I caught the smell of a woman passing, and everyone’s head lifted. The level of testosterone in here was legendary. Each time a female walked by, every man’s head craned to look at her— not that many females walked by this time of night, anyway.
“Boys, pay attention,” Lucien began. “We’ll be running rounds tonight. Each of you needs a refresher after the summer break.”
Several people moaned. Nobody liked doing rounds, including me, but they were important. Wolvens could produce formations to hunt down monsters that other shifters couldn’t. It was easier for us to work in groups.
“I’ll be giving chase. If you let me come close enough to touch you, you’ll fail for the day,” Lucien said. “I’ll give you a fifteen second head start, no less. Arrowhead formation, beginning now!”
The wolves scrambled to get into formation as class broke into a run. Elijah, being the ass he was, took the spot at the front reserved for the alpha. I wasn’t as much as a dick and took the back right corner, so that the ten of us made an inverted triangle. It wasn’t long before I could hear Lucien’s heavy foot beats behind. His hot breath was practically on my heels. If I failed because of Elijah today, he’d have to deal with me.
The pack moved as one through the trees, keeping formation even though there were obstacles in the way and Lucien was hot on our tail. “Good form!Those of you with wings, circle formation. The rest of you on the ground, jagged dancer.”
Three wolvens spread their wings and took to the sky, creating a circle that they flew in like vultures from above, waiting to strike down on their prey. Me and the other wolvens still on the ground took a zig-zag pattern, and used it to weave in and out of trees. Lucien managed to jump on the back of the last wolven in line, and he whined as he went down. We picked up the pace, not wanting to join him in receiving no credit.
“If I can catch you, a monster will have no trouble!” Lucien warned. “Use the environment to your advantage! Snake formation!”
The line changed, and our zig-zag became more of a weaving line. Of course, I ended right next to Elijah. He was behind me, trying to shove his way up front, but I wouldn’t let him.
“Get out of my way, peg leg,” Elijah growled. He stepped on my tail, and I wasn’t stupid enough to assume it was an accident.
I tried to ignore him, but that ended up being the wrong decision. He reached out and knocked my back leg out from under me, causing me to lose my balance. I toppled forward into the wolven in front of me, and the whole line went down. We went tumbling headfirst down a hill, and the world spun for a moment as various bruises and scrapes littered my sides.
When we finally came to the bottom of the embankment, many people were groaning in discomfort, or dizzy. Elijah, one of the few to remain upright, came running down the hill with a smug smile on his face.
I leapt to my teeth and bared my fangs. As soon as he came within distance, I lashed out with my paw. He jumped backward and landed in a crouch, ready to spring forward onto me so we could fight.
Lucien was between us before either could act. “We are working on rounds today, not dueling,” he said sharply. “If both of you wish to fail, I’ll be more than happy to have you sit out for the rest of the class.”
Elijah gave me a hateful glare, but said nothing else. Lucien gave a low growl and said, “Let’s try again. If anyone pulls another stunt like that, I’ll see to it that they will not graduate. Rock formation!”
Lucien made sure to separate us for the rest of the class. We ran more rounds and drills until two hours had passed and many wolvens were lying on the ground, struggling to catch their breath.
Not me. I still had a long night ahead of me.
Lucien shook his head. “So many could not keep up. The summer’s made you soft. I plan to beat that out of you by the time the first snow comes. Class dismissed.”
Elijah looked fine. He was one of the few that hadn’t passed out during rounds. He was in top shape. It was clear he’d been training for the Contest all summer. I kept my eye on him and didn’t turn my back until he was well out of sight.
I became my human form once I entered the palace. The halls were dead and quiet at this time of night. I avoided the dormitories and instead went to a different part of the castle— the dungeons.
They hadn’t been used in years, and were supposedly blocked off to students, but I’d found a way in through a hidden doorway that posed as a bookcase in the library. The hidden halls were a secret to anyone who wasn’t in the royal family— special passageways had been built behind the walls of the palace for the king and his kin to use in case of emergencies when the palace was built in 1700, but had been forgotten about long ago. I only remembered they were there due to something my father had said in passing shortly before he died.
I emitted a purple light from my hand, to guide the way through the dark passageways and long tunnels that weaved like a maze. Finally, I came to the end of my destination. It was an underground bunker that had a door leading to the streets of Dolinska. I sparked a fire in the fireplace, then used it to ignite the torches scattered around the room. The flames illuminated the room. My cloak and mask were tucked into a locked trunk near the door. A scattered maps and clues splayed over an old wooden table. Bunks were placed alongside the walls, but I never used them.
It was the perfect hideout for the Phantom. I highly doubted the Arcanea Alliance expected the vigilante to be a student.
I changed into my outfit then quickly scanned the maps, where I’d outlined a trail. There’d been ten murders at Arcanea warehouses in the area, where we shipped out our famous Malovian wine. The wine was enchanted by sorceresses, and was of high value in the magical marketplace. Production had been slowed due to bodies showing up around the area. A few more people who worked for the wineries had gone missing entirely.
The people that were found killed had been consumed, so I knew we were dealing with a monster and not a person. The only question was what kind.
I stood before the warehouses shortly after, on a rooftop that overlooked where the bodies had been found. My nose could smell the protective charms that the sorceresses had put over the warehouses for security purposes. I couldn’t break them— a Marked needed to do that. So I’d need to go around.
There were sewers leading into the warehouses, I was sure. I dropped down, then searched the ground for a manhole. When I found one, I popped the lid and slid inside. I fitted the cover over the hole as I proceeded through the large pipeline beneath. When I was certain I was inside the warehouse campuses, I found another manhole and came out the other side.
My guess was successful. I was inside the magical ward now. I tried the first door I came to, and found it unlocked— Arcanea didn’t typically lock doors when they had magic to protect whatever was inside.
The contents of the warehouse didn’t arouse any immediate suspicion. All that was inside were hundreds of wooden barrels full of wine, stacked up to the ceiling.
Then I smelled it. The body. It was freshly killed, within the last hour or so, and still warm. Metallic blood was seeping all over the concrete floor.
