around her girlfriend.

“Please don't storm off again.”

“And please stop treating me like a baby," Madison shot back, pushing Heda away.

"Stop acting like one!"

Now Madison was livid. She actually shoved Heda, or at least she tried. Heda was easily able to overpower the attempt. So Madison tried again, but this time Heda moved and the girl stumbled.

‘Okay, making her look foolish is not going to help me,‘ Heda thought to herself. Sure enough, Madison seemed to be falling back into her fighting stance.

"Fine," Heda said.

"You keep wanting to play tough chick, we'll play. Out back." She turned on her heel and walked out to the small stretch of grass between the parking area and the house.

Madison was not going to be intimidated, and followed close on her heels. She really had no idea why she wanted to fight someone well, that was not true. She knew. But she was not going to tell Heda. Bitch.

“Heda," Billy said, attempting to play the role of mediator, "you do realize that she is being watched by some very expensive and well- trained private security."

"Go find them and tell ‘em we're sparring," the eagle shifter muttered, turning to face her opponent. Madison was behaving like a brat, and she needed a good spanking. ‘Maybe that's not the best way of thinking about it,' she reminded herself, as it gave her an entirely separate set of ideas that had nothing to do with fighting.

"Okay, I'll even let you take the first JESUS CHRIST!" she bellowed as Madison sent a right kick that was swinging for the fences. She leaned back in a Matrix-style maneuver that saw her girlfriend's foot an inch from her face.

"You dodged," Madison complained as she dropped back, then started scanning again.

"I was going to say you could take the first shot, but I wasn't going to say that I'd let it hit." Heda went on the offensive, pulling her shots just a bit. She did not want to hurt the girl.

Madison was actually defending herself fairly well, but her few counter-attacks were slow and unsure. She really needed some more practice.

Madison was sweating. She could not help but realize that Heda was playing with her. Madison had been studying kick-boxing for just over a year. Heda had been trained in several forms of martial arts, starting when she was in diapers. She may have been a runner for most of her life and was in pretty good shape, but the bat shifter was outclassed in this kind of contest. So she needed to cheat.

In all her years of tournament fighting and weapons training, Heda had never had anyone do what Madison tried to do. The girl actually let herself get pulled into a headlock, then dug her teeth into Heda's arm. She was refusing to let go.