by Ward, H. M.
“You can’t steal the items from the other team!” Missy’s voice was indignant. Kahli slid the pointed tip down her pale throat, careful not to scratch the girl. Missy hated Kahli’s guts and thought the wild girl would kill her and not think twice about it. Missy stiffened.
Kahli kept the weapon on Missy, “As far as I know, this is a survival test, and I have every intention of surviving. I’m not going back empty-handed. You are.” She shoved the girl forward to stand with her team. “Walk away. Now.”
Her pretty face turned into an angry sneer, “Or you’ll what?”
Kahli repeated the rumor’s she’d heard, “I gutted a pack of wolves with my bare hands. What do you think I could do to the lot of you with a shiv made of ice? The question isn’t what I’ll do—it’s do you want to live?” Kahli’s stance was stiff, waiting for one of them to attack, but they didn’t. The three of them remained silent for a moment, but the more Kahli spoke, the more spooked they became. Before Kahli asked her final question, fear flooded their eyes. Silence followed. Tension made the air feel warmer, though it was freezing outside. To speed things up Kahli stamped her foot at them, and the other team scattered like mice.
When they were out of sight, she called to Cassie, “Come on. We need to put our loot together and see what’s left. Hopefully this is everything.” Cassie’s face lit up.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
When they combined he contents of both packs, Cassie and Kahli had everything from the list. Kahli discarded the duplicate items, burying them under the snow so the other team couldn’t find them, and swung the pack over her shoulder. It wasn’t too heavy. When she handled the items, looking them over, she’d made a plan, but Kahli had to make sure Cassie was safe. She also had to be certain that the bag made it back to the palace.
Cassie was so ecstatic that she had trouble not jumping up and down. The girl was so full of life. It made Kahli’s head hurt to think Cassie almost died today, that she still might if things went poorly before they made it back to the palace.
“Kahli, do you know what this means?” Cassie’s voice trembled, her mittens pressed against her lips. It wasn’t until that moment that Kahli really looked at her friend. Cassie thought she was going to die, and she’d made peace with it, but part of her couldn’t accept it. Now she was trembling with excitement. She’d see another sunrise and another snowfall. Tonight would not be her final evening amongst the living.
Kahli smiled softly at her, and placed a hand on her shoulder, “I know. I’m glad we got everything… But I’m done yet.”
Cassie’s smile faded, “What? What do you mean?”
“I need you to take this,” Kahli extended the pack toward Cassie, “Take it back to the palace. Tell Jess we got everything. The other team said she was already defeated. I guess our entire team is already inside, huh?”
Cassie nodded and then shook her head, “Yes, they probably are, but what are you planning on doing? The guards are everywhere. It may have looked like we were alone today, but we weren’t. If you actually harmed one of the other girls, they would have appeared and thrown you to the Queen for sentencing. They’re here Kahli—all around us. There’s no way out.” Cassie was certain that Kahli meant to escape. She knew the other girl wouldn’t stay long, but this wasn’t the time to leave. They were surrounded, even if Kahli couldn’t tell. A few years ago one of her friends tried to take off. Cassie saw first-hand what happened to him. She didn’t want that to happen to Kahli. She looked worriedly at Kahli, hoping she wouldn’t do anything stupid.
Kahli scanned the dazzling white snow, looking for a sign of the guards, but they appeared to be alone. That’s what the vamp world was, appearances and illusions, the false façade of an evil society. One thing at a time, she told herself. “I’m not running, Cass. It isn’t sunset yet. The game isn’t over. I can’t leave the flag. I have to go get it.” She didn’t want Missy’s blood on her hands. Smacking down someone who talks trash about your friends is one thing, killing them is quite another.
Cassie stared at her like she had two heads, “But we’ve already won. What’s the point?”
Kahli shrugged, “I don’t know. There may be no point, but I have to find out. What would happen if we had both? What would happen tonight if our team had the flag and all the items on the list?” Cassie shook her head, unsure. “That’s my point. Nobody knows. And we have very little leverage to get any say in anything. I can’t leave the flag there. I have to try…”
Kahli desperately wanted Cassie to understand. It felt like there was a hand crushing her chest, squeezing her heart. The joy was sucked out of Cassie as she spoke, her expression becoming dower; her dark eyes surged with worry. That was the last thing Kahli wanted, but the flag was too valuable. She had to get it. Kahli pressed the bag into Cassie’s arms. “Take this to the palace and I’ll meet up with you at nightfall.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
There wasn’t much said beyond that. Cassie understood what Kahli meant, why she wanted the flag—but a girl in her position couldn’t afford to do something like that. She was weak as it was. The idea of running through the snow and trying to get past the other team to get to the flag, well, it was beyond her. Cassie took the pack, and walked away, leaving Kahli alone.
Kahli hiked toward the western side of the palace. She hoped Cassie didn’t get her bag jacked on the way back to the palace. That was the only risk in letting her walk back alone, but she didn’t think that the other team had it in them. Everyone was so afraid of getting bruised or scratched that they didn’t fight back. That desire was driven out of them and replaced with fear.
The hairs on the back of Kahli’s neck prickled. She felt like someone was following her, but when she looked back, no one was there. It must be the guards, she thought to herself. Ignoring them, she walked on, careful to remain hidden. Wandering the western property, Kahli walked through frozen glens and the Queen’s rose garden. Each flower sparkled like it was cut from crystal and planted in the snow. The colors—reds, pinks, whites, yellows—all peered through the ice. It was one of the most beautiful things she’d ever seen. The Queen must have had the roses grown indoors, and then had the flowers planted. The world had grown so cold, that roses iced before they had a chance to wither and die. As she glanced around, Kahli noticed the entire garden was like that. Nothing was barren. It made her pause. Kahli bent at the knees and snapped a rose from the slender bush. It came off in her hands, the thorns sharp as iron, protruding from the sides. Kahli rolled it between her fingers, admiring its beauty before placing it in her pocket with the frozen shiv. She made a mental note to get weapons that wouldn’t melt as soon as possible.
Kahli passed the garden through a stone archway that was dusted with snow, and moved toward a lake in the distance. It shone like a mirror as the sun set behind it, blinding her. Kahli raised her hand and saw it. There to the right of the lake was a white tower. The lake was in front of it, making her an easy target. She’d have to go around another way to see if she could get close. It was possible that the opposing team had given up and headed indoors, but Kahli wasn’t going to chance it. The flag was too important. Glancing over her shoulder, she doubled back and moved around the edge of the lake out of sight.
Crouched behind snow drifts, Kahli moved methodically closer to the tower of ice and snow. It stood about ten feet tall and twenty feet wide, large enough to hold a few people. But were they inside? Feeling the sharpened ice in her coat pocket, she wondered how insane it was to try and force a flag from them. They had to be desperate by now, especially if they knew that she’d taken their bag. Kahli approached, silently, moving closer and closer until there were only a few feet between her and the wall of ice. There had to be an opening into the fort, but she didn’t see it. Listening for signs of life, Kahli waited, but the only noise she heard was the rush of wind.
Kahli approached the fortress carefully. It appeared to be abandoned. At the top of the structure, there was a tiny pole. At the top of the pol
e flew a small white flag with silver stitched around the edges. That was it. Kahli turned her head side to side, looking and listening for danger. The sensation that eyes were on her didn’t cease, but she didn’t consider it again. Cassie said the place was crawling with guards.
After a few minutes of circling the bottom of the wall, Kahli was certain that the post was abandoned. There was no one else here, but her. She took her time, trying to reach the flag. The first attempt to scale the exterior wall landed Kahli on her butt. There was no purchase in the ice. It was like the snow had been smoothed into a seamless sheet and raised into walls. Kahli’s body was numb. Her cheeks stung. The cold had soaked through her clothing ages ago, and it was becoming more and more appealing to lay down in the snow and rest. But she knew what that was, what that meant. People who rested in the snow didn’t get up again. Hypothermia snuck up on them, and before they knew what happened, the snow felt warm and soft. Her mother had taught her well. Kahli remembered and never rested on the snow.
Pressing her hands to her head, Kahli growled, irritated. She’d gotten this far and it was for nothing. The sun was beginning to sink. There was less than an hour to grab the flag and make it back to the palace. Kahli looked around for something to use, something to make it possible to scale the short wall and grab the flag. But there was nothing. Without thinking about it, she shoved her hands in her pockets. She wrapped her fingers around the rose and the shiv. She fumbled them in her hands, staring at the wall, thinking. The ice was thick. The rose stem felt like a nail in her hand. Her eyes widened, and she pulled the icicle out, gazing at it, then back at the walls. They were built today. Even if they appeared to be ice, they weren’t. The snow beneath didn’t have time to turn into that gleaming frozen stone that covered everything. She wondered if the wedge of ice was stronger than the wall. There was only one way to find out. Kahli pressed her hand to the side of the fort. With her other hand, she gripped the shiv tightly, and slammed her hand into the wall just above her head, stabbing it. The piece of ice sank through the surface and into the wall. Kahli’s lips spread into a thin smile.
She repeated the action with the rose, hoping that it would hold as well. The thorns cut into her palm, but it didn’t break. She hoisted herself up the wall, one, two, three, times and she could reach the top wall. Her right hand left a smear of blood over the perfectly white walls. It soaked into the snow, turning orange as it spidered into the ice. Her heart was pounding as she pulled herself to the top of the wall, and pushed up.
There was no one in the fort below her. No one to stop her. The interior of the fort didn’t look the way she’d hoped. The center was a hollow cylinder, except for the pole holding the scrap of fabric. How did they get it up there? It was like they threw the flag and it attached to the top of the pole on its own. There was no way to get it down. Not without reaching the pole from the top. Sighing, Kahli edged forward, slowly, carefully. She could almost reach the flag. It was right in front of her, fluttering on the pole. If she reached out, she’d have it already, but there was nothing to prevent her from falling, nothing to hold on to. Kahli edged closer to the flag, feeling the wall becoming slicker the closer she got. A gust of wind could knock her down now, and she’d break her neck.
The flag was so close. Her feet wanted to slide out from beneath her. They barely had purchase. The wind shifted and blew the flag hard, in her direction. Reaching out, Kahli thought of nothing but the flag. It was so close. The gust made the flag snap, the little triangle stretching toward her outreached hand. Kahli’s fingertips caught the edge, and she yanked it hard. The flag released, and Kahli slipped backward and over the edge of the wall. A scream tore from her throat as she sailed toward the ground, her fingers clutching the scrap of cloth in her hands. Frantically, she tried to grip the walls to slow her fall, but they were solid. The tools she used to scale the wall were gone and she was in a free fall.
Before her head hit the ice, someone was under her, but they didn’t stop her fall. Instead, she crushed them and rolled to the side. When Kahli’s back collided with the ground, the wind was knocked out of her. She made strangled sounds, trying to breathe. A hand was on her back as she panicked.
“You’re all right. Breathe. Just breathe.” It was Cole. He was breathless and kneeling next to her. Suddenly her lungs worked and heaved in air like she was dying. She took a few strangled breaths and pushed herself up. “You okay?”
Gasping, she asked, “What are you doing here?”
“Following you. After you sent Cassie back to the palace, I followed you,” he pulled his cap off, messing up his short black hair, “I saw you take the things from the other team. I knew you did it to save my sister. I can’t thank you enough,” he bit back the distain he felt for her. This was too important, “You spared her life. But I don’t understand what this was?” His thumb jabbed toward the empty pole. “Why was this risk necessary?”
Kahli pushed herself up, wincing at the stabbing pain in her ankle, “Why is everything a risk? Some things are just necessary, okay?”
“Like a broken ankle?” Cole looked down at her foot. She wanted to put all her weight on that leg, but couldn’t.
“If this does what I think it’ll do, then it was worth a sprain.” Kahli glanced at Cole and then back at the sun. They had less than half an hour to bring the flag to the palace from the looks of it. “What happens if we don’t get there on time?”
“We lose, but that’s not going to happen.” His eyes were like coals, black and hard. Cole reached out for her, but Kahli swatted at him. He rolled his eyes, “At least put your hand around my neck so we get back on time. You can’t walk.”
Something made Kahli pause. Cole was supposed to be weak, like his sister, but he’d caught her, and now—now he was strong enough to try and force Kahli. He seemed sure he could make her, even after seeing the things she’d done today. Maybe he was bluffing. Or maybe, Cole wasn’t what he seemed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Kahli finally agreed to Cole’s help, but she didn’t trust him. The outburst and accusations he made earlier weren’t forgiven. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t a Bane. He had issues with her, because she was stronger, more powerful. It wasn’t her fault she didn’t bleed to death when she fell. Fate dealt both of them crappy hands. They could have been born ages ago, back when the world was warm. Instead they lived in a frozen Hell dominated by vampires.
They walked back to the palace with their arms around each other, Cole trying to lend his strength so she could get back to the palace. It didn’t feel like a break. She could put weight on it. The muscle felt strange, like it was forced to go a direction that it didn’t want to, and now she was feeling it. Since Kahli was too short to reach Cole’s neck, she laced her arms around his waist. He held her around her waist and they walked hip-to-hip.
“You caught me,” Kahli blurted out. She’d been wondering why he did it when it could have killed him. That was the first thing that confused her. The second was that he wasn’t as weak as he should have been.
Cole nodded, “Apparently.” His inky eyes were staring straight ahead, unfocused. He adjusted his grip on her waist.
Kahli grimaced, “Why? After you were spewing venom at me earlier, I would have thought you’d let my head crack open on the ice and take the flag back yourself.” Her words were barbed. She couldn’t hide how much she hated relying on him for help.
“What can I say? Bloodstains are really hard to get out of ice,” his face was placid, but his eyes shifted and looked down at her. He didn’t know what to think of her. She was fearless. Only the Bane acted like that, yet she was hurt—unable to heal her wounds. That was part of the reason why he walked her back. If she was a Bane, she was putting on a hell of a show.
Kahli shook her head, her lips curling slightly. He was such an ass. After a few false starts she asked, “So, do you have any other plans for your superhuman strength?”
He shook his head. Staring straight ahead, he answered, “No, the
job market forecast is kind of screwy for that particular skill set at the moment. Thick blood, blood that coagulates—that sort of thing—is in higher demand, which brings us back to you. If you are human, as Cassie claims,” he shifted Kahli’s weight and adjusted his arm on her back, “then you need to get the hell out of here.”
She limped along, staring at the snow, “Assuming that wasn’t my plan in the first place, why should I be worried? I mean its blood. You guys have blood. Who cares if mine is thicker or if I get scabs?” She knew why. In the back of her mind, the reason lurked like a starved wolf waiting to devour her.
Cole shook his head, knowing she was too smart to not see it, “You want me to spell it out? Okay. It’s not about scabs or strength. It’s about blood. It’s about power. The vamps created Bane to try and fix this once before and failed. If they see a way to use you, you’re dead. At the very least, they’ll mate you, maybe even try to clone you, but that won’t be the end of it. There are too many possibilities, too many ways to use you to try and fix this mess.”
Kahli blanched, her mouth hanging open. Her brain couldn’t process things fast enough. “Like, mate mate? Does that mean what I think it means?”
He nodded, “Probably. Depends on how much you know, which I’m guessing is a little bit since I heard you have a wedding rune on your side.” He eyed her, but Kahli didn’t respond. There was no way she was talking wedding night rituals with him. Cole sighed, “They’ll pair you off with a strong human and hope your genes are dominant. It gives them two people to feed off of, but I think that mating’s the least of your worries. Vamps aren’t patient enough for your young to reach maturity. They’ll want something faster. They don’t have the luxury of time to wait for another generation to mature. They needed this fix yesterday.”