SAM
I was already going over my speech in my head when the warriors and anxious clan members began shouting, some with excitement, others in panic.
Victory speeches are strange. You practice them so much that they start to feel real before anything has happened. I was no different. I was so sure I would win that I already felt a sense of presumed success and excitement. I could already imagine Lucy’s cold, lifeless body being brought back, torn apart just as I had planned, and the warriors coming back, wounded but able to tell the story of our loss. They would say they fought hard, but the Vampire was too strong, too powerful, too ready.
I would stand before them all, looking worn out from grief. I would explain that, even though losing Lucy had broken my heart, I was still standing str
