by G. K. DeRosa
“It’s impossible,” he muttered as he watched his friend.
The vampire’s face twisted and contorted in pain, tremors racing through his body. Then, he went still.
Chapter
Three
Phoenix - Present Time
* * *
Wrapping the towel around my chest, I trudged out of the communal showers. That was one thing I wouldn’t miss after graduating. I wondered what kind of housing we’d get as sicari. As long as we got private bathrooms, I’d be happy.
I opened the door to the room Vera, Seline and I shared and was surprised to find it empty. Vera must have stayed at the infirmary with Callan. They’d been a thing for a while now, but their thing was different than whatever Spark and I had.
I crept to the closet and rifled through my paltry collection of non-uniform clothing. The black shirt and cargo pants were what we wore ninety percent of the time, but tonight was our one night off for the week. And to be honest, I didn’t know what to do with the free time. Training was all I did, all I lived for.
My thoughts flickered back to the female vamp, to her vacant eyes staring up at the sky. Ronin. It couldn’t be the same vampire from all those years ago. There were thousands of immortals running around Nocturnis—no way it was my guy. Besides, the vamp that attacked us looked like a lowlife servile. He couldn’t be leading some grand rebellion against Queen Carmen Rosa.
Two quick knocks at the door sent my senses on high alert.
“It’s me Nix.” Spark’s voice seeped through the cracks in the thick timber.
“Coming.” I tugged a shirt over my head and stepped into a pair of comfy sweatpants. Let’s be honest, I wasn’t going anywhere tonight. When I reached the entrance, the dragon shifter filled the doorway. It was rare to see him out of uniform too. I had to admit the button-down shirt and fitted jeans were a nice change. The scent of citrusy cologne swirled in the air as he grinned down at me.
“Just came to see if you wanted to be my date for the movie they’re playing in the rec room tonight.”
“I don’t know, Sparky, a date seems pretty official.”
His hand cupped my cheek, and he brushed his rough thumb over my skin. “You know I hate it when you call me Sparky.”
“Sorry, would you rather Rhydian Sparkson Skyraider, son of the Brotherhood of Dragon’s great alpha Fenix Skyraider?”
He rolled his eyes. “Now you sound like my mom when she’s pissed at me.”
“Which I imagine happens a lot.”
Spark shot me a lopsided smile. “Maybe…”
“Wait a second… I just realized your dad and I have the same first name.”
His lips twisted into a grimace, his face paling. “It took you three years to figure that out?” He rolled his eyes at me. “It’s not spelled the same, and anyway, why do you think I call you Nix?”
I smirked, surprised I hadn’t made the connection earlier. I really had a one-track mind.
He leaned in and brushed his lips against mine. “Now back to more important things. We could just stay in and hang out.”
As tempting as that sounded, I couldn’t get the female fanger’s words out of my head. I needed to talk to Demetra about it. “I have to see Demetra,” I blurted. The head of the compound had to know what the female was talking about. Our fearless leader and director of operations here at Isle of Mordis was one of the vampires in the queen’s inner circle.
Yup, that’s right. A vampire was training us to kill other vampires. How effed up was that?
Spark’s arms encircled my waist, and he drew me into his chest. “Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”
“No…”
His brows furrowed, and he eyed me skeptically. “Is this about you freezing up today when you saw Archer go down?”
“I did not freeze up.” I pushed out of his hold.
“It’s not a big deal, Nix. The constant killing gets to all of us; we’d be no better than the fangers otherwise. Everyone has off days.”
“I do not have off days,” I hissed. And killing vamps didn’t leave the slightest mark on my conscience. What did that say about me?
He raised his hands and took a step back. “Fine, whatever. You’re a perfect vamp killing machine. Just forget I ever stopped by.” He whirled around and scurried toward the door.
“Ugh, wait, Spark.”
He spun back and the hope in his eyes nearly crushed me. When had this become more than just a casual hook up for him?
I marched toward him as he crossed his arms over his barrel chest. The dragon shifter was built like a—well, dragon. “I’m sorry. You know how much all of this means to me.” I hoped he understood I meant the sicari stuff and not our relationship.
He blew out a breath and the strained set of his jaw softened. “Of course, I do, Nix. I’ve known you for three years. All you want is to become the baddest sicari that ever lived.” He cupped my cheek, those warm amber eyes melting the layer of frost around my heart. “I just think maybe you should try to make time for other things too. I worry about you. I don’t want you to burn out once we finally make it to Azar.”
“Thank you for worrying about me, Spark, but I’m good, I swear.”
He nodded, lips pressed in that tight line again as he released me. “Okay, I’ll see you later then.”
The moment the door slammed behind him I sank onto my bed with a grunt. I’m fine. Totally fine. But was I? The idea of leaving Isle of Mordis was freaking me out. I hadn’t thought about that night in years, and now, the horrible memories had started to resurface out of nowhere. I’d even had nightmares twice this week.
The flames, the screams, the blood…
I shuddered. It had to be because I was finally going to see Kenna after three years. Being away from my little sister made it easier to forget. Here, training to become Royal sicari, the discipline, the schedule, the routine, I could push everything else away.
Shaking my head, I dislodged all the niggling thoughts and forced my brain to focus. Demetra. I needed to talk to her about what the female vamp said. Popping up from my bed, I marched out, following the dark corridor toward the staff side of the building.
Camp Kill was made up of three sprawling stone buildings in the middle of the jungle. Buildings one and two were attached by a suspended walkway. The former housed the dormitories and cafeteria for staff and trainees while the latter was a massive indoor training facility. The last building was vamp prison, where all the detainees were kept for practice. Trainees were strongly discouraged from visiting that one. I’d made that mistake when I first arrived on the island, and never repeated it again.
When new recruits first arrived, we spent the first few months working on strength, speed, and physical endurance, then we moved onto weapons training. The last part of the program dealt with taking on real vamps. The process usually lasted four years, but with my prior training I’d been able to complete the program in three and drag my team along with me.
Demetra often said I was her most talented recruit. She frequently worked with me in private one-on-one sessions. I hated to admit it, but what Spark said was true. I had been off today, and I needed to get my head in the game if I wanted to graduate at the top of my class.
The best teams got to work directly with Queen Carmen Rosa. I still couldn’t believe this whole sicari school was her idea. She needed a way to keep her immortal citizens in check, and we were it. I was skeptical of the whole thing when Deacon had first told me. It made no sense. Vampires training other supes to kill their own kind? It was insane.
My mind flitted back to the day the tiger alpha had told me about the sicari a little over four years ago.
* * *
“Nice job, kid.” Deacon watched me from the other side of the punching bag, the big tiger leaning against the wall. We’d switched from a once weekly training session to three times when I turned fifteen. I often wondered why he dedicated so much time to me. As alpha, he had a lot of responsibilities, but he spent more
time with me than my adoptive tiger father, Frank ever did.
I swung again.
The smack of the canvas felt good against my bare knuckles. It helped temper the rage. I had a lot of it according to the wicca priestess Deacon had forced me to see for the past two years. Between the two of them, they had me obsessed with finding my Zen.
Sweat beaded on my brow, and I wiped it away, pushing my auburn bangs back. They’d come loose as always.
“I think that’s enough for today, Phoenix.”
“No, I can go more.” I gritted my teeth as I pulled my arm back and let it loose again. Jab, punch, uppercut. Over and over again. The rhythm soothed my keyed-up nerves and kept the anger at bay.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Deacon tick his head up at the clock. “Kenna should be home by now. I’m sure she’s anxious to see you after her first day at the new school.” He walked over and grabbed the black canvas, jerking it to a stop. “Plus, there’s something I’d like to talk to you about.”
“Okay…” I pulled the tie from my hair, slicked my bangs back and forced my wild locks back into a high ponytail.
Deacon grabbed a bottle of water and tossed it to me. Then he motioned at the bench along the wall and sat. “Come, let’s chat.”
I eyed the alpha skeptically as I folded down beside him. “What’s up?”
“There’s a training school that I thought you might be interested in. Given your history.”
My brow arched overtime. “Vague much, Deacon?”
He smirked. “You know that as alpha, I occasionally meet with the Royal vampire queen, right?”
I nodded quickly, my insides clenching at the mention of the vampire.
“A couple years ago, she assembled a team of trusted vampires to train other supernaturals to keep her territory in check. As I’ve told you before, she’s not our enemy. She’s doing the best she can to keep her citizens in line, but unfortunately, she hasn’t been very successful. As you know.”
I didn’t blink, barely breathed. I hated talking about them.
He palmed the back of his neck. “You must be wondering where the hell I’m going with this.”
I forced a smile. “Yup.”
“They’ve just opened up recruiting to all the houses of Azar. Carmen Rosa mentioned it at the last assembly meeting. With your skills and motivation, I think you’d be a great fit. You could start next year when you turn sixteen.”
“And they’d train me to kill vampires?” My heart started to flutter.
“That’s right, kid. An elite Royal sicari force.”
It seemed too good to be true. Except for the fact it was run by vampires. I wasn’t sure I could be in the same room as one. I hadn’t been for years. After the incident, the High Claws had moved further inland, away from the border. We’d managed to remain mostly attack free.
“But vamps would train me?”
He nodded slowly. “It wouldn’t be the queen herself obviously, but likely some from within her inner circle.”
My chest tightened, invisible claws wrapping around my lungs. “I don’t know if I could do it.”
He leaned closer and squeezed my shoulder with a reassuring smile. “I won’t pressure you to do this, but I think you’d be an incredible addition to the team. I know you suffered a tremendous loss at their hands, but it’s time you learned the difference between the good and the bad. I think it could help you cope.”
I blew out a breath and wished I could take the pent-up anger out on the punching bag again.
“We wouldn’t tell Carmen Rosa all the details of that night—about your wolf I mean,” he continued. “It would be the same story we told the rest of the High Claws.”
I nodded slowly. Deacon was the only person alive who knew what my wolf had done that night. One bite and the vamp had crumbled to dust. Not even Kenna knew. The tiger alpha rarely brought it up. Since my wolf had never reappeared, discussing it seemed useless. I had no idea what it meant, if anything. Maybe the vamp was sick and biting him just sped up whatever was going on with him.
Sick, right. Immortals didn’t get sick.
But what else could it have been? Werewolf bites didn’t kill vampires. That was only in fairy tales.
If I joined the sicari, I could become a different kind of killing machine. And maybe, I’d finally get the revenge I so desperately sought, and the gaping void could finally be filled. Purpose. Meaning. I needed something.
“I guess if you could find out some more about it, I’d listen,” I finally said.
Deacon smiled. “Whatever you say, kid.”
* * *
The memories faded, and I was back in the dim tunnels on my way to see the very first vampire I’d met after the attack. Stopping at the door at the end of the hallway, I lifted my knuckles and knocked.
“Come in, Phoenix.”
I opened the door and eyed my mentor. Demetra sat behind a sleek metal desk, her jet-black hair pulled into a perfect bun, not a single hair out of place. “How’d you know it was me?”
“I heard about the mission, and I figured it wouldn’t be long until you showed up at my door.” She smirked, her crimson lips curling. “That and I could smell your cinnamon body wash. You’re the only one on the compound who uses that odd scent.”
I shrugged as I folded into the seat in front of her. “It reminds me of Christmas.”
She rolled her eyes. “For a wolf, you certainly celebrate a lot of human traditions.”
When you had a shitty life, it was easier to pretend to be someone else. I didn’t speak the words out loud of course. Demetra was the last person I’d come to for coddling. She was the queen’s right-hand vamp and a force to be reckoned with. As much as I’d wanted to hate her, it hadn’t taken long for her to prove my vampire prejudices wrong. They weren’t all soulless bloodsuckers. Just most of them.
She closed the laptop on her desk and peered at me. “So are you going to tell me what brings you here or would you like to test your compulsion blocking skills and see if I can pry it out of you?”
Ooh, I liked the challenge. From the day we arrived, we’d been training to block vampire compulsion. It was by far the most difficult technique to master. You could be the most skilled sicari out there, but if a vamp caught you in their dark gaze, you were a juice box. “I’d like to see you try,” I answered.
Her eyes glinted with amusement. “Very well.” A pair of bottomless black orbs drilled into me, and I started to feel lightheaded. Clenching my jaw, I imagined erecting brick walls around my mind, blocking her influence. “Phoenix, what happened today on the mission?” Power laced her tone, the silky soft quality like a melody clouding my brain.
I blinked quickly to chase away the compulsion and focused on my shield. Our trainers had taught us to concentrate on a single image, only that singular focus would prevent an immortal from squirming their way in. I called up the one picture I had left of my family—the one item I’d managed to recover from the ashes. Everything had been burnt to a crisp except for this one picture frame with the four of us when we’d gone to Rockefeller Center in the human realm for Christmas. We stood in front of a ginormous evergreen wrapped in brilliant lights and covered in a beautiful rainbow of decorations. I’d never seen such a big smile on Kenna’s face.
“Phoenix, what happened today?” Demetra pressed harder.
But all I could see was my happy family. “I spent all day in bed. I figured with graduation in only a week, I deserved a break.” I shot her a satisfied smirk. Blocking serviles was one thing, but Demetra was a whole other ballgame.
“Nicely done. Seems like you truly have reached the end of your time here.”
“Thanks.” I had a feeling she’d gone easy on me, but I’d take the win today.
She sat forward and folded her hands on her desk. “Now, tell me what really happened out there. I heard Archer is in the infirmary.”
Her words sucked all the smugness from my expression. It was my job to keep my team safe, and I’d
failed. That vamp had gotten the slip on me, and I was pissed. “That female wasn’t a servile was she?”
Demetra shook her head, lips pressing in a tight line. “She was not. We’re getting more and more Royals lately. In fact, I knew Melaina well once.”
“She was your friend?” My voice rose a few octaves.
She nodded slowly, hard lines carving into her porcelain countenance.
“What did she do to get tossed onto the island?”
“She allied herself with the wrong people.”
“Ronin?” I asked, my stomach souring as the name crossed my lips.
“What do you know about him?” Her dark brows knitted as she regarded me.
I squirmed in my seat, murky memories flooding my thoughts. “Nothing… or I don’t know. He might have been the one that attacked our camp all those years back.” It was ridiculous really. What were the chances it was the same vampire?
Her expression darkened, and she drew in a breath. “Ronin was one of the original twelve members of Carmen Rosa’s inner circle. As you know, all Royal vampires descend from the twelve. As bloodlines became mottled and muddied with other supernaturals, the serviles were born. He is the only vampire to have rebelled against our queen in nearly a century.”
I tried to absorb her words as my thoughts whirled.
“Ronin is the reason the Royal sicari were created. At some point, he got it into his head that vampires should no longer be subservient to the Etrian Assembly. He tried to convince Carmen Rosa to abandon political measures and diplomacy. He believes vampires should be permitted to consume fresh blood at will.”
No way the assembly would go for that. The Etrian Assembly was the governing body of Azar. On it sat one member from each house of the supernatural realm: the Fae Court, the Brotherhood of Dragons, the Coven Council, the Sons of Heaven, the Shifter Pack, the Ocean Realm, the Royal Vampires of course and the most recent addition, the Underworld. The last two territories always caused trouble, but luckily for me, the demons weren’t my problem. It was only the vamps I wanted eradicated from the earth.