Page 116 of Slayer

“Asher, I can’t.” I reached for him again, my fingers brushing empty air as he shrank away. “I have the shadow mark. The guild might kill me, and my mom left a letter telling me not to trust any hunters. There’s more to this. I just need time to figure it out.”

“The guild won’t kill you.” He looked at me like I’d lost my mind.

“They killed Serafina Vale, the last one to have this mark.” My voice shook. “Look it up. Please. I need you to trust me. There’s something bigger going on here. I’m scared.”

For the first time, something in him shifted. He lowered his sword, his gaze flicking to my lips before he shook his head, jaw tight. “I can’t believe this. I can’t even look at you right now, Stella.”

Then he turned and walked away, giving me his back.

Tears blurred my vision as I followed a few steps behind him before stopping, my chest aching. I felt like I had nowhere to go. I knew this would happen. I knew this place was too good to be true. I knew eventually everyone would turn on me.

When I got back to the dorm, I left a note for Harper and Luna saying my date with Asher was canceled. Then I curled into my bed, pulling the blankets tight, and tried to sleep.

The look Asher had given me, filled with disbelief and disgust, played on repeat in my mind all night long, and I wondered if I was screwing everything up. If I was doing this all wrong.

CHAPTER

NINETEEN

I barely slept, and when Sunday came and everyone else was getting together to practice drills and be at their best for the test tomorrow, my nerves were already shredded. I told Luna and Harper I was sick and didn’t even bother pretending to leave my bed. I lay there all day, staring at the ceiling, my mind racing in circles I couldn’t control.

My real estate agent had written me back with three different properties. I read the emails over and over like they were a lifeline. The one that looked the most peaceful was in Montana. It was a little two-bedroom cabin on the river with solar panels and a well, the kind of place that felt cut off from the world in the best way. It even came with a Jeep and a snowplow. I didn’t hesitate. I told her to buy it and e-signed all the papers necessary, my fingers shaking as I committed to an escape route I hoped I wouldn’t need. But I could see now how I might end up at a place like that, alone, quiet, hidden. Why my mother had told me to buy it. It felt like the way Asher had looked at me last night, I’d be in Montana in no time.

I forced myself to focus on the task ahead. Passing the hunter unit trial. Getting my unit placement. Surviving the next twenty-four hours.

When the day of the test arrived, I was a ball of nerves, my stomach tight and hollow all at once. Had Asher told anyone? Would they even let me compete? Would Celia already know everything?

“Hey, feeling better? We were worried about you.” Luna appeared in the hallway just as I was stepping out of my room. It was Monday evening, and I’d been holed up for two days, living off meal bars I’d stashed in the back of a drawer like a doomsday prepper.

“Oh yeah. I think it was food poisoning,” I lied, hating how easily it slipped out.

Harper frowned. “You locked your door. I tried to check on you.”

I nodded, keeping my expression neutral. “I was sleeping. Are you guys ready for this?”

Guilt twisted low in my chest. I hated hiding things from them, but it felt like there was no going back now. I was paying a vampire monthly, I thought my mom might still be alive, I had a bugout house in Montana, and I carried the shadow mark. They’d never want to be friends with me if they knew all that.

The only one who knew my secrets was Asher. My fate was in his hands, and I was about to find out if he’d told anyone.

We stepped outside with the rest of our class, and there was Celia, standing in front of over two dozen hunters. She was armed to the teeth, wearing black hunting leathers like all of us, her presence commanding without her saying a word. To the left and right of her were open crates filled with weapons, steel catching the moonlight.

“All right, students! The time-honored tradition of your unit assignment is upon us!” Celia said.

Nervous cheers rippled through the crowd, and I peered over at Asher. He glanced back at me, and for one awful heartbeat, I thought he might say something, but the second our eyes met, he looked away. The moon was high in the sky, and the night shift was about to begin.

Shame flooded me, and I swallowed hard.

Derek stepped up beside his wife. “Now as you know, this test is different from any other you’ve ever done. You will track, hunt, and kill one or more vampires tonight, and it will test out the unit placement you will be given by the Veil Stone Conclave. But nothing is permanent until you get back and take your oath.”

Luna had told me that the oath was a formal swearing to protect your fellow unit hunters to the death.

Celia stepped up next to her husband. “That’s right. Tonight is when your powers shine.”

I’d been on a bit of information overload since I got here, but according to Harper and Luna, the conclave was held in a special cave filled with five Veil Stone–infused pillars that were attuned to each hunter who presented themselves to be matched in a unit. The conclave was started by the legacy families centuries ago and matched hunters in near-perfect fighting units.

“Pick your weapons!” Celia called out and gestured to the crates. “As you know, for this test, you will also be allowed to bring a wafer tin. Your arcanist, if you have one, will be given the wafers. If you don’t have one, they can go to any member of your team. Don’t get cocky. If you take too powerful of a rune wafer, I might be dragging you out in a body bag.”

Nervous murmurs ripped through the crowd at that, the reality of what we were about to do settling in. Everyone broke apart to look through the weapons, metal clanking, voices overlapping. I thought I was in the clear and that Asher hadn’t told anyone. My chest loosened just a fraction.