After they had showered and dressed again, Arianna, with Andrew and Thomas right behind her, joined the men waiting for the next competition. They followed her outside, and she stood on the grounds facing them and their retainers. The competitors all were beginning to look a bit anxious from lack of blood and a few of the retainers looked worried for them all. Arianna and her team were hoping to lose one or two due to blood control. These men were all used to having people at their disposal to take blood from. None had ever had to go without.
“This is both your agility and endurance test today. Your score will be combined with the scores from the previous test to give everyone a new ranking.” The retainers all began communicating with their competitors. They only had to make it through this one last test before they got blood. Most of them seemed relieved at that thought.
“There is a course I just ran out on the grounds. I covered eighteen miles. Along the way, forty-seven of these were placed.” Arianna held up a small brown button shaped device. “You must go the eighteen miles, touch each button in order, and get back here quick as possible. Buttons touched out of order won’t count. You are timed overall and between buttons. To make this a bit fairer, you won’t all go at once and try to find the buttons together. We will be starting you each at various intervals and recording your individual time. Basically the fastest time wins. Any questions?” The men all looked to her. It was a simple enough request. The brown buttons were easy to distinguish with night human senses.
“Since someone is bound to protest that it’s not fair to have you run a course to close to daylight hours, Devin will go first. Go ahead,” Arianna told Devin. He nodded and began a swift jog, following the exact trail Arianna took.
“How is that fair?” Nik protested. It was getting harder to control her anger around him. There was no way she would ever marry Nik. She’d kill him before the wedding, the way he was going. “You probably told him the course already. Are you going to tell the rest of us?”
“Nope,” Arianna answered, not elaborating whether what Nik said was true or not. “Turner, you can leave now too since the sun isn’t a problem for you.” Turner took off, not too far behind Devin who just went out of sight. Arianna needed them to run together for Devin’s protection. His display of ability at the knife throwing had made him a target of the jealous night humans who thought he would be easy to beat. “Everyone else can head back inside. We plan to keep you at least an hour apart.”
“But, but,” sputtered Nik, trying to complain more.
“But nothing,” Arianna walked away with most of the men right behind her. She paused as she noticed a few remained, staring off at the course. She added. “If any of the competitors touch another competitor in the course, they will be disqualified. I want to see individual strengths, not how you can sabotage each other. I have cameras throughout the path watching everyone. So think twice before you do something to the course or each other.” All planning immediately stopped.
Arianna returned inside to get the meal she missed earlier on her run. Throughout the afternoon, she sent person after person out on the course. When the ending people noticed Devin return after only a few hours, they all began to worry and changed into night human form for the run. Their day human forms couldn’t run the course like he could. Even in night human form, a few would have trouble running and tracking in the time Devin did it. They all were ready to use up their blood since the first leg of the competition was almost over. Little did they know, they’d have to wait more than just for the last runner to come back. Arianna wondered if they could handle going a few more days without blood as she wasn’t going to tally scores until then.
To finish the course, Ken was sent last. He finished before the three all sent before him. Ken passed Manuel, Jan, and Nik as he swooped around the course. They had purposely had Thomas fly the course so that it would be accessible to Ken as well. Nik jogged through the finish line behind Ken and immediately started to whine.
“You said we had to run the course. He should be disqualified because he flew it.” Nik didn’t need to catch his breath as after he passed Jan; his time would be good enough to move on to the next round and so he had slowed down for the rest of the run. Nik wasn’t one to overexert himself without reason.
“I never said you had to run it, I said go around the course. There is a difference. Maybe everyone should listen as well as Ken did. I’ll need three days to sort this all out, so you are all free to do whatever you like for the next three days. Just don’t leave the grounds or interact with the outsiders gathering around the estate.” Arianna turned on her heels and left Nik standing there, preparing to fuss more. The rest of the men stared in shock. They had not expected to go three more days without blood.
“Three more days,” Nik complained as she walked away. Arianna didn’t even turn to acknowledge that he had spoken.
‘I wish there was a way to shut that kid up,’ Arianna remarked to Andrew as she walked back inside and down her own hallway. Three days without the masses was fine by her as she planned to stay in her room and only go to the library when Devin needed her for clan business.
Chapter 10
Three days passed too quickly. By her choice, Arianna had not left her room or seen the other competitors as the time passed. Devin and Gabriel took care of all the clan business, and between Gabriel and Patrick, Devin, Turner, and Ken were all safe. Arianna didn’t even need to check on them, even though she did several times with her monitors set around the estate.
Each afternoon she woke and watched the men as they entered the dining hall. Only a few were as chipper as when they arrived. Rhys and Loan didn’t seem to mind going without blood, but Manuel was getting really jumpy. He was watching every human as they entered to cater the meals like they were the last day humans alive. When there were no day humans around, Arianna even caught him stealing glances at Molina. Arianna really wanted to see him try that. Molina may not have been a pureblood dearg-dul, but she was quite strong and very well trained. Manuel didn’t stand a chance if he attacked her.
Distracting as the men were, Andrew was even more of a distraction. Thankfully, Thomas was around most of the time, going over the plan for the next contest. Andrew stole what time was left.
After the second day ended, and still no one had bitten anyone else, Andrew’s hopes of more contestants being eliminated were slowly fading. He would not be giving Arianna up without a fight, but he knew exactly what that meant. The clans would unite against Arianna if he didn’t rightfully win her. It was growing harder to stay in control and let things work out the way Thomas planned, but Andrew couldn’t even think about Arianna ending up with another man without wanting to punch something.
On the final morning, Arianna reluctantly went to join the competitors. She had known who would be eliminated for the current round after the last person had come back from the run, but even she’d been hoping that someone would break and either attack, or sneak blood from, a day human at the estate. She was only planning to let two go for this round, but wouldn’t mind getting rid of the more violent ones that couldn’t control themselves.
Each clan kept mostly to themselves; so while they had intel on the other clans, there was no way of confirming their exact skills. Arianna needed to keep them around to have a display of their night human skills. They would never be able to win against everyone unless she knew what they were capable of and what their best skills were. It was also a chance for Devin to check everything he knew about the opponents, as the last test would be one-on-one fights. Devin’s greatest strength came from his knowledge, and the training that used his knowledge to make him not the better, but the smarter fighter. Devin was trained far beyond any of them, even those twice his age. Arianna was depending on that to keep her freedom, and from having to marry any of the other competitors.
Arianna arrived first and made sure that everyone in the room serving the group was a day human. Every worker there knew exactly what the danger was to be arou
nd hungry night humans, but they were all loyal to Arianna. None of them wanted these men to move into the Randolph estate and become their new leader. Some of the younger girls even purposely left buttons undone on the tops of their dresses. Arianna’s own thirst was becoming more of an issue, but she refused to admit it to anyone. She had been without blood for weeks before they even arrived. It wasn’t ideal, but she couldn’t risk Andrew’s strength for her own. At least no one beyond Andrew sitting next to her smelled anywhere near edible.
Arianna sat at a table alone with Andrew and watched each competitor as they arrived. Rhys arrived first. It was as if he knew exactly where Arianna was, and knew when to show up to see her before everyone else. He gave a small nod before filling his plate beside his retainer. His retainer also nodded to Arianna before they found their own table. One by one the other men arrived. Manuel was the last and obviously suffering the most. As he passed each young girl, he visibly paused to refrain from following his instincts.
‘He is going to attack someone,’ Molina commented, closely tailing him.
‘And when he does, he’s out,’ Arianna replied while nodding to Andrew. Andrew stood and joined Molina. They figured someone attacking was inevitable, but they didn’t want them to actually kill any of their staff.
Arianna ate deliberately slow. Most of the men finished before she did and just sat around waiting with their retainers. Arianna stretched and slowly began to walk to the training room. Manuel still had not tried anything. Nelson and Nixon flanked her sides as she walked away, leaving Andrew to exit the room last. As they all filed into the training room, the men lined up and waited for her to speak. Again she waited. All eyes were on her as she watched the door for Andrew, who entered last while holding Manuel. All the men abruptly turned to watch Andrew walk into the room. Manuel had tried to bite someone as soon as the rest of the people were out of the room. He had been careless and didn’t even notice Andrew staying behind.
“Disqualified,” Andrew stated to the men who all wanted to question, but didn’t know what to do. Molina followed behind Andrew, helping a young maid who was applying pressure to her arm. Molina lifted the girl’s arm to show teeth marks. No one disputed it.
Several competitors were almost at the same point, and transformed at the scent of the human blood. Luckily, they restrained themselves. The fresh blood made everyone in the room hungry, and so Molina swiftly escorted the girl out of the room. Manuel’s retainer came from the next room to help restrain him as they waited for Arianna to talk.
“If you are continuing to the next competition, you will find a number in your room,” Arianna replied. “Those without a number are no longer in the running. I’ll give Manuel and those without a number the same offer I gave to Nate Childs. You may stay and watch the competition and even compete without a number in hopes that you can redeem yourself into the top six for the last competition, or you may leave. If you stay, you are to go by the same rules as everyone else.”
“Ahh,” Manuel yelled, raging while running toward Arianna. “If I can’t have her-” he started but didn’t get even within feet of her.
Devin and Andrew simultaneously stepped forward and stopped him. Manuel tried to shift into his catlike night human form, but was stopped. His claws swiped across Devin and Andrew, standing between Manuel and Arianna, but neither gave an inch. Next to Arianna, Turner responded by turning into his lycan form, which was just as deadly as Manuel’s cat shape. Rhys was the only competitor that moved who wasn’t one of Arianna’s men. He stepped silently in front of Arianna to be the last wall between her and the crazy brujo, who was trying to spew out hexes while transforming. Arianna’s men subdued Manuel until he was restrained by his now-injured retainer, whom he lashed out at first before Arianna’s team restrained him.
“Remove him to his room and get him fed,” Molina ordered, and several of Arianna’s guards and men moved in to escort the furious Manuel to confinement. He was fine while fed, but not when he wasn’t fed.
Molina nodded to Arianna, whose own focus was now blurring. She had gone too long without blood both before, and now during the competition. She had hoped to last until they ended the contest since they only planned to take two and a half weeks, but Devin had been cut during the fight. He wasn’t injured badly, but the scent of his blood was pushing Arianna’s limits of control. He had been her blood source for a year and the scent was way too familiar. Sleeping next to Andrew was hard enough, but the fresh blood wasn’t something she could handle at this point.
Arianna held her breath as she closed her eyes to count to ten in order to get her night human under control. “We will be taking the week off.” She needed alone time with her keepers. She couldn’t deny the feeling within her much longer. Blood drove the night human race to do extraordinary things, but it also prompted them to kill if they didn’t maintain their blood supply. Arianna didn’t want to be a killer.
‘What’s going on?’ Thomas asked about the deviation from their plans. Only Andrew knew why she was changing things. He saw it across her face as she still held her eyes shut.
‘Ari,’ Andrew tried to calm her; but his voice, even just in her head, added to her desire.
“You may all leave the grounds. Be back by this time next week, and we will continue with the next challenge.” Arianna let her breath out slowly after turning to face the windows, trying to get the men to understand they were dismissed. No one moved. They all sensed something was happening with her.
“Ari,” Devin said quietly, and all the men watched as she turned back to face them, fully transformed. She had little control left as she stalked across the room to Devin. He didn’t fear her as she drew close enough to touch him. He stood his ground and watched her.
‘Sorry,’ she whispered to Devin as she lost control and lunged at him. In an instant, Turner stuck his arm in front of Arianna and she bit down, drawing blood.
Chapter 11
Since her night human abilities had decreased over the weeks from lack of blood, the sounds she heard now were louder than she remembered. Gabriel was across the room with Turner, and from the smell of things, changing the blood in his IV. Arianna lightly touched the surface beneath her head. She was lying on something warm and possibly human. From the feel of it, it wasn’t Andrew. Andrew’s strength was in his broad shoulders, this person’s strength was in his core. Arianna felt a defined six-pack. She lifted her head slightly but kept her eyes closed as she examined the world around her with her senses. Instantly it came to her; this was Devin, and she’d attacked him yesterday. Arianna’s eyes snapped open to gaze at Devin lying in the bed beside her.
Gabriel shuffled back to his seat, not nosily, but not his usual silent self either. He was making sure Arianna knew he was there so as not to scare her when she opened her eyes.
‘What did I do?’ Arianna asked Gabriel, looking across the room to him. Several empty packs of blood were beside the sleeping Turner. More bags were by the fireplace, waiting for a fire to be lit.
‘How long?’ Gabriel asked in reply. He didn’t move from his chair, but sat across the room watching her
‘Did I hurt them?’ Arianna looked down at Devin who looked to be peacefully sleeping, but he never slept peacefully. He was always on alert.
‘No, you stopped with both before you hurt them. That’s why they don’t fear you. You cannot hurt them,’ Gabriel replied, actually sighing in her mind. ‘Now how long did you go without feeding?’
‘Mmm,’ Arianna had to mentally count in her mind.
Arianna wasn’t sure if she should tell Gabriel the truth. He would be disappointed with her. Controlling her need for blood was one of the lessons he demanded she understand before he ever trusted to leave her alone with just the dearg-dul estate. Arianna peeked across the room at Gabriel, who sat waiting. He was not one you lied to.
‘We’ve been here a week, so that would be just over three weeks.’ Arianna waited for him to reply. Shock filled Gabriel’s face.
; “Three weeks?” Gabriel was shocked and angry at the same time. Andrew instantly appeared in the room.
‘Three weeks?’ Andrew asked, kneeling beside the bed to untangle Arianna from Devin. He wrapped her arms around his neck as he pulled her legs into his arms to cradle her and be able to pick her up. She was not completely awake yet and able to walk on her own.
Arianna would not meet the eyes of either her uncle or Andrew. ‘Yes, three weeks. We were sparring right after I drank blood from you. I was able to scratch you and draw blood. I realized that you were slower that day and knew that my taking your blood affected you. I didn’t want to put you in danger, especially since we would be surrounded by men who would love to do more than just rip you apart. I couldn’t make you weak. I’m sorry,’ Arianna looked up and directed her apology to the two sleeping men in the room also.
‘Ahh,’ Andrew replied, easily cradling her in his arms. “I’m taking her back to her room to feed more,” Andrew told Gabriel. Arianna tucked her head into Andrew’s chest and ignored the increased sounds and scents around her as he marched her back to her room. Curiously, as they neared the end of the competitors wing Arianna sensed there were still one other night humans in one of the rooms.
‘Someone stayed?’ Arianna asked.
‘Yes, Rhys refused to leave with you like you were,’ Andrew replied. ‘I doubt he isn’t interested in you like he says. His retainer left, but he stayed. That guy may say he wants you to be free, but I caught him staring at you all the time. Even his retainer was eyeing you up like you were the prize to win. I’m sure their whole ‘I want to help you’ is just to win your trust.’ Andrew opened the door to her suite with one hand and walked her through the sitting room to her bed. Arianna held her breath, waiting for him to explode about what she had done. It was dangerous for any of them to go without blood, but even more so for a powerful night human to do so.