by Hati Bell
“Areto,” Kellsey said, and she put her hand in greeting on Areto’s right shoulder. The amazon queen’s right hand had taught her their customs at Riz’s request. If she’d been a Chinese baby, Riz undoubtedly would have sent her to take Chinese lessons.
“Kells,” Areto greeted back. “Is today the day, sister?”
No, today also wasn’t the day she would join Areto’s tribe. “Is today the day you will set the centaurs free?” she countered. She’d never seen a centaur, but she knew the amazons used them in dimensions where cars and other modern equipment didn’t work.
“Let’s not discuss politics,” Areto said tightly.
“Politics? Don’t you mean slavery?” The free centaurs who were left hid in the farthest corners of the world.
Areto’s golden eyes flashed, and Kellsey knew she’d hit a nerve. “Out of respect for Riz, I’m going to let that slide,” she said.
“Please don’t,” Kellsey said, not intending to let Areto hide behind Riz. “After all, it is the Blood Games. Feel free to challenge me.”
“One day….” Areto said, her eyes narrowed.
“Let me guess: not today?”
Without saying another word, Areto walked away. It still baffled Kellsey that Areto had seriously expected, and still expected, that she would choose the amazon life above her brothers.
She was still pondering this when she saw Leroy. As usual, her heart beat double-time when she took him in: big, muscular, and with long strands of dirty blond hair like Kurt Cobain. Maybe Shay was right; all eligible men were either dead or traumatized.
Leroy stood before his green Jeep. A lot of her fantasies played out in the back seat of that Jeep. He was talking with Qasim. Her brother showed him something on his beloved iPad.
“Hi, Leroy,” Kellsey greeted him. The men immediately stopped talking.
“Kellsey,” Leroy said, looking somewhat surprised.
His deep voice sent delicious shivers down her back. He was practically the only one who called her by her full name-which made it feel like an endearment. He looked as gorgeous as ever in his jeans and leather jacket. “Are ya here for the Blood Games?” she asked and she internally groaned for stating the obvious.
“Of course. Why else would I be here?”
Kellsey sighed. Of course, he hadn’t come for her. Since the incident on her seventeenth birthday, he had avoided her like the plague. Unfortunately, this hadn’t diminished her love for him. Unrequited love was a bitch. “Why indeed?” she asked sardonically.
“Hey, Kells!” Suddenly a voice sounded behind her. She was embraced by arms, decorated with hieroglyphs, she knew all too well.
“Macan!” she exclaimed. The guitarist of Scarab kissed her on the cheek. “Don’t tell me you’re here to take part in the Blood Games,” she joked. Macan was a musical rock genius who collected panties, not a warrior. Why couldn’t she have loved him? He was sexy, played her favorite instrument, and wasn’t afraid of her brothers. That last fact alone earned him bonus points.
“You do remember that I use my magic stick for other purposes, right?” He winked. His grin drew attention to the ankh cross on his cheek that symbolized life.
She couldn’t help but smile. “Oh, I remember.” She thought she heard Leroy growl, but when she looked at him, his face was void of expression.
“We play at Seven this weekend,” Macan said. “After that, at Celtfest.”
This immediately explained the growing crowd of nymphs frolicking in the yard. His crazy tour schedule was one of the reasons why it hadn’t worked out between them. The other reason was Leroy, who looked at them coolly.
She walked along with the crowd towards the field where the Blood Games would be held. Shay joined her. Riz sat on his chair for the teams who had lined up in a row. As soon as he opened the Games, she would take off and pick a spot to shoot her arrow.
Before the first teams could take place opposite each other, a path opened through the crowd. Six vampires stepped forward. Judging by the lack of rings through their lower lips, they were free vamps.
“We demand the first game,” said the vampire who led the way. Kellsey estimated him just over a century old. Baby vamps couldn’t go out in daylight, during the first century after they were turned.
“Spike without fangs,” Riz greeted the vampire coldly. “Did you come to pay your debt or to offer your head on a platter?”
“Neither, Callahan. The days when I paid for your protection are over.” Spike looked over the crowd, which had grown silent. “I demand a Hades-judgment.”
“I must have heard that wrong,” Shay whispered. “That wanker didn’t just say that he wants a Blood Game till death. Riz would crush him within a second. It wouldn’t even be a serious fight. I’m already bored.”
It was odd indeed, but free vampires were known for their arrogance. Most offered their services as mercenaries. There were, however, a few who formed their own nest without a dhampir to lead them. They were the ones who had to prove themselves by challenging someone and show they could hold their own.
Riz gave him a bored look. “Choose your weapon.”
Spike shook his head. “You misunderstood me, Callahan. I don’t want to fight against you. I challenge you on behalf of my nest. Six members of my nest against six members of your clan. And since you’re the judge, you’re not allowed to play,” he said smugly.
Kellsey froze when the implications of the challenge suddenly became clear. “Shit.”
Shay gave her a puzzled look. “There’s no need to look that upset, chicky. He’s only a vampire. A blood slave. I could kick his ass with one arm tied behind my back. A bunny with sharp teeth could kick his ass,” she exaggerated.
Kellsey knew Riz couldn’t refuse. Showing weakness in their world was the same as painting a bull’s-eye on your forehead and inviting mythos to shoot you. And once accepted, a challenge could not be withdrawn.
“What’s your answer, Callahan?” Spike asked, challenging.
A path opened when Levi and Qasim walked toward Riz. People were giving Levi a wide berth.
“I accept your challenge,” Riz said, and the crowd erupted with cheers.
A kumiho began handing out slips of paper and taking bets. Nobody was as quick as a cunning fox shifter to make a buck off other’s misery. Kellsey promised herself to pull the kumiho’s nine tails as soon as he changed into his animal.
Spike gestured to the vampires next to him. “This is my team. Where’s yours?” he asked with a smug grin.
The vampire had played his trump card, and what a card it was. The warty blood slave. Kellsey wanted to break his face. A clan who had accepted a challenge but didn’t have enough players was automatically disqualified. It sure explained his sudden suicidal tendency to challenge them to a death match.
A grin appeared on Riz’s face. Kellsey’s oldest brother didn’t smile often, but when he did usually someone died. “You have much to learn, vampire,” he said. “I always have enough clan members near during the Games.”
“I only count two,” Spike said haughty.
“Learn to count, blood slave!” Kellsey yelled as she walked forward. She stood beside her brothers and pulled her knives from her boots.
Shay followed her. “I’m going to turn you into ice kebab,” she said. Her fingers reshaped into icy, razor-sharp claws.
“You let your women fight?” Spike exclaimed, stunned.
Wrong, wrong thing to say. It earned him a scowl from the witches and Shay flipped him off with an icy finger. The amazons looked like they wanted to drown him in his own blood.
“There’s a reason why there are so many war goddesses,” Riz said wryly. “These two are trained by myself and will send your sorry ass to Hades.”
“That’s still only four,” Spike said, sounding less sure of himself. His team members started to look worried.
“Five,” a voice suddenly sounded.
Kellsey’s heart skipped a beat when Leroy stepped forward. She appr
eciated the gesture but knew it was to no avail. This wasn’t his fight.
“Nice try, Leandros,” Spike sneered. “But you don’t belong with the Callahans. You’re a nomad.”
“My nomad days are over,” Leroy said as he pulled his shirt over his head.
Kellsey stared dreamily at his muscular chest until her attention was suddenly drawn to the tattoo on his upper arm. A black sword and a spear that crossed each other. The tattoo that all Callahan clan members wore. Her head was spinning with questions. Becoming a clan member was a commitment for life. It could only be broken by death or if the head of the clan let you go. In return, you got his full support. Something Riz so far had only given to Shay and Vicky and of course his own family. Suddenly she felt sick.
“Six,” a soft voice sounded.
Kellsey’s heart nearly broke when Vicky stepped forward. She wanted to tell her to run. Judging by Vicky’s fists and nervous look, that was exactly what she wanted to do.
“What are you smiling at, bitches?” Shay yelled to a group of witches. “She has more courage in her pinky than all of you combined.”
Spike now looked nervous and tried to mask that with a stiff smile. “That’s your last man, or should I say, black witch? I thought they were extinct.” He sounded miffed.
Vicky lifted her chin. “We’re not extinct. I’m merely the last one.”
Kellsey smiled at her encouragingly, while frantically trying to think of a way to shield her friend from the deadly fight she’d ended up in.
“Spike?” Riz said in a silky voice. “After the Games, I’m going to look up your nest. I’m going to find them and they will die a slow and agonizing death, up until the last blood slave.”
Spike’s face had lost all color. Riz never bluffed.
“Fight! Fight! Fight!” The crowd went wild.
The white witches, who had conjured up popcorn, threw dirty looks at Vicky.
Spike’s team walked to the other side of the field to prepare.
Shay peeled her skirt from her hips so she could move more easily. She was standing in a slip, stockings, and high boots. The werewolves looked at her appreciatively and she rewarded them with a coy wink.
Kellsey rushed to Riz. His gaze roamed the crowd, in which mythos were placing bets.
“You can’t let Vicky play,” she said. “Call Kartal. He can trace here in a jiff.” She didn’t understand why Riz hadn’t thought of that himself.
“He’s on a mission. I can’t disturb him.”
“Is that mission more important than Vicky’s life?” she asked incredulously.
Riz’s eyes took on an intense look. “It’s more important than anything.”
He got up, and she knew their talk had ended. Disappointed, she turned around and walked to her team. Shay’s skin was covered with a shiny layer of ice that perfectly matched her platinum-blonde hair. Two icicles stuck out of the palms of her hands. She looked impatient and excited. Vicky looked pale.
“Stay close to me,” a voice sounded beside Kellsey.
She looked up into Leroy’s dark eyes. “Don’t even think that I’m going to just stand here and twiddle my thumbs,” she protested. “I will fight.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less. Just stay close to me.”
“Why?”
“I get…agitated when you’re in danger.”
“That’s sweet,” she cooed. “I didn’t know ya cared about me so much.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Of course I care about you. Just like your brothers,” he added quickly.
“Sure,” she sighed. “I suppose this isn’t the time to tell you that I don’t have any sisterly feelings towards you?”
“Kellsey….”
She hated the uncomfortable expression on his face, but perversely enough, she also enjoyed it. “You know, I could die today. Don’t you want to know my dying wish?”
“You’re not going to die,” he growled.
She cocked an eyebrow. “How can you be so sure? You got a connection with the Fates I don’t know about?” She pointedly gave Leroy her back, and put a hand on Vicky’s shoulder.
“Do you have enough power to create a shield?” Black magic was less stable than white magic because it was fueled by emotion. For an untrained witch like Vicky, it could be dangerous to practice it.
“Enough for a few attacks,” Vicky said. “However, every time someone tries to break through the shield, it will weaken.” She swallowed. “And eventually break.”
She wasn’t surprised when Levi positioned himself in front of Vicky. He had always been extra-protective of her. “It won’t break,” he said in a hard tone.
A horn sounded, and as one man they turned to the vampires. The leeches stormed down upon them in a formation.
Kellsey wasn’t worried. She’d fought them before. Vampires were only as strong as their master. The older the dhampir, the stronger his blood slaves. The oldest dhampir in the Highlands wasn’t even a millennium old and these vampires didn’t even have a master anymore. She could handle them.
Right before her team would go to blows with Spike’s, the vampires took a turn towards Kellsey.
She heard Leroy roar when Spike yelled, “Kill their bitch!”
“Well, that’s an interesting turn of events,” Shay mused. “And so rude. What am I? Chopped troll liver?”
Kellsey dodged the first few vampires, but the next one punched her in the face. She flew backwards and held her chin, momentarily dazed.
A second later, Shay ended up next to her. “Wow, they’ve obviously amped up their juice with super blood,” she said. “Good, at least now it’s a fair fight.”
Kellsey was less thrilled. It looked like the vampires were older than she’d thought.
A flash later, Shay went up in smoke and she appeared opposite Spike. When she took something seriously, her bestie was virtually unstoppable.
Spike’s claws left a bloody trail on Shay’s cheek, just before he jumped out of her reach. “This is only the beginning, hybrid bitch,” he hissed.
“Hybrid bitch? Hybrid bitch?” Shay shrieked, while she waved her icy knife. “That’s like the bloodsucking pot calling the sexy kettle black!”
Kellsey scrambled to her feet and was now more careful. She wouldn’t underestimate them again. Beside her, she saw Leroy’s hands turn into claws.
“So much for your centaur theory,” she told Shay, as she ducked, avoiding a knife that almost ended up in her eye.
The crowd suddenly buzzed with excitement, but she didn’t have time to look at what drew their attention.
She grabbed the vampire by his neck, ripped his head off and went through to the next blood bag. Her knife cut through another throat and the blood sprayed all over her face. So gross.
The vampire clutched his throat and fell to his knees. He was lucky that she hadn’t used the knife dipped in hydra blood. That blood was too rare to waste on a leech.
She wanted to give the vampire another kick when someone sliced her back open. She spun around and came face to face with another vampire.
“Haughty bitch,” he hissed.
“Dishing out compliments, are we?” she asked sweetly, as she balanced on the balls of her feet. A glance over the vampire’s shoulder showed that one of the vampires had been mental enough to take on Levi.
The soil around Vicky was soaked with blood and looked like a scene from a slasher movie. Levi sat crouched over a body he pulled apart. His fangs stood out and blood was dripping from his chin. They would have to pull him off of the body, later.
Soon, Kellsey was cornered by three vampires. She held one knife in front of her and another behind her back.
A roar, one like she’d never heard before, shook the ground and a shadow passed over her. Her jaw dropped when a golden lion jumped over her and lunged on the vampires. Claws cut through skin and bone.
The lion turned his head toward her and she stared dumbfounded at the velvety brown eyes she loved so much. She barely noticed that
Spike stepped away from Shay and ran off with his tail tucked between his legs.
“Leroy?” She almost couldn’t believe it. Leroy in his lion form was simply magnificent. His golden fur looked like spun silk.
With renewed energy, she stepped towards the vampires, but the lion turned to her. He roared a clear warning for her not to interfere.
“Chillax, Lee,” she said. “You know I don’t like to wait on the sidelines.”
He didn’t seem to care about her protest, because he continued his carnage. In less than a minute, the ground was littered with decapitated vampires.
Kellsey frowned. “That’s not very sporting of you.”
His roar told her that he didn’t give a furry rat’s ass. The crowd whistled, clapped, and shouted. The biggest compliment, however, came from the lion, who caressed her cheek with his tongue.
4
KELLSEY
Leroy was about to leave. Kellsey could see it in his face as he stood beside his Jeep, pondering. He hadn’t wanted to share his lion with the rest of the world. He was adamant about his privacy.
She hurried through the garden, past the path of broken columns, upstairs to her bedroom. From here she had a good view of the field where the Blood Games took place. She opened the window. The band members of Scarab were getting ready to play. Behind them, the bodies of the vampires were being dragged away. Everything went according to plan, except for the fact that Leroy wanted to leave her.
She aimed the arrow at his tight ass. Easy-peasy.
“Did you hit him?”
Kellsey jumped up, startled. The arrow whizzed out of the window. She spun around and stood nose-to-nose with Shay. “You scared the crap outta me!”
Shay peeked out through the window. “Goldilocks doesn’t look much in love,” she remarked.
“No, no, no!” Kellsey screeched as she looked outside. Her arrow was gone. She swallowed at the thought that she’d have to acknowledge defeat to Lea.
Speaking of the devil, Lea suddenly appeared out of nowhere. She had wrapped herself in a tight dress and her fingers drew circles on Leroy’s biceps.
