The Scarlet Dagger (The Red Sector Chronicles, #1)

by Krystle Jones

  “There,” he said softly, stepping back. “Now it’s official. Welcome to the Syndicate, Sergeant McAllister.”

  I looked down. There on the badge was my name, preceded by the abbreviation SGT. I reached up and touched it, this new item that branded me as a true vampire supporter. Anger, old and restless, stirred in my gut, and I quickly pushed my mind to other things, afraid I would focus too much on my hatred and forget my promise to Leo.

  Aden’s mouth curled at the corner into a small smile. “Do you know how to salute?”

  Without hesitation, I raised my right hand to my forehead at an angle. “I’ve spent almost the past two years around my mother, who was a Marine, remember?”

  Aden nodded and my hand fell back to my side. “Of course you’d know. As a note, whenever you see me or someone of similar ranking, you are to stop, face them, and salute. Is that understood?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He suppressed a grin and I resisted the urge to smack him on the arm. “All right,” he said. “I have some business to attend to, but I’ll meet up with you later, around lunch.”

  He started to walk off. “Wait a minute,” I called. “Aren’t you supposed to be guarding me or something?”

  He turned around and threw me an amused look. “I think you can handle things for an hour or two.” His blue eyes sparkled with mischief, a sliver of his natural self slipping in. “Unless you want to admit you need me.”

  I flushed under his intense gaze, caught off guard. “That’s completely ridi –”

  “There you are!” squealed a bubbly voice. “I was wondering what had happened to you.”

  I turned around, coming face-to-face with a pair of wide blue eyes. Excitement radiated in waves off of Angel as she tugged at my arm, pulling me into the classroom. I glanced over my shoulder, but Aden was gone.

  Some bodyguard he is.

  “Over here,” Angel said, still tugging at my arm. “I saved you a seat, just in case.”

  I blinked. “Oh, er, thanks.”

  Every conversation stopped the moment we entered the room, and I felt the accusing stares of our colleagues on me. Emotions – fear, disgust, hatred, and rage – roved toward me in waves, so strong that I nearly choked on it. My thoughts had been so preoccupied with Aden that I hadn’t prepared myself for such an onslaught of almost telekinetic power. My skin broke out in a cold sweat from trying to suppress the multiple connections struggling to form without my permission.

  What’s happening? Why is my glamour so out of control?

  Angel picked up on my distress. “Hey,” she said, gripping me by the shoulders and shielding me from the class. “Just take a deep breath. Focus on your breathing, and push the thoughts away.”

  I did as she said, though when I closed my eyes, I swayed. Her tiny hands tightened around my shoulders, holding me steady. “Breathe,” she whispered. “Think of a calm, secret place.”

  Having no choice but to place some trust in her, I did as she said, seeing myself lying in the shade of a tree, a mere dot in the ocean of grass stretching out on either side of me. The air smelled of wildflowers, and sunlight dappled my skin. A gentle breeze caressed my hair, urging me to relax, as the sounds of the room faded away, replaced by the doldrums of the meadow.

  “Good,” Angel said, sounding farther away. “Now push every thought out of your head. If one comes up, just brush it aside. Don’t judge any sounds you hear as negative or positive. Just let everything go, and focus only on your breathing and your secret place.”

  At first, it was difficult to do as she instructed. My head swam with stray thoughts, some not my own, and it took some effort to force them away. But soon my head cleared and I felt a perfect stillness I hadn’t known in years. My breathing deepened and my shoulders relaxed.

  Someone loudly cleared their throat and I sleepily opened my eyes. Angel blurred then focused, smiling. “Feel better?”

  “Yeah,” I said, a bit dreamily. “Loads. Thank you.”

  She shrugged it off, beaming. “Don’t mention it.”

  “Ladies,” said the teacher sternly. “Unless you plan on teaching today, I need you both to find seats.”

  “Sorry, Professor Sanchez,” Angel said with a disarming smile. She grabbed my hand and we wove our way through the desks. I plopped down in the desk beside hers in the far corner of the room, grateful she’d had the foresight to position us near the back so I was less inclined to be stared at for the remainder of the class. Though Angel’s technique had helped, it hadn’t completely blocked out people’s feelings. I still picked up stray thoughts and flutters of emotions. But as people’s attention drifted away from me, their emotions calmed somewhat, allowing me to breathe and think again. It was like coming up for air after being submerged underwater for too long.

  I sank back against my seat, shaken. What was that? How come I had all of a sudden been “attacked” by glamour? I hadn’t encountered anything like that before.

  Angel went to a shelf on the back wall and retrieved a rather worn textbook, placing it in front of me. “Here you go. Your own Book of Fun.” She wrinkled her nose. “Or as I call it, the Book of Doom.”

  I smiled, not sure if I should tell her I found the first title more appropriate, at least for me. Angel sat down and handed me an extra notebook, a calculator, and some pencils and pens. “Aden asked me to pick these up for you,” she said upon my curious look. “Figured you’d be running late today, with the paperwork and all.”

  I stopped and quirked a suspicious brow at her. “Has he asked you to spy on me?”

  Angel’s surprise was apparent. She blushed sheepishly. “Maybe. Sort of. Not really.”

  I sighed, suppressing a giggle at her discomfort. “It’s okay. I thought it was too good to be true when he said he had other business to attend to this morning.”

  So much for freedom…

  Angel looked a bit hurt and I hastily said, “Not that I mind. I appreciate what you’ve done for me, and I could definitely use a friend right now.”

  She seemed to brighten at this and I gave her a tentative smile. Angel was nice – really nice, actually – but there was something about her that didn’t quite set well with me.

  It’s because she’s one of them… a vampire.

  No matter how human she acted, no matter how normal everyone appeared, I knew better. We were a far cry from our mortal selves, and I couldn’t forget that ever, not if I wanted to get out of here to warn Leo.

  The teacher began her lecture, asking us to open our textbooks to a certain page, and Angel and I both settled back into our seats, doing as she asked. I frowned when I saw today’s lesson. Back in my old life, I had already gone through this. Oh, well. At least I knew I wasn’t too terribly behind.

  As the teacher droned on, writing out examples on the board, I scanned through my schedule. Everything was lined up in seven one hour blocks, with a thirty minute lunch between the fourth and fifth sessions. It read:

  1st block: Calculus

  2nd block: English Literature

  3rd block: Endurance Training

  4th block: World History

  LUNCH (half hour)

  5th block: Hand-to-hand combat

  6th block: Offensive/defensive strategies

  7th block: Sword fighting

  “Sword fighting?” I said, keeping my voice low. “Are they kidding me?”

  “Let me see.” Angel leaned over and I pushed my schedule to the edge of my desk. Her eyes scanned the paper and she clucked her tongue. “It looks pretty basic for a first year, actually. Well, except for the advanced gen. ed. courses. You’re a senior?”

  “Yeah,” I said, grimacing. “Or at least, I was. I’m not really sure what I am anymore.”

  Angel gave me a sympathetic smile. “It’s not so bad, this way of life. At least we’re safe down here.”

  Something occurred to me. “Am I… stuck like this? You know, forever?”

  Angel blinked and cocked her head, making her curly pig
tails sway to the side. “Stuck like what? A teenager?”

  I nodded. Near the front of the room, the instructor was scribbling what looked like an assignment on the board.

  Angel pursed her lips. “Not exactly. You’ll still age, though it takes a while for it to really show.”

  “Like, how long are we talking?”

  “Eh, I don’t know. Something like one year for every three hundred.”

  “Every three hundred!”

  The people in the rows in front of us turned around to glare and I flushed. “Sorry,” I muttered.

  Thankfully, the instructor hadn’t seemed to notice my outburst. I glanced at Angel, but she was already buried in the assignment. I sighed and popped the point out on my pencil, settling in to do my work.

  As the period wore on and people’s attention turned to their homework, the mask of fear and hatred drifting on the air faded away. I had never been so grateful for homework in my life. I was the first to finish, and when I went to turn it in to the teacher, she looked it over with growing surprise. Brows raised, she wrote 100% at the top in red ink and handed it back to me. “Excellent, Sergeant McAllister,” she said. She looked at me in awe, though I sensed her unease lurking beneath the surface.

  I gave her an awkward smile and hastily walked back to my seat before the students had time to notice me. It was weird, wanting to be invisible. While I wasn’t exactly the “queen bee” at my old school, I had kept a steady circle of friends, and I pretty much got along with everybody. But here, I was hated, shunned. It was harder than I expected, no matter how much I told myself I didn’t care what they thought because they were a bunch of vampires.

  The rest of the block passed and a single electronic bell chimed, signaling the end of the period. Everyone got up and I all but ran from the room, not wanting to endure another drowning in emotions.

  “Hey, wait up!” Angel called, rushing after me. I walked down the hall, fighting the stream of students and trying to keep my head down. I felt Angel’s eyes on me. “Are you okay? I know it’s probably nerve-racking coming back after what happened.” She shuddered, no doubt thinking about Frost’s methods of persuasion. “But I swear, you have nothing to worry about with Aden watching over you. He’s the best.”

  “Well, you don’t see him exactly watching over me now, do you?” I looked around and sighed. There was still no sign of him.

  It’s for the best. You need to keep your head on straight. You should be thankful he’s gone. That’ll be one less distraction to deal with.

  We were moving at such a quick pace that hardly anyone had time to notice me. I was in such a flurry to run – anywhere – that I almost tripped when Angel grabbed me and swung me around in a different direction.

  “Hold up there,” she said, charging down the hall at an equally brisk pace. “English lit. is this way, which you have with yours truly.”

  She winked at me, and some of my tension eased. I could feel her goodness seeping through her aura, and though it was somewhat comforting, it was also a reminder of my new condition. I shook my head, feeling shaky.

  Angel suddenly pulled me to a stop. She was shorter than me by a few inches; even on her tiptoes, she wasn’t quite eye level. “Hey,” she said softly, “are you okay?”

  I took a deep breath, still queasy from the earlier intake of emotions and slivers of thoughts that weren’t mine. My eyes squeezed together, as if in doing so I could shut out the world. “It’s nothing. I’m fine.”

  Angel cocked her head to the side again, chewing on her bottom lip. “Aden told me about the glamour,” she said carefully. “Can’t say I speak from experience or anything – I’m actually pretty bad at it – but in our courses, they teach us to meditate.”

  “Meditate?” I repeated doubtfully. “You mean what we were doing earlier?”

  Angel nodded. “Yep. You don’t have to go all Zen, but it’s actually pretty relaxing, if for nothing else, to relieve stress. A really good time to practice is right before you go to bed.”

  I thought back to the classroom, how I had managed to subdue the glamour when I focused my mind on something else. Not easy but not undoable, either.

  “Thanks for the advice,” I said.

  Angel smiled, and I could tell she was eager to help. “Barriers – or blocking out other people’s thoughts – are a little harder to keep up until you get used to doing it. It’s especially hard when you’re stressed out or nervous.”

  I nodded. “Try not to freak out – got it.”

  We began walking again, with Angel taking the lead. “By the way,” she said, “I’m sorry about what Dezyre did.” Her sweet blue eyes turned surprisingly steely. “She thinks she’s entitled to special treatment just because she’s the top medical student.” She smirked. “About time she got what she deserved.”

  “What happened to her?” I had wondered why I hadn’t run into her yet, figuring she’d greet me at the doors with a full-blown mob.

  Angel smiled. “She was suspended for handling the situation poorly. There’s no reason why things got as crazy as they did, and it was largely her fault.”

  Ha. Touché, bitch.

  Angel motioned for me to speed up. “Come on, or we’ll be late for class. And believe me, you don’t want to serve detention here.”

  The students were thinning out when we turned the corner, and I picked up my pace. A couple of guys in white lab coats approached and my eyes lifted as they passed, meeting with cold glares. One guy locked eyes with me. He was tall and lean, with a sharp-angled face covered in a five ‘o clock shadow. He looked like an average Joe, only his eyes were wicked and sharp, as sly and intelligent as Frost’s were frigid and cruel.

  “Hey guys,” he said in a thick, gravelly voice. “Look who it is. It’s none other than our little hunter superstar.”

  Angel dropped her voice. “Just ignore them.” She tried to pull me along, but two of the lab techs blocked our path. She placed her hands on her hips. “Really? What are we, in the third grade? Come on guys.”

  She tried to pass, but one shoved her back so hard she nearly stumbled into me. I caught her, my eyes sharpening to slits as I fixed a steely glare on the techs. “Your beef is obviously with me. So let her go, and we can take this up personally.”

  “Oh, now what’s this?” the gravelly-voiced man said, stepping forward. “Do you think I’m dumb enough to believe some hunter whore actually cares about a vampire?”

  My eyes remained locked on his, my face a hard mask of steel as he leaned down. “You deserve to rot in hell for what your kind have done,” he hissed.

  “What’s going on here?” barked a low, smooth voice. My gaze shifted to find Aden watching us, arms crossed and a frown on his face. “It can’t be what it looks like, because I know better than to think that our base’s finest laboratory technicians would be taunting two of our most promising recruits.”

  The lanky man snorted at the word “promising,” covering his mouth with his hand as he muttered something under his breath.

  Aden’s sharp gaze snapped to him and he cringed as Aden stalked toward him. Aden loomed over him, and the tech shrank away from us and backed against the wall. “McAllister is under my charge,” Aden said, his voice low and menacing. “When you threaten her, you threaten me. And I don’t think you want to do that.”

  The man gulped, then smirked. “Nothing wrong with hittin’ on the ladies, right guys?”

  He looked to his comrades, who shrugged and laughed nervously, as if it was all a big joke.

  Aden’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Get back to the labs.”

  The rest of the techs scrambled down the hall, all too eager to get away, but the lone man lingered against the wall, glaring at me, before finally trailing after his colleagues.

  I felt twinges of his resentment and anger toward not only me, but Aden. I was halfway done with shutting him out of my mind when the warning came through, barely readable but there all the same, and chills broke out along my arms.
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br />   They won’t be able to protect you forever.

  Chapter 12

  The man’s last words – or thought, rather – hung in my head for the rest of the day. Aden also never left my side again. I didn’t argue or complain, figuring neither would help my cause (warning Leo). While I was becoming more and more comfortable with the idea of having Aden as a bodyguard, I knew it was only a matter of time before someone tried to attack me again. Judging from the reactions of my fellow recruits, I was about as welcome here as a terrorist.

  As Aden and I walked together toward my hand-to-hand combat session, no one spoke or looked at me. It was like being invisible, though I could feel their unease, thick and strong, around me.

  We made a pit-stop by a bathroom, where Aden handed me a pair of black pants and told me to change out.

  “You mean I can’t fight in a skirt?” I joked, taking the pants from him.

  Aden’s mouth turned up at one corner. “Can’t say I wouldn’t mind.”

  Face red, I hurried into the bathroom and quickly changed out, somewhat excited and anxious at the prospect of sparring.

  The combat course was taught in a spacious, rectangular room, and the floor was made out of different textures laid out in equal slabs – padding, gravel, mud, water, ice, and cement.

  I looked from one to the other. “What’s up with the different floors?”

  “They’re arenas,” Aden said, “to teach you how to fight on different surfaces.”

  I nodded, finding sense in it.

  The rest of the room looked very similar to the one the Guild used back home to train in. Mirrors lined the walls, and punching bags hung fat and heavy from the ceiling. Sparring equipment – helmets, shin guards, and gloves – were stowed in cubbies off to the side, and a weapons rack, bearing everything from Sais to wooden staves, hung on the wall.

  The rest of the class, a handful of soldiers around my age, was already gathered in the middle of the room, and when they saw Aden they gave him a salute. Everyone wore matching black uniforms, only I noted their chevrons were not bronze. They were all silver or gold, and each soldier had more than one on his or her sleeve.