Page 2 of Dance of the Phoenix
Ragnor was a control freak. That also showed in his tendency to like clean and organized spaces. Out of all the Leagues I’d visited, the Rayne League was definitely the tidiest. Even the Atalon League, whilepolished and tasteful, always had dirt here and there from all the artsy stuff being moved around constantly.
I was about to speak, to ask what the hell was going on here, but Ragnor put away one of the monitors, took his own seat in the plush chair—the only furniture that hadn’t had anything on it—and motioned for me to sit. Biting my tongue, I carefully tiptoed around the papers lying about and sat down.
Then, Ragnor spoke. “In three weeks, there is going to be a Hecatomb.”
I wanted to tease him, to lighten up the air that had suddenly turned heavy with tension, but with his dead-serious gaze, I knew jokes would not be appreciated. Not now. So I warily asked, “What’s a Hecatomb?”
He leaned back against his chair, jaw ticking. “A Hecatomb is a way for vampires to ... ‘war it out,’” he explained, voice foreboding. “Since all vampires are signed to the Secrecy Agreement, in which we vow to hide our existence from humans, when two Leagues go to war, they obviously can’t do it out in the open. That’s what the Hecatomb is for.”
Pulling out a drawer in the desk, he retrieved a printed sheet of paper and set it on the desktop. With a pen in hand, Ragnor began writing something at the bottom of the page as he spoke. “The Hecatomb is a contest of sorts, gladiatorial in style. Each League brings ten members, five Gifted and five Common, to fight against each other, two versus two. The battles can only end in one of two ways: death or surrender. Ties are not possible.”
Giftedvampires referred to humans with special talents that transformed into some sort of magical ability after the human received the Imprint.Commonvampires, on the other hand, were regular vampires without any special powers whatsoever.
Ragnor stopped scribbling and raised his eyes to me. “Raking in victories is mostly for the League members’ sake. Because, in truth, the final battle is all that really matters.” He paused, lips pressed intoa thin line. “It’s a fight to the death between two Sacreds—or rather, the two Lords.”
Sacredreferred to vampires who’d lived for a few centuries and developed magic with age. Magic that had nothing to do with their talents, if they had any. To become a vampire Lord, one had to be Sacred.
A fight between two Lords who packed a lot of magical power was bound to be absolutely brutal.
Just the thought of it made my heart stop.
“The results can vary,” Ragnor said, pushing the paper he’d just written on toward me. “Read this.”
With trembling hands, I took the paper and read:
“In the event that League X wins more rounds, and its Lord wins the final battle, League Y’s both Common and Gifted members will submit to be put in a special Hecatomb Auction.
“In the event that League X wins more rounds, but the Lord of League Y wins the final battle, League X members have three choices:
1. Remain as a League and appoint a member as a new Lord
2. Initiate a Hecatomb Auction and dissolve the League
3. Become Leagueless
“In the event that League X loses more rounds, but its Lord wins the final battle, League X will be considered the winner, and the Lord can then Auction off the Hecatomb participants, both Gifted and Common, who remain alive, in the next regular newcomer Auction.”
In his cursive writing, Ragnor added below: “In the rare case that both Lords lose their lives, the responsibility for the two Leagues’ members is passed over to the Global Vampiric Association for ruling, regardless of which League won more rounds.”
I read the paper twice before I raised my gaze to meet Ragnor’s. My head was bursting with questions. “This seems far too complicated,” I said, reeling. “Who came up with this shit?”
Ragnor gave me a humorless smile. “The Hecatomb has been our method of war for centuries. It started when two Leagues in Europe needed to settle a score and were afraid of taking it out in the open air,in case they were exposed. They created the Hecatomb for that reason, and many other Leagues adopted this method from all over the world, until it became the official, legal way of settling a dispute of massive proportions.”
Thinking it through, I hesitantly asked, “I thought the Vampire Society had a legal division.”
Something softened in Ragnor’s gaze for a quick moment before his face hardened again. “Thereisa court, but when it comes to one Lord against another Lord, the court dictates a Hecatomb—as long as appeal by the plaintiff makes legal sense.” He paused, grimacing. “In this case, Atalon has been piling up serious grievances he twisted into plausible legal allegations against me for over two hundred years. Me taking you and Isora away was the final piece of evidence he needed to file for a Hecatomb.”
“Wait,” I said, trying to follow. “Finalpiece of evidence? What else does he hold against you?” But just as the words left my mouth, realization dawned. “The whole story with the Gifted fraud exchange.”
The Gifted fraud exchange referred to an instance in the far past when Ragnor had duped Atalon. Atalon, being the arrogant prick that he was, wanted to give the Imprint to a certain human who both Ragnor and Atalon thought had the chance to become Gifted upon receiving it. He did that under Ragnor’s nose, which then made Ragnor concoct a plan with said human, now a vampire, to get her into his League. So the vampire managed to trick Atalon into thinking she was a Common, and Ragnor offered an exchange: a Gifted member of his League in exchange for the allegedly Common vampire. Atalon agreed, and only after the deal was done did he find out that the Common vampire was, in fact, Gifted.
Despite the fact he’d gotten a Gifted vampire out of this deal either way, he couldn’t forgive Ragnor for this, and it became one of the many contentious points between the two.
Ragnor nodded with a grave expression. “On paper, that case is not dissimilar to yours. In the legal eye, Ihavedefrauded him when it comesto taking away his League members.” He gave me an angry look I knew wasn’t directed at me. “That, among other things, is what he presented to file for the Hecatomb.”
I’d known Atalon was an asshole, and I knew he was preparing to go head-to-head with Ragnor. But the fact that Ragnor had to deal with this utter bullshit made me hate him even more than before.
Pursing my lips, I asked, “What’s the Global Vampiric Association?”
