Oh, my god. Something terrible must have happened to them if the fight got done that fast.
I bit my lip and thought of Tyler, lying broken and bloody in the arena field, being dragged away by thoughtless monsters, and wondered if that would be what happened to us.
The vampire guards ushered us out the door and down the hall, and our third fight began.
*****
The tunnel approached, and I silently prayed for the fight to go over in our favor. I prayed for Eli to get what was coming to him. I prayed for there to be no children involved this time. I prayed for Quinten’s safety. I prayed that Ray would find us in time to stop this fight.
We arrived in the arena and when I saw the two other fighters waiting, I gasped.
“What’s wrong?” Quinten asked.
“It’s Tyler and Dennis. That’s why their fight only lasted ten minutes. They hadn’t even started yet,” I said, trying not to cry in front of all the people that were watching expectantly.
“We’re fighting Tyler?”
“Quinten, Dennis is a werewolf. He’ll be stronger and faster than me, and he has more experience. I don’t know if I can keep us both safe.”
“So don’t,” he said so quietly that I almost didn’t hear him.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“If it’s a choice between my life or yours, yours had better be more important to you.”
“What?”
“If you can’t save us both,” he growled exasperatedly, “save yourself.”
“How can you even ask me to do that?”
He didn’t have a chance to answer. Eli cleared his throat. “Ladies and gentlemen, let the fight begin!”
Dennis never hesitated; he threw himself at me, knocking me to the ground. He seemed to like me and Quinten well enough, but if one of us had to die, it wouldn’t be him. I didn’t like it, but I didn’t blame him. I had the same attitude when Quinten was involved; anything went when it came to protecting him.
Dennis’ hands scrabbled for my throat, trying to get a decent grip. Reaching up, I hooked my leg around Dennis and twisted, sending him to the dirt with me on top of him. I slammed my hand down into his face as hard as I could once, twice, and a third time.
He worked a hand free, and hit me on the side of the head, sending me rolling into the dirt. I forced myself to sit, trying to ignore Quinten’s grunt of pain. That was when I remembered that Tyler knew the secret of Quinten’s success in the arena. He knew to make as little noise as possible, and it was working. Quinten was unable to get a grasp of where Tyler was until he was right up alongside him, close enough to attack.
Quinten was already bleeding from his nose and lip, and two of his fingers looked broken at odd angles. How much longer could he keep going before he fell and couldn’t force himself to get back up?
Dennis grabbed the back of my shirt, and hauled me to my feet. He threw me to my back, and viciously kicked my ribs. I gritted my teeth against the pain as I heard a crack. He raised a foot, and I threw up my arms to block the crushing stomp that was aimed at my head.
I swung my leg out and it connected solidly with his kneecap. He yelped in pain, and went down hard. Raising my foot again, I kicked him in the face, and his nose started gushing blood.
I jumped to my feet and, while he was busy fixing his knee, ran to help Quinten. I wasn’t sure how ruthless I could be with Tyler, but if it was a choice between him or Quinten…
Quinten was on the ground with Tyler straddling his waist, raining punches down on Quinten’s face and upper torso. His knuckles were bloody and bruised, and it looked like Quinten hadn’t even gotten a single punch in yet.
Tyler was good.
I was better.
I reached over and hauled him off Quinten and flung him away, like Dennis had done to me. Tyler slammed into the wall of the Arena, and crumpled to the ground in a heap. Quinten stood shakily, and I tried not to wince. His face looked like hamburger. I couldn’t imagine how much pain he had to have been in.
“You ok?” I asked, hating how out of breath I sounded.
He nodded. “Yeah, you?”
“Perfect. We can do this, just stay close to me. Then you’ll at least have an idea where everyone’s at.”
He nodded again. “Alright, let’s go.”
Dennis had recuperated and he and Tyler were side by side like Quinten and I were. Tyler looked scared. But that wasn’t all I could see in his eyes. There was something else: reluctance. He didn’t want to do this. He considered us as friends.
Was there a way for us to make it out of this alive?
No, it didn’t seem that way.
Dennis and Tyler moved in. Dennis swung for my head and I raised my arm to block. When his other hand slammed into my throat, I realized too late it was a feint.
My throat collapsed and my eyes started to water, and I began to choke. Dennis didn’t give me a chance to heal; he was on me in a heartbeat. I landed face-first in the dirt, and he grabbed me by the hair, and braced one arm around my throat.
This was bad.
My vision was turning black around the edges and my throat and lungs ached. I was fading fast.
We could lose.
Suddenly, Quinten was there, throwing himself on Dennis’ back. They rolled away, and I sucked in a deep lungful of air. I’d come so close to dying just then, it was a miracle to be breathing still.
Tyler was face-down on the ground and was slowly coming to. I turned and went to help Quinten with Dennis. How Quinten could even breathe with so much blood pouring from his nose was beyond me, but he was still standing, so he couldn’t have been too bad.
I grabbed Dennis’ hands and twisted them behind his back. Quinten punched him over and over again, but I could tell it wasn’t really doing much. Dennis was healing almost immediately. Being a werewolf was awesome.
Fighting another one was not.
*****
Another hour later, and Quinten and Tyler were getting tired and sluggish. The blood they’d lost was starting to get to them, and if we went much longer, they’d be dead and it would just be me and Dennis.
Finally, when I thought it would never end a shot rang out, startling the four of us. The vampire guards came into the arena, four in total, and two went to stand by Dennis and Tyler, and two stood behind us. Eli stood gracefully, and addressed the people watching from the stands.
“If this fight goes on any longer, we’ll lose our human contestants to exhaustion, and our werewolves will be forced to fight to the death. I don’t want that. So, I will be choosing a member from each team to sacrifice, and the remaining two will form a new team.”
No!
My worst fears had been realized. Either Quinten or I would be sacrificed. The thought of living without him was too much to handle. Did he feel the same way?
He reached over and grasped my hand. I squeezed it as tight as I could without hurting him, taking comfort in the familiar warmth of his hand.
Eli smiled, and looked at the two of us. “I’ve made my decision. As much as it pains me to do this, Alanna, I’m sorry. The prospect of watching your warrior fight blindly without you is just too much to pass up,” he raised the gun straight at my chest. “I’m sorry.”
“I demand the right of substitution!” Quinten shouted, releasing my hand and stepping forward.
Everything went quiet, and my heart stopped.
Chapter Fifteen
“No!” I screamed, struggling against the guards that now gripped my arms behind my back. Did he know what he was doing? He was throwing away his life…for me!
Eli’s eyes widened in mock surprise, and a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips. He’d suspected Quinten would offer his life up instead of letting me die. “You do realize what you’re you doing, don’t you?”
Quinten nodded. “Yes, I do.”
Eli nodded once, “Very well.”
He leveled the gun, squeezed the trigger, and a loud crack filled the ai
r. Quinten slumped to his knees, and crumpled into a pile on the ground. A blossom of red began to spread over his chest, and his head rolled to the side.
Everything slowed down as if moving in slow motion. Someone was screaming, and it took me a minute to realize it was me making all the noise. I twisted, struggled and pulled, begged and pleaded, but the guard’s hold didn’t loosen. I screamed at them, at Eli, at Quinten, at nothing in particular.
Eli’s laugh was cut off as a lone howl broke through the still air. Another picked up after it, and another, until the entire arena was filled with the sound of wolves.
Fifteen large wolves burst into the arena from the tunnel entrance and began tearing into the nearest guards. I saw one that was beheaded by a red werewolf, and another was disemboweled. The two holding me back left me to join in the fight for their lives, and I rushed over to Quinten’s side.
His entire left side was covered in blood. It stained his shirt, the ground, his jeans, and even his lips. His eyes fluttered open, and he turned to me. He lifted a trembling hand to my face, and used his thumb to wipe away a trail of tears.
“Quinten, please, you can’t leave me!” I sobbed. There had to be something to do.
There’s so much blood…
I pressed my hand to the wound in his chest, hoping that if I could only put enough pressure on it the bleeding would stop. “You can’t save me, Alanna.”
I sobbed harder, knowing that he was right. This wound was fatal, but I couldn’t allow myself to give up. He wasn’t gone yet, and already it felt like a red-hot knife had been stabbed into my chest and twisted painfully. And that feeling was still getting worse.
“Just hold on for me, please,” I begged.
“You know I would if I could.”
I held his hand as tight as I possibly could. On a sudden impulse, I leaned down, and touched my lips to his. I kissed Quinten with everything I had, and as I did I felt something begin to happen.
A warm feeling began to grow in the pit of my stomach, and a stream of images appeared at the back of my eyes: the day we met; Quinten standing up to my bullies; holding him after his accident; laughing together in class; wrestling in the rain; our first dance.
They passed by faster and faster until I thought my head would explode, and as it finally ended, I was left with one last thought in my brain.
I’d bonded with Quinten.
All this time, Quinten, my best friend, was meant only for me. There was nobody else on this entire planet that would ever understand or love me like him. He was my everything: my heart; my soul; the very air I breathed. How would I ever function without him?
I pulled away slowly, and opened my eyes. Quinten was staring up at me, and even though I knew he couldn’t see me, I knew he could understand.
He smiled once, brought my hand to his lips, and kissed it softly. “About damn time,” he said, chuckling weakly. “Alanna, promise me you’ll remember something.”
“Anything.”
“Love never dies.”
“I know,” I said, nodding once. I could feel my heart breaking. This moment was so painful and horrible that everything else around me had faded away. There was only me and Quinten, and our love.
Quinten’s grip loosened, and it fell from my hand into the pool of blood around him. I felt my broken heart shatter into an infinite number of irreparable pieces.
I was dimly aware that someone yelling my name, but I could do nothing except stare at the body of my soul mate. Ray knelt down by my side, and gently slid my other hand from Quinten’s. “Alanna, we have to go,” he said urgently.
What he was saying broke through my foggy haze.
“No!” I screamed. “I can’t leave him!”
“Alanna, he’s gone.” Ray’s hand was gentle yet firm at my back. “We have to go. This place will be swarming with more guards soon,” He hesitated. “We have to leave him.”
“No! We can’t just leave him here,” I wailed. “He deserves better than that.”
“Alanna, he’s not there anymore!” Jax argued.
“No!”
But it didn’t matter what I wanted. Ray dragged me kicking and screaming to my feet. Together he and Jax forced me to the tunnel of the arena where they’d entered. I screamed, cried, and begged, but nobody listened.
They turned a corner, and the body of my only love disappeared from view. I turned my head, and sobbed into Ray’s blood-soaked shirt. He shifted my weight so he could carry me, just like he did when I was little and had just been told that mom was dead. Suddenly, I felt like the smallest most insignificant girl in the world.
*****
Ray sat in the backseat with me, while Jax drove us as far away from the arena as possible. Nobody spoke; they were worried I’d have a meltdown of some kind. To be honest, in order for that to happen, you had to feel something…anything. And I didn’t.
Everything was just empty, hollow. There was a hole in my soul that even a lifetime would never be able to fix. My heart was gone, taken from me before I even realized how truly beautiful it had been.
The drive home took only a couple of hours, in which I hadn’t spoken a single word. I just curled up against Ray’s side. He said nothing, probably because he knew there was nothing he could say to make this ok. Instead, he just stroked my hair comfortingly. I couldn’t stop thinking about the last thing Quinten had said to me.
Love never dies…
He’d been in love with me, and I’d been in love with him. I thought it was for the best to put off the mating until everything had been straightened out, but I was wrong. I’d completely wasted what little time we’d had together. At least with that one kiss, I’d been able to tell him everything I felt for him, even if I hadn’t known it yet myself.
When we finally got home, I just crawled into bed and cried harder than I ever had before. After a while, the tears stopped and gave way to dry cracked sobs. Ray stayed with me that first night, even though I screamed at him, and threw whatever I could get my hands on.
I couldn’t understand everything that had happened. One moment, Quinten was alive and breathing, and the next…
Ray forced me to leave Quinten’s body. The thought of his corpse rotting away in that horrible place disgusted me. It just made the pain even more unbearable to know that there was no grave that I could mourn him at. I could never visit him, or leave him flowers.
The feeling I had was like someone had hollowed out my heart with a carving knife, and then set fire to it. My heart burned, and my rest of my body was in constant pain. It was then that I realized if this was what the rest of my life had in store for me, I couldn’t do it.
How Ray had ever managed to cope without mom I’d never know. Even having children couldn’t dull the pain to a point where it would be bearable. This was mind-numbing, earth shattering pain, and nothing would ever heal it.
I didn’t even have Quinten’s children.
The thought brought even more tears to my eyes, and another wave of horrible crying started. Apparently my tears weren’t all gone yet.
Jax cooked for me at dinner, and he tried to get me to join them at the dinner table, but I couldn’t bring myself to even raise my head from the pillow where it rested. Eating was certainly out of the question.
All I did was sleep and cry, sleep and cry. There was really nothing else for me to do except wait for the pain to end. Part of me kept expecting to see Quinten walk through my bedroom door, a goofy smile on his face, love written clearly across his face.
After all, we were soul mates. How could you not love your perfect other half? How could you live without them? Was it even right to try?
Sometime during the second day Quinten had been gone, I started thinking about Ray. Was it right for me to do this to him? He’d already lost the love of his life and one of his two daughters. Did I have the right to take his other one from him?
If anyone could force me up out of bed, it would be him. I just wasn’t sure if I could hold on long enough to
realize that. It seemed that every empty moment that passed was worse than the next, and I couldn’t imagine ever getting to a point where they’d get better.
That night, Ray came into my room before bed. I pretended to be asleep, but I knew he wasn’t fooled. He sat on the edge of my bed and, when I finally opened my eyes, I noticed he had a concerned look on his face.
“Alanna, I understand what you’re going through.”
I wanted to sit up and scream at him. No, you don’t know! But, he did. He’d lost his soul mate and he’d found a way to deal with it.
“I wish I could tell you that the pain eventually ends, but it doesn’t. You learn to deal with it for the ones you love. Can you imagine what your life would have been like if I’d zombied out and refused to interact with anyone? Ilene’s a monster now; imagine how much worse it could have been. How would you have turned out? Would you have been so brave, selfless, and unwaveringly loyal? No, I don’t think you would have.”
“Is there a point to this?” I asked, my first real words other than senseless screams in two days.
He frowned. “Alanna, did you know that werewolves believe that our soul mates, when lost to us, are reborn into this world for us to find again?”
I lifted my eyebrows. “No,” I admitted, guessing where this was going.
“That was what helped me keep the pain of losing your mother manageable. I know in my heart that I will see her again someday. It may be next fall, or it could be a century from now, it doesn’t matter. She’ll never be truly gone and, as long as I keep going forward with my life, we’ll be together again.”
He was saying that Quinten would come back to me someday, and I’d be able to be happy again. But how long would it take, and how long could I live without him?
“But you had me and Ilene to help you. I don’t have that.”
“No, but you have me. And Jax has decided to move in with us. I’ll be clearing out my study to make into another bedroom for him. Or if you wanted, you two could just share this room. I don’t care either way, as long as I don’t have to listen to the two of you giggling in the middle of the night.”
I tried to smile.
Arena Wars Trilogy Page 17
