by Dawn Ibanez
His anger continued to rise. “Excuse me?” In all her teenage years Augustina had been made into a spectacle. He would not allow it in his own Sector. “Shut them down. If I find anyone betting on this, they will answer to me.”
Christine grabbed his arm. “You need to stop this. She’s dangerous.” When he looked at her, she shook her head. “It’s in her eyes. This is a training exercise, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she tries to kill those trainees being thrown in there.”
Elijah sighed and touched the hand she had on his arm. “I’m starting to understand that,” he said stepping away from her. “Don’t worry. No harm will come to anyone.”
Especially when he needed to set things right between them.
Chapter 8
The blades they had were decent, but they could have been sharper. Gus tested the weight of the throwing knives in stock and frowned. It should have been expected. She was supposed to be here for a trial, not here to actually hurt someone. These training grounds weren’t like De Leon’s pits. The people here joked and laughed with each other. The atmosphere was warm and welcoming. The pits reeked of fear and depression.
“You have to keep your wrist like this. If you have no tension in your wrist, you’ll lose your grip.”
Gus looked up and frowned at the officer trying to teach a trainee how to hold a sword. The woman adjusted her hold and stance, opening herself up to multiple strikes. Gus tucked some of the knives in the gauntlets she wore and shook her head. “You need to have some sort of flexibility in your wrists. Too rigid, you’ll break it.” She went to the woman and shook her arm. An eyebrow arched when the blade dropped to the ground. “But he’s right too. If you don’t learn some control, you’ll lose your weapon, and then where will you be?”
The man looked Gus over and folded his arms over his chest. “You think you’re good enough to give tips to the trainees?”
The corner of her mouth tilted up. “I’ve survived this long. I’d like to think so.” She turned and left them to their lesson. As she approached the opening to the main training ring, she noticed the people in various uniforms crowding around. She stretched her neck from side to side as she entered the ring. Three more people stood in the center of it. Each one wore a pair of pants identical to the ones she had been given. She traded out her borrowed shirt for a blank training tank top. Gus took note of the various weapons the others held as well. One had a mace. Another a katana, and whip. Gus checked the pair of borrowed short swords she wore on her hips. She would have rather had her dirks, but she had to remind herself again, this was a test.
The sound on a microphone being turned on echoed through the small arena. Gus turned to the speaker system and frowned when she saw Edmund behind the controls. She was sure he would do something to disqualify her. He didn’t like her, and if she were being honest, she wasn’t sold on him either.
He lifted a small device to his face. “Just so we’re all on the same page. This is a drill to test Miss Vega’s fighting ability. This is also a test for you future members of the Glaive. For her, this is a test of strength. For you, this is a test of restraint. Use your magic accordingly.”
Gus curled her hands into fists. She would have given almost anything to have Edmund be the one in the ring with her.
Edmund continued. “As for those watching, learn from what you see. Observe each fighter since what they do may be something crafty enough to save your life.” His eyes looked Gus over before turning back to the crowd. “And I know most of you enjoy putting bets down on the fighters when these trials come around. I am issuing a direct order. There are to be no bets on this. We don’t run pits here.”
A low rumble went through the crowd. Gus lowered her head as she chewed on her lower lip. The last thing she wanted was to draw more attention to herself. And it wasn’t like she was a stranger to the pits either. She made her way to the edge of the ring. Once she was close enough to the wall, she jumped onto the lower tier. Gus motioned for Edmund to approach her.
When he frowned at her, she sighed. “Let them bet. Don’t go making special rules for me. They’ll only bring more problems.”
Edmund put the small microphone down and walked over to her. “Lord Elijah will not appreciate his soldiers betting on if you can win in a fight.”
Gus rolled her eyes. “I don’t care what he thinks. Let them bet.”
“What do you care about, Augustina?”
She looked at him. For once his tone wasn’t patronizing. She jumped down to the dirt. “My sister,” she said over her shoulder. Gus walked back to the center of the ring and looked at the three vampires with her. She rolled her shoulders one last time. “How are we going to do this? Three against one? We pair off? Have a free for all?”
The woman holding the whip frowned. “They ring the bell, last one standing wins.”
Gus nodded. “Free for all it is.”
“At the urging of our guest competitor, betting will be allowed.” Edmund’s voice echoed over the speakers.
The noise in the room elevated. Gus knew the sound of people rushing to make bets. She shook her head to hide her amusement. North or South. In the Americas or in Rome, people loved the pits. She looked at the people around her. “No hard feelings, right?”
The man with the mace laughed. “We’re only training, so we know not to hit you too hard,” he said. “We’ll even try to not use our magic. Even if we are allowed.”
Gus nodded again. None of these people knew of her history. Part of her wanted to feel guilty for not telling them, a larger part made her hold her tongue. Her past experience was another tool, and if these trainees couldn’t adapt, then what business do they have trying to protect anyone?
The crowd went silent and Gus turned to scan them. She frowned as Elijah made his way from the entrance. Before he could reach Edmund, the other vampire left his post and they met part of the way. Gus turned to the three she would be fighting and continued to take stock of them. The one with the whip could be a problem, but she needed to know how fast the man with the mace was. The one with the katana didn’t worry her. His blade would be ineffective as long as she got in close.
And she always got in close.
“Augustina,” Elijah’s voice called.
Her back straightened at her full name. She looked over her shoulder. He stood at the edge of the ring with his fists clenched at his side. “Can’t we just get this over with?” she called back.
His eyes narrowed as he folded his arms over his chest. “Fine.” He then looked at the others in the ring with her. “She will probably try to kill you. Put her down properly.”
The corner of her mouth tilted as a snort left her. “Now he’s just trying to get back in my good graces,” she mumbled.
The one with the mace frowned as he looked between Gus and Elijah. “What?”
Gus winked at him. “Always expect the unexpected, right?”
A loud horn went off. It echoed in the arena, and Gus dropped down and ran forward. She wasted no time sending her body into a baseball slide to trip the one with the katana. When he landed next to her, she quickly rolled over and mounted his back. She tangled her hand in his thick black hair and slammed his head into the hard sand. Before she could raise his head again, the mace came towards her. Gus released the man she held and took the blow to her chest. As she was lifted and thrown back, she felt something wrap around her ankle. With a sharp tug, she was brought down to the ground. She gasped as the air was knocked out of her.
She felt another tug and sat up. As the woman moved to pull on her ankle again, Gus grabbed the whip and freed her ankle. She came up in a crouch and saw the woman and man with the mace approaching her from two different sides. The one with the katana was still unconscious. Gus unsheathed one of her swords and held it in front of her.
“No hard feelings, right?” she called out to her opponents.
“If you think you can match us, come on, Little Girl,” the one with the mace replied.
Gus
nodded. She ran towards the woman with the whip and threw four throwing stars at the large man across the field. She dodged to one side when the whip came hurtling toward her. Gus grabbed the whip as it was being pulled back and cut the leather. She rushed the surprised woman and tackled her to the ground. As they rolled around, Gus caught sight of the big man with the mace. She rotated and pushed her opponent up into the swing that was coming at her. Gus jumped to her feet when the pair of opponents crashed into each other.
The man with the mace caught the woman around her waist, and they both stumbled back. The woman’s face was a mask of fury as she drew the short sword from her back. Gus drew her second dirk and took a step back. She turned on one foot and slammed both dirks into the ground.
The one that had the katana screamed in pain as his body appeared behind her. Gus growled as she pinned his shoulders to the ground and stripped him of his sword.
“Borrowing this,” she said.
Gus turned and brought the sword up and blocked the blow from the mace. She ducked down and barely dodged being sliced with the short sword. Gus kicked out and the man went down on one knee. She ran over to him and slammed her knee into his jaw. As he fell over, the woman knocked her away from him. Gus adjusted her hold on the sword in her hand. She watched the woman in front of her. They both rushed at each other.
The clashing of their swords filled the ring. Gus grinned as she fought. They danced around each other, their swords crashing. Gus pushed the woman back and frowned when the ground beneath her feet started to rumble. The man with the mace erupted from the ground between them. Gus fell back into a perfect summersault. She stabbed the ground with her sword and cut across the dirt, sending sand and pebbles directly into the faces of her opponents. When she straightened, she saw both the man and the woman looking at her with murderous eyes.
Gus reached up with one hand and wiped her mouth. The back of her hand came away covered in blood. “Let’s play,” she whispered before rushing forward again.
This time the man melted into the ground. The woman came at Gus and swung her sword. The fist that shot up directly from the ground caught Gus in her stomach. She was thrown in the air and crashed on the other end of the ring. Gus slammed into a rack of weapons and covered her face as blades and staffs all fell on top of her. The cheering of the surrounding onlookers was deafening. Sweat and blood were getting into her eyes. Gus placed her hands down and found two cutlasses. She wiped at the blood on her face and picked up the swords. The crowd cheered her on even more as she looked at the two vampires across from her.
She spun the two blades around her body and crouched down. She needed to put down the two people across the ring; there was nothing that would save them now.
The woman rushed forward again, and Gus opened herself up for attack. When they clashed again, Gus made sure to keep her moving. If one blade was blocked, the other went for her legs of feet. When her opponent stumbled back, Gus moved to the side. The male with the mace swung at her. She dodged the blow and mounted his back. As he fell forward, Gus pressed her advantage and sliced along his neck. He would bleed out, but it was nothing he wouldn’t survive. When she let his body fall to the ground, Gus looked at the woman that bravely held her sword in front of her.
“Last one standing, right?” Gus asked. Her voice didn’t sound right. She knew it, but couldn’t bring herself to care.
The woman in front of her swallowed and held up her weapon. Gus could hear the phantom pleas to let her win. De Leon would move her from the pit into the Guardsmen’s barracks. She had lost too much, and De Leon was tired of her.
Gus closed her eyes. If she threw a match, De Leon wouldn’t punish her. He never lifted a hand to her. He would go after Mel.
She would do everything she could to protect her sister. Even become his murderous whore. Gus crouched down and rushed forward. The woman in front of her tried to keep up with her swings but couldn’t. The only ones who could were De Leon and his Captain.
Before she knew it, Gus was thrown back. As she rolled into a crouch, Gus looked at her opponent and blinked.
She wasn’t in the pits of Mexico. She hadn’t been fighting to protect Mel.
In front of her, Elijah stood between her and her target. A rapier gleamed in his hand as he stood examined the tip. “If you were truly this angry at me, you should have said so. I would have fought you myself,” he said.
His tone was bored, but his eyes were trained on her. He knew the danger she was. She blinked as she saw Edmund and a couple of others taking the three she fought against out of the ring. Gus stood and lowered her blades. “I didn’t think your Captain would have agreed with that particular request.”
Elijah walked over to her. When he was nearly towering over her, he spoke. “You went back to the pits, didn’t you?” he asked in a whisper.
She nodded and lowered her head. “It happens sometimes. I should have realized it was bound to happen here.” She tried to look around him to the people she fought. “I didn’t hurt any of them too bad, did I?” she asked.
Elijah stepped to the side and took one of her arms. “Nothing that won’t be healed in a night or two. Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
As he lead her out of the ring, she glanced over her shoulder and saw the woman staring at her. Her face was pale as they went across the gymnasium. Gus frowned as Elijah swiftly disarmed her and gave the blades over to one of the instructors. “What did I do?” she asked.
He didn’t say anything as they went down the hall and entered the elevator. He crowded her in the corner and tilted her face up to his. “You could have killed three of my more promising candidates. Did you know you have magic?”
Gus shook her head. Magic wasn’t unheard of in vampires and gargoyles. That was why one was able to go invisible and the other was able to use the earth as his weapon. But she lived her life believing she was human. She wouldn’t have magic.
His thumb caressed her cheek and she hissed. He frowned and stepped back from her. “While you were fighting, we kept seeing sparks. I didn’t think anything of it at first. But then there was something in your eyes. Something that I only saw once before.”
“What?”
He shook his head and pulled her into his embrace. “Whatever you are, you have some sort of fire magic.”
She brought her arms up to wrap around his waist. She didn’t want to think about being something other than human. There was more than enough on her plate as it was. Gus closed her eyes and let Elijah surround her. The inner turmoil that threatened to drown her eased when his fingers went through her hair. “I’m sorry I slapped you,” she said.
His arms tightened around her. “I should never have said what I did.” He pulled away from her. As their eyes met, he touched her face again. “I apologize for trying to use your past against you. And don’t brush it off and say that things between us are fine. I need for you to know that I am sincerely sorry.”
Gus’s shoulders fell as she lowered her gaze. “I understand, and I accept your apology,” she said. When he backed away from her, she tucked her hair behind her ears and focused on the numbers on the elevator. She didn’t want to focus on him. She didn’t want to think about how good it felt to be in his arms. He was supposed to be a cold killer. He wasn’t supposed make her feel safe and warm.
Gus rubbed the back of her neck. She had to find her balance. At the rate she was going, she would be falling for her enemy. Hard.
“Monica should be here by now. You will be able to shower and change in my office. I’ll have your clothes brought up from the locker room. Then you can eat, we see what she has to say, and then see if there are any new reports on the killer.”
Gus nodded. She had to focus on finding the person that put Mel in that hospital bed. Her heart sank as the elevator slowed down. She was supposed to be focusing on taking care of her sister, and here she was in the arms of a vampire. Gus swallowed around the lump in her throat as she looked at Elijah. “That’s fine. But t
his, whatever it is, can’t happen.” The doors opened and Gus stepped off. She looked around and saw the secretary that was introduced to her earlier. As she started for Elijah’s office, he appeared in front of her. “Elijah,” she started.
Before she could say anything else, his fingers were over her mouth. “You and I will discuss this after we talk with Monica and check on your sister,” he decreed. He smiled when he saw her frown. “Be very careful how you react and respond to me Augustina,” he said quietly. He then leaned over to her ear, his lips caressing the outer shell. “If you bite me, I may have to bite you back.”
She stumbled back from him. Her heart was racing as he turned and went to his office. He acted as if nothing had just happened between them. When he opened the door, he looked back at her and held out his hand. Gus glanced around the floor. Only the secretary was there acting as if she hadn’t witnessed anything. Gus pulled her shoulders back and went to the office door. When she stood in front of him, she scowled. “Next time, you’re in the pit with me.”
He smiled at her. “It will be my pleasure,” he said easily.
Gus wanted to march him directly back down to the training area. “I’m going to enjoy beating the hell out of you.”
Chapter 9
He was sure she wanted to go to the training area again. The glare she sent to him when she turned to the private bathroom was telling. Elijah allowed the door to close behind him and made his way to the desk. “If you need anything, let Christine know,” he said.
The papers waiting for him were not what he had expected. The last time he requested anything from London, they had been in the form of digital files. He hadn’t wanted the physical files. He didn’t want any of the files. But he would need them to get to the bottom of this mystery.