The Arena Wars

  Chapter Thirteen

  Without warning, he launched himself across the table, knocking me from the chair. I hit the ground, and the back of my head blossomed in pain. He gripped my hair with one hand and painfully yanked my head to the side, exposing the side of my neck.

  There was a quiet click as his fangs extended. Without hesitation, he tore into my throat, severing my windpipe in one quick, sloppy, savage bite. He was spilling as much blood as he was taking, and I tried to focus on staying awake instead of the horrible pain of having my blood drawn against my will.

  I beat his shoulders and back as hard as I could, but the blood loss was setting in faster than it had with Roger, and my hands were quickly becoming useless. I couldn’t even scream for help; my shredded windpipe refused to let me even breathe in or out. All I could do was lie there and choke on my own blood, while this ancient vampire tried to drain me completely dry.

  Finally, after what seemed like ages, he released me, and I fell back against the blood-soaked floor. The dress was ruined; the front was as wet as the floor. Eli’s mouth and cheeks were smeared with blood, my blood, and he paused for a second to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand.

  He licked his fingers and made a smacking noise with his lips. “Hmm, you taste exquisite. It would be a shame to waste this.” He bit into his wrist and forced it to my open mouth. “Drink my blood or you will die here and now.”

  I couldn’t do it. Nothing could be worse than sharing blood with this monster. He could force me to give him as much blood as he wanted, but I would never in my life willingly take his. Just thinking about this monster’s blood flowing through my veins horrified me.

  I would have much preferred dying, and as I turned my head as far to the side as I could, I resigned myself to it. My lips closed tightly, and I hoped to just die in peace.

  “Drink from me, or I’ll kill that boy toy of yours in the cruelest most horrible way imaginable. Is that what you really want my dear? Do you want him to spend a lifetime screaming your name while you rot away in the ground?”

  If he’d threatened me with anything else, I would have just let myself die. But I couldn’t do that to Quinten. I couldn’t let this monster get his hands anywhere near my best friend. I opened my lips slowly, and his warm blood trickled down my throat, surprising me.

  I would have thought a vampire’s blood would be colder and thicker.

  It was foul tasting, and I almost spit it back up, but he put his hand over my mouth. He made me swallow all of it. I could feel it as it quickly went to work; it repaired the damage to my throat that had been caused by Eli’s teeth. Vampire blood, when ingested, had amazing healing capabilities. Considering my already advanced werewolf properties of healing, it managed to close my second gaping throat wound in less than a week.

  Eli stood, wiping his sticky blood-covered hands on his pants, and I trembled on the floor. The throat wound was healed, but the loss of so much blood was sending me quickly into shock. He sneered down at me and clapped his hands three times.

  The door opened and the two vampire guards entered the room. They looked down at me, lying on the floor, covered in blood, and they looked quickly away. Apparently, they didn’t care about anything other than staying alive, or whatever it was that vampires did.

  “Take her back to her room and do not touch her or her blood, or I will have you both destroyed. Is that understood?”

  I didn’t hear the answer. My eyes closed, and I felt everything drifting peacefully away.

  When I woke up, I found myself curled up on a small cot, which was made all the smaller by the addition of Quinten curled up by my side. His arm was wrapped protectively around my waist, and I was snuggled tightly to his chest. He snored lightly, and I smiled, wincing when the movement pulled at my newly healed throat.

  As carefully as I could, I reached a hand up and rubbed my throat. It felt raw and I assumed it was probably bright red. It would finish healing in a little bit, and I’d be good as new. Until then, I would just have to try to talk and swallow as little as possible.

  While Quinten continued to sleep peacefully beside me, I began to think about everything that was on my mind.

  Why had Eli forced me to take his blood? He could have just left me alone, and I would have surely died on that floor. Why push me to the brink of death, just to bring me back? Had he even planned on killing me, or had he simply fed too much? Or does he just like playing god with people’s lives?

  Is he going to feed from me again?

  Maybe I’d tasted better than he thought I would. A lot of vampires normally avoided drinking from werewolves, because our blood could sometimes taste gamey to them. We tended to taste like the animals they thought we were. Besides, humans were usually a lot easier to get. Only a couple handfuls of vampires actually hunted werewolves.

  Was there something about my blood that appealed to him more than anyone else’s would?

  A terrible thought hit me then.

  Vampires found their soul mates by drinking someone’s blood. What if I’m actually meant to be that monster’s soul mate?

  Werewolves bonded by kissing, vampires by drinking blood. If he forced me to kiss him, would I find him to be mine? That thought was so horrible I had to fight not to throw up what little I’d eaten last night. There was no way I could be mated to a vampire, was there? The species weren’t capable of cohabitation.

  At least, that’s what I’d been led to believe in the past. Could everyone be wrong? Was it possible for werewolves and vampires to be anything other than mortal enemies?

  Oh god, please don’t let that monster be my soul mate!

  Quinten stirred, and his eyes opened slowly. It was always a little strange to think that whether he opened his eyes or not, everything always stayed the exact same: black.

  He frowned. “You’re up.”

  “How did you know?”

  “I can hear your breathing. It’s faster and harder than when you were asleep. I figured you were either awake or having a nightmare.”

  I looked down, and realized for the first time that I was back in my jeans and t-shirt.

  Quinten sighed. “Alanna, what happened to you last night? The vampire guards brought you in, and dropped you onto your cot. I checked on you and you were covered in wet, sticky blood. For a terrible moment I thought you were dead. Then you moaned, and lost consciousness.”

  “Eli gave those guards orders to bring me back here. They weren’t allowed to drink my blood, even though I must have been pretty tempting, considering I was covered from head-to-toe in it.”

  “Is that why one of them freaked out? He started slapping his hand against his leg, like he was trying to get something off it.”

  “He threatened to kill them if they tasted my blood.”

  “He took blood from you? By force?” A hard edge had crept into Quinten’s voice, and I realized it was barely restrained anger. He was furious, and I didn’t blame him.

  Eli had used me in his own disgusting way, and he probably had plans to do it all over again.

  “Yeah, he did. It was the worst experience of my life,” I said, ashamed to feel tears on my cheek.

  He wiped the tears off my cheeks with his thumb. “Alanna, it’s going to be ok, I promise.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t think it will be. He was going to kill me last night, but he changed his mind and gave me his blood, and it healed me. I don’t understand why he would have done that, unless he realized while feeding from me that I’m supposed to be his soul mate.”

  Quinten’s grip on me tightened. “You are not meant for him,” he growled angrily. “And if he tries to tell you that, don’t you dare believe him for even a minute. Someone as good as you isn’t meant for something so…vile, repulsive, and evil.”

  I snuggled closer to Quinten, glad for his warmth and protection. The moment was ruined by the opening of the door. The vampire guards entered, handling their cattle prods. “Alright, let’s go.”

  Tyl
er and Dennis rose, and I watched them leave. What were the chances that neither of them would return?

  An hour later, Tyler and Dennis both returned, looking even worse than they had after their last fight. Tyler had a strange look on his face, and he ignored me and collapsed onto his bed. He pressed his face into his pillow to muffle his cries, but I heard them anyways.

  Another couple disappeared, and only one returned half an hour later. She looked like a zombie, and no amount of prodding could get her to speak. Tyler told me that counting me and her, there were only three girls left in the fights. Most girls didn’t last long.

  Her partner had been her fiancé.

  A few minutes after she returned, she burst into tears, and became inconsolable. I glanced over at Quinten. Was that what was in store for us? Would I be the distraught, broken survivor? Would I be destroyed beyond repair?

  Quinten was speaking, and I realized he must have said my name more than once. “What?”

  “I asked if you were going to be able to fight later. You’re the only reason we survived our first fight and, without you, I think we’re both doomed.” He was listening to the girl’s choked sobs. They were horrible, and they would have made just about anyone uncomfortable.

  I sighed. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine by the time the fight comes around. We still have another hour or two I think. But just to be on the safe side, how about we get a little practice in? I don’t wanna be stiff for our match.”

  I slid off the cot and had to grip the side for support when my legs threatened to give out from under me. I caught my breath until I could stand without support. Me entire body was sore, and I figured it probably had to do with the fact that most of my blood had been drained last night.

  The human body wasn’t meant to sustain that kind of damage and remain fully functional. Thankfully, I wasn’t human. Something that would have almost undoubtedly killed a human was only an inconvenience to me. I’d be right as rain in a little bit, and my life would continue as if nothing had happened.

  Except I’d shared blood.

  Sharing blood with someone was a very intimate thing to do, even more so than sharing your body, and I hated that something like that had been done with Eli. Part of Eli was inside of me, right now, working its way through my veins. No matter how long I lived, I’d remember how it felt, how exposed I was. I didn’t think I could have even done something like that with somebody I trusted with my life.

  I’d kill Eli for what he’d done if it was the last thing I ever did. He didn’t get to abuse me the way he had and get away with it.

  I wobbled, and Quinten steadied me. “Do you need a minute to catch your breath?”

  I shook my head. “No, I’ll be fine.”

  “You better be. Because I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m blind,” he said. “Without you I’m completely lost.”

  “Don’t worry,” I said, trying to grin. “I’ll be your seeing eye dog.”

  “Oh, ha-ha. There’s nothing like cracking jokes in the face of almost certain death,” he scorned, but his lips were tilted up in the barest of smiles.

  I shook my head. “Come on. We can’t afford to waste our time like this. If we’re going to survive, we need to train.”

  He nodded, and the two of us found an empty corner in the room. Quinten’s punch and kick were better than I could have hoped for. All I could do was pray that his opponent would have heavy feet or harsh breathing.

  Quinten held his own, barley. If we fought older, more experienced people, we were doomed. I didn’t want to hope for children to fight, but unless that was what happened, there was a very real chance that we might lose. If that was the case, which of us would be sacrificed?

  I was a werewolf, capable of doing amazing things on the field. I’d be able to hold my own against almost any other competitor. But, Quinten was a blind human boy. How much entertainment would those monsters get by watching him fight without a guide?

  Finally, just after lunch, it was our turn. The vampire guards came for us, waving their cattle prods threateningly. I glared at them, refusing to show how terrified I actually was. We were on our way to our second flight, and I had no way of knowing how it would turn out.

  We reached the end of the tunnel, and once again I was overwhelmed by the sight of the stadium, and the roars of the cheering fans.

  The arena was empty, except for two very large, very muscular young men. They saw us, and one cracked his knuckles, and flexed his massive arms. The other leaned over and whispered something to his partner, causing them both to laugh. Judging by the looks they were giving Quinten, they’d most likely already heard that he was blind. They saw us as an easy win; I was going to make sure to prove them wrong.

  Eli was standing in his special little box section, eager for the fight to start. I wondered if another victory for us would end with me sitting across the dinner table from Eli, preparing myself for a second attack.

  Had he had his fill of me, or was he just getting started?

  Eli cleared this throat. “Gentlemen, listen please. Today, we have my new favorites in the arena, Alanna and Quinten. As you know, Quinten is our blind warrior-in-the-making, so I’ll need you all to be as silent as possible. Alright, let the fight begin.”

  The spectators in the stands fell silent, and the fight began.

  One of the two swung, and I ducked under it and spun around, facing him. Ray had taught me to always size up my opponents, never to rush in. That mistake led to getting either yourself or someone you loved killed. It was a mistake that I couldn’t afford to make.

  He circled around me, trying to do the same thing I was. One of us had to make a move soon, or I had a feeling that Eli would intervene, and he might use that gun of his.

  Quinten grunted in pain and my gaze shifted over to him. He was on the ground and the other man was on his back. He was pulling Quinten’s arms up behind him, trying to dislocate them.

  A foot slammed into my chest, and I landed hard in the dirt. His first connected with my face three times, and on the fourth hit I grabbed his wrist and twisted sharply, satisfied when the bone snapped and broke through the skin. He howled in pain, and leaned back to nurse his wrist.

  I freed a foot, and kicked him in the face as hard as I could. The nose was easy to break and it provided a good distraction because the eyes always started to run, temporarily blinding your opponent. He pressed a hand to his face, trying to stop the impressive flow of blood.

  I jumped to my feet and grabbed the back of his neck, and brought his head down hard, bringing my knee up to meet it. He staggered back and I punched as hard as I could.

  He fell to the ground, and spat up a mouthful of foamy blood. I kicked him twice in the ribs, disliking the feeling of kicking a man while he was down, before Quinten’s predicament caught my attention again.

  I ran over to tackle the man on top of Quinten. We hit the ground and he grunted in pain. I wrapped my arm around his throat, trying to choke him until he lost consciousness. He tried to wiggle out of my grasp and, when that failed, bit down into my right forearm.

  I bit back a scream of pain and flung him away from me. Quinten jumped on top of him before he could catch his breath, and grabbed both sides of his head. He slammed it down on the ground as hard as he could once, twice, three times. His eyes unfocused and closed, and his entire body went limp.

  His partner, forgotten until now, leapt on my back and sank his teeth into the side of my neck. It seemed teeth were a favorite weapon, since we weren’t allowed others, and they happened to be one of the deadliest ones that a normal human possessed. They didn’t break easily, they could be sharp, and they could tear.

  He wrapped an arm around my throat, and it cut off my scream. Quinten was on his feet and rushing to my side as fast as he could. He grappled with the remaining partner, trying to pry him off my back to give me time to recover.

  My vision started to fade around the edges, and I stopped struggling. What was the use? Even if we m
anaged to win this fight, there were still going to be others. There was a grunt of pain, and the arm around my throat relaxed enough for me to slide out of it. I turned around, and saw Quinten standing over the lifeless body of the remaining fighter.

  His neck was twisted at a strange angle, and Quinten’s hands were trembling. He was breathing harshly, and his eyes were blank. The crowd erupted into cheers, and he grimaced. Shakily, I got to my feet, and threw myself at him. He wrapped his arms tightly around my waist, but I had the feeling that it was almost like a reflex.

  He didn’t seem to notice anything around him but the cheering of the maniacal monsters sitting in the stands.

  “Quinten?” I asked, nuzzling his neck again. “Are you ok?”

  He nodded slowly. “Yeah, I think so,” he said hoarsely. “Are you ok?”

  “Yes, I’m fine. Thanks to you.”

  His arms tightened, and his entire body tensed. The vampire guards came to collect us, and we were once again shut into the bathrooms to shower. Thankfully Eli hadn’t come for me yet, and I began to hope that he’d gotten enough of me after our disastrous dinner.

  That wasn’t the case.

  He was waiting for me when I exited the bathroom. He was grinning from ear-to-ear, like a child on Christmas morning. “Congratulations. I must admit, I wasn’t expecting such an exciting finish. Your boy toy is quite the warrior now. The look on his face as he snapped that boy’s neck to protect you…it was simply marvelous. I didn’t think he–”

  “What do you want with me?”

  He frowned. “I don’t like it when I’m interrupted,” his voice held a low growl that sent shivers up my spine. “As to your question, I’ll get to it when I’m good and ready. Until then, you’ll do well to learn some manners.”

  I glared at him. “Or what? You’ll rip my throat out again.”

  He chuckled, which scared me more than if he’d screamed. “You know, Alanna, you have as much spunk as your mother did.”

  I growled, and threw myself at him. He reacted faster than I could blink, and I was pinned against the floor, with him on top of me. “Don’t test me, little girl,” he said, his hand trailing from my throat to my waist. “Or should I say woman?”

  I fought not to shudder.

  He leaned down, and licked the side of my neck. “I can feel your sweet blood pounding through your veins. It calls out to me, screaming. Do you know what it says?”

  I didn’t answer.

  “It says, ‘Bite me’. You have no idea how tempted I am to do that.”

  Finally, I couldn’t hold it back any longer.

  “Am I meant to be your soul mate?”

  He paused and cocked his head to one side. “My darling, what would make you think something like that?”

  “You had every intention of draining me dry, but you didn’t. You forced me to drink your disgusting blood, and you brought me back from the brink of death. Why would you do that unless my blood was meant for you?”

  He stood. “I’ll let you think about it for a while. It’ll be more fun that way. Until then,” he said, blowing me a kiss, “I leave you to your blind warrior.”

  I glared at him, trying to sit. “You son of a–”

  “Watch your language!” He barked. “I’d hate to have to cut that tongue out of that pretty little mouth of yours.”

  He was serious. If I misspoke again, he would do it. Tasting my blood had nothing to do with my tongue; I didn’t need it for what he had planned for me. This man was truly insane, and there was no limit to the horrible things he could and very likely would do to me.

  Eli left me lying there on the floor like garbage. When the vampire guards returned, they dragged me roughly to my feet, and led Quinten and I back to our holding cell.

  Quinten cried in his sleep that night. I knew, now from personal experience, that he was dreaming about the boy that he’d killed. While he was no twelve year old boy, he was an innocent person that had been thrust into the world of fighting to the death.

  I didn’t sleep either. I couldn’t. Our second fight had gone worse than the first. How bad would our third fight go? Would we finally lose? How much longer could Quinten and I keep going?