Seth: Soul Eaters MC

by Kline, Sandy

  “I hope your right.” Molly replies. “Breaker is not one to let anyone tap out on him. If he beats your brother he’ll fuck him up!”

  “Yeah, did you really have to remind me of that?”

  “Sorry, sometimes I forget he’s your brother.”

  “So do I. But I don’t think the club would put him in this position if they thought he’d lose. They know a loss to Breaker could be a career ender. That’s what happened to the Black Knight last year. He’s never been able to come back from his fight with Breaker.”

  “Don’t I know it. I had a month’s rent on that fight and I lost it.”

  The lights dim and a hush falls over the crowd as the ring announcer takes the microphone and introduces tonight’s first fight.

  The first seven fights come and go with few surprises. If I hadn’t been here for my job I would have skipped them and come right now just before the premiere fight. When the announce the Breaker the crowd goes insane chanting his name over and over again until I’m pretty sure it’s broken my ear drums. He’s definitely a crowd favorite and I’d hate to be the guy stepping into the ring with him. It’s gotta be hard to keep from getting psyched out by the crowd and your opponents reputation. When they finally announce my brother a huge explosion of chanting and cheering comes from one section of the auditorium; right where the Soul Eaters have gathered. While most of the crowd is cheering for Breaker, the bikers actually hold their own in the noise department. That should help my brother stay in the right frame of mind.

  Caleb is wearing a pair of black shorts with the words Soul Eaters across the butt. He is actually an impressive specimen. He’s obviously bulked up and with his biker’s patch tattooed on his broad muscular back he looks like someone to be reckoned with. For the first time since I heard who he is facing tonight I actually think he might have a chance.

  Both men approach the center of the cage and stare at one another as the referee goes over the rules. It’s clear neither man is paying him any attention. The refuse to tap gloves and just glare until the ref drops his hand and steps back. He barely gets himself out of the way before Breaker is all over Caleb. In seconds my brother is reeling backwards, blood already flowing from his nose. But the Breaker doesn’t let up. He charges in pounding his opponent left and right before he finally leaps in with a knee to the torso.

  Amazingly Caleb sees it happen and sidesteps Breaker, whirls around and drops his elbow right on the man’s spine just below the skull. On a normal man that would be the end of the fight. The shock to Breakers spine makes him take a knee on the mat for a brief second before he lunges up trying to attack Caleb from up and inside. My brother is ready for that too and grabs the Breaker by the jaw and back of his head and wrenches his neck to the side and down. Both fighters go to the mat in a heap, but my brother is on top.

  Suddenly the Breakers rabid fans are silenced and the Soul Eaters sound as if they’re the only ones in the arena tonight. They are going nuts and it looks like every one of them, to a man is giving Caleb shouted and demonstrated advice on the fight. One dude is advocating a jab to the eyes, another to the throat, while a third is mimicking some kind of move to break the Breaker’s neck. These guys aren’t out for the win, they want blood!

  But the Breaker’s not finished yet as he manages to hook his leg around Caleb’s neck and suddenly he’s on top and my brother is on his back fighting for his life. Molly who is right in front of me suddenly flinches away from the fight, covering her face. When she drops her arms I can see what happened. There’s a sizeable swath of blood smeared across her face and chest. I can see the revulsion in her face as she tries to focus on the fight and to keep from vomiting. My handsome brother’s face is a wreck. Even if he wins tonight he’s going to be the walking wounded for quite a while. Breaker is hammering his fist into Caleb’s smashed nose when the first bell rings signaling the end to round one. The breaker is so intent on crushing my brother he either doesn’t hear the bell or refuses to acknowledge it. Suddenly the ref tackles Breaker and they both go down. Reflexively Breaker goes to elbow the ref in the face but it’s easily blocked. Then two more bodies converge on Breaker and they drag him away to his corner holding him down until he regains his senses. The ref gets up and I’m sure he’s going to throw Breaker out but he just wipes his bloody nose and signals for round two to begin.

  I’ve been to a lot of cage fights and while some are pretty tame, most are pretty brutal; but none compare to tonight’s bloodletting. The fight is scheduled to go three rounds but half way through round two and it looks like neither fighter is going to last that long. Breaker has cuts above both eyes and a gash on his chin. Caleb’s nose is squashed and off to one side and he has a nasty cut beneath his right eye. Breaker is having trouble seeing anything but my brother is having trouble just breathing. Something’s gotta give and I hope it’s not Caleb. He’s beaten up Breaker so badly that a loss now will certainly result in numerous broken bones. If my brother doesn’t win this fight and win it soon his career will be over before it really got started.

  When the bell sounds for the end of round two it takes the ref and two others to separate the two combatants. If my brother wins this is going to set up the rivalry of the ages and that’s just perfect for Surge if they choose to take on Caleb. Nothing sells fight tickets better than an ongoing blood feud.

  When round three starts both men are still shaky but focused. Breaker goes for a quick takedown but my smaller and slightly faster brother sidesteps the move and goes for a takedown himself. Breaker easily slips him and goes on an attack with his legs by firing an onslaught of kicks that are surprisingly fast for the big man. Caleb narrowly dodges one that would have literally taken his head off at the shoulders. Both men’s faces are covered in bright red blood making them look like a pair of creatures from one of Wes Craven’s horror movies. Suddenly Caleb slips on a pool of blood on the mat and he goes down to his knees. Breaker pounces and there’s a flurry of punches from both opponents but they’re so fast I can’t even begin to see who’s punching who. Suddenly Breaker’s head rocks back violently and I can literally see the light of out of his eyes. The fight’s over before he hits the mat.

  The entire auditorium leaps to their feet erupting in a mixture of anger and glee. The underdog has taken on the big man and defeated him in a spectacular blood fest! My brother is so out of it that when the referee grabs his glove to lift it in victory he nearly punches the ref in the face. When it does dawn on him a huge smile breaks out across his bloody, battered face. That’s an image that’s gonna stick in my mind for a long time. He looks truly crazed. When I finally tear my gaze from Caleb’s hideous face I look down at his fallen opponent and two paramedics are transferring him to a back board. They’ve got a collar on his neck to protect his spine and are administering oxygen. Suddenly I’ve got a déjà vu from the first fight I saw my brother in. I seriously hope he hasn’t killed another fighter.

  In the middle of the celebration in the cage Mike White from Surge has entered the throng and congratulates my brother. Then he hollers something in his ear and it transforms Caleb’s face. Then everyone around him is jumping up and down and hollering to one another.

  “Looks like your brother just became Surge’s new superstar.” Molly says to me.

  “You’ve got a little something here.” I reply, pointing to the corner of her mouth.

  She actually has a little something all over her face and neck. It’s going to take some washing to get the smell of blood out of her hair.

  “You don’t think…” I begin.

  “No he couldn’t have killed his second opponent.” Molly reassures me.

  “You’re right.” I reply. “He was just knocked out and they’re just taking extra precautions given how bloody a fight that was.”

  We say our goodbyes and return to write up our stories and get cleaned up. Once in a while I actually enjoy the fights but tonight was just too brutal for me. I feel like I need to go home and wash my eyes. There ar
e some things you wish you could un-see and tonight is one night I’d love to erase from memory. Shit like this keeps happening and I’m gonna need a shrink if I wanna get to my thirties in one piece.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Brother vs Sister

  Before opening the door I take a deep breath to calm my pinging nerves. Even under different circumstances I’d be pretty damn nervous. Seth did his best to adjust my expectations but I have a feeling I’m going to be in for a shock. I take another breath and knock on the door.

  “Come in.”

  It’s my brother’s voice but it sounds off. I open the door and walk in. I have a greeting on the tip of my tongue but the second I see his face all bets are off!

  “Oh my fucking…shit Caleb what…I…”

  “Relax sis, it looks far worse than it is.”

  “I’m finding that very hard to believe right now.”

  It looks like the Breaker still did a lot of breaking even while losing. He’s got giant purple circles around both eyes and a swollen misshapen nose only barely covered by the bandages. The whole right side of his face is also swollen making him barely recognizable. Looking at him I just can’t believe he actually won the bout.

  “Are you done staring?” He asks me.

  “Oh…sorry. Have you seen yourself in the mirror lately?”

  He points across the room. There’s a full length mirror on the back of the door.

  “I guess you have then. So this is it right?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The cage fighting. You’re not still going to do it right?”

  “Are you kidding me? I just got a huge five fight contract from Surge. I’m gonna be a star sis!”

  “Okay I really think you haven’t looked in the mirror. You can’t look like you and think you’re going to continue being a cage fighter. Come on little brother, wake up and smell the coffee. That is if you can still smell with that nose of your. Come to think of it, you probably can’t even see can you?”

  “I promise it’s all far worse than it looks. This is all new to me and my body has to adjust. As my body gets used to the punishment it won’t affect me like this. This really is as bad as it gets.”

  “Can you even hear yourself Caleb? As bad as it gets? Is that what you told the guys family when you killed their son in a fight? Its okay this is as bad as it gets. Something is really wrong with you.”

  “Look Kim, I have to do this and I’m not doing it just for me. My club can start moving away from some of our illegal enterprises now with my new contract.”

  “Wait a second; you’re giving it all to the club?”

  “Yeah…that’s supposed to be a good thing sis. I’m not doing this to my body for riches and fame it’s for my club. If we can get a few good fighters under management we’ll be able to be a completely legitimate club. No more outlaw stuff.”

  “Do you actually believe what you’re saying? I don’t know what you got for the next fights but I’m pretty sure it’s not going to be enough to replace your drug or gun business.”

  “Maybe not completely, at least not right now but my next contract will make this one look like chump change.”

  This conversation is not going like I thought it would. In fact I wasn’t even planning on talking about fighting but now that’s all it’s about and what little bond we still have is rapidly evaporating.

  “I know what the real problem here is sis, you just can’t stand it that I’m a Soul Eater.”

  A week ago he would have been right in his assumption but I’m finding that the more involvement I have with Seth the easier it is to look in the other direction when it comes to their illegal activities.

  “Kim?”

  “I just don’t understand why you chose the club over your family.”

  “I’m not choosing the club over you am I? I mean we’re here talking. No one has ever discouraged you from contacting me have they?”

  “No…”

  “You know why I chose mom over dad right? I mean that’s what this is all about isn’t it. You can’t stand it that I betrayed our father and chose to live with our mother. I was four or five when he went away and I didn’t see him until I was 13 or 14.”

  “No way! What about the times you visited him in jail?”

  “You did! Man you have a faulty memory sis. At first mom wouldn’t let me go because she thought it would be too scary for me. Then later, when I was old enough to handle it she wouldn’t let me because she turned against him and married that cop. And yet you stand here blaming me again all these years later. I hate to say it, but we’re both products of our surroundings. You were raised one way and I was a different way. The age difference between us was everything. Had I been one or two years older things would have been different. Or if mom would have let me see him we may have stayed close and not drifted so far apart. I seriously did not know him when he came back and you have to admit, he was scary.”

  The more that I sit here listening to him the more he is actually making sense. At first it pisses me off but now…now I don’t know what to think anymore.

  “I’m sorry Caleb. I guess I just sort of assumed you had the same experience as me when dad went away. I thought you had the same feelings and loyalties as me and it just didn’t occur to me that you lived a different life even though we were in the same house. Of course I never thought to ask you either I guess.”

  For the first time I see a change come over my brother. Not in his face but in his eyes. The steely glint that has been there ever since I encountered him the night of his fight has finally softened. In fact in this moment I don’t see it at all. I don’t want to hope too much but for the first time I see a real chance at having a brother again and what’s even more amazing is I am beginning to actually want that. I have been so angry at what I felt were his betrayal of dad and our family that I really did not want anything to do with him and we didn’t speak for about ten years.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” He asks.

  “Like what?”

  “Something’s different.” He replies. “You’re different.”

  “I was just thinking the same thing Caleb. I miss having a little brother.”

  “Even one who is part of an outlaw biker club?” He asks me.

  “Especially one who is part of an outlaw biker club.”

  “Serious?” He suddenly sits up, his battered face shining with a new light in his eyes.”

  There’s hope there and once again he’s my little brother; albeit a badass little brother, but he’s finally back.

  “You know…the Soul Eaters…they’re not so bad after all I think.”

  “I knew you’d come around!” He proclaims.

  “That doesn’t mean I’m going to up and join any time soon. Wait, can women become members?” I ask doubtfully.

  “Sorry sis, it’s a boys club. The closest you could be was if you became a member’s old lady. You know… like Blink’s old lady.”

  “Who’s Blink?”

  “You know…Seth. He’s Blink, and I’m Iron Skull.”

  “Yeah after that last fight, I’m not so sure the name fits you anymore.”

  He touches his face gingerly. “Yeah…you may be right. I feel like… I don’t know what I feel like. It’s pretty fucking unimaginable. But give me a few days and I’ll be back up and training for the next fight. I’m part of Surge now so I got a reputation to protect.”

  “Yeah… you boys and you’re fighting. Just make sure it doesn’t get you killed. Now that I feel like I’m getting my brother back I don’t want to lose him again. You got me?”

  “Yeah yeah…I’ll be fine. Hey what’s up with you and Blink…Seth? Are you two a couple now?”

  “You mean am I going to become his old lady?”

  “That too.”

  “I don’t know Caleb. I don’t even know what it means to be an old lady. This biker stuff is all new to me and we just started…something and I don’t know where it’s headed
. It’s not like we’ve even talked about it ‘cause we haven’t. A lot of stuff is up in the air right now so I don’t know what I’m going to be doing the day after tomorrow so there’s no way I can plan for something as serious as being someone’s old lady.”

  “Maybe you better tell him that then because he talks like you’re already his old lady. Bikers are like that sis. They just take what they want and ask questions later.”

  “Yeah I hear you’re in some kind of hot water about a video or something.”

  “Two video’s actually. Both I kept from the police. One they have the other they’re looking for but don’t have.”

  “So what’s up with that?”

  “Really don’t want to talk about that right now. I’m just glad to have you back in my life so let’s just leave it at that. Now I have to go talk to Seth so I’ll see you around I guess. Get well. You look like shit little brother.”

  He smiles for the second time. “Thanks sis, I’ll get right on that.”

  On impulse I walk over and give him a brief hug and when I walk away I swear I can see his eyes shining.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Kim Gets a Family

  After leaving my brother I return to the apartment that Seth has moved me to. He insisted I stay here until he figures out what to do about the video and the cops who will no doubt take me in on sight for questioning if not to arrest me for obstruction of justice or something like that.

  “I’ll come up with something.” He promised before he left for club business.

  Now all I can do is wait. Fortunately for me I had two weeks accrued paid days off so I called in and took them all before they could fire me and take them away. I still have some work to do for the magazine but my laptop is in my house and I can’t go back there. I pass the day wandering around the Soul Eaters compound. They seem to do a brisk business in their repair shop and someone is always coming and going from the clubhouse/bar. The bikers I do run across treat me with respect and that surprises me. I guess a few saw me with Seth and have drawn the conclusion that I am now his old lady and they’d better show respect. I’m not sure how I feel about that. We’ve never discussed me becoming his old lady or anything about our relationship. I just know that we both seem to have pretty deep feelings for one another but as far as a commitment to each other… I’m not sure where we stand on that. I do know that every time he is gone now I ache for him and that surprises me. I have never ached for a guy in my entire life. I’ve had a few boyfriends and I have missed them but I never actually hurt in my heart for them when we were separated. This is all new to me.