Page 82 of Failed State

Cowardly? Maybe. Necessary? Without a doubt.

“Come on, get your hands up,” the vampire growls, and I huff as I dance around with him in the corner.

Brick and Lancaster allowed us to work with cardio, weapons, and endurance today, so I’m not dodging anything I can’t counter, but I’m still exhausted. Sebastian, like all his kin, never seems to lose energy and moves so fast that even though Iknowhe’s slowing it down, it’s insane. I’m occasionally able to get him with good feints or clever tricks, but head-to-head? I’m fucking toast. To add to the humiliation, he’s not putting his full strength behind his jabs, nor using any really special talents.

A vampire is definitely going to be my end in these games; I can feel it in my aching bones.

“I’ve had enough,” I groan as I shake out my noodley arms and try to stand without swaying. “You’ve been using me for a light workout for hours now. If you were trying to make a point, it’s taken, Bas.”

He pauses, dropping his fists to study me. “What did you call me?”

“Bas?” I say in confusion. It’s not the first time, I don’t think, and it’s definitely easier when I’m so out of breath. “Why?”

“No one calls me that. They only use my full name or title.” His lips purse as he thinks, then he nods. “I like it. You may commence with your nickname.”

Squinting at the weird ass supe, I ask, “You think you get toapprovepeople’s nicknames of you? That’s not how it works, buddy. People just… give them to you. Like… Thaddy. I gave that to him and that’s just how it is.”

“I call you Vicious,” Rory shouts from his sparring match with Elias. The dragon gets a good one in and the mage grunts in pain. “When I can breathe, that is.”

Nodding at him, I turn back to the vampire and shrug. “The big guy uses ‘little rebel’, which if he’d drop the ‘little’ portion, I’d dig. But I don’t get to decide, you see. It’s not my nickname for me.” No one else corrects me and I give Sebastian a smug grin. “See? I’m right.”

His expression slowly morphs into one of supreme satisfaction as he looks at me and my skin gets hot. “I understand your ritual now. I’ll consider what I am going to select for you very carefully. And you will accept it, as everyone has agreed upon the rules of this custom. That makes it a bargain, right, demon?”

Huck’s eyes widen as he’s tugged into the fray, but I can’t help him. If he says ‘no’, then my statement isn’t right. However, he looks very concerned about agreeing with the bloodsucker. “Uh, well, technically…”

I fear I’ve made an error now, but as usual, I’ve discovered it far too late.

“Be careful, Huckleberry. You know we are telling the truth to one another,” Sebastian warns with an evil grin. “You wouldn’t want to set a bad example for our girl, hmm?”

The demon takes his hat off, running his hand over his dark hair before he puts it back on. It’s a tell for him—a physical sign that he’s getting ready to give into something he wishes he didn’t have to. “Shit fire and save the matches, Syd. I can’t say he’s mistaken. You really stepped in it this time.”

My face drains of color; I can feel it. We’re all being a lot nicer to one another as we learn to get along, but I just handed the fangy fuck a free pass to make me look stupid. I’ll have to accept whatever he chooses as long as it’s not objectionable enough to tweak the other guys because I ran my mouth. I really need to stop trash talking to people when I’m tired; it just never ends well for me.

“Fine. You win,Bas.” I grit my teeth as I glare at him, and when he grins even wider, I want to punch his ridiculously perfect face. Fucking gorgeous half-dressed idiot has been distracting me or kicking my ass all session and now I handed him yet another victory. It’s enough to put me in a foul ass mood for the next lecture.

Andit’s the Intrigue & Socialization bullshit, and I’m already not looking forward to that.

“If you’re all done bickering…” Brick says as he arches a brow. We just stare back at him and he shakes his head. “Whatever. Hit the showers so you aren’t late to the all teams’ lecture. Those coaches bitched to high hell on Tuesday because some of us who have subjects where we have to work hard made people late.”

I give him a sympathetic look—this is the one training I truly enjoy—and turn on my heel to do as asked. The guys follow, theirheavy footsteps and dude sweat smell filling the air as we go into the room where I almost had an episode two days ago. When I open my locker with a bang, they all look at me with varying expressions of concern.

“This is fine. All taken care of,” I say as I wave my hand. Grabbing my shower stuff and my clothes, I beat a fast exit into my stall, yanking the curtain closed. As the water warms up, I feel the sensation of someone trying to test my aura, and I blink in surprise. I’m normally not sensitive to others’ magic until I have an issue—this is like a small tickle at the base of my spine telling me I’m being clocked.

I don’t say anything out loud, but my lips curve up as I toss my gym clothes on the bench and get the water running three times as hot as I could get it in my old apartment.

It might not be quick, but my magic is coming and when it does, everyone needs to get the hell out of my way.

STEP BY STEP, ONE BY ONE

ELIAS

In my long life,I have seen many courts, armies, and groups form and dissolve. There’s a natural flow to that process, particularly if the members are disparate in backgrounds and have been forced into banding together. Any beings that are harmonious normally will have a small period in which they require trust building, and then it will gel as one. However, if those conscripted into action are not that lucky, then it takes longer and the progress is incremental. It’s also filled with bumps and bruises as the individuals struggle to overcome what their minds and hearts want them to believe, despite the logic of their union.

Royals are schooled in this type of thing in societies where they lead their troops on the battlefield, such as the sea dragons.

I know that is not the case for many species in this modern age, and it is hard not to take charge to force them to do what we need to. Since the Sweeps and allowing my capture to facilitate my people’s escape, I have had to let go of many things to survive the treatment of the humans. One of them was my pride and my inclination to lead—those sentiments only got me in troublewhen I first arrived in the lockdown section of my first camp. I also learned to distance myself from my title and my destiny so that I could exist in the ignominy of my circumstances without my dragon causing me to be thrown in solitary so severe I would try to kill myself. The other powerful supernaturals who could not do such a thing are long dead, and I took their lessons to heart as I watched them wither away.

As I scrub the remnants of our hard work off of my skin, I listen carefully to the others. We followed Sydney to the locker room, and she seemed to handle being there despite her unnecessary shame from the other day. However, my new brothers are being very subdued as we get clean, and I believe it’s because they hope to avoid triggering that emotion in her again. The only one who is determined not to treat her with kid gloves is the vampire and while I am currently staying in the middle on purpose, I believe he’s right to do so. Sydney is quite strong and will be even more formidable once she has fully acclimated to reality.

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