All Chapters of System Of Blood: To Crave Survival: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

CHAPTER 42Camryn's POVThe words hung in the air, heavy with implication.Whitney stood and moved to the window, staring out at the artificial sky. “My brother is thirteen. He wants to be a Hunter because he thinks it’s heroic. Thinks he’ll earn enough credits to move us out of the industrial slums.” She turned back to face us. “If we do this, if we expose the truth, what happens to kids like him? To everyone who believes the lies because believing is easier than accepting how trapped we are?”“They get a choice,” I said. “For the first time in centuries, they get to choose what kind of world they want to live in.”“Or they panic. Riot. Tear Lenore apart from the inside while the anomalies pour in from outside.” Whitney’s voice was hard. “We could save everyone or doom everyone. No middle ground.”She was right. I knew she was right. But I also knew we’d crossed a line we couldn’t uncross.“I’m not asking anyone to follow me into this,” I said quietly. “You can walk away. Take your br

CHAPTER 44Camryn's POVI returned to my apartment near the school as the artificial sky darkened to night. It was small, barely more than a room with a bed and a desk, but it was mine, and it was safe.Supposedly.I unlocked the door and immediately knew something was wrong.The air smelled different. Like someone had been here, disturbed the space, left traces of their presence behind.My umbrella was in my hand, blade extended, before I’d fully processed the thought.“Relax,” a voice said from the shadows. “I didn’t come here to fight.”A figure stepped into the weak light from my window. Male, mid-thirties, wearing the dark jacket that marked him as House Blue.Maurice Bellamonte.“You.” I kept the blade pointed at him. “What are you doing here?”“Following up on our last conversation.” He gestured to my small table. “May I sit? Or are we going to pretend you don’t remember our midnight meeting at the archives?”Of course I remembered. The calibrator he’d given me. Eugene’s journa

CHAPTER 46Camryn's POVThe deployment came three hours after I'd gotten back from the warehouse meeting with Celeste.I was still wearing yesterday's clothes, still covered in factory dust and the smell of chemical runoff from the industrial sector.My ribs ached from the Lurker I'd killed that morning. I'd planned to sleep for maybe four hours before the next round of recruiting.The system had other plans."Stage Two Hunter Chavez," the messenger said when I opened my door. He was young, with the exhausted look of someone who'd been running messages all day. "You're deployed in thirty minutes. Surface sector twelve. Class D sweep.""I just got back.""Handler's orders." He shoved a slip of paper into my hand. "Transport leaves from the north gate. Don't be late."He was gone before I could argue.I looked at the deployment slip. Sector twelve was one of the outer districts, where the Wall met the surface ruins. High anomaly concentration. Low credit payout. The kind of deployment t

CHAPTER 48Camryn's POV“Then they’ll investigate. And investigations take time. Time for Olyriane to figure out alternatives.”“Or time for them to kill everyone involved.” Amon looked at me like I’d suggested jumping off a cliff. “This isn’t like recruiting frustrated Hunters. This is directly interfering with House politics. If we get caught…”“We won’t get caught.”“You can’t promise that.”He was right, of course. I couldn’t promise anything. But I looked at Olyriane, at the desperate hope fighting with resignation in her eyes, and I knew I had to try.“Give me two days," I said. "If I can't figure out a way to help you by then, at least you'll know someone tried.”Olyriane was quiet for a long moment. Then she reached into her dress and pulled out a small pendant on a green ribbon—a piece of glass shaped like a teardrop, the same color as her eyes.“My grandmother gave this to me when I was young. She said it was a luck charm, that it would protect me when I needed it most.” She

CHAPTER 50Camryn's POVThe morning of the wedding, Helena Rosetti arrived at my apartment with a dress box.“House Rosetti members are expected to look appropriate for political events,” she said, setting the box on my bed. “This includes you, Miss Chavez.”Inside was a gown of deep emerald silk, elegant and expensive. House Green’s color. A reminder that I belonged to them now, whether I wanted to or not.“The ceremony begins at noon,” Helena continued. “Transportation leaves from the Rosetti compound at eleven. Don’t be late.”She left before I could respond.I stared at the dress and thought about all the ways this day could end.I put on the dress and headed out to the Compound.The Rosetti compound was chaotic when I arrived. Carriages lined the courtyard; nobles in green and gold hurried between them. Servants rushed with last-minute preparations. Guards stood at rigid attention, their hands never far from their weapons.I found Whitney near the fountain, wearing a simple green