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Matches happened throughout the day, with each winner advancing to fight the next. And Vampire, Initiate, Acari, Tracer, Trainee—everyone— had gathered on the lawn in front of the stones to watch.
Everyone was waiting for the semifinal fights to begin. For my fight to begin.
I reached my arms in front of me, trying to loosen my stiff back. I was so tight, I thought the muscles might snap. A deep unease had me clenched and agitated. “Those vamps . . . they’ve got a sense of drama. I’ll give them that. ”
“What?” Emma touched her ear to let me know that she hadn’t heard me over the buzz of the audience.
I shook my head. “Never mind. ”
Yasuo was with us, and it was reassuring to feel a tall, strong guy standing by my side. He gingerly poked at my right ear. “Jeez, little D. How’d you manage to bruise your earlobe?”
I flinched away from his touch. Getting pinned on a mat in the gym was one thing. But being pummeled into a gargantuan granite plinth was a whole other story. Just the thought of facing it again tightened my chest. “It’s that stupid rock. ”
Emma leaned close. “You’re almost on. ”
“Thanks for the reminder. ” I tried to muster a sarcastic smile, but feared I’d missed the mark.
“She beat the hell out of those first two girls,” Yasuo said, looking into the distance.
I followed his line of sight and found Lilac. She was sashaying through the crowd, a bevy of bright-skinned acolytes trailing her like the wake of a luxury yacht.
Josh was also swept along in her tide, and I caught him looking at me before he could turn away. Whatever.
“I pity the girl who has to face her in the semis,” Yas added.
I nodded. Lilac was looking like a shoo-in for the finals. “Some girl named Antje gets that honor,” I said. There were only four of us left in the semifinals, and I was surprised the vamps were having me face off against a Lilac underling instead of my known nemesis. Ronan’s speech had made me realize how much attention the vampires paid to the comings and goings of Acari. I supposed it was one way to pass eternity. “Wonder of wonders, it’s not me. ”
“Either way, we still have to get you ready. ” He looked at Emma. “You brought the tape?”
Nodding, she pulled a roll of white medical tape from her pocket. I automatically held my hands out for her to wrap them.
Emma touched my left pinkie, and I gasped. “Ow. ”
“Looks bad,” she said, examining it. The finger was a repulsive shade of purple and poked unnaturally from the rest of my hand.
“I landed wrong. ” I felt the bone trying to knit back together, and although I healed fast, it wasn’t that fast. “I think it’s broken. ”
“Ya think?” Yasuo asked.
I stuck my tongue out at him.
Emma gently traced the line of the bone from the hand up to the fingertip. “Do you want me to bind it?”
I nodded, rolling my aching shoulders. “Tape my whole body, while you’re at it. ”
Yasuo was still watching Lilac work the crowd. “They say the last girl who fought her died, like, thirty seconds after the fight began. Could be you facing that shit in the finals. If you beat that Mia girl. ”
“You mean when I beat Mia. ” My voice came out weaker than I’d intended.
“You don’t have to fight,” Emma cut in. “A lot of girls have stepped down from the competition. ”
Emma had bowed out the moment she saw her name pitted against mine on the fight bracket, and I feared the long-term consequences of her decision. “I wish you hadn’t stepped down. ”
It was no secret Emma and I were friends, and a match between us would’ve made for the sort of drama the vamps craved like catnip.
“I have no interest in traveling, and so saw no need to fight. ”
I rolled my eyes, exasperated. “It’s about more than just traveling, Em. I worry it’s a mistake not to fight. ”
