Chapter 4

Olivia’s POV

Left in this room for a time, with the vampire guards watching but not touching or directing us, the other tributes started to talk and gossip.

I overheard Number 4 introducing herself to the other girls, and learned her name was Lucy. She was proud of having such a low number, though, and insisted that a few of the girls address her as such. I imagined, had she deigned to speak to me that she would give me the same direction.

Ignoring her, I tried to focus on some of the other girls’ gossip instead. From them, I learned that tonight was a Blood Feast, a ceremony for vampires who would choose and take away their favorite tributes. The highest ranking vampires had priority, picking first about the rest.

To my shock, many of the girls were actually hopeful to be chosen by one of these high ranking members. Lucy, it seemed, was one of them.

“I’m sure with my low number, that I will be chosen right away,” Lucy boasted. “I have good breeding, and my blood is strong.” She shot me a look. “Unlike others among us.”

My arm was still bleeding, still hurting, even though I clutched it to apply pressure.

Lucy looked at my arm and then laughed at me. “Some of us are born differently. While this one, a wolfless, is only here to be an appetizer, I will become a favorite. In fact, I’m sure to become the blood pet of the Vampire Duke tonight.”

Her words perplexed me. Why on earth would anyone want to become a vampire’s blood well, especially enough to train and prepare for this day.

Did the other towns treat the tribute lottery different? Had they hoped to be chosen while our town dreaded it? Why?

Lucy must have seen the disgust on my face because she immediately turned up her nose at me. Her face shifted, turning ugly as she stormed toward me. Closing the distance, she lifted her hand and slapped me across the face.

She wasn’t gentle and I stumbled to the side from the force of the slap.

My confusion, my anger, and my pain – perhaps in combination with the blood loss – led to my boldness, and as I recovered, straightening again, I asked her directly, “What possible benefits could you have for being a vampire’s pet? Why would you go through so much effort for this?”

“How can you be so stupid?” Lucy demanded. “Does being wolfless make you slow as well? Immortality, wolfless. That is what we seek. A vampire bite has the power to turn us, making us immortal and like them. Can you imagine the power? Why wouldn’t you want this?”

Others nearby seemed to agree with her, nodding along. No one seemed to have any sympathy or understanding for me. Perhaps the others from my town, my pack, would have, but I couldn’t see them in the room with as crowded as it was.

Looking at her, seeing her sincerity and conviction, in this moment, I was utterly convinced that she had entirely lost her mind. How could they be flattered to be chosen by our slavers?

My father died at the hands of the vampires, so I didn’t care what they had to offer. I wouldn’t be swayed by things like immortality or pleasure. I would never give in to the so-called Vampire Duke.

Lucy lifted her chin, staring down her nose at me.

“You never should have been brought here,” Lucy said. “You don’t appreciate the golden opportunity this is. Worse, you think lowly of the vampires, don’t you? The Vampire Duke should have your fealty, and you reject him. Those of us that are loyal to him can’t allow this!”

She slapped me again, putting her werewolf strength into it this time. I was knocked to the ground before I could properly defend myself.

Yet, looking up, I saw an opening, I surged forward, grabbed Lucy’s collar and tugged. The clasp must have been loose, because the collar came away instantly.

Lucy growled, grabbed my collar in retaliation, and pulled it free of my neck as well.

“What is this?” yelled a nearby vampire servant. I hadn’t seen her enter the room, so I didn’t know when she arrived or how much she’d seen. But in that moment, she rushed toward us. “Stop this at once!”

Lucy backed off of me at once, showing respect to the vampire servant by instantly obeying her commands.

The vampire servant glared at all of us, showing her clear displeasure without words.

Lucy lowered her head. “My apologies, Sophia.”

How Lucy knew the name of the vampire servant, I wasn’t sure. Perhaps that was part of the training and preparations she had undergone in her pack.

Sophia sneered but then turned away. Her arrival had silenced the large crowd of tributes. Everyone in the room seemed to be looking at her.

“Vampire Duke Damien has requested tribute number 12,” Sophia announced.

At once my hand reached to my throat. 12 was my number! But my collar wasn’t there. Lucy had ripped it off. She was still holding it. Turning it in her hand, she saw the number, her eyes going wide. At once, Lucy placed the collar around her own neck.

“I’m here,” she said, stepping forward toward Sophia. “I’m number 12.”

I could have spoken up. 12 was my number and there must be records of that somewhere. But if Damien was requesting me, I wasn’t sure that was a good thing, despite what Lucy and the others thought.

Truly, I missed my family, and I missed Jacob. If I wanted to see them again, I had to do everything I could to survive this ordeal. Staying away from Damien felt like the main way of accomplishing that.

Sophia led Lucy out of the main group. With them distracted, I snatched Lucy’s discarded collar from the ground and attached it around my own neck.

Lucy disappeared for a time, but returned after a half hour smelling of rose perfume and soap. Her clothes were different, more refined – and more revealing -- with many dainty golden chains crisscrossing around her chest and legs.

The others were impressed with her clothing, moving in to see closer.

As the Blood Feast was set to begin, a large doorway was opened at the far end of the room, and all of the tributes were ushered inside.

If I had thought the last room was large, this one was three times its size, with a high, vaulted ceiling. The room was filled with tables and chairs, the vampires sitting there. Further ahead, at the other end of the Great Hall, some vampires were sitting in front of long tables up on a lifted platform.

There was one vampire sitting alone off to the side.

“Line up,” Sophia ordered. “You are all appetizers tonight. Let the vampires get a good look at you.”

While everyone else started lining up, I moved to the back of the group, hoping to sneak away somehow. I wasn’t going to stand around and allow myself to be feasted on.

Yet before I could get away, Lucy looked up and saw me.

Still looking at me, Lucy leaned toward Sophia and whispered something to her. I couldn’t hear what she had said, but as someone who had never manifested a wolf, I knew the shape of people’s mouths when they whispered around me, Wolfless.

Sophia’s gaze snapped to Lucy. “Are you certain?” she snapped, her voice so sharp and shrill that I could hear it even with the rumble of the crowd.

“A wolfless,” Lucy said louder, likely wanting me to hear. “She won’t survive the night. Should probably just drain her first.”

Sophia turned her gaze on the group of us. Her cold red eyes looked over us all. “Which one?”

Lucy pointed right at me. “Her.”