Winning the Legend by B. Kristin McMichael

catch her smiling at his words. It made sense, but at the
same time the idea that he would always view her as perfect made
her happy beyond belief.
    Andrew reached out and brushed his fingers
against the ends of her hair, which were fluttering in the wind. He
reached for her, and she stepped just out of his grasp. She stuck
her tongue out at him before taking a further lead, running back to
the house. She was teasing him again, and he wanted to give chase
more than anything. She could out run him, but he knew how to
corner her if needed. He had way more experience than she did, and
knew tricks to enhance his strength to come close to matching hers.
Andrew slowed as he passed the last marker. He wanted to just reach
out and take her into his arms, but he had to be careful around all
the eyes that watched from inside the training room. No one stood
at the window, but every set of eyes was on her. Arianna waited in
the open doorway for Andrew and Thomas to catch up.
    After they had showered and dressed again,
Arianna, with Andrew and Thomas right behind her, joined the men
waiting for the next competition. They followed her outside, and
she stood on the grounds facing them and their retainers. The
competitors all were beginning to look a bit anxious from lack of
blood and a few of the retainers looked worried for them all.
Arianna and her team were hoping to lose one or two due to blood
control. These men were all used to having people at their disposal
to take blood from. None had ever had to go without.
    “This is both your agility and endurance
test today. Your score will be combined with the scores from the
previous test to give everyone a new ranking.” The retainers all
began communicating with their competitors. They only had to make
it through this one last test before they got blood. Most of them
seemed relieved at that thought.
    “There is a course I just ran out on the
grounds. I covered eighteen miles. Along the way, forty-seven of
these were placed.” Arianna held up a small brown button shaped
device. “You must go the eighteen miles, touch each button in
order, and get back here quick as possible. Buttons touched out of
order won’t count. You are timed overall and between buttons. To
make this a bit fairer, you won’t all go at once and try to find
the buttons together. We will be starting you each at various
intervals and recording your individual time. Basically the fastest
time wins. Any questions?” The men all looked to her. It was a
simple enough request. The brown buttons were easy to distinguish
with night human senses.
    “Since someone is bound to protest that it’s
not fair to have you run a course to close to daylight hours, Devin
will go first. Go ahead,” Arianna told Devin. He nodded and began a
swift jog, following the exact trail Arianna took.
    “How is that fair?” Nik protested. It was
getting harder to control her anger around him. There was no way
she would ever marry Nik. She’d kill him before the wedding, the
way he was going. “You probably told him the course already. Are
you going to tell the rest of us?”
    “Nope,” Arianna answered, not elaborating
whether what Nik said was true or not. “Turner, you can leave now
too since the sun isn’t a problem for you.” Turner took off, not
too far behind Devin who just went out of sight. Arianna needed
them to run together for Devin’s protection. His display of ability
at the knife throwing had made him a target of the jealous night
humans who thought he would be easy to beat. “Everyone else can
head back inside. We plan to keep you at least an hour apart.”
    “But, but,” sputtered Nik, trying to
complain more.
    “But nothing,” Arianna walked away with most
of the men right behind her. She paused as she noticed a few
remained, staring off at the course. She added. “If any of the
competitors touch another competitor in the course, they will be
disqualified. I want to see individual strengths, not how you