The Bonding Ritual (Girls Wearing Black: Book Four) Page 18

  More cabinets opening and closing. The door swung open again. Now there were two of them at the sink.

  “Jill?” Alvin said. “Are you on the move?”

  A cacophony of pots and pans clanged together where the servants were working. Then one of them closed the cabinet. Two pairs of footsteps, then the servants came into view. Jill watched as they walked down the kitchen and around the corner.

  Jill raced across the galley. She pushed open the door on the other side and stepped into Daciana’s dining room.

  “I’m out,” she whispered. Her heart was pounding. She felt like she could barely breathe.

  “Alright, so you’re in the dining hall, correct?” said Alvin.

  “Yes, but, help me out here,” Jill said. “I’m not thinking clearly. I can’t--”

  “All the way to the other end,” Alvin said. “Look for the exit on the south wall.”

  South? Which way was south? Jill felt like she might pass out.

  “Your left,” Alvin said. “The way out is on your left.”

  “My left,” she whispered. She imagined the blueprint in her mind. Kitchen, dining hall, parlor, south corridor.

  “You’re going to be fine,” came Eve’s voice. “Now take a minute to listen before you move again, just like we talked about. Look at your exit and listen for footsteps. Do you hear any?”

  “No,” Jill whispered. “I think it’s clear.”

  “Then get moving,” said Eve.

  “Right.”

  Jill started to run, imagining herself gliding along the blueprint in her mind. She had just passed through the kitchen. Now she was running across the dining hall and headed towards the south exit.

  “Stop at the door to check before you go through,” Eve reminded.

  Jill was already doing it. Pressing herself close to the wall, she came to the entrance to the parlor, and peered around the corner.

  “It’s empty,” she said. “I’m going in.”

  *****

  One of the servants tapped Nicky on the shoulder.

  “Hello, Miss,” he said. “Will you please follow me?”

  This servant was older than the others. Perhaps he was Daciana’s head of house.

  “Alright,” Nicky said.

  The servant walked slowly across the floor, leading Nicky on a path between games of craps and roulette. She sensed the din of the room dying down. People were noticing that she was on the move.

  And not just her. Scanning the room, Nicky saw the other girls wearing black walking across the floor, each following one of Daciana’s servants.

  Nicky allowed herself to relax. Wherever this servant was taking her, she wasn’t going alone. This wasn’t about her; it was about Coronation.

  They gathered at a round table near the center of the room. Each servant pulled back a chair for the girl he was leading. Nicky sat between Samantha and Mary. Kim sat directly across from her.

  The room was nearly silent now, with everyone aware that the girls wearing black were all sitting at the same table.

  The servant who led Nicky to the table went to the dealer’s space and picked up a deck of cards.

  “The master wishes for the four of you to play a game of poker,” he said. “Your chips for this game are provided courtesy of the house.”

  A servant reached over Nicky’s shoulder and placed a sleeve of wooden poker chips in front of her, then did the same for Samantha, Kim, and Mary.

  “Blue chips are worth one thousand,” said the servant. “Red chips are ten thousand. White chips are a hundred thousand.”

  Nicky did a quick count of the chips in front of her. One million dollars in her stack. They were about to play poker for a four million dollar pot.

  “The game is Texas Holdem,” the servant said. “We begin with a hundred-thousand dollar ante.”

  Kim tossed a white chip to the center of the table. Mary and Samantha did the same. Nicky was last to throw one of her chips into the pile.

  The servant shuffled the deck and began dealing cards.

  *****

  The stone tiles on the floor of Daciana’s parlor were cold on Jill’s bare feet. Holding her shoes as she ran, Jill wished she had chosen a different dress. This one might be a nice match for her jewelry, but the skirt didn’t give her legs enough room to run at full speed, and she found herself moving in a ridiculous kind of prance.

  The house was so much larger than she had imagined it to be when she studied the blueprint. She couldn’t get through it fast enough. She felt exposed.

  She reached the other end of the room and pressed her back against the wall.

  “I’m at the south corridor,” she whispered.

  “Okay, hang tight where you are,” came Alvin’s voice in her ear. “I’m adjusting the cameras in the corridor now.”

  Jill could hear the faint buzzing sound of the cameras moving on their turrets.

  “Okay, get in the hallway and stay close to the wall,” Alvin said.

  Running on the balls of her feet, Jill pushed halfway down the corridor, coming to a stop underneath the first camera.

  She tapped twice on her earring.

  “Got it,” Alvin said. “I’m bringing the first camera around.”

  Above her head, the security camera made a slow arc, its eye aiming away from the corridor ahead and towards the section Jill had just run.

  “Coming up on the ninety degree mark,” Alvin said. “Go!”

  Jill ran to the next camera, stopped, and tapped her earring.

  “Bringing it around,” Alvin said. “You’re doing great.”

  Jill waited for the camera to face forward, then she took off down the hall. She came to the end of the corridor and veered to the left, heading towards Daciana’s moon room.

  She could hear the waterfall as she approached.

  “You’re clear to enter,” Alvin said. “No servants in sight.”

  Jill tiptoed into the moon room, staying on the brick path that ran through the foliage. Ponds with huge, colorful fish, a waterfall stretching all the way up the high walls, fully grown elm and mulberry trees casting shadows in the moonlight—it was all Jill could do not to stop and gape at the scenery.

  “You guys, we’ve got movement on the outside door,” came Eve’s voice.

  “Outside door?” said Alvin. “Shit! Jill, find a place to hide!”

  Jill jumped off the pathway and into the foliage. Right as she ducked under a bush, a door to the outside opened and people started coming inside. They were laughing and talking as they entered. There was a crowd of them. Jill heard at least a dozen distinct voices.

  “Jill, hang low and be perfectly still,” said Alvin. “I can see them on the camera. They don’t look like servants.”

  “They’re vampires,” said Eve. “There’s Ansel Gregory, Thomas Byrne, Lena Trang. Laura Heidegger just walked in. Zachias Brown is with her. Good Lord is the whole clan at this party?”

  “Be still and you’ll be fine,” Alvin said. “They’re all going to the upper deck. Just hang right where you are.”

  Jill nodded her head, as if there was someone to see her do it, then she realized even that movement was too much. Pulling her knees close to her chest, she closed her eyes and tried to control her breathing.

  The vampires kept coming in. It sounded like a parade out there. They were jovial as they came inside. Was this some sort of family reunion? Jill had never heard of so many of them gathering together at once. She recalled Gia telling her one time that Daciana didn’t like to have lots of the clan in the same place. She thought it was a security risk.

  Yet here they were. A giant crowd of them, talking and laughing, and…

  The noise ceased. It was such a sudden change it made her ears ring with the contrast. Had they left? Maybe they were gone. God, she hoped they were gone.

  “Welcome back my friends,” came a woman’s voice. “I trust you enjoyed yourselves during the hunt.”

  The voice was unmistakable. Jill had never
met Daciana in person, but she knew that voice. Everyone in the Network did.

  “In a few minutes, we’ll join the students, who are having a splendid time at their party. But before we do, I must tell you about a game we’ll be playing with them,” Daciana said. “A numbers game, actually, not that different from the numbers rackets I used to run on 53rd street nearly a hundred years ago.”

  Daciana had an air of absolute authority to her. Jill got the feeling that, if Daciana announced that anyone hiding in the bushes needed to stand up, she wouldn’t be able to resist.

  “The game is simple,” Daciana continued. “Our role is to provide the numbers. From there, the fun comes in watching how the students respond.”

  *****

  Sergio stood right behind Lena, both of them listening as Daciana explained the game.

  Someone in the room was wearing a strawberry-scented perfume. He didn’t know why, but he was drawn to the scent. Moving slowly among the crowd, he tried to follow the smell.

  “Does anyone like to play bingo?” Daciana said.

  Rachel McIntyre eagerly raised her hand. The others laughed.

  “Years ago, we used to have bingo nights at the school to raise money,” Daciana said. “It seems so quaint now, but in the fifties, all the alumni loved it. The tool we’ll be using for tonight’s game has its roots in those bingo games from years ago.”

  One of Daciana’s servants came into the room, pushing a cart holding a clear plastic globe. Inside the globe were a hundred Ping-Pong balls. The servant placed the cart next to Daciana and began unwinding an electrical cord attached to the globe.

  “Are we going to play keno?” Zachias said with a giggle.

  “Not quite,” Daciana said.

  Sergio was now on the far end of the crowd. There were so many people crammed into this room it was hard for him to find the source of the scent. As he moved from person to person, seeking out the smell of strawberry perfume, Daciana’s servant plugged the globe into an outlet and the Ping-Pong balls began dancing around inside.

  “It’s like the lottery games the humans play,” said Laura.

  “Similar, but not exactly the same,” said Daciana. “The lottery is a game of chance. The game we’re going to watch our students play is one of strategy.”

  Daciana reached inside the container and pulled out a plastic ball. She held it up for the others to see. A number was printed on the side of the ball in big, black letters.

  “Here’s how the game works,” Daciana said. “One at a time, you will select a ball and look at the number.”

  Daciana turned the ball in her hands and announced, “I have selected number forty-seven. Now, I will come over here to where Levi is standing.”

  Daciana walked across the deck to stand next to her servant.

  “Say hello to everyone, Levi,” she said.

  “Hello,” the servant said.

  “Levi has learned a neat trick for tonight’s game,” Daciana said. “He has memorized the names of all one hundred students in the senior class. Tell me a name, Levi.”

  “Joseph Aaron,” Levi announced.

  “And just like that, I have my marching orders,” said Daciana. “I am going to go join the party now and find the student named Joseph Aaron. Without any of the other students seeing me, and without my subject ever knowing how it happened, I am going to make the number on this Ping-Pong ball, number forty-seven, into Joseph Aaron’s very favorite number.”

  Some giggles passed among the group. Laura clapped her hands together, saying, “How fun! How fun!”

  “And we’re each to do this?” asked Peter Groff. “Take a number, get a name, and…”

  He looked to Daciana to finish the instructions for him.

  “That’s correct,” she said. “But there are rules. The students will not see any of us until all the numbers are delivered. At this very moment, they are out there playing roulette, craps, keno and many other games where a lucky number might come in handy.”

  There were murmurs of approval as the group began to understand the game. Laura in particular seemed thrilled to get out and play.

  “But what if we can’t find the student we selected?” asked Marcus Finn. “I don’t know anyone in this year’s class.”

  “That’s the fun part!” Daciana said. “It’s a party game, Marcus! You have to figure it out! I’m off to the party to find Mr. Aaron. I look forward to seeing the rest of you out there.”

  As Daciana left, Sergio moved towards the back of the group. He would select his Ping-Pong ball last, giving him more time to seek out whoever was wearing that intriguing perfume.

  *****

  There were three cards face-up in the center of the table. King of Hearts, Eight of Clubs, and Jack of Clubs. Each player had two cards that were known only to them.

  Nicky’s cards were the Eight of Spades and the Jack of Diamonds.

  She could combine her two cards with the three cards on the table to make a poker hand of five, and already, she had a good hand going. Two pair.

  But this game wasn’t about the cards. It had taken Nicky twenty minutes to realize that, but now that she’d figured it out, she was confident she could turn her luck around.

  She needed to. After six hands, she was half a million dollars in the hole.

  Winning at poker was all about figuring out the other players. Reading their eyes, their gestures, their body language—gauging their confidence and understanding their bets—the winner wasn’t the person who got luckiest with the cards, but rather the person who was best at guessing what kinds of hands her opponents were hiding.

  Samantha started the current round of betting with ten thousand dollars, an aggressive bet for her. Mary raised her an additional three thousand. Kim threw her cards down, saying, “Fold.”

  Nicky put in thirty-five hundred dollars, saying, “Call.”

  The dealer put another card face-up on the table.

  “King of Clubs,” he said.

  Nicky wasn’t looking at the card. Her eyes were on Mary and Samantha.

  Samantha bit her bottom lip, something she had done two turns back, in a hand she lost.

  When it came Nicky’s turn to bet, she raised the pot an additional ten thousand dollars. Then she locked her eyes on Mary, waiting to see her reaction when the next card came down.

  Something strange happened as the dealer placed the final card on the table. Right as he put it down, a short woman with black hair pulled into a tight bun stepped over the rope surrounding the table. The woman went right up to Mary and whispered something in her ear.

  Nicky turned to the dealer to see what he was going to do about this obvious infraction of the rules, but the dealer didn’t seem to notice it.

  In fact, nobody noticed it. Neither Kim nor Samantha said a thing. No one at or around the poker table cared that a woman just came up and whispered something in Mary’s ear. Even Mary seemed unmoved by the interaction.

  And then Nicky realized what was happening. The woman, who was walking away now, was an immortal. And she wasn’t the only one in the room. Looking at the crowd that was gathered round the table, Nicky saw three more immortals weaving in and out. Steffy Esparza and Zachias Brown and Thomas Byrne—each was going up to a single student and whispering something in their ear. Now she spotted last year’s Coronation winner, Laura Heidegger, who went up to Tory Lancet and whispered something to him. Behind Laura was Lena Trang, who was whispering to Mattie Dupree.

  None of the other students saw what was happening. The immortals were hiding in plain sight, visible only to Nicky, who was immune to their charms.

  Nicky widened her gaze still further and concluded that everyone in the clan must be here. The ballroom was crawling with immortals, moving through the crowd invisibly, each choosing one student, whispering something, and then going away.

  What were they doing?

  Nicky realized she needed to quit watching them. The immortals were playing some game where they kept themselves hi
dden, and if they suspected Nicky could see them…

  Nicky was just bringing her attention back to the poker table when three things happened simultaneously. The first was that Mary announced her bet for the current hand.

  The second was that Sergio entered the room from a rear door. Nicky felt his presence at once. He seemed to bring a blanket of warm air inside with him, and Nicky felt light-headed just looking at him.

  The third was that a vampire whispered something in her ear.

  Seventy-seven is your number.

  What in the world?

  Nicky wanted to turn around and see who was talking to her. But she controlled herself. Whatever game was happening in the ballroom, she had just been invited to play. The immortals were whispering numbers in people’s ears.

  “Ms. Bloom, your bet please,” the dealer said.

  “Oh, yes,” Nicky said, looking at the pile of chips Mary had just pressed to the center of the table.

  “Call,” Nicky said, pushing in her own pile.

  The dealer gestured at Samantha, who was first to reveal her cards in this round.

  “Eight high,” the dealer said. Samantha’s hand was worthless.

  Nicky’s turn was next. She flipped over her cards. When combined with the cards face-up in the middle of the table, Nicky had a full house.

  “Jacks over eights,” the dealer said.

  The crowd around them got excited. This was the largest pot in the game so far, and Nicky had a good hand.

  Mary was next to reveal. She had two kings. With the other two kings already face-up on the table, Mary had four of a kind.

  “Yes!” she said.

  Nicky sighed. Mary’s hand beat hers, and she was almost three quarters of a million in the hole now.

  “Sucks to be you,” Kim said.

  “I don’t mind,” said Nicky. “With every chip Mary wins, you inch closer to last place.”

  “You can talk all you want, Nicky. You don’t have any supporters left to listen to you.”

  The dealer swept up the table and began dealing another hand.

  *****