Selena
I stood, shoulder to shoulder with the other two girls in the middle of the sandy pit at the bottom of the amphitheater. Thames on my left, Veta on my right. The music was deafening, an electronica melody weaved over a quickening bass drum which pounded against my skull.
“Welcome to the Redeeming!” Abraham's voice blared around the stadium, echoing down to us.
If I'd felt helpless before, it was nothing to how I felt now. At the very bottom of a pit, gazing up at a thousand men who would delight in seeing me ripped to pieces.
I shut my eyes, trying to block out everything but the beating of my heart and the words, I trust you Varick. I trust you.
The music slowed to a repetitive strumming and ticking noise that seemed to embody the feeling of anticipation in the crowd. My tablet buzzed on my wrist and I glanced at the message. It was from Ulvic.
If you escape, meet me outside the hotel.
Right then, I couldn't see any possible way of managing that.
“Tonight, the Redeeming will put three girls to the test at once!” Abraham roared.
A cheer went up and I instinctively reached to the side. Thames's fingers locked with mine and in moments, all three of us had joined hands, not cowering, but showing unity. And it gave me strength. It ignited hope in me.
We had a plan. And I had to have faith in it. Even though I knew it relied entirely on Varick now. And there was every chance he had failed in convincing the other Vs to help us. They wanted our blood. How would they be able to resist it?
Abraham walked to the edge of his podium, high above us, looking down, a bundle of something clutched in his hands. “Each of you are here to redeem yourselves, to increase your ranking and re-enter the V Games.” He dropped the bundle and it cascaded into the pit, hitting the sand with a dull thump.
The sheet came loose and three stakes appeared, rolling out of it.
I glowered up at Abraham, his eyes locking with mine. I felt his disdain. He wanted me snuffed out. I was a nuisance, a pebble in his shoe. And it was time for him to rid himself of it.
Abraham returned to his podium, lifting his chin as a drone hovered close by and magnified his square features tenfold onto the screens. “Any girl standing at the end of the twenty minute timer will be awarded five ranking points and returned to the game.”
The lights in the stadium dimmed and ten spotlights honed in on us. The music dropped to a deadly drum beat.
Boom, boom, boom. Slow and steady, but growing toward a crescendo.
My body trembled, my heart falling into rhythm with the beat.
None of us moved for the stakes. A silent agreement seemed to have passed between us. We were gambling our lives, just like the spectators gambled on us. Either Varick succeeded, or we were dead.
Mutters passed between the men, their half-masks revealing their mouths as they spoke. “Why aren't they arming themselves?”
Their disillusion gave me strength. If nothing else, we were rattling them. Not playing along. Foiling any bets that had been placed on us tonight.
I spied the guards who were aiming guns down at us, shifting cautiously, glancing between each other.
“OPEN THE DOORS!” Abraham roared and a cacophonous cheer went up.
The men were hungry for blood. And we were their next meal.
The doors around us slid open and Vs poured into the pit. The space flooded with snarling faces and my heart resounded in my ears like there was no other sound in the world.
Veta and Thames grouped closer to me, our shoulders stuck together, our hands clasping each others.
I lifted my chin, looking directly at Abraham, his expression one of triumph.
You're the monster, Abraham. Not them.
No one screamed, no one fought, no one moved. Death was sweeping in on us and we were embracing it entirely. Not without fear, but with the knowledge that we had tried. That our deaths still belonged to us.
In moments, we were surrounded. But claws didn't find their way to my skin, fangs didn't sink into my neck. The Vs were ringing around us, facing out toward the crowd in a protective stance.
My stomach knotted up into a tight bunch.
“Varick,” I gasped as I spotted him, moving through the throng, an angel of death. The sight of him beautiful, terrible and entirely euphoric.
He paused in front of me with a dark grin on his lips. “Surely you didn't doubt me, sweetheart?” Turning before I could answer, he concealed me behind his broad form.
Over his shoulder, Abraham's face was paling. “You will fight!” he roared and the crowd started talking in tense voices.
“No,” Varick's voice rang out, clear and defined. “We will not.”
Abraham glowered at him, an ant beneath his shoe. He lifted a hand, his gaze deadly as he gestured to the guards. “You will fight or you will die. The choice is yours.”
“I pick option three,” another Vampire muttered. I couldn't see his face, but his hair was cropped short and his form was all slim muscle. He glanced backwards and his navy blue gaze found mine. A smile crept onto his lips and I didn't know whether to be unnerved or comforted.
Varick was looking around the stadium, seemingly searching for something. He paused, lifting his hand in a gesture I didn't understand. I followed where he was looking; a spectator was standing up, his mask concealing his face as he lifted his arm and threw something into the air. A small sphere came sailing down towards us and the whole stadium seemed to hold its breath as it fell.
Varick moved gracefully forward, catching it in his palm.
In less than a second, he turned to me, smiling as he opened his fist around the object. I didn't know much about weapons but I knew a grenade when I saw one. Varick pulled the pin and launched it toward the outer ring of silver fencing at the top of the pit.
“Duck!” he roared at the group, throwing himself at me, my heart lurching into my throat.
I lost hold on Veta and Thames as he pressed me to the ground. Around me Vs were falling onto the girls, protecting them from the blow. The explosion shuddered through my entire body, but all I could feel were Varick's arms, the weight of him holding me down, protecting me.
“You did it,” I breathed, shell-shocked.
“Not without you.” His mouth met mine for the briefest of moments. “Never without you.” He stood, dragging me up with him.
Around us, the world had descended into absolute mayhem.
Vs were crawling like ants up the wall where a great gouge had been ripped into it. At the top, the silver fence was frayed and split apart, allowing the Vampires into the crowd. The rush of movement, pounding feet and blood-curdling screams was deafening. I glanced up toward the dais where Abraham and his family had been, but they weren't there.
Shots were fired and Varick moved swiftly in front of me. A bullet grazed his shoulder, tearing his shirt, but in moments the wound knitted over.
A flash of silver caught my attention in his palm. “Turn around,” he commanded and I didn't waste a second in complying. Pushing my hair aside, he pressed something cold to the back of my neck and I winced as a sharp pain tore into my neck. My heart sang. Somehow, impossibly he'd found a way to extract the poison capsules.
In moments, both Veta and Thames were free of them, too.
“Let's move,” Varick growled, taking my hand and dragging me toward the gap in the wall.
I glanced back at the girls, encouraging them to follow. The V with the navy eyes was protecting Thames, and Veta was flanked by a female V with spiky blonde hair.
“How did you convince them?” I asked Varick, breathless with relief.
“There's only one thing these Vs want more than blood.” He jerked his thumb at the fleeing spectators. “Revenge.” He smirked. “I just had to convince them I could really give it to them.”
Despite the situation, I managed a smile as Varick threw me not-so-gracefully onto his shoulder and scaled the crumbling wall. At the top he placed me down, keeping me close. A bullet whistled past my ear and I cried out, leaning into him. Varick turned toward the culprit, snarling as he strode purposefully toward a spectator who was holding a handgun. I screamed as he fired shot after shot into Varick's chest, but he never stopped walking, reaching the man in moments. He snatched the gun from his hand, took hold of his neck and threw him down into the pit where the last of the Vs finished him off.
Turning, Varick picked the bullets from his chest and the wounds healed over immediately.
“Aren't you hurt?” I ran to him, the sight of his blood making me panic.
“Idiot didn't use silver bullets.” He eyed the handgun in his palm then chucked it into the pit. The other girls were close behind me now, the Vs surrounding them looking to Varick for direction.
He didn't offer any, just looked to me.
I floundered for a moment before getting my thoughts in line. “The hotel. Ulvic's at the hotel.”
His jaw tightened and he nodded, taking my hand and leading me into the rows of seating. As we jogged up the stairs between them, spectators fled left and right. They were being mowed down by the Vampires and I could barely watch as throats were torn out before my eyes. As we rose toward the higher levels, something sticky made it harder to walk. Looking down, my stomach writhed; a thick layer of blood ran beneath my boots.
Varick's hand tightened on mine. “Keep going,” he urged and I nodded, moving on, heading through a doorway into the inner ring of the amphitheater.
It was strange to be unhindered, walking through what had just been my prison. The hall was lined with red carpets and soft classical music was playing. I picked up my pace, winding down a long series of steps towards what must have been the exit.
“Get your creepy cold hands off me!” Thames's voice caused me to glance over my shoulder.
“Kodiak,” Varick warned, gesturing for the Vampire with the navy eyes to let go of her.
“I was just looking out for her,” he said, his voice hoarse. He looked hungry and it made me worry how long this alliance was going to last.
“It's okay,” I said to Thames and she pouted for a moment before nodding.
“Let's just get out of here.” She shrugged off Kodiak's hand on her shoulder and he reluctantly let go.
Varick took the lead as we reached the door. “I'll go first.”
I grabbed his wrist, concerned. “What if-”
He was already gone and I fought the urge to immediately follow. Damn V.
A moment later, he reappeared, gesturing for us to follow. The cold air enveloped me as I stepped outside. The area was quiet, the fence ringing the amphitheater rattling in the wind.
Varick pointed down the path that wound toward the hotel in the distance, but before he could take a step in that direction, voices sounded from around the corner.
“-these guns kill a V at twenty paces.”
“Shouldn't we try and round 'em up before we start killin' 'em?”
“Apparently it's too late for that. Orders from the top.”
Varick snatched my arm, turning me about and hurrying along the edge of the stadium in the opposite direction to the voices.
I sensed Varick was about half a second from carrying me again. Kodiak pulled Thames toward the wall of the amphitheater and gestured ahead of us. A group of armoured vehicles were hurtling along the track toward us, turning and heading out of a gate onto the grassland beyond.
Varick fixed Kodiak and the other Vs with an authoritative stare, holding up three fingers and counting them down as the trucks filtered out.
As the last one disappeared through it, Varick grabbed me and the world became a blur. My stomach rolled as we moved at high speed. Lights spun in my eyes then darkness took their place.
Varick set me down a moment later, holding onto my waist so I didn't drop into the mud like I had in the past.
“Hey! They went that way!” a man was calling from the gate which was now a hundred feet away.
We huddled together, orientating ourselves as the trucks spun in our direction. Spotlights on the tops of them wheeled over our group.
“Split up. Take a girl. Carry them to the mariner – we'll meet you there!” Varick barked.
“Wait – no-” Thames started but Kodiak snatched her into the air, charging off into the night.
Veta let the female V escorting her lift her up and speed away from us. Varick took my arm as the others Vs melded into the night.
The ground trembled from the heavy trucks rolling in our direction. Gunshots crackled through the air. Varick threw me an apologetic look before lifting me into his arms and crushing me to his chest as he ran.
I shut my eyes, sick from the motion, trying to force away the pounding in my head.
This wasn't the time to be weak.
With a cacophonous bang ringing in my ears, something knocked Varick off his feet. We smashed into the earth and Varick rolled just in time, turning so he was beneath me, sliding backwards and carving a crater in the mud.
I scrambled out of his hold, dizzy as I got to my feet and immediately fell back down. Varick groaned and I crawled desperately toward him, feeling my way through the darkness.
A spotlight swept in our direction, just long enough for me to see the blood.
Varick was groaning in agony, his hand cupping a wound in his side. I clawed his fingers away.
“Get. The bullet. Out,” he said through his teeth, his eyes clamped shut.
My hands trembled as I gently touched the wound. He jerked violently and I gasped my apologies.
“Do it!” he roared and I immediately reacted.
Pressing my hand to the wound, I curled my finger around a long bullet and pulled. Varick arched his back, roaring in pain as I slid it free, throwing the thing away.
His chest rose and fell and I gripped his hand, desperate. “Tell me you're going to be alright!”
The sound of a truck grew close. We were hidden beneath the huge pile of earth that had been forced up from the ground, but it was only a matter of time until they reached us again.
Varick slowly nodded, opening his eyes and looking straight at me. Something clicked into place in my heart, like a final jigsaw piece being pushed into its slot.
He ran his thumb over my cheek, smearing mud and blood across it. “Just fine,” he sighed, sitting up, lifting his tattered shirt to inspect the wound. There was nothing but blood left now.
He rose to his feet and I gazed up at his mighty form as a spotlight slid over him.
Without warning, he started running.
“Varick!” I shouted in horror, gazing after him from the relative safety of the crater.
A truck was oncoming, bullets spraying left and right. Varick moved like the wind, dodging all of them.
The truck was gaining speed, faster and faster, the cab rocking wildly as it traversed the uneven ground.
Varick ran at the vehicle, dug his heels into the soft earth and threw his weight into the front of it.
I screamed out as the truck buckled and bent around him, lifting into the air, flipping over and over. I stumbled backwards as it crashed into the ground before me, the earth shuddering beneath my feet. Petrol fumes wafted over me, engulfing my senses.
My hand went to my heart as I gazed on in shock. Varick was unharmed, standing before the carnage with a grim look of satisfaction on his face. He moved to my side in a flash, lifted me into his arms and kissed my cheek with such gentleness that it was almost impossible to believe that he was the same person that had just caused a car crash.
Varick tore across the ground and I clung to him with all my strength.
Looking back toward the amphitheater, I spotted Vs spilling from the exits, pouring out into the field like a swarm of locusts.
The spotlights on the trucks swung left and right across the land, guns firing with bursts of orange sparks. My heart lifted with triumph. We might not survive yet, but the damage was done. The game was ruined. No spectator would return here after the night was out.
A horn suddenly blared and Varick swerved as a truck zoomed toward us.
“Why are they beeping?” I muttered as Varick backed up, preparing to set me down. The vehicle slowed to a halt and my heart practically stopped working as someone stepped out of it I never thought I'd see again. Her red hair flew behind her in the wind; she looked like a ghost with how pale her skin was, and for a moment I thought she must be.
Varick placed me on my feet, a smile taking shape on his face.
My voice came out croaky and broken, but I got her name out all the same, “Cass?”