Blood Trial Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers #1) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,57

remained mute.

Angelica paused outside an empty meeting room. “It is the creed of all Vissimo clans that vampire lives be protected. With our low fertility rates, we cannot needlessly kill each other. We would have long since been extinct if we had listened to our baser, violent instincts.”

Yeah, and they would have taken a chunk of humankind with them.

She faced me. “It was decided there would be no battle—of the usual kind—to resolve their dispute. Around that time, a game was popular amongst Vissimo.”

“Was it Yahtzee?” I said before thinking better of it.

A slight wrinkle appeared between her brows as my personal joke flew right over her head. “We live on through the ages, Miss Tetley. Games between friends and family help the decades go by.”

This was the part when she told me about vampire Twister afternoons each Sunday, I knew it.

I forced my urge to snicker away, clearing my throat. “Right.”

She narrowed her eyes on my twitching lips, and I pressed them firmly together.

“Please continue,” I managed.

Angelica quirked a brow. “The game was called Ingenium—a battle of intelligence and strategy. At its root, two or more vampires would purchase businesses on the same street and engage in a contest of commerce until only one business was left standing. This concept then extended to other things: circuses, apartments, car manufacturing—any industry you can think of.”

It sounded a whole heap like vampires were using earth as a game board. Honestly, the short span of my mortal life made that seem like a waste of precious time, but clearly Vissimo lived a long time. I’d assumed they were immortal, but maybe I shouldn’t. Hardly anything else had proved true. “The two kings decided to settle their dispute by playing Ingenium with Bluff City.” The words left my mouth as I had the thought.

“Well done, Miss Tetley.”

I rocked back on my heels. Holy shit. “Don’t tell me that Bluff City only exists because of this game?”

She shrugged a shoulder. “It was a small porting village when the battle first started. Due to its position, the village would have always developed into a city, but we certainly accelerated its natural path.”

Turning from her, I stared blankly around the bustling room. This section of the level was just like the area outside the elevator. The Vissimo worked at their standing stations—or in small groups within the glass meeting rooms. Were they all focused on tasks designed to help this clan conquer Bluff City?

“How does one of the kings win?” I asked after a full minute.

“When they own Bluff City.”

Of course. Stupid mouse question.

I took in a slow breath, exhaling just as slow. “That’s why you buy houses and never sell.”

“Yes, but it is not quite that simple. Follow me. The dice are about to roll.”

She’d said the same thing two nights ago—I only remembered because she stopped Kyros and I from bumping pelvises with the words. His need to witness the dice roll had overwhelmed his urge for an uncontrolled romp in the torture room.

I checked my watch. “They roll at midnight?”

“Every night, yes. Tonight is our turn. We can only move—make purchases and sign contracts—in the twenty-four hours after our king rolls.”

My mouth dropped open. This was incredible. Unbelievable. “That’s why you always try to get contracts signed on the same day!”

Angelica smiled, and I shuddered. Her teeth were too much with the sheer masses of Vissimo around. My palms broke into a fresh round of clamminess. If I was staying here, I had to get better at managing my reaction to them. Sure, pure exposure helped, but the sweating was kind of gross.

Puppies, puppies, puppies.

That just made me think about Angie snacking on a sausage dog. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of my neck.

We continued between the grey standing stations. Ahead, the work stations stopped short to make way for a giant glass tube set in the centre of the walkway. It reminded me of those inside skydive places where people could fly around.

No one stood near the tube, but Angelica led me to stand directly before it. She shot a look over her shoulder to a glass room and her lips curved.

I tried to peer into the meeting chamber as well, but she squared her shoulders, blocking my view. Huh, what was she up to? Knowing dark-horse Angie, something shady.

I glanced back to find Vissimo were leaving their work stations to gather around the huge glass cylinder. The male vampires clearly visible around the other side shifted their attention