[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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A BLADE SLICED through the air, aimed at Sophie's head. Her hand shot out and curled around Tabatha's wrist. As Sophie ducked, Tabatha was wrenched downward in the process. The sword hacked through the air just above their heads. Before Kitty could react, Eli grabbed the blade, blood spurting from his hand, and snapped it in half.
There was a growl, and the broken blade was twisted back toward Sophie.
Sophie jumped to her feet, her fist slamming into Kitty's face. Kitty rocked backward, dull blood trickling down her nose. Her hands flew to her face. Eli moved in behind her, securing her into a headlock, his bloodied hand pressing against her mouth.
"Don't kill her!" Tabatha cried, grabbing onto Sophie's arm. "She doesn't know what she's doing! It's not her fault."
Sophie ignored her, watching as awareness seeped into Kitty's eyes. When Eli wrenched his hand free, he staggered back and clutched at his palm. His complexion seemed paler than usual. Sophie reached out and touched his arm. A frown tugged at her features. "You need more blood," she said. "You can't keep using your own."
He nodded. "We need to alert the others. If we can bring the fledglings back to their senses, we can easily stop this attack. We might even be able to turn them against the Headmaster."
"We can let the others know. You go back into the dining room and get more blood. We'll need some for the others to use and, if you bring it out here, the other students might smell it," Sophie instructed, scanning the battlefield. "The faster we can get this done, the less casualties we'll have to deal with."
Eli seemed to agree and he vanished within seconds.
Sophie turned toward the other two, her hands clenched into fists. "I don't have a lot of time to explain," she told the two after noticing their extremely confused expressions. "But I need your help. We have to tell the other rebels that we can un-brainwash the fledglings with blood. Tabatha, you just saw how. I'm leaving it to you to tell Kitty and then help me spread the word."
Both Kitty and Tabatha shared an uncertain look.
Sophie didn't give them time to answer. She darted through the chaos in search of Aubrey, arrows zinging past her head with each step. A fledgling jumped forward, with a dagger in hand. Sophie skidded to a stop and snatched the fledgling's wrist, throwing the poor girl to the ground. Her foot found the fledgling's wrist and, with a little pressure, the carpal bones shattered. The fledgling cried out and rolled to her side, clutching at her injury. Sophie deflected yet another fledgling and broke into a run again.
It didn't take long to find Aubrey, who was fighting against a fledgling near the nursing cabin. The attacking fledgling's back slammed against the side of the cabin, Aubrey's hand around his throat.
"Don't kill him," Sophie gasped as she approached.
Aubrey glanced over at her, her eyes blazing. "Why shouldn't I? Do you see this? This little shit ruined my hair," she growled, grinding out each word as its own sentence. She used her free hand to pull at her hair. "Why shouldn't I kill him? Why shouldn't I rip him to shreds?"
Sophie hesitated, her eyes raking over Aubrey's appearance. Her eyes widened as her gaze locked onto the back of Aubrey's head –more specifically on the lack of cascading blond that should have fallen past her shoulders. A massive chunk of hair was missing in the back, cut in a ragged pattern just above the nape of her neck.
"It doesn't look that bad," Sophie tried to lie through her teeth.
Aubrey sent her a deadly look and returned her attention to the fledgling in her grasp. The fledgling continued to squirm around against the wall like an earthworm. His claws grasped at her hand. She glowered at him. "You little shit."
"Wait, wait," Sophie said. She moved forward and grasped Aubrey's arm, attempting to calm her down. "The fledgling didn't know what he was doing –none of them do. Blame the Headmaster, not them. Besides, we can bring him back to his senses."
Aubrey let out a low hiss.
Sophie brought her palm to her mouth, tearing a fang across the heel of her palm. A slice of blood appeared and she pressed her hand to his mouth. His breath fanned across her palm, warm and wet. Then pain prickled at the base of her palm as he drank. She watched and waited. Awareness seeped through the fledgling's gaze and she pulled her palm away.
The fledgling went slack against the wall, confused, uncertain. Aubrey reluctantly retracted her hand, wary gaze focused on the kid's face. "Where am I?" the fledgling asked, rubbing at his throat.
"You're at a rebel camp," Sophie explained carefully. "You weren't in control of yourself, and you were attacking us. But you're okay now."
The fledgling nodded.
Sophie glanced at Aubrey, whose expression remained dark. "Help me. Eli went to get the collection of blood from the dining cabin."
Aubrey still looked like she wanted to murder the fledgling. Sophie pinched her arm, needing a reaction before she moved on to the next rebel. The blonde nodded and forced herself to turn away, pulling her hair back into a ponytail in an attempt to hide the damage. "Fine," she grunted.
"Thank you," Sophie chirped.
A quiet growl was her answer. Sophie turned toward her next target, Tadashi, who bashed and punched his way through a crowd of fledglings like a pro. It took her a moment to realize that the humanoid creature was actually Tadashi. A pair of furry ears had appeared atop his head and his face was slightly elongated with a snout. He growled low when Sophie approached, but then paused when he recognized her.
"We've found a way to wake them up," she announced.
Tadashi's nose twitched. Confusion flickered across his gaze and he turned his head toward the dining hall, just as Eli carried out several containers of blood. A hefty pile had accumulated just outside the door, where he dumped the packets of blood. Then Eli returned to the depths of the dining hall for more. Sophie hastily explained her plan –get as many fledglings in contact with the blood as soon as possible—and then ran off to tell others. To her delight, she noticed that Kitty and Tabatha were helping, passing the word on to hundreds of rebel-hunters.
The pattern continued until almost every rebel and conscious fledgling brandished a set of blood-bags like weapons.
The army of fledglings dwindled, as blood was shoved into the face of several hundred newborn vampires. Confusion flooded the campsite as students of the academy looked around, absorbing the bloodbath. Cries sounded as familiar faces were recognized in the carnage. Rebels helped the fledglings, carrying them to the nursing cabin, patching up minor injuries, explaining the cause.
As the chaos faded, a familiar voice snarled, "What happened to my army?"
