[book one]
The game was simple: A contest comprised of three unique challenges, designed to test a human's strength physically and mentally, their personality compatibility, and their chance of survival.
The prize was excruciatingly tempting: The ch...
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IT DIDN'T TAKE long for Aubrey to join them. The moment she walked through the door, Aubrey practically shoved the nurses aside and hugged her brother with all of her strength. As the nurses glowered at her in annoyance, she said, "I'm so glad that you're alright."
Eli laughed and hugged her back. "I'm not going to lie, sis. You are the last person I expected to see here, especially with Sophie."
Sophie snickered from her seat beside the bed, her legs crisscrossed in front of her. The last time Eli had seen them, both of them had hated each other. Now they were the best of friends. Aubrey leaned back and glanced at Sophie, a smile on her lips. "Well, she has kind of grown on me."
"Just a little bit," Sophie added.
The nurses cleared their throats, and Aubrey backed away to let them finish their final examinations. Sophie kept her elbow propped against the armrest of her chair, palm cupping her cheek. She watched the two nurses tick through the last of their checklist and murmur to themselves. It wasn't hard to make out what was being said. Eli had recovered like a champ, and it only took a matter of hours. According to them, Eli had actually died. But ample amounts of venom from an original vampire (aka the Headmaster) healed his wounds before his soul could quite leave the body, which then revived him.
A nurse tapped the edge of Eli's bed with her palm. "You are free to leave, vampire," she said, her voice thick with an unnamable accent. "Just don't push it. Your body is still recouping from the attack that killed you."
Eli's fingers absently brushed against his chest. "I'll take it easy," he promised.
Aubrey folded her arms across her chest, expression relieved. "We need to go talk to Aelia," she announced. "Now that we have Eli, we can come up with another plan to go back. We need to get Wolfe."
"I'm sorry," Eli said with a grimace. "Is he still at the Academy?"
"The last I heard of him, he was locked away in some sort of torture chamber," Sophie explained the story to Eli, once again leaving out the fact that he had imprinted on her. "We tried to save him, and almost succeeded too. But the Headmaster caught us before we could do anything. That's how we ended up here. After escaping from the castle, we managed to run into a group of hunters who took us back here."
Aubrey nodded. "And turns out that the leader of the rebellion is actually Sophie's mom."
"And the Headmaster is my uncle," Sophie added with a heavy sigh. It weirded her out that she was related to the crazy old man.
Eli stared at her for a few moments, taken aback. He glanced toward Aubrey, an eyebrow raised, and she nodded at him. "I know," she said, "It's totally crazy right? I didn't even think the old bastard had a family."
"Me either," Eli answered.
Sophie scratched at the back of her head and twisted around in her seat. "Come on, let's go. We need to talk to Aelia about what to do next. I'm sure we can figure out a way to save Wolfe."
