As soon as he entered the room, his gaze found hers. Fury burned in his eyes. She flinched thinking he knew what she’d done with Aidan then remembered it wasn’t aimed at her. Still, she had to fight the urge not to rub at the spot where she’d been bitten.
Aidan strode back towards her. He dared to rest his hand on her shoulder as if they were friends...or lovers. “We’ve reached an agreement, fallen king Alrik. You will fight in the challenge with us. Winner takes the human Abbigail.”
She could see the change come over Alrik. His body suddenly relaxed and an eager glint came to his eyes. A slow, cruel smile split his lips. “As you wish,” he said.
Abby shivered at the promise in his voice, but apparently nobody else heard the threat or if they did they weren’t bothered by it.
An hour later, Abbigail sat glued to the edge of her seat, her hands squeezing tight to the seat, and her entire body leaning forward at the action. She’d never seen anything like this. She’d thought the challenge would be orderly, regulated. Perhaps one on one and the winner proceeds to the neck round.
No, no, no. She was wrong, very wrong.
At the order “go” from Aidan, the men set loose amongst each other. Magic bursts flared, flashed, and scorched as punches, kicks and elbows were thrown. Blood splattered the floor making it look like someone had taken a bucket of fake blood and thrown it on the floor to make it look like a fake crime scene. Or even a real one. She’d seen a few that were this bloody. But to see the crime, so to speak, take place was...utterly riveting.
She didn’t know why but she couldn’t take her eyes off the sight of tall, strong, healthy men beating the crap out of each other. They fought as if their lives were on the line. Ignoring the fact that their lives weren’t on the line and they were fighting over her, Abby barely blinked. Time kept passing and those who were hurt and didn’t get up were dragged out of the makeshift ‘arena’ by others who’d been taken out.
Not only was it terrifying to see such brutal violence—the men held nothing back—they pummeled each other with all their mighty strength and called up deadly spells. Screams and grunts echoed in the hall. This bizarre excitement must have been what it felt like to sit in a gladiator arena. It was awful watching bones break and blood spurt but it was thrilling at the same time. Her heart felt like it could beat right out of her chest at any moment. After a while, she stopped wincing at every awful sound and bloody spurt and grew used to it.
And, Alrik was winning.
She couldn’t stop the swell of pride in her chest. Her man was winning!
Her gaze had barely left him the entire fight. Most ganged up on him at first, but he’d taken down many. He was surprisingly swift and lethal using a combination of spells, elbows, and knees to his advantage. He used the hardest of his bones and was probably responsible for most of the blood on the floor. The men eventually stopped targeting him as they turned on each other, each desperate for the prize. She stifled a nasty shiver at that thought.
Yet, on the opposite side of the arena, slowly working his way in was Aidan. He moved so fast she barely saw him. It was the vampirism that made him fast and agile. One man with short black hair stood against him, legs parted, knees bent, his fists clenched and a stoic expression on his face. They were at a face off.
Aidan swept behind him in a haze so fast she barely saw it. Really all she made out was the black blur of his long hair. He made it behind the demon and kicked out both the demon’s knees, but as the demon collapsed to the ground, he spun around fast, and with a scissor kick took Aidan down with him.
The fight turned brutal then, as if it already wasn’t. The men grappled hand to hand. Necks straining as one choked the other, knees and chests shifting each trying to gain the upper hand and toss the other below him. They flipped and rolled. Aidan came out on top. The demon squeezed tree-trunk sized legs around his waist and she sucked in a breath as if her own oxygen was being squeezed from her. Aidan’s face turned red, his nostrils flared.
Finally, he slid his hands up and through the grip on his neck, grabbed the demon’s wrists and bent them backwards. The demon below him howled at the cracking sound. Even Abby flinched as his wrists flopped uselessly. Aidan stood, ready to move on to another foe as the demon was dragged off by the other losers.
This was way too exciting. Just what was wrong with her? She shouldn’t enjoy these grown, handsome, scary men fighting for her, but she totally did. Sick as it was, this was the coolest thing she’d ever witnessed in her life.
The fighting continued and no surprise to her, but Alrik and Aidan were down to the last five. Three demons stood between them but she knew where this was going. Judging by the demon’s quieting around the arena as they watched, they knew it too. They halted their jeers and cheers to watch the fight.
Alrik spoke deep and low, fast. Black skeletal fingers grew out of the ground and climbed up the demon launching at him. The demon screamed, his eyes widening with terror at the black, bony arms. They were attached to nobody yet seemed to slow him down. He fought them, grabbing them and throwing them to the ground but they kept coming. Alrik must have known the man had just lost because he turned and engaged the next demon, this time using pure strength with teeth-jarring kicks and crunching punches.
Abby’s gaze darted from one fight to the other. Aidan fought against the other demon. The demon was good and held his own against Aidan’s moves—he’d made it this far for a reason.
Alrik seemed to be slowing down, his movements not as fast as they’d been when he started. Not that she could blame him, after an hour of full-on war she’d be exhausted let alone still able to fight.
The demon Alrik had fought fell to the ground screaming as the black hands covered every inch of him. Finally, he screamed, “I’m out!”
At once the hands stopped then slithered back into the ground through some invisible force.
Now only four were left. She knew this would happen the second this all started. It would come down to Alrik and Aidan, two strong and passionate men.
Abby bit on her fingernails, tearing them as anxiety built.
Then suddenly something completely different happened. Aidan said something; it was too soft and faraway for her to hear, but all the fighting stopped.
Huh?
The two demons and Aidan shifted, turning towards Alrik. Abby stood, her eyes flaring at what she saw. Those cheating bastards!
All three turned on Alrik and jumped. She screamed as he went down to the ground, the floor shaking with a boom. She could hardly see what was happening through the flurry of fists, jabbed knees, and head-butts. She just saw it was all happening to Alrik.
Before she knew what she was about, she ran down the stairs and flew to the mass of fighting men. The sound of flesh hitting flesh grew louder. She heard shouts coming at her and knew they’d try to stop her, but she couldn’t stop. They were killing him.
Heart in her throat, she ran as hard as she could. Without any real plan, she reached the group. Aidan must have sensed her, or heard one of the demon’s yell something for he pulled back. Little did he know he just made himself a target. Abby jumped.
His arms came around her in a protective way to shield her from hitting the floor, which meant he landed on bottom. Good. She wouldn’t be surprised if her eyes glowed red right now with how angry she was. She was pissed the fuck off.
They were lousy, no good cheaters!