Page 9 of Blood Oath
“Suit yourself." She gets to her feet. "Now come on! Get ready so we can get to the Seeking early."
“I’m ready."
Her eyes drop to my baggy, shape-concealing clothes that are so dark green they're nearly black. "Uh…not to be a bitch, but do you remember how I bought you a pretty, lacy, emerald-green dress when we went shopping two weeks ago?”
"Yes. I love it." I’ll never wear it here, where I’m carefully crafting my reputation for being a frumpy, forgettable nobody, but I do love it.
"But…you're not wearing it."
"Very astute observation.”
Kenzie rolls her eyes at me and then grins. "Well, all right. You know I think you're pretty in anything—but promise that even after we're super busy with our new quintets, you'll make the time to have a girl's night with me, and we'll both get dressed up for a night on the town."
"I promise." It's an easy compromise because I won’t have a quintet.
I plan to reject any matches I get.
Me tying my soul with four other people? Not going to happen. It wouldn't end well for any of us. It’s more than likely that I'll be the one to get no matches today. Fingers crossed.
“Great! Then come on, let's go.”
I grab my favorite pair of black leather gloves from the top drawer of my dresser and slip them on as I follow Kenzie out of my room. I always wear gloves. But right now, they're especially useful because my fingertips are still charred, and I won’t have the time to make up a healing balm until later.
The moment we step into the large courtyard, we're thronged by the crowd gathered around an elevated circular stage. The few hundred legacies gathered here today are separated into four sections, all wearing their House colors.
Blood red, for the House of Craving. It's the house of siphons—legacies like vampires, sirens, succubi and incubi, and a few others. They feed on blood, dreams, emotions, and so forth in exchange for their intimidating powers, including immortality.
Golden yellow, for the House of Shifters. There were once animal shifters of all kinds, but now only the apex predators remain. Wolves, bears, lions, tigers, sea serpents, griffins… Theirs is the House of primal instinct and territorial savagery.
Silvery blue, for the House of Elementals. The gods bless the descendants of this House with the ability to wield the four elements: fire, air, water, or earth. This House is far more devout in worshipping the gods, who handpick the elementals’ abilities for them at birth.
And finally, emerald green for the House of Arcana. Full of magic-users—aka casters—of all origins. Fae, sorcerers, witches and wizards, mages…it’s a mixed bag of various talents, but everyone here has magic in their very blood, which they can wield. It's the House I was sorted into.
I realize Kenzie has been trying to tell me something over the loud chatter of the audience when she finally taps my shoulder to get my attention. I take an instinctive step away even as I glance up at her. Like most shifters, she’s on the tall side, but the heels just add to it.
“I’ll see you up there later!” she says, face glowing with excitement as she points at the stage. “Good luck!”
She turns to disappear into the yellow group. Other shifters recognize her, and she’s quickly swept up into the nervous excitement practically palpable in the air.
I slip into the House of Arcana section, surrounded by other casters who barely spare me a glance since I’ve made sure I’m easy to forget.
The crowd’s chatter finally cuts off when the interim headmaster, Professor Gibbons, ascends the stairs to the stage, turning in a circle to greet everyone with a brilliant smile. The warlock’s snow-white hair gleams in the morning sunlight as he casts a charm to carry his voice over the rapt onlookers.
“Welcome all to the Seeking! Whether you are here for the first time or part of an incomplete quintet hoping your missing matches will be revealed, I know everyone present has been eager for this day for a long time.”
A resounding cheer goes up all around me.
“I’m sure we are all aware of why quintets are necessary. Still, it bears repeating. Two thousand years ago, our monstrous ancestors emerged from the hellish Nether realm and nearly ripped the world apart through war between the Houses. During that time, humans became little more than fodder for our feuding. They were treated like animals, fed upon, used, and slaughtered at the whim and desire of our kind.”
That hits too close to home for me. I try and fail to unclench my grinding jaw.
“Finally, the gods could watch their beloved humans suffer no more,” Professor Gibbons goes on. “In answer to humanity’s prayers, the gods created the Legacy Curse. We were made to be incomplete without one another so that we would have no choice but to put aside our many differences and work as one. The leaders of the Four Houses were bound together as the Immortal Quintet and created the Divide to keep the Nether—and the dreadful Entity who rules it—from ever returning to this world. We are all safe because of the Immortal Quintet,” he adds proudly.
The audience claps while I roll my eyes.
Safe. Such a subjective term.
“Unfortunately, the horrors of the Nether still seep into this world. The gods knew that dimension of darkness would forever seek to find a foothold in the land of the living, and so we descendants of monsters were appointed to hunt down and kill off these endless threats. Now we share a symbiotic purpose—and quintets bound together from the Four Houses are the foundation. Today, you will discover whether other members of your fated quintet are here.”
