Mercutio pulled the gate open and I slid through, heading straight for the control box—the only available cover. The mage followed me, not bothering to even shut the gate behind him. What good would it have done? The chain was broken. If anyone came out here, they were going to see it. The gate being shut wouldn’t make a lick of difference.
My heart hammered against my chest. The drydock was only a sprint away from where we were standing, and I couldn’t spot any guards, sentries, or patrols roaming the area. I guessed they relied on their magic protections to keep the place free of intruders. That, and the kind of people that came here probably wouldn’t want to miss fights on account of guard duty.
I nodded at Mercutio, and together we sped closer to the drydock. There was still no sign of Draven, and that gave me reason to worry. Had he been caught? Killed? As I drew closer to the Arena, I started to run through the possibilities in my head, and I found myself… feeling. For all the animosity I had against Draven, all the hurt he’d caused me, I couldn’t stomach the thought that he might be dead right now.
I didn’t want that for him.
By the time we reached the drydock’s outer wall, it sounded like we’d breached the spell containing the sound floating out of this place. Already I could hear the roar of a crowd, the thuds of fists flying and bones snapping, and the ripping chords of classic rock guitars. There wasn’t just sound pushing out of the drydock, but also heat. It was already so hot, and we hadn’t even gone inside yet.
“Can you sense if Romeo is in there?” I asked.
Mercutio put his hand against the wall and shut his eyes. There were no glowing sigils this time, no floating lights, only a man trying to concentrate on seeing something with his sixth sense. His eyes shot open after a moment and he sucked in a deep breath of air like he’d just woken up from a nightmare.
“He’s inside,” Mercutio said, breathing deeply, “But he’s hurt real bad. I need to get in there.”
I grabbed him by the shoulder. If I hadn’t, he’d have burst right through the metal door into the Arena and who knows what would’ve happened to him? “I know you want to save your friend, I do too, but we need to be careful. We don’t know what’s in there.”
“I do. Bunch of assholes and punks preying on the people weaker than them. They probably already know we’re here, so fuck it, let’s blow this place open.”
“But we don’t actually know if we’ve been spotted yet. Have you seen any guards? Anyone heading to the gate to check things out? No. That means they either didn’t spot us, or they’re all busy doing something else. Just follow my lead, okay?”
Mercutio agreed to follow me, but I could tell he wasn’t happy about it. I inched along the wall, getting closer to the door that looked like the only way into or out of the drydock—at least, without going all the way around it. I made another quick scan of the sky hoping to spot Draven and his black wings, but he wasn’t up there.
Dammit, Draven. Where the fuck are you?
Carefully, with my heart pounding against my throat, I reached for the door handle and turned it. Before I could push it open, someone yanked it hard from the other side. I let go of the handle before it pulled me along too and pressed my back against the wall, hoping whoever had just opened it hadn’t seen me.
Someone came charging out. No, not charging; stumbling out. A big guy, easily six foot, bare chested, and covered in scratch marks and blood started to topple like a tree about to fall, until finally gravity won the fight and he stumbled to the floor. From the other side of the door, a whole gaggle of laughter burst out.
An instant later, a second guy came rushing through the door. He was also huge, he was covered in blood and scratch marks, and also… bite marks? I watched this guy, this massive, ginger-haired beast wail on the guy on the floor as he tried to get up. Knuckles were flying, knees were smashing, and blood was going everywhere.
I didn’t know where to look or where to move to, but then instinct took over, and I acted.
“Voyda,” I whispered. My stone powered up, magic worked through me like a rush of adrenaline, and my mantle of invisibility descended upon me. It wasn’t until the two brutes stopped fighting and looked directly at me, their mouths and fists covered in blood, that I realized.
It wasn’t me they were staring at. I was invisible to their senses—I could see it in the way their eyes weren’t directly fixed on me.
Though I was invisible, I’d left Mercutio out in the open.
“Who the fuck are you?” the burly, ginger guy blurted out.
Fuck, fuck, fuck! Mercutio was on his own, and now more people were filing out of the main door to the Arena, no doubt wondering why the fight had stopped. With every fresh body that joined us out here, things got a little further out of control. I had to find a way to de-escalate things before it all got wor—Mercutio raised his gun and aimed it at the guy speaking to him.
Great.
“Stay back,” he warned.
“Or you’ll shoot me with that pea shooter?” ginger guy barked. He sniffed the air. “Not even silver!”
“It might not be silver, but it sure as shit is magic, and it’ll fucking hurt.”
He pointed at Mercutio and started advancing. “It’ll hurt me, but I’ll kill you.”
Mercutio fired a round at the ground, and that made the ginger guy—werewolf?—stop, at least for an instant. “I’m looking for Romeo. Bring him out here, and we’ll just leave.”
It occurred to me suddenly, while these two guys were having a pissing contest, that I’d lost sight of the original guy who’d come stumbling out of the Arena. He had been on the ground getting beaten to a pulp a moment ago, but he wasn’t there anymore. Shit. Where had he gone? How had he gotten up so fast?
Armed with the knowledge that, at least for now, no one could see me, I stalked around Mercutio and moved a little closer to the ginger guy. I had my blade in my hand, my stone was pulsing with power at a rhythm to match my own heart, and my footing was light and quick. And yet… ginger guy looked over in my direction and sniffed the air.
I froze in my tracks, watching him as he watched me. He sniffed the air again, this time with a little more intensity. Blood trickled down the side of his face and dropped to the floor at his feet. “There’s someone else here,” he growled. For the first time, I saw his teeth—they were huge, and pointed. His canines were way bigger than they should’ve been, and sharp enough to rend flesh. His lower canines, too.
A wolf’s teeth, I thought, a little grimly. Had he really smelled me? Was his nose so sharp it could punch a hole through my magic? I moved again, testing the theory by skirting around him so I was behind him, now. Slowly, the ginger guy turned around, always sniffing the air.
“Give me Romeo!” Mercutio roared, and that seemed to snap the guy’s attention away from me.
I slid closer to the small crowd that had gathered near the door, searching frantically for signs of Romeo, Draven, or the other brawler that had disappeared. His lack of being there was making me nervous. Where’d he gone, and was his sense of smell as good as his opponent’s?
“I’m gonna count to two,” the ginger guy said, “Which is one more second than I’d give anyone else. If you don’t put the gun down, this is gonna end badly for you.”
Mercutio pulled his other hand up and stretched it, palm out. Burning sigils etched themselves into the skin of his hand and started to glow like embers. I had no idea what he was doing, but I could feel his power vibrating through me, and I knew I didn’t want to be anywhere near him when whatever he was cooking inside of himself finally spilled out.
“All I have to do is say three words, and you’ll be dead,” Mercutio warned. “I’m gonna give you one final chance to give me my friend back before I say them.”
“One…” the ginger guy counted.
That was when I saw him. Not Romeo, but Darkshard. He was wearing a black suit with a hint of blood red. A feather stuck out of the fedora sitting on his head. His fingers an
d wrists were covered in silver rings and bangles, and in one of his hands he held a cane with a serpent’s head. In other words, he looked like a total douchebag, and every bit the bad guy he really was.
He’d appeared in the crowd like he’d always been present, but I knew he hadn’t been. I’d checked the crowd thoroughly only moments ago. He’d come out to see the commotion… and to break Mercutio’s spell. His lips were moving, like he was muttering something under his own breath.
Worse, I caught sight of something moving towards Mercutio—something small, but incredibly quick… and hairy. Mercutio was going to die in a manner of seconds, either because the ginger guy was going to get him, or because that other thing was going to get him, or because Darkshard was going to make his magic explode in his face.
Crap.
I let the stone’s magic fill me, taking a deep breath to channel it into my body. It was Darkshard who looked across at me first, his eyes curious more than threatened. I stretched my palms, aimed at the ginger guy and at the swiftly moving wolf—yes, it was a wolf—and yelled, “Veshrim!”
Twin beams of magic erupted from my hands and shot towards their targets, both finding their marks. The ginger guy tumbled and fell. The wolf yipped and stumbled, but it didn’t fall to its knees. Mercutio heard its approach now, though, and he turned around and shot it with his pistol until it stopped coming for him.
They could all see me, now; the crowd of people gathered to watch what was going on. I stood before them, my golden wings glowing as bright as the sun, my hands charged with magic. One woman stared at me and hissed before scurrying back into the building, shielding her face from the light. The man next to her rolled his shoulders, pulled his t-shirt off, and all of a sudden grew a six pack on top of his six pack—only this new one came with a ton of extra hair.
Darkshard stared at me from where he stood. He was the coolest of them all. Not a flinch, not an ounce of concern in him. He was confidence embodied, but his eyes were like daggers, and they were both on me. Though the guy next to him was, right in front of my eyes, transforming into a huge, bulky, hairy monster, Darkshard looked the most dangerous of them all… and that was why I hated what I had to do next.
“I challenge you, Darkshard!” I yelled, before anyone could make a move on me.
My voice echoed through the dockyard like it was the only sound for miles. Everyone had shut up as soon as the words left my lips. I felt something move through me, then. Something like an invisible force, as if I’d invoked some kind of ancient magic, summoned it up from the depths of the earth and brought it up here, to the surface, to affect us all.
The monster next to Darkshard slowly returned to human form. All of the excess hair that had grown on him fell to the ground like he was shedding it. His muscles twisted and shifted rapidly, like they were breaking and snapping, then rearranging themselves right in front of me. In only a manner of seconds, he was human again, as if to emphasize the mood of the place.
All eyes were on Darkshard, now—even Mercutio’s. “Fine,” Darkshard said through gritted teeth, “I accept your challenge.”
The dockyard remained silent for maybe a whole minute, though it felt like an hour. Finally, it was the ginger guy who spoke.
“Fight!” he yelled, and then he excitedly rushed back into the drydock, taking the rest of the now eager crowd with him. They pushed past Darkshard who remained entirely still, watching me from where he stood.
I was about to take a step toward him when movement at the very edge of my vision caught my attention. Turning my eyes up slightly, I saw him. Draven. He was perched on the edge of the drydock, his wings curled around his body making him almost invisible against the night. I could see him, though, and I had a feeling that was because he wanted me to.
Though I couldn’t usually read his expression, the one he wore right now was plain as day. What the fuck are you doing?
Darkshard turned around and headed into the building, and I took the opportunity now that his back was turned to shrug at Draven. I mouthed the words “I didn’t know where you were!” at Draven, but I doubted if he’d have caught my meaning.
I didn’t know where he was. I’d thought he’d been captured, so I acted. Now I’d made this bed, it was time to sleep in it. I was going to fight Darkshard one on one, and after what I’d seen Bastet do to Corax, I would’ve been lying if I said I was confident about my chances. Sure, I had a God stone with me, but he was a mage. I’d never fought one of his kind before.
Mercutio met up with me at the door to the drydock. “I hope you know what you’re doing,” he said.
“I don’t, but feel free to throw out suggestions.”
“Win. If you don’t, we’re all dead and so is Romeo.”
“Thanks for the pep-talk.”
“Thanks for disappearing on me.”
“I reacted, okay? I didn’t do it on purpose, and arguing with you about it isn’t gonna help either of us.”
“Agreed. That’s why I’m gonna find Romeo while you kill Darkshard. We’re all better off without him running around.”
“Trust me, I know that.”
I also remembered what Kandi had told me about him. While he was running the Goddess, the dancers felt safer. They felt like they weren’t being exploited. That was something I could give him credit for. The world wasn’t black and white, no card-board villains and heroes here. Only people doing what they feel is right.
Unfortunately for Darkshard, his morals looked like they were all over the place, so he had to go.
Stepping into the drydock was like stepping into an industrial music rave. The walls were covered in graffiti, there were flaming barrels scattered all over the place, sending deep, dark shadows into the vaulted ceiling above, and the music from the tiny boombox sitting on a platform seemed to reach every corner with ease. That was to say nothing about the motley crew of people hanging around.
Everywhere I looked I saw pale faces. Many of the people around me were clad in black and covered in piercings. Some had crazy, punkish hairdos that looked like something out of an 80’s music video, while others were totally bald and so inked up, even their tattoos had tattoos. The worst part? Everyone was staring at me.
I wasn’t stopped as I walked through the crowd. In fact, they stepped aside for me like I carried a mad virus they didn’t want to contract. Pushing deeper into the drydock, I noticed the ground dipped into a kind of valley that looked almost like a half-pipe for skaters
At the very end of the valley was the massive door that led directly into the East River. If that thing opened, it would flood the entire pit with water. Once inside, the water would be pumped back out into the East River, and the ships would be propped up with massive beams.
I’d thought about opening it, finding a way to bring the river into this place, but I just didn’t have the kind of strength necessary to operate the cranks. Maybe if the machinery actually worked, though it looked rusted together, like it hadn’t been used in years.
Darkshard was waiting for me in the pit. Nobody spoke as I approached. It was like a thick mantle of anxiety had settled over the Arena, causing tensions to rise but voices to fall. I could feel it in my chest, that anxiety. The apprehension. I had no idea what Darkshard was capable of, and I hated that.
Usually when I went into combat with someone, I had a rough idea of what I was getting into. Serakon? Big, muscular, magic, flying. Naga? Small, nimble, magic, fangs. Mages, though… there was no telling what they could do because they were all different in their abilities, and maybe that was where some of their true power came from; the unknown factor.
Just as I started moving down the slope into the pit, I spotted Romeo. My heart lurched. He was covered in blood, he looked thin, beaten up, but he was sitting up and conscious, so hopefully he wasn’t in any immediate threat. I still cringed when I saw him, though. It looked like he’d been through the ringer.
The worst part, though, wasn’t that vacant stare he had. He could see me, I kn
ew he could, but there was no recognition in his eyes—no acknowledgment that I was even there. Only a cold, blank stare, like he wasn’t even present. The worst part was all the others sitting with him. Many of them were caged up, others were shackled to iron spikes dug into the ground. They were being kept here like animals; animals that were being forced to fight each other for the viewing pleasure of others.
I had to shut this place down, even if I had no idea how I was gonna do that.
“I see someone informed you about our little rule,” Darkshard said, his voice cold and low.
“Honestly, I was pretty against the idea of dressing up like a total asshole, but I see you’ve fully embraced it.”
Darkshard grinned. “There’s that wit I enjoy. Have you considered my offer further?”
“Offer?”
He cocked an eyebrow, and in my mind, I saw a vision of this man looming over me like a dark cloud. I shook my head. “Number one, get the fuck out of my head. Number two, go fuck yourself. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but only one of us is making it out of here.”
“Not unless we come to an agreement.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Well, by invoking the challenge you have earned the right to ask something of me, and I of you. Whoever the victor is, the Arena will respect their wishes and give them what they want. Now, who decides the victor is up to us. We could fight and kill one another, or we could call this a draw and both get what we want.”
“Let me guess, you want to get me in the sack? Pretty shallow, if you ask me.”
“Oh, I want more than that, dear Seline.” He started to approach. “I don’t just want to get you into my soft, comfortable bed. I want to dominate you. To own every inch of your body. To have you every way imaginable until such a time that I grow bored and decide to cast you loose.”
I stuck two fingers into my mouth. “Barf.”
“You may say that, but one night with me and you’ll know pleasure like you’ve never experienced before in your miserable little life.”
The Obsidian Order Boxed Set Page 71