by Leia Stone
“How you doing? Lincoln said he’s sending another healer for the next few fights, and he and Noah will come for the last two and fully patch us up.”
She looked awful, bruised and bloody, probably how I’d look if I checked the mirror, but her spirit wasn’t broken, that I could see. She hated this school, these asshole kids. They’d made their mark on her in her short time here, and she hadn’t forgotten.
“I’m ready for a three-week vacation in Hawaii, but I’m good.” She grinned and her healed lip cracked, dripping blood onto her teeth.
“Looks like you girls are in need of a healer,” a familiar female voice trilled.
I spun in my seat to see Mrs. Greely standing there, clutching her tan purse and looking like a poodle in a pit bull shop.
“Mrs. Greely! You came.” I stood and pulled her in for a hug even though it hurt. When she moved back, she smoothed my hair.
“Of course, dear. Raphael had to bribe the border guards a bit, but I’m here.”
Raphael took part in bribing Demon City border guards? Now, that I would have paid to see.
Mrs. Greely made quick work of resetting and healing my pinky, then moved on to Shea’s elbow. It was hit with some type of damaging spell. A ton of these students were Dark Mages, and they’d clearly been throwing premade spells their advanced teachers had crafted.
During my most recent fight, I’d squared off with a Centaur, hence the split eyebrow. He’d kicked me right in the face! We were lucky each competitor had submitted and we’d yet to have to kill anyone, but I doubted the entire night would go that way.
Shea leaned into me. “The others are getting tired too. We need to be explosive, go big right off the bat, and end these next few quickly.”
It was a good plan, but harder when reality didn’t pan out that way.
“What do you have in mind?” I mused, thinking she may have some plan to use our weapons. The announcer had stopped asking us to put them in the center of the room after it became obvious Sera was loyal to only me.
“Remember that black whip thing you did on the Succubus demon?” Shea recalled.
I shivered. I hated that I was using my dark magic to win these fights. It was also depleting my energy quickly.
“Yeah, assuming I can just do that again,” I retorted.
“Next few fights, the second the buzzer sounds, just lash out with that whip. I’ll create a magical shield of sorts to keep any spells from hitting us.”
It was a good plan that hinged on me being able to just conjure up the whip like I did it all the time.
‘You don’t need the whip. Let me at them and I’ll cut them to pieces!’ Sera screamed.
I snickered to myself. I didn’t like to admit it, but my dark magic was extremely easy to call forth now, so I was betting I could do it. Sera was amazing, but using her required me to get very close to my opponent to cause serious damage. I needed to save Sera’s power for our final fight. She was susceptible to fatigue the same as me, and she wasn’t getting power boost lozenges.
“Worth a try,” I told Shea.
“Shall we bring our pretty angels back in the ring!” the announcer boomed.
He’d nicknamed us “angels,” which couldn’t be farther from the truth.
It hit me then, how messed up the world had become. We were participating in a televised fight to the death to win money that could buy a human being’s slave contract back. As if a human should even be kept a slave in the first place.
“Good luck, girls. I’ll try to stay as long as I can,” Mrs. Greely stated, though already she looked positively green. No doubt this was her first time in Demon City.
What was so wrong with me that I could stand to live in Demon City without being affected? Shit, I’d even walked through Hell without much discomfort—what did that say about me as a person?
‘It says your Lucifer powers allow it. That’s all. Do you overthink everything?’ Sera asked.
I groaned. ‘Do you listen to all of my deeply personal thoughts or just some of them?’ I snapped back.
‘Pretty much all of them. It’s my only form of entertainment,’ she retorted.
A chuckle escaped me, I couldn’t help it.
“Come on, crazy lady.” Shea dragged me up.
Whoops. I’d forgotten the task at hand. If I was ever stranded on a desert island and could only take one item, it would definitely have to be Sera. She’d amuse me until we both died of thirst.
‘I don’t drink water,’ she interjected.
‘Hush. It’s go time,’ I told my infinity weapon.
As we entered the ring, I relaxed a little. We were up against Steph and Ben. They looked beat, Steph holding a hastily wrapped hand to her chest and Ben limping. I guessed they weren’t able to afford a healing demon.
They’d said they wouldn’t fight us, not for real. But trust was a fickle thing. I didn’t want to put my guard down too much, and then have them come out swinging full throttle.
As with the other times, the gate slammed, the fence electrified, and the buzzer sounded all within seconds. Just like that, the fight had begun.
Shea and I shared a look, and I decided to trust. Maybe it was because I wanted to embrace my lighter side and have faith. I didn’t let the black whip come shooting out like I’d promised Shea. Instead I held Sera up and she shot a concentrated beam of light into Steph’s thigh, making her drop to the ground screaming.
Ben burst forward and loosed an arrow at Shea’s head, but it went over, missing her by mere inches.
Was that miss intentional?
I knew it would need to look real in order for them to save face after we left, but I didn’t want to seriously injure them.
‘Don’t hurt her too badly,’ I told Sera, and then my wings burst from my back and I launched into the air. The tips of my wings hit the edges of the cage, and a slight shock zipped through my shoulders.
Argh, freaking electrified fence!
I tucked my wings in a bit and sailed over Steph’s crumpled form, landing behind her. Gripping her hair in my hand, I held Sera to her neck.
‘Just enough to draw blood,’ I instructed.
I felt Sera pull forward and nick Steph’s throat, a single drop of blood falling.
“I submit!” Stephanie screamed.
The crowd booed. It was a short and easy fight, but I was grateful. I wanted to thank her, hug her, tell her my mom and I were so grateful.
Instead, I just lowered my knife, letting Ben scoop her up and walk away without even glancing in my direction.
A part of my childhood died then, watching my two old school friends walk out of a ring where I’d just tried to kill them. After the night was over, I’d never be coming back, and I’d probably never see Steph or Ben again.
I just hoped they knew how grateful I was.
The next two fights were hell on my body and my mind. When the freaking psycho Necromancer and Beast Shifter we’d been fighting finally submitted, I burst into tears. The adrenaline surges and exhaustion were getting to me, and I could feel my sanity waxing and waning.
“We have a submission!” the announcer roared rather dully, like he wanted more blood.
The door to the cage burst open and the Necromancer and Beast Shifter scurried out, looking back at my black whip hand and me like I was the devil.
Shea’s whimper in the corner drew my gaze to find her holding her chest. I glared at the Necro’s back and went to help my friend.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, tears streaming down my face.
“I think he chipped my collarbone,” she gritted out.
I wanted to give up. I wanted to pick up my best friend, fly her out of there, and never speak of the day we’d entered this stupid fight again. I wanted to die.
“All right, fighters! One last fight left, between our sweet angel girls and two of the most powerful students we have at this school—Nadia and Gor!”
The color drained from Shea’s face.
“What?�
� I breathed.
“It’s the Dark Mage who beat up your brother and her Beast Shifter boyfriend. He’s a panther,” Shea replied.
I probably needed therapy, because at her words, I got excited. The girl who beat up my brother? The chick from the day we signed up for the fight? Oh, I was going to wipe the floor with her. I didn’t care how bad I felt.
A blur of blonde hair passed in front of me and then Noah’s glowing golden hands were there, pulling Shea into his arms.
“Hey, baby.” He winked at her.
She totally swooned, broken collarbone or not, and we left the cage.
“Where’s Lincoln?” I asked excitedly. After Mrs. Greely surprised us by being able to stick it out and heal us for two fights, we’d agreed Lincoln and Noah should only come for the last round. They’d heal us up big-time right before, and then they would have enough energy to get us out of there when it was over. There was no way I could drive in the shape I was in at the moment.
Noah was pushing through the crowd to where Chloe and Luke were keeping our little ghetto healing spot free. Some of Chloe’s dad’s Nightbloods were manning our corner like security guards manned the door of her dad’s bar.
Noah didn’t say anything. Did he not hear me?
“Noah, Lincoln said he would be here for the last fight. Is he okay?” Maybe the time he’d spent over here earlier had wiped him out too much.
“He’s fine. He’ll come when he can.” Noah wasn’t meeting my eyes. Something was wrong. Lincoln would never miss my final fight. Ever.
“Noah, whatever your last name is, you tell me everything right this instant.” I grabbed his arm. Hard.
‘I’m very good at extracting information from people,’ Sera informed me.
Noah set Shea onto the sleeping bag and held his glowing hands over her collarbone. Then he looked behind me at the lingering demons and other general bad people and widened his eyes.
“Can you step into my office?” he said through clenched teeth.
Oh. It was a secret.
Every single muscle in my body, including the ones I didn’t know I’d had before that day, screamed as I knelt next to him and leaned in to get as close as I could.
“What is it? I’m freaking out,” I whispered.
Noah held my gaze for a moment, and I couldn’t help but remark at how beautiful his green eyes were. “Someone… attacked your mom. Tried to kill her. He—”
A strangled cry left my throat and Shea gasped.
“Is she okay?” I managed. The room swam as I threatened to pass out. I’d been running on adrenaline since that morning, and it was finally catching up with me.
Noah reached out and grasped my hand. “She’s shaken up but totally okay. She called Mikey, who called Lincoln. He’s there now, and killed the demon that tried to hurt her. We just need you girls to win this fight as quickly as possible, so we can get your mom, and get the hell out of here.”
My blood was boiling. The first thing that came to my mind was Grim. That motherfucker put a hit out on my mom so even if I won and transferred him the money, I wouldn’t walk away happy. I felt it in my bones. It was him.
I’d been angry before at times in my life, but never had I been so livid. My wings snapped out of my back against my will, sending Chloe scurrying against the far wall.
“I’m going to kill him,” I rumbled.
Noah looked at my wings, horrified. “Calm down. You’re….”
“Smoking,” Shea finished, pointing at my wings.
I glanced down at the tips of my wings to see black smoke curling off the ends.
Good.
Standing, I looked down at Shea. “Let’s finish this.”
You mess with my family, then you’re going to get my full wrath.
Chapter Nineteen
Nadia and Gor looked positively ready to throw down. They had tears in their clothes and some crusted blood on their body, but otherwise they looked injury free. They’d definitely had a healer demon at their disposal.
“What kind of name is that anyway? Gor?” I asked Shea as we made our way to the cage. I’d allowed Noah to do a little healing on me, but the rage and adrenaline were working wonders to keep me from feeling any pain.
The big hairy brute was disrobing, which meant he was probably going to—yep, he was shifting.
Awesome.
“It’s short for Gordon. He’s an asshole. I’m so ready to kill them both, get your mom, and go home.” Shea grunted as we moved through the crowd.
Reaching out, I grabbed her hand and she turned to meet my gaze.
“Thank you. There’s no one else I could count on for this.”
Shea smiled and I ignored the blood on her teeth. “You’re my ride or die, bitch. I love you.”
I laughed and then winced. Add a broken rib to my list of maladies.
My eyes flicked to the black panther pacing the cage, as the crowd erupted in bloodthirsty screams.
“I’ll take the Beast, you get the Mage?” I asked her. She was much more adept at handling a magic user than I was.
“Gladly,” Shea responded, tightening her grip on the semicircular blades in her hands. Purple magic flowed from her wrists and surrounded the sharp edges.
We were both tired as hell and sore and… done. This needed to be a quick and ruthless fight—I wanted it to be, anyway—but something was nagging at my conscience. These were just kids. Or young adults. Whatever. They were fighting for money and a better station in life. Granted, they were all pretty much assholes and evil, but that was because they’d had to grow up here. This shithole Demon City didn’t allow you to dream of anything else. They were doing the best they could with what they’d been given.
Oh God, what the hell am I doing? Softening my heart to these people right before I have to—
The buzzer sounded.
I was so conflicted that I wanted to throw up. Where were the new thoughts coming from?
The pink-haired mage launched a purple ball of magic right at me and I dropped to the ground, rolling away from it. Seeing me on the ground, the panther decided to pounce.
‘You’re a good person. It’s okay to feel sorry for them, but you also need to grab hold of your self-preservation, or we’re about to die!’ Sera yelped as the panther burst into the air and landed on top of me before I could get up.
She was right. What the hell was I doing having a crisis of conscience right now? I thrust Sera up into the animal’s abdomen right as his jaw clamped around my right shoulder.
Sharp pain pierced my shoulder, and the panther and I both howled at the same time.
I had to put this moral dilemma out of my head and survive the match. My fight or flight system officially kicking in, I tucked my leg back as far as I could, wedged my boot underneath the panther’s belly, and kicked out hard, launching him off me. He sailed across the space, taking Sera with him. I’d left her stuck in his gut. When he landed, he immediately pawed at her, ripping her out with one good swipe.
Plan B.
I didn’t want to do this again. Using the dark magic so often was messing with me, making me feel hopeless and depressed whenever I called it up, but I didn’t see any other way. With a deep breath, I called my black magic whip; it flared and grew out of my hand like a snake, and the crowd roared. The inky black energy that coursed along the edges of the whip sizzled as they made their way to the tip.
I reared my hand back, ready to flick the whip at the panther, when something red caught my eye. Too late, I turned to see a rosy spell crash into my chest. Shea screamed in frustration, and launched herself at the Mage while I was overcome with dizziness.
Shit.
Plan C.
The cage was spinning, and suddenly I wasn’t sure if the panther before me was truly there or off to my right. Maybe my left. Either way, he was stalking closer, and I felt like I was falling over. I spread my legs apart in an effort to steady myself, and lashed out at the spot where I thought the animal was. I missed. He was sti
ll coming at me.
I didn’t want to risk hurting Shea, so I backed up a bit farther to give myself a moment to gather my thoughts, my wings hitting the electric fence. Again. A cry of frustration left my throat, and I sucked my wings back into my body. Lashing out again, I was rewarded with a panther’s yelp as my whip connected with something.
“Dizzy spell, Shea!” I shouted, hoping that made sense to her. I didn’t have the energy to form complete sentences. Suddenly, two purple glowing balls flew through the air and crashed into me. Shea’s magic. My vision cleared at once, just in time to see the panther arc through the air, jaw open and teeth glistening with saliva.
I flicked my wrist, wrapping the whip securely around his neck in one quick movement. When I tightened the hold, he cried out, falling to the floor.
‘Cut his head off!’ Sera shouted.
His catlike green eyes bored into me and I faltered.
“I don’t want to kill you, but I will,” I shouted, pulling the whip tighter as puffs of smoke rose from around his neck.
At my declaration, the whip started to slowly turn white. A bright Celestial glowing fire left my palm, and pulsed down the whip, changing its color.
‘What the hell is that?’ I asked Sera, hoping she was seeing this even though she didn’t have eyes, and was on the floor in the corner.
‘Angel fire. Just as deadly. I told you that you didn’t need your dark magic.’ I detected pride in her voice.
I’d called up Celestial magic, I didn’t have to be dark, or use dark magic to be a badass!
The white fire licked down the rope, alarmingly close to his face.
“We submit!” Nadia screamed, her voice was heavy with defeat.
The victory buzzer sounded and the cage door opened.
We’d won.
Shock ripped through me as I called the whip back, letting it fall away from the panther’s neck.
My mom was free, and we’d freaking won. I’d never have to come back to this retched place again. I wanted to cry, I wanted a nap, I wanted so many things.
I sagged against the now unelectrified wall of the cage in relief.
My eyes tracked the Abrus demon, the silver-haired man entered the cage holding a tablet.