Varick
The next three days would be hell. I returned to the castle, striding to the auditorium to watch the game. My presence wasn't ignored as I'd hoped and Abraham soon cornered me, asking me about last night.
“How's morale in the group?” he asked as some of the spectators drew closer, wanting a tip-off as to who was a weak link.
“Low, as can be expected,” I drawled, trying to move past him.
Abraham swung out an arm, halting me. “Are you making sure they're well rested before each round?”
I tried not to grimace at his words. He didn't care about the girls, this was about his reputation. He wanted to put on a good show, and if the girls dropped in numbers too quickly, the last round may not be so entertaining.
“Of course,” I insisted. My gaze trailed to the men hovering around him who backed off as I eyed them.
“Good. This round should harden up the surviving group for the finale.” Abraham seemed satisfied, running a hand over his slicked-back, white hair. “My bets are on the redhead. I like her spark.”
Some of the men muttered their delight and my stomach churned as they grabbed Abraham's attention, offering him more money to place on Cassandra.
The betting didn't end until the final day, due to the fact the highest bidder on the winning contestant would be awarded a prize. One that made me physically ill. Perhaps it wouldn't have done in the past, but knowing Selena was in the running changed things.
“The Grey girl is clearly the most desirable to the Vs,” a lean man was saying to Abraham, sipping on a crystal glass of brandy.
“Yes, it's rather brought her ranking down. The Vs choose her over the others,” Abraham remarked and my blood began to boil.
Selena wasn't the first girl to have desirable blood in the games. But she was the first that made even me lose my focus. She wasn't just desirable, she was a god damn rarity. And the more blood the Vs drank, the more aware they became, able to focus their attention on her.
I moved away from the men, their attention having passed on from me. I continually glanced at the screens as I made my way to the seating area. Plenty of spectators were sat there today, the game now drawing all of the attention in the room. I moved to the back rows as men shifted out of my way, taking a seat alone, away from their sneering faces.
The only others sat in the back row were Mercy and a man whose lap she was perched in.
His head snapped up as he spotted me sitting a few seats down from them.
“Oh don't mind him,” Mercy purred, turning the man's face so his eyes returned to hers. “He's just moping because he can't run around on that island himself.”
I ignored her, watching the screen, quickly locating Selena who was squeezing her way through a tight space in the mountain caves. My breathing grew shallow as I spotted the V crawling through the passage after her.
“If you want a drink, baby, be my guest.” Mercy thrust her arm at me and the man she was straddling looked on in horror.
“You don't let it drink from you, do you?” he asked her, hugging her tighter to him.
“Na. He's under orders. You can't touch me, can you Varick?”
I continued to ignore her, sitting forward in my seat as Selena battled with the emaciated V beneath ground. It'd be weak for sure. He didn't look as though he'd fed for almost a year. The Helsings were clever like that. Feeding different groups varying amounts of blood to make sure there was a mix on the island. From the strongest to the weakest. It gave the girls more of a chance, and I supposed made for a more riveting show.
Mercy snapped her fingers beneath my nose and it was like a thunder crack in my ear.
“Don't, you'll anger it,” the man breathed.
I turned to them as Selena escaped the V and the purple-haired girl Sakura dispatched it. “Mercy doesn't bother me. But being referred to as 'it' is about to get on my last nerve.” I stared down the man and he hid behind Mercy's golden locks.
She threw her head back, giggling wildly. “Oh Varick you're such a tease. Leave him be.”
“Tell him to keep his opinions to himself, or I'll gladly rip out his tongue so he never shares another thought with me again.”
The man stood, hastily dropping Mercy into her seat – not so gracefully – and scurried away like the vermin he was.
“Oh now look what you've done.” She pouted, rising to her feet, brushing down the non-existent, wisp of a dress she was wearing and moving into the seat beside mine. “You're so angry today.” She ran a finger up my arm and I determinedly ignored her. She wore no garlic on her skin and instead of the lavender soap that so often made me ill, she was splashed with a light, sweet perfume. My throat constricted as the scent of her Hunter blood reached to me. Painfully tempting.
“Go be a harlot somewhere else, will you?” I demanded.
She huffed. “I'm not a harlot.”
“In my day, whores wore more clothes than you are now. Unless you genuinely forgot to put on trousers today?”
She glanced down at her legs, dropping a hand onto her thigh. “You like it really.”
“I'm a V, Mercy. Or have you forgotten? All I give a damn about is blood. So if you really want me to take notice of you, I suggest you slit your wrists.”
Her mouth fell open and I hid my satisfied smile. Winding Mercy up wasn't the worst thing in the world, I supposed.
Mercy followed my line of sight to the screen where Selena was clambering her way out of the cave mouth. My heart nearly stopped – and that was saying something considering it barely beat more than once a minute anyway – and I sprang to my feet.
Fifteen, no twenty Vs, moving through the forest, heading toward Selena and her friends. “No, dammit. Don't you dare.” I spotted Ravenos leading the line, marching through the fog with a smug expression slapped across his face. My eyes darted from screen to screen, my mind racing. If only there was some way to communicate to Selena. But there was nothing I could do but watch as she tumbled down a hill directly into their hands.
“Uh oh,” Mercy sang. “Looks like Grey's out of the running.”
The fact that she didn't mention the other two drew my attention to her. Mercy was smiling, but there was no kindness in it.
“Think I haven't noticed you gawping at her?” She laughed cruelly. “It's pathetic really. And here I am flaunting Hunter blood at you when you've got a taste for that pale bitch in the game.” She leant in close, her heated breath on my ear. “And I know your little secret, Varick.”
My spine straightened as I turned to her.
“What secret?” I feigned ignorance.
“Grey shouldn't have made it in the last round. Funny how she got up and walked the ten steps to the checkpoint, when she couldn't even crawl that far before the redhead came to help her.”
“So?” I snapped. “What's your point?”
“My point is...only V blood could have cured an injury like that. Strong blood, too. And Redtop didn't have a splash on her when she reached the checkpoint.”
I ground my jaw, trying to keep my flaming anger under control.
She leant in close again. “Don't worry, Varick. Your secret is safe with me. So long as you do as I say from now on.”
“Not much of a threat, considering I have to do anything you say anyway.”
She smiled a twisted smile. “Not everything.”
I shifted away from her, trying not to think of all the screwed up things she'd asked me to do in the past. She was right, I often refused her. But I never thought her little games were anything more than that. Surely she didn't actually want me to bite her? If Abraham found out, he'd have my head on a spike, or mounted on the wall in his trophy room.
But if Mercy told him I was helping a girl in the game, he'd do the same thing. He'd believe his daughter over me any day of the week.
“What do you want me to do?” I growled, knowing I had no choice.
She leant in close again and the urge to bite her nearly overwhelmed me. I could practically taste the blood on my tongue.
“If Grey survives this round, I want you to kill her.”
I lurched away, gazing at Mercy in horror. “That's impossible. Abraham will have my head for it.”
“Not if you make it look like one of the girls did it. Drive a knife into her heart, be subtle. I know you can do it.”
My stomach lurched at the very idea. “No,” I said firmly.
“You'll do it, or I'll tell Daddy what you did and he'll have both of your heads for it.”
I shrank from the girl, feeling trapped. She stood, glancing down at me with a satisfied smile. “Oh, and come to my room tonight. Midnight should be late enough for no one to notice.”
She left me sitting there, trembling with rage. But in moments, my thoughts were forgotten as an ear-splitting scream rang out from the game.