Healed by Fire (21 page)

“What are you doing here?” asked Bret with
more growl to his voice than human words.

“Saving you,” Ares said. “Now shut up and go
stand by the Sidhe Queen.”

Bret looked like he wanted to object, but he
limped his way to Hera and stood beside her. “I hope you know what
you’re doing,” he whispered.

I walked to stand beside Ares and smiled at
the elves. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen elves bleed. I should
like to draw this fight out a bit.”

Ares laughed, sounding incredibly creepy in
his half shift. “The crowd craves blood, let’s give them a
show!”

The elves charged forward, their eyes
burning with blood lust. I dodged the spear one threw at me and
kicked him in the chest, making him fly backwards to land on his
back. An elf charged at Ares, but Ares snapped the spear in half
and then impaled the elf with the end he’d broken off.

The crowd was cheering madly, standing up
and raising their fists in the air. Koda walked backwards and sat
beside Bret, apparently deciding that we didn’t need help in this
fight.

The elf I’d kicked jumped up and flung dirt
at my face. I covered my face, but he punched me in the ribs,
knocking my breath from me. “Dirty little elf!” I yelled as I
backhanded him across the face and then kicked his legs out from
under him. I dropped down onto his body and began punching his face
as hard and as fast as I could. Blood sprayed and it took me a
minute to realize that he was dead. I stood up and walked to stand
beside Ares. I had a moment to feel excited that I was standing
beside my brother again in battle, before refocusing on the
situation.

Two of the elves charged at us, so we
grabbed them both in headlocks and snapped their heads off
simultaneously. That maneuver pleased the crowd who were all on
their feet, screaming themselves hoarse.

Ares and I looked at the final elf who now
seemed scared. “How should we kill this one?” Ares asked as he
began pacing in a wide circle around the elf. “The crowd wants a
messy death. They want someone ripped in two.”

“Or perhaps sliced up into multiple pieces,”
I suggested, “we did end this fight too quickly.”

Ares ripped the spear from the body of the
elf he’d killed. “That is a good suggestion, but I think beheading
him might be the most pleasing to the crowd. Plus, I grow bored
with these Games.”

Ares spun around and sliced the elf’s head
clean off. The elf’s body fell to the ground twitching and Ares
stabbed the spear into the bottom of the head, holding it up above
him and then flung it into the crowd.

Maurice raised his hand and four men blew on
their trumpets. A gate to the left of us opened and the crowd grew
silent in anticipation.

“What do you suppose he’s kept hidden from
us?” I asked as I stood beside Ares, watching the gate.

“It would have to be something extremely
powerful to take out both of us,” Ares said with a somewhat
demented smile on his half wolf-half man face. “I hope its
ogres.”

The trumpets blew again and a spear flew
from the darkness of the gate. Ares and I dodged separate ways,
avoiding the spear by mere inches. The spear imbedded into the
stone wall behind us. I turned and inspected the spear, knowing
Ares would warn me of any attacks. “It’s imbedded over two feet.
Something strong is waiting for us.”

Ares scoffed. “I could have imbedded it five
feet at least, with your body hanging from it.”

I walked to stand beside him and stared into
the open gate. “You think it’s a machine? A preternatural should
have come out by now instead of cowering in there like a scared
whelp.”

A roar quite similar to Ares’ sounded and
then a werewolf in half shift walked out of the shadows.

Ares growled. “Darius. I should have known
since he was always awful at all of the sporting contests we held
in Lyngvi every century.”

“Why would your King fight in the Games
against you?” I asked in shock. Such a thing would never happen
among the Sidhe.

“He thinks he can best me and wants it to be
public. He will soon learn the error of his ways.”

“Why would Darren and Darius betray their
own race?” I asked curiously.

Ares smiled. “Because they think Maurice is
stronger than he really is. They don’t realize how strong Victor is
since he’s been hiding it and only lets me see his true power. In
order to keep from being overtaken, the two cowardly wolves bowed
to the Vampire King to save their own hides. That’s why Darren
betrayed his own daughter and the wolves. They’re scum and I plan
to kill Darius now so the pack is clean of his cowardice.”

Darius stopped once he’d reached the center
of the ring and then tilted his head back and howled. Six wolves
ran out of the gate to stand behind him, all snarling and frothing
at the mouth.

“He brought some pups with him,” Ares said
with a smile on his face. “It has been a long time since I’ve
fought my own kind.”

“Ares,” I whispered, moving closer to him,
“Won’t you be unable to move against him if he commands you since
he’s your alpha?”

Ares laughed. “That fool has never been my
alpha. He knows that I am the true alpha of the werewolves and
that’s why he can’t even fight me on his own. I should have killed
that bitch years ago, but my mother had seemed happy with him.” He
frowned a moment and then said, “I hope she likes being a
widow.”

Maurice raised his arms and the chattering
of the crowd stopped. “Today we have a rare feast for you. Today
the Alpha of the Werewolves fights the Beta of the Werewolves in a
fight to the death!”

“I’ve grown tired of your annoying
presence,” Darius said to Ares. “I only wish your halfbreed bitch
was here so I could kill her too.”

Ares growled loudly. “You’ve done nothing,
but sully the name of Werewolves. I intend to fix that presently.
Once I’ve killed you and ripped your heart from your body, I will
take my true position as Alpha and see that we are restored to our
original place of honor. No longer shall we be second to the
vampires, but soon we will be their equals as we should be!”

Ares sprinted forward, slashing and punching
at Darius so fast that it was hard for even
my
eyes to
track. The other wolves started to move towards Ares, but I ran
forward, cutting them off, forming a wall of fire between me and
them. Koda ran from his spot beside my mother to jump on the back
of the nearest wolf. He bit into the scruff of the wolf and shook
his head fast. The wolf struggled against Koda, but with one more
quick shake he snapped the wolf’s neck and released his hold to let
the dead body fall to the ground. The other wolves turned and
growled at Koda. He shifted to his man form and said, “Submit or
die!”

The wolves’ knees trembled as they fought
against his command. Being third in the werewolf hierarchy made
Koda’s commands very difficult to ignore. I released my wall of
fire and turned to see how Ares was faring.

Ares’ left arm was bleeding from three cuts
he must have received from Darius’ claws. Darius was the worse for
wear as he had cuts littering his body and a pool of blood forming
at his feet in the sand. Both were fighting fiercely however, so
Darius wasn’t hurt enough to be slowed down.

I saw movement out of the corner of my eye
and turned just as one of the wolves jumped at me. He knocked me to
the ground, snapping his jaw at my throat. I shoved him off of me
and stood up. “Thanks for the warning, Koda,” I said as I looked
for him.

“Sorry, I sort of have my hands full and
didn’t see that one slip away,” he said where he was sitting on top
of a pile of five men all whining and whimpering.

I turned and grabbed the wolf by its throat
as it charged at me again and held it up. “Charging madly will not
win the fight. You must learn to be stealthy and silent.”

I tossed him towards Koda who grabbed him
and forced him to change back to man. “Lie down and be still like
the rest of your brothers,” commanded Koda.

I stared in shock as the five men lay down
and remained still. Perhaps Ares was not the only one capable of
being Alpha. With the wolves taken care of that only left Ares and
Darius left to battle it out. I walked to Hera and sat down on the
ground beside her. “How has the fight gone?”

“Darius has opened a few cuts and landed a
few hits, whereas Ares has opened at least a hundred cuts and has
landed as many hits. Unfortunately Darius does not seem to be
slowing or weakening.” She closed her eyes a moment and then opened
them to stare intently at Darius. “I wonder if there is some type
of spell keeping him from feeling pain or from weakening. He should
be slowing by now.”

“I don’t see anything,” I said as I watched
Darius and Ares exchanging blows.

She frowned. “It could be a talisman or a
stone enchanted with the spell.”

I watched as Ares and Darius fought and
sighed. “I can’t tell from so far away. Ares! He’s got a talisman
or stone that’s keeping him from weakening! You have to get it away
from him before you can defeat him, short of ripping his head
off!”

Ares growled and slashed at Darius’ throat,
but Darius stepped back in the nick of time, missing Ares’ claws.
“Can’t even fight me fairly, can you Darius?!” Ares yelled as he
attacked him. Darius swung at Ares and Ares dropped to the ground,
picking up a spear shaft in his hand. He swung the shaft into
Darius’ upper right leg and then into his left. Darius growled and
tried to grab the shaft, but Ares swung it up, connecting with
Darius’ jaw and making him fly up into the air, completely off his
feet. Darius landed on his back on the ground and started to get
up, but Ares straddled his chest, pinning his arms with his legs
and shoving the shaft against his throat. Ares ripped a necklace
off of Darius’ neck and tossed it towards me. “Is that it?” he
asked as he punched Darius’ face again and again. Blood sprayed
from Darius’ nose as Ares broke it, but Darius just continued to
struggle against Ares.

Hera took the necklace and shook her head.
“Nope.”

Ares spun around Darius’ in a wrestling move
I’d often seen humans in the mixed martial arts competitions use
and grabbed Darius’ leg in a leg lock. He reached up with one hand
while Darius struggled to free his leg and stuck it inside Darius’
pocket. Darius yelled and tried to grab Ares’ hand, but Ares held
him down with his leg across his chest and tossed the stone to us
before he could reach him.

Hera caught the stone and gasped. “Yes, this
is it. You can kill him now.”

Ares stood up off Darius who was now lying
on the ground gasping in pain and moaning. “You thought you could
defeat me with a cheap stone?! A stupid spell?! I could have just
ripped your head off when I had you pinned on the ground, but
that’s too swift a death for you.”

Darius shifted to his man form and
whispered, “You’re not wolf enough to be Alpha. They will not bow
to you.”

Ares laughed. “You can’t even hold your form
and you say I’m not wolf enough? I’m more wolf than you could ever
hope to be!”

Ares kicked him in the ribs. “That is for
frightening my mate.” He grabbed Darius’ arm and bent it backwards,
breaking the bone. “That is for ordering me around the world on
stupid missions simply because you couldn’t stand seeing all of the
females crawling all over me.” He grabbed a spear and snapped off
the tip. He sat down and with skill that suggested he’d done this
many times before, cut open Darius’ chest and tore his heart from
it. “And that’s for giving Matt’s female to the vampires to assist
in his treachery and death!”

The crowd exploded in cheers and began
chanting, “Ares!” over and over again.

Ares threw the heart up into the pulpit at
Maurice’s feet. “A gift from the new Alpha of the Werewolves to the
King of the Vampires. Don’t say I never gave you anything.”

Maurice glared at us from his seat. “You’ve
won this time,” he said angrily.

Ares smiled and touched his pointer finger
to his forehead in a mock salute. “We’ll see you soon,
Maurice.”

We walked back to my mother and she grabbed
onto us, teleporting us back to the training ground. I looked down
and sighed. “I’m covered in blood and dirt.”

Ares shrugged, motioning to his own dirt and
blood covered body. “I’m worse.” He shifted back to full man and
looked around expectantly. “Where would they have taken her?”

Bret dropped to his knees on the ground and
grunted in pain. “Thank you.”

Ares pushed him on to his back and started
examining his wounds. “You’re welcome, but I didn’t do it for you.
I did it for Artemis. She would have been very upset if you were
dead.”

“Artemis? She’s here?” Bret asked excitedly,
trying to stand up.

Ares pushed him back down. “Stay still. Yes,
she’s here, but she’s sleeping. You need to lie still for about an
hour for your wounds to heal properly.”

“I need to get back. I need to find my
people,” Bret said as he tried to sit up again.

“Lie still!” Ares commanded. Bret stilled,
unable to ignore Ares’ command. “What people? Tell us how you got
into the Games in the first place.”

“I found the villagers from the town Artemis
and I grew up in. They all had your brand, but they were living in
the middle of nowhere on the run from vampires who had apparently
tried to kill them. I’ve been protecting the descendents for the
past one hundred years.”

Ares groaned. “Artemis is going to want to
run out and find them when she hears of this.”

“Do we have to tell her?” I asked.

Ares smiled. “As much as I would like to
keep it from her, we should tell her. Besides, Bret won’t lie to
her about it. Bret, we will wait until after tomorrow’s battle to
tell her though. I do not want to have her focus waver during the
battle. Do you understand?”