Chapter 23 Rune
rune
. . .
The jagged pale scar tissue that ran across the curve of Dimitri’s throat made rage unfurl in my heart.
What made it glaringly obvious that it was a siren’s failed mating mark was how torn and messy it was.
Up close, the light caught on thin rips, raised in some places and almost smooth in others from the siren’s sharp teeth.
It looked like it had hurt. Badly. It was the kind of scar left by someone desperate and furious.
Nobody deserved that.
I hoped whoever did that to him was dead by his hands.
When we entered the House of Twilight classroom, Professor Jarvins had files placed neatly on our desks with templates for the persona portfolios we had to create for ourselves.
Jarvins stood at the front of the class, his salt-and-pepper hair tousled as usual as his black, beady eyes scanned over us once we were seated.
“It’s time for you to focus on your personas.
These are important if you’re initiated into House of Twilight because spies tend to have favorite personas.
The faster you create a good one, the better you are later down the road. ”
Hawk raised his hand. “I thought that once you used an identity, you couldn’t anymore?”
Jarvins tilted his head. “Why would you think that? That’s only if your cover is blown. If it’s intact, you can always come back to it. Many agents do. They can build connections and rapport to help gain intel in the future using their personas over again.”
“I didn’t think about it like that.” He scratched the back of his head.
“Critical thinking is a skill every agent possesses, Mr. Moonfang.” His eyes narrowed at Hawk. “How did you pass the entrance exams?”
Hawk let out a weak chuckle. “I excel at other things.”
“Your assignment today is to create a distinct false identity with a detailed backstory, motivation, speech pattern, and supernatural history. You should’ve already been working on your personas, so filling the templates out should be easy for you.
You get twenty minutes to fill it out, and then you must withstand a five-minute in-character interview without breaking cover.
Do remember that while you have no access to glamours, you can still add them to your persona template.
You will be partnered for the interview, but first, fill out your templates and hand them in to me,” Jarvins told us as he passed out papers before rounding his desk and sitting down with his tablet. “Your time starts now.”
I grabbed a pen and filled out my persona on the paper templates he provided.
Persona should be believable, adaptable, and resistant to exposure under interrogation.
1. Cover Identity Basics (Include Disguise for glamouring purposes)
Full Name (persona and real):
Renee Melone / Rune Bloodwyne.
Species: (You can choose one other than your own, but it is not recommended at a basic level)
Basilisk.
Age:
26.
Physical Appearance: (Height, hair, eye color, notable features, style)
6’, Blonde/Green, Green/Gold, mole under right eye, classic style.
Voice & Speech Patterns: (Pace, word choice, mannerisms, tone)
Well-spoken, complex word choices, extra polite, sweet tone.
2. Backstory
Birthplace: (Town, territory)
The Apex Capital in the Market.
Education/Training: (Formal schooling, apprenticeships)
Apex Academy of the Arts/Apprenticeship in Fate Hollow Media.
Occupation: (What do they do now? How do they make a living? Why this?)
News Sector Reporter for Apex Capital Media. Perfect access point to intel.
Important Past Events: (Wars survived, crimes committed)
Reported on Dark Magic Plague in the Demon Capital, no crime committed.
3. Motivation & Personality
Primary Goal: (What does your persona want most right now?)
To gain intel.
Secondary Goals: (Other ambitions that influence their actions)
Ensure the media isn’t manipulating the public.
Personality Traits: (Patience level, aggression)
Bubbly, patient, flirty, very sweet. Takes a lot to make her mad.
4. Safety & Consistency
Flaws in Glamour: (Subtle hints of the real you that might give your persona away)
Love for poison/venom. Will have a difficult time holding that back.
Physical Reactions: (What you do when nervous, angry, or lying, not your persona)
I tend to leak venom.
Trigger Story: (A pre-prepared anecdote they can tell to fill silence or divert suspicion)
The first time I ever thought about becoming a reporter wasn’t because I wanted to ‘uncover the truth.’ I was ten, stuck inside with my best friend during a thunderstorm in the spring.
My best friend, Pat, dared me to go outside and dance around the fountain in the market.
I went but slipped into the fountain, came back soaked, but I did the dare and won the prize, which was some kind of candy.
The next day, in school, my teacher shared a story from our local News Sector.
I was on the front page. The headline? ‘Child’s Fountain Swim During Thunderstorm. ’
They’d turned an impulsive childhood moment into a story for everyone to see.
At first, I was embarrassed, but then I realized something.
Whoever reported that piece decided how people would see me.
They could make me a stupid kid or a free spirit, all with the words they chose.
Whose other stories could be changed depending on how they were told?
From then on, I didn’t just want to be in the story. I wanted to be the one reporting it.
Contingency Plan: (What they’ll do if their cover is blown)
Drop the “sweet” persona immediately and revert to my true nature. Use intimidation to unnerve or just paralyze/eliminate hostile parties to escape.
My pen slipped from my fingers, the clatter sharp against the quiet scribbling of the classroom.
Dimitri was already rising from his seat, and I stood up in the same breath. Heat prickled up the back of my neck as our eyes locked.
We’d finished simultaneously.
I let out a short huff, and his eyes narrowed.
We moved in unison, steps matching, and the air between us practically crackled.
Both of us reached Jarvins’s desk at the same time. My hand slid my persona page forward, the edge whispering against the surface of the desk, brushing the corner of his paper as he did the same.
Dimitri didn’t look down at the papers. Instead, his gaze stayed trained on me. I could tell he was thinking about how to one-up me on this assignment. He’d been straightforward about how us tying on entrance exams made him feel competitive.
The feeling was mutual.
“You two will be partnered up,” Jarvins said, scanning the pages with an infuriatingly neutral expression.
He gave nothing away as to whose persona he thought was more put-together.
“Use the timer on your tablets for five-minutes and interview each other with the questions in your email. Stay in character while you interact. Let the interview be mutual and natural to your personas.”
Neither of us said a word as we walked back to our desks to grab our tablets and found a spot in the back of the room to do the interview.
We sat cross-legged on the floor, facing each other. My magic wouldn’t stop buzzing under my skin at his proximity.
I opened my inbox without looking at him, trying to maintain focus, though I could feel his gaze moving over me.
My heart pounded harder as I remembered that he’d heard everything between Zuko and me last night. Heat bloomed over my cheeks. My gaze wandered over toward Zuko, who was already looking at me as he finished his persona.
He winked.
I ducked my head back down toward the tablet. Calming my nerves and desire was difficult but not impossible.
We scrolled in silence for less than a minute, searching for Jarvins’s email. The only sound was the quiet hum of other students talking around us as Jarvins paired others up as they finished.
His red eyes flicked up once, catching mine over the tablet screen. “Do you have the questions up?”
“Basic identity probing first,” I mumbled, reading through the questions to ask. “What’s your full name? Any nicknames you actually like being called?”
Dimitri’s eyes fluttered shut, tablet balanced loosely in one hand.
He took a slow, deliberate breath that expanded his chest and made the line of his shoulders roll back.
When he exhaled, it was as if something in him shifted.
The sharp-edged stillness he usually wore softened, replaced with an easy, almost dangerous charm.
When his red eyes opened, they dipped before lifting again with a lazy half-smile. “Donovan Lakewood,” he said, voice dipping into a warm, deliberate tone that strung each word together like top-shelf liquor poured slow. “But you can call me Don.”
My lips parted in surprise at just how easily he slipped into the persona I’d poked holes in during our study session. The shift in him was seamless, and I couldn’t deny that it intrigued me.
“Okay, Don,” I said, leaning back just enough to study the change in his posture, “where are you from? Anything someone should know about your hometown?”
His hand slid down his sleeve in an idle dusting motion, a flourish so unlike the Dimitri I knew that I almost forgot to write it off as performative. “Cursinia,” he answered, lips curving but eyes unreadable. “Only advice? Lock your doors at night, and double-lock them if you hear a knock.”
The smoothness in his tone was too flirty to be Dimitri.
He leaned back on his hands, smirk sharpening. “Your turn, Miss…?”
“Melone,” I replied, drawing in my own deep breath before letting my posture shift. My shoulders rolled, chin tilted, and lips curved into a bright smile. “Renee Melone. So nice to meet you, Don. You can call me Renee during the interview.”
“Renee,” he purred. “Let’s hear your answers.”
“Of course.” My voice went higher and airier than it usually would. “Ask away, Don.”
He arched a brow. “What’s the story behind your job?”