Slay Alive

Chapter 14

fourteen

“So you got in late last night. What’s that about? You have a hot date with Gabriel?” Tamsin asks me. She looks so excited about me having a dinner date with Gabriel that I almost don’t have the heart to tell her he’s a book selling dickwad.

Almost.

“Ex-nay on the Gabriel train. Dude’s a fuckboy and he’s selling off the special collections to fund his gambling habit.”

“What?! Selling it to who?”

We’re approaching the training yards and get a few looks from the hunters on their way for morning training when she says that so I grab her arm and bring her close. “To a vamp.”

“No fucking way.”

“Yes fucking way.”

“You know what? Now that I think about it, I have heard some talk about Gabriel from the other girls but I didn’t think much of it.”

“What kind of talk? Like how he’s a love ‘em and leave ‘em type?”

“Something like that. It’s easy for new hunters to…you know, read things wrong. Everything is so new and overwhelming. I feel stupid now not investigating like I should have. I never thought a Von Helsing would do something like this but I should know better. I should have done something. I’m older, I’m not a recruit anymore.”

I put a hand on Tamsin’s shoulder “Hey, it’s not your fault. I’m not going to let you beat up on yourself because he’s a creep. If it makes you feel any better, I kicked a bookcase on him and then Cade nearly snapped his arm like a glow stick.”

Tamsin’s eyes go wide. “Wait, go back twenty paces. Back to the part where Cade is snapping arms, but also you did what?”

I nod triumphantly. “Yeah, I panicked when he almost caught me eavesdropping, you know.” I throw up my hands. “One thing led to another and we’ve got a bookcase in play.”

“Too bad it didn’t land on his idiot head.”

“Honestly.”

“Now back to Cade.”

I blush hot. I don’t even need to look at myself to know I’m pink in the cheeks over mention of Cade. “I-well, he’s just, he was being helpful. He came upon me and Gabriel in the Midnight Market, caught Mister Fuckboy getting handsy and put him in an arm lock, or you know, something martial arty.”

Tamin lets out a low whistle. “He defended your honor? That’s so chivalric. Maybe what Rhia said about him was true…”

I bite my lip when she says that. I want to tell her about my almost kiss with Cade last night but there’s also the part where I don’t know what to think about what happened last night when he left me standing alone. Left me fucking wanting.

What kind of vampire boyfriend does that?

Still…

“Yeah, maybe Rhia was right,” I say quickly and then pull Tamsin into line with me. “Who’s that?” I ask, nodding at the man I see pacing with Riley. He’s got the look of someone in charge of something. He’s dressed the same as Riley and the rest of us, in training leathers and a harness with the requisite stakes, daggers, and holy water but it’s easy to see he’s not like us. For one, he’s got Riley following behind him like a lapdog and even emo boy is looking chipper.

“That’s Adrian Darkwood. Our leader.”

“Oh. That’s cool.”

Tamsin gives me a sidelong look. “ That’s cool? Really?”

“What? I mean, it is. It’s not every day you meet the fearless leader of the Nightwardens. It’s cool he’s here.”

“Nothing to do with the fact that you don’t want to figure out if he’s a potential boyfriend because you’ve got the hots for Cade?”

I purse my lips to stop the smile that almost comes to my face when she mentions Cade. “Zip it.” Tamsin doesn’t answer me, instead she draws her finger across her lips in the pantomime of a zipper. “Good woman.”

I’m thankful for Tamsin’s vow of silence because it’s then that I see Cade. He’s got on the same outfit I saw him in yesterday but this time he’s got a hood on. I watch as Adrian approaches him and unsurprisingly Cade is the only one who looks like he doesn’t give two shits who the Nightwarden leader is. He listens to whatever Adrian says, though. When the two are done speaking, Adrian turns to face us all.

“Good morning, Nightwardens! It is a pleasure to see your faces again after my travels. I’ve missed seeing such dedicated and loyal guardians. In my absence you have been training diligently with Cade Graves. We have him to thank for helping us prepare for the eclipse. We have it on good authority this is when the Ascendents will strike.”

I let out a sigh of relief. At least Adrian is on the same page as me. It would blow if the only thing standing between this world’s annihilation was me.

“Training will increase, patrols will double, and on the night of the masquerade we will launch a full attack on the Ascendents.”

“We know where they are?” I ask. That’s surprising.

Adrian looks my way and nods. “We do, recruit. While we know Briarwood Hollow is their place of power, we have long searched for their den. I’m happy to report that I’ve located their homebase and we will be making the first strike. This is going to be our final stand, hunters. We are going to finish what Thespia started. We will triumph! What say you all?”

“In Thespia’s name!” The entire training grounds erupt in cheers and I manage to join in on the third round of ‘In Thespia’s Name.’

We’re going into the Ascendent’s homebase? Oh fuck.

“You’re new.”

I stare up at Adrian Darkwood from the ground. I just got thrown halfway across the training circle by Riley but to be fair, I did kick him into the stone wall behind us so hard that the stone cracked.

“I am, ah, sir.” I give him a weak salute from where I’m laying. Adrian holds a hand out to help me up and pulls me to my feet.

“You’re impressive.”

“I-what?”

“You’ve only been training here for what? A week or two and you’ve taken down my second in command.”

“To be fair, he just launched me.”

Adrian shrugs. “It happens. But I’ve watched you, and no one has given him a run for his money like this. He’s got years of training on you. You should be proud.”

A glow of pleasure blooms in my chest. What can I say? I’m a sucker for praise. “Thank you, sir.”

“Adrian.”

“You want me to call you by your first name?”

“I let all my patrol leaders call me by my first name,” Adrian says and I almost faint.

“What?” I say in tandem with Riley. The tightass sounds as surprised as me. He looks confused as hell and I get it. What the fuck is happening right now?”

“You’ll train her up. I want her with her own patrol when we go into the Ascendents’ den.”

“She’s not ready.”

The three of us look to see Cade. He shoves his hood back and for a second I think he’s going to swing his umbrella at Adrian. “She’s too green. You’re going to get her killed.”

“She’s ready when I say she’s ready. She fights as well as Riley.”

“For Christ's sake. She could barely get her gear on straight yesterday,” Cade points out. “Just because the girl’s got instincts doesn’t make her a leader,” Cade snaps. O uch. I get it but still ouch. Hearing Cade say that stings a million times more than when Gabriel ran his mouth about me. The pleasure I felt at Adrian’s words fades with the slap of Cade’s.

“How about the girl is standing right here and she can make her mind for herself,” I snap.

Cade tips his shades down to glare at me. If he could kill me with just his stare, I’d be six feet under right now. “Watch it, hunter.”

The sweetness I carried in me from our walk home last night and almost kiss vanishes like mist in the morning light. Things are…back to normal it seems between us. Fine. Game on.

“Back off, Cade. Someone might think you like me with how up in my business you are.” I look at Adrian before Cade can respond. “I’ll do it. Where do you want me?”

Adrian beams at me. “Excellent. I knew you would be the perfect fit. You might not be our most experienced hunter but you fight without fear. We’re going to need that kind of boldness to win against the Ascendents. Go with Riley, he’ll help outfit you and introduce you to your squad. We’ll head out to patrol the woods tonight at sunset.”

Riley and I both give Adrian a salute. Mine’s more of a thought of a salute but it’s something.

Riley jerks his chin for me to follow him. “Let’s go, recruit. We have a lot of work to do if you’re leading a patrol tonight.”

But when I move to fall in step behind him the last thing I thought might happen does.

Cade grabs my hand. “Bonnie…” There’s a warning in his voice but I hear the plea, too. Fuck. He’s not playing fair. I swallow hard and look down at his gloved hand on mine and weigh my words, but Riley speaks before I do.

“You’ve got five. I’ll meet you in the armory.”

He strides off and leaves us alone which thank fuck. I don’t know what to say to Cade on my own let alone with Riley watching us.

“What are you doing?” I ask him.

“You’re making a mistake.”

I pull my hand from his and lift my chin to stare the vampire down as well as I can. “I’m not. I’m doing what I was made to do which is, you know, hunt vampires. And as much as you think I can’t handle myself, I assure you that I can. You heard Adrian. I’m just as good a fighter as Riley.”

“Fighting is not the only thing that’s important. You need experience, and lots of it. The Ascendents are not something to be played with. They’re the original vampires. The blueprint. They’re nothing like me. These are the old ones, the ones that walked in darkness. They are the ones who swallowed the sun for over a millenia.”

A chill goes down my spine at Cade’s words but I keep my face neutral. “Old ones, schmold ones. I’m going on patrol because you know what? I’m tired of people not taking me seriously as a hunter. Adrian sees that I can do it and he’s the Nightwarden’s leader.”

“Adrian isn’t playing with a full deck. We all know it. He’s sending you on a death mission because he’s taken a liking to your pretty face.”

“And how about you? Have you taken a liking to my pretty face?” I don’t know where the words come from but at the same time, I do. All morning and afternoon Cade has avoided me. When I’ve spoken to him it’s been one word answers or grunts of acknowledgement. Whatever happened between us last night is gone. Turned all bitter in the sunlight of the day.

Needless to say I’m ticked at Cade Graves.

“You know I have, Bonnie.”

“Uh, what?” I blink in surprise at Cade. In all my righteous indignation that’s not what I thought he was going to say.

“You know that I have feelings for you. There’s no need for you to resort to the theatrics of leading a patrol. You want my attention, you’ve got it.”

“Oh my gods, you think this is about you?” I laugh and then throw my hands up. “Vampire, human, hell, I’m sure the man in question could be a poltergeist and he’d still say something self-centered and stupid. This isn’t about you, Cade. I’m going on that patrol and I’m going to kill it because this is about me.”

It is true that somewhere around the third hour of sparring today that I realized just how good it felt. For a long while now I’ve held myself back–in life, in my ambitions, in my creativity, in the expectations I had of the future, of what I expected from Preston.

Preston.

His name makes my blood boil and even if this is all some fever dream while I’m laying in a hospital, I don’t care. When I wake up, I won’t live the way I was before. I’m going to start that now because where did I get so twisted around? How did I forget what it was that I wanted? Why did I let what a man was comfortable with shape me?

I don’t know when I did it or why I started quieting myself down to match Preston’s taste but I did. I did it for years. I killed my own fire so he felt secure and in the end what did it get me? Dumped on my anniversary. The funny thing is that he did me a favor. If he hadn’t broken up with me, if he’d asked me to marry him, I’d still be happily going along in a world that I’d put on mute. How many years would that have gone on for?

What would have happened when I woke up one day and realized my life had passed me by and the only thing I had to show for it was that I’d made a man comfortable?

Fuck that.

Never again.

“Listen up, just because you’re a smokeshow of a vampire doesn’t mean you get to tell me what the fuck to do. In fact, you tell me not to do it? I’m gonna do it harder. None of this is about you, Cade. It’s about me and I want you to remember that when I go on patrol tonight and totally kick ass.”

And with that I spin on my heel and storm off after Riley like the bad ass I abso-fucking-lutely am.