“Come on,” Jordan cajoled, mistaking my hesitance for reluctance. “Don’t make me drink with those losers alone.”
“Okay.”
“Sweet. Let’s go.”
I expected us to go to one of the common rooms, so I was surprised when she headed for the main entrance. “Where are we going?”
“The arena,” she said once we were outside.
The temperature had dropped a lot since that afternoon, and I shivered in my sweater. I raised my face and breathed deeply of the cold air. If my nose was not mistaken, we might be having a white Thanksgiving.
“What are you doing?” Jordan asked.
“Smelling the air. I think it’s going to snow.”
She sniffed at the air. “You can smell snow in the air? Seriously?”
“Can’t you?”
“No.”
“Oh.”
She gave me a sidelong look. “You’re strange, you know that?”
It felt good to smile. “You have no idea.”
The door to the arena opened before we reached it, and light spilled outside. “About time you two got here,” Terrence called. “Thought we were going to have to start without you.”
Jordan laughed. “Like you lightweights could have a party without us.”
He stepped aside, and we entered the arena where the other trainees sat together near a large cooler. Even Michael was there, and it surprised me to see him away from his laptop.
“Time to get this party started,” Terrence sang. He went to the cooler and began handing beers to everyone. When all of us held one, he raised his bottle and said, “To us.”
“To us.” We all drank. Josh turned on a small portable stereo and Coldplay filled the room. The seven of us sat and drank and talked about training and when we would go on our first mission. Everyone had heard Jordan’s story of our adventure at the party and they wanted to hear my side of the story. I told them everything I could without revealing my secrets. Jordan beamed when I described how easily she had dispatched two vampires. Human girls bonded over things like boys and music; we bonded over kicking demon ass. It was no wonder I never had any human girlfriends.
“So, you and Danshov, huh?” Josh asked. It was the first time one of them besides Jordan had mentioned the bond, and all I did was shrug and keep my face blank. Inside, my stomach hurt as I replayed Nikolas’s words to Tristan.
Jordan set her bottle down. “Hey, Terrence, where is that Gran Patron you were bragging about? I think it’s time for a shot.”
“Hell, yeah.” Terrence reached under his seat and pulled out a bottle of clear liquor and a stack of shot glasses. “Tequila time!”
I tried to pass when Terrence handed a shot to me. “I don’t really like liquor.”
“That’s because you haven’t had the good stuff. You have to try it once.”
Jordan nudged me with her shoulder. “Come on, you have to do one shot with us.”
I made a face but accepted the glass. “Haven’t you guys ever heard of peer pressure?”
“That’s a human thing.” Josh grinned and held up his glass. “Warriors call it a challenge, and we never turn down a good challenge.”
Everyone but Michael took a glass and when Terrence said “go” we downed the contents. The tequila was warm and smooth, and it burned its way down to pool in my stomach. A minute later, a pleasant tingle spread through my limbs.
“See, I knew you’d like it,” Terrence said when I smiled. “You want another one?”
“Maybe later.” I picked up my beer again and sipped it as the buzz from the tequila hit me. Whoa, I need to slow down.
I took my time with my second beer but everyone else, except Michael, seemed to be in a contest to see who could drink the most. Jordan wasn’t kidding when she called them lightweights because she put away more than any of them and barely seemed to have a buzz going.
By the time I started my third beer, Olivia and Jordan convinced me to do another shot. Although in truth, they didn’t have to do much convincing because I’d discovered that the more I drank, the less I thought about Nikolas and Celine and how much I missed Nate. Someone fiddled with the stereo, and I found myself dancing with Jordan and Olivia, singing and laughing and having a blast. So this was what it felt like to let go and have fun. I imagined Roland’s face if he saw me now and more laughter bubbled out of me.
By the time I finished my beer, I felt like I could do almost anything, and I was seized by the urge to find Nikolas and tell him he was free to go be with Celine or whoever he wanted. I ignored the sharp pain in my heart as I stood. He had made it clear what he wanted and it wasn’t me, so why wait to break the bond? The more I thought about it, the stronger the urge became to seek him out and just get it over with.