Tournament Intermission (Part 2) Sweet Dreams

Lia sat in her room alone. The academy had spared no expenses for the top rankers. The room and hotel were extravagant. Lia assumed the expensive room was arranged to give the students a taste of what money was like, probably with the hidden goal of convincing them to join a noble family.

Of course, Lia wasn't overwhelmed like a lot of the other commoner students. Most of her life was spent in a royal castle as a princess. Lia decided to spend the remaining daylight resting, even when Lacey offered to explore the city with her. Despite her superhuman physical capabilities, Lia was relatively worn out.

She walked into the middle of the room as a dome of black and red mana washed over her. The mana encompassed the whole room and bathed it in a thick fog of fear and loneliness.

The trap was relatively simple. Entering it would alert Lia, and cause whoever entered to witness a vision of Lia's making. Once the trap was set up, Lia lay down on the bed and quickly descended into slumber.

Lia slept peacefully that day, but Saro was a different story. Her mind raced with memories of her previous life. She was as restless as always, but one specific memory played itself in her mind. A memory from before it all went to hell.

.....

Lia Sarovitch was fleeing down an alleyway, her arm was badly injured. A bullet from the previous hail of gunfire had hit her square I'm the shoulder. A tactical knife was held in her left hand and her other arm was wrapped tightly in cloth torn from the elegant dress she had worn.

This time, her target was a high-end businessman. He was smuggling a new Russian steroid into U.S. territory. The mission was simple: infiltrate a high-end gala, and eliminate the target by any means necessary.

The mission went sideways when they surrounded her. Someone in The Family was a spy, and had leaked her plans. They were going to pay for that. She wasn't expecting anything to go wrong, but she went in with backup regardless. Situations like this were prone to failure, and her luck recently had been horrible.

The mercenary crew she brought were some old friends. A crew by the name of "Union". They were renowned throughout her criminal network, and she had done them a favor or two in the past. She doubted they would help her after this. The casualties would be immense for both sides.

The mercenaries opened fire on her welcoming party, drawing their attention long enough for her to escape the encirclement. She didn't bother trying to chase the target down. He'd never shown up, and knowing that Lia Sarovitch was after him, he'd probably never show his face in the U.S. again.

She cursed under her breath as she stumbled forward, she was losing a lot of blood. A stray bullet had implanted itself deep in her shoulder. She began to expertly weave her way around the winding city alleys, despite the haze of blood loss encroaching.

Hurriedly, she approached an iron door, her figure slumped against it as she began knocking. "Ve, it's Lia."

The door quickly slid open, and the metal-on-metal sound grated on her ears as she silently slipped inside.

Lia slumped into a nearby chair as Ve looked at her. Ve spoke in her usual cutesy voice. "Lia, You're badly hurt."

Lia cursed. "Damnit I know. Get me the medical supplies before I bleed the fuck out."

Ve hurriedly brought Lia what she requested. A bottle of high-grade whiskey, and a first-aid kit.

She took a swig of the whiskey before she removed her temporary stop-gap measure against blood loss. The dress scrap was soaked deep with blood, and Lia poured the whiskey on her wound before getting to work.

The pain and difficulty of removing a bullet yourself were immense, Lia had done it before, but running a few miles while bleeding had taken its toll on her. After a few minutes of immense pain, she had removed the bullet. Luckily, it didn't hit any fatal arteries or veins.

The stitching was the easiest part, but by that time, Lia's hands shook so badly that she couldn't do it herself. "Ve, you have to stitch it. I can't."

Ve shook her head as she began stitching the gunshot wound. "What would you do without me."

When it was done, Lia sat back in the chair and focused on her breathing. She was lucky to be alive, something that was becoming increasingly more common.

Ve spoke as she licked her lips seductively. "The usual payment?"

Lia opened one eye and spoke as she focused on her breathing. Losing consciousness would be a disaster. "I... You didn't do much."

Ve pouted. "I housed you, hid you from whoever did this, plus I stitched your wound."

Lia didn't answer until the fog in her mind disappeared. "Fine, but you'll wait until tomorrow morning when I'm not half dead."

Ve nodded. "Fine, fine. Who did this anyways?"

Lia answered with an annoyed tone. "Someone in The Family set me up for the Russians."

Ve nodded. "I see..." Her eyes took on a malicious glint, but Lia was too focused on her recovery to see it. If she had, it would've at least somewhat warned of what was to happen in the coming years.

.....

Lia sat up in her bed. The sun's rays no longer entered the room. It was night, but Lia Darkova was covered in what she assumed to be sweat. She looked down and all around the room, searching for a reason.

To her surprise, she wasn't covered in sweat, but a massive amount of blood. She quickly stood up and examined herself. There were no wounds, but the blood had coalesced around her right shoulder.

She quickly removed the blood using magic and destroyed it with mana of decay. She spoke to Saro. 'Are you up? What was that?' There was no response.

Lia had no real answers. She didn't dream. She never had, but there was always this...feeling after sleep. Almost like she felt the emotions of dreaming, but never the visions. Certainly, she had never had anything like this happen.

'I have no answers. Saro might, but I'm not sure..there's a lot she isn't telling me, and I need answers to this. With the amount of blood that was just present, I'm lucky to be alive.'

Lia tossed the worries away for the time being. 'I can't get answers just yet, but I will begin searching. Our whole situation is strange, to say the least.'

Lia decided she needed to clear her mind and take a bit of a walk, so she left the room, intending to explore the night.

.....

Silvana was sitting in the hotel lobby, reading a book about vampire history and culture when she saw Lia exit the elevator. She raised an eyebrow.

Lia noticed her immediately, it was almost impossible not to. "I need to take a walk." That was all she said to Silvana.

Silvana closed her book and stood up. "Then I'll come with you and introduce you to the nightlife. I have a place in mind."

Lia looked at her quizzically. "Oh? And where might that be?"

Silvana looked at her and she smiled. Her face was dazzling in the night, something that surprised Lia. "The auction house."