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I SAT QUIETLY IN THE backseat for what felt like forever. My tears had dried and all that was left was a hollow feeling. The only people I cared about in triad three, the only people that I even thought were worth fighting for, weren't there anymore. I felt hollow and numb, the exact opposite of someone who was willing to fight for their triad. It wasn't fair to the other people in triad three. I was sure that there were decent people there. People worth fighting for. But I wasn't the warrior that they needed, and I didn't want to be.
The car slowly lurched to a halt and I peered out at the huge manor in front of me. It was the biggest mansion that I'd ever seen dedicated solely to training trials competitors. Contestants only got a week to prepare before heading to lose their lives but rumor had it that the week before the trials was the best of their lives filled with lavish foods, exotic women, and a lot of sex.
What more could a man facing death want.
I wondered what the final week would be like now that women were allowed to compete. Would it still be filled with food and fun and sex?
I shook the thought from my mind. Sex should be the last thing that I thought about. I had to solely focus on surviving. Living to see the next day to get back to my mother, and whether or not that happened hinged solely on what happened in the final week.
A female servant emerged from the lavish mansion dressed in a skintight butler costume. It looked more like something that you'd see on a porn video than an actual working uniform, but it validated the rumor about the final week being filled with exotic women. She had long brown hair that went all the way down to her butt and the suit hugged her curves perfectly. If I was a man I probably would have gone crazy to get my hands on her too, but I wasn't. And I didn't go there to have mind blowing sex or gorge myself on extraordinary last meals. I was there to train, learn how to fight, and come out of the trials on top so that I could make it out of the nightmare that I was forced to live through.
The woman opened the car door and motioned for me to get out.
"Scarlett from triad three?" She smiled.
"That's me." I said awkwardly.
"This way." She shut the door and ushered me forward.
She led me into the mansion and I did my best not to look awestruck, but it was hard. It was the biggest house that I'd ever seen. A breathtaking chandelier stood in the entryway full of crystals that caught the light just right sending sparkling light beams scattering across the room. Inside the entryway was a fireplace that blazed brightly. The heat was comforting and coerced me into letting my guard down. I could feel my shoulders relax and the tension leave my muscles.
"Do you like it?" The woman smiled.
"Yes. It's beautiful." I had to admit it. I'd never seen anything like it in my poverty-stricken life. It was the kind of thing you saw in movies but never actually thought you'd get to experience.
"My name is Veda, and for the next week I'm going to be your personal servant. I'm in charge of giving you anything you like." Her eyes shifted up my body. "And I do mean anything." She grazed her fingertips from my wrist all the way up my arm before I intercepted it and let it loose.
"Thanks Veda, but you're barking up the wrong tree. Can you show me to my room please?" A look of disappointment stuttered across her eyes, but it was fleeting and she was back to her normal self.
"Of course. Right this way." She led me through the entryway which opened up into a grand foyer with a skylight ceiling.
The house was way bigger in the inside than it looked from the street. So much so that it didn't even remind me of a house anymore, it reminded me of a luxury hotel. She led me through the marble hallways and gave me a tour of all the amenities that I could use at my leisure. There was a gym, a movie theater, a spa, a training room, and a grand dining hall that she said we were required to eat dinners in with the governors every night at five o'clock.
My stomach churned at the thought of even having to be in the same room as the vampire over rulers. Couldn't they just let us train to meet our deaths in peace? Why all the mid games of having to look them in the eyes for an hour every night?
"And this will be your room for the duration of your stay." She led me into a large room that reminded me of a hotel suite.
The bed was the biggest I'd ever seen, like two king sized beds molded into one. It had an elaborate golden canopy that hung over it, with a vintage bathtub right next to it. All of the walls were covered in floor to ceiling windows that overlooked the steep canyon that the house was perched on.
"Oh! Ummm, hello?" I finally noticed a harem of naked women perched on my bed and quickly averted my eyes awkwardly out the window.
"She's not interested ladies, you're free to go." Veda waved her hand.
The naked women whined in disappointment before sulking out the door.
"You guys were really prepared for a man, weren't you? Got any harems of sexy men waiting around?"
Veda laughed. "Unfortunately, no. You were the only woman selected this year, and it was a surprise to everyone."
"Figures. Women get the short end of the stick." I groaned. "They're not like- slaves or anything, are they?"
"No! Of course not. As jobs go, they actually enjoy theirs. They chose to do it themselves, and the work is- fun. Let's put it that way." She smirked. "And they treat all of us really well here actually. We're like their beloved pets. It beats being stuck in triad three living in poverty trying to scrape by to feed a family."
I nodded. I got it. And why shouldn't women be empowered to embrace their dark and sexy sides whenever they pleased, even when it benefited them and got them out of poverty. It was what my aunt Carol did and look where she was now- immune from the vampire purge.
I wished that I would have spent more time giving that dark sexy side of me time to prowl and explore. If I had known that my life was going to be cut short at the age of twenty, I probably would have, but you live and you learn.
"Wait, So I was the only woman selected this year?" My mind finally processed what she had said.
"Yeah. Didn't you watch the rest of the summoning?" Veda eyed me.
"Well, I kind of went numb when they said my name so." I trailed off, but she understood.
"Your trainer will be here in an hour, but you're free to roam about the house as you please until then." With that she turned and exited the room.
I stood in the empty room for a while, lost in my own thoughts.
So, I'm really the only girl they chose. Maybe I can use that to my advantage.
Maybe the dark and sexy side of me still had a chance to come out and play. After all a bunch of men facing their deaths are likely not to be on their best game. When they see me, a beautiful helpless girl, there's no way that they won't underestimate me. Maybe I could use that to my advantage. Anything that helped me live for a day longer was a day closer I was to seeing my mother again. I was willing to spin it any way I needed to in order to come out on top.
I paced the room getting a look at everything it held. The closet was full of men’s suits.
Typical. I snorted. The more I thought about it the more it felt like the decision to add women to the trials was a last-minute decision. It felt sloppy, and not thought through. If they had known for a while that they were going to add women to the sadistic game, they would have at least taken the time to tailor it to them. Male servants, female clothes, the works. But something about this didn't feel right. It made me wonder what the governor's true reasoning behind it was. Something felt fishy, and I was the type of person that couldn't let an idea go once it entered my mind. Before I knew it, I had already made my mind up. I was going to spend the week training harder than I'd ever trained before, but also digging up as much dirt as possible on the real reason why women were suddenly chosen as contenders- and why I was the first and only one chosen. It felt unnatural, almost staged.
I moved from the closet to the bathtub, running my fingertips along the smooth edge as I walked. I stopped at the bed and admired the craftsmanship of the frame. The four bedposts that held the golden silk were solid gold and intricate leaf designs crawled their way up them.
I couldn't resist the urge to faceplant into the soft comforters and rolled around on the bed. IT was so soft and so plush that I almost didn't want to leave it- but there was more of the house that called to be explored. I didn't know how much time I had before the other competitors started arriving and I wanted to relish in being one of the only people there.
I found my way back into the marble hallway and wandered for a while. I eyed up every intricate painting that clung to the wall and was shocked to see actual originals of famous painter's works like Picasso. They must have cost a fortune, but then again I doubted that the governors' worried much about money with a house like this dedicated solely to people that they intended to kill.
I wondered for a moment what their houses must have looked like if their disposable ones looked like this.
I turned a corner, collided directly with someone, and spiraled to the floor.
"Hey! Watch where you're walking-" The man stopped when he realized who I was.
I looked up at him form the floor and I immediately knew who he was. Drax Smith, the governor's only son, also known as triad three's royal bad boy. I had seen him enough in the news for his incessant partying to know who he was at first glance. Even from the floor I could see why they called him a playboy, he fit the mold perfectly. He had the chiseled chin and the body to match. His face was perfectly arranged down to the dimple in the middle of said chiseled chin. His eyes were a deep shade of brown that matched his perfectly styled hair. There was just something about Drax that gave off a vibe that women couldn't ignore. I couldn't lie, I was feeling it too, even laying on the floor with a massive headache from the impact of the fall.
He was holding a martini in one hand and a completely naked woman clung to the other arm. I climbed to my feet and quickly sized him up. I doubted that he would kill me, he was wearing too nice of a red velvet suit. It wasn't the kind I imagined blood would come out of easily.
"You're her, the female contender, right?"
I nodded. As hard as I tried, I couldn't get my brain and my mouth to work together.
"Wow, they really picked out a good one." He devoured me with his eyes, and I hated that it did something for me, seeing him look at me like that. I was sure he'd looked at a hundred other women the exact same way, possibly even just that morning. But something about the way he looked at me so hungrily made me feel like that dark and sexy part of me was ready to finally make her debut.
"You want to come back and join us?" He raised a brow and motioned to the woman who still clung to his arm.
I shook my head no, still silent.
"Suit yourself." He pulled out a small packet filled with light blue powder, put one end in his nose and sniffed. With that they turned and continued down the hallway.
"Does she know how to talk?" I heard him murmur to her followed by an unbearable cackling.
Ice for sure. It’s sad, most vamps are probably on the stuff.
I would have kicked myself for how stupidly I almost fell for his vamp tricks. He was probably coercing me the entire time. There was no way I could have been attracted to one of them. I despised them down to the very pit in my soul. I couldn't possibly even consider sleeping with one.
The thought was enough to ease my nerves. Everyone knew that vampires had the ability of coercion, convincing humans of anything that they wanted. Sure, the power had its limits, but without the herb tarragon in my system I was defenseless. God knows what Drax could have made me do to him if he had wanted to.
After everything that had happened, I suddenly remembered my trainer was going to arrive soon and hurried back to my room while I tried to rid my mind of anything even remotely related to Drax Smith.