a/n – I wrote this to Stardance by Curtis Schweitzer

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Peter’s POV

Goddess,

Please hear my prayer if it deserves to reach your ears, and have mercy if it does not. I do not know what is coming or if I’m even strong enough for it, but help me find the way through. Show me your way.

Please.

…

A steady thump leads the way.
It started from the moment I stepped out of my room after Maeve’s early call, and has only grown louder since.

Dum. Dum. Dum.

Maeve marches us towards it, her steps sure and steady where mine try to be. She glides across the ice, letting nothing sway or deter her path, not even when we break from the halls and enter the tunnels, and meet the source of the thumping.

Dum. Dum. Dum.

Vampires line the edges of the tunnels’ walls, each sentry in their places outside of the right boots that rise and fall in one single harmonious tune— their self-made war drum.

Dum. Dum. Dum.

The deeper we go, the more vampires the winding tunnels reveal, and the louder the war cry becomes. My heart skitters, instincts blaring at me to turn around, but when I make the mistake of glancing back in search of escape, the path behind me is blocked by a moving wall of bodies made of all the vampires I passed.

I don’t make the mistake of looking back again.

Eyes on Maeve, I focus on mimicking her steps and not the thumping or my racing heart, but it’s there and all-encompassing, and my fingers soon drift to the cold metal curled tightly around my bicep. I rub it until it warms.

When the ceiling rises high above Maeve, and the tunnel finally opens, it gives way to a large cavern that is a near replica of the one they first found me in, the colony of watchful vampires and all.
The only difference this time is the pounding that grows louder as my heart tries to run and they chase it.

DumDumDumDumDumDumDum.

Whining, Joseph squirms restlessly, desperate to run and hide as my eyes skim over gleaming fangs, but the time for that has passed, and the only way forward now is through.

DumDumDumDumDumDumDum.

My heart beats faster. My fingers dig into my cuff.

Breathe, Peter, I tell myself. Just breathe, but how hard that simple task becomes when the floor beneath my feet vibrates so hard that it sends tremors up my spine. It’s a challenge on its own— its very own Trial that I’m already failing, and then… I see him.

He stands in the centre of it all, a pillar, a participator and the conductor, all at once. His booted foot rises and falls too, dropping soundly in tune with the rest of them, and maybe it’s just in my head or a wish from my galloping heart, but I separate the sound of his from everyone else’s the moment our eyes meet.

My chest unlocks as my lungs fill, and suddenly, breathing is the easiest thing in the entire world. I feel my spine straighten and my legs stop quivering as I hold his stare until it leads me right to him.

Dark eyes peer down at me as we stop beneath him, and they are neither kind nor unkind. They’re simply Luciel’s. 

He stares back at me, unblinking as though he struggles to look away too, but then his brows tug in, and he clicks his tongue. 

The sound might as well be a ghost’s whisper amongst the self-made drums, but it is somehow still heard because without delay, the thumping immediately stops. My heart alone carries on its war cry.

“Peter Calderon-Heil,” Luciel breathes slowly, and I wonder if he has to or if he just wants to say my name. “The time has come for your first Trial.”

I nod, even while my bones tremble and my soul rebels, secretly crying out for help.

Luciel’s eyes narrow as though he hears it. “Are you ready?”

No, I want to say. No, I am not ready, but some truths are meant to be ignored.

“…yes. I-I’m ready.”

Luciel considers me a moment longer before he nods and claps his hands. I jolt as it echoes through the ice, but he’s already moving, eyes flying to the Clan. “Let us begin!”

Everyone flees, the clotted numbers disappearing into the nearest tunnels in flashes too fast for me to follow, but I try anyway because I already know this is part of the Trial, and every second counts. I spin, head snapping from side to side, but within seconds, they’re almost all gone with no trace left behind.

“Peter.”

My yelp bounces off the ice as I jump and turn to face the voice that my body already knows, because I’m already melting by the time my eyes settle on him. Goddess, he really is handsome.

Nothing in theory had happened between our walk from the pool to the library after the Rites, but in reality, everything had because we had spoken, brief as it was, and for once, it had not ended badly. That was a win in my books, and so was the cuff wrapped around my arm.

Luciel’s eyes drift to it as if he hears my thoughts, and something in his gaze changes. I bite inside my cheek to quiet what rises up my throat.

I hadn’t expected my token to be so beautiful. I didn’t really allow myself to expect much of anything at all, beyond possible sabotage, but disastrous was the very last thing the brass wrapped around my arm was.

When the vampire had arrived in the library after Luciel to deliver it, I’d forgotten all about my reading, and the Trials too as I held it close, hypnotised by the scent still lingering on it. Luciel’s scent.

It was supposed to be a token for the Trials. To me, it would be my way through them.

“The Trial, your hunt, is simple in nature,” he says, eyes returning to mine. “One of the clan hides within the tunnels with a satchel of ash from Mount Erebus. You must find them and the satchel before the tides take it.”

My heart skips, racing faster as fear and something else, too close to hope, take root inside me. It was simple in nature—a hunt for ash. As a wolf, I’d be able to sniff it out, but ‘one of the clan’ suggested that I wouldn’t be alone in there like I’d hoped. And he’d also mentioned the tide— my reading had shared that a number of the tunnels led into the ocean, but that the majority of them had been blocked off to narrow the number of vampires that swam into them in search of the clan.

There were supposed to be less than ten left, so if I followed the scent of the sea I could start there, but those paths were supposed to be most treacherous and—

“Your Trial has begun, Peter.”

I freeze, and my churning mind does the same. I blink at Luciel, but he just stares back at me.

My mouth falls open, a plea or question lying on my tongue, but it never comes out. I glance at the only vampire left behind him, but Maeve is no more giving than my mate.

For a moment, I can’t move. I just stand there, too afraid to move or speak, and too scared to begin something that’s already begun. But it’s happening— here now instead of being talked about, and all I feel is terror because what if I fail, what if I lose this chance to stay and what if—

“Peter,” Luciel whispers, cutting into the barrage in my mind like a kind knife. His dark eyes clear and something warm fills them. “Go.”

I’m moving, running, instincts following the whispered instruction before fear has the chance to stop me because it’s not only an instruction. It’s encouragement— a small push, hope, and right now, it is everything I need.

I choose a tunnel at random, the closest one that doesn’t look like it’ll try to eat me alive, and without allowing myself a moment to overthink it, I shift. 

I’d known going into this I probably would, but I thought I’d have time, that maybe the Trial would have some twist that called for two legs rather than four, but it’s the opposite.
The shift is seamless, a thought, if so much that twists my muscles into something strong so that I can rise and face the world without shaking. Cold brass remains firm around my hind leg, and I thank Goddess for that before I take off.

Cold wind slices through my fur, but I welcome its embrace as much as I do the ice beneath my paws. It’s familiar, even if I’d only run through these tunnels the one time when I’d been searching for the man I now leave in my wake, but once seems to be enough for me because the tightness in my chest soon gives and within a few strides, I’m bound over the ice as though it’s all I’ve ever known.

My muscles unwind, and Joseph unfurls, sinking into the space beside me so confidently that for a moment, I almost forget about the Trials. It’s just me, the ice, and however far my legs are willing to take me, but the bliss soon leaves me behind as the empty, yawning tunnels remain as silent and still as they’d ever been.

They shouldn’t be. They couldn’t be because I am not alone down here, and yet, it is as though I am.

Unease slithers through me, but I do not let it settle. I push it from my mind and shove my task to the forefront instead. I needed to find the vampire who carried a satchel of ash from Mount Erebus.

Mount Erebus was one of two active surface volcanoes in Antarctica, and while my research had never led me there, I knew of it. I also knew what volcanic ash was made up of— sodium and potassium, amongst other minerals and while they wouldn’t carry a scent within ash, the sulfur would.

Slowing to a stop, I lift my nose to the air and breathe in. 

I catch its traces almost immediately. It stands out glaringly as if there is no other scent present and—

I still.

Hesitantly…fearfully, I sniff the air again.
Nothing, but ash. No scents.
Not even Luciel’s.

Oh Goddess — Joseph whines as understanding dawns on him just as it settles over me. They’re hiding their scents. All of their scents.

The Trial is a test — I reply, even as my pulse begins to sing beneath my skin again. It’s meant to be hard.

But why hide their scents and leave the ash’s?

I don’t know.

It made no sense. If they wanted to slow me, then they should’ve hidden the scent of the ash like Joseph said, but instead, they’d removed the scents of everyone else. Maybe it was meant to confuse me or scare me, or keep me from finding my way back to the castle’s innards without succeeding. 

Maybe this was how they planned to get rid of me.

But no. Between the Rites and the start of the Trials, I had felt as much as I’d seen how sacred this all was. They would not do that. Whatever the scenting was about, worrying about it now would only waste time. 

I had the ash’s scent. For now, all I could do was use it.

I take off again and hone my mind to the scent that flares to life before my eyes like a tangible tendril of smoke. Its chalky scent weaves itself through the air as a clear thread I follow until the tunnel splits its path in two.

I skid to a stop, leaving the echoes of my heart to continue on ahead.

Another test? Did they split the satchel? No, they would’ve said if they did, but…

I think of the way they’d all disappeared, and perhaps they’d passed the bag around between them. Maybe they still were even now, and I just couldn’t hear it. It could be anything, because anything could be happening when there were no real rules.

My heart sinks, hope sputtering as I look between the two paths again.
I could pick one and hope for the best, and turn around if it ended up being the wrong choice, but there was a clock ticking, and I couldn’t rush this. Atieno said to take my time, to use my wits, and I might not be brave, but I had always been smart.

Think, Peter. Think.

If an object were in one place or even moving, then the scent of it would travel stronger from one of the paths. The only way it wouldn’t was if the paths were perfectly identical from beginning to end, and I’d seen enough of this underground labyrinth to know they weren’t.

Stepping to the left, I breathe in again before I step to the right and do the same. Salt dots the scent of the ash to the right, and not the salt to be found in sodium alone. This one carries sea salt.

…before the tides take it

I take off so quickly that I almost slip, but my paws keep me upright as I run as fast as I can until I’m flying through the tunnels, and this time, I’m not tracking the scent of sulphur alone, but the mix it becomes when it’s tinged with sea salt.

The tunnels twist and turn around me, narrowing and then widening as the scent of ash bounds off every corner, but I don’t let myself be distracted. I follow the thread that smells like the ocean, and do so confidently until I run straight into gleamy red eyes.

My brain shuts off, and instincts are quick to rise as it reminds me of what I am. Omega. Prey. And this is a vampire, a predator.

The hunt. The Trial. The satchel of ash— I forget it all, as survival takes centre stage in my mind and demands I run.

I don’t remember turning or running in the opposite direction, but I am when my brain comes to. I’m running as fast as I can, and I don’t stop until I realise that no one is behind me and nothing is chasing me.

I stop and dare to look back.

No red eyes, no fangs. No one at all.

I listen, ears straining, but still, nothing. Nothing but lost time added to already dwindling clock.

Plains! Cursing, I turn around and run back the way I came even as instincts try to turn me around. I don’t let it as I push Luciel to the front of my mind to keep me going.

Prepared this time, I don’t stop when I enter the tunnel and spot the same pair of reddened eyes. Instead, I force myself to keep going forward, even if I do so on trembling hind legs.

A vampire, one I do not recognise, stands perfectly still as I near. They do not move, they do not even look at me, and their red eyes are just unmoving as they stare straight ahead. I inch forward, barely breathing as my heart thunders and fear rattles within my veins, but they never move, not even when I circle them completely and carry along the path they’d blocked.

A few minutes later, I come across another unmoving vampire, and then another. All frozen like statues.

This is weird — Joseph whimpers as I trot around a fourth. And creepy! So, so creepy! Why are they doing this?

I do not know, but it must have something to do with the Trial — I reply, and he whines with discomfort and frustration.

What could pretending to be statues have to do with finding the vampire with the ash other than to scare us?

I have no answer for that, but in my gut, I don’t think that’s what this was. 

The clan had been cold and unwelcoming, but they had never been cruel.

It has to mean something. I just have to figure it out.

I do not know how much time passes before I reach the end of the scent twinged by sea salt, an hour maybe more, but my heart gives with relief and a trickle of fear when I creep into a tunnel that ends in one closed hovel with nothing inside besides a single vampire.

To my surprise, there’s no open water or sign of the sea, but more surprising, he’s not standing like the others, or doing the strange statue thing. He’s sitting with his legs crossed and his back pressed against the iced wall, with soft breaths warming the air in front of him. 

Moving quietly, I draw in while I search the space around him for the satchel, but I can’t spot it yet. It’s just him, sitting with his eyes closed as though he’s sleeping, but just as I have the thought, his eyes snap open.

I freeze, and he’s up and on his feet in a heartbeat.

Holding my breath, I brace for him to run— to start the hidden task of hunting him down again, but he doesn’t. He stays right where he is, and he stares at me with… surprise.

“You found me,” he breathes, and I can’t help but stiffen a little.

I’m not sure why, but I didn’t expect him to speak to me. It almost feels like he’s not supposed to.

“Gods,” he whispers, awed.

Joseph squirms with both discomfort and pride because clearly I’ve succeeded in finding the vampire with the satchel, but something isn’t right. I watch him closely, searching again for the satchel, but it must be small or hidden somewhere on him because it’s nowhere to be found.

“Wait.” My eyes dart to his just as a frown crests over his brows. “Did you not—” He stops himself as quickly as he began, and a second later, he stiffens.

My blood chills as I watch him wipe the surprise clean from his face as if he has suddenly remembered something important.

“You found me,” he repeats, firmer this time. His jaw tightens, eyes glowing. “Good luck finding the ash.”

And then, he is gone.

I don’t see him move or even feel him pass me by. All I know is that the space where he stands holds him one moment and then it doesn’t the next. 

I spin, breaths puffing out of me as I turn to face the only path he could have disappeared through, but there is no trace of him— no tracks to follow. He’s long gone, and whatever scent I’d followed is lost to me as scents come crashing down around me as though they’ve all been freed, the secret veil that had been hiding them, finally lifted.

It is an assault. My nose burns, and my eyes water enough for me to whine as I try to hold my breath when breathing through it fails. I need to calm down, need to breathe, but there is only chaos as my mind focuses on the vampire’s last whispered words.

Good luck finding the ash.

As in, he did not have it, and it was somewhere else? But that wasn’t supposed to happen. That wasn’t the Trial. Luciel had said they were together, hadn’t he?

One of the clan hides within the tunnels with a satchel of ash from Mount Erebus. You must find them and the satchel before the tides take it.

Them and the satchel… with the satchel… but not necessarily together as one.

Goddess, no no no no no.

I had two things to find, not one, and I’d found the first— the vampire, which was obviously not how it was supposed to go, and now, I had to find the satchel that was somewhere in here, and I didn’t have a clue where to start.

The thumping starts again, but this time it’s only my heart that makes the tune as anxiety ripples beneath my skin, spreading itself everywhere the longer I stay still. I turn and run, and this time, just because I need to move and the thought of doing nothing makes me want to give in to the tears welling in my eyes.

No, I wouldn’t cry— couldn’t cry.
If I did, I’d give up, and I refused to give up now.

I had found the vampire. I did something right, which meant I could do it again, and I would. I just had to figure out how. But as I run paths I’ve already covered and find them empty of the stoned vampires I’d passed before, my panic climbs higher.

It couldn’t end like this, could it? On the first Trial?
We were so close— too close, and our mate was on the line. Luciel was on the line.

Joseph — I whine even though he’s panicking like me, but I’m at the end of my rope. Joseph, please.

Okay, okay! Let’s think it through first. W-We’ve done this backwards, right?We were supposed to find the ash first, o-or that’s what they expected to do, right?

Maybe – I whimper.

Then, that’s a good thing!

How could us messing up possibly be good?

It’s good because it means the hard part is over — he answers, and even though I can tell he was just grasping at straws at first, I feel the confidence settle within us as his words prove themselves to be wise.

He’s right.
Between the frozen vampires and the one I’d found, clearly they’d thought that would be my last challenge, not my first, which meant I was at an advantage. I just had to figure out how.

We need to find the satchel, and all we know about where that is what Luciel mentioned about the tides — Joseph continues, and I slow to a stop to consider.

If the tides could take it, that meant it was near the sea. We had figured that from the start, but knew trying to find one path to it from within the tunnels would likely drive us mad or cost us time.

Above! — Joseph suddenly shouts. Let’s go to the surface and go look for it from above!

We can’t—

You can leave during a Trial! Niamh and Radu said so! — He shouts, yipping with excitement as he races around my mind. This is a Trial! We can go up!

After days spent beneath the ice, the surface almost felt like a myth, but it hadn’t always been. The months I spent above ground had me familiar with it, and unlike the tunnels, the surface was clear and empty. I could run straight ot the nearest coast and sniff for a tunnel entrance there, specifically one that led to sulphur. 

We’d cut through all the wandering down here, and it was a risk, but it was a good one, maybe the perfect one.

Peter! — Joseph shouts, pressing at me for the first time as though he’ll take over if I don’t listen. Let’s go!

I start running, and this time, I don’t stop.

————–

GO, PETER! GOOOOOO

Thoughts?????

Thoughts on the first glimpse of the Trial?? On how Peter’s handling it?? On the start???

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Peter is stronger than me cause the way I wouldn’t have made it past where the tunnels split loooool. I’m reluctantly proud!

The Trial continues next chapter, which will be out next weekend! But next up is Aiasthlyn!

Until next time,
Byeeeeee Humanssssss