A Sinister Game (8 page)

But she had been so mad, s
o
furious
. T
here was nowhere else she could go to
safely
work off the tension that had been riding her tonight.

Spent and finally a little calmer, Victoria
bent at the waist, resting her hands on her knees. The tight, flexible material of her training garb was damp with sweat. Strands of her long golden hair clung to her rosy cheeks. The sound of her ragged breathing echoed throughout the training chamber.

The room around her was
completely and utterly
destroyed. Shards of glass and broken plastic pieces littered the floor. The metal legs of the punching bag stands were either bent or had melted into the marble on which they stood. The punching bags themselves were ripped open at the seams
,
and their foam insides had been pulled out and scattered throughout the large rectangular area.

Metal discs of varying weight
had been tossed into the walls
where they’d cracked the panels and then dropped to the stone
floor
, shattering
it
as well. Several of the larger ones seemed to have liquefied, the numbers on their faces running in metal
rivulets to solidify
in the cracked rubble beneath them.
The air was filled with the microscopic remnants of
destroyed materials;
du
st moats floated directionless
beneath the fluorescent lighting.

Victoria straightened
at last and took a deep, cleansing
breath.

She looked around. The room was a
battlefield for her emotions. It was the evidence of stark, hard d
es
ire warring with common sense, and a
nger warring with fear.
It was what happened when responsibility battled
uselessly
with a growing sense of need.

Ten minutes now
, she thought to herself
as her golden gaze landed on the melted barbells in one corner of the training room
. Ten minutes tops
before someon
e comes in and sees all of this – and
notices
my
arm without its band.

It was time to clean up.

Victori
a
closed her eyes. At once, she felt
an energy
inside
answer the
silent call. In her mind’s eye, she pictured the room as it had been before her visit. She saw the weights
un-melting
. She saw the panels uncracking. She imagined everyt
hing moving back through space
to where it was supposed to be.

As
the bizarre sounds of telekinetic men
ding and repair filled the room
around her, Victoria smiled a satisfied smile.
She was doing it.

She had to admit she felt much better
. The work out had done her some good.

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 an
d 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.

“I
mpressive
,
”
h
e finished.

Black!
The blood drained from Victoria’s face,
and her heart fell into her st
omach. She stared up at the man
who was once more dressed
in his namesake’s color. H
er 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 h
eard him?
Felt
him?

His face was slightly pale,
she noticed upon closer examination. H
is eyes
seemed darker than normal. In fact, h
e 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. L
ike a sharpened blade on a big
knife.

Victo
r
drew his gloved han
ds 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
t
eam leader?
” His accent was so strong now, it was as if he’d only recentl
y come to be on the Field. I
t was beautiful
, she realized
.
Disastrously
beautiful.

“Black…
.
” Victoria’s voice cracked. She swallowed, almost coughed on the dryness, and then tr
ied 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 co
ncerned. Victoria
knew that. She knew it because
as the most powerful dark leader on the Field,
Victor Black p
ossessed 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 w
eakening me
,
s
he thought to herself as she fought the sleep that threatened to overtake her.
Another damned
d
ark 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, a
nd 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 sh
oulder, 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 b
roken 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 s
he was willing to admit. Plus,
she’d spent so much strength on destroying the training room…
.

She needed sleep a
nd food.

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

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

I hate
d
ark leaders,
Victoria thought
.
And their damned
d
ark 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
d
ark leaders, I hate
d
ark leaders, I hate
d
ark leaders…
.

“Y
ou’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?”
h
e 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
t
eam 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 st
ared up at him, her eyes wide with
horror.
Was he t
hreatening
Max
?
He wouldn’t
dare
.

But the look in his eyes told her differently.

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

“See?”
h
e 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.”