-CHAPTER TWELVE-

•Path of a Rogue Vampire•

Jennifer's POV (Point of view)

This is my first year attending the academy and it's exams...it would definitely be my last. The entire setup was just too similar to my life as an assassin; everyone seems to see all this as just friendly competition, like its just some game. None of them could even imagine the things I've seen or the things I've done. What I went through can only be classified as a phase of borderline insanity; the life of an assassin is serious business, the exam is nothing more to me than child's play.

Jinx, the others, and I traveled for nearly two hours without any sign of danger. I'm not complaining, but come on. I would rather die in battle than die of boredom.

Jinx looked focused; her hand never left her side. We soon came up to a split path; both identical to each other.

"Which way should we go," I asked.

Jinx pulled me aside. "We need to ditch the others; we have work to do."

"But we're the leaders. We have to guide them through the forest."

Jinx sighed. "You're killing me here. Stop acting like their parents. That's not our job; we have more important things to do right now. They can handle their selves."

I didn't want to leave the others, but I couldn't let Jinx attack the Restriction students.

"Fine, let's go."

"Everyone, listen up! We will take the path to the left, but Jennifer and I, are going to look around on the next path. We will catch back up as soon as we can."

The others took the path to the right and we slipped away in the other direction.

"Where are we going?"

"We have to pick up some equipment." Jinx climbed into a tree and threw down a duffle bag of weapons and ammunition.

"Where did all this come from?"

"Crowley, he set it up to where we get "perks"."

"This is cheating."

"Its only cheating if we get caught, which we won't because there aren't any more cameras.

"You knew about that?"

"Of course, I'm the one who destroyed them. It would be really hard to control the forest with everyone watching, especially the council."

"What do you mean, "control the forest"?"

"That's classified."

"I thought I was a part of the team."

"Oh, so now you want to be a part of the team. It's a little too late for that now. We found some people who actually support our cause."

"Who could replace me? You need me; you can't just leave me out of the plan."

"That is true, things would be more difficult without you, but we don't necessarily need you alive; we always have other options."

A continuous sound of static caught my ear; the duffle bag was the source. Jinx took out a walkie-talkie.

"Did you get the supplies?" Crowley said.

"Yes, sir, everything is exactly where I left it."

"Good. I assume you'll be taking care of the finale."

"Of course I will. She giggled. "I'm sure the end will blow everyone's mind."

"That's good to hear and what about our little friend?"

Jinx shot me a glance. "She's fine."

"Remember to wrap everything up before the next test."

"Understood." She clipped the walkie-talkie to her belt and took out a piece of paper from the bag; a map if I'm not mistaken.

"You can either follow me and get out of here alive, or you can take your chances alone, take your pick."

I couldn't let her out of my sight, not even for a second. I may be the only hope for the survival of each Restriction student in the exams; something tells me they're not the only ones in danger though.

She zipped up the duffle bag and threw it over her shoulder.

"If you're coming, keep up. I have to meet up with some people and I'm kind of on a tight schedule."

I followed behind closely as we traveled deeper into the forbidden wasteland. Our new path contained less trees and more rocks and gravel.

"Where are we, this doesn't look the forest anymore."

"The outskirts; no one can travel out this far except us."

"What happened to the barrier?

"It's still there; we just have an all-access pass."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's in your arm."

"The tracking device?"

"Yeah...well not exactly, we were injected with something different; identical but completely different."

"What is it exactly?"

"All I know is when we touch the barrier we send some type of electric pulse to the source and we put a hole in the shield."

"That's...cool. Does it regenerate?"

"I wouldn't know. I'm not a genius like those nerds from Evolution. It's bad enough you got me talking like one of them. Anyways, we're here."

We stopped at the side of a mountain; I never noticed it, not even from the outside.

"Here? What's so special about a mountain?"

She sighed. She walked forward; instead of smashing her face against the wall, she passed right through.

"Are you just going to stand there or are you going to come in?"

I slowly placed my hand on the wall, but I felt nothing. I stepped inside and I was now standing in a large room; computers and other advanced equipment in every area I looked.

Jinx took out a laptop from the duffle bag and connected it to the main computer.

"I guess it's time you see the new recruits, she said. "Come out boys, it's just me."

Two guys walked out from the backroom and revealed themselves; both familiar to people I've already encountered: Tank, and Casper.

"So, the transfer is working for us too?" Tank said.

"Something like that," I said.

"It's either your with us or against us."

It's cool, Tank, said Jinx. "Crowley's already got things dealt with."

He smacked his lips. "Yeah, we'll see."

I laid down my gear and took a seat at the round table in the center of the room.

"So why did you guys join?"

"We didn't like how Principle Ronald was running things," said Casper. "He was only holding us back; Crowley gives us a chance to show off our true power."

"Thank God he's dead now. Tank laughed.

I suddenly felt nervous. "Do you know who killed him?"

He took a moment to answer. "No, but whoever it was did everyone a favor.

I regained my confidence. "How long are we going to be here," said Tank. "I got some people to hunt."

"Same here... that punk, Charles," Casper replied.

"You got a bone to pick with the "Shifter" too?"

"Who doesn't; he's like the biggest threat Veritas has right now, along with the rest of those mixed freaks."

"I agree with you on that, but I'm after another brat; James Nightfury. Tank said.

"Principle Ronald's golden boy, said Jinx. "I'd pay money to see that fight."

"What's your problem with James?" I had anger in my voice.

"Calm down, princess, we all know you two have a thing for each other."

I jumped out of my seat and grabbed a spear off the table; Casper held me back before I could strike.

Tank chuckled. "So, she's a fighter. I think I'm starting to like you already."

The main computer began flashing and posted a message saying: weapons armed. The screen showed the exit- a big field surrounded by trees; with red lights flashing underneath the ground.

"It's done," said Jinx. "Let's go."

I pushed Casper off of me and grabbed my gear.

"I'll be seeing you around, princess."

Jinx and I exited the hideout and went back to traveling; we passed through the torn barrier.

"So, what's next?"

"Now, we wait. Restriction should be passing through here real soon." She climbed into a tree; I followed behind her.

"Are you really okay with killing all those students?" I asked.

"We all have to make sacrifices. I mean that's basically what this exam is for; to build up our trust for the council, but to also make sure we don't overpopulate. If there weren't any sacrifices, everyone including our world, would be more at risk than ever before."

"A controlled population, that's why people have permission to leave after they graduate."

"That's right, the more people that decide to leave; the less sacrifices that have to be made in the future. It's a win-win situation, but some people don't like the idea of leaving Veritas."

"I mean, can you really blame them; everyone grew up here, and no one knows how the outside world is anymore since the last war."

"That may be true but I'd take my chances."

Footsteps rustled through the dead grass and a crowd approached with an uproar of conversation.

"Their finally here." Jinx took out two blades linked together by a chain.

Charles was the first person I saw; Charles and another guy were leading a group of seven.

"You okay, Victor?" Charles said.

"Crowley's been making a lot of changes since Principle Ronald died, I don't like it at all. And something else is really bothering me."

"I noticed; you think we should deal with it?"

Victor reached in his pocket. "Fight now, talk later?"

"Sounds about right."

"They're on to us!" Jinx yelled.

Charles shot a stream of electricity towards us. Jinx kicked me out just before the electricity struck the tree and I fell backwards onto the ground. Sparks jumped around in Charles' palm; Victor held only three black needles. Charles quickly noticed it me.

"Jennifer? I guess that team effort earlier doesn't apply now. Victor, I got the red-head, don't kill the other one yet; we need to have a little chat."

"Who said you were going to get passed me," said Jinx.

Jinx went head-to-head with Charles; she swung her chain blades around viciously, not caring about who or what she hit. Charles shaped the electricity into two swords and deflected her attacks.

While they fought to the death, I was trying my best not to kill, or be the person who got killed. Victor didn't seem like a big threat, but something about his eyes worried me; they were dark purple, an unusual color for someone's eyes to be. He slowly walked over towards me.

"You don't have to look at me that way. You shouldn't worry so much, mean you're friend is the one who drew the short straw. She picked a fight with the wrong person."

"You guys attacked us first!"

"All we did was stop you from attacking us. If she doesn't back off, she's going to die."

"What makes you so sure?"

"I guess you don't know much about Charles. I'm more of a persuasive type of guy, you know, a lover not a fighter, but Charles, he's a protector; nothing holds him back and nothing gets passed him."

I took a look at his needles. "You look like a fighter to me."

"Oh, these, these are just for show, their more of a precaution than a weapon. I have a special way of making my enemies talk."

I lowered my voice. "You've got the wrong idea. I'm not here to kill any of you."

"Then why are you here?"

"To make sure she didn't."

"Well, you got a funny way of protecting us. We all expected for people to come after us, but we thought we'd have more discreet assassins; one of our members spotted you a mile away."

"I gave up that type of work. I'm trying to save you, all of you."

"Thanks for the support but we can handle this on our own, but if you really are on our side, prove it."

He tossed me a needle; the tip was dull and it left a black stain on my palm.

"This isn't for killing...what is it?" I said.

"Just helps people talk instead of fighting. Just rub the needle against her skin and I'll take care of everything else."

I had no choice; I planned to help them, but who knew if they would just kill me afterwards. Despite my lack of confidence, I went along with it anyway. I rushed over to Jinx; she was still locked in combat with Charles, neither one broke a sweat. I pretended to trip and I stumbled into her, finding the chance to rub the black substance all over her arm.

"Hey, watch where you're going!"

"We have to go they're going to kill us!" I said dramatically.

"I'm not running. I can handle them." She tried to swing her blades again, but was stopped when the black mark on her arm began to glow bright purple.

"What did you do? What's wrong with me?" She noticed the needle in my hand.

"So, you're helping them now? I should've killed you while I had the chance."

Victor approached us; his eyes shining just as bright as Jinx's arm.

"What should I do with her," he said.

"Keep her still." Charles raised his static blades; a girl ran up from behind him and stood in front of Jinx. It was the girl, the same girl that I touched that night; the seer.

"Don't kill her, please."

"Julia, she's trying to kill us, we can't just let her go. Argo, tell her we have to do this she only listens to you."

The boy walked over to the girl and they had a quick conversation among themselves.

"We can't kill her," said Argo. "Not yet."

"Well, why not?"

"Julia had another vision. If Jinx dies, none of us will make it out of this forest."

"What did you see?"

"There were r-red lights underneath the ground; I heard beeping, lots of it."

The red lights underneath the ground...I saw that at the hideout. Jinx activated a weapon. Could that be what Julia saw?

"Where is it?" Charles asked.

"I'm not sure," she said, "The vision isn't completely clear."

"Well that's just great, now what?" Victor replied.

Charles took a moment to think it over. He took a look at Jinx, then at me.

"Tie up the read-head, she's coming with us."

"What about Jennifer, can we trust her?"

"I don't know. I don't know why he expected me to be able to do this for him."

"I can help you." I said.

"With what? Help us get attacked by more assassins, we'll pass."

I stood back to my feet. "I know how to stop the trap. There's a secret hideout not too far from here; it's passed the barrier."

"No one can pass the barrier; it was put there for a reason--to keep us on track."

"Or to keep us away from something," Victor replied, "Maybe she's telling the truth."

"Just trust me. I'm on your side."

"I can watch over the group and we can meet up later." Victor said.

Charles didn't look happy. "Fine...Is she marked?"

My hand began to glow like Jinx's arm.

"It's already been taken care of."

"Alright, I'll meet back up with you soon."

Victor led the group onward with Jinx as their prisoner, while Charles and I made our way to the outskirts.

-QUICK AUTHORS NOTE-
(Old)

Sorry for the wait guys. I've been dealing with multiple issues, Wattpad-related things as well as writers block (-_-). If you found time to read the complete Authors note in the previous chapter then you may have seen that I announced that I would be putting a hold on uploads for Betrayal is Inevitable...BUT... I've been thinking a lot lately and I think I'm going to complete it for all of you guys before I put it on-hold and publish it. I decided to go this route for a couple of reasons.

#1
I really want to enter it in the Wattys2016. I've been working extra hard for the opportunity. (And I can't do that if it's incomplete and temporarily unavailable.)

#2
(If you actually enjoy the story) I REALLY want you guys to keep reading and even bring your own thoughts and ideas into the series. As some of you may already know I'm always open and willing to "tweek" with the story a little as long as it doesn't stray too far from the original course I have planned for it.

#3
To be honest, I've gotten sorta addicted to the positive feedback and growing publicity (Don't judge me {•_•} ) and I love to see that with every new update. I'm very grateful that so many of you have been so kind and supportive. Writing is literally my life and I can't imagine doing anything else. Sure it can be frustrating at times (all the time lol) but writing is my passion.

With that being said, I'm sorry for the wait, expect more updates, and I hope you enjoy. Smash that vote button. (: