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Hazel

“Therefore, it’s been decided that it’s tiht As such, Gavino will not be holding back”

I had been fussing over my chisa katana—which is basically a smaller version of the Japanese katana—so I clearly hadsession “I’m sorry—say what now?”

Celestina tapped a finger on her clipboard “You’re skilled enough with your new level of ht toe-to-toe with one of us”

I slowly blinked “By us you mean a Drake Family vampire?”

“Yes”

“A vaain “The deadliest vampire Family in the Midwest And you think I—who only unlockedone of you?”

The white of Celestina’s snified the tawny bronze color of her skin “Precisely”

“Are you crazy?” I demanded “There’s no way I can keep up!”

“Gavino is the lowest ranked member in the Family who is currently in Drake Hall,” Celestina said “If you use your ic correctly you should win”

“Win?” My voice went up several octaves

Gavino—who had the shoulder span of a defensive line him heavily muscled for a vahtly to ht nobly”

“Aren’t you offended by this?” I asked

I had sought sanctuary ah to know most of the vampires by name, if not personally I knew Gavino pretty well because he usually stepped in as my trainer for the day if Celestina—the Drake Faht—were too busy

Gavino tilted his head as he consideredbut valor in a proper fight”

“I’m a wizard,” I said “The idea that I could beat you is a joke”

Wizards are considered the bottoic, but we can’t th of a olf The only kind of being we could reasonably defeat was the fae—and that’s because as wizards our ability to use ic cancels out a lot of the spells and enchantments fae use on their opponents

However, through the rather…unusual teaching methods of the Drake Family, I’d come to see that wizards could beFor the most part, izards were content to summon balls of fire and flick the electricity around my katana—which packed a heck of a punch and was a lot harder to evade than a single firebolt

I could see hoizards could fight far better than ere taught—with enough training we could probably beat off a olf and maybe defend ourselves from a lesser vamp (I had actually killed a crazy va spree when I unlocked o) But

But!

Fighting a Drake vampire—the most powerful vampire Family in the Midwest, who trained harder than olves and were versed in everything from martial arts to sidearms? I didn’t stand a deer’s chance in a olf den

“You won’t ith that kind of attitude,” Celestina announced

Gavino sagely nodded “The ht”

“How about ait another week or ten?” I suggested

Celestina pursed her lips—not a good sign

“Um—Killian! Does Killian know about your plan?”

“His Eested the plan,” Celestina said

“Why would he do that? I don’t recall pissing hiripped the hilt of my katana orry

“He is not angry with you; rather, he believes in you,” Gavino said with great conviction

“He believes it would be funny to watch you crush me, is more like it,” I muttered

“Hazel,” Celestina said “You are fretting over nothing You’ve had practice matches with us before”

“Yeah—but as you said they were practice If Gavino is serious I’ to die”

“Don’t be silly” Celestina tossed the tail of her hair—wound in a French braid—over her shoulder “You’ll have to stop him before it comes to that”

I could tell et s

1) Despite Celestina’s assertions, Gavino was going to take it easy on me, or

2) I’d have to do et pounded in the process, which would hopefully make Celestina—or ood as they thought and adjust ly

Either way, I was in for a rough ti down—oh no, I’d scratch and claay through this if I had to

Because nobetter, because eventually I’d return to House Medeis and be in for the fight of my life

I followed Celestina over to the mat-covered area the vathe scabbard on a bench before I joined Gavino at the center

I took a deep breath and adjusted into a proper stance, then tappedit froh their blood Itpineapple leaves on your tongue

My body teic flowed around me, and I felt the tell-tale war on my skin

A wizard ic-sensitive tattoo that only showed up e tapped into ic It was usually a pattern of swirls, shapes, or spikes, but ic was sealed, I had one swirl under my left eye

Noith ic unbound, my mark extended up into my hairline and brushed past my jawline and down my neck

Gavino cracked his knuckles while he waited, watchingthat looked like approval

Celestina settled her hands on the fitted waistline of her black suit “Ready? Then begin!”

I dove sidewise as I flung a fistful of blue fire at Gavino

He, of course, already wasn’t there

Vareat defenses, but they move so quickly it doesn’t ood hit in

Rather than stop, I darted in an unpredictable pattern as I wrapped ic I whirled around, and Gavino leaned back slightly to avoid the rab me

I couldn’t recover and bring ers bunched around ht foot, which was encased with blue fire

Gavino grunted, and the smell of burnt fabric tickled my nose

Unfortunately, he didn’t let ht me the precious seconds I needed to reverse e of the blade faced hional slash

Gavino leaped backwards to avoid the blade that hissed and spat blue colored electricity

“Neatly done,” he praised

I didn’t reply—I was too busy trying to survive—but I tried to pressat him

Gavino ducked it, then closed in on me within the blink of an eye He had one hand wrapped around the hilt of rasped my shoulder with the other

I tried to heat ic shaped into blue fla fire, Gavino pluckedit away

In one s me upside doith my arainst his super ripped chest

See? What’d I tell you—totally going easy on me!

But there was no way Celestina was going to call the match here, which meant I was about to experience some pain

My le rasp

Filtering ic into fire didn’t seem to bother him too much—it obviously hurt when I’d kicked it into him, but he ayedge on it, or the ic electricity I swaddled my blade in?

Only one way to find out!

I breathed out, pushingit into electricity that crackled and popped I didn’t kno o, so I used quite a bit Enough that I couldn’t hear anything besides the crackling fizz of the stuff

Gavino let le my arms, so I mostly fell on my head—that was bad

I groaned, pain blosso up just in tio limp and fall directly on top of me

Getting dropped onthe bulkiest Drake vampire land on me?

Yeah, that hurt way more

I lost all the air in s, but trapped under his massive hulk I couldn’t wheeze for more, either I tried to hed too much, and my body wouldn’t listen to any commands

My ears rang, and rew fuzzy and dark

When I came to, Killian Drake was crouched at my side His red eyes—which were closer to black with flecks of red most of the tiain he straightened his shoulders

“I believe you are the first person to have knocked yourself out by dropping a valy rich voice

I groaned, and ers twitched as I tried to move my arms “I didn’t think one zap would hurt him that much”