Jayden noticed my shock. “Oh my God, honey. They didn’t tell you?”
They hadn’t told me shit, but I wasn’t going to tell him that yet. He moved and sat next to me, his warmth strangely comforting. I barely knew this guy, but for some reason I was getting legit and genuine vibes off him. There was a sense of nurturing about him, and that made me trust him.
“Tell me everything about this culling,” I said, letting my eyes fall on his pretty face.
His huge arms nearly ripped the seams of his shirt as he shifted back to lean on them. He cleared his throat. “Should have known those bastards would keep you in the dark. Look, I really don’t want to be the one to tell you this. Basically, vampire-human sexual relations are illegal, so we technically shouldn’t be allowed to live at all.”
That much I did know. And something told me the worst news was still to come. Come on, don’t draw it out. Hit me with it.
“But the vamps allow a small number of ash to integrate into the Hive each year. In two weeks there will be a culling … a series of fights to the death, all of which takes place over seven days. First we fight individually, and then when the initial weak are weeded out, it moves on to team fights. All of the new ash must fight, and if you survive, you get to become a member of the Hive. Yay.” He ended the last part with fake bravado.
I released the breath I had been holding. Well, I’ll be damned, the rumors were true.
Jayden went on: “There’re lots of rules and traditions that go along with it. There’re sponsors that pay for training, and a ranking system that says whether or not you fight first or last, and who you’ll team with if you make it that far. All of which can be the difference between life and death. You might be happy to know that rumor has it you caught the eye of Lucas. He’s on the Quorum. I haven’t figured out yet if…”
He trailed off and I was wondering more about who the hell this Lucas was. How many freakin’ vamps had I encountered in my bloodthirsty crazed days here?
My stomach growled. Odd. I didn’t feel thirsty, it was actual hunger that panged me. This felt much more like my old days of being a food whore.
Jayden’s smile quirked even higher. “Believe it or not, we still need to eat one human food meal a day, especially when healing.” He jumped up. “How you doing with this? Wanna curl up and die or are you ready to give this a try?” Those ash eyes sparkled at me. “The way I see it, you have two options right now: try to commit suicide, or come grab some food with me.” There was barely any silver in the black of his eyes. “I know which option I’d prefer. I’m not much for blood on my clothes, and I would hate to clean up your dead ass.”
I laughed, an actual real laugh. If I did need to be in this shithole and fight for my life, I mind as well keep my spirits up.
“Food,” I said, and stood. “I’m not one for giving up. I’m the life and lemons sort. As long as there is tequila too.”
“Amen to that, sister.”
I hadn’t been kidding, I was not one to give up. I would push all the information down to my deep dark place and pull it up later when needed.
After taking a quick shower and slipping into a new jumpsuit – I had like ten #46 suits in my side of the box cupboard – we left our room and went down a long hallway. I memorized the route as we pushed through two double doors and into a huge cafeteria. As we stepped inside, the noise hit me first, followed closely by the multitude of scents. My senses were kicking into overdrive, and it actually took me several long moments to deal with the overwhelming stimulation to my body, filtering it all out, compartmentalizing so I didn’t start freaking out.
There must have been over a thousand ashes in there. And at some point after my entrance, the noise started filtering away, until every single one of them had stopped what they were doing and was staring at me.
Holy cracking ash babies. I was frozen in the doorway. Unable to move, but at least finally not drowning in the sea of sensations.
Jayden broke the tension by giving me a push forward. “Hurry, or all the good food will be gone.” His tone was all casual and relaxed, despite the fact there were still thousands of eyes locked on us. Jayden was one cool gay dude.
I took a tentative step into the room. My olfactory sense was smashing me with information, like it knew somehow how to catalogue the smells. I knew one thing for sure: they were all ashes. I scanned the crowd, trying not to linger too long on any one group. There were scary faces in here. But all beautiful. It’s like any human or offspring affected by the vampire virus were smoothed out or something. All flaws just kind of sculpted away. Don’t get me wrong, each still had completely individual features, all unique, but the flaws were non-existent.