by Joe Fowler
Relief flooded through me. I really didn’t want to lose my new friend.
Trog returned to the holding pen to many praises. The others had seen how tough Ghost was and knew how hard it would be to beat someone with that gift. Trog sat back beside me with a thud.
“That one had me worried for a second.” He said.
“Understandable. That was a smart move. Great job!” I told him.
“Thanks.”
The next few fights went quickly. I watched but wasn’t too absorbed in the action. It was only when Ghost took the arena that I perked up. If Ghost was a cruel one, I needed to know all I could about him.
Once his fight started, he immediately began toying with his opponent. He was beating the man senseless and laughing the whole time. Cruel was the nicest way to describe Ghost. I knew there really wasn’t a whole lot to fear from him since the two of us would never be fighting each other unless it would be in sparring. He finally drank from his opponent and put him out of his misery to the great delight of the crowd.
I shook off what I had seen. I reminded myself that Ghost didn’t pose a direct threat to me. If I was as tough as Trog said, I might be able to beat him anyway. At this thought, Trog grunted and nodded his head.
Arria’s eighth round fighter, Ozone, lost. There wasn’t too much reaction from our group. I would have expected more sorrow but no one seemed to care.
“It can happen to any of us during these fights. We don’t like to see our own lose but we can’t afford to care too deeply one way or the other.” Trog informed me.
“I understand.”
I did but it still seemed cold. I knew it might still be so new to me that I hadn’t gotten over my normal human mentality yet. Part of me hoped I never would.
The fights were running together in my head until Speedy’s name was called. He jumped up in excitement. He looked like he was having problems sitting still while the bets took place. As soon as the announcer disappeared, he was attacking. His opponent didn’t stand a chance. Speedy would hit him and appear on the other side of the arena in a blur of movement before returning to hit his opponent again. He was loving it and so was the crowd. He received a huge roar of approval as he drank and ripped the man’s head off.
“Do you see now? All he has is that speed and he is almost unstoppable. You are faster and may be the strongest of the fighters here.” Trog told me in a whisper while the crowd roared.
“I’m starting to see it. You can’t blame me for being a bit nervous though.” I thought to Trog amusement.
He chuckled a bit while we sat back to watch the next fight.
Once the tenth round started, the intensity went through the roof. This was for someone’s freedom. I made a mental note to ask Trog what vampires did once they were set free. I knew this wasn’t the time or place for that conversation.
The first fight lasted a while and could have gone either way. One finally claimed victory with a desperate counter. As his opponent’s head came off, he almost collapsed in relief. I could see in his face how much this win meant to him.
When they opened a door for him to leave the arena, it wasn’t to return to his holding pen. He was allowed through a door that led up to the crowd. The applause lasted for some time before the announcer made his next appearance in the arena.
“Our next and last fight of the night will be between Onyx and Prometheus. Let’s hear it for our fighters!”
At the name Prometheus, I looked at Trog questioningly. He looked back and shrugged.
“I’ve never seen him fight. I don’t know what he can do.” Trog heard my next thought and got a surprised look on his face. “I’ve never seen that as a gift!”
“It is the old Greek myth of how humans were given fire. I doubt they would have named him that unless fire was involved.” I said.
We watched closely as the announcer disappeared and Onyx braced himself for the fight. They made a normal pass with neither showing their gift. As they closed in their second pass, Prometheus shot out a line of fire from his hand. Onyx promptly disappeared. Prometheus circled warily as he searched for any sign of Onyx. As he had tried against me, Onyx grabbed Prometheus’s neck and gave it a snap. He then made himself visible as he drank and ended the fight.
The crowd roared again. Onyx, like the other tenth level winner, was ushered up into the crowd instead of back into our pen. All of our fighters stood then and Trog motioned for me to do the same.
Cerrus opened the door we had entered through and motioned for us to follow him. Trog and I fell in line toward the middle of the pack. We were led down more dull green hallways. I had no clue where we would be heading now. I was mildly shocked when we reentered the ‘dining’ area. There was a new dozen humans strapped into the chairs.
I had mixed feelings when I saw both my old boss and the old cook strapped into chairs looking scared out of their minds.
Trog burst out laughing while he turned to look at me. I shrugged.
“So much for your caring humanity.” He continued to laugh.
Speedy was about to sit beside my old boss when Trog stopped him.
“Why are you stopping me? Why are you laughing so hard?” Speedy asked him.
“You need to let Ethan have this one! This was his old boss. Ethan hated him.” Trog managed to speak long enough to fill Speedy in. Speedy smiled from ear to ear and motioned for me to go right ahead.
“Revenge can be really sweet!” Speedy said and patted me on the back.
“Thanks.” I said, as I sat down to drink from the man who had made my life miserable for more than a year.
“Ethan! What the hell is going on here? Who are all these people?” He asked in fear.
“Well, you owned a diner so you should be used to your customers being hungry. You are still in the feeding business.” I told him as I grabbed his arm and bit.
I hated the taste. Unlike the memories I got from the human woman and from Milton, there were no sweet times that made me want to stop. This man had been mean his whole life for no reason. He was raised properly and treated well, yet he still turned out this bad. I drained him and didn’t even slow down when he reached that breaking point.
“Nice to see you are over that bleeding heart crap!” Speedy said as we lined up to follow Cerrus down another hallway.
“He was a cruel bastard. He deserved what he got. By the way, great fight tonight, Speedy. You only have one more to go.” I wanted to sound like I was firmly on Speedy’s side. I wondered if Trog would appreciate this. When I looked around to see, I caught a funny look on Trog’s face as he was lowering his mouth to bite. I figured it was from one of the donor’s thoughts. This must be a rough place for Trog to be.
“Thanks, you did great too. Yep, one more and I will be free! I can almost taste it!” Speedy looked like he wanted to say more but a look from Cerrus let us know that the talking was not welcome.
We were led down more than a few dull green hallways. Once we were in a hallway that looked like all the others, everyone started breaking from our line. As we passed the doors, one or another of the fighters in our group would enter one of the rooms. When we made it to the gaping hole where my door had been, Cerrus turned enough to motion for me to keep following.
“Since you destroyed your own, you can have this one. He lost his fight so you can take his room.” Cerrus said before he walked away.
The interior of the room looked exactly like the one I woke up in except for a few trinkets here and there. I decided I would look through them later. I wanted to lay down and rest for a while in the peace and quiet.
This new life, unlife, wasn’t what I would choose. I could at least be comforted by the knowledge of how tough I seemed to be. The worry over what Trog said about my gift being enough to scare the old ones, might be a problem. I didn’t think Trog would say anything. I would need to ask him how many mind readers there are here and how do I hide this if one of them is around.
I was laying there going through these t
houghts when I fell asleep.
Chapter 3
I woke to the banging on my door. I went and opened it, surprised that it wasn’t locked. It was Trog. He was looking somewhat grumpy.
“What’s wrong? You look to be in a bad mood.” I asked.
“Arria wants to see you. This isn’t normal. Arria usually doesn’t have anything to do with one of us until the fourth round. I am afraid she might be suspicious of something.” Trog’s worry was evident by his facial expression. “I will do my best to keep your secret, but if I have to choose between you or death, I will tell her.”
“I understand, Trog. Thanks for all you are doing.” I looked back into the room but realized I had no possessions or anything to really be worried about here anyway. I walked out of my room to stand beside Trog. He hesitated before he started walking.
“If she tests you, then you can show her how strong and fast you are. You don’t have to hold back with her. She will just think you are overly gifted in those areas. Never outright lie to Arria. She will know. All the old ones seem to know when they are being lied to, if you can believe the stories, that is. We don’t always know which tales are true and which ones aren’t.” Trog was telling me this as we were walking up the stairs. “Arria isn’t able to read minds but one of the old ones that was here last night could.”
“Was it the one who paid close attention to us while we were lined up on the platform?” I asked.
“Yes. I felt him in my head. He may have seen that you were even faster than Speedy. If he told this to Arria, it would explain this trip to see her. If she asks, then tell her you are faster and that you held back to keep from making an enemy. She might not like it but she will understand that.” Trog said this as we reached the top of the stairs and were at the door about to enter the lobby room.
When the door opened, I saw there were only two here this time. Arria and Cerrus were sitting in the middle of the room where Arria had been when I entered last night. They stared somewhat coldly at me as we made our way to stand before her.
“Thank you, Trog. You can return to your room.” Arria stated.
Trog gave a slight bow of his head and walked away. Arria waited until he had left the room before she spoke again.
“So, you are almost as fast as Speedy? I heard a different story from one of the old ones last night. He said he saw you beating Speedy then holding back afterward. Would you care to explain?” Arria asked in a no nonsense tone.
“On Speedy’s first two attacks I saw that I was faster than him. I could see how upset he was because of this. Trog must have seen it too since he calmed Speedy down before we continued sparring. Since I didn’t want to make an enemy of Speedy, I held back enough through the rest of the sparring to let him think he was faster. I could also see that one of us might end up hurt as angry as he seemed to be. Since they had already informed me of the fights to come, I wanted to make sure I was in the best condition possible.” I hoped she would accept that explanation without too many questions.
“So you were more worried about Speedy’s feelings than you were about showing what you could do? Am I seeing this correctly or was there more to it?” Arria asked.
“That’s the main points of it. It was my first night and I didn’t want to cause trouble.” I said in a meek voice.
“Cerrus, do be a dear and test Ethan for me. I need to see what he can really do.” Arria spoke in a sweet voice that gave me chills. “Ethan, I would strenuously advise that you not hold back this time.”
“I understand.” I said. I was fairly sure that this was to be a punishment. She fully expected Cerrus to hurt me. How bad would be the question we all wanted answered.
“This way.” Cerrus said as he led me back to the cleared area in front of the door I had just entered through.
We faced off and Cerrus gave me a nod saying we were started. He got into a fighting stance and as I moved to do the same, he attacked. I avoided but didn’t have time to counter. His second attack came right after. He made a leap at me at a much faster pace than Speedy had. I blocked him and hit him a glancing blow since he saw me coming and deflected the brunt of it.
When he stopped moving, I saw the amazement on his face. He gritted his teeth and resumed his attacks. We traded back and forth with neither being able to gain dominance over the other. Once in a clinch, a test of strength proved me to be slightly stronger than Cerrus. When we broke apart, we were both surprised to see Arria standing between us. For all this speed I now had, Arria had sped from the center of the room to stand between Cerrus and me without my realizing she had moved. I immediately felt the fear Trog hinted at.
“How? Cerrus is over seven hundred years old!” Arria’s shocked tone scared me even more than her speed.
All I could do for an answer was to shrug my shoulders. She stared at me with a dangerous look that surprisingly turned into laughter. I wasn’t sure if I should be relieved or still afraid. I settled somewhere in between.
“You don’t seem to understand just how special you are, Ethan. What a piece of work you’ve turned out to be.” She gave me a look that really made me uncomfortable. Not a mean look, more of the kind of look you would normally want from such a beautiful woman. I just didn’t want Arria looking at me like that. “A masterpiece, even.”
“If you would let me continue, Arria, I would beat him.” Cerrus sneered.
“Possibly. I’m not so sure, but you need to relax, Cerrus. Ethan here may be a once in a millennia find. How often does a prize like this fall into your lap?” Arria said as she grabbed my hand and playfully tugged until I followed her back to her chair. She motioned for me to sit in the chair next to hers. “I think I need to hear your story. See if I can figure out why you turned out so gifted.”
“There really isn’t much to tell. Bad parents, miserable life. You found me washing dishes. There isn’t much to my story, I promise.” I was trying to smile but it wasn’t coming out right. I still couldn’t put my finger on why she made me so nervous.
“That is true. Some small town diner dishwasher turns out to be the toughest newbie I’ve seen in my four thousand years.” Arria was shaking her head in wonder. I hoped my shock wasn’t too evident. I had heard the term ‘old ones’ but I was wasn’t prepared for four thousand years kind of old. “I will have to think up a really good name for you. I have time since we don’t usually bother to name a fighter until at least their third fight.”
“Why all the new names? Why don’t we just keep our old ones?” I had been wondering this since early on last night.
“It is how we say goodbye to who you were before. Once you have survived a few fights and earned a little respect, the old one you belong to gets to name you. It has been this way for a long time now.” Arria smiled a more or less normal smile. I felt a little more at ease. “I’m sure you have other questions. Now is a good time to ask.”
“What do we do if we win our ten fights? I was told about the freedom but I wonder at the options a vampire would have.”
“Most work for one of us. We pay really well and provide plenty of blood. The guards you saw around the arena were all once fighters like yourself. Cerrus is another good example. He won his fights and has worked his way to becoming wealthy as he nears the stage of being an old one. At one thousand years of age, you become an old one and can begin putting your own team of fighters together, so long as you have the money it takes to build a facility like this one.”
“Wow. I heard mention of some laws. Who would enforce those laws?”
“There is a council. I am one of the nine members of that council. We made the laws and are the main enforcers. We have a small group of specialized fighters that we keep in case they are ever needed. Once you have some age to you, you will be perfect for that group.” Arria was smiling when she said this. She looked like she was going to say something more when the door opened and we were interrupted by a vampire I didn’t know. “Sorry, Ethan. I have been waiting for this meeting. We will speak agai
n when the chance arises. Can you find your way back to your room?”
“Yes, Arria. Thank you for answering my questions.” I stood and bowed my head as I had seen Trog do. Arria smiled. I turned and left.
I made my way out the door and down the stairs to the level where my room was. I passed several doors in a haze. I was barely aware of my surroundings.
I was a match for Cerrus! Arria hasn’t caught on to what my real gift is. These two things kept going through my mind.
With my head down as I walked, Trog’s shoes were the first thing of him that I saw.
“You what? Cerrus? Are you kidding me?” I could see the shock on his face as he whisper screamed those things at me. Trog looked around us briefly before leading us into my room and shutting the door. “Go through everything from the time I left!”
“Well, you were right about the other old one. He told Arria that he had seen me move faster than Speedy. She was pissed about us lying to her. She meant for Cerrus and I to spar as punishment for me. He was supposed to beat me pretty bad.” I looked up at Trog in the middle of this whispered speech. He had a frustrated look on his face. I didn’t understand the look but I didn’t know him well enough to be overly familiar. “I think that was what was intended. Once Cerrus attacked me, I stopped thinking and fought. We were basically an even match. The speed was equal with me a little stronger than him.”
Trog’s face was now a funny mask of amazed shock. I almost laughed at him before I composed myself.
“You are stronger than Cerrus? You are stronger than Cerrus.” As he started to believe it, his face returned to a normal look and he started to focus again. “What happened after? Was Arria angry?”
“I think she was shocked at first. Then she seemed to relax and even warmed to the idea of it. She sat me down and talked to me. She even let me ask her some questions.”
“What questions did you ask?”
“Simple ones. I asked what our options were after we win the ten fights. I asked about who makes and enforces the vampire laws. She was answering happily enough when we were interrupted. She sent me back here saying she had to see this new person. For the first time, I was starting to feel at ease around her there at the end. Up until then, I had been very apprehensive, even scared, when I was in the same room with her.”
