Page 23 of Fortune Academy: Year Two
He shrugged. “Hendrik gave me a call. Said he had pissed you off and you were heading for the Arena.” He gave me a raised brow. “What, afraid to pick on someone your own size?”
The bastard Mage put a tag on me? I patted down my uniform and cursed when I found a magicked artifact tucked underneath my collar. He must have planted it on me when he was getting me all hot and bothered. I tossed it on the ground and crushed it beneath my shoe until it gave me a satisfyingpop, then I proceeded to glare at the Hunter.
I wanted to ask Dante so many questions. Where had he been all this time? Had he thought about me at all? And most importantly, why was he doing Hendrik’s bidding?
“Can’t have you decimating the poor newbies,” he added with a smirk, glancing at the duds who nodded along in wholehearted agreement.
“Fine,” I snapped. “You want to do this? Let’s do this.”
Ever since I had unlocked the darker parts of me, the need for violence and sex consumed me. Even though I’d had my share of sex today, I still craved something more, especially now that one of my untapped Virtues was in front of me completely oblivious to his crime, which made me even angrier and fueled my need for brutality.
He had abandoned me.
If he thought he could just waltz back into my life, he had another thing coming.
I stepped into the Arena and readied a fighting stance. The Hunter matched me on the other side of the messy sands and he would have been intimidating had I not been so furious. My rage made my vision narrow in on him, fading out all sights and sounds around us until it was only me and the Hunter.
“Fight!” Professor Payne gleefully barked, and I lunged.
Dante waited for my strike, standing still. Anyone else thought I might have had him in one blow, but I knew not to underestimate him.
Proving my suspicions correct, Dante plucked out a silver glowing dagger that smelled suspiciously like roses and blood. I cursed, diverting at the last moment, but I was too late.
He shot out his blade, sending a hot zap of energy to shoot across the sands. It hit my arm and left a streak of blistering flesh.
“I don’t think that’s an Arena blade,” one of the duds observed.
No shit.
Nikki started shouting, but Professor Payne yelled at her to let things play out.
Fear swelled in my chest. The Arena was a place where death had a loophole. All the weapons were spelled by the Dark Mages to undo any damage dealt to their opponent, lethal or otherwise.
But Dante had brought a real weapon, one that had enough magic humming within it to end me with a single swipe of his wrist. He spun it in a small circle, leaving a burn mark in the air in its wake. He was just toying with me.
Cursing again, I reevaluated everything I thought I had learned about the Hunter. He had recruited me because Kaito wanted me at the Academy. But, what if he was only using Kaito? What if the Hunter really worked for the Dark Mage, and Hendrik had decided to test me?
Whatever kind of test this was, there was only one score.
Pass, or die.
I’d seen Dante fight before and he was lightning fast, which meant that I needed an edge. I faked a step to my right, noting how the Hunter shifted in response, then I pushed all of my supernatural strength into a new course that brought me within arm’s reach. I tossed sand into his eyes as I ducked, barely avoiding his swing that missed its target only because I had put him off balance. A buzz of power warmed the air over my head and adrenaline spiked in my system.
His coat parted and I aimed for his well-defined chest as I struck. He deflected the blow. Even blind, he was an incredible fighter.
“Nice try,” he said with a smirk, eyes still closed, then grunted in pain as I struck again.
He hadn’t seen my second weapon.
My demonspawn claws that had come out to play.
The onlookers went dead silent as Dante’s blood dripped to the sands. My claws scratched against bone and the Hunter buckled over, hissing as I forced him to concede.
“Did she just Awaken?” a dud wondered aloud.
Nikki cleared her throat. “We have a stalemate!”
I glowered. How was this a stalemate when—
