The contestants all lined up, with their retainers behind them, anxiously waiting to see how Arianna was doing. When they had left, she had attacked one of her own men. While it had been frightening to see her unleash her desire for blood, it just made them even more determined to win her over. They had experienced the raw power that she normally kept under wraps. She was much more than they ever anticipated, by far the strongest night human any of them had ever seen, and this made her blood more valuable than any gold they could get their hands on.
Arianna stood and faced the men with Andrew right behind her. Her mind fluctuated between alternative scenarios of how to get rid of the men. They were all plotting to keep her caged like an animal, and she seethed with anger whenever she looked at them. She could no longer shy away from their stares as it wasn’t a desire for her that drove them to stare at her, but a desire for her blood. It was a good thing Andrew kept a hand on her back, keeping her calm, and from either attacking the men or running. She couldn’t decide which would be a better plan at the moment. He was used to the politics night humans played and was there to keep her head in the game so that she could win.
“Sorry about the abrupt interruption,” Arianna said to the men, not really feeling sorry at all. Her fake apology was seen through by each of the contestants. She was different since they left her. “I had been fasting too long.” With her blood fully back to normal, Arianna couldn’t help but overhear the words between the men that were not meant for her.
‘Why?’ one man asked his retainer
‘What does that mean?’ another asked.
‘Does she do this often?’ words flowed around her as silent conversations broke out.
Arianna tried to listen into the thoughts of the men as she waited for their murmuring to die down, looking for possible clues to use to her advantage, but they all began to talk over each other. Being able to follow just one conversation would be hard with that many people in the room. She tried her best to shut off her extra hearing.
“And you are feeling better now?” Rhys asked with genuine concern. It was scary how much he sounded like his sister when she was pretending to be him. Nessa had emulated her brother to an extent that Arianna didn’t even feel that they were different on an emotional level.
“Yes. Thank you for asking,” Arianna replied, trying not to stare at him and analyze him more than the others. Doing so would give away their secret. The other men immediately stopped their silent conversations and began to study Rhys too. He was a formidable opponent in strength alone, but more so a mystery as the sidhe were the most isolated clan of them all.
Arianna hastily got back to business. The less time she had to spend around the men, the less likely that she would snap and kill one or more. Their eager faces were hard enough to look at, but the desire in their voices was just making her anger worse.
“I am ready to begin the next trial. For this round we will be testing strength. My family feels it is important that whoever I end up with be the strongest out there, to be able to protect me.” Arianna began explaining the revised plan that Thomas was feeding her to say now. After listening to all of Nessa’s details on how Arianna could transform with other species blood, her team had made a new plan. If Nessa was right and Arianna could transform into the ultimate night human, she would need the blood of each man present.
“But the first thing will be that each of you will need to submit a vial of blood for us to test,” Arianna waited for objections, but none came. While she felt more like an experiment while people tested her blood, it didn’t seem to faze anyone else in the room. “We will rate everyone based on strength. And then you’ll all be given a chance to demonstrate your strongest attribute to earn more points. It’s nice to have the strength, but if you cannot use it, it’s worthless.” All the men nodded. This would be easy. Each man thought they were stronger and better than their neighbors. “Along with the strength we will test honesty. Each will judge the others on strength during the demonstration. I will be looking to see how you judge, and those who don’t judge honestly will be removed. Those ending the week with the highest points, and who are able to honestly compete, will continue on.” Arianna couldn’t help but emphasize the word honestly. Not a single man there was honest.
“To keep any cheating from happening, we will draw the blood now,” Arianna explained as several of Arianna’s people entered with syringes. “It will be blind tested, and as you can see, each of you will get a number instead of marking the vial with your name. Only the people taking the blood, not the people testing the blood, know who each number is. You have all week to practice your moves, and Friday will be the exhibition. Make sure you have something impressive to show that will convince everyone else that you have great power.”
By setting up the competition to impress everyone else, the men didn’t even hesitate at the idea. It was very unusual for any night human to show another clan their power, yet all the men were eager to do just that. They were each so full of themselves they were easy to lure into the trap. Arianna walked away from the room as each man started to transform to practice. Thomas knew just as well as Andrew how to play the night humans against each other. She didn’t ask to be a part of this world, but all of this information would be needed if she hoped to survive. She was grateful to get away quickly from the men. She was having a hard enough time looking at each man, let alone seeing the monster each was.
Luckily, Arianna made it back to her room without lashing out at anyone and flopped on her bed. With her super hearing, she listened in on the main hall. All the men were having their blood drawn and none complained. Devin already left the meeting since his blood would not be judged because he wasn’t a night human. He was back in the library, going over Randolph estate business.
‘Need any help?’ Arianna asked him from her room. Not that she actually wanted to help, but she felt it necessary to offer anyways.
‘No. I’m essentially all done. I’m just double-checking everything Mori has been working on. He has confirmed everything Vanessa McKinny said, and has told me that the blood needs to be injected while you are day human or you need to drink from them and turn day human immediately afterwards,’ Devin explained. They had left Mori to analyze everything after they tested the blood on the guys. ‘It’s the day human in you that makes this possible, not the night human in you. When you feed it takes time for the blood to be absorbed, but when we inject it, it will instantly be in your blood.’
‘And my power levels?’ Arianna had not asked Devin about this since she had left a month ago to train with Andrew. Devin had feared for the past year that her power would spike and lead to mental instability as it often did with night humans who grew too fast. She felt a little unstable now with the anger she held toward the competitors.
‘Mostly stabilized.’
‘Mostly?’ Arianna repeated his answer.
‘Yes, Mori said it’s more stable now with the sidhe blood. He suspects that it will completely stabilize with everyone’s blood. Vanessa knew exactly what needed to be done. Now we just need to be sure she isn’t trying to play us more. I have assigned Molina to keep to keep track of her at all times. Gabriel is also watching over her. Either she’s helping the sidhe get you, or she is helping us. I just can’t tell which.’ Arianna felt Turner enter the room to get Devin.
‘Maybe she’s helping herself,’ Arianna suggested as Devin left the library. Vanessa McKinny was just as trapped as Arianna was, and Arianna knew exactly what she felt like.
Later that evening, Arianna sat, with Andrew holding her hand, as the bag of blood was attached to an IV in her arm in her bedroom. There was no going back once this was done. She would become yet another night human, something new completely. No one knew what traits would transfer and what would not, but they all agreed this was the best chance she had at beating them. Arianna held her breath as Thomas tapped the line and got it flowing. The red liquid went down the tubing and into her arm. Andrew reached up and pushed a
strand of hair away from her face. The worry poured off of her.
“Do you need a distraction?” Andrew asked, bringing a smile to her face.
“No,” she replied, very aware of all the people in the room. Turner, Devin, and Gabriel sat outside the bedroom in the sitting room, while Thomas and Andrew were inside with her. Thomas was in constant touch with Mori, who was directing the situation with his vast knowledge of science.
“You may start to feel it within minutes,” Thomas added, relaying Mori’s message.
“And then we need to test it,” Devin added from the doorway. At the sight of his worried face, Arianna smiled meekly at him.
“On the wolf,” Thomas added, smiling at Turner, who was standing just behind Devin.
“And you,” Devin replied. “We already know that the sidhe abilities transferred to you both. We need to be sure it works the same for all species.” Thomas nodded his head, as if he’d already expected that this was coming. Arianna looked up and then across the room. Was it safe to be using her closest friends as guinea pigs? She hadn’t thought about that earlier, but now she worried.
Turner smiled at her sudden apprehension. “You’re worried now?” he asked, chuckling to himself. “After we’re testing this on you first? Don’t you think that if you survive, then we’ll be fine?” Arianna smiled at the logic. She was actually the guinea pig.
“See? All done,” Andrew replied, nodding to Devin and Turner. They returned to the sitting room.
“You told them to come here?” Arianna asked. She had assumed Andrew’s offer of distraction was more a physical one.
Andrew grinned and traced a line down her arm with just the tip of his finger, sending tingles to Arianna’s toes. “Oh, this was more what you were expecting?” Arianna playfully smacked his hand down. She needed only a few more minutes before she would begin to feel the blood’s affect if Mori was right. Andrew reached over, taking her face in his hands to bring her lips up to meet him as they waited.
It didn’t take minutes. The pain began in her arm and radiated through the rest of her body. The blood was beginning to move and change her. She felt it even at a cellular level as it raced through her system.
“Why does this always have to come with pain?” she asked Andrew. Andrew reached up and stroked her face before locking eyes on her. No one knew how long it would take to transform her. A typical dearg-dul or baku transformation took less than five minutes, but this was a transformation on such a great scale. Altogether, she would be thirteen different night humans. Arianna hoped Devin was right about her power stabilizing because the pain would be enough to drive one mad.
“Do you want me to stop it?” Andrew asked quietly. There was only one way he could really help. Even his touch now wasn’t a distraction.
“Yes,” she whispered, shuddering more as the pain increased. Maybe taking all eleven types of blood at once wasn’t a good idea, but she couldn’t change it now. Arianna looked up at Andrew and pleaded with her eyes when words wouldn’t come.
‘Sleep,’ he ordered mentally, and Arianna fell instantly to sleep.
Chapter 15
Arianna slept for three days while the competitors practiced. After waking from the transformation, they gave both Thomas and Turner her blood, and luckily their transformations took less than an hour. The rest of the week was spent watching the men as they practiced, and taking notes on what they did. After the contestants went to sleep each night, Thomas would coach Arianna through the new moves they studied from the men as they practiced. All the new moves came more naturally than she ever wanted to admit. Turner and Thomas would practice beside her, learning how to do new night human tricks neither had ever dreamed of. Arianna finally felt a bit of hope. The blood did make her stronger.
At the end of the week, Arianna sat in her chair of honor and watched each man sitting before her. Now with their blood in her veins, she could enter their minds even more easily than before. Arianna probed only a little before she realized how depressing it was to know what they were thinking. They were actually all worse monsters than Nessa had prepared her for. The retainers all sat behind the one-sided glass while Gabriel kept track of them. Arianna couldn’t wait for this all to be done, but first she needed to play the game and get stronger.
“For this part of the competition,” Arianna began, wanting to get it over with as quickly as possible. She could already do the move each one would perform, unless they were holding out during practice. “Each of you will be allowed to show one move that demonstrates your power and strength that is above all others in this room. You may do whatever you want within the boundaries of being alone. No touching another person, and do not destroy my house. If you need us to move outside to show us, please ask before you come up to demonstrate. After someone shows us their power, each of you will give them a score, one at a time. Be honest with your assessment.” Arianna already knew the ones planning to lie to get a better score.
Jan seemed the most excited about the test, and she let him go first. His large size bulked outward, barely being able to contain him in the room. He smiled a toothy grin of achievement, knowing that no one would match his display of muscle. Then to add to his display, he walked through the glass window, leaving it completely intact as he passed through the wall. Once outside the window, he doubled his size before sitting down outside the manor. He was truly a giant. Once he entered back into the training room, Arianna looked to each man for their scores.
As expected, the now more subdued Manuel lied, along with two more contestants.
Manuel went next, but Arianna already knew his strength. He partially transformed just as he had when he attacked the girl at the end of the last round. Where Turner had transformed into a more dog-like creature with a distinguished snout and vicious teeth, Manuel was much more cat like—a jaguar to be exact. His new features were tight against his face with two sharp, fanged teeth that hung over his curled lips. His strength as a were-animal wasn’t as great as Turner’s, but in his partial transformation he was able to spew hexes at anyone who attacked him. He used his time to demonstrate his powerful magic with an animal he had brought, his attack caused it to bleed from the inside out. Arianna wasn’t impressed by his savagery, but the others were. Death was strength.
Arianna tried to sit still as they cleaned up the bloody mess. She was grateful when Rhys offered to go next, and with a sweep of his hand the mess was all gone. Sidhe magic was good for something. Rhys stood before Arianna and gave her a curt bow before causing plants to grow from the floor around him. Rhys’ magic was nature based, as was the magic of all the sidhe, but his was inclined toward plants. The plants continued to grow until all the competitors were on one side of the new wall and Arianna, along with her people, were on the other side with Rhys. He smiled as roses crept up the edge of Arianna’s seat. Slowly a bud formed and bloomed before her eyes. Rhys wasn’t trying to impress the others, but was focusing on Arianna. With a wave of his hand, the rose broke off and floated to Arianna. Arianna reached up and took the now thornless rose.
“I’d advise you all to not move,” Rhys commanded of the competitors. Rhys smiled and nodded to the men behind his wall of plants as it parted to let him walk through. The wall wrapped down around all of the men. Arianna watched through the mess as each man was parted from the next by a wall of thorns.
“Would you like me to get rid of everyone for you right now?” Rhys asked Arianna.
“That would disqualify you,” Turner pointed out, but hoping at the same time that Rhys would try. He was happy to fight through the mass of thorns if Rhys wanted to disqualify himself in the process.
“I’d do anything the princess asks of me,” Rhys replied.
“We get it,” Manuel grumbled. They had let themselves be trapped, and Rhys was reminding them all of it. This wasn’t a game to impress each other; it was a game to impress Arianna.
After Rhys’ display of power with elegance, one after one, the men stood to show their moves. Now
that Rhys had shown his intent to win over Arianna, most of the men modified their moves to be more artistic than deadly. One chose to turn into a ball of light rather than kill another animal victim by possessing it, while another also turned into a ball of light. Unlike the glowing green ball that was the first, the second was more flame than anything and easily set objects around the room on fire. The monstrous-looking night humans Lou Choy and Chet Barret tried to limit their transformation to not scare Arianna and lose their chances of winning her over. Arianna’s own competitors demonstrated what she already was used to: Turner’s lycan form and Ken’s large black wings. Arianna sat for over an hour as she watched man after man displayed their strength, trying to mentally note details she needed to try.
Everyone waited and scored each other throughout the day. Most were anticipating Devin’s demonstration more than anyone else’s. Each wondered what the day human would do that demonstrated strength. He wasn’t a normal day human, and had already proved that during the first tests. As morning was approaching, and everyone was ready to retire, Devin took the floor as the last competitor.
“Explain your strength,” Arianna said for the last time. Even she didn’t know what Devin was planning to do.
“I really don’t think I need to explain it since everyone already saw it a week ago,” Devin replied. “My strength is my blood.” The men all murmured. They seemed to all agree that his blood was quite an attraction, but that didn’t demonstrate strength. Devin moved to sit back down.