A Sinister Game

  When the sounds of her tidying died down a few minutes later, she opened her eyes. In front of her stretched a clean, white room with spotless mirrors along one wall and a rack of weights along the other. Two perfectly whole punching bags dangled from metal chains and stands in the corner. The plastic panels of the room were polished smooth and intact. The marble floor gleamed beneath her feet and echoed her footsteps as she put her hands on her hips and confidently strode forward, thoroughly enjoying the job she’d done.

  “Very –”

  Victoria whirled around at the sound of the voice.

  “Impressive,” he finished.

  Black! The blood drained from Victoria’s face, and her heart fell into her stomach. She stared up at the man who was once more dressed in his namesake’s color. Her legs began to go numb. He was watching her so keenly with those eyes, his lips turned up in the slightest of smiles.

  He was so close.

  How had she not noticed him there right behind her? How had she not heard him? Felt him?

  His face was slightly pale, she noticed upon closer examination. His eyes seemed darker than normal. In fact, he looked troubled and brooding, as if he’d not slept.

  Would serve him right.

  But in the end, the stark lines lent his handsome appearance a dangerous edge. Like a sharpened blade on a big knife.

  Victor drew his gloved hands together and clapped in slow applause. “You are indeed amazing Victoria.” He stepped forward, closing the gap between them.

  But she stepped back. And then she stepped back again, amazed that she was able to move her feet at all.

  He was unfazed by her retreat. His emerald gaze dropped from her face to her right arm. “And you managed all of this without your Game band,” he commented. “My, my. Aren’t you the industrious team leader?” His accent was so strong now, it was as if he’d only recently come to be on the Field. It was beautiful, she realized. Disastrously beautiful.

  “Black….” Victoria’s voice cracked. She swallowed, almost coughed on the dryness, and then tried swallowing again. This time she managed.

  She cleared her throat. “How did you get in here?”

  He shrugged, his expression innocent. “I have this room reserved this morning, love. The clock on the wall is ten minutes off.” He smiled then, and his smile was anything but innocent.

  “You changed the time?” Victoria asked, disbelieving. The clock on the wall was not ten minutes off. It was the world outside of the room that was off as far as time was concerned. Victoria knew that. She knew it because as the most powerful dark leader on the Field, Victor Black possessed the ability to alter time. Every once in a long while, in very small fragments, he could actually bend it.

  Only he wasn’t supposed to do so unless he was on the Field and in the middle of an official Game.

  Victoria shook her head in both awe and growing fury. “Have you broken every Game rule in the book?” Her gaze shot golden daggers at him. He’d messed with her controls, broken her shower, and entered her dreams. “Is there anything left that you haven’t done, Black?”

  Victor stood very still, silently studying her with those piercing, unnerving eyes. And then he cocked his head to one side and drew his gloved hands behind his back as he began pacing slowly around her.

  She turned in place, watching him carefully as he circled her.

  “There is so much I haven’t done, Victoria.” His voice was low, his tone a gentle warning. “Shall I show you?” He stopped and turned to face her again.

  Instinctively, she reeled back. But it was too late. His power uncoiled and shot out of him so quickly, there was no way for her to avoid the rush of potent magic that engulfed her and took her to her knees.

  The strength in her muscles was instantly sapped, and her eyelids felt heavy. He’s weakening me, she thought to herself as she fought the sleep that threatened to overtake her. Another damned dark leader ability. It was the same one that could send an individual into a coma if it was allowed to progress.

  Victoria had a few abilities of her own, however, and she’d never been known to go down without a fight.

  With what remained of her strength, she drew her hand back and then shoved it forward palm-out, allowing her own power to race from her heart to her shoulder, down her arm, and out through her hand.

  It hit him like a blast of heated, solid air, sending him crashing into the wall behind him. He hit it so hard, plaster broke free from the wall and crumbled to the floor. But Black weathered the impact, landing easily on his booted feet.

  The counter attack had at least broken his control over Victoria. As she got her legs beneath her, he, too, slowly straightened, pushing himself off of the wall.

  “It would seem I am not the only leader to have broken GC’s rules,” he said. “How long have you been practicing without your Game band, I wonder?”

  Victoria ignored the prodding inquiry. The truth was, she barely had the energy to stand, much less talk. His power had drained more from her than she was willing to admit. Plus, she’d spent so much strength on destroying the training room….

  She needed sleep and food.

  But she wasn’t about to let him see that.

  “You think I don’t know, love?” He laughed, then. It was cold, hard, and mirthless. “I can read your bloody mind, remember? I know very well how weak you are.”

  I hate dark leaders, Victoria thought. And their damned dark abilities.

  “Oh, I remember,” she whispered. It was yet another power he wasn’t supposed to use off of the Field. “So, what am I thinking right now, Black?”

  I hate dark leaders, I hate dark leaders, I hate dark leaders….

  “You’re hoping I don’t know how you really feel about me.”

  Victoria went still beneath his gaze.

  “You’re praying with all of your might that I can’t tell you’re doubting Game Control as much as I am. And,” he continued calmly, “you’re hoping I don’t know the effect last night’s dream had on you. And how much you wanted it to continue.”

  Victoria’s vision swam with stars.

  “Shall I tell you about the other rules I have yet to break, Victoria?” he asked softly. His footfalls echoed on the marble as he strode toward her, his hands once more behind his back. “Let’s see…. I’m fairly sure I have yet to put any of your team members into a coma. Or drive anyone mad.” He stopped a foot away and towered over her.

  His nearness was like a drug. She felt dizzy and overwhelmed.

  “Of course, there’s always True Death. Not that I would even consider such a tactic. Especially against a certain Red team captain.”

  Victoria stared up at him, her eyes wide with horror. Was he threatening Max? He wouldn’t dare.

  But the look in his eyes told her differently.

  Oh yes. He most certainly would. He was threatening to kill Maxwell Blood.

  “See?” he whispered. “There are so very many rules I’ve yet to break.”

  “You wouldn’t risk getting caught,” Victoria whispered. Those flutterbies were back again and they were playing a nauseating game of tag in her belly.

  The smile disappeared from his handsome face, and instead he gazed down at her in all seriousness. “This needn’t be so hard, Victoria.” He shook his head. “It’s a Game, that’s all. Just a simple Game between you and me.”

  “I don’t like the stakes,” she said.

  He smiled again, showing teeth. “I do.”

  The silence between them stretched as Victoria tried to think of something to say. There seemed to be no way to win this argument, no way to get out of the corner that Black had backed her into.

  At last, Victor seemed to come to some sort of decision. His expression hardened with a firm resolve. He stepped back. At once, Victoria felt as though she could breathe normally again.

  “I’ll give you twenty-four hours, Victoria. Come to me in that time and I will allow you to set half the rules.”

  “I thou
ght you said that time was a commodity you just happened to possess,” Victoria hissed at him. Now that he’d put space between them, the fury she’d felt hours ago was building up once more.

  “Oh, it is.”

  She watched as he turned to face the clock on the wall, raised one arm, and with a release of power that felt ice cold, he telekinetically moved the long hand forward ten spaces.

  “Patience, however, is a virtue of which,” he pinned her to the spot with a blatantly hungry expression, “I am in short supply.”

  He finished with the clock and strode to the room’s exit. He spoke to her as he walked. “One day, Victoria. You have one day – and then the Game will begin, whether you’re ready or not.”

  What the hell kind of choice is that? Victoria thought frantically as she stared after him.

  He laughed and turned to face her one last time, his tall, dark form outlined by the light of the exit door. “At the moment, it’s yours,” he said. Then he opened the door, stepped through it, and was gone.

  * * * *

  “Boss!”

  Victoria didn’t really hear the female voice calling her. Her thoughts were turned inward to some murky, muddy place where the present world drowned itself in the mucky mire of indecision and fear.

  “Hey, boss!”

  This time, the voice cut through the fog of her consciousness and Victoria frowned. She turned in the aisle of the library where she’d been going through the leather bound tomes on everything from battle strategy to hunting and tracking to psychic empowerment. She’d been at it for close to seven hours.

  April Rose and Ty Murrey, two of Red team’s four members, not including its leader, were at the end of the aisle coming toward her.

  Ty was a bit shorter than Max, had dark brown skin, and short curly black hair. His brown eyes were quick and keen. He was a skilled fighter on the Field.

  April’s red hair fell to just above her shoulders and had always delighted Victoria. It was so very red – like something she could almost remember. A few freckles graced April’s nose and cheeks, and dark blue eyes gave her fair features an appealing contrast.

  Both players were currently dressed in downtime uniforms.

  Victoria placed her latest book on the table in the middle of the aisle and forced a smile to her face. Normally, smiling at her team members came easily. They made her happy; they’d become her friends.

  But today, they represented everything that Victoria feared losing.

  She also didn’t want them to get in the way.

  “What are you reading?” April asked, glancing curiously at the book behind her. “Did Simon talk you into checking out one of his ancient epics?”

  “No,” Victoria laughed. It sounded hollow even to her own ears. “Just studying up for the next battle.”

  “We’re still starting up in three days, right?” Ty asked. He was always on top of the Game schedule. Nothing officially changed without him knowing it.

  “If we weren’t, you would know before I would, Ty,” Victoria said. “Four day break, as promised. We’ll meet at the tower and then head out to the Field as scheduled in three days’ time.” She may as well reassure them. No need to tell them that somewhere inside of those three days, she may lose a personal Game to Victor Black and then die trying to overthrow the government.

  No. No need to tell them all that just now.

  Ty nodded and smiled a mischievous smile. “Then we’re off to make the most of it,” he said, taking his girlfriend’s hand and pulling her back down the aisle. April’s smile was both shy and excited as they waved a little goodbye. Victoria smiled back and then sat down to turn her attention once more to her book.

  She’d read two paragraphs into the first page when a shadow fell over the tome.

  She looked up into bright blue eyes framed by a handsome face and wavy brown hair. “Max.”

  He smiled, and this time Victoria’s return smile was indeed natural.

  “Since when do you hole yourself up in the library like Simon?” he asked gently, his voice lightly teasing.

  “We go up against Black again in three days. Every little bit helps.” She held up the book so he could see the title.

  “The Paranormal Edge: A Guide to Psychic Combat,” Max read. Then he chuckled. “I’d say you have that part pretty much down. Do you really think there’s anything in there you can’t already do?”

  She shrugged. “I have no idea. But it’s better to know it than not know it, just in case.”

  “Fair enough.” He pulled out one of the chairs at the table and sat across from her. “You’ve been in here for seven hours, boss.”

  Victoria blinked. How had he known that?

  He went on. “You’ve been under a lot of pressure. Your controls aren’t working and things have been going haywire, and the most important Game in your career as team leader so far is in just a few days. I can tell you didn’t get any sleep last night,” he said, his tone lowering, “Again.” He gave her a reproachful look and she briefly looked away.

  “Medicine not helping?”

  She shrugged, not wanting to get into how the night had really gone.

  “So, I was just wondering,” Max went on, “Is there anything you’d like to get off your chest?”

  “No,” she replied, looking back at him with wide eyes, an innocent look completely feigned.

  He smiled, and for a moment there was something strangely familiar about it. Victoria blinked, feeling inexplicably apprehensive.

  “Nothing at all?” Max asked.

  She shook her head, but didn’t answer. He slowly placed his hands palm-down on the tabletop and stood, leaning over the table to bring his face in close to hers. “Nothing you wish to share?”

  She frowned, backing up a few inches in her chair.

  “Such as the fact that Victor Black has challenged you to a personal Game and that if you lose you will find yourself in his bed for one night?” He came closer and lowered his voice to a whisper, but she could still hear the accent that suddenly laced his words. “One precious, long night that you will never forget, sweet Victoria?”

  Her eyes widened and she wanted to stand – to run – but once more, she felt frozen to the spot, her legs numb, her muscles turned to jelly.

  “You have no honor, Black,” she whispered. She wanted to scream it, but the whisper was all she could manage at that moment.

  Maxwell Blood began to morph before Victoria’s eyes. In a few seconds, he no longer stood before her. Victor Black stood there instead.

  “You smile very easily at your team captain, Victoria. Do you really find him so charming?”

  “Nothing is beneath you, is it?” In anger, she found the strength to put some force behind her words this time. “You leave Max out of this.”

  His gaze darkened.

  She went on. “It comes to this.” That same fury was chasing away the numbness in her limbs. “I could never go up against you in a Game.” She pushed her chair back, putting more space between them. “Your powers are too great. You’ve more than demonstrated that in the last day and a half.” She could feel the fury within her leaking into her gaze, and she hoped that he could feel it too.

  Black had no immediate reply to her accusation. He watched her for another moment and then straightened, coming off the table. There was an ice-cold determination to his expression. “Fair is fair, Red. Accept my challenge and I promise not to use any power against you that you can not at least equal.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  His smile was back. “Yes you do, Victoria.”

  Shit. He was right. She did believe him. She believed him because he had never lied to her. Not even in the midst of all of this.

  Victoria stood and met his gaze head on. For what seemed like a short eternity, they stared at one another across the aisle in that library – Red and Black, the two most powerful Game leaders in history, head to head in one tiny, neutral space within the Playing Field wall.

  F
inally, Victoria took a deep, steadying breath and steeled her nerves.

  There was nothing for it. She had no choice. Victor Black would not back down on this, and things would only get worse.

  “Very well,” she said.

  There was a wealth of promise in the victorious look that flashed across Black’s handsome features. There was anticipation, too.

  A tremor raced through Victoria’s body as she recalled the feel of him above her, pinning her to her bed, his lips on her throat, her breast, his teeth around her nipple. Warmth spread through her, and she was helpless to suppress the blush that rushed up her neck and into her cheeks.

  Victor took it all in with steady, dominant grace. And then he pulled his glove off and held his right hand out, palm up.

  Victoria swallowed hard. Finally, she nodded and slowly placed her own right hand atop his, palm-down. His fingers at once curled around her, locking her in the embrace.

  She felt the cold power of his hold rush up into her flesh. She countered it with her own power, and heat met cold; fire met ice.

  He held their embrace as he laid down the law. “You have until nightfall, Victoria. Do whatever you can to get as far away from me as possible, because when that sun goes down love, I’m coming for you.” He lowered his voice to a whisper, his grip tightening on her hand. “Run like the devil is on your heels, beautiful. Tonight, he will be.”

  With that, he let her go. And in another forbidden display of power, his form shimmered and disappeared into the dusty atmosphere of the TGB library.

  Chapter Six

  Six hours… I have six hours before the sun goes down.

  Victoria ran at breakneck speed through the halls of the TGB toward the transporters. Her thoughts were moving almost as fast. They blurred through her mind as she considered one idea, found a flaw in it, and tossed it out the proverbial window for the next one.

  Her raging emotions didn’t help matters. There were so many different feelings vying for control over her body that she felt a little like oil on water – iridescent with different colors, soaked in a bucket load of trouble, floating directionless with her feet nowhere near the ground.