by Zara Novak
A knock came at the door a few minutes before Jack was scheduled to fight. Rourke’s servant, Natalie, entered the room holding a tray, accompanied by Monica Valentine. The sleek haired vampire had changed since their last encounter, swapping her revealing leather outfit for thigh-high boots, a black miniskirt and a white jumper that actually covered some of her modesty.
“I’m back,” Monica announced with a dramatic flourish. “I’m here to make sure you take your Widow’s Draught—" the female vampire looked up at Jack and had to do a double take at seeing him for the first time since his transformation. “Mother of Mary. You certainly clean up well.” Monica twisted on her heels as she curled a finger through her long black hair. “…What are you doing after this?”
“Leaving,” Jack growled without looking up. “What do you want?”
The vampire stared at Jack for a moment before blinking hard and shaking herself back into the room. “Huh? Oh, right. Yes. Natalie here has the Draught you need to take. Rourke determined a vampire of your caliber would need two roots for the fight to be fair.” Monica paused, letting the statement linger for a moment, almost as if she were waiting for Jack to challenge it.
“Whatever,” he answered back brusquely. “Drug me all you want. I’ll still win.”
Monica gave a nervous laugh then nodded to the servant to remove the lid from the tray. On it there was a bowl of long white roots with distinctive black stalks, and a jug of steaming water. Monica instructed the servant to place the tray down on the surface in front of her and then approached the tray, her back between the wall and Jack. Ellie shifted to the side, watching the vampire as she prepared the drink.
“So, you say you are heading to the mountains,” Monica said as she dropped two of the roots into the jug of water. The white roots dissolved instantly into a cloud of smoke. She dipped a long spoon into the jug, stirring it rapidly. “But where did you come from? There’s been a lot of interesting things happening in this valley recently. It’s why my family moved down here. Breeders afoot. Rumors of prophecy. It’s all very exciting.”
“I’m just travelling back to my home,” Jack said. “That’s all. Nothing else to it.”
Monica lifted the jug from the table, turned and walked over to hand it to Jack, who took it without saying anything. Ellie watched carefully as he lifted the jug to his lips and tipped it back.
“Very mysterious,” she said with a glimmer of mischief in her eyes. “I thought a man of your caliber would be heading toward the valley. Exciting times we live in. A vampire like you would do very well to find a human mate…”
Jack threw back the cloudy grey liquid, swallowed it in one and handed the jug back to Monica. “I don’t care for rumors of prophecy. I’m just heading north with my servant, that’s all.”
“Very well,” she said after a long pause, still wearing that suspicious smile. “If you’d like to stand, I’ll accompany you to the fighting pit now.”
Jack and Ellie both rose at Monica’s invitation, but the female vampire held out a hand at seeing Ellie stand. “Oh, no, honey. It’s much too violent for human servant girls out there. Only vampires are allowed to cross the threshold into the arena.”
Ellie looked to Jack, her stomach now felt as if it were turning circles. She suddenly noticed that Jack’s complexion had faltered a little. His golden-white glow was gone, replaced with a greyish pallor, his bright red eyes looked dimmer. Jack waivered on his feet, stretching an arm out to catch himself before he fell.
“Jack?” Ellie ran over in concern, helping to steady the vampire.
“I’m okay,” he said after a short moment. He straightened up, let go of Ellie and rolled his head on his shoulders, pointing his eyes at Monica. “That’s some strong Draught.”
Monica shrugged. “What can I say? It must grow strong out here.” The vampire looked down at a watch on her wrist. “I’m sorry, but we really must get going. Your servant can stay here with Rourke’s.”
“Just give us a minute,” Jack said, throwing an irritated glare in Monica’s direction. The vampire looked back at him through squinting eyes, nodded then stepped to the door. Glancing at her watch, she shifted her weight onto one hip and let out a deep sigh. “Fine. I’ll give you five minutes, but then we have to go.” Monica exited, closing the door behind her, and Jack fell onto the bench in front of him. Fear panged through Ellie and she jumped to his side, holding herself against his body to keep him upright.
“Jack! Are you okay! Jack?!”
“I’m okay,” the vampire said as he squeezed his eyes tight, looking as if he had just come out of a concussion. “That drink was a lot stronger than I anticipated… I don’t feel too hot.”
Ellie lifted her head and looked over at the tray on the side behind them. She stood, ran over and looked down at the bowl, which was now empty. Eyes boiling with rage, she looked over at the servant girl in the corner. Monica was only supposed to give Jack two roots, but she had dosed him with an entire bowl. “Did you know about this?” she snarled at the servant.
The girl looked over at Ellie. “What?”
“She’s overdosed him! She gave him the whole bowl!”
Disbelief and irritation flared in the girl’s expression. She looked over to the door through which Monica had left and shook her head. Ellie ran back to Jack, who was still sat up on the bench, but almost bent double as his head lolled down. His eyes looked heavy, his movement looked lethargic. Ellie grasped the vampire’s face with both her hands, held it up and forced him to look into her eyes. “She gave you too much Jack. She dosed you with too much. You can’t fight. You’re going to die if go out there.”
“I’ll be fine,” the vampire slurred. “I can hold my…” his words trailed off as his head lolled again. Ellie looked around in blind panic, her heart thundering in her chest. If Jack went out there, he was a dead man. If he died, then she would die here also. She had to get the drug out of his system, she had to think of something fast. “You need to be sick. Can you be sick? How do I make a vampire be sick?”
Her eyes darted about the room looking for something that might help, while her thoughts raced for answers. She pulled up everything she knew about vampires, knowing the answer must be somewhere inside of her. Then, a low but confident voice spoke at her side. Ellie looked up and saw the servant girl. Her palm was outstretched, holding the blade Jack had used to cut his hair earlier.
“Take this. Make him drink his own blood. It’s the only way to make a vampire nauseous.”
For a second Ellie stared at the girl as if she were mad, she’d never heard anything like that before, and the Order specialized in knowing about vampiric weaknesses. Jack managed to lift his head and mumbled something under his breath. “…she’s…right…do…it.”
Grabbing the blade, Ellie flicked it open and made a small cut against Jack’s right forearm. She lifted his arm to his mouth and held it there as he drank. Some of the color instantly flushed back to his skin, he pushed Ellie away after a second, ran to the sink and doubled over as he retched loudly.
“That should get most of it out,” the servant said. “But there will probably still be some in his system that can’t be removed.”
Ellie stared at the servant girl with her mouth hanging open, amazed that her trick had actually worked. “I’ve never heard of that before.”
The servant girl nodded. “It’s not a well-known trick. I mean… how often do you need to make a vampire sick? It’s not exactly something you do every day.”
“Lucky for me, you did know,” Jack groaned, lifted his head and turned from the sink to face them, still looking groggy but definitely closer to his older self. He wiped his arm against the back of his mouth, stood up straight and stumbled forward from the sink, his footfall looking a lot surer now. “That son of a bitch must have dosed me with a whole plant,” he growled and looked toward the door. “I’d kill her now if I thought we could get out of here.” Jack looked at the servant and took a step closer to her. “What’
s their end game here?”
The brown-haired servant girl held Jack’s gaze with unusual confidence. “I can’t say for sure. Monica likes to go off script. I suspect she wanted to make an example of you for the spectacle you caused earlier.”
Ellie’s stomach knotted with worry. Monica seemed hell bent on making sure that Jack failed. She clearly had no problem with cowardly tricks. Something told Ellie this wouldn’t be the last of it. “Jack, you can’t go into that arena. There’s not a chance they’re going to let you win.”
The vampire brushed a hand up the back of his neck, stretching it as if he were in great pain. He pulled his arms back, straightened his spine up and jumped up and down a few times on the spot, throwing punches into the air. “No. I’m definitely going out there. I think I got most of the drug out of my system. I still feel weak, but I probably have the correct dose now. I can take three regulars.”
From where Ellie stood she wasn’t so sure. The vampire certainly looked better, but who was to say this relief wasn’t just temporary confidence? She didn’t want Jack to walk out there only to stumble as soon as the gates opened.
Resolute, the vampire walked over to the door with energy in his steps. He pushed fast breaths from his mouth and nose, pumping himself up for the fight.
“What about me?” she asked as Jack approached the door. “Are you just going to leave me here?”
“You’ll be safe here with me,” the servant girl said to Ellie. “I promise.”
Though she felt a little more trusting toward the servant girl, Ellie still had apprehensions about being separated from Jack. She rushed toward the vampire and grabbed his arm, turning him back toward her. “I don’t like this Jack. It just feels wrong. They already tried to trick you once, what makes you think they won’t do it again?”
“It’ll be fine darling,” Jack said with dismissive confidence. He lifted a hand and pointed to the barred window. “I’ll be just through there, I’m not far away. I’ve got good faith in this one,” he said and looked at the servant. “You saved me, but you didn’t have to. Tell me, can you promise me Ellie is going to be safe here with you?”
The girl lifted her head and looked at Jack, nodding quickly. “Yes, I promise. Look.” She pulled a key from a chain around her neck and held it up. “I’m the only one with a key to this room. I can lock it from the inside for extra safety.”
Jack nodded his approval and then looked back at Ellie. “See? No problems. Their beef is with me anyway.” He turned and placed his hand onto the door handle.
“Just be careful,” Ellie stammered, her nerves now spinning in her chest.
“Don’t worry,” he said without looking back. “I will.” Jack opened the door, stepped out into the corridor and shut it behind him. The servant girl locked the door behind him and Ellie sank to the floor slowly, feeling as if all the strength had left her legs.
The thin-limbed girl was at Ellie’s side in a moment, pulling her up and shepherding her over to the barred window to watch the fight. She spoke in low and soothing tones, trying to calm Ellie. “Hey, it’s going to be fine. He’ll win the fight. He’s a strong Super, I can tell. We got most of the drug out of his system. He’ll be fine. Don’t you think?”
Ellie nodded absently, staring out through the bars at the arena in front of her. She appreciated that the girl was trying her hardest to make things feel better, but it all still felt very bleak to Ellie. Win or lose, she would still be a captive to a vampire one way or another regardless of the fight’s outcome. If she had to pick one she’d rather go with Jack, seeing how chaotic things were here, but it was still a poor consolation prize.
A dark energy buzzed through the air outside as the crowd riled in anticipation for the next fight. Her stomach dipped with ice, and she suddenly felt very sick. She was just about to turn to the servant girl and ask how long it was until the fight started, when the announcer jumped up from his high platform and started his pre-match amble. A gate opened on the opposite side of the arena wall and three figures stepped through. Jack’s opponents.
“Oh no,” the servant girl gasped. Ellie turned and looked at the girl, a fresh pang of fear flushing through her veins.
“What?” she asked, searching her face for answers. “What is it?!”
The girl nodded back to the window and Ellie watched as the three men bounced across the arena, thrusting their arms up and getting the crowd riled up even further. “Those vampires aren’t regulars,” the servant girl said in horror. “I know them, they’re all Supers.”
The blood drained from Ellie’s body as she caught the bright red glint in each of the vampire’s eyes. The servant was right. Monica had drugged Jack and pitted him against three vampires that were stronger than him.
“This was never meant to be a fight,” Ellie stammered as she fought back the urge to throw up. “This was meant to be a death sentence. We have to stop it before Jack gets hurt.” Legs shaking, Ellie turned to run to the door but stopped as the servant girl dropped a hand on her shoulder. She looked back at the girl, who shook her head silently. Her large brown eyes showed no signs of hope.
“We have no way of stopping the fight now. It’s impossible. The only thing we can do is watch.”
Ellie turned back to look at the arena, anxiety ripping through her stomach like discs of razor wire. She was about to watch Jack die, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
5
Jack stepped out into the corridor, closed the door behind him and looked at Monica. The vampire stared back at him in surprise, almost looking as if she’d seen a ghost.
“Y-You’re walking!” she stammered as Jack walked across the hall to join her.
“Yes,” he said. “Were you expecting I might have trouble?”
“N-No,” she stammered quickly, squinting at Jack, trying to figure out how he’d bested the drug. “I just… never mind, follow me. The entrance to the arena is this way.”
Monica turned, and they began their ascent down the sloped walkway. Jack followed after her, a few paces behind her position, trying to stretch the fatigue out of his muscles. He should have known better than to blindly take the Draught without watching it be prepared first. He was certain he’d taken Widow’s Draught a few times before in his life, so he knew what to expect, but Monica’s concoction was something else altogether. If Ellie and the servant hadn’t saved him just now, there’s no way he’d be standing.
They made a turn at the end of the hallway, sloping down further toward the center of the arena. Vampire guards were posted along the corridors at regular intervals, their eyes focused squarely on Jack as he followed Monica to the gate up ahead. He still felt light headed and weak from whatever amount of the Draught remained in his body, but it was enough to fight.
Monica stopped just in front of the gate and turned to face Jack, a broad grin across her face. Jack looked through the bars at the blank arena ahead of him, listening to the roar of the crowd and the music outside. “I must admit you’re stronger than I thought,” the vampire said plainly. She walked past Jack, her heels clicking on the floor behind him and stopped, turning back to face him. “Oh, one last thing. There’s been a change of plan to the fight.”
Jack clenched his jaw and a snarl curled at his lips, but he didn’t turn around to look at Monica. The Draught had already been a nasty enough surprise. Ellie had warned there would be more to come, and now, here they were. “What?” he said, pushing the word out as a growl.
“You’re still fighting against three. But we couldn’t find suitable regulars for a vampire of your caliber. You’re against three Supers.” Monica let out a heartless chuckle. “Good luck!”
Jack turned back and saw a gate slide from the ceiling, separating him from the female vampire. There was no turning back now, no running. Monica raised her hand and waved her fingers condescendingly, a knowing smile plastered on her face. There was an evil glint in her eyes that said, Find your way out of this one vampire boy.
One
vampire against three Supers? Jack had been in bad scraps before, but he’d struggle with that even on the best of days. He’d have an even harder time in his weakened state. The gate in front remained closed, and the announcer’s voice boomed across the arena and down the hallway toward Jack. He approached the closed grate and saw the door on the opposite side as it lifted, releasing his three combatants.
The crowd met their entrance with a blood thirsty roar, whooping and screeching as the three vampires bounced across the stone circle, eyes wide with black, eyes that were ready for violence. Jack’s own gate opened, and he stepped out of the tunnel and into the arena without much hesitation. Three Supers against one. He didn’t like those odds. He didn’t like them at all. Still, there was no telling just how strong the vampires would be until he fought them.
“And in the red corner we have our visitor! A mysterious Super travelling to the North. Ladies and gentlemen, I present Jack. The feral from the south!” the announcer’s voice echoed across the arena, and his announcement was met with booing and hissing from the crowd.
Jack wandered into the stone circle, stopping just short of the center. The gates shut, closing them in.
“Now let me take a brief moment to explain the rules of this fight!” the announcer said, his voice echoing over the cold air. Jack remained standing still, eyeing his three opponents who were still skipping about, servicing the audience and building atmosphere. They were topless, just like him, and at quick glance at their bright red eyes confirmed they were Supers. “This fight is a three against one. Team blue verses… the solitary vampire.”
The audience broke into a chorus of booing again at the announcement. Jack didn’t know what the announcer had said before the fight, but he was clearly the villain in this situation for some reason. “Normally only one man can leave the arena, but in this instance the circumstances are different. If Team blue wins—and they probably will win—they can all leave. The only way that handsome Jack can leave is for him to defeat all three opponents. Are you ready for carnage?!”
