Page 35 of Reaper
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Iwasn’t the most popular dude in the Thunderdome the next couple of days, as each of my Tier Four cohorts thought they should have an uncontested path to fighting Eleanor in Saturday’s Main Event.I didn’t bother telling them that I was saving their asses.I studied Eleanor with my Sight, and she was one badass vampire, and then some.
See, Eleanor wasn’t just a vampire, she was also a mage.In talking with Luke, I learned that if someone who had aptitude for magic was turned, they didn’t lose their ability to sling spells.No, they kept their magic, and added speed, agility, stamina, and an almost unmatched healing ability to it.And some peculiar dietary restrictions, but it wasn’t that much of a drawback, unless you were addicted to sunbathing.Or a vegan.And from what I could tell, Eleanor had been around longer than the concept of vegans had existed.
I asked him once if that was my deal, if I could use magic and some of the vampire traits that I had, but the explanation was so convoluted with its combination of magic, demonic possession, and science that my eyes glazed over before he finally landed on “I don’t know” as an answer.What I did know was that Eleanor and I weren’t the same, but I probably had the greatest chance of surviving against her out of any of the top-tier fighters.
So I ate my meals alone for the next couple days, worked out alone, and hung out in my room alone.Just me and the voice in my head.At least the voice in my head really belonged to someone else and wasn’t a hallucination.
If I was, I’d be the hottest hallucination you’ve ever had, Becks said into my skull.
I grinned.You’re damned right.
Can you win this fight, Harker?There’s three of them, and only one of you.
Yeah, but it’s every man for himself, so it’s not like they’re going to gang up on me or anything.
Are you high?Of course they’re going to gang up on you.From what I can eavesdrop, they’repissedat you.Except for your buddy Tony, who’s all bound up in his honor and knighthood stuff.Those other two would like to rip your head off and shit down your neck.
That seems to be a popular metaphor around this place,I replied.
What I’m saying, Harker, is don’t fuck around with these guys.They’re at least in the same ballpark of badassdom as you, or they wouldn’t be in the top ranks with you.And Janik and Rat-Faced Steve are going to get in there, make some kind of bullshit temporary alliance, kick the ever-loving shit out of you, and then fight each other to see who gets to die to the vampire chick on Saturday.
You talk like you’ve seen this kind of fight before,I said, chuckling to myself.
I grew up watching theRoyal Rumble.I know the script.So don’t screw around, keep your head on a swivel, and be ready to bust out moves you haven’t let them see before.Because if you don’t, you’re gonna get hurt.Bad.Or worse.
We’re not supposed to fight to the death tonight,I said.
Yeah, and nobody’severaccidentally died in a cage fight.It’s amazing how sarcastic someone can sound when you’re communicating mind-to-mind.
I’ll be careful.
You better.Because if you get yourself killed, I’ll kick your ass.
Love you, too.I tamped down our connection because I could hear Pete’s footsteps in the hall outside.
He pulled my door open and stuck his head in.“You ready, Murray?”
I got off my bed and rolled my head from side to side, loosening up my muscles a little.“Yeah, let’s do this thing.”
* * *
The four of us stared across the sand at one another, nobody wanting to be the first one to commit to an attack.We all knew that we had less than two minutes before some monster was going to be set loose on us through small doors set into the arena walls, but we also knew that whoever charged first gave away their strategy, and thus a little bit of an edge.As long as no one knew where you were planning to strike, they had to defend against every angle.So nobody moved.And nobody moved.And then nobody moved a little more.
Finally, I just said, “Fuck this noise,” and called across the sand, “Tony, let’s dance!”Then I sprang halfway across the arena floor in one massive leap, landing in a perfect superhero pose half a second before Anthony dropped out of the sky in front of me.I lashed out with one leg, trying to sweep his feet out from under him, but he vaulted forward over me into a crisp handspring, then spun on his hands like a breakdancer, throwing kicks at my face.
I dropped flat onto my back, then rolled back onto my shoulders into a nip-up, but Tony got there first.I stuck the landing, but as my body snapped forward, I slammed into a waiting fist and my feet went out from under me.I flopped onto my back without even an iota of control, but had the foresight to call up a shield and spin that over myself to deflect the elbow that came crashing down onto my magically defended sternum.I focused my will and pushed the shield outward from my body, flinging Anthony into the air, and scrambled to my feet.
Janik was there, moving faster than anyone with that many muscles had a right to, and I barely ducked a fist the size of a Christmas ham as he swung a punch at my face.I grabbed his wrist and used his momentum against him, flipping him onto his back and giving him a stomp to the gut that took his breath and left him writhing on the sand for a few seconds.
I looked around for Tony, but saw him tangling with Steve, who’d traded in his dining hall cutlery for a pair of fighting knives that he whipped around with blinding speed.Anthony dodged every strike, but Steve seemed to get faster as they danced.Left momentarily without a dance partner, I glanced over at the doors where I expected the monsters to come through, only to see it sliding closed behind the biggest goddamned rattlesnake I’d ever seen.
Now I’ve traveled a lot of the world, and I’ve been to some deep jungles, some remote mountains, and some places that the maps don’t even show as places.For most of my life, I thought I knew every monster in the world, and until a few years ago when I found out that dragons are real, I’d seen nothing to disabuse me of that notion.But nowhere in my experience did twenty-foot rattlesnakes exist in the same world as me, and I was pretty goddamned happy about that.
And yet, here one was, slithering across the sand with its rattle sounding like a goddamned percussion section, heading straight for Tony’s unprotected back.Anthony was still tangled up with Steve the Knife Festishist and wasn’t going to have time to turn and deal with the snake before it sung foot-long fangs into his ass.And while I wanted to beat all three of these guys, I didn’t necessarily want to kill any of them, and Tony less than most.
So I fireballed the snake.I’m not proud of my moment of bullshit heroism, going against my plan of “every asshole for himself,” but I did it.I called up power, swirled it into a glowing orb of purple flame, and sent it streaking across the arena to hit the snake right between its beady little snake eyes.
