Page 155 of Cursed Lifeline

Playing his part well, Viktor keeps up the persona that he’s still a threat to Esme and says, “No. No weapons. I want to watch as he tears apart the woman he’s cursed to love with his bare hands.”

The crowd laughs and Esme’s eyes fall to the floor.

“Hey,” I whisper, her hesitant gaze lifts momentarily and locks on mine. “I chose you, remember?”

For all she knows, Viktor could still be a threat to us.

“This wasn’t what I had in mind,” she laughs nervously, “But, it’s like you said,believe none of us,right? Because of that, I trust you, Felix.”

My heart fills with hope.

“This time we win,” I tell her confidently.

“But not without a fight,” she challenges as a look of mischief fills her eyes.

A loud bell sounds in the distance, signaling the beginning of the end.

“All is fair in love and war,” I grin. “If you can’t fight for love, what can you fight for?”

Esme laughs. “Finally, our story makes sense after almost three hundred years.”

Beginning to circle each other, Esme looks at Viktor and yells, “You won’t even give me a stake? A slayer isn’t much of a threat without her weapon.”

When her question is met with no response, she glances back at me and her eyes grow wild with excitement as we begin a slow waltz around what could very well be our final resting place.

Because that’s what this is right? An underground vault, a tomb, a catacomb where our love has come to die or finally be given eternal life.

“If you make it more than one round, slayer, I’ll grant you a weapon,” Viktor laughs as Esme takes off her leather coat and stands before me in a black tank top and jeans that match the ebony locks pulled up into a bun on top of her head.

“Fair enough,” she cracks her neck from side to side and I grin, watching her transform into a weapon it has taken almost three centuries to perfect.

“Do you really think you can fight me off, Esme,” I growl, finally caving and giving over to the inevitable, and growing thirsty for a taste.

My mouth salivates at the thought of that destined first bite. The boos and yells of the patrons add to the tension in the secret underground club as we wait each other out and try to calculate who will make the first move.

“You’d never hurt me. I’m safe with you, remember?” she taunts.

“What if trying to keep you safe is what I’ve been doing wrong all along?”

In a flash, the crowd parts and I have her pinned against the nearest concrete wall. The screams of the people ring through my ears as I hold her hostage by her throat, and she wildly tries to pry at my hands to let her go free.

“What if hurting you was all I was ever good for?” I growl in her ear. Her hands start to tremble. She stops fighting me momentarily.

Glancing into my eyes, I allow her a small breath of air, and she says, “Together, we held the power to change everything all along. For over a century, I’ve been willing. The time has come to find out, are you?”

Am I?

I was sure before we stepped into the ring.

Now, holding her life in my hands, I am not confident I can follow through with the plan.

Leaning forward, she grants me a small kiss that I peacefully sink into before she pushes back against me with such force I fly halfway to the center of the room. Stunned, I glance back her way and watch as she cartwheels and then somersaults into a flip to meet me in the middle of the ring before I can even reach my feet. As I rise to my knees, she barrels into my gut and sends me flying, smashing into the wall on the opposite side of the arena.

Patrons yell from all sides …

“What’s he doing?”

“This fight is rigged!”

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