Lance didn't seem worried. He shrugged casually and said, "Training."

"This wasn't the plan, Lancelot. You were supposed to ease them into it and teach them how to kill the monsters first before actually making them fight one!"

Lance opened his mouth but Damien wasn't finished.

"They could have died, Lance!" He gave me a sideways glance, as if to make sure I wasn't dead.

I rolled my eyes, "Oh please. We're fine, Uncle. No harm done." I extended my arms, letting him examine my perfectly unscathed body. I chose to ignore the blood smeared all over Hadley and Noah. "Besides, it was a whole lot more fun than listening to him drone on about creatures we grew up hearing about."

Lance shot me an annoyed glare at my last comment, but I just smiled innocently.

"That's not the point, Raya. You could have."

"Right... but we didn't."

When Damien sighed and dragged his hand across his face, I knew I won our little battle.

"I guess you're right. No one died so I call that a victory."

"Hear, hear!" Lance raised his imaginary cup. Damien gave him a dirty look and then continued.

"Let's call it a day. Go home. Take a shower. Come ready tomorrow for Zayd's class."

I started walking over to where Hadley and Noah were standing, but before I could get to them, a hand grasped my arm. I looked up at Lance questioningly.

"Thanks, kid. Damien looked ready to feed me to Fenrir himself. Probably would have, if not for you calming him down."

"Sure thing. Just make sure you include me in on your next quest for blood, yeah? I didn't enjoy being on the receiving end."

Lance smiled, "I'll keep that in mind."

He strolled away and I continued the walk to Hadley and Noah.

"Come on. I'll walk you to the infirmary. And try not to get blood all over our new carpet."

We trekked through the large building in silence until I opened the door to the infirmary and led them inside.

"Here we are." I pointed to some plain looking cabinets. "You'll find gauze and bandages in there."

Hadley walked over and grabbed a box containing more than enough bandages for herself and Noah. I reached inside a different cabinet and searched for the correct healing ointment.

"You first, Noah," Hadley said softly. Noah sat on one of the beds, careful not to further agitate his shoulder.

"I'll try to be gentle but it'll be hard because of how-"

Hadley cut herself off with a gasp. Noah had peeled off his shirt. I paused my digging and turned towards them, curious to see what made Hadley gasp.

I sucked in a breath when I saw it. The injury on his left shoulder looked disgustingly brutal, but it wasn't that that had made Hadley pause. His body was littered with scars. There were little nicks everywhere. But what had really caught my attention was the long, jagged scar decorating the right side of his ribcage. It was four inches long and half an inch wide. The damaged skin had a purple tint and protruded out, suggesting it was a very deep cut.

"What happened?" I whispered.

Noah didn't flinch when he noticed our blatant staring. He simply answered, "Cupids train differently than Freyjas."

"But... surely they wouldn't let it go this far," Hadley said in denial.

Noah raised an eyebrow, almost amusedly, and replied dryly, "Obviously they did. And still do."

Hadley frowned deeply. She looked ready to cry when she told him, "I'm sorry."

Noah shrugged his good shoulder, "It's how it's been done for generations."

"That doesn't mean it's right," I argued defiantly.

"Maybe not. But it's proved to be an effective method of training. My m-" he stopped and corrected himself, "the Archon and the Assembly would never change it. Why fix what's not broken, and all that."

The room got quiet after that. No one moved or said anything for a solid minute. Then Hadley broke the trance we all seemed to have fallen under and started to clean Noah's shoulder.

Before she put on the bandages, I told her to stop, "It needs an ointment first. Trust me, I once forgot it and the cut burned like Hell."

I tried to hand Hadley the bottle but she wouldn't take it.

"I need to wash up. I have both Noah's and my own blood all over my hands. You do it."

I looked at her blood covered hands and arms. "Fine."

Hadley walked to the sink on the other side of the room and started scrubbing her hands.

I uncapped the bottle and started smearing the ointment on Noah's shoulder.

He winced and inhaled sharply but didn't say anything. Feeling a rare sense of pity, I rubbed more gently, and Noah relaxed considerably.

"Was that your first time seeing a vargr?" I asked, for once feeling uncomfortable with the silence.

"No."

I sighed. So we're back to less than three syllabled answers.

"First time I fought one, though."

Oh. Guess not. Interesting. I thought it was in the Cupid Code of Conduct to kill a monster whenever they see one. I was about to say as much when the door opened and a lanky figure sauntered in.

"What do you want, Marcus?" I sighed.

"Oh, nothing. Just thought we'd come by and see if you needed any help with your injuries."

I narrowed my eyes at him, "We don't. Get out."

Marcus tsked at me. "Don't be rude, Raya. We came in peace."

I glared at him so sharply that he hesitated his walk to where Hadley was still cleaning up. I marched over to block his path.

Marcus stopped his nice act and sighed. "I tried to be civil with you. But you seem insistent on holding on to the past. I've changed, you know. I've grown up."

I snorted, "Really? You've grown up since two hours ago when you called me carrottop? Great nickname, by the way-- I've only heard it about a gazillion times. How long did it take for you to come up with it?"

Marcus rolled his eyes and tried to brush past me, but I stood my ground and he ended up stumbling to the side a little bit. I smiled proudly.

"Still learning how to walk? I know. It's a big transition from crawling, but you'll get there eventual-

I stumbled back as my vision blurred. I heard a gasp coming from Hadley's direction. My eyes watered a bit from the shock of a fist punching me in the face. I blinked them away angrily.

"You bastard! That hurt!"

I winced from talking with my already-bruising jaw. I looked over to Noah who looked mildly surprised but otherwise unphased. Then I looked at Hadley who was extremely red in the face. She looked like an angry little bunny. It would have been amusing if I wasn't so pissed myself.

She stomped over to Marcus and aggressively poked him in the chest. Smoke was practically steaming from her ears when she demanded, "What was that for?"

Marcus looked down at Hadley, who was a good head shorter than him, and chuckled in surprise. "Who knew sweet little Hadley had so much fire in her?" Something dangerously close to lust danced across his disgusting eyes. I grabbed Hadley's wrist and pulled her behind me.

Hadley's anger on my behalf had thoroughly melted my heart and though I was still filled with hatred for Marcus, I no longer felt like murdering him in seven different ways. Rather, I oddly wanted nothing more than to hug Hadley and have a girls night in.

"Well?" I addressed Marcus.

His eyes finally flitted to me and his facial muscles coiled in annoyance. "I just wanted to warn you not to pull another stunt like that again. There is only one winner, and that winner has to win fair and square-- without you butting in to help the competition. You should have let him," he nodded towards Noah, who still sat on the bed with disinterest, "die in the arena. That way I would have one less loser to distract the Chief from electing me the winner."

Talk about an overinflated sense of self.

"Great. You've delivered your pathetic little warning. Leave."

"Whatever," he mumbled. Marcus took one last look at Hadley before strutting out of the infirmary.

Noah whistled impressively, "The guy sure knows how to stir up drama."

I glared at him and laced my words with sarcasm, "No, really?"

Hadley released an adorable huff, "The nerve! How I wish I could have beat his face in. How have you managed to put up with that narcissistic butthole for your entire life, Raya?"

I shrugged, "He's rarely walked away from our encounters unmaimed."

"Urgh! I feel like killing something."

I raised an eyebrow at Hadley, "Do you, now?"

"Yes! But first let's put some ointment on your newly acquired bruise."

I reached up and gingerly touched my jaw. Man, that douche hits hard. I nodded and allowed Hadley to gently push me in the direction of the bed across from Noah's. He grinned at me.

"You seem to attract all sorts of trouble. Maybe I should stop hanging around you."

"Oh, shut up."