15

When I woke up the next morning, Ivy was just coming into the dormitory, still dressed in her minidress.

“Did you stay up all night?” I asked her, noting her tired eyes and the slightly ruffled state of her dress.

“Well, not all night.” She tossed her purse onto the dresser. “But close enough. After that little show at Heaven, I went with a few guys to another club.”

The look she gave me invited me to expand on the incident with Harker and Nero, but I wasn’t up to the invitation today.

Ivy sighed. “Today is going to be hell,” she declared as she changed into her sports clothes.

“Like all days here.”

Dressed for another day of torture, we headed down to the canteen. Demeter was packed this morning, and the sun hadn’t even risen yet. We piled carbohydrates onto our food trays, then went to sit down.

For the first five minutes, Ivy watched me show my stack of pancakes who was boss. She looked like she wanted to say something, but she always caught herself at the last second. Finally, she couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“I saw what happened at Heaven last night,” she told me.

Her eyes flickered to Nero and Harker, who were sitting at their special table with all the other special snowflakes of the Legion. From the way that they weren’t trying to kill each other, I figured they were back on friendly terms.

Ivy grinned at me. “Nero and Harker fought over you.”

“That is not what happened.”

Ivy lifted her fork, pointing it at me. “Darling, that is exactly what happened.”

“They were drugged.”

She snorted. “Mr. Regulation was high?”

“I saw it in his eyes. And Harker was too.” I poked my fruit salad so I wouldn’t have to meet her knowing smile.

“You know, the drugs just brought out their baser instincts,” Ivy told me. “Harker isn’t hiding his intentions, but Nero tries to, though anyone can see he has the hots for you.”

“He left me at the bar to talk to Captain Somerset.”

“Yeah, to talk about mission reports, I hear. How romantic.” She twirled her fork around in the air. “Besides, she prefers ladies to men.”

“How can you possibly know this?”

“I talk to people. Peoples’ tongues get real loose under the influence of Nectar.”

“How many tongues did you loosen last night?” I asked her.

“More than a few.”

“You got pretty loose yourself,” I teased her.

“I needed to unwind too,” she said, winking. “All the Legion soldiers are drinking Nectar during their off time.”

“I see. So the Legion of Angels is a legion of drug addicts.”

“As long as it doesn’t interfere with their job, the gods don’t care. In fact, they encourage it. They know their soldiers need to unwind. Someone needs to tell your boy Nero that. He is always so tense. Except last night. I wonder how many drops he had to take before he loosened up enough to punch Harker.”

I sighed.

“Those drops were heaven,” Ivy said, a dreamy expression washing over her face.

Not as heavenly as Nero’s blood. No, I couldn’t think about that, about that knee-melting, ecstasy-inducing experience that was drinking his blood. I dug my fingernails into my palms and clung to denial for dear life.

“So, which one do you like?” Ivy asked me.

“I’m trying not to think.”

Ivy nodded. “Going with your heart then.”

That’s not what I’d meant. I was just trying not to think about the whole situation. I couldn’t be with either one of them anyway. I was pretty sure the Legion had rules about dating your superiors. They had rules for everything. And besides, I had bigger things to worry about. Like Zane. I had to focus on Zane. Not on playing footsie with the major and the colonel.

We finished our breakfast, then headed to the gym. When we got there, Nero was standing with Harker and Captain Somerset. All three were wearing their leather suits. That meant trouble.

“Field trip today,” Harker declared cheerfully.

Nero was more subdued. “We’re breaking you into three teams. Each team will infiltrate a hideout at a different location we believe rogue vampires to be hiding. It’s day, so they should be sleeping and weaker. This mission shouldn’t be a problem for you.”

Nero’s reality meter was way out of whack if he thought bursting into a fortress of angry, self-deprived vampires was ‘no problem’. I didn’t say anything, though. Trying to reason with Nero was like talking to a wall—except the wall was less stubborn.

The teams were assigned, and I ended up with Ivy and Drake on Captain Somerset’s team.

“You’re with me, Pandora,” she said as the others filed out. She threw a quick glance at Nero and Harker. “It’s better this way. The boys need a chance to cool off. We wouldn’t want them to start fighting over you again.”

I’d told Ivy that they hadn’t been fighting over me, but I couldn’t argue with Captain Somerset about it. First of all, she was my superior officer, and I really needed to start behaving myself if I was going to make it up the ranks and gain the ability I needed to save Zane. And second of all, I wasn’t completely sure she wasn’t right.

“How do we know about this hideout?” I asked. That’s me. Pure business all the way. “Was this information from the vampire prisoners we captured?”

Captain Somerset gave me a hard, long look. “Nero is right. You ask too many questions.”

I pressed on, undeterred. “They wouldn’t give up information so easily.”

“No one said it was easy, peaches.”

“We could be walking into a trap.”

“You think too much for your position. That’s going to get you into a lot of trouble.” A smirk twisted her lips. “But you have a nice ass. That must get you out of a lot of trouble. I can see why Nero and Harker both want to have sex with you.”

My mouth dropped in shock at her bluntness.

“Never been with a soldier of the Legion?” she asked, still grinning. “No worries. I’m sure they’ll break you in gently. But you might want to make sure they lay off the drugs before. It tends to make the boys lose control.”

“And the girls?” I asked. I could not believe I was even having this conversation. This was like some alternate reality or something.

“We are more disciplined.” She winked at me.

“There won’t be any sex,” I stated.

That elicited a chuckle from the captain. “See, I’ve been around the Legion long enough to know that’s just not true. This isn’t the first time this has happened.”

“That they’ve come to blows over a woman?”

“Ok, so this is the first time that has happened. But many women have come and gone and had their hearts broken by one or both of those two.”

“It sounds lovely,” I said drily.

“I’m told it is. Up to the inevitable heartbreak, at least. Before then, they enjoyed themselves very much. Nero is an angel, and angels make great lovers. I’ve had a few myself.” She took a moment to savor some fond memory. “And Harker. Well, he’s almost an angel. Rumor has it he’s next in line to become one, just like he’s always wanted. Between the two of them, they must have had a few hundred women.”

“Now I know you’re pulling my leg.”

She shrugged. “Immortality is a long time.”

When did a soldier of the Legion gain that little ability? Vampires were immortal, and I’d gained their powers. Was I already, unknowingly, immortal too? Would I never age? I tried not to think about it. Immortal or not, a Legion soldier was destined to die young. I tried not to think about that either.

“I’ve seen them with the same woman,” Captain Somerset continued. “But I’ve never seen them fight over one.” She looked me over. “You’re pretty. But I wonder what about you incites the madness in them.”

“I’m pretty sure that was the drugs.”

She laughed. “You sweet, innocent girl. The drugs merely brought to the surface what was already there.” Her eyes narrowed. “I really wonder. What is it about you?”

“I’m told my stubbornness is very endearing.”

She snorted. “Nero said that, did he? He’s such a hoot. But I don’t think that’s it. He’s drawn to your darkness. And Harker… I think he’s drawn to the opposite. To your innocence. To the light inside of you.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. They can’t be drawn to me for opposite reasons. I can’t have both darkness and light.”

“Who told you that?” she asked, amused.

“The Pilgrims back home were pretty adamant that light can only exist inside of you once you purge the darkness.”

She clicked her tongue. “The Pilgrims. They mean well, but their understanding is limited to books, not life. We are all of us a blend of darkness and light. Sometimes the scales are tilted one way, sometimes the other. Even the brightest soul has touches and hints of shadow. And even the darkest soul has seen the light. In the Legion, we take dark and light powers into us. It’s how we use them that matters. That is what makes us good or evil. And you.” She nodded. “Yes, I see it now. You have both darkness and light in you already, a perfect balance. It’s kind of beautiful.” She winked at me. “If you ever get sick of those boys, come pay me a visit.”

Then she turned and walked out of the room, leaving me rushing to follow.

* * *

We took the train to Montreal, an hour’s ride thanks to the engineered magic of Magitech. By car, the trip would have taken hours. This time, no one threw up on the train. That was a victory in and of itself.

Plus Ivy and Drake were on my team. We passed the train ride playing rummy while laughing over all new Legion stories Ivy had learned during her adventure last night.

The rest of our team was made up of three Legion brats: Mina, Roden, and Kinley. Except they weren’t acting like brats today. In fact, they didn’t bother us at all. Maybe they weren’t brats anymore.

When I whispered something to that effect to my friends, Drake said, “They respect you, Leda. And after how you went off alone, braving the Black Plains to bring Nero back, how could they not? The story of your grand rescue is spreading across the Legion.”

“So is what happened at Heaven last night,” Ivy added, smiling over her cards.

“Ok, what happened last night?” Drake asked. “I heard demons attacked and Nero and Harker blew up an entire city block fighting them off.”

“That would have been preferable to what really happened,” I muttered.

“Which is?”

Ivy nudged me in my shoulder. “What are you talking about? What really happened was way better than demons attacking New York.” She looked at Drake. “Harker and Nero were fighting over Leda.”

Drake nodded. “Ah, that makes much more sense.”

“None of this makes sense. At all,” I declared.

The train was just pulling into the station, so we put away our cards. As soon as we stopped, Captain Somerset opened the door, and we all followed her out. Our presence—and Legion uniforms—attracted just as much attention here as it had in Purgatory.

So to the delight of our enthralled audience, we made our way down the street to the Legion office. The one here was a bit bigger than the one back in my hometown—two rooms instead of one—but we were also on the Frontier here. That meant resources were scarce, saved up and devoted to the big wall at the edge of town. After all, that was all that stood between humanity and the monsters.

There were two Legion trucks parked in the garage, and Captain Somerset selected the white one. Then she tossed the keys to Mina.

“I heard you did a good job driving that load of vampires back from the Black Plains, so I’m assigning you as our driver. Try not to crash the truck.” She smirked.

There wasn’t much to crash into, I thought as we left town. Past the wall, the Wilds—or the Wicked Wilds as many people called them—were nothing but an expanse of brown grass between a few mountains. There were no trees in sight. They’d been an early casualty of the monsters’ arrival here.

But as we drove further, trees appeared. It started as just a few sparse bushes, but with each passing mile, the trees grew taller and fuller until we were driving on a narrow street between two immense forests. The cloudy sky opened up, and snowflakes fluttered down softly like goose down.

“Snow? In summer?” Ivy asked, looking up in wonder.

“The weather is all out of whack up here,” Captain Somerset said.

Up ahead, the forest opened up into a clearing of three buildings. Two of the buildings had long since run into the ground, but the third was still standing. And from the flickers of light shining through the windows, someone was home.

The captain told Mina to stop the truck and turn off the engine. We stalked toward the forest, keeping to the trees. The snow was coming down harder now. It was getting difficult to see through the gusts of flurries whistling across the land. There were no guards, no alarms or traps. Nothing.

“This feels weird,” I said as we stopped at the edge of the trees.

“Not giving up, are you?” Captain Somerset replied.

“I just can’t shake the feeling that we were led here. The intel about this place came from the vampires we captured on the Black Plains, didn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“And the intel about the other two fortresses the Legion is checking out right now?”

“Same.”

“And we trust it?” I asked.

“Our interrogators are pretty thorough.”

I winced.

“I told you that you asked too many questions. Some things you’re best not knowing. Like how many people these bloodsuckers killed in New York and since they’ve left,” she told me.

“A lot?”

“It sure wasn’t a little. Bodies piled everywhere, their necks snapped, their blood drained.”

I swallowed hard.

Her gaze slid to the building before us. “It does look bigger than we’d expected. Ok, we’re going to move in, but I want you to keep your eyes peeled. Keep to the shadows and be careful. We need to scout the place and figure out how many vampires are hiding in there.”

We followed her lead, creeping in silence. No vampires jumped out of the snow piling up fast on the ground. Even as we entered the building, nothing happened. The hallways were empty, the rooms abandoned. It felt like a tomb in here.

It was a tomb. Our tomb. As we entered the large central chamber, vampires jumped out of the floorboards, fully awake. And they weren’t alone. The doors burst open, and witches and werewolves streamed in from the connecting rooms, surrounding us.