Chapter 11
Isat high on the thick branch of an Ember tree as the crickets began to chirp, and the sun hung just above the horizon. Somewhere in the distance a horn blew. It sounded different from the one at home, but the meaning was the same.
“What was that?” Pyro whispered from the branch above me.
“It means get inside or die,” I answered.
“Oh.”
Yes, oh, I thought.
A few minutes later the final horn blew.
The sound prickled the hairs on my body.
Anytime I’d ever heard it I’d either run or was already locked inside my house with the shutters over the windows.
My father was probably pacing the floors.
I’d bet my mother and grandmother were quietly sewing baby clothes in the main room.
It was abhorrently foreign that I sat stark still watching the sun disappear.
My body twitched, urging me to run. The wall was at least five miles from here.
Would they lower the rope for me if I was being chased?
I wondered if there were ever people pounding on the entrance gate of the city, begging to be let in, and were left to be slaughtered.
If I were to be put on wall duty, I couldn’t stand at the top and watch them die. I wouldn’t.
In silence, we waited. The moonlight hit the forest and the leaves all around us gave off a subtle orange glow, like the embers of a fire floating into the night.
It was beautiful. To distract myself from the rising panic, I plucked a leaf and rubbed the soft fiber between my fingers.
It left an illuminated film on my fingertips.
A quick flash of white caught my eye. I wasn’t sure what it was until a pair of animal eyes reflected behind a bush... a wolf. My brows pinched. The same white wolf I’d seen near Nocturnus? It couldn’t be. But a wolf with such a beautiful coat would be rare.
A scream echoed through the wood; the leaf dropped from my grip, floating to the ground next to Vander. I jerked in the direction of it, expecting the monster to appear. My heart crashed loudly in my chest. I pulled my legs up and settled into a crouch ready to move, the wolf forgotten.
Vander waited at the base of our tree, not trying to hide himself, picking at something beneath his fingernail.
My jaw came unhinged. How could he be so unbothered at a time like this?
The other trainers were half hidden behind bushes or somewhere in the shadows but not him.
Taewyn hand signaled with his finger and thumb forming a circle, and his other three fingers upright. Three?
A quiet snap, and the crunching of leaves finally caught my ear.
Vander slipped around the other side of the trunk and pressed his back to it.
I gripped my knife in hand, sweat dampened my palms underneath my gloves.
I wasn’t supposed to move from this spot unless absolutely necessary. Which was perfectly fine with me.
A large tawny owl screeched and swooped in, landing on the branch next to me. I froze, watching those big yellow eyes stare ahead. It didn’t know I was here.
Three shadowy figures came into view. Two males guarded a female at the center.
She looked about my age, dark matted hair, face dirty but beautiful.
She reminded me of Kayda. The male on the left was tall, maybe a little older than her, the one on the right appeared mature.
I half wondered if the older one was their.
.. father. Who would have turned who? I’d read in the LOA manual that some wildlings stuck together when changed around the same time.
It made me sick to think of it.
The owl hooted and took flight, drawing the younger male’s gaze—to me. I gulped. We locked eyes. A warning ripped through me, a tingle sliding down my spine. Vampire. Vampire. Vampire.
He screamed, that horrible high-pitched sound. “Assassin!”
A silver blade, covered in blood, suddenly protruded out from the center of his chest. Vander stood behind him, holding the other end. The blade pulled free, and the vampire slowly turned gray. Falcon or Ghost, I couldn’t tell in the dark, quickly took down the other male, and the woman bolted.
“Get her,” Vander commanded.
Scout was on her heels. “Assassins!” she screamed. “Assassins!”
An arrow cut through the air and hit her in the back. She dropped onto her face, and Scout shoved his sword through her heart. Each one of their bodies turned to stone in a matter of seconds.
“There are more close by for her to call out like that!” Scout shouted.
I spotted shadows moving between trees in several directions. At least three more. I lost track of the trainers. They vanished like wisps of smoke on the air. With a sweaty palm, I gripped my knife tighter. They wouldn’t... leave us?
“Should we help them?” Pyro shifted in the branch above.
“No, Viper said to stay.”
Celine had an arrow knocked back and let one fly. I followed it until it struck a vampire in the chest with a sickening thud. The male had made it to within a couple feet of our trees.
“Damn, you hit it, Smoke.” Taewyn sounded impressed. The vampire slowly turned gray and hardened to stone with hands outstretched, and a grotesque wide-open mouth, fangs bared. “Through the heart even.”
“I’ve been shooting arrows since I was three, Rebel.”
“Yes, but this is a fast-moving target,” I said, impressed myself. I needed to talk to Vander about taking up the bow.
“Another one! Get her!” Pyro pointed with a shaky hand. I wasn’t sure if she trembled from fear or the rush of the fight.
This vampire ran as fast as I did when chasing the last of the sunlight.
Celine shot at her and missed. I tensed as she reached the base of my tree.
She was only ten feet below me and began to climb.
Shit. I stood and pulled myself onto a higher branch, then another.
Pyro did, too. I moved as quickly as I could, but we were about to run out of branches to flee to.
“She’s gaining on them!” Taewyn wailed. “Shoot her, Smoke!”
“I can’t get her through those branches!”
I stopped and peered down, heart hammering like the hooves of running wild horses. She was three feet from me, two. I stomped on her hand as she reached for the branch at my feet.
Her wide, fanged mouth opened and she hissed. “I’ve never seen scared assassins. You must be babies.”
I crushed the fingers of her other hand, then swiped my knife at her wrist. It still unnerved me that they talked and looked human even if they were far from it. She hissed again and managed to grab hold of my ankle. “Let go!”
“Baby assassins must taste sweeter.”
Gritting my teeth, I kicked at her face.
The toe of my boot smashed into her jaw.
She shrieked and lost balance, releasing me.
I grabbed the branch in front of my face and swung down.
Both feet slammed into her gut and she fell back, bouncing off tree limbs on her way down until she hit the ground in an odd, crumpled position.
“Is she dead?” Pyro asked.
“No. Her heart must be destroyed.” I lightly bit my lower lip, watching her for movement.
I knew what I had to do, and fast. Taking a deep breath, I hurried down and dropped from the lowest branch, pulling my knife.
I never imagined I’d be the one to get out of the tree to kill a vampire, but someone had to and no one else moved.
“Aesira,” Celine hissed. “Get back in the tree. I can get her.”
“You can’t or you would have already. Just keep an eye out for more so they don’t sneak up on me.
” The vampire had fallen on the opposite side of where Celine and Taewyn could see.
I hovered above her, knife poised in both hands.
The vampire’s eyes fluttered and her broken, bent leg snapped back into position.
I dropped my weight and drove the knife into her heart. The sickening crunch was something I’d have to get used to. It made me want to vomit again.
I swore I heard a slow clap and whipped around. Vander melted out from the cover of the trees with the other trainers flanking him. I pulled my blade free and stood, brows pinched. “Was this a... test?” I balked. Branches and leaves shuttered and shifted as the other apprentices descended.
“I suppose they’re not helpless after all,” Vander said with a final clap, like being proud of a child for doing the most basic task. “Not bad for your first hunt.”
“Did you set this up from the beginning?” I demanded.
The trainers looked amongst each other, then laughed. “You did good for a baby assassin,” Scout said and their laughter intensified. Except for Vander. He watched me with curiosity, like he was waiting for something.
My blood boiled.
“She doesn’t like being called a baby assassin,” Falcon teased.
“Yeah, ha, ha, ha, it’s so funny that I was attacked by a vampire.”
Celine was the first to step up beside me.
“My first time out here and you leave us to the vamps? That’s cold.”
“We didn’t leave you to anything.” Vander spoke as if we were overreacting. “We were watching. Falcon had an arrow trained on her if she got too close.”
I glared daggers at him, mentally slicing them into his heart. He knew I was afraid of them. He knew they’d killed members of my family, and yet he’d allowed her to touch me. If I was a seasoned assassin, I’d find it acceptable, but this was maliciously negligent.
“What would be too close? She grabbed me.” I imagined Falcon asking him if she should release the arrow and him not giving her permission, and I started to shake with anger.
“And you’re fine. More than fine. You handled it on your own.”
Falcon laughed softly. “I can see that scowl through your mask. There’s no need to be so upset.”
I wasn’t risking my life for their amusement.
This wasn’t a game to me. My life wasn’t to be gambled with.
I’d just started to trust that Vander wanted to help me, and he did this?
Shaking my head, I moved to go around them.
I didn’t have a particular destination in mind, but I didn’t want to be ridiculed.