M&L03 - SS (24 page)

~ Solomon ~

“Do you mind if I sit here?”
Grayson asked from beside me.

I motioned for him to sit
without taking my eyes off Renee. She was down in the chambers doing her best
to bleed her latest challenger.

“Don’t mind him Grayson, he
gets a little tense when Renee’s down in the chambers,” Katerina told the other
sorcerer, talking across me from my other side.

“I don’t blame him, I’d be
tense too if that was my
anai
down there. It must be stressful enough
for the competitors, not knowing who will be waiting in the next chamber and
all, but from up here you can watch the contestants line up and guess which
ones will eventually meet in combat.”

“Exactly,” I agreed. “That’s
what I’ve been telling Katerina, but she seems to think I’m overreacting. I was
hoping me or Kat would have a chance to take Sergio and Danarius out of the
running before Renee had to face either one of them, but it looks like Renee
will be going up against Sergio before the end of this round.”

“We’ve trained her well Solomon,”
Katerina soothed. “She has a very good chance of beating him, and if not, her
pride may be a little wounded, but she’ll recover and try again next year.”

Renee swung her sword and
managed to nick her opponent’s arm, drawing blood from the wolf shifter for the
third time. The room turned bright red and they bowed to each other,
maintaining eye contact, before Renee stepped through the portal into the next
chamber. After smearing a drop of blood on the red wall, she took the time
alone to wipe off her sword and catch her breath.

In the chamber beside hers,
Sergio was battling one of the vampires from New Orleans. They were both very
fast and skilled with a blade, and I didn’t want either one of them near Renee.

“I don’t like this Kat.”

She rubbed my back trying to
calm my nerves. “She will be fine Solomon. It’s not like we’re fighting to the
death here.”

I took a deep breath and told
myself to listen to Katerina, but the fox was agitated and had no interest in
being calm.

Down below, Sergio suddenly spun
around and dragged his sword across his opponent’s chest with a flourish. The
chamber turned black and stayed that way signaling he’d won the match. The
audience went crazy and several nearby bookies tried to get my attention, but I
couldn’t think about placing bets with Sergio stepping into the chamber with my
Renee. 

“Dammit.” I ran my fingers
through my hair, watching as recognition swept over Renee’s features.

A jolt of fear hit me through
the bond, but no one looking at Renee would ever guess she was afraid. She
raised her sword and held it in front of her with a two handed grip, preparing
for his attack. They circled a bit, and I could see his lips moving but I had
no way of knowing what he was saying to her.

Suddenly, Renee lunged
towards Sergio, darting in fast then spinning to block his counter strike. The
chamber lit up bright red and I let myself breathe.

“One down, two to go,”
Katerina murmured beside me, her eyes locked on Renee just like mine.

They circled again and this
time when Renee attacked, their swords clashed for several minutes. They were
evenly matched and I thought it would come down to who wanted the win more.
Finally, when I was about to jump out of my skin, Renee sliced across Sergio’s
upper arm and then danced back out of his reach.

Sergio looked down at his arm
and wiped the blood from his nearly healed wound. Then he flicked the blood off
his hand and smiled at Renee. It wasn’t a pleasant smile, it was the kind that
chilled you to the bone, and made you wish you’d never met the man wearing it.
Renee saw the smile but it was too late. Sergio had his sword buried in her gut
before either one of us could blink. Pain lanced though my soul as he twisted
his blade and yanked it back out only to shove it right back in again.

Renee fell to her knees and
Sergio pulled his sword out of her body once again. This time he dragged the
blade up her torso leaving a large, open wound behind. He lifted his sword into
the air and I whispered the words that would remove her from harm’s way. I
barely had enough time to finish the incantation before the razor sharp metal
swung towards her neck. Renee disappeared from the chamber and I wrapped a
portal around myself to join her.

Just before I disappeared,
Grayson grabbed my arm. “Take me with you. She might need blood.”

I nodded and we reappeared in
Renee’s bedroom. Renee was slumped forward on the bed with her hands covering
her wound. I raced to her side and gathered her up in my arms. She whimpered
but managed to keep from crying out. We sat on the bed with her in my lap and I
held her tight, sharing her pain.

“Grayson is here Renee, and
he’s offered to feed you. If you drink from him now the wound will heal much
faster and the pain will end.”

She managed a weak nod and
Grayson moved in behind her, reaching around so that she could drink from his
wrist. Her fangs broke through his skin and he winced. I knew from experience
that severe pain could override the sexual high vampires and nightshifters
usually felt when they drank blood. If Renee was in too much pain to feel the
pleasure then she obviously couldn’t share those feelings with Grayson. Without
the sexual high, donating blood was something most people wanted to avoid.

“Open your mind to me and
I’ll take the pain away,” I offered and Grayson accepted.

I slipped into Grayson’s mind
and sent a jolt to his pleasure sensors to see what images would pop up in his
mind. I was surprised to see Rachel’s smiling face looking up at him from a
satin covered bed. Having no time for questions I went with the fantasy, and
let his mind lead the way while I simply added the sensations.

Grayson groaned as if he was
enjoying himself and I glanced down to check on Renee. She had color in her
cheeks again and her mouth was working hard at Grayson’s wrist. When she
started moaning I dipped into her mind but the images I saw were blurry at
best. A few more minutes went by, and then Renee withdrew her fangs and sealed
the puncture marks in Grayson’s wrist. Renee fell into a deep sleep and we left
her alone to rest.

Downstairs in the kitchen, I
offered Grayson something to drink and grabbed a beer for myself. He took a
beer and we sat down at the table.

After a few moments of
silence he said, “I’ve seen vampires and nightshifters get run through with
swords and keep going like they couldn’t even feel the pain.”

I took a sip of my beer
before answering his unspoken question. “Renee has only been a vampire for
thirty years, and a nightshifter for six months. It takes time to build up the
kind of strength and stamina that you’re talking about. Plus, the nightshifters
who were created from humans are weaker than those of us who were shapeshifters
to begin with. Their instincts are muted as well.”

“Do you think she’ll swear
off tournaments after this?”

“Renee won’t give up that
easily. Besides, this isn’t the first time she’s been run through with a sword.
Although it is the first time anyone tried to cut off her head.”

I was working hard to keep a
lid on my rage just in case Renee was able to feel my emotions. She needed her
rest right now and blinding rage was not very conducive for sleep.

“What do you plan to do about
Sergio?”

I took another sip of my
beer, letting the cool liquid slide down my throat while I considered my
options. Never before had my father’s training been more important. “I’d like
to gut the bastard, but technically, he didn’t do anything wrong. We try not to
kill anyone during these tournaments, but things happen in the heat of the
moment. He could argue that Renee stepped into the chamber knowing the risks.
If I challenged him anyway, I might cause a political mess and lead us back
into a war with the vampires. And that’s the last thing we need. The vampires
have a way of creating negative press for Myths and Legends when we piss them
off.”

“I heard they had the humans
believing there was a serial killer working out of the resort.” He leaned back
and drummed his fingers on the table.

“They did; and between that
and the bombing at The Gateway, rebuilding public trust has been an uphill
battle.”

“Do you ever wish we didn’t
have to hide our true natures from the humans?”

“Sure, I think we all do at
times, but there are too many humans in the world now. If they knew about us
they would hunt us, or they would exploit us. We’d never know a moment of peace
if we came out of the closet so to speak.”

“I agree, but catering to the
humans can be tiresome.”

“That’s exactly why the old interracial
council fell apart - too many of the demon and vampire groups wanted to take
over the human world. Fortunately they can’t get along with each other well
enough to actually form and carry out any workable plans.”

“A fact we can all be
thankful for.” Grayson finished off his beer and stood. “I’m going to take off
now.”

The shimmering rainbow of a
portal appeared, but before he stepped through it I asked, “How is Rachel doing
Grayson?”

He seemed a little surprised
that I asked but said, “Rachel is like a butterfly waiting to emerge from her
cocoon. She has the potential for true beauty both inside and out, but she must
first break free of the defensive armor she’s built around herself.”

I felt my lips curl with a
smile. “Take good care of her Grayson, but try to go easy on Jasper. He’s a
good kid and he means well.”

Grayson inclined his head to
me, and then stepped through the portal, closing it behind him.

I finished my beer, put the
empties in the recycle bin, and then headed upstairs to lay down with Renee.
Nothing was more important in that moment than having her warm body, alive and
breathing, pressed against mine.

~ Renee ~

That smile... Something
bad is going to happen. I have to get out of here. I have to run, but no matter
how hard I concentrate, I can’t move. The pain is agonizing, but I can’t move.
Here comes the blade that will end it all, and my body won’t do anything I ask
it to do.

“No...” I sat up in bed,
searching the darkness.

“There’s no one here but us
Renee.” Solomon’s voice was like a lifeline pulling me out of the nightmare. My
whole body shook with relief. “Hey, what’s this? You’re safe now; no one’s
going to hurt you while I’m here.”

He pulled me closer and I
molded myself to his side with my head resting on his bare chest. It felt so
good to be held in his strong arms, to inhale his familiar scent, and to know
he would always be there when I needed him. The bond was working better than
ever and his love was a powerful thing. It chased away all the fear and the
pain of the chamber, but I had to remember. No matter how horrible the memories
were, I had to remember because Solomon needed to know the truth.

“I couldn’t move Solomon.” I
whispered, tracing circles on his chest with my finger.

“What do you mean?” he asked,
tucking my hair behind my ear.

“When I was in the chamber
with Sergio; after my second point, I couldn’t move a muscle. I should have
known he was up to something but I never thought he’d pull something like that
with everybody watching.”

His body tensed and his arm
tightened around me. “What are you saying Renee?”

“I’m saying he used magic to
hold me in place.”

The emotions I’d felt coming
from him were suddenly cut off, but not like the bond quit working, more like
he’d thrown a wall up between us. I sat up and reached over to turn on the
bedside lamp. When I turned to face him I asked, “Why did you just do that? Why
did you cut me off from your emotions?”

He looked away from me and
said, “You don’t need to feel what’s going on inside me right now.”

“That’s bullshit Solomon.
We’re mates. That means we share everything - all of our feelings - happy, sad,
hurt, angry - I don’t care. I want to feel it, and that includes when you’re in
one of those blood thirsty I-need-to-slaughter-someone kind of moods too.”

He allowed himself a slight
grin but maintained the tight hold he had on his emotions. “Why don’t you tell
me what happened in that chamber?”

Letting the argument go for
the moment I explained, “It started out like a normal match. He was running his
mouth trying to distract me. He even gave me a message for you. Something about
actions having consequences no matter what our motives were for taking them.
I’d heard enough by then so I moved in and scored my first point.

Later he said some words I
didn’t recognize, but not like he was casting a spell. You guys have this way
of talking when you do magic. There’s a rhythm to it. This was just a few words
thrown out here and there. Honestly, I thought he was just cursing because he
was losing.

Then he flicked his hand
towards me and a drop of his blood landed on my hand. I couldn’t move a muscle
after that. When I went to my knees, it was because he pushed me with a hand on
my shoulder. I couldn’t even open my mouth to scream. I’ve never been so
terrified in all my life Solomon.”