Kace bent back, the blade barely missing the edge of his nose before he was already moving, his arm coming out to knock against the flat of the blade. It placed him close enough he could grip his opponent’s wrist, twisting hard enough to break.
The larger man hissed out a breath, his bone snapping with a crunch as his fingers loosened around the pummel enough for Kace to grab it. He recognised the bright orange hair and matching irises. He had never seen such a tall leprechaun, taller than even himself. He would have guessed it was a glamour, but every other magic in the arena was being restricted.
Pain seared down his chest, the wound that sliced from one pec down across his stomach bleeding profusely. It wouldn’t kill him, but it also confirmed that not even his tattooed glyphs were working while he was in the arena.
Kace began to chuckle, the sound dark.
Definitely makes it much more interesting,he mused to himself.
“Fucking cunt!” the tall leprechaun screamed, cradling his wrist to his chest. It left him vulnerable, and Kace couldn’t have cared less. “You hurt Cillian!”
“You’re lucky,” Kace rasped, remembering how his friend had reached for Eva. “If you were the other faerie, I would have cut off your fucking hand.”
The leprechaun’s eyes widened, mouth opening with a reply, but Kace was already moving, sprinting across the arena with the sword clutched tightly in his palm.
* * *
EVA
Eva couldn’t tear her eyes away from the arena, the clash of flesh and steel sickening along with the lingering scent of copper. She knew it wasn’t from the sands below, but from the security she had accidently killed. His body had been removed, and despite there being no evidence, his blood was still there in the grains of the wooden floor. It made the aggression from the fighters that more real, as if they cared so little about another’s life.
“Beautiful, isn’t it.” Augustine stood behind his desk, the entire wall made from glass. Eva hadn’t noticed it before, not until he clicked a button and the wall shimmered, turning transparent. “The power to end someone so easily. I’m sure you understand, considering.”
Eva swallowed the bile that burned up her throat. She hadn’t felt powerful, the exact opposite in fact. She had felt so small, so weak that she was forced to hurt someone for just a little control over herself. What was worse was there was no guilt, nothing for her to seek penance for taking a life. “Yes,” she said, the lie easy. “I’ve never felt anything like it.”
She wasn’t any better than those who fought with little hesitation on the sands.
“It’s addictive, that feeling. You’ll start to crave it, and then with age you’ll understand that it’s nothing but your nature.” Augustine took the seat beside her, his hand reaching out to grab her wrist. “Our kind is told to suppress our instincts, but you’ll soon learn that we should embrace it.”
Eva nodded, knowing he faced her rather than the fighting below. She tried to keep her eyes off Kace, finding herself clenching her fists so tightly her knuckles cracked when she saw his blood tip the end of a sword. She forced herself to relax, to look elsewhere but always found her attention drift back to him. He moved like liquid, each twist and parry as elegant as any dancer.
“It’s exciting you, isn’t it?” A brush of his thumb along her jaw. “Watching them fight. Watching them die.”
She knew if she were human her pulse would have given her away, and it was the first time she was grateful for the vampiric stillness. On the outside she was perfectly calm, but inside she was a storm.
“Do we stay here the whole time?” she asked, hoping he heard interest in her voice.
His thumb drifted down the side of her throat. “You will stay wherever I am, and at the moment I will be staying on site until we are back to full operation. These games are a new concept to help get us back to where we were, before we were shut down by The Council.”
“Why were you shut down before?”Despite the fucking obvious.
“It doesn’t matter because it won’t happen again. The Council will no longer be an issue.” Augustine’s attention burned the side of her face, his thumb pressing. “If the games are a success, we should be back to full capacity within the week. Betting is where the real money is made, and before the arena would carry around five hundred people. Each would bet, and most would lose.”
“And then you would auction off the losers,” Eva added quietly.
“Only if they survived. Which most don’t.” A chuckle. “You learn about people here, secrets even the rich and powerful can’t hide. Being able to watch, bet and sometimes participate brings out the most primal of personalities. It brings out their most basic desires. We allow people to be who they truly are, and it’s why the Pits are the most successful fighting arena in the world.”
Eva clenched her fist in her lap as Kace dodged another swipe of a sword. If she wasn’t careful Augustine would see. “They’re able to participate?” She finally turned, his face closer than expected.
“Of course. With enough money they can take one of the reserved Units into our private room.”
“And they fight?”
“Sometimes, and sometimes it’s just about pain.”
Sometimes it’s just about pain.Eva tried to conceal the dread that gripped her chest. She had already been hurt beyond what she thought survivable, but being surrounded by such glorified violence was somehow worse.
His smile was cruel, as if he could see through her guise. “Watch the fight.”
