Arena Wars Trilogy

by Hoffman, Samantha

  He shrugged. “I thought it might happen again, and I wanted to be prepared in case it did.” He looked at me. “I didn’t want you out here alone again. Not after what happened last time. If I lost you, after everything that’s happened, I don’t know what I’d do with myself.”

  I leaned my head against his shoulder. “I feel the same way.” My voice broke, and I buried my head in his shoulder so he hopefully wouldn’t see me cry. “I hate that everything is so up in the air and uncertain right now. It doesn’t seem fair that so many horrible things can happen to us. When does it end?”

  “In a few days when these babies are born,” Quinten said, placing his hand gently on my stomach. “Alanna, our life together is about to officially begin, and I have the perfect way to prove it to you.” He turned away from me and dug around in his pockets, pulling out a small, black case.

  When he turned back to me, my heart started to race. I knew what was inside that box. We’d talked about it a little over the last few weeks, but I didn’t think he would actually do it. Not yet. He flipped open the case, and nestled in the middle of it was a silver band with a small, precisely cut diamond embedded on the band. It wasn’t overly large or gaudy–which he knew I hated when it came to jewelry.

  “It’s perfect,” I said quietly.

  He took my hand in his and forced me to look at him. He slid over until he was perched on one knee, and he smiled. “I wanted to wait until I had a more romantic, perfect opportunity, but I figured we might not get that, and I just couldn’t wait anymore. Alanna, you are and always have been the most important person in my life, and nothing will ever change that. Not time, distance or fights. I’ll always stand by your side to love, cherish, and protect you. Alanna Moore, will you marry me?”

  He didn’t have to wait even a second before I nodded and threw myself at him. His arms wrapped securely around my back while mine tightened around his neck. He kissed me passionately, just once, before pulling away so he could slip the ring over my finger. It was a little tight, but it would fit perfectly once I lost the baby weight.

  I kissed him again, much harder this time, and he moaned softly. “We haven’t…you know…in a while. We’ve been busy with everything. Planning, preparing, training, and just surviving.”

  “Well, maybe it’s time to change that. That is, if you don’t find my body disgusting,” I said, suddenly more insecure about my body than I had been since finding out I was pregnant.

  He chuckled and then pressed his lips to my neck. “I could never find you disgusting. You have no idea how attractive it is so see you pregnant with my children. It’s actually kind of a turn on, as weird as that probably sounds.”

  He carefully laid me down on the blanket beneath us, all the while kissing me like he hadn’t before we knew about the pregnancy. I hadn’t felt so loved and protected and beautiful since before the two of us had met Violet that I just sunk into his embrace, loving this one moment that we had all to ourselves, with no prying eyes or fighting to consume us. Instead, it was just me and the man that I loved, and we were determined to make the most of our time together.

  We both knew that this one bit of happiness could never last forever…

  Chapter Eight

  Two more additions at our camp arrived early the next morning, and Ray looked extremely happy to see both of them. The first man had to be at least six and a half feet tall, with a barrel-chest and thick, muscular limbs. His long beard was as bright red as his hair, and his eyes were a piercing shade of black. The other man beside him was very different.

  He was about the same height as Quinten, with short, dark blonde hair and dark blue eyes. He looked to be in his early forties, which was much older physically than Ray was. I wondered how these men knew Ray, and if we could actually trust them.

  “Alanna, this is Brent,” he said, motioning to the larger man with red hair, “and this shorter fellow is Nolan. The three of us have gotten into quite a bit of trouble over the years, and we’ve always managed to fight our way out of it. Guys, this is my daughter Alanna.”

  Their gaze went immediately to my stomach, which I was getting used to. When they looked up, I noticed a faint bit of recognition in their eyes. “She looks just like her mother,” Brent said, tugging on his long, bright red beard. “The resemblance is almost uncanny,” he said in a slight Irish accent.

  Ray nodded sadly. “She’s beautiful alright, just like her mother,” he agreed. He turned to his old friends and forced a smile. “What have the two of you been up to these last few years?”

  Nolan frowned. “You know us, Raymond. Stomping faces and taking names. Mostly vampire faces,” he said, his eyes sliding over to meet Quinten’s. “You know, we don’t exactly approve of your daughter mating with a vampire, no matter how different you say he is. He may try to be different, but all vampires need the same thing to survive, and they’ll do anything to get it.”

  Quinten bristled angrily, and Ray put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Quinten is a great man, and I’m lucky to have him as my future son-in-law. He was willing to give his life for my daughter at the Arena, and I’ll never forget that. Being a vampire hasn’t changed his character, and it never will, as far as I’m concerned.”

  Brent nodded once. “Good to hear. Even though I agree with Nolan, I have to say, if these babies can end centuries of bloodshed, we’ll do whatever it takes to make sure both of them survive the upcoming days.”

  “Any word on Roger and his forces?”

  Brent nodded. “You were right, Raymond. He’s been amassing a small army for some time now, but it looks like he doesn’t have nearly as many supporters as you thought he would. They’re camped out on his property, and we took a quick peek around. I only counted about a two and a half dozen wolves, and a few vampires.” Brent lowered his eyes. “One of those vampires was Carmen.”

  Ray sighed. “I was afraid of that. She’s really working with Roger. I can’t believe it.”

  “Well, from what we saw, she’s not working with Roger so much as she’s working with your other daughter. Ilene seemed to be in charge of the vampires there. She and Carmen looked…friendly. I think they’ve bonded during their short few weeks together. Not surprising, really, when you consider that they probably both feel robbed of their time together.”

  Ray snorted angrily. “They weren’t robbed of their time together. Carmen chose to leave her family. She abandoned her daughter, and I don’t understand how Ilene can forge a relationship from that.” He sighed, and rubbed his face tiredly. “It just amazes me how much she turned out like her mother…”

  I put my hand on his shoulder. “Dad, this is not your fault,” I said, not for the first time. “Ilene and Carmen have both made their own choices, and they’ll have to deal with them.”

  Brent nodded. “Listen to your daughter, Raymond, because she’s right. I haven’t been around in a while, but I do remember what a devoted father you are. You did the best you could with your girls, and from what I see,” he said, looking at me, “one of them turned out better than you could have ever hoped for.”

  I smiled at him and he smiled back.

  “I don’t suppose you remember me?” he asked. “The last time I saw you, I think you were about five years old. Your mom didn’t like me being here too much. She didn’t really like anyone from you old man’s world. I think she…left…shortly after I visited the last time.”

  Now that he mentioned it, I did kind of remember him. Or, his red hair at least. One memory came to the front of my mind, and I remembered sitting on his lap and yanking on his long red beard that he had even fifteen years ago. “Yeah, I do. I almost ripped out a fistful of your beard.”

  He, Nolan, and Ray all laughed, and Brent clapped me on the back. “Yep, ya did.”

  Jenna called from the kitchen. “Breakfast is ready; we can talk while we eat. You all need to stay nourished, especially Alanna. She is eating for three at the moment, and growing babies need plenty of food.”

  I
waddled to the back door and out to the back yard, where Ray and Jax had set up a few smaller tables together. There were more than a dozen lawn chairs spaced evenly around the tables, and I took a seat between Jenna and Quinten. She smiled at me, and handed me a bowl of steaming oatmeal. “Honey, would you pass this down the table?”

  I smiled back at her because I couldn’t help it. The more that Jenna was around, the more I realized that she could never leave. Not only could she quite possibly become Ray’s second chance at real happiness, but she might also be my first chance at a real mother. She was definitely the motherly type, and it felt kind of nice to be doted on by someone other than Ray.

  When everyone had started eating, Brent looked at Ray again. “We’ll be needing the full story, from start to right now, if we’re to be joining in this fight. Spare no detail; just give it to us like it is, and we’ll make our judgment from there.”

  Ray looked at me. “I think you should do it, Kiddo. You’re the only one that’s been through everything. You danced with Roger, you found the dhampirs, and you fought in the Arena and dined with Eli.”

  I nodded, and took a deep breath before beginning. “A few months ago, Quinten and I went shopping at the mall in a nearby city, and we stopped at a park to have some fun. Quinten was blind as a human, and he didn’t like loud places, so a mostly deserted park was a great place to get him to relax. While we were there, I stumbled across a woman being attacked by a vampire in the bathroom, and he and I fought. Quinten saved my life, but the woman and the vampire both died.

  “Quinten called my dad and told him about what had happened, and my dad was actually having lunch with Roger at the time. He was probably trying to get information on me,” I said, causing Ray to flinch. “Anyways, my dad and Roger showed up, and right from the start, Roger gave me the creeps. The way he moved, the way he looked, and the way he looked at me and Quinten, it was really unnerving.”

  “He has that effect on people,” Nolan said through a bite of fruit.

  I nodded. “Later, we got a dinner invitation to a ball that Roger was having, and the four of us went. Quinten acted as my date, and I should have realized that it would have made Ilene jealous, but I just didn’t see it. When we arrived, Roger spent the entire dinner talking to me, trying to keep my attention solely on him, and we even danced together at the party. He threatened my family, and then he took me down to his dungeons and he introduced me to Darren and the other dhampirs he was keeping just to torture.”

  Brent looked at Darren with interest. “You’re the dhampir that spoke up for her at her hearing?”

  Darren nodded, and I saw him grab Jax’s hand under the table. “Yes, I am.”

  Brent looked at me again. “What happened next?”

  “We tried to think of a plan to keep Roger from getting me and hurting our family, and we just couldn’t seem to come up with anything. Roger called and told me that if I gave myself to him, he’d let my family live, and I took him up on his offer. Or at least, I tried to,” I said, looking at Quinten. “Quinten talked me out of it, but Roger attacked, and Jax and Ray showed up in time to chase Roger off.

  “Then I found a note saying that Ilene had been kidnapped, and I went to Roger’s mansion that night to offer myself up again, in exchange for her freedom. It was all just a trick though, and it turned out that they were in it together, and had actually been mated. Then we were abducted by Seekers, which we thought was Roger’s plan for us, but turned out not to be. I think Elias had been keeping an eye on me as well, because of our past encounter.”

  “Past encounter?” Nolan asked.

  “Right,” Brent said. “I forgot about that.” He turned to his friend. “Elias and his mate targeted Alanna when she was a child, and Ray arrived in time to stake his mate. Elias swore to get revenge, and it looks like he almost did.”

  I nodded again. “Quinten and I ended up at the Arena, and a boy named Tyler briefed us on how things worked. We survived our first fight when I killed a young boy to put him out of his misery after Eli shot him, and we won our second fight when Quinten killed to protect me. Elias invited me to dinner and fed from me, and it weakened me for our third fight, which was against Tyler and his partner, Dennis.” I nodded at Dennis, who frowned slightly.

  “After awhile, Eli broke up the fight, deciding to sacrifice one person from each team. He planned to sacrifice me, figuring correctly that Quinten would demand he be killed instead of me. So he shot Quinten.” My voice broke, and I bit my lip to keep from crying. Just thinking about him lying dead in the mud was still painful, and remembering the pain that came with his near death was even worse. “Ray and some other wolves freed us, but I had to leave Quinten behind. He died in that Arena, but Carmen was able to revive him long enough to turn him.”

  “Over the next couple of days, she taught me what it took to be a vampire,” Quinten said. “She taught me to flit and to feed, and she even hinted that there could be something between us eventually. Even though I didn’t remember Alanna yet, I knew that her offer sounded wrong. Even though I couldn’t remember my soul mate, I knew it wasn’t supposed to be Carmen.” He kissed my temple. “Then Alanna and I found each other again.”

  “We re-bonded and headed home, with Carmen tagging along. She was Quinten’s maker, and he thought he wasn’t safe enough to be around us without her present. We planned to just move away without Roger ever knowing that he had survived, but he found out, and the he alerted the Council after we freed the dhampirs. Quinten and I were taken into custody and brought before the Council, where we were eventually freed after Darren’s testimony.

  “However, we broke their decree when I allowed Quinten to feed on me, and we were forced to go on the run. Later we found out that Roger had offered a reward to anyone who could kill us, and we fought a few…I guess you could call them assassins…and Violet found us and took us back to her apartment, where she started training Quinten, and I found out I was pregnant.”

  “Amazing,” Brent said quietly. “Everyone is wrong. Nobody thought it was possible, but you proved them all wrong.”

  “I know,” I said, placing my hand on my stomach under the table. One of the babies kicked, and I continued our story. “Eli sent people to burn Violet’s apartment to the ground, and we fought our way outside, but Eli was waiting for me. He grabbed me from the back of an ambulance, and he tried to rip the baby from my womb, but Roger saved me, because he hates Eli more than he hates us. Eli killed his family years ago, and is the reason that Roger turned.”

  “I never knew that,” Brent said. “I fought alongside Roger many times, and he never let on that he knew who the monster that took his family from him was. I thought he didn’t remember anything about that night.”

  “He also ordered the hit on Roger and Henry, which resulted in Henry’s horrible death, and gave Roger the scar on his face,” Ray said quietly. “He has every reason to hate Eli, same as I do.”

  “What happened next?” Nolan asked.

  “Quinten, Violet, and I came back home. We had a brief scrimmage with the remaining Council members, and then Violet left to find her maker–the oldest vampire she knows of. Then we began recruiting allies for the inevitable fight with Roger and Eli, but thankfully Eli’s been recuperating and Roger’s been hunting him instead of us. But that peace can’t last forever. Now he knows about the babies, and he’s coming for his revenge.”

  “You’re screwed,” Brent said with a laugh. “I love a fight when the odds are against you.”

  “You always have,” Ray said dryly, rolling his eyes at one of his oldest friends.

  Brent and Nolan looked at each other, and both of them nodded once. “We’re in,” they said together. “You’ve got two new allies for your fight, and we plan on doing our best to help your cause. We’ll help you with your training after breakfast. For now, let’s–” Brent stopped talking and everyone immediately tensed as the scent of an unknown vampire drifted into the backyard. Something about him smelled familiar, but
I couldn’t place it.

  When a vampire that looked to be about forty years old stepped around the side of the house, Ray and Jax jumped to their feet instantly, followed quickly by the other fighters at the table. The vampire put his hands up in a peaceful gesture, obviously attempting to tell us that he meant no harm.

  He didn’t look dangerous. He was a little on the short side for a man, and his hair was shaggy and a light reddish brown color. He had dark brown eyes, a pointed chin, and sharp cheekbones that gave him a handsome and slightly feminine appearance. “I mean no harm to any of you,” he said with a soft, melodious voice.

  “Why are you here?” Ray asked.

  The strange vampire’s eyes zeroed in on Darren instead of my stomach, which I found odd because nobody had been able to take their eyes off of it. “I want to help your cause in any way possible.”

  “Who are you?” Ray asked. There was a slightly dangerous edge to his pleasant voice. He was ready to attack if he felt this mystery vampire was a danger to anyone in our group.

  The strange vampire spoke without taking his eyes from Darren, who had begun to fidget nervously. “My name is Jonathon West. I’m Darren’s biological father.”

  Everyone went instantly silent. Darren stopped breathing, and he just stared at the man standing awkwardly at the far side of the yard. Jonathon stared right back, meeting his son’s eyes with a look that could only be described as pure guilt. When he took a few hesitant steps forward, nobody even reacted until he was near the table, then everyone tensed up, waiting for some kind of reaction from Darren.

  The two of them just stared at one another. Neither made a sound and it was so eerily silent that the sound of a pin dropping would have been like an explosion. When Jonathon finally spoke again, Darren actually flinched. “I’ve been looking for you for years,” Jonathon said quietly. I could hear the raw emotion in his voice, and I wondered if Darren would too, or if he would choose to ignore it.

  Finally Darren managed to speak. “Then why didn’t you find me?”