Chapter 12
The day of the game finally arrived. I was as ready as I could be with only a couple weeks’ more sparring sessions under my belt. It wasn’t much compared to everyone here, but I was better than the day I fought Morrow.
In preparation for Vampires versus Assassins, Vander and I spent hours climbing trees, buildings, and walls, and practiced stealth while doing it.
Every apprentice stood half-circled in the courtyard with the sun on the verge of setting.
Pink and salmon stained the sky, while a full moon started its ascent.
I pulled in breaths slowly through my nose and let them slip out through my lips.
My stomach ached from nerves. I refused to be the weakest link.
The girl from outside the wall had something to prove tonight.
The other apprentices and I had gotten a speech earlier in the morning about how important this game was to the trainers.
Not only did it involve bragging rights but the reward for the winners was a day off to do whatever we wanted in the city.
Even the trainers wanted that. With a chance to impress the Commanders, and the prospect of some fun and a little mischief, I was eager to win too.
I’d never experienced nightlife in a city, nightlife anywhere for that matter, and Celine and Taewyn had talked all week about the entertainment.
There would be dancing and drinks and music.
We had that back home, but all during sunlight unless we stayed at the longhouse, which my family and I never did.
I’d already grown accustomed to the protection of the wall and tried not to let myself feel the guilt that my family and everyone I knew at home didn’t have this privilege, and most of them never would.
They would be hiding or dying while I played a game.
I’d seen some of the places they talked about while on the rooftops with Viper, but we never went inside.
Even when I had my rest day on the third Sunday, I took a long bath and stayed in bed most of the day, reading through the manual.
I absorbed what was in the book. When I was young, I’d learned to read after only a few weeks of lessons with my mother while my sister took months, and my brother almost a year, to become fluent.
I carved bones in weeks even as a child.
I understood things faster, and now I knew it was because of the blood from Grandma Thora.
She was from a scholar family, and I must have scholar traits.
The most fascinating thing I’d read was that the twin vampire kings had a shared mind.
They could hear each other’s thoughts, and it was rumored that one could even control the other’s movements.
If, say, someone was going to attack the other from behind, the twin that saw the attack could move his brother’s body with a thought.
And their shared queen, Belladonna, was said to be so beautiful that she could ensnare men in a trance if they only looked upon her.
There was more than one story where a male assassin had fallen victim to her.
One account said that a male assassin raised a weapon to her during a mission but stopped and dropped to his knees before her, tilting his head to the side, allowing her to drink.
Belladonna didn’t have the same sway over females, but the kings kept her fiercely guarded.
Vander said they’d grown so paranoid that she would be killed that she hadn’t been spotted in a battle in close to a decade, and infiltrating the Black Castle was next to impossible if you wanted to live to see another sunrise.
I’d never seen anyone so beautiful they could be otherworldly... aside from Vander.
On our rest day, Vander had been in and out, spending part of the day reading in bed.
I wondered what he read, if it was for fun or if he studied something.
He also spent hours sitting at the desk in the corner of the room, sketching in a notebook, while I continued my study of the LOA manual, the map for apprentice games, and took my own notes.
I wasn’t nosy enough to peek over his shoulder to see what he’d been drawing, but I’d thought about it.
With all of us gathered for the game, the air was filled with an excited intensity.
My hands rested comfortably at my back. Vander stood behind me.
Even if he wasn’t touching me, I could still feel his presence.
My body reacted to him, spine tingling, heart rate spiking.
My skin became more sensitive, warmer. It only happened with him, and when he was so close.
I was too aware of him, and it bothered me. He was my trainer.
Commander Ace and Commander Locke stood before us.
This was the first time I’d ever seen our top Commander.
She was shorter and slighter than I’d anticipated, but she stood like the whole world should bow at her feet.
Confidence and power oozed from her the way a river knew it could take down everything before it if it wanted to.
Her dark hair was pulled back into a sleek bun, and sharp eyes quickly made their way across our faces.
I couldn’t tell how old she was. She didn’t look a day over thirty, but someone with her knowledge and position must be older.
“Good evening. The first apprentice game is an exciting night. It’s a training exercise to see where you are in your skills.
I don’t expect perfection at this point, but I do expect you to treat this as a true mission.
We do not play silly games for children.
This is about honor and prestige. Many assassins who show great promise in the games go on to rank and be rewarded swiftly after graduation.
You want glory? You want to earn a name for yourself?
You want to gain the respect of your peers and superiors? It starts here. Tonight.
“The city is busy, people will be shopping, drinking, and enjoying themselves, and it is your job not to be spotted by citizens. However you accomplish that is up to you. There is a map of designated areas you must adhere to. Your teams have already been chosen, and Commander Locke will read your name and team. Good luck.” She put a fist against the center of her chest, and everyone else made the same gesture back to her.
I quickly followed, even if a beat behind.
Then she was gone. I liked her. A woman in charge of a guild dominated by men was someone to look up to.
Commander Locke lifted a piece of paper from behind himself. “Team Vampire will join in a line behind me. Team Assassin will stay where you are. The first name on the list is: Beast, Team Assassin.”
The big idiot turned around and bumped his fist into Dred’s.
I truly hoped we weren’t on the same team.
I would find it difficult to work with him.
I could already hear the jeers and stupid comments.
Ever since he’d accused me of doing bedroom favors for Vander to get ahead, I’d had dreams of beating him to a bloody pulp.
I hated him. Our rivalry could cost us the game.
“Nightfire, Team Vampire.”
On and on the Commander went calling names and rotating teams each time. “Smoke, Team Vampire.” She stepped forward with Falcon, and they moved to stand behind Commander Locke.
“Pyro, Team Assassin.” I hadn’t seen her much since the night I’d punched her trainer.
Either Ghost was avoiding Vander and me, or he was avoiding her.
They hadn’t even sat next to each other at mealtimes.
I felt bad for hitting her and causing a rift between them.
I had considered too that if he’d punished me for it that rift wouldn’t be there.
But Vander hadn’t cared. In fact, he seemed to have found it entertaining.
“Bonecarver.” I started smiling before he even said it. “Team Vampire.”
Vander gently touched the center of my back, urging me forward, and said quietly, “Uncle Locke knows better than to put me and Dred on the same team.”
“Thankfully,” I said back, glaring at Beast as I did. He stuck out his tongue and made it curl in odd ways. I hurried and found a spot next to Celine.
“We’d better win this,” she whispered. “I need a night out. A smoke and an ale sounds divine right now.”
“I thought you couldn’t smoke anymore?”
“It’s my night off. I’m doing what I want.”
I laughed quietly. I didn’t understand the pull of tobacco. It reminded me of the old, wrinkled men in the longhouse with stained, dirty fingers and half-rotted, yellow teeth.
Once the selections were finished, we huddled in a group.
Vander stepped into the center. All eyes went to him.
There was a reverence among the apprentices.
Their legend was about to speak, and they’d hang on every word.
I wanted to say I didn’t see the appeal, and I wasn’t under his spell, but I would be lying to myself.
There was a magnetism that came with someone who was as frightening as they were attractive.
Sometimes I found myself simply watching him like I was drawn by some unforeseen magic.