by Moore, E. M.
For a moment, the crowd was struck dumb. It was eerily silent as Gregor finished his rally cry. My skin tingled and burned, surges of energy spiked inside me. God, he was good. I looked around me to see vampires and guards alike look at one another. I saw Natalie and Alexander nod at one another. I saw Isabelle take Gregor’s free hand.
Unity.
He took the microphone away from his mouth and looked down, his face a war of emotions as he struggled to keep his composure. Finally, he returned the microphone to his mouth and stared out at the crowd once more. “Remember that as we go forth in the task ahead. If we all work together, we will overcome this trying time and it will be nothing but the memory of not only how we persevered, but how we flourished. As you leave today, please take the packet of information near the exits. Thank you, and thank you again to Miss Stuart and Mr. Carson.”
I stood there speechless, unable to move as Gregor handed the microphone off. He immediately came forward and shook our hands before fleeing to the recesses of the room. T.J. turned toward me. “Wow. I wasn’t expecting that.”
I still couldn’t talk. I was pretty sure my mouth was still open and gaping when I stepped down from the stage and the princes surrounded me to congratulate me on my Medal of Valor. In another world, in another life, this wouldn’t be happening. That thought always struck me. I should be thanking the Ravanas right now for this beautiful life they blessed me with.
Seeing as how I still couldn’t talk, Stephan told them they should take me outside to get some fresh air. We walked out the back entrance, the one through the kitchen at the Rajyvik house and spilled out onto the side lawn. The chill in the air bit at my skin and lifted the haze from my brain. I echoed T.J.’s thoughts. “I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Me either,” Nic said. “Was it me or did Dad just give a war speech like 300 and Lord of the Rings? One of those rally the troops, even if we die, it’ll still be worth it kind of a thing?”
“That was epic,” Connor agreed. “I’m inspired. Let’s go kick some ass.”
Nic chuckled. “Whose ass are you going to kick? We’re headed to another party. A party that was your idea, I might add.”
“I’m going to renege on that. I think we should all go to Ariana’s room and have our way with her. I mean, who else gets to say their girlfriend was awarded a Medal of Valor? Literally no one else in our world. Literally.”
I shook my head at him, but at least he brought me out of my funk. I could always count on Connor for that. “You guys are something else.”
“No,” Christian said. “I think we all just heard that you are something else, and we couldn’t agree more.”
6
Wood smoke filled the air in front of me. Flames danced upward into the night, filling the space around us with heat and light. We sat in the same small clearing I’d been in before when all the trainees went bridge jumping for initiation and then partied around the bonfire afterward. Surrounded by Stephan and Nicolai, it was fine to be here again despite what happened the last time I tried to fit in in these woods. I tried not to let what happened before ruin my night, how Zeke attempted to pawn me off as a blood whore to his vamp buddy. Mission number one—enjoy this for what it was. One of the rare times the guards and vamps got together to socialize.
Over the licking flames, I saw Christian in a group with some trainees from my class. Since he had stepped in as a teacher for Vamp-Human Politics, he helped bridge the wide gap between the two species more than the rest of us. Most of the guards seemed to love him, as well as the vamps. He was open, honest, and admitted some things weren’t fair and that they were working on fixing them. Trainees and vampires alike trusted him, which was a great thing considering his future. Out of the four princes, I had no doubt Christian would transition easily into the role as leader.
Connor, on the other hand, won others over the only way he knew how—by being his jovial self. When some of the trainees and a few of the young vamps who’d shown up mentioned they wanted to try bridge jumping again, he was all about it. I wasn’t sure how many times he’d plunged into the water, but every once in a while, he ran through, his clothing drenched, and shook his hair out on all of us ‘party poopers’. Evan, of all people, only a few steps behind him at all times.
“You good, Ri?” Nic asked, breaking into my thoughts.
Flames flickered over his face. Every bit the description of dangerous, sometimes it was hard to rectify his person with who he truly was deep down inside. His dark eyes looked even more sinister with the orange and red from the fire catching in their depths. No wonder why no one approached us here. Nicolai Ravana—tall, dark, handsome—looked like he would kill you in an instant if you tried anything. His brothers and I would have to work on him as far as bridging the gap between vampires and humans, especially after he punched T.J. in the face. We could start by asking him not to scowl so much, or, gasp, even smile once in a while. “I’m fine. You?”
His gruff monotone sliced through the crisp air. “I’m having the best time of my life.”
I squelched a grin. His words and his face a total contradiction, which I guessed was the point. “It is riveting,” I agreed, looking around at the groups of people talking as one of the bridge jumpers ran up to a towel on a log just to run it through his hair a couple times before jogging back toward the parking lot and inevitably to the side of the bridge.
To my left, Stephan picked up a small twig and threw it in the fire. The complete opposite of Nic, Stephan looked perfectly content just to sit the whole night while everyone buzzed and talked around him. He hadn’t left my side since we got here, making me think he wasn’t able to forget what happened the last time we were both here so easily. How he’d swooped in and saved me at the perfect moment. “Come on, guys. It’s not so bad,” he said. “Look at all of us getting along. Wasn’t that the point?”
He was right, which made me feel bad about not wanting to be here. It wasn’t that I didn’t like spending time with the trainees because I did. It just felt like there were more important things going on that should be dealt with first. Soren, for one. Maybe I’d been too hasty to run away from him earlier. Maybe I should’ve played into him a little more to see if he would open up. If I did, we could have a location on Dumont’s hiding place right now.
We’d done too much waiting and seeing. We needed to move on this.
“Lex is taking care of it,” Nic said, his fighter mentality always so in tune with mine. I should’ve guessed he’d be thinking the same thing or at least understanding where my head would be at.
“What’s that?” Stephan asked.
“Lex,” Nic explained. “She’s taking care of Soren.”
Stephan locked gazes with me. “You know you do deserve a day off once in a while. You were awarded the first ever Medal of Valor; let that be a reason to relax.”
Nic snickered behind me as soon as Stephan said ‘relax’. I whipped toward him. “I can relax.”
“Okay,” he said doubtfully.
I crossed my hands over my chest and stretched my legs out in front of me before placing one on top of the other. “See. I’m relaxed. I can pretend like nothing else is going on. Everything’s fine. Peachy, even. No reason to fuss about anything.”
“Nothing is going on right now though,” Stephan said, his gaze narrowing. “Dumont went into hiding. He’s not going to make himself known for a while. We talked about this before. He has to regroup. We took his people out and captured Soren. He doesn’t have anyone to come at us right now.”
I peeked at Nic. A vein in his neck protruded, the only sign he disagreed with his brother as much as I did. Well, it wasn’t that I disagreed with him wholly. Dumont wouldn’t be ready to fight, which was why we needed to go after him first. If we could preemptively—
Stephan’s fingers curled around my arm. “Relax.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I could do this for him. They’d done so much for me that I could give them this one night to c
hill out and have a good time. One night wouldn’t kill me, and it probably wouldn’t make a bit of difference whether I went back to talk to Soren right now or waited until the morning.
A stampede of feet made their way over to us. I hunched my shoulders and tried to hide my face. The last time this happened, spray from Connor’s soaked blond locks rained down on me from behind, turning the chill night air just that much colder. Nicolai stood, holding his hand out to stop his brother. “Connor, man. Back off. We’ve just gotten Ri to relax.” He couldn’t even hold a straight face while he said it.
I tried to intervene, but Connor laughed. “Relax? You guys are sitting here like bumps on a log. How can that be anything other than relaxing? Come on. Let’s have some fun!”
A spray of water hit my neck, and I cringed. Nic’s lip curled, and he took off after his brother in a full-out sprint. “Oh, shit,” Connor said. I turned to see Nic lunging for his brother, but Connor had gotten away at the last second. Now Dark, Sexy & Badass chased him back down the trail leading to the parking lot and then eventually the road. No doubt Nic would come back soaked next. He would pursue Connor right over the bridge if he had to.
The conversations that had died down during the outburst picked back up. Stephan moved closer to me on the log we both sat on, his leg brushing mine. He leaned over and whispered, “One of these days, I’m going to be able to kiss you in public, and if that happens, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop.”
Surprise echoed through me. I turned toward him. Though the flames licked at his face the same way they had Nicolai’s, he didn’t look dangerous or mysterious or scary. He just looked like a shadowy version of my sweet Stephan, like a cloud was just passing over and he would be back to his normal self within moments. I knocked his leg with mine. “When that day happens, I won’t let you stop kissing me.”
His lips fell apart into a small ‘o’. In my mind, I traced the curve of his mouth because I couldn’t reach out and do it with my finger, or better yet, my own lips while we were sitting here in front of all these people. Though I suspected at least one vamp-guard couple had snuck into the woods to makeout, the male vamp wasn’t a Ravana, and they weren’t doing it in plain sight with witnesses. Stephan’s head tilted to the side and before I could react, he was up and off the log and sprinting toward the parking lot.
“Stephan!” I called after him.
I caught a glimpse of him just entering the small path when a wave of fear replaced the affection flowing through me. Jumping up, I followed after him as fast as I could, but speed was one thing I would never be able to compete with when it came to humans versus vampires. When I got closer to the parking lot, raised voices met my ears. My heart pounded inside my chest. Up ahead, there was a grouping of vampires and trainees alike, most of them drenched from head-to-toe. I caught sight of Nic, Connor, and Stephan, and then to my right, a blur sped by, and I knew it was Christian even though I couldn’t pick out any of his details.
I stopped at the edge of the group and pushed my way through. Connor’s voice urged me ahead. “Come on, we’re just a bunch of kids having a party.”
“Kids,” a voice sneered. He was mocking and the accent screamed hick. “You expect me to believe that? Someone killed my brother, and I’m here to find out who.”
I pulled up between Connor and Nicolai. Their hands went out in front of me, to guard me perhaps, but they were too preoccupied by the three men standing in front of them to turn their eyes on me. The three men were older, late forty’s with scraggly sideburns and flannel. The guy to the left had a rifle thrown over his shoulder and the one in the middle, stepped just a few inches closer than the others, held a lime green water gun in his hand. Though it was at hip level, it was pointed straight at Connor. My eyes dropped to it immediately, and at first, my brain wouldn’t compute, but the more the man talked, the more the puzzle pieces came together.
In a world without vampires, some old dudes showing up at a party asking who killed their brother would be ludicrous. At a vamp-guard party, however, this was serious business. Especially as of late.
“We’re not stupid. We know who you are,” the ring leader said again. “There are myths all the way from New York to here. There’s a fortress up the road a few miles. Most of the locals think it’s a private school, but I’ll be willing to bet we know what it is. There are a few here and there that know the truth. My brother knew it, and we followed that truth all the way here and now we want payback for his death.” The guy’s hand twitched around the water gun and I stepped in front of the two princes closest to me. My instincts told me if they really did know who some of us were, then that water gun wasn’t just filled with plain old tap water.
To my right, Liv stepped in front of Christian, and surprisingly, Zeke stepped in front of Stephan. My heart clenched, and a moment of sheer panic swept over me. I wanted to move toward Stephan, to throw myself in front of him, too. I didn’t trust Zeke. He’d never done right by me before. What if he didn’t do the right thing now?
Shannon spoke up. She maneuvered in front of Nicolai, and I let her take my place. “Like he said, we’re just out having some fun.” Her right hand moved behind her. “I’m gonna call the cops if you don’t leave.”
She reached for the cell phone in her back pocket, but froze when the ring leader’s hard voice filled the air again. “Don’t test me, girl. We know what you are. One of you killed my brother in his gas station for knowing the truth, and I’m not about to let you go free any longer, any of you.”
I stifled a gasp, clenching my teeth instead. Gas station? Then we were talking about the incident near the Ravana Estate. Of course, we were. Lex and her guards who’d escorted us had ‘taken care’ of this man’s brother after I tackled him for trying to drown Connor in holy water. My eyes flicked toward the neon green toy gun and then back up. He wasn’t just a crackpot. He knew.
At the fringes of our group, feet shuffled forward, fists clenched together and I noticed a few of the vamps getting antsy. They closed in ranks around the men in front of us. We tripled, maybe quadrupled them in number, but that wasn’t the point. If he shot any of the vamps with the holy water, suspicions confirmed, and that wasn’t even mentioning that one of the vampires would be hurt. We did not need that right now. I pushed back on Connor hoping he’d take the hint and step back.
Sweat beaded along my brow. A cold shudder ran down my back as I stepped forward. I made myself smile and then laugh. “Listen. Old man. None of us understand what you’re talking about. Did you, like, forget to take medication this morning or something? We’re having a party in the woods, so unless you’re going to call the cops on us, I’m not sure what a little water gun can do. Maybe ruin my shirt, but that’s about it.” I peeked down, making a show of this whole thing. “It’s not even white so if you were hoping for a show…”
His beady eyes narrowed. He had on a black trucker’s hat, and for one second, I recognized his brother in him. I didn’t dare look around, but I hoped to God the vamps were being smart about this and staying back. He scratched his scruff and then spit in the space between us. “Was it you?”
I took a step back, looking at the spit with disgust. “Listen, you’re a kook. Get out of here before my friend calls the cops on you. I’m sure they’ll love to hear how you’re carrying around guns threatening teenagers.”
His two friends looked at one another. My heart soared for a moment before the guy in front took another step forward. His hand moved up, the lime green water gun aimed at my face. “You’re all vampires, and you need to pay.”
I forced out a laugh. “Vamp—” A squirt of water to my eye stopped me mid-word. The whole group paused. I set my jaw, and reached up to wipe the water from my eye while some of it dripped from the edge of my nose. “Seriously? You’re ridiculous. What was that supposed to do other than make me mad?”
His jaw dropped. “You’re not…?” He twisted, aimed at Liv, and pulled the plastic trigger. My heart leapt again, but Christian
was unscathed.
She screamed out in frustration and then looked down at her shirt, the look of a purely pissed off female teenager transforming her face. “That was my favorite. Ew. Get out of here! You guys are so gross!”
The two flanking the ring leader stepped back. “Maybe we got the wrong ones,” the guy with the rifle said.
“No, it’s them. I know it.” The guy twisted from one edge of the group to the other, the water gun roaming with him. Every time it neared one of the vamps, my throat thickened and my stomach hollowed out.
“Come on,” a male voice said. I closed my eyes, recognizing Zeke’s tenor. The same voice that had scoffed when I tried to climb the rope, the same one that threatened me while he tried to choke the life out of me. “I’m not sure what you guys are on…”
The water gun lifted in his direction. My whole body tensed. Stephan was still right behind him. If Zeke moved, or ducked, or did anything to put him in danger, so help me God…
The ring leader pulled the trigger. A stream of water fountained through the air heading right in their direction. My chest tightened and there was a visceral reaction from those next to me too. I will kill him, I thought. I will kill Zeke if he puts my prince in danger.
He moved just to he left, catching the entire blow of the holy water like nothing.
I drew in a sharp breath, relief sweeping through me in a heady rush. That was too close. I strode forward and tore the water gun from the man’s hands while he was still stunned looking at Zeke as if he couldn’t believe he didn’t fall to the ground in pain. I pulled the trigger again and again into my palm. “Nothing’s happening,” I said, my heart still trying to recover. “What’s supposed to happen? Is this supposed to burn? Am I supposed to shrivel up and die right now? Like we said, we’re just teenagers.” I motioned toward the old truck behind them. “Now get out of here before we call the cops. You’ve just harassed a bunch of young girls, something I’m sure the police would love to find out about. They probably haven’t met their quota for scum of the Earth freaks for the month.”