Page 15 of Dance of the Phoenix
Zoey Rittman
Aileen Henderson
Part II
Chapter 7
Aileen
The fourth floor of the Rayne League compound was dedicated to the Troop’s training facilities, top secret restricted areas, and one conference room.
When Zoey and I entered the conference room the morning after the votes, I was a bundle of nerves. It was one thing to know I was forced to participate in the Hecatomb but quite another to have everyone else think I waschosenfor it.
Thankfully, the room was empty but for one familiar face. A smile broke over my face, and I walked over to my former dishwashing team member and sat next to him. “CJ.”
He turned to me with a fond look. “Aileen.”
“You know each other?” Zoey asked as she took the seat to my right.
“CJ was my mentor during my kitchen-duty days,” I told her before turning to him and mock scowling. “You never told me you were part of the Troop!”
He put his strong arms behind his head and gave me a somewhat sad smile. “I was enlisted only last month. Some would even say promoted.”
“But you don’t think so?” Zoey jumped in with a frown.
“I think people’s lack of regard for the kitchen staff and the importance of that job is quite demeaning,” CJ retorted pointedly, almost defensively. I couldn’t help but share the sentiment, especially since I knew not just CJ but Jada and Bowen, the other members of the dishwashing team, and how hard they worked.
“Either way,” I said, smiling, “I didn’t know you could fight. You gave one hell of a show.”
He shot me a look. “I can say the same thing about you two.”
Before I could reply, more people entered the room, taking their spots around the long meeting table: Logan, accompanied by Cassidy, along with the two other Commons selected, one of whom was Sulien, the Troop member I’d had a mock battle with.
“Hey,” CJ said as the female Common vampire took the seat on his other side. She was quite pretty, now that I saw her up close, with pixie-cut platinum hair and bright quicksilver eyes. “Have you spoken to Jada?”
Yelene sighed. “She won’t leave her room. I think you should come over later today and talk it through.”
“What happened?” I asked CJ, worried. Jada was the first vampire in the Rayne League who had acted friendly toward me. She was a warm and funny woman, and I genuinely liked her.
CJ was about to speak when a few more people entered the room: the three Troop Commanders other than Logan, who was already here. Neisha was one of them, and she waved at me before plopping herself next to Zoey.
Once all ten of us were present, the doors opened once more, and Ragnor entered, followed by his two Lieutenants: Magnus and Margarita.
It had been some time since I last saw Margarita, and I couldn’t help but feel bile rising up inside me at the sight of her petite form and the mane of her red curls. It might’ve felt like a lifetime ago, but I still remembered how she treated me when I was a newcomer. I was far from letting go of that grudge.
Magnus, on the other hand, I knew nothing about. I never really interacted with him, and all I knew was from what I could see: He was, most likely, the best-looking man I’d ever seen. With burnished-gold hair and honey-colored eyes, along with a tall and toned figure enveloped by bronze skin, he was like the incarnation of Adonis. But his type of beauty was like a sculpture’s in a museum: gorgeous yet completely detached. Aloof and distant. There were a few occasions I’d seen him smile and act friendly, but only to Ragnor or some flavor of the day he took back to his room at the end of the day.
Ragnor took the seat at the head of the table, with his Lieutenants sitting at his sides. Everyone fell quiet when he began speaking. “Greetings, everyone,” he said formally. “Starting today, you’re going into two weeks of an intensive training regimen to prepare for the Hecatomb.
“You’ll have both group and private training sessions for the first week,” he went on, glancing at me briefly before he continued. “The week after, you’ll train with your partners.”
Zoey’s hand shot up, and Ragnor nodded for her to speak. “What do you mean by partners?”
