Arena Wars Trilogy

by Hoffman, Samantha

  He laughed. “As in Hannibal Lector? Oh, no. I assure you, I am not a Hannibal, though both of us do share a passion for flesh.”

  I shuddered. Suddenly, the way he was staring at me seemed almost disgusting and revolting, and I had the strong urge to cover myself from head-to-toe. I settled for crossing my arms over my chest, barring him from seeing my body.

  “What did you want from me?” I asked him.

  “I wanted to inform you that you’ll be joining me for dinner tonight.”

  I stopped. “Dinner? You’re inviting me to dinner? You’re keeping me and Quinten here against our wills, and you’re trying to treat me like a guest? And besides, you’re a vampire, you don’t eat!”

  He laughed again. “Of course not! An invitation would give you the opportunity to refuse me. This is a command. And yes, I don’t eat, but you will join me anyways.”

  The pain in my stomach got worse. He was planning something; I just couldn’t tell what it was. “And if I refuse your order?”

  He snarled and shoved me against the wall, his hand wrapped tightly around my throat. “You will do no such thing,” he hissed darkly. “You’re my property until I decide to be rid of you, and you will remember that.”

  His eyes were crazed, and I realized too late that he didn’t have a problem murdering me right then and there in the hallway.

  “Now, you will be attending dinner with me. Do you understand, or do I need to make myself more clear?”

  I managed to shake my head. “I understand.”

  He released me, and I crumpled to the ground, gasping for air. I could barely think straight. How does this keep happening? What is it about me that attracts the attention of these crazy powerful men? First Roger and now Eli…what is wrong with me?

  “I’ll have an outfit sent down for you. I expect you to be clean and properly groomed. I am a civilized man, after all.”

  If he hadn’t just tried to strangle me, I would have laughed. This man didn’t know the first thing about civilization.

  “Oh, and if you know what’s best for you, you’ll do well to remember your manners.”

  *****

  When the vampire guards brought in dinner for everyone else, they only had five trays. As they were leaving, they grabbed and led me from the room. They stopped at the bathroom and threw me inside, shoving a dress inside after me. “Wear this.”

  The dress was a one shoulder taffeta and tulle mermaid style dress with mirrored gems, pearls, and sequins detailed with silk flowers at the shoulder and skirt. It was a deep purple color. I would have loved the dress if I hadn’t known who had picked it.

  A note fluttered to the ground, and I bent down to pick it up.

  Darling, I want you to wear this dress tonight. It will contrast wonderfully with your flaming hair.

  Repressing a shudder, I pulled the dress on. Even though it killed me to admit it, it did look amazing. Surely Eli had ulterior motives rather than contrasting it with my hair?

  I spun in the mirror a few times, searching for any patches of exposed skin that might tantalize him. My shoulders and arms were almost completely exposed, aside from the single strap, but I didn’t think my pale shoulders would be very interesting to him.

  The neck.

  That’s what was the most exposed. That was what he would probably be thinking about all through dinner. That thought scared me so badly I couldn’t even open the bathroom door. The vampire guards had to practically drag me from the room and lead me to Eli’s chambers.

  Is Eli planning to bite me tonight? If he does, will he kill me, or keep me alive to prolong the torture?

  I’d never been fed on before, other than the initial attack with had left me a werewolf, and I thankfully couldn’t remember the experience. I knew though that if the blood wasn’t given willingly, being fed on was one of the most painful experiences imaginable.

  Sometimes humans had been known to end up in asylums after a vampire attack. They were left screaming at the walls and digging at their faces until they bled. Others had night terrors that ended with the victim screaming in the middle of the night.

  God, please don’t let him feed from me.

  Eli’s chambers were large and beautiful; the walls were covered with ancient tapestries and paintings, and the floors were covered with thick, colorful rugs. The furniture was all a hard, dark wood, including the dining table that had been set up with just two chairs, which I assumed would be for the two of us.

  In the far corner of his chambers was a large canopy bed with what looked like blood-red silk sheets and comforters.

  I tried not to shudder.

  Eli was already seated at the dining table, and he smiled when I stopped just in front of him.

  “Ah, yes. I knew that color would be perfect for you. You look splendid, darling.”

  I forced myself to answer. “Thank you.”

  He waved his hand to the empty chair, “Please, sit.”

  Good manners would dictate that he pull the chair out for me, but I wasn’t going to complain since it kept him as far way from me as physically possible.

  A man in a black and white suit entered the room. He carried a tray in one hand, and what looked like a bottle of red wine in the other. He set the bottle in front of Eli, and placed the tray down in front of me. He pulled the top off, revealing a steak, medium rare, with a roll and vegetables.

  I stared at him. “Steak?”

  He nodded. “Yes. I wasn’t sure how cooked you’d want it, but I figured you’ve probably had it rarer than this before, am I right?”

  I nodded, trying to be polite, hoping it would keep me alive for the night. “Yes, I often go hunting with my father and sister.”

  “Ray and Ilene.”

  The fork stopped halfway to my mouth. “What?”

  “You’re surprised that I know of your family?” He asked with a chuckle. “My dearest Alanna, when my Seekers first brought you to me, I thought for sure the gods were smiling down on me. You see, I’ve been waiting for many years for just this opportunity.”

  “Why?”

  Ignoring me, he opened the bottle and poured himself a glass. I tried not to gag when the smell hit me; it was the same color, scent, and consistency of fresh blood. He saw my horrified look.

  “It’s the freshest my kitchen has to offer. The cooks donate this blood themselves. If they don’t…well, it isn’t that hard to find new employees,” he chuckled darkly.

  I picked at the food on my plate, not wanting to give him any reason to lash out at me. “So what opportunity have you been waiting years for exactly?”

  He smiled. “Ah, yes. Alanna, I would like to show you something, if you don’t object?”

  He stood and, unbuttoning his black shirt, slid it down around his shoulders. An inch above his heart was a long, jagged scar. It was the sole blemish of an otherwise perfectly sculpted body.

  I frowned. It looked as if someone had tried to stake him, and had missed the heart.

  “What’s the matter, Alanna? Don’t you recognize your own father’s handiwork?”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Ray did that to you?”

  For a minute, I stupidly wondered if Ray was a secret vampire hunter by night.

  He nodded. “Yes, he did. You see, about fifteen years ago, my mate and I were hunting in some small backwoods town in Michigan, and I came across this delightful red-headed child, playing hopscotch in her preschool playground.”

  My stomach clenched painfully.

  “I wanted her, and all I had to do to get her was make eye contact and persuade her to leave the gated area. She came willingly into the forest to play with me. I wanted to taste her, and feel the life leave her body. I almost succeeded.”

  He paused, staring longingly at me.

  “Luckily for you, your father arrived just in time to save you. He followed you out to the trees and tried to stake me through the heart which, I assure you, would have most definitely killed me. Luckily your cries startle
d him and he missed. My mate was not so lucky. Your father stole the most important person in my life from me that day, and I intend to repay the favor,” he hissed, eyes glowing wildly.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Without warning, he launched himself across the table, knocking me from the chair. I hit the ground, and the back of my head blossomed in pain. He gripped my hair with one hand and painfully yanked my head to the side, exposing the side of my neck.

  There was a quiet click as his fangs extended. Without hesitation, he tore into my throat, severing my windpipe in one quick, sloppy, savage bite. He was spilling as much blood as he was taking, and I tried to focus on staying awake instead of the horrible pain of having my blood drawn against my will.

  I beat his shoulders and back as hard as I could, but the blood loss was setting in faster than it had with Roger, and my hands were quickly becoming useless. I couldn’t even scream for help; my shredded windpipe refused to let me even breathe in or out. All I could do was lie there and choke on my own blood, while this ancient vampire tried to drain me completely dry.

  Finally, after what seemed like ages, he released me, and I fell back against the blood-soaked floor. The dress was ruined; the front was as wet as the floor. Eli’s mouth and cheeks were smeared with blood, my blood, and he paused for a second to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand.

  He licked his fingers and made a smacking noise with his lips. “Hmm, you taste exquisite. It would be a shame to waste this.” He bit into his wrist and forced it to my open mouth. “Drink my blood or you will die here and now.”

  I couldn’t do it. Nothing could be worse than sharing blood with this monster. He could force me to give him as much blood as he wanted, but I would never in my life willingly take his. Just thinking about this monster’s blood flowing through my veins horrified me.

  I would have much preferred dying, and as I turned my head as far to the side as I could, I resigned myself to it. My lips closed tightly, and I hoped to just die in peace.

  “Drink from me, or I’ll kill that boy toy of yours in the cruelest most horrible way imaginable. Is that what you really want my dear? Do you want him to spend a lifetime screaming your name while you rot away in the ground?”

  If he’d threatened me with anything else, I would have just let myself die. But I couldn’t do that to Quinten. I couldn’t let this monster get his hands anywhere near my best friend. I opened my lips slowly, and his warm blood trickled down my throat, surprising me.

  I would have thought a vampire’s blood would be colder and thicker.

  It was foul tasting, and I almost spit it back up, but he put his hand over my mouth. He made me swallow all of it. I could feel it as it quickly went to work; it repaired the damage to my throat that had been caused by Eli’s teeth. Vampire blood, when ingested, had amazing healing capabilities. Considering my already advanced werewolf properties of healing, it managed to close my second gaping throat wound in less than a week.

  Eli stood, wiping his sticky blood-covered hands on his pants, and I trembled on the floor. The throat wound was healed, but the loss of so much blood was sending me quickly into shock. He sneered down at me and clapped his hands three times.

  The door opened and the two vampire guards entered the room. They looked down at me, lying on the floor, covered in blood, and they looked quickly away. Apparently, they didn’t care about anything other than staying alive, or whatever it was that vampires did.

  “Take her back to her room and do not touch her or her blood, or I will have you both destroyed. Is that understood?”

  I didn’t hear the answer. My eyes closed, and I felt everything drifting peacefully away.

  *****

  When I woke up, I found myself curled up on a small cot, which was made all the smaller by the addition of Quinten curled up by my side. His arm was wrapped protectively around my waist, and I was snuggled tightly to his chest. He snored lightly, and I smiled, wincing when the movement pulled at my newly healed throat.

  As carefully as I could, I reached a hand up and rubbed my throat. It felt raw and I assumed it was probably bright red. It would finish healing in a little bit, and I’d be good as new. Until then, I would just have to try to talk and swallow as little as possible.

  While Quinten continued to sleep peacefully beside me, I began to think about everything that was on my mind.

  Why had Eli forced me to take his blood? He could have just left me alone, and I would have surely died on that floor. Why push me to the brink of death, just to bring me back? Had he even planned on killing me, or had he simply fed too much? Or does he just like playing god with people’s lives?

  Is he going to feed from me again?

  Maybe I’d tasted better than he thought I would. A lot of vampires normally avoided drinking from werewolves, because our blood could sometimes taste gamey to them. We tended to taste like the animals they thought we were. Besides, humans were usually a lot easier to get. Only a couple handfuls of vampires actually hunted werewolves.

  Was there something about my blood that appealed to him more than anyone else’s would?

  A terrible thought hit me then.

  Vampires found their soul mates by drinking someone’s blood. What if I’m actually meant to be that monster’s soul mate?

  Werewolves bonded by kissing, vampires by drinking blood. If he forced me to kiss him, would I find him to be mine? That thought was so horrible I had to fight not to throw up what little I’d eaten last night. There was no way I could be mated to a vampire, was there? The species weren’t capable of cohabitation.

  At least, that’s what I’d been led to believe in the past. Could everyone be wrong? Was it possible for werewolves and vampires to be anything other than mortal enemies?

  Oh god, please don’t let that monster be my soul mate!

  Quinten stirred, and his eyes opened slowly. It was always a little strange to think that whether he opened his eyes or not, everything always stayed the exact same: black.

  He frowned. “You’re up.”

  “How did you know?”

  “I can hear your breathing. It’s faster and harder than when you were asleep. I figured you were either awake or having a nightmare.”

  I looked down, and realized for the first time that I was back in my jeans and t-shirt.

  Quinten sighed. “Alanna, what happened to you last night? The vampire guards brought you in, and dropped you onto your cot. I checked on you and you were covered in wet, sticky blood. For a terrible moment I thought you were dead. Then you moaned, and lost consciousness.”

  “Eli gave those guards orders to bring me back here. They weren’t allowed to drink my blood, even though I must have been pretty tempting, considering I was covered from head-to-toe in it.”

  “Is that why one of them freaked out? He started slapping his hand against his leg, like he was trying to get something off it.”

  “He threatened to kill them if they tasted my blood.”

  “He took blood from you? By force?” A hard edge had crept into Quinten’s voice, and I realized it was barely restrained anger. He was furious, and I didn’t blame him.

  Eli had used me in his own disgusting way, and he probably had plans to do it all over again.

  “Yeah, he did. It was the worst experience of my life,” I said, ashamed to feel tears on my cheek.

  He wiped the tears off my cheeks with his thumb. “Alanna, it’s going to be ok, I promise.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t think it will be. He was going to kill me last night, but he changed his mind and gave me his blood, and it healed me. I don’t understand why he would have done that, unless he realized while feeding from me that I’m supposed to be his soul mate.”

  Quinten’s grip on me tightened. “You are not meant for him,” he growled angrily. “And if he tries to tell you that, don’t you dare believe him for even a minute. Someone as good as you isn’t meant for something so…vile, repulsive, and evil.”

  I snuggled
closer to Quinten, glad for his warmth and protection. The moment was ruined by the opening of the door. The vampire guards entered, handling their cattle prods. “Alright, let’s go.”

  Tyler and Dennis rose, and I watched them leave. What were the chances that neither of them would return?

  An hour later, Tyler and Dennis both returned, looking even worse than they had after their last fight. Tyler had a strange look on his face, and he ignored me and collapsed onto his bed. He pressed his face into his pillow to muffle his cries, but I heard them anyways.

  Another couple disappeared, and only one returned half an hour later. She looked like a zombie, and no amount of prodding could get her to speak. Tyler told me that counting me and her, there were only three girls left in the fights. Most girls didn’t last long.

  Her partner had been her fiancé.

  A few minutes after she returned, she burst into tears, and became inconsolable. I glanced over at Quinten. Was that what was in store for us? Would I be the distraught, broken survivor? Would I be destroyed beyond repair?

  Quinten was speaking, and I realized he must have said my name more than once. “What?”

  “I asked if you were going to be able to fight later. You’re the only reason we survived our first fight and, without you, I think we’re both doomed.” He was listening to the girl’s choked sobs. They were horrible, and they would have made just about anyone uncomfortable.

  I sighed. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine by the time the fight comes around. We still have another hour or two I think. But just to be on the safe side, how about we get a little practice in? I don’t wanna be stiff for our match.”

  I slid off the cot and had to grip the side for support when my legs threatened to give out from under me. I caught my breath until I could stand without support. Me entire body was sore, and I figured it probably had to do with the fact that most of my blood had been drained last night.

  The human body wasn’t meant to sustain that kind of damage and remain fully functional. Thankfully, I wasn’t human. Something that would have almost undoubtedly killed a human was only an inconvenience to me. I’d be right as rain in a little bit, and my life would continue as if nothing had happened.