The Truthsight Awakens

I didn't sleep that night.

How could I? The whisper kept echoing in my head. *Help us.* And the black rot on the wall—it pulsed. Like it was breathing. Like it had a heartbeat that matched my own racing one.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw it spreading, creeping across the stone like fingers reaching for me. Heard that desperate voice whispering through the darkness.

By the time morning light filtered through the heavy curtains, my eyes felt like sandpaper and my hands wouldn't stop trembling no matter how hard I pressed them together.

A sharp knock at the door made me flinch so hard I nearly fell off the bed.

"Miss Sera?" Mira's voice. "You have Combat Training in twenty minutes. You need to get dressed."

Combat Training. My stomach dropped. They were going to throw me in a room with vampires and expect me to fight.

I dragged myself to the chair where a uniform was laid out—black pants, a fitted black shirt, boots. My fingers fumbled with the buttons. It took three tries to get them right.

---

The training hall was massive. Stone walls. High ceilings. Weapons everywhere—swords, staffs, daggers that looked like they could cut through bone.

About thirty students were already there. All vampires except for a handful of humans in gray uniforms huddled in the corner like prey trying to go unnoticed.

I joined them, making myself small.

"Attention!" A woman's voice cracked through the hall like a whip.

Everyone snapped to attention. The woman strode in—tall, dark-skinned, hair braided so tight it pulled at her temples. She wore black combat gear and moved like every step was a threat.

"I am Instructor Kaine," she announced. Her eyes swept over us, cold and assessing. "In this class, you will learn to fight. You will learn to defend yourselves. And you will learn that weakness is a choice."

Her gaze landed on me. My breath caught in my throat.

"Blood Servants are not exempt from training," she continued. "If you cannot defend yourselves, you are dead weight. And dead weight gets cut from this academy. Permanently."

The girl beside me made a small, broken sound. I dug my nails into my palms so hard I felt skin break.

"Pair up," Kaine ordered. "Vampire with vampire, servant with servant. We'll start with basic defensive stances."

Everyone scattered. I stood there, frozen, watching them pair off around me while I remained alone.

"You." Kaine pointed directly at me. "Front and center."

My legs felt like they'd forgotten how to work. I forced them to move, one step at a time, until I stood in the middle of the hall. Every pair of eyes tracked me. I felt my face burning.

"What's your name?" Kaine asked.

"Seraphina Ashford." I swallowed hard. "Sera."

"Well, Sera Ashford, you're new. So let's see what you're made of." She gestured to a vampire with copper-red hair pulled into a high ponytail and eyes that looked like they could cut glass. "Elena, come here."

Elena smiled. It made my skin crawl. She stepped onto the mat, rolling her shoulders like a predator warming up.

"Simple exercise," Kaine said. "Elena attacks. Sera defends. Let's see how long you last."

My mouth went dry. "Wait, I don't know how to—"

"Then you learn," Kaine interrupted. "Begin."

Elena moved.

She was so fast I didn't even see it happen. One second she was there. The next, her fist was coming at my face.

I stumbled backward, barely dodging. My heel caught and I went down hard, the impact knocking all the air from my lungs.

Elena was on me before I could breathe. She pinned my shoulders to the mat, her weight crushing. Her green eyes glowed, pupils blown wide. "Too slow, human," she whispered. Her fangs were out now, so close I could see the points.

"Elena, back off," Kaine ordered.

Elena didn't move. Her nails—no, claws—dug into my shoulders. I felt them puncture through my shirt, hot pain spreading across my skin. She leaned closer, inhaling, and I felt her breath on my neck.

"You smell good," she breathed. "Like honey and fear."

My heart hammered so hard I thought it might break through my ribs. I shoved at her shoulders but she didn't budge. It was like trying to move a mountain.

"I said back off!" Kaine's voice cracked like thunder.

Elena blinked. The wildness in her eyes flickered out. She released me and stood, offering a hand.

I scrambled away from her, getting to my feet on my own. My shoulders burned where her claws had torn through.

"Pathetic," someone muttered. Laughter rippled through the crowd.

Heat flooded my face. I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek, tasting copper, using the pain to keep tears from forming.

"Again," Kaine said. "And this time, Sera, actually try to defend yourself."

Elena grinned and came at me.

This time I raised my arms to block. Her fist slammed into my forearm and pain exploded up to my shoulder, white-hot and blinding. I staggered but forced myself to stay standing.

"Better," Kaine said. "But not good enough."

Elena swept my legs. I hit the mat again, my teeth clacking together.

"Get up," Kaine ordered.

I got up. My legs shook. My arm throbbed. Everything hurt.

Elena attacked. I blocked. She knocked me down. The pattern repeated. Again. Again. Again.

Each time I fell, I felt pieces of myself cracking. My pride. My dignity. Whatever was left of the person I'd been three days ago.

The other students watched like it was a show. Some smiled. One even started counting how many times I hit the ground.

On the seventh fall, something inside me broke open.

Elena came at me again, and instead of blocking, I ducked and threw myself at her legs. It wasn't graceful. It wasn't smart. But rage made me stupid and desperate.

I hit her hard enough that she actually stumbled.

For one perfect second, I felt victory.

Then Elena grabbed the back of my shirt and threw me. I flew across the mat, sliding several feet before stopping in a heap. My vision blurred. My ears rang.

"Enough," a voice cut through the noise.

I looked up, blinking through the haze, and saw Raven striding into the hall. His amber eyes were locked on Elena. His face was twisted with fury I could feel from across the room.

"She's had enough," Raven said. His voice was barely controlled.

"This isn't your class, Thorne," Kaine said. "You don't give orders here."

"And you don't use new students as punching bags." Raven crossed to me and held out his hand. "Get up, Sera."

I took it. His grip was solid. Warm. He pulled me up like I weighed nothing.

"She needs to learn," Kaine argued. "Coddling her won't help."

"There's a difference between teaching and torture." Raven faced Kaine, shoulders squared. "Or did you forget what it's like to be human?"

Kaine's jaw clenched. "Watch your tone, half-breed."

"Make me." Raven's lips pulled back. I saw his fangs—shorter than the others', but still sharp enough to kill.

The air felt like it might shatter. Every student had stopped moving.

"Both of you, stand down," a new voice commanded.

My stomach twisted. Caspian stood in the doorway, gold eyes cold as winter. He looked at Raven, then me, then Kaine.

"Instructor Kaine, a word. Outside." Not a request.

Kaine's face flickered with something—anger, maybe fear—but she followed him out.

Raven grabbed my arm gently the second they left, pulling me toward the corner. "Let me see your shoulders."

"I'm fine," I said. My voice cracked on the word.

"You're bleeding." He didn't ask permission, just pulled my collar aside. His jaw clenched when he saw the wounds. "Dammit. She broke skin."

"It's not that bad." But I was shaking again. I couldn't stop it.

Raven's eyes met mine. "You shouldn't be here. This class is designed for vampires. You're going to get killed."

"Well, apparently if I don't learn to fight, I'm dead weight," I said. Bitterness made my voice sharp. "So pick your poison."

Before Raven could respond, I blinked—and everything changed.

Elena was surrounded by a faint yellow glow. Like light coming off her skin. I rubbed my eyes hard, but the glow didn't disappear.

"You okay?" Raven asked.

"I... yeah. Just tired." But I couldn't stop staring at Elena and that impossible yellow light.

She spoke to another student. "I barely touched her. She's just weak."

The yellow aura flared brighter the second the words left her mouth.

*Liar.* I knew it like I knew my own name. She was lying. She'd meant to hurt me. Maybe worse.

I looked around. Everyone had auras now. Colors hovering around them like halos. Red. Blue. Gray. Pulsing with each heartbeat.

Raven's was orange—warm, protective. But black threads ran through it like cracks in glass. Pain. Anger. Secrets buried deep.

"Sera?" Raven's voice sounded distant. "Hey, you're swaying."

The colors got brighter. Overwhelming. Too many. Too much. The room tilted sideways.

Then I looked toward the door where Caspian was returning, and my blood turned to ice.

Above his head, that gray shadow was darker now. Bigger. Pulsing like a second heartbeat.

A death omen. I was watching Caspian's death hover over him like a storm cloud.

"Oh god," I breathed.

My knees buckled. Raven caught me before I hit the ground, his arms solid around me.

"Sera! What's wrong?"

I couldn't answer. Because now I wasn't just seeing Caspian's death. I was seeing everyone's.

Gray shadows floated above half the students. Some small. Some massive. All pulsing. Growing.

And spreading from each shadow were thin black tendrils, connecting to the walls, the floor, the ceiling like a web of rot.

The curse. It was everywhere. In everything. Killing them all slowly while they couldn't see it.

"I need..." My vision blurred. The colors bled together. "I need to tell someone. I need to—"

"Tell someone what?" Raven's face was close, worried.

I looked up at him. At his warm amber eyes. At the orange aura surrounding him with those painful black cracks running through it.

"You're all dying," I whispered. The words felt like glass in my throat. "And nobody knows except me."