The Villains Must Win

Later that evening, after she'd been debriefed and poked at by the medical team (who all seemed far too interested in why her wounds didn't look that bad), Selis sat alone in the observation tower, watching the sun dip below the jagged mountains.

It was back to patrol duty for Selis.

Not because she requested it—far from it. She'd been demoted quietly, almost unceremoniously, reassigned to the outer districts where vampire activity was rare and uneventful.

Officially, it was for her "recovery" after the massacre. But everyone knew the real reason.

They didn't trust her.

Higher-ups had started whispering—some saying she was compromised, others flat-out claiming she might be working with the vampires.

The fact that she was the only survivor from the Delta Squad massacre was damning enough.

One wrong move, and it wouldn't be hard for someone to "find" evidence linking her to treason. Or worse, pin the next failure on her and use that as justification for execution.

In their eyes, she wasn't a soldier anymore. She was a risk. A liability.

And yet, they didn't kill her. Not outright. Maybe it was because they needed every able body they could get—vampire hunters were dying faster than they could recruit.

Or maybe someone up top was still unsure. Watching. Waiting.

Selis knew better than to fight it. Let them demote her. Let them push her to the sidelines. She'd rather be in the shadows for now anyway—away from the noise, away from Lucian's sharp glare and the high-ranking hunters watching her every breath.

It gave her space to think. Time to dig.

The name Emerald Blood hadn't left her mind since the encounter with Slaister. Whoever—or whatever—that was, it mattered. Enough that a high vampire like him would strike a bargain instead of striking her down.

And she needed answers.

Answers no one in HQ would ever give her willingly. If they suspected she was snooping into vampire affairs again, it would only confirm their worst fears. So she stayed quiet. Kept her head down. Patrolled the city outskirts like an obedient soldier.

But her ears stayed open.

She listened in taverns, during supply runs, even when cleaning weapons beside older hunters. She picked up fragments of conversation, scattered rumors—most of them nonsense.

A rogue vampire clan in the East. An old name resurfacing in black-market deals. A woman with silver eyes seen walking through the ruins of old Velrin.

No one mentioned "Emerald Blood" directly. But Selis knew how to follow threads.

She'd start there.

For now, she'd survive. Wait. Watch. Move carefully.

Because in this world, she wasn't Selis Everhart, promising young recruit of Delta Squad. She was a marked name on a long list of suspicions. A lone survivor in a war where survival was often the most damning evidence of all.

And she knew this: one mistake, and she'd be next on the pyres.

Selis sighed, eyeing the same stretch of empty alley for what felt like the hundredth time today. A rat scurried by, completely uninterested in her ongoing existential crisis. Lucky rodent.

She had hoped that her patrol duties—while boring—might lead to scraps of evidence. A hint. A whisper. Something she could piece together about Emerald Blood or what the higher-ups were hiding.

But after days of wandering through ghost-quiet streets and nodding at equally paranoid patrolmates, it became obvious.

There was no evidence down here.

None that a low-ranked grunt like her would ever be allowed to see.

Whatever secrets there were—real ones—they were locked away behind polished walls and polished boots. Buried under titles and sealed missions. The kind only high-ranking officers had access to.

Selis frowned and leaned against a rusty lamp post, weighing her options.

Climbing the ranks? Ha. That was a joke. A slow, miserable slog through blood, bureaucracy, and backstabbing.

Even if she survived every patrol, every test, every mission thrown her way, it would take a miracle—or a decade—for someone like her to get promoted.

And she didn't have a decade. Not with Salister breathing down her neck, and not with this lingering sense that something big was coming.

But then . . . a little spark of mischief lit in her mind.

She didn't need to climb.

She could charm her way up.

A romance with a high-ranking vampire hunter? That could fast-track things. Pillow talk had revealed more state secrets in history than all the spy rings combined.

Selis chuckled to herself at the thought.

"Seduction: the undercover promotion path they never tell you about during training."

Okay, fine. It was ridiculous. But was it impossible? Not entirely.

Now the question was who?

Naturally, Lucian came to mind first.

Commanding. Skilled. Rude. Handsome. Basically walking authority in a leather coat. Also: terrifying. His resting glare alone could peel paint off the walls.

Selis squinted up at the clouds, pretending she was doing calculations.

"Lucian route: high risk, high reward. Estimated time to seduction success: six months minimum . . . if I survive the first dinner."

Then again, he was the strongest. And the broodiest. Bonus points for tragic backstory and well-maintained hair under stress.

But he wasn't the only high-ranker.

There were others. Less emotionally constipated ones, too. Like Commander Ravel, who was single, suspiciously polite, and always brought two mugs of coffee to meetings—just in case.

Or maybe that tall one with the silver eyes and dry humor—what was his name again? Thorne? Torn? Definitely easier on the nerves than Lucian.

"Alternative route: Thorne. Less chance of sudden decapitation. Possible issues: unknown romantic history, suspiciously good jawline."

She tapped her fingers on her thigh, thoughtful.

The possibilities weren't great, but they existed. And she didn't have to fall in love, right? Just enough to get into the right conversations. Into the right offices. Past the right locked doors.

Easy.

She blinked, then laughed softly under her breath.

Gods, what was she becoming? A lovestruck manipulator? A flirty mole with survival instincts?

. . . No. She was a vampire hunter who was just really, really good at adapting. No—she wasn't a villain.

She was a vampire hunter who had simply mastered the art of survival.

And she had one goal:

To make the villains win.

If taking Emerald back to Salister tipped the scales in his favor, then so be it.

Screw humanity.