Page 34 of Dance of the Phoenix
When we entered the cafeteria with Ragnor at the head, every vampire in the room turned to stare. As we headed toward the tables in the middle, those damned tables that used to give me hell those first few months I worked as a kitchen assistant, my heart sank to the floor.
I’d never wanted to sit at one of these tables when I served them. I always saw those who sat there, Ragnor included, as elitist, entitled assholes.
I’d never thought of myself as one. Even now, when I was in a relationship of some sort with Ragnor, the head of those elitist assholes, I still didn’t think of my standing as higher than before. If anything, I was the root of all problems coming this League’s way.
I stopped in my tracks when everyone took seats around the party’s arranged long table. Ragnor, who sat at the head, caught my gaze, and with a small movement of his chin, practically told me to get my ass over there.
But I refused.
Even if it was out of stubbornness only, I did not want to sit at table number one. It was a matter of principle, and while I didn’t have many of those, this one was important to me.
Back when I was human, I worked as a cashier at the grocery store. It was a low-income job, with even lower respect levels, but I’d been proud of it. It was a normal occupation. Something anyone could do. There was no need for blood and gore and little girls screaming for help.
Then I became a kitchen assistant. While working in the Rayne League kitchen meant being subjected to Lon—the kitchen’s head, who could give Gordon Ramsay a run for his money—and being forced to serve certain higher-ups-filled tables, it wasn’t all bad. I’d met CJ, Jada, and Bowen there. They were the only vampires who’d been kind to me right from the start. They left me with good memories of that work, even if it had been Sisyphean and difficult.
In retrospect, I could say I was proud of that job too.
Participating in the Hecatomb, while not a job in the official sense of the word, was closer to the one I’d had many years ago, back in my hometown under my father’s tutelage. At the very least, it was a far cry from a regular grocery store or kitchen work.
In that sense, I was the complete opposite of Zoey, who seemed to revel in her being voted in as a participant. She saw it as a stepping stone, like most vampires in her position did.
I saw it as the lowest of the low. There was no pride, no dignity, in fighting and killing others. And while I never claimed to be an altruistic pacifist, and Iwasready to kill to save my own skin, I would never glorify it.
I’d stared death in the face, both as a perpetrator and a victim, more times than I could count. Most of the deaths I’d witnessed wereso brutal, especially given the victims’ ages, that it made me sick just thinking about it.
So while I wasn’t a stranger to death, I never took pleasure in it, and even if I were in Zoey’s position, I would’ve never done what she did.
So I gave Ragnor a small shake of my head and walked away toward the buffet, where I piled some rice, chicken wings, and salad on a plate and then took a seat at an empty table like the good old days.
“I must say, I like you, Henderson.”
I whipped my head up with a mouth full of rice to see Oberon putting his own tray on the table and taking the seat across from me. He flashed me a grin and winked. “It seems we’re both of the same mind.”
For some reason, his smile coaxed one out of me too. “I saw you sitting down with the others earlier, though,” I told him, arching a brow.
He dug his fork—which looked minuscule compared to his massively thick, muscular arm—into his steak and with one bite, demolished almost the entire thing. “It takes one’s courage to say ‘fuck the system’ and propel others into action,” he said wisely after he swallowed.
As if to prove his point, another person appeared at the table: Haneul, with his hawk on his shoulder. “May I join you?” he asked quietly, a slight accent to his voice.
“Of course, bud,” Oberon said with a big, toothy grin, and patted the seat next to him. Haneul nodded and sat down, putting his own tray of food on the table. “I told you,” Oberon then said to me, “all it takes is one person.”
My smile grew as my heart warmed a little. But when I glanced at table number one, that fuzzy feeling dissolved as I saw Ragnor speaking to Margarita, his back purposely turned to me, while a trembling server tried to get their table’s order.
I looked back at Oberon, who seemed to study me. “Why did you really follow me?”
Oberon threw me another shrug, but this time, his face was serious when he said, “Because I, too, have low regard for those who thinkthey need to be served.” He pointed his fork at me. “It would’ve been a different story if there wasn’t a buffet and the cafeteria worked like a restaurant, but since it’s not, I find it off-putting.”
I didn’t realize my shoulders were tense until they fell, relief filling me up. I suddenly felt so validated, and while I hadn’t thought I needed this before, I realized I did. “That’s exactly what I believe too,” I said quietly.
The rest of the lunch passed in companionable silence that made me feel far less alone.
Chapter 15
Aileen
A tense silence filled the SUV when Ragnor drove us to his town house for the private training.
After Margarita said that the results of the pairing decisions would be postponed until after private training, Ragnor and I met up at the entrance of the League, this time without Magnus, and neither of us spoke even one word.
