by Tillie Cole
“Go,” he ordered. “I’ve been sent to cover these quarters. You are to go to the pit.”
The guard that I had been screaming at relaxed. “Thank Christ!” he said in relief, and nodded his head toward me. “He’s insane. Master took his slut. He’s just woken up and he’s pissed.” The other guard looked my way and nodded.
The previous guard left, and I began where I had left off. I shook the bars of the cell. “Inessa! Inessa. GET ME THE FUCK TO INESSA!” I screamed relentlessly. The sound of footsteps approached, and I raised my voice as loud as I could. The bars creaked under the pressure of my strength.
The guard before me didn’t show any emotion. Suddenly, people moved before me, and I growled louder seeing it was the fighters from the pit. The blond was in the lead, led by their short trainer. The long-haired Georgian followed behind, and the scarred Russian took up the rear.
They were dripping with sweat and coated in blood. Each held his weapons in his hands. They had been fighting today. I understood why they were here—they had made the final.
I had to make the final. It was my only way to him.
“Let me out!” I boomed out to the guard. The males stopped to watch me. 194 glared at me through the bars, and I saw scars on his face. My stomach lurched when I thought of Inessa and how she had said she dreamed of someone with scars. How this fighter reminded her of the male in her head.
I physically shook with rage and I roared, “Inessa! GET ME TO INESSA!”
The males that had commenced walking to their cells suddenly turned to stare at me. I noticed them from the corner of my eye, then looked at the guard. “Inessa! INESSA!”
I saw the males muttering to one another. When I screamed for Inessa again, 194 suddenly ran to my cell door and stared me down. “Who are you calling for, hui?”
My muscles tensed and my neck ached in his presence. He had called me a dick in Russian.
“Get out of my way,” I warned.
He laughed coldly but lost that laugh when I screamed, “Inessa!”
At the call of Inessa’s name, he slammed his hands against the cell, rocking the loosening metal. “I said why are you calling for her?”
I gritted my teeth, then noticed that the new guard wasn’t doing anything to stop this piece of shit. He was watching the hallway like he was making sure no one was approaching.
194 slammed his hands against the cell door again. “Answer me, fucker! Or I’ll tear your arms from their sockets right here, right now!”
Rage took hold. I was about to strike out when the blond Russian called, “Valentin, calm the hell down!”
My fist, which had been raised, ready to strike this asshole through the bars, stilled. My eyes collided with his … blue eyes … blue eyes the exact color of …
“Inessa,” I whispered, and my heart began pounding too hard and too fast. 194 flinched like I had gone through with the threatened punch. Instead, I lowered my hand and dropped it to my side.
My eyes found the guard again. He was still not reacting. I watched as the trainer walked over to him and whispered something in his ear. The guard nodded. Heat rushed through my veins when the guard smiled back.
He was with them? A Wraith was under their command?
“Why did you say her name? That name?” I stared at 194’s heavily scarred face and shorn black hair as he hissed out his harsh question.
“Valentin?” I questioned, but the male didn’t react.
I met the blond Russian’s eyes. “His name is Valentin?”
He folded his muscled arms over his chest. “Why? Why do you want to know?”
It was … it couldn’t be …
Valentin pushed his broad chest against the bars and hissed, “Tell me why you said her name? Don’t, and I’ll kill you.” He pointed to the guard. “He’s with us and won’t stop me from slaughtering you slowly, painfully, until you’ve been stripped of your flesh.”
The blond pressed his hand on Valentin’s shoulder and then looked at me. “Answer him. He’ll do what he promises. And I won’t stop him if you don’t speak.”
I walked back to the bars. The long-haired Georgian moved closer, extra protection for the two males already confronting me.
I met Valentin’s eyes and asked, “You are Valentin Belrov?”
His eyes widened a fraction before he asked, “Why?”
I inhaled deeply, then said, “Inessa is my female. Inessa Belrova.”
“You lie,” he snarled. His hard grip caused his palms to creak on the metal bars.
“I do not,” I replied just as coldly. I pounded my hand over my chest. “Master needed to bring me under his control, so he gave me his High Mona. I didn’t want her at first, but then…” I shook my head, unable to find the words to confess what Inessa meant to me.
“But you fell in love with her.”
My head lifted as 818 spoke. I frowned. “Love?”
A flash of sympathy flooded his expression, when he explained, “You feel her in your heart. It hurts when you are away from her and you need her with you always.”
The male perfectly described the feeling. I nodded. “Yes,” I rasped. “Then I am in … love … with her.”
“Where is she?” the Georgian asked from behind. I stared at the dark male with long black hair and replied, “Master forbade her to see me anymore, but Inessa came to me last night. I was wounded from the fight. Master killed a champion’s mona and he attacked. So did 140, the other champion. They charged at Master in the stands, killing some of his guests. I was in the waiting cell and tried to fight alongside them.”
The three males all looked to one another. When 818 faced me again, he asked, “Why? Why did he kill her?”
“Because it’s what he does,” I snapped, and felt my anger rising to boiling point.
“And Inessa?” the Georgian questioned. Valentin growled low, his crazed, piercing eyes never leaving mine as he waited for my answer,
I felt my heart turn black with hate as I replied, “He took her. She was here with me. She came to me. And he took her. He found us and took her as they pinned me back with picanas.”
Valentin launched himself off the cell door and began to pace the hallway floor. His fists were balled at his sides. 221 moved to be near the guard. I knew it was to stop him from fleeing down the hallways.
“You knew his name.” My eyes left Valentin and focused on the blond male.
I nodded. My stomach sank when I thought of what Inessa had discovered about us. Ilya and Inessa, from Russia.
“Inessa told me last night,” I said, and watched Valentin pause. He kept his head down, eyes focused on the floor, but I knew he was listening. Gripping the bars, I said, “Neither of us knew our names. Inessa’s chiri discovered that 152 is Inessa Belrova and I, 901, am Ilya Konev from Russia. We were both taken from orphanages as children.”
Valentin’s head snapped up and he muttered darkly, “Wraiths.”
I nodded. “I don’t remember much, but I remember them snatching me from my bed.” I sighed and ran my hand down my face. “Inessa has been having dreams. She has been having dreams of a boy that held her tightly as they were taken by the Wraiths. She dreamed of a female all in black that made her feel fear. She dreamed of waving good-bye to a boy. It made her feel sad. But she couldn’t remember more; only flashes, odd images came to her mind. A scarred man in a collar telling her to hold on. Telling her she was more than just a number. Telling her that one day he would come and set her free.”
I looked to 818. “She was also told that she had a brother, Valentin Belrov. She didn’t know where he was. If he was alive or dead.” I looked to Valentin, who was now staring at me, a grief-stricken expression on his face. Directly addressing him, I said, “She had seen you in the pits and you made her think of the male in her mind. She doesn’t know if the images are of her brother, because they are of an older male. She only remembers her brother as a child. But she saw you. For a moment she entertained the thought that you could be him,
but you look different from her mental images.”
Valentin stroked his hand over his neck, over the red scar. “I look different because I am free.”
“But…?” I trailed off.
“I am Valentin Belrov. I am Inessa’s brother. I have been trying to free her for many years.”
My heart raced and my eyes widened as he confided, “We are here to get her back. We are here to kill Arziani and burn this pit to the motherfucking ground.”
I shook my head, convinced I hadn’t heard right, when 818 held out his hand. “I’m Luka Tolstoi, knayz to the New York Volkov Bratva.” I stared at his hand, then lifted my hand and threaded it through the bars to clasp his.
“I don’t know what a Bratva is. Or a knayz, for that matter.”
He smirked. “Neither did I when I escaped my gulag. I have learned a great deal since.”
“You were in a gulag?” I questioned. Luka nodded and pointed to 221. “This is Zaal Kostava. He is the Lideri of the Kostava Clan, a Georgian crime family. He was held here as a child along with his twin. The drugs were tested and developed on him.”
Zaal walked forward and offered his hand to me, too. “Georgian, but an enemy to Arziani. A rival crime family.”
“He experimented on you and your brother?”
He nodded. “My brother died. I have a sister in New York.” He pointed to Valentin, who was silently watching from behind. “Arziani sent Valentin to come and kill me and my family. He was Mistress Arziani’s Ubiytsa.”
“Mistress Arziani is dead,” I stated.
A cold smile spread on Valentin’s disfigured face. “I know. I killed her.” Valentin stepped forward. “He took me and Inessa from an orphanage and made me her personal assassin. She used Inessa as bait to keep me submissive. I captured my Zoya, Zaal’s sister. But we fell in love. When Mistress found out I had betrayed her, she told me she would send Inessa back here. But it was too late. Arziani had already seen her on a screen and demanded her return.”
“To be his High Mona,” I added, the unfolding picture making sense.
Valentin nodded. “We are all fighters. We entered this tournament to get her back.”
“How?”
Luka spoke. “Not all of the Wraiths are loyal to Arziani; many are forced or sold to service as we all were.” I glanced to the guard over Zaal’s shoulder, and he flicked his chin. I faced Luka with a confused frown. “Selected chiri, the ones that administer the drugs to the males, have, from the beginning of this week, been injecting all fighters with the antidote my family have developed to counteract the Type A drug. They have been doing this every day. The guards on our side have been talking to the fighters. They have been preparing them.”
“Preparing them for what?” I asked, my heart finding a new beat.
“For the riot,” Luka said calmly. As I stared at his male, I knew that he was a born leader. Everything about how he spoke and the calmness that he kept showed to me it was the role he was made to fulfill.
“The riot?” I asked, my heart pumping my blood through my body like a torrent.
Valentin stepped closer to me and through gritted teeth said, “The final. We three are in the final. After we slaughter the fourth male, we will rush the crowd and cull every one of the sick bastards. Everything is in place.” He smiled a cold smile. “Then we will go for Master.”
“No,” I hissed and hit at the cell door. “He’s mine.”
Valentin challenged my stare. But I would take that kill. Master was mine.
“You have a match today,” Luka said. I nodded my head. He looked to Zaal and raised a brow. Zaal addressed me. “You are wounded.”
“I will win.”
“Even injured?” he questioned.
“I will win,” I repeated, “I am the champion of the Blood Pit. The Arziani Pit Bull. I am undefeated on this sand. And until Master used my Inessa to control me, I never even gained a scratch in a match.”
“You win,” Luka said. “You win and you join us tomorrow.” He glanced to Valentin, then back to me. “You will get Arziani.”
“What?” Valentin hissed, and Luka faced him. “You got Mistress. This is Ilya’s kill. We all had our closure with the males that ruined our lives.” He pointed at me. “He deserves his, too.”
Valentin shook his head, but then met my eyes and asked, “You love my sister?”
“Yes,” I said truthfully, feeling this answer right down to my bones.
Valentin stared at me for a long minute, then nodded. The turncoat guard suddenly held out his gun, and ordered, “Out!”
I stared to the hallway, as did Luka, Zaal, and Valentin. The three males prepared to strike, when a small female chiri walked through. Her head was bowed as the guard flicked his chin for her to stand before us. When she raised her head, and swallowed in pure fear, I noted the right side of her face.
It was scarred. Her hands trembled at her front. She was young, very young.
“Maya?” I guessed.
Maya’s eyes widened when I addressed her by her name. Her eyes then filled with tears and rolled in thick drops down her face.
Valentin looked to Maya and asked, “Inessa’s chiri? The one that told her about me?”
Maya watched Valentin, and questioned, “Valentin?” Valentin nodded his head in reply. “Then she was right?” Maya confirmed, and her hand flew to her mouth. She shook her head and then looked to me. “Ilya, Master took her to a torture room. He has her tied up with ropes and has lashed her back.” Maya sniffed and wiped at her cheeks. “He retrieved me from her quarters. I have fed her and allowed her to drink. Master is keeping her alive. He wants to draw out her death as punishment for her betrayal with you.”
Maya looked to the other males, then she stepped closer to reveal, “One of the chiri told me they were being sent to drug you tomorrow if you make the final. He knows that under the drugs you cannot win against the other warriors.”
I glanced to Luka, Zaal, and Valentin. “Galina, the chiri he commanded to drug you, told me of the order. News is traveling of you and Inessa. The chiri don’t want either of you to die. You are the champion, they respect you.” Maya blushed and said, “And I have told them all of how Miss Inessa has treated me from day one. They want her to survive. We all want you both to survive.”
Valentin walked off to one of the cells as Maya spoke, and Maya flinched when the sounds of his pained bellow traveled to where we stood. I gripped the bars and asked, “Is she in pain? Is she being strong?”
Maya nodded her head. “She is being very strong, but…” She glanced away, chased her tears. “But she is in great pain. Her back…” Maya shook her head like she was ridding the image from her mind. “Her back is heavily wounded. Her arms are not much better.” She sucked in a breath and said, “I’m worried she won’t last as long as Master wants.”
I gritted my teeth and walked back to the mattress on the floor. I lifted it and hauled it against the wall. “I fucking hate him!” I screamed. My neck bunched as I shook with rage.
“Ilya!” someone called, but I couldn’t calm down. “Ilya!” the male repeated. But I was lost to my anger, the red haze descending again over my eyes. The cell door opened. When I looked to see who had entered, Luka approached. “Calm,” he said slowly. “Breathe.”
I did as he said and took a deep breath. I saw Valentin appearing at the doorway looking equally pissed off. He stood with his hands balled at his sides, but he was holding back his anger and pain.
I had to do the same.
I forced myself to calm. When I did, Luka addressed Maya. “Can she hold on? Can you help her keep strong until tomorrow?”
Maya looked among us all, and nodded her head. “Master will be busy with the tournament. I’ll try to feed her and keep her as strong as possible.” Maya then looked to me and timidly walked forward. I stared down at the small chiri and watched her lift her head to me. My stomach tightened on seeing her scarred face. I remembered Inessa had told me it was an acid attack because s
he had refused to fuck a guard.
I felt nothing but respect for the young female in this moment.
I waited for her to speak. When she did, my heart shattered. “Miss Inessa sent me here to tell you that you are in her heart forever.” She swallowed, her gaze racked with pain. When Maya managed to regain her composure, she said, “Miss Inessa said she has your name readied on her lips and will find you in the next life.”
I heard Valentin curse under his breath. I stared at her brother falling apart. Then I looked to Luka and Zaal. Luka nodded. “Maya,” I said, and she blinked back her tears, “tell moy prekrasnyy to hold on. Tell her that her brother is here. Tell her that he, along with me and a few others, are going to win us our freedom.” Maya gasped and swept her eyes around all the males in the group.
“So it is true?” she exclaimed. “I have heard rumors of a revolt, but the older chiri that have discussed it in private will not speak of it when questioned.”
“Yes,” I replied. “It is tomorrow, during the final.” I reached out and touched Maya’s arm. She flinched. I immediately withdrew my hand.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled. The skin on her good cheek reddened. “I … I find it hard to be touched by males since…” She pointed to her scar, and I nodded in understanding.
“It’s okay,” I soothed. Maya’s shoulders sagged in relief. “Just tell my Inessa that we are coming for her. Tell her that her wish will soon come true. We will leave this place together. We will choose our lives. We will be together every day aboveground.”
“You will?”
“We all will,” I responded, and saw the flame of hope flicker in her gaze.
“I’ll return to her now,” Maya stated, and turned to leave the cell. Just before she did, Maya added, “You are the champion of the Blood Pit. You must win today. Win it for her.”
Maya left, but her words struck my heart. I would win it for Inessa. I wouldn’t put on a show. I would take the kill, then rest for tomorrow.
Luka placed his hand on my shoulder. “We have to go to our cells while the tournament is on. We must keep up appearances. But you win this next fight, then tonight, we will go over the plan for tomorrow.”