Without A Heartbeat

The small amount of blood in Scarlett’s system was not enough for her to be able to heal properly. She lay in agony on her bed in her chamber, trembling from the injuries she had once again suffered at Faru’s hands. Her thoughts were scattered and hard to catch, like feathers caught in a breeze.

After their battle, the Huntmaster had lifted Scarlett into his arms and walked through an archway at the rear of the battle arena, where Henry had been waiting with Doctor Hudson. He had placed a comforting hand on her arm and then led them up a seemingly infinite flight of stone steps that twisted around in a spiral. Scarlett had drifted in and out of consciousness as Faru had carried her through a cloister section of the old monastery, which had been repurposed as an enclosed garden. Many of the other Bloodlings that Scarlett had met at the Rebirth clinic filled the grounds. Some had been reading on benches that ringed the ornate fountain, or playing chess on the stone tables dotted between the shrubs. They had looked up with a mixture of curiosity and horror as they had taken in her bloodied and bruised appearance.

Scarlett had been taken into a bathroom in the Rebirth Clinic proper, where a few female Bloodlings were waiting with a metal tub filled with hot, soapy water and sponges. The men had departed, leaving the broken girl with the women. Unable to move properly, they had stripped the ruined petticoat from the girl’s body and eased her into the bath. Scarlett had slumped down into the tub, her mind barely able to hold onto reality. When she had next come around, she was lying on her bed with dressed wounds and fresh clothes.

When Henry and Faru came to collect Scarlett for the final part of her trial, she was not even aware of their presence until she felt the Huntmaster place a warm hand on her shoulder. Groggily opening her eyes, she stared up and saw a shimmering shape that gradually drew together to form the Seelian.

“It is time for the final test.”

She pushed against Faru with a weak hand. “I can’t,” she whispered and drew her knees up to her chest.

“This one is a simple choice,” he said. “You won’t need to worry about using much energy. Then this whole ordeal is over.”

Ignoring Scarlett’s weak attempts at protests he and Henry lifted her to her feet, supporting her weight between them. “Just try to keep yourself together for ten more minutes, then I promise you can have all the blood your body needs to repair, whether you pass or fail.”

Feeling almost as she had when her father had allowed her to drink a cup of ale with him once, she lifted her leaden head and stared through blurry eyes. “Is that a promise?”

“Absolutely.”

“Then put me down.”

The two men stared at each other and then set her down. Her knee gave out and she clutched onto Faru’s arm. “Just help me enough so that I can walk.”

“Of course.”

Faru and Henry were patient as they slowly walked with Scarlett down the white corridor. After a while she realised that she was being taken back to the same ice room where she had been trained to fight the Fury. Scarlett placed her hand against the wall next to the door, and broke her grip from Faru.

“We will be inside the observation room,” he said. “Wait one minute and then enter. I will then tell you what I need you to do.”

With that, both men entered the room and closed the door behind them, releasing curls of ice vapour in their wake. Scarlett leaned against the wall and counted silently in her head until she reached sixty seconds and then opened the door. Limping over the threshold, she closed it behind her and turned.

Her mouth fell open in horror.

A bearded man with a number of tattoos and a wave of messy blonde hair was tied to the chair. The only thing that stopped him from appearing human were the bat-like wings that had been forced from his back and were held fast by chains that fixed to the overhead beam. He was shivering, his skin taking on an odd shade of gold, ringed with blue. His intense eyes locked onto Scarlett and he tried to speak, but the gag stuffed into his mouth made his words come out garbled. Digging through her murky mind, she recalled an image of a species from the handbook that fit the prisoner. An Incubus. Why is he tied up?

Scarlett let her gaze drop down to where a large knife sat on a block of ice. “What is going on?” she asked with slurred words.

There was a crackle and then Faru’s voice came over the intercom. His tone was grave, and when he spoke, his words carried the weight of boulders. “This man is a traitor to the Alliance, who was working as a freelance assassin for hire. He has killed over thirty-nine people during his illicit career, including three families.”

Scarlett stared at the man and then back to the intercom, blinking as she tried to focus. “That is awful, but you have already caught him. What do you from me?”

There was a long pause. “I want you to kill him.”

Scarlett blinked, trying to understand if she had heard the words properly. “Excuse me?”

“I want you to take that knife and stab the traitor in the heart.”

Repulsion filled her up and had to use the block to support herself. Somehow she still kept seeing the man who had beaten her twice and forced to face the deadly Gauntlet as one of kind nature. She could not believe that he wanted her to end the life of someone she had never met. Simply because he is telling me to.

“Absolutely not.”

“You want to go home do you not? Do this one last thing and you can go back to your family.”

The prisoner’s eyes were wide and he shook his head from side to side, making whimpering sounds. Scarlett looked at him with pity, but the other, selfish side of her just wanted all of it to be over. He is a criminal. He kills people. Limping over to the block of ice, she stared down at the knife, its metal blade winking in the bright lights that filled the room.

“This must be done for Sage Blackwood to support my claim with the Magistratus that you should be allowed to return to Ireland.”

“Every Bloodling Guardian must complete this final challenge to show dedication to the Alliance,” added Henry.

Scarlett glared at mirror next to the intercom, where she knew that the Huntmaster and leader of the Rebirth Clinic were watching, waiting to see what she would do next. “I already told you, I do not want to be a Guardian!” Her anger caused a wave of vertigo to wash over her and she had to use the block of ice as steady herself.

“Regardless, this is what the Sage requires of you.”

Of course he does, Scarlett thought bitterly. That cruel man doesn’t care about other people, only that he gets what he wants.

Scarlett looked down at the knife. It was such a simple object – a seven-inch blade fitted to a wooden handle wrapped with a grip – but the implications it carried gave it the weight of a divine instrument. With the basic weapon, she would decide whether a man would live or die.

Before she knew what she was doing, the knife was in her hand. It felt too heavy in her grip, as if it didn’t belong there. Reasoning tried to climb from the muddy depths of her mind, but it became trapped, caught behind the fog that the lack of blood had created. This is why they didn’t give me blood after the Gauntlet, so I would struggle to make calculated decisions.

Her legs moved as if by themselves and when she understood what was happening, she was right in front of the prisoner, knife clutched tightly in her pale hand. The man was shaking against the chair, trying to break free. His wings started to pull against the binds that held them and she could see small tears appearing along the membranes. His condition was one of such terror that it made Scarlett falter.

“One stab is all it takes Scarlett, then you can go home.”

Home.

Scarlett raised the knife.

The prisoner’s eyes met with hers, pleading. Scarlett grit her teeth together as she flexed her fingers against the handle. Kill one man and then I can start to live my life again.

“Do it,” said Henry.

The image of Lisa and Michael sparked in Scarlett’s mind, the expressions of absolute horror and shock that had ignited on their faces when she had attacked them. It dissolved into the drained, hollow face of Master Clarke, who had looked so pitiful in death, his power stolen from him.

Her arm shook as she held the blade above her head, ready to bring it down.

The prisoner made a sobbing noise and closed his eyes.

No.

Scarlett let the knife drop from her fingers. It clattered to the floor and came to rest a few inches from her feet. “I can’t do it,” she said and slumped against the ice block. “I won’t.”

Silence.

The door swung open. Henry and Faru marched back into the room. The Bloodling walked over to the knife and picked it up. “You have failed this test of Guardian compliance, Scarlett, he said.

The girl nodded and let her head hang low. “I know.”

“Luckily you were not being tested as a Guardian,” said Faru.

Scarlett raised her head and blinked at the Huntmaster. “I don’t understand.”

Faru’s face broke into a smile. “I was not testing you on compliance, but compassion. I told you that we needed proof that you had returned to normal. You displayed the emotions of a rational, caring person, even though it did not benefit you to do so. If you had stabbed Zarin here, then you would have failed my test. I am very glad you didn’t.”

Scarlett watched in confusion as Henry released the binds that contained the prisoner. He stood up and inspected his torn wings. “I think I got a bit carried away there,” he said, retracting them back into his body. “They will take a few days to heal.” He shook hands with Henry and then smiled at Scarlett. “Thank you for not stabbing me. It would have been quite uncomfortable.”

Scarlett’s mouth fell open and she placed a hand to her forehead, feeling faint. “I-I don’t…”

Faru placed a hand against her shoulder. “Zarin is a Guardian. He is also an Incubus and as such is difficult to harm by standard means unless the weapon is made from gold. The knife would have hurt him, but not caused his death.”

Of course…that was in the book.

“You knew that without enough blood in my system, I wouldn’t pick up on that detail. You wanted me to be overwhelmed by the idea of killing someone for my freedom, to see what I would do.”

Faru nodded. “We may operate in the grey Scarlett, but we are not an evil organisation; we do not ask people to kill others just to join our cause. It is simply a test to see if people are willing to make difficult choices. Of course, as much as I disagree with it, a future Guardian must make exactly the opposite choice you did.”

Scarlett gave a weak smile. “You tricked me.”

The Huntmaster smiled back. “That makes two of us then.”

Henry tucked the knife into a pouch connected to his belt. He signaled to the mirror and Scarlett was surprised to see the secretary come through from the observation room, carrying the ledger and a pen. She handed the items to Henry and then left the room. He balanced a leg on the ice block and signed something on the final page, before closing it and handing it to a waiting Faru. He placed the pen in his pocket and gave Scarlett a wink.

“Congratulations Scarlett, you have officially completed your convalescence at the Harley Street Rebirth Clinic. You are free to leave.”