“And the sun is still out,” Andrew complained again.
Arianna didn’t argue. There was so much she wanted to say, but there wasn’t enough time. She rolled over in his arms and cupped his face in her hands. His eyes were still closed as she studied his face. Today was the end for her. Even if she won her match, Rhys wasn’t letting her go without a fight. If she lost her match, Devin and Andrew would not let her go without a fight. People were going to get hurt. She wanted to save everyone, but there might not be way to do that. At this point, there might not be a way to even save herself. Andrew’s eyes opened at her change in emotion, and he pulled her face to his chest. She fit perfectly, right under his chin. He kissed the top of her forehead, trying to bring her out of her sad thoughts.
“Shhh,” he cooed as he patted her back. “Everything will be fine.”
“I did all of this to avoid war,” Arianna replied. She wanted to cry, but there were no tears. It was sad, scary, and weirdly exciting at all the same time. “And now that’s all that’s going to happen. Even if I beat Rhys, it will mean war.” She was similarly frustrated.
“When you beat Rhys, we will just have to face him. If Nessa is right, his clan won’t fully support him. It will be just Rhys,” Andrew said logically. Arianna pulled herself closer. She needed his warmth and strength. Andrew was certain the outcome would be what he wanted. Arianna needed that certainty.
“We’re ready to open the gates,” Thomas said from the sitting room.
Arianna wiped a last sniffle away. Only Andrew was allowed to see her cry. He stood and pulled her up with him. He held tight to her hand, giving her the strength she needed. He was certain their fate was to end up happy together, away from all this mess.
“And the wurdulac were all given rings to check everyone?” Arianna asked. As the neutral group, the wurdulac were manning the gates for the tournament. Luckily for Arianna, they were not as neutral as they seemed.
“Yes,” Thomas replied. “We had enough blood to change all your people at the estate, and some of the wurdulac. They have all pledged loyalty to you above everything else. When this happens, they have all been assigned to get you out of the estate. We plan to take you back to the Randolph grounds. Michael has taken over running the Seeger family, and is doing the security under Mori at the Randolph manor. Seems everyone agrees that Lord Seeger may be getting a little too old and forgetful. No one trusts him to keep you safe, and the council has had a change in their views. Your safety is their top priority, now that Michael is on the council.”
“Or a change in personnel,” Turner added.
“What did you guys do?” Arianna asked, getting momentarily distracted.
“We might have let it slip to the younger generations that their fathers and grandfathers were the ones that caused this mess,” Turner added mischievously.
“How many councilmen were removed?” Arianna asked Devin, who was now grinning with Turner over the success of their latest scheme. They had started it before they left and it had come to fruition while they had been gone. No one had told Arianna yet as she had enough to deal with.
“All of them,” Devin replied. “They are all now happily retired; or rather that’s what their sons and grandsons reported to us a couple weeks ago.” Devin shrugged. The older dearg-dul were not his concern now.
Arianna stared around the room. The world had kept turning while she’d stepped out of it for the past two and a half months, and she just now realized that she had forgotten about it. The people around her hadn’t, however. Devin was risking his life to help her be able to make her own choices, yet found time to keep playing the power game back at the Randolph estate. Arianna wanted to hug each person sitting in the room now: Devin, Turner, Thomas, Molina, Andrew, and Gabriel. They were her support. They kept her crazy night human world together. This was her family.
“Back to the plans,” Thomas said, bringing the attention back to himself. “Once you win, Rhys will attack. Nessa can’t get the specifics out of him, but she knows that he will order his men to attack your keepers in particular. He plans to personally take you away from us. For now, Nessa knows he has at least four people assigned to attack each Andrew, Turner, and Devin. She said they keep changing, so she isn’t sure who it may ultimately be. Either way, all three of you have to look for multiple attackers. Their goal is to wound, kill, and do whatever they have to, to get you away from Arianna. Our goal is to stay together. It will be left to Gabriel and Molina to escort you back to the manor if anything happens to them. I’ll provide air cover and logistics.”
Arianna looked over to Andrew. She couldn’t be separated from him. He smiled and shook his head. It didn’t matter how many people Rhys sent at him, he would stay beside Arianna forever. Arianna looked around the room. Everyone was prepared for the battle.
“When it comes down to a fight, the goal is to show everyone all the power we have now. Everyone with the new blood in them has been practicing, and some of us have more traits enhanced than others,” Thomas nodded to Turner.
“What?” he asked. “I can’t help it if my parents tended to stick with lycans or humans.” Turner’s new skills were the most limited of her team, and it wasn’t due to his ability. Turner was correct; his clan mainly stuck to humans and lycan, and thus didn’t have any ancient blood to activate with Arianna’s merged blood.
“Any questions?” Thomas asked.
“Nixon, Nelson, and Jackson— they know the details?” Arianna asked of the guards not present as they were at the gates checking the people who entered.
“Yes,” Thomas replied. “I spoke with them before they went to the gates. They are managing who comes into the tournament and all Rhys supporters will be put in one area.”
Arianna looked around the room. No one else had questions. She studied each determined face. They were ready for today. Obviously they all had several plans in place, but it wasn’t even worth telling Arianna at this point. The only reason her hands weren’t shaking was because of Andrew’s hand on her back. They all watched her. They were waiting. She was their strength. Arianna took a deep breath before looking around the room again as she spoke.
“Thank you, guys. I know I can trust every one of you with my life. You are my family, and I love you all. I’ll see you guys all tonight at our victory celebration at the Randolph estate.” Everyone cheered that idea though Arianna was only putting up a front. She didn’t believe for one minute that they all would make it out of there unscathed. She had seen the masses through Nessa’s eyes. Everyone was waiting for her, and some were willing to fight to take her back with them. She didn’t have the power to stop Rhys’ plans if they escaped, but she did have the power to win the match outright and be undisputedly free.
Chapter 29
Crowds weren’t the best for Arianna. She’d been hesitant around crowds since she was a child, and performing in front of them was the worst. The past year had dulled some of the anxiety, because no matter where she went, there were always people watching her. Forced functions had also made crowds easier, but she still wasn’t completely over her fear. Arianna had been picturing the crowd before she ever got outside, but she didn’t imagine it large as it really was. She looked around and caught sight of Thomas directing more people into standing room only areas. They had originally agreed to only let under a thousand people into the stands. There had to be twice as many by now. Arianna had been nervous about the thousand people they planned to pack in, but this was worse.
‘Thomas?’ Arianna questioned, nervously taking a seat beside Andrew in the front row with all the other competitors—winner and losers—from the games thus far.
‘Yes?’ he asked, pointing to another group of people.
‘I thought the odds of getting out of here were better with less people around to fight?’ Arianna asked, starting to tense.
‘It would have been until we found that only the people on the far right of the south stands were supporters of someone else. The rest are all her
e to support you. Seems our wurdulac friends were not so closed up while we were locked here. They had been getting the word out to the clans that you were going to bring change to the night human world. Apparently there are more people who want change than there are those who want Rhys to be king.’ Thomas assisted this last group before coming to sit behind her.
‘They’re all here for me?’ Arianna was now in awe of the audience that stared at her the same way.
The petite, blond teenager was their hope for change. Most had not even met Arianna before and were surprised to find her to be so young. Serge Moro spoke highly of the young girl, and everyone present felt her power. They didn’t know what she was capable of, yet all were ready to stand beside her when the fighting started. Her parents had been well-known in the night human world, and even with only being a part of it for a year now, Arianna was also famous. Change was coming, and most of the night humans wanted it to happen.
Arianna anxiously waited for it all to begin. Her stage was set and she just had to perform without getting stage fright. Andrew took her hand, and did his best to soothe her nerves. Energy seeped out of her. He had faith in her ability; he just needed her to see it too. Rhys didn’t stand a chance if Arianna did what she needed to do.
‘Just ignore everyone,’ Andrew suggested.
‘All two thousand of them?’ Arianna asked, refusing to look beyond the competition floor.
‘How is that any different than baku or dearg-dul parties? There are always hundreds or thousands at those’ Andrew asked. Crowds didn’t bother him. While he didn’t like to be seen, he had gotten over large crowds when he was forced to attend functions as a young child. He came from a very prominent family, and there was no choice.
‘The dearg-dul and baku clans never expect much of me. It’s much easier to live up to expectations when they aren’t very high. These people expect the world.’ Arianna tightened her grip. It wasn’t just the stares and questions from the audience; it was the expectations that everyone had.
It was time to begin, and the large clock from inside the estate chimed. Even away from the house, Arianna could hear it. Serge Moro moved slowly to the center of the fighting ring, giving all the people around a chance to quiet down before he needed to talk. By the time he was in the center, not a single person spoke.
“Welcome everyone,” Serge began as he looked at all the faces in the crowd. “As all of you know, Miss Arianna Grace of the Randolph clan has called a tournament for her hand in marriage. All thirteen clans sent a representative, and the day humans also sent their own representative. Through two rounds of tournaments, we have narrowed down the competitors to the top six. In the preliminary hand-to-hand matches, Loan Durand stands with no wins and is in last place of the six competitors. Prior to the last match, Brenton Winter and Nik Katsulas were tied with two wins a piece at fourth place. Mr. Winter’s competitor was to be Mr. Durand and that would not increase either competitor to win the tournament, thus they won’t be fighting today. Rhys McKinny and the day human Devin Alexander are tied with three wins a piece for second place. First place is currently held by Miss Arianna.” Serge was prepared to continue talking, but the crowd’s murmurs far overpowered his own voice. Everyone around Arianna was talking. They had heard that Arianna had entered, but none believed that she had actually done it. Serge waited for everyone’s excitement to die down before speaking again.
“Miss Arianna called the tournament for the dearg-dul Randolph clan. She has been competing all along for the baku Grace clan. Since she’s the leader of both clans, she does not break any rules by doing so.” While the people continued to mutter amongst themselves, it was quiet enough for Serge to keep talking. “The first match today will be Mr. Alexander versus Mr. Katsulas.”
Devin rose and walked to his starting spot. Reaching in his back pocket, he took a blood strip and ate it while watching Nik enter the ring. Nik wasn’t his normal sulking self, instead he was watching Devin like a hawk. Nik was judging each movement. The crowd quieted as soon as Nik stood on his mark with Serge between the competitors. Nik could no longer win the competition, but he could stop Devin from winning.
“This is a ten minute match to submission. The first person to get the other to quit, willingly or unwillingly, wins. We ask for a clean fight. Any intentional death blows will result in disqualification for the competitor. The fight is ten minutes long. If both are standing at the end of ten minutes, the winner is based on most direct hits. Understand?” Serge looked to Devin first, who nodded back and then to Nik who nodded agreement. His rules were restated for the audience only. Each man already knew them. Serge moved back to the sidelines and sat down.
Devin waited, feeling the power of Lord Randolph run through him. Lord Randolph had become an evil man by the time he died, but he was always powerful. Devin was thankful that intentions didn’t cross the blood along with the power. Night human blood could be used by day humans for small periods of time, it would enhance him but would not transfer abilities permanently. Devin would see better and react quicker than he did in his normal day human form. After years of using the dearg-dul blood and training full time without it, Devin was prepared for this match. He needed to win here to tie with Arianna and Rhys if she lost. A three way tie would mean he could challenge Rhys first. By beating Rhys, he then would fight Arianna and give her the win. Devin waited for Nik to make the first move. That was the one thing Devin had an abundance of: patience.
Nik backed up as he changed into his night human form. He paced the edge of the fighting area while looking for Devin’s weakness. As he watched Devin, it came to Nik how to beat Devin. It was too late to do anything about the pack Devin carried around. Nik wanted to ask his brother why he hadn’t mentioned it, since Polo was the strategic planner of the duo, but Nik didn’t have time. He needed to start this match soon without getting caught by Devin.
Nik stalked closer, looking for an opening. His night human claws were already dripping poison; all he needed was one touch to an open wound and super-human Devin would be down. It would have worked with Arianna had she not been able to fight through the poison. Nik’s eyes flicked over to where she sat, concentrating on the match. That was enough for Devin to make a move as he flew in inhumanely fast and gave one direct hit to Nik’s midsection and sent him flying back across the ring. Devin was instantly on his marker across the arena, waiting for Nik to return to standing.
The audience cheered as Devin landed the first blow. The competition was officially on the way. Most had never seen a day human fight before and were instantly impressed. Devin had made a reputation for himself over the past five years, mostly for his service to the dearg-dul head, Lord Randolph, but beyond the baku and tengu who actually dealt with him, no one had seen the young man before today. His ability far outweighed any thoughts anyone had of him.
Devin ignored the crowd as Nik slowly stood. It had been a direct hit, and with the power of dearg-dul blood; it had to be painful. Devin was sure that he’d heard at least two ribs crack. Nik straightened slowly, relaxing the tension from the pain of the hit.
Nik began his attack. He moved to the side, trying to get in closer to score a scratch on Devin. Devin sidestepped every attempt. His longer arms and sharp claws were actually cumbersome compared to Devin’s exact, quick movements. Nik swung again, missing by a long shot. Nik backed up, away from Devin. His attempts were failing. Nik wasn’t used to failing at anything. He was the strength and future of the vrykolakas clan. Devin waited while Nik paced, trying to regain his composure. Nik slowly stalked back to Devin, calculating each movement. Devin waited. Nik’s claws swept dangerously close to Devin, but he didn’t move. He waited. Ducking instantly as Nik’s claws would have connected with flesh, Devin dropped down to Nik’s waist and pulled at his leg, causing him to fall to the ground. Devin was now at the advantage, but such close quarters could prove deadly if Nik touched him. Devin jumped up, keeping Nik pinned with a foot to his throat. Nik didn’t try to swipe at Devin
from this position, knowing that Devin had the upper-hand and could crush his throat as easily as Nik could poison him.
“Yield?” Serge asked from the side lines. The crowd’s cheers almost drowned out Serge’s call. Devin and Nik didn’t notice the crowd at all.
“No,” Nik replied, trying to grab Devin’s leg, but Devin had the advantage with his foot at Nik’s throat.
“Yield,” Devin pleaded with Nik. Nik refused. Devin’s foot crushed harder on Nik’s throat, cutting off his air supply. Nik smiled, holding his breath. He didn’t actually need to breathe when in his vrykolakas form.
‘Get Devin to move now,’ Polo warned Arianna.
‘Move,’ Arianna yelled mentally at Devin who instantly jumped back across the arena at her command, just in the nick of time, for Nik was continuing to transform. Nik’s ruddy complexion now was almost red in color as his power no longer flowed out around him but was kept bottled up inside.
‘He’ll be twice as fast and twice as deadly,’ Polo added for Arianna to relay to Devin.
Polo was correct, as Nik started to move in just a haze across the arena floor, whizzing around Devin. Devin ducked and moved as needed to avoid the poison-laced claws that kept flying at him from every direction. Devin was the picture of concentration and perfection. Arianna had to hold her breath and not give anything away when Devin’s shell cracked a little and he let his feeling of happiness come out. It had been a long time since Devin fought a foe that was on equal ground with him. Even when training with Turner, Devin was always better. Devin concentrated and fought equally with Nik, trading blows. Eventually he landed a hit, and Nik crumpled to the ground. Devin had been biding his time for that one exact moment.
The crowd erupted into cheers over Serge calling the match done. The day human was much better than any had anticipated. Devin ignored the noise. He was happier for the win than impressing the night human audience. He had done his part, and was now tied with Rhys for wins. If Rhys won his match against Arianna, there would have to be tie breaker matches to decide the winner. If Arianna won, she would outright win her own freedom. It all came down to the next match.