by S Mays
Darkness closed around him as he thought of his daughter. “Jessica…” he gasped as his life faded.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“This is highly unusual!” Bilford complained, moving between Adrianna and Jessica. “I have never heard of an unarmed Stalker test. On whose authority was this regulation set?”
Adrianna’s facial expression remained placid. “Why, on the order of the Synod of Seven. I admit it was an unusual order, but I have seen worse.”
“I-I’m not going to stand for this. I demand to see the Synod immediately!” Bilford blustered, his face turning red. Jessica rarely saw her grandfather so emotional.
“I must agree with Bilford,” Faith said, crossing her arms.
Adrianna smirked at the pair. “I am afraid it is beyond my control.”
“I don’t see —” Bilford started, but Jessica stopped him.
“It will be fine, Grandfather. I am ready,” she said, stepping forward.
“At least let me —” Bilford said, but she held up a hand.
“You are here to observe. I am here to fulfill my destiny. It is time for me to stand or fall on my own, Grandfather.”
He looked as if he was going to argue, but reconsidered and smiled instead. “You are your father’s and your mother’s daughter, that is for certain. Go with my blessings, my girl.”
She nodded to the gathered group and moved through the metal gate. She stepped through, awed by the scene before her.
The area was the size of a football field, with high walls all around. At the tops of the walls, seats were carved into the stone. Hundreds of spectators stared at her as she entered. A giant mirrored window indicated a room on the other side of one wall, giving the occupants the best view of the arena. She surmised that that was the room for the Synod.
The gate closed behind her. She wasn’t sure what to expect. Her parents had fought in an underground lake and a castle. An empty field was disappointing. She then noticed several people moving through a door at the far end of the field, wheeling a gurney. An arm flopped out from underneath the blanket. One of the people hastily put it back, then looked over her shoulder at Jessica. The woman frowned, then exited, slamming the door behind her.
A voice boomed over hidden loudspeakers. “We are gathered here today to test the courage and resourcefulness of Miss Jessica Luvkrafft. All of you are aware of her father, the legendary Jake Luvkrafft, and his departed wife, Abigail. Jessica was trained by Stalker Faith Cleary and was recommended for the Stalker training program at an unprecedented young age. She excels at chi manipulation and martial weapon combat.”
Jessica felt as if she were participating in a game show or sporting event. This was not what she had expected. She felt vulnerable and exposed, as if she were livestock about to be put up for auction.
“Jessica, the rules for your test are simple. Rule one: there are no weapons allowed in the arena. Rule two: you must survive and retain your humanity.”
Jessica waited for the rest of the rules, but none were forthcoming.
“Your test begins…now.”
She crouched into a fighting stance, warily surveying the arena. Nothing happened. Minutes ticked by. She began to sweat, dreading what was coming. Panic crept into her thoughts. No, this is also part of the test. She sat, folding her legs and assuming the lotus position. She focused her senses while gathering more chi. She was already near her upper reserves, but a little extra at the right moment might mean the difference between life and death.
A loud clank at the far end of the field forced her eyes open. A metal gate similar to the one behind her had opened. Two figures were racing haphazardly down the field in her direction. One of them tripped, then scrambled to his feet. They looked over their shoulders as if they were being chased by something. They yelled frantically. They looked to be the same age as Jessica. The male was of medium height and thin, with short, unkempt brown hair. The female had long blonde hair and a slightly muscular build. Their clothing was ragged.
“It’s coming! Save us!” the boy shouted.
Jessica looked past the pair into the darkness of the gate. She could not discern what was chasing them. Was this to be a mission where she had to protect civilians from some threat? An escort mission? She tensed herself, assuming a fighting stance. Something was off about the situation. The pair were running directly at her. She shifted her vision to the spectral realm. The boy had virtually no aura, and the girl’s was swirling and dark! The pair glanced at each other, smirking. The boy was slightly ahead and threw a punch at Jessica’s head. She blocked it, only to find the girl’s furry, clawed hand reaching for her throat. She leapt into a tumble roll to put some distance between her foes and herself.
The duo chuckled.
“Oi, you’d be surprised ’ow often that works. Thought we had ya bang to rights,” he said. The girl smiled, revealing her fangs. She spoke to Jessica in German, which was not one of the languages Jessica had learned in her studies.
“She said you’re pretty, and she’d fancy a snog with ya,” he laughed. “Hell, me too. Whad’ya say?”
“I’ll have to decline. Sorry.”
“Yeah, it’s for the best. You’ll be the second wannabe Stalker we eliminate this month. We got sorta this…perfect winning streak, ya know?” They moved to opposite sides of Jessica, ready to attack from two directions at once. They’d obviously trained together.
Judging by his age and the speed of his punch, the male vampire was perhaps a level V3, meaning he was three times stronger than a regular human. The girl couldn’t have been a werewolf for very long, perhaps two years. Still, she was as deadly as he was. One on one, it would be a tough battle, even with weaponry. Jessica had no idea how she was going to beat the pair barehanded. Supernatural creatures like these could only be damaged by silver, wood, magical weapons, or other supernatural creatures.
They moved together, coming at her simultaneously. Jessica leapt forward, attacking the knees of the vampire and escaping the reach of the werewolf. Her attack wasn’t effective, but it allowed her to move out from between them. They started to reposition themselves.
“You can’t last very long, sweets. One misstep, and your ass is ours. See, as long as we win, we get to live. We kill Stalker recruits, and the Order don’t kill us. That’s some messed-up shit, ain’t it? They kill their own people. But it don’t ’ave to be that way. We can be mates. We ’eard you were the lonely type. Your mum died when you was young, and you don’t ’ave any friends. We can be your friends.”
“It’s long been the belief that if a recruit fails their test, they were not chosen by the Divine. The ones who failed would not have been successful in our holy mission to cleanse your kind,” Jessica replied, attempting to formulate a plan. His comments distracted her. How does he know those things?
“That’s some stupid phony-baloney crap. Ain’t no heaven, love. You die, you die. Your mum is just gone. I ’eard they had to pick her up with a dustpan,” the vampire said, moving to circle around her again.
Jessica looked around the arena for any type of weapon. It was barren. She decided to switch tactics and attack them before they could attack her again. She rushed the vampire, launching a flurry of blows and kicks. He blocked several of them, but more made it through, striking his face, ribs and knee again. As he reeled, Jessica dodged the werewolf’s slashing attack and dashed away to put some distance between them. The girl still had not assumed her werewolf form in full.
The vampire rubbed his jaw. “Babe, you hit awful hard for a chick. That turns me on. You’ve never had a boyfriend, ’ave ya? Never kissed a boy? You can kiss me if you want.”
Jessica stopped midway across the arena, looking around frantically once again. Who told him my personal affairs? The girl jogged toward her, then sped up, shifting fully into her massive werewolf form as she reached Jessica’s position. She attempted to barrel Jessica over in a frenzy of biting and clawed attacks. There was no skill or method to her assault, but none was necessary when one s
trike could cripple. Jessica dodged several times, then finally unleashed a jump kick at the werewolf’s muzzle. The creature howled in pain and stopped to grab her injured face.
“Now, that’s not very nice, is it?” the male said, appearing beside Jessica in a flash. A punch to her ribs knocked the breath out of her. “Ya see, if we infect ya, we get rewarded better than if we just kill ya,” he said, grabbing her by the head and exposing her neck. She lashed out sideways with several punches and kicks, then twisted free. Jessica ran away again, trying to catch her breath from the rib shot.
The vampire rubbed his kneecap. “Again with the knee? Where’d you learn to fight like that? The Internet? I ’eard you spend all your time trollin’ the web because you don’t have any friends. Must be a real lonely life, growin’ up like that,” he taunted.
Shut up! She pushed his jibes away and gathered her thoughts. The vampire could be crippled, but killing him would require either removing the heart from his body or decapitation. Unless she could find a stake. The only way he could repair himself was by drinking blood. The werewolf was more problematic. It would heal from any damage, and the longer they fought, the more likely it would grow stronger from its rage. Which would then cause it to heal faster. It was what made werewolves so dangerous.
The duo rushed her again. Neither seemed to be trained in any martial arts, but it didn’t matter when they hit harder than the strongest human and could slice easily through flesh and bone with their natural weapons. Jessica backpedaled while blocking and avoiding their attacks. The werewolf left herself open, so Jessica struck several pressure points, rendering the creature’s left arm useless. Such attacks wouldn’t be as effective on a vampire, since he was undead.
The werewolf paused, attempting to figure out why her arm was no longer functioning.
“Oi, what’re you doin’?” the young man asked, stopping to inspect his partner.
At least neither of them is very intelligent. I don’t troll the Internet! Jessica once again inspected the arena. Looking up, she saw her grandfather and the rest of the group in the stands. Sam waved enthusiastically at her. “Doin’ great, Jess!” he shouted. Bilford motioned for him to sit down and be quiet.
She couldn’t determine how she was supposed to win. There was no way she could kill these creatures without any weapons. She reviewed the rules once again. No weapons in the arena, and I must survive.
The werewolf recovered from her attack faster than she had expected. In a moment, they were both on her again. With her chi enhancing her strength and skills, she could hold her own against the unskilled pair, but her chi was finite. These two could fight like this for days. She had already used half her energy, and her opponents were relatively unharmed. Each chance she got, she struck at the vampire’s knees. If she could disable them, she could focus on the werewolf. He fell back, hobbling, while the werewolf pressed on.
“Oi, get back here!” the vampire shouted, dropping to the ground. It looked as if he could no longer walk. The werewolf turned, then returned to her fallen comrade. Jessica continued running. She stopped a safe distance away to rest.
“I can’t walk no more,” he said, rolling on the ground, holding his knees.
The werewolf offered her arm.
The vampire smiled, looking up at his partner. “Yeah, that’s the ticket,” he said, biting deep into the flesh of the werewolf. After a minute, he rose to his feet and dusted himself off. “Now, where were we?” he asked Jessica.
She’d never considered the fact that he could heal himself with the werewolf’s blood. She’d spent all her efforts avoiding his bite and wearing him down, and now he was fully recovered. Jessica looked at her bruised fists and torn suit. The fight was just beginning again for her opponents, but she was getting worn down. She would have to think of a new tactic.
The door through which the cleaning crew had passed caught her eye. It was a metal security door, but it would be less sturdy than the giant gates. No weapons allowed in the arena. Wait – can I leave the arena? An idea began to form. Perhaps she could escape and recover Casca? Maybe this was also part of the test. She had only assumed she had to fight in the arena, but Stalker test rules were known for their precise and literal meanings. If there was no rule about leaving, then it was allowed. She looked up at the stands, but they were over seventy-five feet in the air and behind a barrier. The only exits were the maintenance door and the gates.
Again, the duo circled around her, planning on coming at her from two directions at once. She turned her head quickly between the two, attempting to see who would attack first. The vampire rushed in, but it was a feint. The werewolf attacked instead. Jessica dove away, but the beast grabbed her leg, causing her to trip. In an instant, both of her foes were on top of her, punching, slashing, and biting. Jessica focused past their attacks, rolling up and bringing her knee up into the face of the vampire and unleashing a kick to the muzzle of the werewolf. She then rolled out from between the pair and leapt to her feet.
A cheer of excitement erupted from the stands.
Jessica took stock of her injuries. She had not been bitten, but she was now covered in dozens of bruises and scratches — some of them deep. If it hadn’t been for her chi reinforcing her body, she’d be dead now. If she managed to survive this, she was going to be sore for weeks.
“Now…you’ve pissed me off,” the vampire said. Blood was flowing down his face. His nose was shattered, now visibly crooked and sagging to the left. “I don’t like the taste of my own blood. When your mate Lyle died, was there much blood?”
Shut up! What does he know about that? His taunts were causing her to lose her focus. One distracted second with these foes would mean instant death. She pushed aside her thoughts of his personal attacks and focused on her plan. The werewolf moved to his side, offering him her arm again. Going on the offensive, Jessica attacked. The vampire and the werewolf were still disoriented from the blows to their snout and nose, and lashed out wildly. Jessica focused on striking the most painful joints and areas on the male while hitting Tsubo points on the female. She briefly moved between them before escaping to the other side. The werewolf’s claws raked the face of her partner. He screamed in pain and frustration.
“What the hell are you doin’, ya dumb git?” the young man shouted, shoving the beast away. “Attack her, not me!”
Jessica smiled. Another idea formed. She had no weapons that could permanently damage them, but since they were both supernatural creatures, their attacks against each other could cripple or kill. Again, she attacked the pair.
They were still bickering with each other and were surprised by her assault. Instead of attacking them directly, she focused on redirecting their attacks, maneuvering between them so that she’d have to fend off their attacks from two directions. Her precise strikes were meant to confuse and anger her opponents. Their attacks became less accurate but more vicious. She managed to redirect some of their blows so that they hit each other, which further enraged them. The vampire backed away, bleeding from several wounds.
“Learn to fight, ya dumbass!” he screamed at the werewolf. A thick coating of blood covered his forehead and was running into his eyes. His devastated nose continued to gush crimson.
Jessica focused her attacks on the werewolf, slowing her with pressure point attacks while angering her with punches and kicks to her muzzle. Her attacks grew wilder and more powerful as her anger grew. Jessica slowly backed away, ducking the lethal swipes, which were now aimed at her head. She focused her chi into her leg and unleased a powerful kick directly into the werewolf’s face. The beast howled in pain, tears filling her eyes. She reared back, raising her thick arm high into the air, and swung a crushing blow. Jessica dove to the side.
The vampire wiped away the blood from his eyes just in time to see the clawed hand approaching. “Wha—?” he managed to say before the clawed fist struck squarely against his skull. His head landed thirty feet away and rolled to a stop against the arena wall. A loud murm
ur rippled through the stands. A few cheers erupted. The attendants motioned for the crowd to calm.
Sweat was pouring into Jessica’s eyes, and she was panting heavily. She smiled. “One down,” she said to the werewolf, who was stunned to see what she had done. She bent down to check the headless body of her fallen comrade. The werewolf’s chilling howl rang out through the arena. She rose to her feet, fury in her eyes. Jessica had defeated one foe, but the one who remained was now much stronger and faster. She ran.
The beast gave chase, running on all fours. Jessica focused her failing energy into her legs, increasing her speed, but the werewolf was faster. Soon, she was biting at Jessica’s heels. Jessica was almost at her goal. At the last second, she arrived at the maintenance door, ran up the door and flipped over the chasing werewolf. While arcing over the werewolf, she drove the last remaining chi into her arms and shoved the creature forward, increasing the werewolf’s already staggering momentum. The werewolf crashed into the metal door, ripping it from its hinges. She continued into the hall outside and smashed into a large marble statue, which toppled over onto her. Jessica raced through the door and ran down the hall. As she gasped for air, her legs began to wobble. Not now! I’m almost there!
The werewolf recovered from the impact and shoved the statue aside with ease. Her anger would be boiling hot now, and seeing her prey fleeing would only increase her instinct to chase Jessica down. Scrambling on the hard floor, her claws dug in, ripping chunks of rock free.
Jessica slid around the corner, aware of the beast barreling down the hall behind her. Just a bit farther. Her legs faltered, causing her to stumble forward, but she remained upright. The clattering and scraping of claws behind her indicated that the werewolf was turning down the same hall she was in. She could see her objective now. Pushing harder, she sped up slightly, but there was no more energy, be it chi or otherwise. She grabbed hold of the door handle and flung the door open, then careened into the room beyond.
