Death Match (The Lazarus Codex Book 5)

by E. A. Copen

  Emma laughed. “He likes you.”

  “Scooby needs a breath mint!” I pushed the dog down.

  We took a set of seats the row below Morningstar and his date while Spot sat at our feet, panting and drooling.

  “How long until Khaleda fights?” I asked.

  “She’s in the fourth round,” Morningstar answered from behind me. “I don’t expect it will be long.”

  Emma unfolded a blank sheet of paper from her pocket and held it out to me along with a pen. “For notes.”

  I hadn’t thought of taking notes. “Good idea.”

  A horn sounded somewhere in the arena and the crowd cheered. The first fight was about to begin.

  I strained to see through the heavy tree cover, but it was useless. There were too many trees, and too much white. “Who’s fighting first?”

  “Should be obvious momentarily,” Morningstar assured me. “Just watch.”

  In most fights I’d seen, there was almost always an announcer who introduced the fighter. Apparently, we weren’t going to get that here. The crowd was already on its feet, cheering so loud I couldn’t hear myself think, despite nothing seemingly happening.

  A loud roar cut through the arena, shaking the seats. The roaring crowd fell eerily silent. Wood creaked.

  One of the arena doors exploded in a hail of splinters and a hulking blue form charged out. He was taller than the tallest tree, dressed in minimal fur and armor. Judging by the thick muscle, he didn’t need much. It’d take a chainsaw to penetrate that hide. Huge hands gripped an ax that he swung with a roar, decapitating trees. Clouds of breath rushed from his nostrils, reminding me of a cartoon bull preparing to charge.

  “Holy shit,” I whispered. “Is that...?”

  “Frost giant.” Morningstar sounded completely unimpressed.

  I twisted in my seat. “I thought the Norse weren’t fighting?”

  He shrugged. “Loki declined to enlist a team, just like Baron Samedi and the Tengu. Yet you’re fighting. Individual fighters can pledge to any team, regardless of where they’re from.”

  I turned back around, thankful I wasn’t the one down in the arena with that thing. Whoever had drawn that short stick, I felt sorry for them.

  The frost giant tore through the arena, uprooting trees and tossing them aside, looking for his opponent. Guess the heavy tree cover worked both ways. We couldn’t see the other guy, and neither could the giant. I found myself inching toward the edge of my seat, hoping for a glance at whoever had the misfortune of being pitted against a giant.

  A shape moved, leaping from branch to another. It was just a shade lighter than the snow itself, and I would’ve missed it if I wasn’t focusing right on that spot, but there was no doubt I’d seen something else move down there. Whatever it was, I watched it leap to another tree. It was smart, keeping out of sight and trying to come at the giant from behind. That’d be the only way to take that thing down.

  The shape suddenly darted out from the tree line and charged the back of the giant’s legs. A tiger, I realized. Except this one was huge, twice the size of a normal tiger. Snow white with thin, black streaks, on all fours it was as tall as a man. With claws flashing, it rushed the giant and sank its teeth into the back of his right ankle.

  The giant let out a roar and swung his ax, but caught only snow and dirt. The tiger, however, held on as the giant spun, swatting at him. Laughter erupted from the crowd at the giant’s antics. Not exactly encouraging for the giant.

  Finally, the giant gave up on trying to cleave the tiger in two with the ax and just grabbed for him. The tiger wrenched his jaw—and the giant’s tendon—free. Red stained the snow. The giant tumbled. I cringed.

  He might’ve been down, but he wasn’t out. The tiger leaped onto the giant’s back and started clawing between his shoulder blades, ripping and tearing with everything he had. With a grunt, the giant rolled over onto his back, forcing the tiger to either move or be crushed. The tiger chose to move. He missed being crushed by the giant’s shoulder by inches. If the giant chose to roll over a second time, he wouldn’t be so lucky.

  Instead, the giant’s hand shot out and closed around the tiger. He squeezed, and a sickening pop echoed through the arena. The tiger made a desperate sound and then fell limp in the giant’s fist. Hushed silence spread through the arena seats as the giant stood with a grunt. He lifted the tiger’s corpse and let out a victory roar.

  In response, the crowd exploded. People surged to their feet with applause. Fists pumped in the air. Shouts of excitement drowned out the giant’s roar.

  I looked at the dead tiger and watched as the skin squirmed. Bones shifted. While everyone cheered, the tiger changed into a man.

  Anger rose in my gut and I tasted bile. It was senseless, all this killing. The Namer of Famine could’ve been decided any other way without the loss of lives. How many people would die in the arena? Gods, monsters, shifters... It didn’t matter to me that they weren’t strictly human. No one should’ve had to die for entertainment’s sake.

  Emma shook her head. “I knew it would be bloody, but this... That wasn’t even a fair fight.”

  “The odds weren’t in the shifter’s favor, no,” Morningstar said, leaning forward. “But odds alone do not decide the fight. He should’ve finished the frost giant off as soon as he went down by going for the neck instead of the back.”

  “With a thick neck like that?” Nikki said. “Doubt he’d have been able to bite through.”

  “From up here the tiger may have seemed small, but I assure you his teeth were large and sharp enough to penetrate the needed depth.”

  I thought I was going to be sick at the casual way they were discussing it, like we were talking about a bad call by a ref or something and not a dead man. Of course, Morningstar didn’t care about the dead man. He only cared that the frost giant had advanced and the tiger shifter hadn’t. If we had to go against the frost giant, I wondered if we could take him.

  Morningstar seemed to know what I was thinking. “Team of two, you and Khaleda. Your job would be to stand back and blast him with whatever spell necessary so she could get close. It’d be over fast. Three minutes tops.”

  I grunted. “You’ve got an awful lot of faith in her.”

  “Should I not?”

  I watched as a crew came out to shovel up the guts and bloody snow. “She’s talented, but she’s mortal. Even if you make her a Horseman, she’ll still be easy enough to take out with a well-placed bullet, or a spell. And you’ll be putting a target on her back. Not very fatherly of you.”

  Morningstar chuckled. “Three months a father and you think you can counsel me on how to raise a daughter.”

  I twisted to shoot him a murderous glare. “I would never risk Remy’s life to further my own agenda. I don’t use people. I help people.”

  “Sure,” he said, shrugging. “That’s why you impregnated the Summer Princess of all people. Funny how you wound up with the child after all that. Did Titania not put up a fight? And just imagine what kind of power she’ll have. You’d never train her up to use those powers for good.”

  “That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

  “Then you are advancing your own agenda. Just because it differs from mine doesn’t change that.” He rolled his shoulders. “Everything you have done has been to advance your agenda, Horseman. Even when you took my daughter to your bed. Agenda. Prove me wrong.”

  Oh, you bastard. “It wasn’t like that.” I turned to Emma who was shifting uncomfortably. “Forget him. He’s full of shit. It wasn’t like that at all.”

  “Are you calling my daughter a whore? How hypocritical of you. Just how many women have come and gone from your life in the last six months alone? Three? And how many of them had a happy ending? At least one of them is dead, if I recall. Your doing?”

  Nikki pursed her lips and shook her head in disapproval.

  Emma shot to her feet, prompting Spot to do the same. “I think I’ve seen and heard enough.”

>   I stood. “Emma, don’t let him get to you.”

  She turned and glared at me. It felt more like she was glaring through me. If her gaze had been any more intense, I would’ve burst into flames. “It’s not just him that’s getting to me.” She tugged on Spot’s leash. “If anyone needs me, I’ll be with the only male on the team that isn’t thinking with his dick.”

  I watched her go against the sound of another match getting started below, knowing I should’ve gone after her. Yet if I did, she’d yell at me, and I’d be leaving Morningstar unprotected. Anyone could show up and kill him while I was trying to iron out my personal life. I needed to stay where I was.

  “God dammit, Morningstar.” I turned on him, hands drawn into fists. As long as I didn’t kill him, I could beat him up all I wanted.

  He smirked. “I take it she didn’t know about your little romp with Khaleda? You know, a man ought not to keep secrets from those he cares about.”

  I took a step toward him.

  Nikki stood in my way, arms crossed, her face sour. As much as I wanted to hit Morningstar, I wasn’t going to go through her to get to him.

  Morningstar sighed. “Go after her. I don’t need to be guarded. I’ve survived this long. I will survive this. Your budding romance with the detective, however, may not.”

  I studied Nikki. She looked more than capable of kicking my ass, let alone anyone else who tried to start something. Plus, the arena had security posted at every entrance, and Morningstar himself was no pushover.

  After grounding out another curse, I collected my staff and rushed after Emma.

  As I rounded the corner going out of the arena and into the hallway, someone lowered a blade against my neck, bringing me to a halt.

  “Hello, Lazarus,” said Haru’s familiar voice. “We need to have a chat.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Cold steel bit into my neck as Haru stepped back, forcing me along with him. I thought about what I could do to get away since he was likely dragging me into an alcove to slit my throat. Maybe I could stomp on his foot, or elbow him, but he’d just slit my throat anyway. He’d never have gotten the drop on me if I’d been paying attention instead of chasing Emma. If I wanted to walk away from this, I’d have to convince him that killing me wasn’t in his best interests.

  He pulled me into a small recess and tapped on the wall. Stone ground against stone, the sound of a door sliding aside.

  “If you’re looking to disqualify my team, you’ve got the wrong guy,” I said. “Morningstar’s our strategist, and you’ll need more than your tiny knife to kill him.”

  “Oh, I’m not the least bit concerned with Morningstar. He’ll have his day. First, I need to deal with his pet Horseman.”

  We backed into a dark room and the stone wall slid back into place in front of me.

  I gritted as my neck burned. “If you’re going to kill me, then just fucking do it.”

  “You’ve got balls, Lazarus. I’ll give you that.” He pulled the knife away from my throat and left me standing alone in the dark.

  I spun and lifted my staff across my body, expecting the attack that came from behind. Something impacted my staff with a loud crack, pushing it aside. Pain erupted in my skull as the same thing struck the side of my head just above my ear. I blinked away the flashing lights and swung my staff at where he should’ve been but found only air.

  “Come on, man. They said you were good.”

  Other side. I swung the staff around blindly, trying to pinpoint him by the sound of his voice. If he was moving, he sure as hell wasn’t making any other sounds. For all my swinging, I never caught him once.

  A leg hooked my ankle and pulled. My chin met the hard floor and bounced, rattling my whole body.

  “This is the guy who killed five gods and a faerie queen?”

  He was right on top of me. I forced myself to roll over and lifted the staff with both hands. Wood thumped against it and held. I could practically feel his smile.

  “There you are,” Haru said.

  “What do you want from me?” I pushed his stick back and swung low, hoping to catch his feet. I felt it thump against something and Haru let out a curse. Gotcha. But he leaped out of the way before I could get in a good strike. In the inky darkness, I had no idea where he’d come at me from again.

  “Anyone ever teach you how to use that thing?”

  I swung to the right. Miss.

  “It’s not a baseball bat, you know.”

  Left swing, high. Nothing.

  “You have no finesse. It’s insulting, really.”

  The end of whatever stick he was using slammed into my back with enough force to send me tumbling to my knees. How the fuck was he moving around without making any noise? And how was he doing it so fast? I needed a way to track him in the darkness.

  Of course, I thought and almost smacked myself in the head before Haru could. It should’ve been obvious.

  I closed my eyes and called up my Soul Vision. A single silver soul bobbed against the darkness, as bright as a sun. There you are, asshole.

  The soul spun. He was coming in for another strike.

  Not this time. I thrust my staff forward, flat along the floor and swung up as hard as I could.

  It impacted exactly where and how I intended it to. Haru gasped out a high-pitched, desperate sound. His weight slammed against the staff and forced it to the floor. The double thuds that followed must’ve been his knees.

  Dim light appeared in the chamber from a set of oil lamps on the wall, revealing Haru curled in a ball on the floor, cupping his groin.

  “I don’t need finesse,” I said, retrieving my staff and kicking aside the bamboo sword he’d been smacking me with. “I’ve got the bigger stick. Chew on that, asshole.”

  Clapping from behind made me turn. I found the two Tengu from before sitting in a pair of chairs, both of them slapping their wings together in a rustling clap. “Bravo,” said the first.

  “Well done, taking him down a peg,” agreed the second.

  “That was a cheap shot,” Haru growled.

  I looked over my shoulder at where he’d just begun to uncurl. “No such thing as a cheap shot in a fight. Honor is all well and good in romance novels, but even an idiot like me knows it’s the first thing to go out the window in a real fight.”

  “There is wisdom in what he says, Haru.” The first Tengu stood and pressed his palms together. “All war is deception.”

  I nodded. “Sun Tzu.”

  “He reads,” observed the second Tengu.

  “Lots of down time in prison,” I said with a shrug. “Do I have to fight you guys now, or what?”

  The second Tengu snickered and stood. “Perhaps one day, but not today. You’ve proven yourself.”

  I didn’t see how. The only thing I’d proven in the last few minutes was that I could take a hit and get back up. Both Tengu closed on me, cutting off any chance I had at escape. They’d said they wouldn’t attack me, but that had come right after a quote on deception. I gripped my staff and prepared to defend myself. Chances were good I’d lose that fight, but at least I’d go down fighting.

  “You have earned the right to speak,” said the first Tengu. “So speak.”

  I shifted my gaze from one to the other. “What am I speaking about?”

  Behind me, Haru finally picked himself up off the floor. “Were you involved in Chernobog’s murder?”

  “What?” I turned to face him. “Are you nuts?”

  He lifted his head, revealing a grin. “Maybe. Just the same, give us a yes or no.”

  I met his eyes and held them. “No.”

  “And Gala’s murder?” asked one of the Tengu behind me.

  “Absolutely not. Look, I’m here looking into that. To be honest, I thought you were behind it.” I gestured to War.

  He grunted and adjusted his belt. “I don’t need to cheat to win this. It’s practically cheating just by allowing me to fight. I’m almost a sure win.”

  “Cocky son
of a bitch, aren’t you?”

  Haru spread his arms wide and took a bow. “I can back it all up in a fight, as you just learned. Imagine if I’d used my real sword instead of my practice sword. What is it you Americans say? Your ass would be mine.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “Buddy, I don’t want your sword anywhere near my ass.”

  The Tengu on my right swept around to stand next to Haru. “The point is you two came to the same conclusion independent of one another. No one but a Horseman could be behind these attacks. If it isn’t you two, then that leaves only one other.”

  “Pestilence,” I said, nodding.

  I’d thought it was too obvious. If she was the one pulling all this, she was stupid. The deaths had her fingerprints on all of them. That’s why I’d thought it was War. He seemed smart enough to try and frame her at least.

  I huffed out a breath. “Okay, it’s kind of obvious, isn’t it?”

  “I dismissed it for that very reason,” Haru said and bent to collect his bamboo sword. “I’ve met Pestilence, and she’s no idiot. To do something so obvious isn’t in her nature. But I thought perhaps it might be in yours to frame her.”

  “I thought the same thing about you.”

  Haru and I stared at each other a moment before he lifted an eyebrow. “Well, obviously, you were wrong.”

  “This gets us nowhere,” said one of the Tengu. “You must go and see Pestilence.”

  “Yes,” added the other. “Together, you will be safer.”

  Haru made a gagging sound. “Do we have to?”

  “Problem.” I raised a finger to the air. “If we go and question Pestilence, she’s going to know the jig is up. My team could be targeted next.”

  “Your team?” Haru sneered. “You’re hardly a threat. She’ll come after me, and I can’t let that happen.”

  “Either way, it’s a bad thing to let her know we’re onto her. Why don’t we just talk to the gods? Someone higher up should step in.”

  The Tengu shook their beaks in unison. “They cannot. They will not. As Horsemen, it is your duty to confront threats from within and without.”