…and the room suddenly tilted before him, and he was flung onto the floor. The air was knocked out of his lungs in a wheezing grunt, and his back exploded into fireworks of pain. He sucked in a breath and was brought back to reality by that same voice, its drawling softness tinted ever so slightly with humor,
“Careful, big guy…”
His head snapped up in bewilderment, and his furious eyes searched for his attacker. She was walking away from him, back to her sister. With one quick move he was on his feet and striding after her.
“Hey!” he barked.
His sharp tone made her stop slowly, almost apathetically, but he knew how quickly she would explode into action if he gave her an excuse. Her head turned to him, and she gave him a lazy up-and-down look.
“Yeah..?”
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he said without realizing what he was saying.
She scoffed, and her eyebrows crept upward.
“Excuuuse me…?”
Marco could already see Rob walking toward them from the other side of the hall, looking irritated. Angering him was the last thing Marco wanted at the moment, so he decided he would find another time for this.
“Bitch,” he dropped as he brushed past her.
“Pig,” he heard from behind him and barely kept himself from turning around and snapping her neck right there.
*
A few hours later, after a long practice session and a long, angry shower, he made his way down to the canteen. It was full of fighters, and he joined the line by the counter. He still didn’t know anybody aside from those he had met on his first day, but honestly, he didn’t care. He preferred eating alone, anyway. That was what he did, sitting at a big, sturdy table for four and staring sightlessly ahead.
And then the four fighters at the table in front of him left, and he saw her at the next table over. She was sitting with her sister and other lads, staring at him with that wry half-smirk. Marco growled inadvertently, a sound that was too low for anyone to hear. Little bitch. She was doing this on purpose, irritating him so he would slip and get in trouble. But he wasn’t going to let himself be provoked. He had more important things on his mind, and he wouldn’t let her get under his skin. Screwing this up was not an option, and certainly not over a stupid girl.
He spent the rest of his meal trying to think of something else. By the time he picked up his tray and headed to the trash can, he had forgotten about her presence altogether. He had even managed to steal a knife from some fighter in the tight crowd and smiled to himself, hiding it under his T-shirt. But all of a sudden the other fighters stepped aside, and there she was, right in front of him, smirking again.
Marco paused, deciding whether he should step around her, or kill her on the spot and forget the whole business of pretending he was one of them. She was waiting for her friends, obviously, but her eyes were on him: black, laughing, daring. In the end, he decided to press forward, shoving her small figure out of the way with his elbow. His satisfaction didn’t last a second: at the last moment she pushed him, causing the tray to fly out of his hand and land on the floor.
Marco stopped.
He looked at the scattered dishes around him and drew a careful breath. Slowly, he turned his head, his dead stare cutting into her. She only smirked and turned away, leaving the room together with some boy.
Around him, people were laughing, but he didn’t care. That malicious little bully, she was the only one that mattered now. She was poison incarnate, and even if he didn’t want to admit it, deep inside he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep at night while she was out there.
Screw the plan, he thought as he shoved the fighters out of his way and stormed out of the room heading to the shop on the first floor. If she was going to act like a stupid teenager, he would do the same. He would destroy her and everything that was hers. And he would start from the very bottom.
Chapter 4
“Where are you going? It’s only seven,” Jane’s sleepy voice sounded as she rolled over on her bed. She watched Pain incredulously as her sister tried to put on sneakers and a T-shirt at the same time.
“I don’t know,” Pain shrugged, waving her off, “Dean wants to meet me outside.”
“What??” At the edge of her vision, Pain saw her sister sit bolt upright. “Dean never shows up for breakfast before nine! What makes you think he’s gonna meet you somewhere at seven??”
This made Pain pause and look at Jane in puzzlement.
“No idea. He slipped a note under the door.”
She crossed to her sister’s bunk and handed her a piece of paper. It was covered in block letters and looked like the sort of thing that detectives in movies found on the bodies of serial killers’ victims.
Jane grimaced skeptically.
“What’s with the first grade writing?”
“Oh, shut up,” Pain grumbled, rolling her eyes, “I’ll just go and see.”
Because she was still half-asleep herself, she wasn’t listening to any part of her brain aside from the one intrigued by the sudden note. “See you downstairs.”
She opened the door…
…and a red rain poured down on her, soaking her clothes and hair in a second.
“WHAT THE…??”
She whirled, as if expecting to see the cause of it somewhere around, and then threw her head back, looking at the ceiling. A small bucket was swinging over her door, dripping red water that smelled of paint. Much like herself, now. She swore through her teeth.
“What…?” she heard Jane’s voice somewhere far away, but her senses were clouded with anger.
Before she had time to think, her feet were carrying her to the staircase, leaving an angry red trail behind. She threw the staircase door open and stomped down the steps furiously, heading to the third floor. In less than a minute she was by his door, and it opened with a bang when she jerked the knob. Marco was standing in the middle of the room with a newspaper in one hand and an apple in another. He looked like he had just got up, and was only wearing jeans, his face angelically surprised at the sight of her in his doorway.
“You!” she snapped.
She leaped at him without wasting another breath and landed a heavy blow on his temple. But for some reason it didn’t have the same effect as usual. Marco just shook his head, and a second later she was trapped in his steel grip and thrust into a wall. For a moment she was shocked at how blinded she had been by her anger that she had gone full contact with an opponent this big, forgetting all she had been taught. That one moment was all he needed to grab two handfuls of her paint-soaked sweatshirt and pin her to the wall.
“What?” he snarled from an inch away, his dark eyes blazing furiously. “You’ve got something to say? I’m listening!” he stared at her demandingly, but she only huffed at his impudence and her own uselessness.
Meanwhile, a bunch of gawkers had already gathered in the hallway, cheering and laughing as they saw the red trail and the quarrel in the room. They were a small community, the Headquarters, and rumors were the best source of entertainment. Pain could already imagine the nasty stories that would have spread like wildfire around the building in less than ten minutes.
“Look at you, you bloody princess!” she heard from the doorway, followed by another outburst of laughter.
“Finally, someone tamed that bitch!” another voice joined in, and more cheering followed.
Suddenly her vision went red, too.
She jerked her head, smacking Marco’s nose with her forehead, and then kneed him in the gut. He let go with a curse, and she landed on the floor and kicked at him again, this time in full force. But as she swung her foot, aiming for his head, she was suddenly lifted up and thrown into a corner. Her shield flared on its own, and somewhere in the back of her mind she was surprised when no pain followed the fall.
“Break!” someone bawled, and she looked up dizzily to see Rob standing between her and Marco, “What the hell is going on here??”
It w
asn’t a question. It was an order to stop with the promise of punishment if they ignored it. But seeing Marco’s face, contorted in rage, she could tell that Rob’s presence had more effect on the other fighters than either of them. The fighters who had gathered by the doors now stepped back, not wanting to get caught in the middle, but too curious to leave. Rob shot her and Marco a furious look and took a deep breath before opening his mouth again.
“Do I have to repeat my question??”
The room seemed to shudder at the sound of his voice.
“Don’t you see?” Pain hissed, casting an irritated glare at him. “Your newbie played the bucket prank on me, like we’re in fuckin’ camp here! He doesn’t know how to behave himself, so get rid of him!”
She jumped to her feet and headed to the door, ignoring Rob’s furious stare. He was barefoot, she suddenly realized, and his white shirt was unbuttoned, revealing the dark, sculpted planes of his chest. He’d obviously run out of his room to them.
“Stop, you!”
His big hand closed on her shirt like a claw, dragging her back into the room. He stood Pain on her feet by his side, and while his hand on the back of her shirt didn’t really hold her from breaking free, she knew better than to provoke him. Unlike Peter, he wouldn’t care about her bruises.
“Is that true, Marco??” Rob enquired.
Marco exhaled loudly and returned Rob’s angry glare.
“Yes, it’s true. She deserved it! She’s a bully, look at her!” he exclaimed, throwing up his hands, but Rob cut him off with an incredulous snort.
“Bully?? She’s a kid, Marco, and you’re nineteen! You should know better!”
“I’m not a kid!” Pain hissed again and shook off his hand, shooting him a hateful look. He didn’t notice it, of course, since she was almost two feet shorter than him.
“And you can’t go around punching people!” Rob shouted suddenly at her, making her insides jump, “You shouldn’t have come to his room in the first place, you know the rules!”
“What??” her face screwed into a grimace of disbelief, and she pushed back her wet hair furiously. “So I should’ve just let him get away with it??”
“No, you should’ve told me or somebody else and- ”
“Fuck you, Rob!” she cut him off and stormed past him to the door before she lost control and hit him. That had happened before, and had resulted in her spending a day or two in the infirmary last time.
“IT’S ROBERT!!” he bellowed after her, and unable to help it, she spun on her heels and grimaced mockingly.
“Oh, I’m sorry! FUCK YOU, ROBERT!!” she yelled back at him and pointed a finger at Marco, who stood by the red-smeared wall gloating, a devilish expression on his face. “See you in the training hall!”
With that, she turned and retraced her red trail to the staircase door imperiously, accompanied by a chorus of laughter and boos. Nobody but her knew that she was doing her best not to break into a run with an image of Rob charging after her stuck in her head.
Chapter 5
After breakfast and a day of being the center of attention, Marco lay on his bed listening to the radio. His room was still a mess, but he didn’t feel like getting up to clean it. He was thinking about the best way to wrap up the situation with Pain without getting in trouble with Rob and the others.
He couldn’t harm the girl, or they would throw him out. Knocking her out should be easy enough, he thought. That was how he had to end it. No broken bones.
He sighed, disappointed, and got up. Rob would be in the training hall watching, no doubt, so Marco had to get there first. That way he would get a chance to fight her with no interruptions. He didn’t even doubt that she would already be there, waiting for him to show up. Well, he was going to deliver.
He took the elevator down, as the stupid rules said, and threw open the training hall doors. Little Bitch was there, of course, practicing with her sister. Marco strode in, crossing the hall toward her, not wanting to waste a single minute before Rob or Skull arrived. When she noticed him, she stopped practicing and motioned for her sister to step back. All the others were staring at Marco now, and for some reason he wished they were alone.
“You wanted to see me? I’m here,” he said intently as he stopped in front of her.
Without a word, she unbuckled her scabbard and put the sword on a bench. He noticed that it was a huge O-Katana: an unusual choice for a girl her size. Her sister grabbed her arm, muttering something, but Pain shook her off. Marco went over the plan in his head again. Her only advantage was speed, and that he should be able to change with a couple of dislocations. It wouldn’t be a long fight.
She gave him that wry smile again as she stood before him.
“You must be really brave, coming here like this,” she noted.
That was it, enough trash talk.
With a deafening roar, he lunged for her, but she jumped upward, hitting him from above. He barely felt the blow, grabbing her legs and bringing her down with a satisfying thud; but the next second she slipped from his grasp and flew upward again. Before he could react, she attacked, her feet connecting with his body again and again until he had to back off. He realized that he had misjudged her. It wasn’t just her speed: she was freakishly strong for a girl!
He snarled, leaping after her and catching her arm. Instead of trying to pull out of his grasp, she lunged at him, and he was surprised to learn that her left fist felt just the same as the right one. Marco cursed, trying to shake her off, but now she was clinging to him like a vine, and he had to slam back into a wall to get rid of her. She dropped to the floor and stared at him viciously, while he used the opportunity to take a breath.
He could see the other fighters watching them with excitement, but he tuned out their voices and charged at her again. She jumped out of reach at the last moment, but he had expected that. He dodged to the left and brought her down again. This time he wasn’t going to hold back. He punched her in the stomach and swung his fist for another blow, but she hit him in the jaw with enough force to make his vision rain stars. She was on her feet again, and Marco was beginning to lose patience. Breaking bones was back in the game, but he had to remind himself that he couldn’t kill the girl. He didn’t want the whole of Headquarters on his tail.
He circled her slowly, pulling the stolen knife from his belt.
“Spice it up a lil’ bit?” he suggested, giving her a serious look, and she showed her teeth.
“With pleasure,” she purred, taking a knife twice the size of Marco’s from underneath her jacket.
Marco blinked. Surely that couldn’t be a good weapon for those tiny hands! What the hell was wrong with this girl??
She attacked first, slashing at his arm in the next second, wielding the knife as if it were a plastic hairbrush. He hit back, and for a few minutes the fight was pretty balanced, until she began to use all sorts of tricks to get to his neck. Marco growled. He had to end this before Rob or the others showed up, and she didn’t even seem tired. He had managed to punch her in the face once, and her eyebrow was split and bloody, but it obviously wasn’t going to be enough. He had to knock her out.
He lunged forward, and when she stepped left, he stepped right. Only he didn’t expect her to be ready for this, and as he continued to move right, she pushed him, adding momentum, and was suddenly behind him. Her hand grabbed his chin even as he realized his mistake, and he already knew what would happen next. In one move, she was sitting on his shoulders with the knife pressed to his neck from behind.
“Gotcha,” she muttered in his ear, and Marco froze.
He stood there, in the middle of the training hall, and for the first time had no idea what to expect. If they’d been somewhere on their own, he didn’t doubt that she would at least wound him. But here? Among all these people? He didn’t think so. Even crazy people didn’t like witnesses when they killed someone. He ought to know: he was one of them.
“How does it feel, losing to a girl?” she murmured from behind.
He snorted. Her hair tickled his face, and he ached to grab a handful of it and tear it out.
“I think I’ll take this so you don’t accidentally cut yourself,” she said, reaching down and plucking the knife out of his hand. He didn’t see any point in resisting. “I’m not going to spend another minute on you, moron. If I see you here tomorrow, you’re dead.”
With that, she released hold of him and dropped to the floor.
Marco took a deep breath, and then another one. The girls left the room, and some of the other fighters followed, patting Little Bitch on the shoulder and even congratulating her. A few hours ago they were cheering as he had her up against the wall, and now they were all on her side?? Bullshit. He wasn’t scared of her, and he certainly wasn’t going to leave. His next step, that was the problem. He had to expose her, but how?
The door opened again, to reveal Rob standing in the doorway. He took in Marco’s strange stance in the middle of the room and saw his expression before Marco could compose himself.
“What happened?” the big fighter boomed in a menacing tone, suspicion reflected in his moves as he headed slowly to Marco.
“Nothing,” Marco snapped, brushing past him to the door before Rob tried to make him stay. “Nothing happened.”
Chapter 6
Marco sat in the waiting room, tapping his foot nervously. Skull was on watch, sitting at his desk and staring at Marco without blinking, like a dead man. Marco shot him glances every now and then to see if the giant had moved. But no: two black eyes, one pale scar, one bald head, all in the same place. What a creep, Marco complained mentally.
Less than an hour had passed since Marco had left the training hall. He had showered quickly and dressed in a sweatsuit, so that all his cuts were covered. It was in the shower that he had got the idea. It was awfully silly and absolutely beautiful in its simplicity, and all of a sudden the fact that people had seen his humiliation was an advantage. By tomorrow everybody would know about the fight, and this new plan meant he wouldn’t really need to do anything to get even deeper under her skin. The others would help him. He chuckled to himself, and then realized that he had done it out loud and glanced over at Skull in alarm – still staring. Sigh.
Sky Ghosts: Marco (Young Adult Urban Fantasy Adventure) (Sky Ghosts Series Book 1.5) Page 3