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Win the challenge, make changes to the way this family operates. They wanna hunt? Fine. But under my rule, only the truly deserving will be hunted and no blood from our line will be spilled without just cause.
His focus returns to me. “I have one concern. You are the descendant of a weak link—your grandfather. I don’t know what that means for you, but I guess we’ll find out during the challenge.”
Then he tells me about my grandfather, and more pieces of my past click into place. “Our family has harsh training methods for our boys. We can’t let weakness taint our bloodlines. The strongest ones, the deserving ones, survive their childhoods, knowing their glorious purpose. We homeschool them until they’re ready for high school, then send them to a private preparatory school founded by the Franklins so they can be properly prepared for their entry into the world. Your grandfather, he did well with the physical trials, but he had a fractured mind. He violated many of our traditions. He had a predilection for little girls, for example, and he also killed those who had not transgressed against us. He was due to be winnowed in a hunt, but he found out about it, and ran like a coward. Went underground, changed his name to Lenin Montgomery, lived in the woods. He took himself a little girl as a bride, and she gave birth to your father. We found out many years later, after he was already dead. We do not take women who are younger than eighteen. That’s against our tradition.”
His brows draw together, lines corrugating his forehead. “You carry the blood of great men in your veins, but you are also tainted. Today, as you are aware, has been a test. There’s one more test coming. We need you to prove yourself to us.”
My eye narrow in on the man.
“You ready to hunt.”
Questions swirl in my mind. Who are we hunting? What did they do? But I can’t ask any of that. It will be a guaranteed fail. So I do what I know I must.
I smile. “I thought you’d never ask.”
CHAPTER12
Bastien
An hour later,Artemis, Solomon, Paxton, and I meet at the edge of a wooded area. We’re each handed a bowie knife. We’re hunting the redhead, Sarah, and her boyfriend, Fabian. Or Sinner Sarah and Sinner Fabian, as Artemis calls them. They’ve been given knives, too, and a five-minute head start.
I know that none of the Franklin men are allowed to kill each other on their home turf, but as we stand there waiting for the hunt to begin, Paxton looks at me narrow-eyed, as if he’d be delighted to try to find a way to see that I die by accident. He stands close to his father, who doesn’t even look at him.
Daddy issues. Won’t last long in the challenge. Solomon, with his cool smile and appraising smirk, is a dark horse.
A servant blows a whistle, our signal to dash into the woods. Gray clouds slide across the sky, blotting out the sun, but I’ve never felt warmer. My heart sings as I jog through the underbrush. My father and I used to do some hunting when I was younger, although oddly, I never enjoyed killing animals. The only part I liked was when he taught me how to track. That was a skill that I pursued with a passion. We ended up tracking a lot of animals and then letting them go.
The skills I learned are coming in handy now. Of course, it’s not as if Sarah and Fabian present much of a challenge. They are completely inexperienced and totally panicked. They blunder through the underbrush, leaving shreds of their clothing and flattened bushes that point out their path like an arrow. They tramp on dried branches, which snap as loud as gunshots in the quiet, and flocks of birds explode into the sky, cawing in panic.
When I come on them, I slow down and let them run for a little while. I want them tired. It’s not lost on me that I’m tracking two people who I personally don’t believe deserve this level of punishment. The evil bloodline courses through my veins, and I’m drunk on the pursuit. I justify my actions by reminding myself that I don’t have a choice. This is expected of me if I’m to learn everything. More importantly, no matter what Artemis says about my family, I’m not weak.
I burst through the tall weeds, and Sarah screams, dropping her knife in the process. She falls to her knees and grabs it as Fabian jabs his own knife at me. His eyes are saucer-big with terror, and his hand shakes.
Sarah’s face is white and sweat pours down her temple. When I get a good look at her face, I realize she’s the one with the burned boob. That’s a shame. They’ve chosen to hunt a woman who isn’t in peak condition. I’m surprised she isn’t begging for death.
“I’ll do anything!” she cries out to me. “I’ll never steal again. I learned my lesson. I did, I did!”
I think about what’s at stake for me if I allow her to run and she makes it off this property alive. They’ll find her eventually, and when they do, she’ll tell them I let her escape. Will it matter at that point?
Considering how quickly they found me, she won’t make it the night. I know this and it seals her fate.
Solomon comes strolling up, hands in his pocket, whistling a little tune and smiling. He’s not even breathing hard. Yeah, he’ll be one to watch during the challenge.
Sarah’s eyes bounce from him to me and back again. She focuses on me. Perhaps because I’m the devil she doesn’t know.
“I’ll be your slave! I’ll suck your cock every day!” she pleads.
The desperation is sickening. She should shut up and take what’s coming with grace. Die with your head held high. It’s the only way.
“Sorry. I’ve got someone else in mind for that position, and she doesn’t have a fried tit.” I move closer to Fabian.
“It was her idea!” he whines, backing up. “She wanted to steal the car. I told her not to. Man, come on! You know how bitches are!”
Sarah’s face contorts with fury. “You motherfucker!” She runs right at him with the knife. He swats it aside and runs his knife straight through her chest. She drops to the ground, her life rushing from her body. I lunge forward, knocking his knife out of his hands and grabbing him by the throat. I stand there patiently watching as his face turns purple. I release my grip and punch him in the face. He’ll get a coward’s death for the way he tried to throw his woman under the bus.
Solomon drags Sarah’s body away, and I wonder what he plans to do with it. Will he bury her? Cut her open like I’m about to do to Fabian? Or something far more sinister? Not my concern. She’s dead.
Instead, I slowly dispatch Fabian. I perform an anatomy lesson on him while he’s still alive. Finally, after so many years, I not only get to kill, but I do it at my leisure. I barely even register what Solomon is doing to Sarah off in the corner, I’m so intent on keeping Fabian alive to the very end.
