by Moore, E. M.
Nicolai stood over Stephan. In the split second before they noticed I was there, I saw them scowling at one another. I narrowed my eyes, and Nicolai quickly stepped back. Too late. “What’s going on?” I asked them both. Peering over at Stephan, I frowned, worried for him.
He shook his head and forced a smile to his face. “Nothing. We were just waiting for you to get back from training. How did it go?”
I shrugged, still wary of his too bright voice. “Fine.” Though training had been more than fine, and I was still filled with adrenaline and on a workout high, he wouldn’t understand so I didn’t bother to go into detail about how laser focused we all were tonight. Besides, I knew they were keeping something from me. Gazing at them all and feeling the heavy cloud in the room, I walked further in. “What’s going on here? You guys seem tense.” Connor stood and tried to make his way over to me. I dodged him, and held my hand out. “Oh no, pretty boy. There will be no distracting right now.”
He smirked. “I just wanted to give you a hello hug.”
“A hello hug?” I pulled my drenched black t-shirt away from my body and let it go. It went straight back to being suctioned to my skin. “I don’t believe you.”
“I think he was actually going to push you in the shower,” Nic said, the corner of his mouth tilting up.
“Believe me, I’m heading that way, but only after you all tell me what’s going on.”
Christian stepped forward. He took my arms and then turned me around toward the bathroom door. He placed a soft kiss on the top of my head as he steered me away. “We just have a few more things to discuss. We’ll be done by the time you get out. I promise we’ll talk then.”
He led me into the middle of the bathroom and then I felt the press of his body heat leave. When I turned, the bathroom door was closing, and I watched as it clicked home. I blinked, staring at the door as if I could see my four princes on the other side. It was quiet, at least from what my human ears could hear. I really hoped they weren’t fighting. Right now, we needed one another and the support of each and every one of us.
The door cracked open and Connor’s honey-colored head appeared. I took a step forward and he smiled. “It’s okay, Princess. Really. Take your shower.”
He disappeared and shut the door again while I was still in mid-stride. Realizing there was no way they were going to let me hear whatever was happening right now, I resigned myself to just running through different thoughts in my head while under the hot spray of the shower. My muscles were tired, overused. I hoped Lex and Zeke would be fine tomorrow and the intense training stint we had wouldn’t have any negative effects on whichever one of them fought. I looked down and watched as the discarded bubbles of soap swirled around the drain and retreated. Even though I wanted to hear what they were discussing/arguing, it felt good to be under the firm pressure of the shower head. It was like a massage into my skin, working out all the day’s troubles.
However, curiosity got the better of me before too long. I squeezed out the excess water from my hair and stepped down onto the bath rug after turning the water off. Still no sounds came from the other side of the door, so I toweled off and put a brush through my hair. Miraculously, a pair of sweats and a t-shirt had shown up on the closed toilet lid so I put them on before opening the door to the bathroom and walking back into the room.
The princes’ lengthy bodies were strewn all over my bed in our usual fashion. All that waited for them was me. I picked up the pace and crawled into the opening Nicolai left me with by raising his feet. I settled into place and immediately, four hands touched me. One on my calf. One on my hip. One on my shoulder. And one prince entwined their fingers with mine. I looked over to find Stephan staring at me. “Are you okay, Ariana?”
I nodded into the pillow, digging myself down deeper. I mouthed, Are you?, and he nodded once too. To all of them, I asked, “So, what did I walk in on earlier? You’d think you guys would be stealthier if you didn’t want me finding out. You are vampires, you know.”
Connor chuckled, but it was Christian who answered in that same serious, deep voice I remembered from the first time I met him. “We weren’t going to keep it from you, Ariana. Some of us were…passionate in discussing some things so we didn’t hear you come in.”
“By some of us, he means all of us,” Connor said.
I patted the hand that squeezed my hip and smiled.
“The thing is, Ri,” Nic started. “After what happened today, we’ve decided to make plans about how best to go about this if we should lose. Soren has already told you to get out as soon as possible, and we’re all in favor of that advice.”
“In fact,” Christian spoke up. “We’re taking it a step further. Depending on how the next few fights go, we’re leaving early.”
“Early?” My head tried to wrap around what they were saying and once it did, my stomach plummeted. “You mean, if we continue to lose. How early?”
“Some of us think we should go as early as tomorrow, depending on whether the fight is won or lost.”
I shook my head, unbelieving. If the princes left, that would send the wrong message to the rest of the clan.
“We haven’t agreed on the best time yet,” Nic said reassuringly. His thumb traced my calf muscle. “We just know that to stay here when no chance of winning is in sight would be dumb.”
“But, the pledge they signed…”
“We’re not willing to risk it,” Christian said. “Sure, Dumont has said he won’t take any formal action against the Ravanas, but we also now know that he’s a cheater. His word means nothing and since we’re a part of the reigning family, we’re going to have a target on our backs. Our lives are just one thing we’re not willing to sacrifice, especially if all is lost anyway. We don’t plan on sticking around to find out if Dumont will keep his word or not.”
I sat up on the bed and eyed all of them. They perked up, responding to my movement. “I…understand,” I said, looking at each one of them individually. And I really did, but I was still confused. “I’m sure there’s a way Dumont could renege on his promise while still feeling like he kept his end of the bargain. But, are you guys okay with this? Leaving everyone? Would Gregor and Isabelle be coming with us?”
“Gregor won’t leave until every one of his clan members who wants to go is gone. Isabelle might go sooner.”
“We think,” Stephan said, correcting Nicolai.
“We think,” Christian agreed. “At least she may be persuaded to go.”
“But to leave your home, where would we go?”
“There’s a commune in Australia that we know about. They keep to themselves, but I think they would let us in. At least for a little while.”
“And if that doesn’t work,” Nic offered. “We’ll just live on our own.”
“What about your food?”
Nicolai shrugged, but there was a tug of apprehension in his forehead. “Same way we do here. There are blood banks all over the United States.”
A dull ache started in the back of my head. “You’d be willing to take from them?”
His eyes hardened. “We’re willing to do whatever it takes to make sure all of us survive this.”
I bared down on my jaw, clamping my teeth tight together.
“He didn’t mean it like that, Princess.”
“The hell I didn’t. What part about what I said wasn’t true? None of it. We’re all willing to leave our family—our entire clan—here to make sure we all survive this, so why the hell wouldn’t we be willing to sacrifice a few human lives so we could feed ourselves?” He looked up at me, his voice softening. “You know I’m right. There’s no other way and we’re not even sure it’ll come down to stealing blood from blood banks. Like Christian said, our first stop is the compound in Australia then we’ll go from there.”
I relaxed my jaw and reached out to touch his cheek. He was just being realistic, and there wasn’t anything about what he said that was particularly wrong. He was just laying it all out to let us
know what we were up against. Besides, they wouldn’t directly be taking human lives. Indirectly, yes. Directly, no.
I rubbed my hand down my temples and tried to make sense of the plan. Even if we lost another fight, we weren’t destined to lose. Leaving too early might just seal the fate of the clan. We still had Lex coming up. We could put our faith in her. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind she would win her fight. She would do it out of sheer will and determination. Zeke was another story. Not that he didn’t have the skill to do it because he did, but his integrity still weighed on me. Would he be willing to tough it out until the end? What if his opponent was bigger, stronger, better than him? Would he just give up? Look for a way to get out of it? I wished I trusted him more.
Then there was Gregor. If it came down to his fight, I doubted the princes would want to leave and if they did, what kind of unity did that show? The princes escaping right before their father put his life on the line would be a terrible mistake. If Gregor won, we certainly wouldn’t be welcomed back into the clan with open arms. ‘Traitor’ kept floating through my head.
“We don’t have to figure it all out right now,” Stephan said.
A hand came up to rub my back.
“We kind of do,” Nic countered. “When else are we going to figure it out? There’s anther fight tomorrow and then the day after that. We have two days worth of fights left with the very best scenario. If there’s a win tomorrow, we can all rest a little easier, but what if there’s not? What if there’s a loss tomorrow? Then either we’ve lost it all, or Gregor is going to be forced to fight and we still may lose it all.”
“Then maybe we shouldn’t decide anything until after the fight tomorrow,” I suggested. “We’ll have a much clearer path after that.”
Stephan shook his head. “It doesn’t matter when we make the decision. It’s still going to suck.”
My mouth dried out as I stared at him. He was right. Deciding to leave, deciding to stay, we were still screwed unless we won the rest of our fights and Dumont was forced to leave. Even if we did win, we’d have to employ guards to make sure Dumont stuck to his word and left us alone because right now, his word was crap.
“Come on,” Connor said. He pulled down on my shoulder and my back fell against the mattress again. “We honestly can’t do anything until tomorrow. Let’s just us all keep this in the back of our heads so if we have to make a decision, we’ll each know firmly where we stand. We all need the rest anyway.”
Sighing, I cuddled down into the bed and the princes followed suit. I wished I could enjoy the closeness of their bodies, but as soon as I shut my eyes to relax, my brain wouldn’t shut up about all the different scenarios we were faced with and how we should react to each one. One thing was clear, none of this was going to be easy, and no matter what decision we made, we were upheaving someone or some things we loved. There was no other way around it.
16
I woke up feeling like I could throw up. The discussion from last night didn’t help any, but what mainly ran through my head was: Who would fight today? Would we win? Would my princes want to leave as early as tonight?
I barely ate anything for breakfast, sticking to just plain toast as I hurried out of the makeshift dining area to get to the training rooms. Nic was close on my heels. I knew he could run ahead of me or pass me, but he stayed just off my left shoulder. I’d barely spoken at all that morning. I’d had enough conversations going on in my own head that I didn’t feel like having another one with the real world.
When we got to the training room, Lex was already there. Nic threw a bottle of orange juice at her head and she plucked it from the air and smiled. “Thanks, bud.” She winked at him, toweled off, and then leaned against the wall as she drank the orange juice down.
Afterward, we went through different scenarios with both Zeke and Lex since we weren’t sure who was going in. By the time it hit late afternoon, my stomach was beginning to tighten even more. We had yet to see Soren. I hadn’t even seen him at Samuel’s funeral. Though, I guessed that wasn’t out of the ordinary. They didn’t even really know each other, but I just kind of thought he’d be there. I was about to go looking for him when he came in through the entrance. He slipped in casually during one of our scenario trainings and stood off to the side. I motioned toward Lex so Nic could take my place and then went to talk to him. “Hey,” I said, approaching him tentatively. I wasn’t in a good mood today, but he definitely didn’t seem like he was up for any socialization.
He dropped his chin and stared at the ground. “Young One…” he started, shaking his head. “I am very sorry about your instructor.”
A lump formed in my throat and I swallowed it down. “It’s not your fault.”
He peeked up, eyebrows raised, then leaned against the padded wall as if all the energy had left him. He reached up and scratched his beard line before meeting my eyes again. “I can’t stop thinking about how Dumont needs to lose. We can’t let another one of your people die, Ariana.”
“I agree,” I said, moving closer to him. “What do you think they’ll do tonight? We need a plan.”
He nodded solemnly before resting a hand on my upper arm and then pulling himself up into a standing position and approaching the training area. Lex and Nic looked up, and T.J. and Zeke followed soon after. Soren put his hands up as if to stave off any questioning and then started in. “I believe they will be sending in Diesel. I’ve tried all this morning, as I’ve done in days past, to gather any information about who they’re sending in and they’re being very quiet. Their win yesterday has made them more confident.”
“They didn’t win yesterday,” Nic said, his voice deepening into an almost growl.
Soren stared at Nicolai in exasperation. “One of your guys is dead and one of theirs isn’t. I call that a win for them.” Nic opened his mouth to try to say something, but Soren spoke over top of him. “Regardless, I think I know what they’ll do tonight. They’ll send Diesel in. He’s their best fighter and their thinking will be to send him in to kick you guys while you are down. If they can rack up another win for them, you’ll be even more defeated. Because of this, I think we should focus on Lex’s fight with him.” He turned toward Zeke. “That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t train, but I’m going to be talking strategy with her the whole time.”
Nic’s eyebrows pulled together. “Are you sure? It seems more likely Dumont would send in someone else and that would make it Zeke’s fight. This way, they save Diesel for when they really need the sure win. Right now, we’re tied up so a win isn’t necessary. If I were Dumont, I’d save Diesel to ensure my fight with Gregor.”
“He doesn’t want to fight Gregor.”
Nic’s sneer grew. “Doesn’t want to fight Gregor?” He chuckled darkly and the hair on my arms rose. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
Soren straightened his shoulders. “I have a long history with Dumont. He won’t want to get his hands dirty. He doesn’t want to fight Gregor at all. What he’ll want to do is send in his best guy to get the ‘easy win’. Therefore, devastating the Ravana Clan even further and almost ensuring the last win for themselves since they’ll have the upper hand.”
I shot Nic a look after his lip twitched. I understood both their reasoning, but Soren knew Dumont better and he hadn’t steered us wrong so far. Nic just shrugged and admired one of the stakes he held in his hand.
Seeing as how that seemed to be all settled, Soren turned to Lex and began the lengthy rundown on Diesel again. All of which she’d heard a thousand times before. I could almost repeat it to her word-for-word myself if needed, and I was positive I hadn’t heard it quite as many times as she had. Not that I blamed Soren, he was just being cautious. I was glad he was that way. No matter what Nic thought, Soren was a great asset to us. Who better to tell us who to send in than him? He knew all these guys. Nic and I had been over this plenty of times before. I didn't understand why he still doubted him. To me, it was a no-brainer. If we didn't have him, we might not have ev
en secured the one win we did have. At least with him, we had the upper-hand. We knew things about them they didn't know about us.
I stepped toward Nic so we could discuss this again, but Lex and Soren intercepted me. “Young One, can you work parries with Lex, please? I want you to just throw anything at her as fast as you can.”
Nic gave me a smirk and shrugged. He’d known I was coming over to him and was probably happy my attempt had been thwarted. Sometimes I wondered if he really didn’t like Soren or if he was just being argumentative because he knew it bothered me. I shook my head, trying to put all that out of my head so I could focus on training and stepped in front of Lex. I took cues from Soren and did exactly what he told me to do. I threw punches and kicks in succession. Last night was good practice for this. When he told me to pause, I did so, circling her, and when he told me to go, we did the same thing, circling one another with blow after blow that she parried, blocked, or just plain old moved out of the way.
“Remember, he’s fast,” Soren said. “He is the strongest fighter they have. He will do everything he can to take you out. I’ve trained with him. He will not stop. He’s much worse than Samuel’s opponent. He won’t rely on cheating because he won’t have to. He will beat you down and beat you down until you want to give up. You’ll feel like you can’t go on any longer, but you’ll have to.”
He said all this while Lex and I went after one another. I attacked her harder, knowing what she would have to go up against. If this Diesel guy was going to try and break her down, I had to give her everything I had. I had to be just as good as him and try to take her down.
She was brilliant though. She took everything I gave her and did something with it. She didn’t take it any further than just the first barrier even though she very easily could have. She just waited for me to hit, then blocked. I did it again and again and she had no problem not getting hurt. By the time Soren called it quits for a break, I bent over at the knees and gulped in air. We may have only did a five-minute round, but it felt like hours.
