All That Lives Must Die

Fiona finished packing and pushed her way outside.

She didn’t see Eliot. . but Fiona did see Amanda, Sarah, and Jezebel standing together by the Picasso Arch.

Sarah beckoned her over.

Fiona approached, her eyes on Jezebel. The Infernal had fallen three stories off the jungle gym and walked away without a scratch. . well, other than a torn uniform and deep lacerations on her shoulder (and those she claimed had been from her clan’s war in Hell).

Was being invulnerable to cuts and broken bones an Infernal thing? Fiona might have inherited some of that from her father-her blood pounded and pulsed as she remembered how she had been tossed twenty feet through the air by Beelzebub, hit a car headfirst, and had been able to shrug off her injuries.

She calmed herself. She didn’t like being able to get angry so easily. It felt powerful, but she gave up too much control.

“What’s going on?” Fiona asked.

“We need your opinion, my dear,” Sarah said with a mischievous grin. “Perhaps you can settle a difference of opinion.”

Fiona drifted closer. What dire circumstance could gather together these three who had absolutely nothing in common? It had to be trouble.

“We were just trying to figure out,” Amanda whispered, and fidgeted as if saying this was painful, “which boy on our team is the cutest.”

Fiona crinkled her nose.

They had to be kidding. Here they were, learning about dozens of new worlds, every kind of magic known, and the secret history that had shaped the entire modern world. . and they were worried about boys?

“Well, you can forget Eliot,” Sarah remarked. “Obviously.”

“Why?” Amanda asked, her dark eyes smoldering. “I think he’s nice. Cute, even.”

Someone thought Eliot was cute? Fiona might have believed dorky or clueless. . but cute? She wasn’t sure what was more shocking: hearing this. . or hearing it from Amanda. She sure had come out of her shell since that shopping trip to Paris.

“If you like a puppy dog that trips over its own paws,” Jezebel remarked. “Perhaps when he grows up. . No, for pure aesthetics, I have to stick with Jeremy.”

Sarah tilted her head appreciatively. “But for attitude and old-fashioned chivalry,” she said, “I’d take Robert Farmington. There’s something about him so deliciously rugged. Wouldn’t you agree, Fiona?”

Fiona opened her mouth, but found herself unable to speak. With Sarah’s perfectly styled red hair and her oh-so-cute freckled peaches-and-cream features. . she was so not Robert’s type. But while Fiona knew Robert could outdrive and outfight any boy on campus, when it came to Sarah, would he be able to recognize that she was a viper in disguise?

Sarah’s eyes widened a fraction. “Oh, I didn’t know, dearie. Are you and he-?”

Fiona blushed, both embarrassed and angry-fought to control it-which only made it worse.

After an awkward moment, Fiona whispered, “Last summer there was something. But it’s over now.”

The three girls exchanged looks of curiosity, disbelief, and envy.

Fiona didn’t want to talk anymore. This entire conversation was disgusting.

But she couldn’t just walk away. It would seem like she was running away because Sarah had asked her about Robert, so she added, “Mitch gets my vote. Everytime he smiles, I don’t know, it makes me happy.”

Jezebel scoffed. “A man’s smile is like a dog wagging its tail-before it bites.”

“No.” Sarah held up a finger. “I have to agree with Fiona. I’ve seen that smile-devilishly charming, it is. Mitch is handsome. Oh, perhaps in need of a haircut and a bit of grooming, but a fine specimen nonetheless.”

“Eliot still gets my vote,” Amanda muttered, now looking at her feet. “He’s so. . deep, you know?”

Jezebel nodded across the courtyard. “Speaking of our young Master Post. It looks like he is deep. In trouble.”

A crowd of students had gathered around the Contemplation Pool of the Faun, a koi pond with bronze statues of fauns and satyrs and enchanted mushrooms.

Fiona spotted Eliot there-face-to-face with Donald van Wyck.

Donald still had his left arm in a sling from their last gym match. That didn’t stop him from shoving Eliot.

“Oh no.” Fiona marched toward them.

Jezebel, Sarah, and Amanda trotted behind her.

Fiona hoped Eliot wasn’t stupid enough to get baited into a duel.

But Fiona caught the look in Eliot’s eyes-pure hatred-and she knew there’d be a fight.

Another boy from Team Wolf, however, the dangerous short one with a scar on his face, joined Van Wyck and they both faced Eliot.

Fiona was too far away to stop whatever was about to happen.

But Robert wasn’t. He appeared from the crowd and stepped next to Eliot. He dropped his pack and halted the approaching boys with his no-nonsense glare.

“Two on two, then?” Van Wyck laughed.

“Why not?” Robert said, flexed his fist, and popped his knuckles.

But the other six from Team Wolf then appeared behind Van Wyck, making sure Robert and Eliot stayed outnumbered.

Fiona and the girls finally got to them.

Donald Van Wyck looked them over, swallowing at the sight of Jezebel. “So you need your girlfriends to help you out?” he asked.

Fiona stepped up before either Eliot or Robert could answer. “No one’s doing anything,” she told him. “You can’t make anyone fight on campus. Duels are by mutual consent.”

Van Wyck snorted. “So they are. Fine, we don’t settle this here. It’s a short walk to the gate. We’ll wait outside for you. . where there are no rules about stopping at first blood.” A smile spread over his thin, pale lips.

Fiona went cold.

He was threatening her, her brother. . everyone on their team. Could he get away with that?

She knew people like Donald van Wyck; they always got away with things like this.

Unless she did something to stop him. Now.

Fiona took a step back and peeled off her jacket. She no longer felt cold. Her blood was hot and pounded through every cell. “Fine,” she said. “You have to fight? You fight me then.”

“I don’t think so,” Robert said, looking just as mad.

“Yes,” Fiona told him. “You voted me Team Captain. Well this is a team decision.”

“Let her fight,” Jezebel told Robert, looking pleased at the potential for violence. “I shall be her second.”

The glee on Van Wyck’s face drained at this. He glanced at his team, and they nodded back. “Okay,” he said. “Suits me. A Captains’ Duel.”[31]

Robert gritted his teeth, but said nothing more.

Eliot stood by Robert, looking ready to kill. . either Van Wyck or her, Fiona wasn’t sure.

She’d intervened in his behalf to save him, but Fiona also knew that Eliot probably resented it, thinking he was “man” enough to handle this himself.

Sure, he could have handled it.

To win against Van Wyck and his wolf pack, though, Eliot would use his music. And if he pulled Lady Dawn out and played it on campus-Fiona was sure something bad would happen as it had at Groom Lake. . something that would have ended with more than first blood. People might get killed.

This fight required force, but the right amount of it. It had to be swift and decisive, but more than anything, controlled. First blood, that’s all.

One cut.

A girl from Team Wolf opened a case and handed Van Wyck the gilded rapier within. It glistened needle sharp.

Fiona unzipped her book bag. She undid the clasp on her bracelet and dropped it inside. She didn’t want to