by Joe Fowler
I felt Ghost’s stare and looked his way to catch his smirk. I didn’t have to hear him say that he knew Gray was here. Okay, so they are both impressive.
“What did you do with the one who attacked you?” Not Apollo asked.
“Took him to Arria. He answered our questions readily enough but there was a problem. He was lied to about everything. We could see that quickly. The one who told him to kill me claimed to be someone he wasn’t. He blamed it on someone we trust. Arria and I aren’t sure whether it is the council or the group that is trying to end the fights that is behind all the fuss.” I started telling them. Trog interrupted.
“The council? Why would they sabotage the fights? Wouldn’t that look bad on them?” Trog asked. I opened my mouth to reply but Ghost beat me to it.
“If things get bad enough, the council can call an emergency meeting and order the death of Titan.” Ghost turned to me. “Does she know what the vote would be? I know we have two members of the council. Any others?”
“One other. Arria said the vote would be six to three.” I looked around at our group. They seemed determined, but the confusion of what to be determined about was apparent of their faces and in their minds. “Arria is going to be a little more aggressive now. She is tired of waiting and reacting.”
“What does that mean? What will she do?” Fake Apollo asked.
“I think it will mean the death of a lot of the vampires who are acting as spies. Arria has justification for killing them outright. It may be better if she uses them to challenge the old ones they belong to. If the old ones are feeling the pressure in the right way, they will put their own efforts into dealing with the council. Remember, there are a lot of old ones that want Titan to live for one reason or another.” Ghost explained.
“This is way too confusing.” Justin said, miserably.
“Things will be clearing up soon. Tomorrow’s fights will be entertaining. We all have to be on the lookout. They might start coming after us as well.” Ghost announced.
“That might be too risky for them. They want the attention on Titan, not us. If they cheat to kill us, then it would undermine their reasoning for their attacks on Titan.” Penny stated.
“Different groups. You were right in your thought process but forgot the outside influences. Cheating to kill us would counter the council’s actions against Titan.” Ghost had a terrifying intellect. He was made for this world.
We passed our thoughts back and forth for way too long. The talking must have lasted at least twelve seconds before everyone left to go to bed.
I was amused to see my door open and close by itself after everyone left. Arria didn’t want Beth here while I slept, but she sent Gray to do that very thing.
I felt safer knowing Gray was there to protect me. Even if they sent someone really powerful to kill me, I believed she would be able to cause enough of a stir to wake me up.
I was shaken awake. I opened my eyes but didn’t see anyone. In my still sleepy mind, this caused a brief panic before I remembered Gray.
“Thank you, Gray.” I said. She turned visible.
“You are too important to Arria now to take chances with. By the way, have you added invisibility yet?”
“No, I haven’t had the chance.” Once the words left my mouth, Gray offered me her arm. I drank until I felt her gift. “Thanks again. You are becoming a great help.”
“Cronus is getting worried. He sees where this is headed and doesn’t like it. He has sent more help. You will know some, but not all of them. They will be here for you and Arria.”
“Does Cronus have a healer?” I asked, desperately.
“No. Why?”
“My mind is unraveling. It’s the whole sleepy, can’t judge time thing. Even if I survive the fights, I won’t last.”
Gray looked saddened by this. I wasn’t sure if she was just learning about this or not. She had the performance quality to her sadness. She had enough control of her mind to give lies and make them completely believable. I remembered the first day she was here. I read her thoroughly and couldn’t see any deception at all. I briefly felt distrust in all that she told us but pushed that away. I really needed what she said to be true. More to the point, Arria needed what Gray told us to be the truth.
The Apollo imposter knocked on my door. I rose to answer but Gray grabbed my arm.
“Be on alert during your fight tonight. They may try to cheat again.” She warned. She then turned invisible. I nodded in answer and opened the door.
“Hey, Justin.”
“Apollo! You have to call me Apollo now.” He was laughing as he said it. I had informed him of my distaste of his new name.
I could see Penny in the hallway. She gave a wave before she headed away toward the donor room. I saw in her mind that Trog was already there. I went to Beth’s room to see if she was awake while Justin retrieved his chair from his room. Beth was in an illusion. I knocked lightly to let her know I was awake. She answered the door with a smile.
It took about twenty minutes, or twenty hours, for everyone to gather back in my room. There was a little nervous excitement that comes on fight nights.
“Last night with us, Ghost. You happy?” I asked him.
“I’m nervous. I am scared I am too preoccupied with all the council business to stay focused on my fight.” He said.
“You will focus when the time comes.” Trog assured him.
“I wonder if I can get lucky again. I have had the easiest draws imaginable. What’s the chances of that happening again?” Justin pondered.
“You are underestimating yourself. You may not have a gift helping you but you are a tremendous fighter. We’ve all seen that.” Penny told him. “Many of the gifts can be overcome if you can fight well enough. As long as you don’t end up against speed, mind control, or something overwhelming, you will have a chance.”
“I hope you’re right.”
We sat and talked for whatever length of time. Gray eventually walked up and knocked on the door, fully visible.
“The training room is open now.” She informed us. “Beth, your new name will be Sweetie.”
We all liked the name for Beth. They wouldn’t see her gift coming.
We were the first ones there.
Sweetie and I watched the others spar. As usual, we were concentrating our efforts on Justin. Penny was right about him. He was turning into a hell of a fighter. I still didn’t have too much confidence he would survive all ten fights but he could make it a few more, maybe.
Eventually, the other groups arrived in the training room. Many stared at me but no one made any moves toward me. I had our group against a wall again. This time it was for more than the naps if I got sleepy. I wanted to have our backs protected in case we were attacked.
Once all ten groups were busy training, I had a mischievous thought.
“Guys, don’t panic. I am going to have a little fun.” I told them.
I looked around the room and called up the illusion gift. I made everyone in the room look like me. No matter which way the fighters would look, everyone they saw looked like me. I smiled and watched as they all turned this way and that staring in disbelief. I heard Beth’s squeaky laugh. I let this go on for an unknown span of time. When I dispersed the illusion, Ghost went into maximum thought overdrive.
“Why did you do that?” Trog asked. His confusion was genuine.
I smiled, not sure if I wanted them to know. I could imagine they would feel it unnecessary and unlikely to help.
“To help drive the point through to them. So many vampires are trying to kill Titan, but how many can actually do it? It was a little display of power. I think it will help discourage them. Good move, Titan.” Ghost showed his appreciation.
I returned the stares from the other groups with a broad smile. I was trying to mock them and challenge them at the same time.
Slowly, or instantly, things returned to normal. I offered a few tips for our fighters as they sparred. Sweetie was entertaining me a
s well. She was creating funny illusions that only I could see. She would make Trog look like a bear and Ghost look like a hippo and have them dance instead of spar. It was nice to see her in such good spirits.
A vampire I wasn’t familiar with approached our group. He was acting in Gray’s place. He looked ordinary enough. He had the gift of illusions.
“The newbie should be waking now. Trog and Titan, you need to come with me.” He told everyone. For only me he said, “Call me Noah. I work for Cronus as well. I will be helping Gray to keep an eye on things. She is resting now since she stayed up to watch over your sleep.”
I felt reassured by this. I knew I was trusting this Cronus even though I had never met him. Gray was trained well enough to convince me of whatever she wanted to make me believe. I knew that. It felt right, though. That’s the best way to explain it.
Once Noah left, we opened the newbie’s door to see an average sized male. Not seeing another giant like Henry, was a relief. I only hoped this one would be able to learn.
“Where the hell am I? Who are you people? What the hell is going on?” He asked. I could read his mind well enough. His name was Charles. He was an engineer from Wyoming. I saw his gift was speed.
“For starters, we aren’t people and neither are you. Welcome to immortality, however brief that may be.” Trog said. He sounded a little down. I wasn’t sure why. His mind was closed off so I couldn’t read him.
“What?” Charles was even more confused. I decided I would take the lead on this one.
“We are vampires and so are you. This is Arria’s facility. We will be taking you to her now. You have a long night ahead of you. Let’s just hope you can learn to fight quickly.” I told him. He was looking at me with his bewilderment plain on his face. “You will come with us now.”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Nope.”
Trog led the way since I was still not familiar enough with the directions to the ‘lobby’ room. These were the same dull green hallways where I first made my way to see Arria. I watched the scuffed hardwood floors pass by under my feet as we neared the stairs.
I tried, really tried, to count the days since I made that first trip. I couldn’t. My time confusion made things like that impossible. It didn’t matter since I only knew this life, unlife, now. It was hard for me to even think of my life before this.
At the top of the stairs, we opened the door to the lobby room. Arria was there with several others. She was radiant. She was also pissed. She watched us approach. When she locked eyes with me for a moment, her expression softened. She turned her eyes back to Charles with the stern look back in place.
“Arria, this is Charles, your new fighter.” I told her. I knew Trog was distracted by whatever was bothering him. “He has the gift of speed.”
Arria did her standard walk around inspection. When she was going behind him she gave me a small smile. I returned it as best I could.
“I like hearing that. Speed is one of the best gifts to have. Take him to the donor room and get him someone to eat. His fight is in a little less than two hours.” She told us.
“Yes, Arria.” Trog and I said and made our bows.
We made our way to the donor area. Trog’s state of mind was bothering me. I decided not to pry but I felt I needed to say something.
“Whatever is wrong, you know you can talk to me about it if you like. I’m not prying, just trying to help.” I told him.
“There’s just too much I need to work though. Give me some time. Will you handle the newbie tonight at the arena?”
“Sure.”
We set the newbie up with a donor. He didn’t want to drink.
“You need to drink. If you don’t, you will be weaker and may die. You have to be as strong as you can be when you fight.” I told him while I lifted the donor’s arm to his mouth.
Once the smell of her blood hit him, he drank. I saw his mind as he felt her breaking point approach. He stopped his feeding and dropped her arm. He made a vow to himself that he wouldn’t kill anyone like that. I smiled.
“Good, now come with us to the training room. We need to get you ready for your fight.” I turned and led the way. I had been through these hallways a few more times travelling to and from the training room.
His face showed his surprise when we entered. He looked around at all the vampires sparring with wide eyes. We headed toward our mats with too many stares coming our way. This time, they weren’t sizing the newbie up.
“Everyone, this is Charles. He should be with us for quite some time. His gift is speed so he could make it through.” I introduced him to our group. They said their greetings and wished him luck.
“Why are we fighting?” Charles asked after I took him to a mat to teach him.
“The old ones like to hold these fights. They make wagers on who will win. They allow some humans to come and bet as well. You are now on the first of ten fights. Your first fight will be against another first rounder. Your second will be against another second rounder and so on. If you win all ten of your fights, you will be granted your freedom.”
“Are the fights to the death?” He asked.
“Yes. Sorry, but you will have to decapitate your opponent. Along with fire and sunlight, decapitation is all that can kill us.”
“I can’t do that.” He said. He was stating what he considered to be a fact. I had a brief flashback of Beth’s first night.
“What you felt about the sanctity of life as a human, no longer applies. Look around you, Charles.” He turned and looked at the other groups. “Everyone here, except for the other first timers, have taken at least one head in the arena. The decency and morals you felt as a human have no place here. I wish I didn’t have to say that. If you think of vampires as politicians, it may help. Once the human charade is stripped away, almost every vampire becomes a self-serving monster.”
“That doesn’t mean I have to be.” Charles said, defiantly. I was torn. I didn’t know whether I wanted him to fight or die for his beliefs.
“Once the fights start, you will get the idea of the monsters you will be dealing with. Now, just in case you change your mind and fight, I need to show you what to expect.” I backed away a few steps and took a fighting stance. I motioned for him to do the same. “I am going to attack you. Try to defend as best you can.”
I went in with a moderately quick attack. He wasn’t quite fast enough to defend, but he was plenty fast enough to win in the arena. I made a few more passes at differing speeds and then had him attack me. He was doing well.
“Now, Charles. I need to tell you about the gifts. Yours is speed. That is one of the best gifts you can have. You got lucky. Your opponent may have speed, strength, invisibility, mind reading, or a hundred other things. Some, like Apollo in our group, have non fighting gifts. His gift is the ability to stand sunlight. You will need to spar with some of the others to get the idea of being prepared for anything.” I looked over and called Ghost to spar with Charles.
They took their stances. I gave a nod for Charles to attack. After Charles fist went through Ghost, Ghost grabbed Charles by the throat.
“Ghost is incorporeal when he wants to be. That is his gift.” I explained to a shocked Charles.
“How can you fight that?” He stammered.
“With your speed. If you can hit him before he can become incorporeal, you can beat him. That is why speed is one of the stronger gifts.”
They made a few more passes with Charles learning to use his speed. Trog and Penny took their turns sparring with him as well.
After about five weeks of sparring, the groups began to gather. We all stood around quietly. They seemed prepared to fight.
“Remember, be on your toes. They may try to cheat against you guys too.” I told them.
“Why would others cheat? Is that allowed?” Charles asked.
“You are in the middle of a mess, Charles. I am the problem. My gift is a little different and it is causing trouble throughout the vampire worl
d. I can acquire other vampire’s gifts when I drink their blood. I can do a lot of different things instead of just one. Some of the old ones are afraid I will become too powerful and start killing them like the last vampire with my gift did. Other vampires want to use me to further their own ends. It is a huge mess and you just got an unlucky draw by being in Arria’s group.”
No one wanted to add anything to my speech. Charles caught the mood of the group and stayed quiet. We stood there for the nine days it took for the other groups to be led away.
Noah was the one to come for us. Sweetie entered her illusion and the newbie followed along after her.
We were paraded onto the platform in front of the old ones. All eyes were on me. No thoughts could be read and no one spoke a word, other than Noah when he gave our names and levels. It was a little spooky.
At a word from one of the old ones, they all left the room. As with my first night, Arria stayed behind. She walked straight to me.
“There were eighteen vampires killed here today. There will be more to come. Anyone caught trying to spy or trying to arrange your death will be executed. Word is spreading. The old ones just here, got an earful from me. I was very close to killing them as well and would have been justified in doing so. Things will get better.” Arria was too upset to speak without showing her disgust. She remembered Ghost and turned to him. “I hope you get your freedom Ghost. You’ve definitely earned it.”
She gave Noah a signal to lead us to the holding pen.
“I think they are going to play this one straight. Arria went on the warpath today. She is not going to put up with any foul play anymore. The old ones that are here are busy wishing they were somewhere else.” Noah assured me. He seemed amused.
Once in the pen, I motioned for Charles to sit across from the arena door. I squeezed Sweetie’s hand to wake her from her illusion. She sat on my left with Charles on my right. I could feel the newbie’s fear rising.
“Relax, Charles. Your gift is one of the best to have. The announcer will teleport in and announce the two fighters for a match. There are two X marks marked in the arena. When he calls your name, go stand on one of the X marks. He will then open the betting. When he does that, you need to kneel on the X. He will return after the betting period and tell you to stand. He ends his intro with, ‘let the game begin’ right before he teleports out of the arena. As soon as he disappears, you need to strike your opponent as fast as you can. Your speed is the best chance you have to nullify your opponent’s gift.” I told him.
