| |
I WAITED PATIENTLY perched on the bed with my hands folded in my lap. I hated it, because it gave me time to actually process what was going on. I wanted to find something to occupy my brain, but I was afraid that if I roamed the halls I'd run into Drax again, and I didn't like the way he made me feel. I didn't like seeing the vampires up close, it made them seem more human.
It was easier to hate them from afar. I like it that way.
There was a sturdy knock at the door. Before I could welcome them in the door opened and in walked a man. He was short but he made up for it in muscles. His skin was dark and sun kissed and his eyes were weathered and tired. If I had to guess I would have put him at about my father’s age, only because of the way streaks of white kissed the roots of his normally dark brown hair.
"Are you my trainer?" I felt stupid for asking such an obvious question.
"I guess I am now." He sighed, which didn't make me feel any better about the situation. "Listen kid, I'm going to be straight with you. I sympathize. I'm from triad three too, it's rough there. You already have to overcome more than the chumps from the other triad's just because of that. But, you're a girl too. And a supposed runner. No other trainer would take you for whatever combination of all of those things. What a lot of people don't know is the trainers play the game in a way too. When the contender is killed, they kill the trainer too. We have a lot riding on this."
I clenched my teeth together and forced myself to nod. I didn't know that was a stipulation of the game too, but it made sense. They wanted to manipulate as many humans as they could at once, instill as much fear as they could because fear leads to obedience.
"So, I need to know right now, are you in this? Like in it, in it? Because I love a good underdog story myself and if you're willing to do this, then so am I."
I had to stop for a moment and ask myself the question. Was I really in it? Did I really want to win? If not, I could always blunder the first round and get myself killed right away. Was fighting just prolonging the inevitable.
"That look on your face isn't as promising as I would have hoped, but I'll give you time. There's a lot of shit going on, and I can't even imagine being in your shoes. So, we'll start with something small today, and when you figure out whether or not you're going to treat this as a battle or a suicide mission we'll plan our next moves."
I nodded again. The poor guy probably thought I didn't know how to talk, but he was right. There was a lot going on, more than I could process. And the truth was, I didn't even really know what I wanted. I didn't know if I wanted to give it my all, or to fade into the background and let whatever happens happen.
"Alright, the first lesson for the day is that presentation is everything. Especially because you're the only woman on the roster. You need to decide if you're going to let that be an advantage, or a disadvantage."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you're in a house full of men, probably arrogant, cocky, sexist ones. By default they're going to underestimate you. You can use that as an advantage, use your contender outfit to distract, then go in for the kill.
He turned to the doorway and motioned for someone to come in. A few moments later Veda returned with a few other helpers with arm full of clothes, gowns, and armor.
"The Vampire Trials are a mind game, they always have been, and when it comes to men it's easy for them to have one thing on their mind."
As I browsed over the beautiful clothes I got where he was going.
"Dress to distract and you dress to kill."
I smirked. He was right. It was genius. Most of the people there already saw me as just a pretty face, why not give them something pretty to look at and when they let their guard down, give them a taste of what I'm really made of?
"What do you suggest?" I raised a brow.
He could sense the growing excitement inside of me and that made him feel better about his choice to work with me. Maybe there really was an underdog inside of me ready to prove everyone wrong. I had to win. I couldn't let this steal another person from my mother.
"Every contender has to choose a battle suit, it's like their signature outfit that they'll wear during the trials. Something that sets them apart from the rest but also works to their advantage. I'm suggesting- and hear me out fully- this."
He reached in the pile and pulled out a skimpy set of armor that looked like it belonged in a porn video along with Veda's maid suit.
I opened my mouth to protest the fact that the armor didn't cover a damn thing and shouldn’t be considered armor at all, but he held a finger up shushing me.
"I know, it's a shitty set of armor. In a fight all it'll cover is your damn nipples and a handful of skin but this is a weapon in and of itself. It wows, but it also distracts. It sends a sexy warrior message that everyone has to double take at. And in the few seconds they take to double take or figure out what the hell you were thinking choosing this, or even just process that you're wearing clothes you pounce. You train your ass off this week with me, you become deadly, and you learn to use those double take seconds to pick them off one at a time."
Again. Genius. Part of me didn't vibe with using my body to lure men to their deaths, but the other part of me knew that it was mine to do what I pleased with. Why not use my curves to help me survive.
"I'm in."
The trainer's face lit up and I could tell he wasn't lying about rooting for the underdog. He loved a challenge, and I was about as challenging as it got. I barely knew him but I prided myself in my ability to read people and I could tell that if anyone was able to turn me from a train wreck into a lethal masterpiece it was him.
"If they want mind games, we're going to give them the ultimate one. During the day you're going to play the part. A ditsy sexy woman who isn't taking any of this seriously. No training, no game planning, it might even help if you sleep with a man or two." "What?"
"Do you want to go all the way to the finals or not?"
He was right. Drastic times called for drastic measures.
"Form the outside you're going to tick all of the boxes that would set you up for failure. Live it up in the house, party, do whatever you have to do that would make people think that you're nothing more than a star struck girl who isn't going to make it past phase one. Use your sex appeal to your advantage, it'll pay off when the trials begin. People will make allowances for you, think that they're doing you a favor by making things easier for you, and that's when you show them what you're made of. We'll train at night and early in the morning in secret, but the training is the easy part. You have the hard part of convincing them that you're harmless. Nothing more than a pretty face swimming in a pool of testosterone."
I sat quietly trying to process everything that he said. I was at least glad that I'd gotten him as a trainer, even if it was as a last resort. I had no doubt in my mind that every other person would have pushed me to the side and disregarded me.
"I didn't catch your name." I realized.
"It's Vincent, but you can call me Vinny."
I smiled and nodded.
"Alright. the dinner is at five tonight. First impressions are the most important, so make sure you knock it out of the park. I'll meet you back here at one in the morning and we'll start your first training session." With that Vinny turned and left the room closing the door tightly behind him.
An eerie silence fell over the room and I was left perched on the bed drowning in a pile of designer clothes and makeup. I was still trying to process everything that he had said. Hell, I was trying to process everything that was going on. What he said made sense. Men had been underestimating women since the beginning of time, it wasn't new. But using that to my advantage was a concept so foreign in the society that I lived in that my brain could hardly register it.
Dinner is at five, and it's nearly three. I better get to work.
I filled the vintage bathtub with hot water and slid inside. It was euphoric to finally give my muscles permission to relax and in the suite, I felt like a queen sitting in her palace ready to build her empire. I took a deep breath and let the empowerment wash over me. It was the exact feeling that I needed to hold on to and channel whenever I needed it. As I soaked, I had an epiphany.
No one at the trials really knew who I was. Every time I met someone they were meeting me for the first time. I could create any version of Scarlett that I liked and they would just be forced to accept it as the real me because they didn't know any better.
The more I thought the more confidence I had that this could work. For the first time since I'd been summoned I felt like I actually had a shot at winning and making it out alive, for my triad and for my mother.
I felt hopeful, and hope wasn't something that I had come across in a long time.
I forced myself from the warm bath and dried myself as I perused the selection of designer gowns. My eyes settled on a red glitter dress with a slit up the front. It gave off strong Jessica Rabbit vibes and in that moment I couldn't think of a better example of a sex symbol. It was bright, it was show stopping, and it was a first impressions dress. I fought with it, trying to shimmy it over my butt and stuffing my boobs into it. It was skintight, but I didn't mind because my curves were the best part of my body. The dress highlighted them just right. The slit traveled up my leg and rested at my upper thigh leaving just enough skin to entice and just enough room for the imagination. I found a pair of red heels to match and my fingers managed to feel out a diamond necklace in the mound of fabric. I held it up to the light in awe of its beauty. It was easily worth more than most people in triad three made in an entire year at their dead-end job assignments, and I was about to wear it around like it was nothing. I put it on, grabbed the makeup, and headed to the golden encrusted mirror that clung to the wall. I coated my lips in a dark shade of red lipstick, brushed the curls in my hair just right, and threw on some mascara and eyeliner. I stood in the mirror stunned. I didn't even recognize myself, and I couldn't tell if I loved it or hated it.
It was show stopping for sure. If I was a guy I probably would have jacked off to myself. All I could do was hope that it had the same effect on the other contenders.
I took a final look in the mirror. This was me.
Scarlett 2.0.