72: We're game

The moment all six of us stepped into the dining room, all eyes were set on us, and the whole room was consumed in an astonished silence. I gazed around, smiled and then fixed my eyes on a series of empty chairs to which I walked. No one dared to speak as I walked towards my seat with my head held high. Sebastian trailed behind me with the rest of my lunch guests and once I’d chosen my seat, the rest followed.
I glanced narrow-eyed at the vampires surrounding me, and then my brows relaxed, and my facial expression softened when my eyes met Aaliyah and Felicity. Both of them stared at me in disbelief, and then Aaliyah’s eyes wandered to Alice who nervously tapped her foot. When their eyes met, blushes blazed against their cheeks and immediately they looked away, almost afraid to show just how much of a connection there was between the two beautiful young women.
“Wolves at the table?” Said Kyle, one of the Ryans.
I glanced around intently and then asked, rather seriously, “Vampires at the table?”
Demetri and Liam let out little chuckles and so did the rest of the moderate percentage of the table who actually found my joke funny. Kyle and his twin brother Darren were, however, not included in this small percentage. In fact, Kyle was so offended that he resorted to using his mouth in the foulest of ways.
“A hybrid bitch and her fucking little swarm of mutts.” He said.
I chuckled half-heartedly and then said, “An annoying little leech who clearly just learned to swear. It’s okay little leech, you’ll learn to use your swear words properly when you grow older… *if* you grow older.”
And just like that, the whole table once again fell completely silent, most just stunned by my words, and this time, both Darren and Kyle were included in this group of dumbfounded vampires.
Just then, a few of the servants entered the rooms and began placing goblets of blood in front of everyone. Soon one of the servants began nearing our corner of the table and I immediately recognised her. She was Tina, the servant who had once served me pancakes on request of Sebastian. She placed a goblet in front of me and was about to place one in front of Demetri and a very horrified Alice when I stopped her and requested ordinary food for them both and myself. She hesitated for a moment, uncertain about whether to accept my request. Sebastian gently touched at her shoulder and gave her a reassuring nod. She smiled and then turned back towards me. “Right away, Miss Ackerman.” She was about to remove the goblet of blood from in front of me, when I touched at her hand gently and said, “Leave it here please, I am famished.”
Once she left, I grabbed the stem of the goblet and brought it to my lips. I wasn’t lying when I said I was famished, and in one long gulp, I’d downed the entire goblet of blood. While I did, the rest of the table began taking slow sips of their own cups of blood.
“Xavier,” this came from Katherine, Xavier’s mother, “why are you sitting there next to… *that*. Come sit here with your father and I.”
“Liam, the same goes for you,” said Liam’s father.
Xavier raised a brow and then crossed a leg over and folded his arms. “She has a name, mother, and no. I am sitting here with Phoenix.”
I’d managed to tell Liam and Xavier about the encounter that Sebastian, Demetri and I had with Lucretia in the time before I had to disclose my entire life’s story to Alice. They were more than suspicious of Xavier’s mother as well, which did not really surprise me. Liam and Xavier truly hated their parents, quite possibly more than I hated Sebastian’s mother.
“And what about you, Liam. You will come here you ungrateful little thing, won’t you? You’ve caused more than enough trouble, not only sneaking around with Xavier, but also taking that hybrid’s side… and now you’re hanging out with filthy wolves.”
“Filthy? I’m sorry lady, but did you just call us filthy?” Demetri asked. His voice was still so calm, and his tone was almost amused.
Delilah gaped for a moment and then began to do something I didn’t quite expect. She began to stutter.
“W-well I… I m-mean y-you…”
“I’m filthy, right?” He said, more seriously. A deep glint of gold flashed against his eyes, almost warningly.
“N-no… I…” and then she fell silent before shrinking back into her seat.
Liam shot Demetri a grateful smirk before glancing back at his parents and narrowing his eyes. Demetri had successfully managed to bring the table into another stretch of silence. Within that stretch of silence, I kept my eyes glued at the vampire nobles and council members sitting around the table, searching for someone who seemed familiar enough to be Katherine. But I couldn’t sense anything from the people sitting here at this table. Not one of them gave me that nauseatingly uncomfortable feeling that Katherine always did.
It was only when Tina came to deliver our three plates of chicken alfredo that conversation resumed, again, involving myself.
“So, Phoenix,” David said as he tucked a few strands of his blue hair behind his ear nervously, “are you feeling any better? We heard you were feeling ill for the past few days.” He then took a glance around at a few other vampires and said, “some of us were worried…”
When he used my actual name instead of “hybrid”, I already figured out why exactly Felicity liked him. He was genuine with his words, and I could see the relief in his eyes now that he saw me in front of him. It seemed we had a lot more people on team Lupus.
I finished chewing the food in my mouth, smiled and then nodded before saying, “I am doing much better, thank you.”
“You’ve missed so many days of training, hybrid, you’re as good as dead during the games.” Darren scoffed. Samantha who sat a seat away from him, chuckled and agreed.
“Am I now?” I asked.
Kyle nodded and then leaned forward before saying, “We’ve seen you in the training room. You really suck, not only in the realm rooms, but in the hand-to-hand combat too. I could easily wipe the floor with you.”
Immediately I dropped the utensils in my hands and slowly I gazed up towards Sebastian who smirked wickedly. I smirked back and then rested my eyes on Kyle. I let my eye flash a shade of red before I almost whispered, “Wanna bet, leech?”
“What? You wanna take me on?” Kyle asked.
I leaned back in my seat, tilted my head and said, “No, I want to take both you and your brother on. It would hardly be fair if I took just one of you on.”
Kyle and Darren exchanged a few glances before nodding and turning towards me. “We’re game.”
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Stay safe! Stay healthy! Sending my love!