I forced myself to let go of her wrists, but I kept her caged so she couldn’t escape.
I needed blood, not just any blood, buthers.
She lifted her hand to her fang and dragged it across her wrist, opening her skin. Blood bloomed in a small line as her skin healed immediately after. But the blood that had welled up was still there.
She offered her wrist to me. “No biting. We don’t have time for you to lose control, and I have never had vampire venom before. We can’t get distracted.”
I met her eyes, and delight struck me as I noticed she let me keep eye contact with her. I bent and put my mouth to her skin. My tongue flicked over her blood, and I held back a moan. Her blood was unlike anything I’d ever had before. It was spicy, potent, andelectric.
After I swallowed it, her essence flowed into my reserves. The small amount of her blood filled my reserves to the brim, clearing the static and dropping every manic note in my nerves into nothing.
I released her wrists and stepped back. “You shouldn’t have let me do that.”
“You shouldn’t need to,” she replied.
“Thank you,” I breathed.
“You’re welcome.” She turned and walked. “Let’s go.”
Zuko and Slater watched me closely.
This time, I managed to lead our squad with Rune like the co-captains we were.
We found Eleanor asleep in the ravine an hour after. Lorian had scooped her up as if she weighed nothing.
The rest of the mission was simple enough. For fourteen more hours, we avoided the terrain and found that the ravine was theonlysafe haven in that place.
At the twenty-four-hour mark, I hit the floor of the simulator to find that we had passed, with the only notes being Hawk’s death and my bloodlust.
Bloodlust had always been a problem for me, but with Rune’s blood, I was afraid I’d become addicted.
rune
. . .
We didsomething new in Resist and Endure with Hunting.
She had a small simulation chamber set up in the back of the classroom for the drill that was smaller than a closet. It had a metal floor, an iron-banded door, and steel-like walls charmed to swallow sound and give a live feed to the outside monitor, like the two larger simulators outside of the academy.
It was only big enough for one student at a time.
The objective was simple enough. We had to disarm a simulated opponent while under magically-induced escalating pain, retrieve their weapon, and deliver a code phrase. If we blacked out, we would fail.
Hawk came out first, screaming a code phrase, but he didn’t have the weapon from the simulation.
He’d left it on the ground before rushing out of the simulation.
Hunting didn’t look impressed in the slightest. She marked something down on her tablet.
Lorian, Eleanor, Raze, and Aura had been next. Lorian and Raze had completed it seamlessly. Aura had puked, and Eleanor cried.
Koa and Dimitri entered after, and they tied in how fast they finished their mission.
Zuko stood next to me as we watched Slater’s mission unfold.
“Think you’ll cry?” he murmured, not looking away from the monitor.
Tears streamed down Slater’s cheeks, but it was the only sign he was in pain. He disarmed the opponent easily and had Snakey swipe the weapon before getting the code phrase.
