Chapter 17
CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
One minute, the god of the underworld was getting a little touchie-feelie, and the next Rolf was trying to strangle him.
Holy crap! The entire stadium went silent while Rolf darted in and out, attacking Hades. In his own colosseum. In the god’s own realm.
Talk about not smart on a scale of one to a bazillion.
Hades didn’t seem to take offense. At least, not until Rolf drew blood.
The crowd gasped.
Rolf’s eyes blazed red. “She’s mine,” he roared.
“Wait. She? You mean me?” Sylvara gaped as the vampire raged while Hades was forced to defend himself with a scepter that hurt just to be near. The thing sucked energy like crazy.
“You wish to go to your true-death so soon? So be it.” Hades pointed the staff at Rolf, who had paused for his next attack.
Before she could think about what she was doing, Sylvara rushed Rolf, caught him by the waist, and dragged him up and over the balcony railing. “Sorry, Hades,” she yelled over her shoulder as they plummeted to the ground, her wings refusing to work thanks to that stupid staff.
Rolf flipped them around in the air, so his back was to the ground while he muttered a spell, taking the brunt of the crash when they landed.
Sylvara felt the shock of impact and could only imagine what Rolf felt.
They lay there on the white sand of the arena, only her harsh breathing and his small moan breaking the silence.
Then the crowd gave a loud cheer and chanted Hades’s name.
When she could get her breath back, she angrily whispered, “What the hell were you thinking? You can’t try to kill Hades in the underworld!
” She rolled and poked him in the chest, watching as his hip repaired itself from the massive dent where her knee had slammed.
“And I’m not anyone’s possession, dumbass. ”
She rolled to her feet and gingerly stood while he did the same.
“You’re mine,” he snarled, his fangs out, his eyes still a deep, bloode-red.
This didn’t feel right. Rolf wasn’t teasing or acting normally. Well, normally for him.
Before she could question him, two vampires dropped near them. Each larger than a normal vamp, at least two heads taller than Rolf and beefed up like roiding berserkers.
“Behold,” Hades boomed, smirking at Rolf and Sylvara. “Our first competition will be between Rolf the Accursed, the valkyrie Sylvara Valfreyja, and the Butchers of Ephesus! Our favorite strigoi decimators, Caliban and Caturix, have come to play.”
She stared in awe at the legendary Caliban and Caturix, rare twin strigoi vampires powerful enough to one day attain the title of master. They were ancient, known to crush anyone who got in their way, and barely operated as civilized. They loved nothing better than causing pain and torture.
And she had to fight with Rolf against them and not get any farther from her partner than forty-five feet?
She turned and punched him in the face, much to the amusement of the audience.
“This is all your fault. You just had to act all—”
He yanked her out of the way of a massive fist aimed at her head. The force of that strike would have caved in her skull.
“Don’t ever say I don’t know how to show you a good time.” Thankfully, he seemed to once again be operating like his usual jackass self.
“To the death, if you like,” Hades called out. “Maybe learn some manners, draugr.” Then she heard him say, “Yes, Loki. You know you only have yourself to blame.”
“I know. But look at how much fun we’re now having,” Loki responded, laughing.
And that was another problem she needed to deal with. How long would Loki keep her under his thumb to pay off Aunt Skuld’s debt? She needed to talk to her aunt again, because she was tired of dealing with the slippery deity.
“We need a strategy,” she said as she and Rolf dodged another strike. To be fair, she didn’t think the Butchers of Ephesus were trying that hard. They were pumping up the crowd.
Rolf nodded. “You bait them, and I’ll go in for the kill.”
“You seem to be managing your hatred of other vampires pretty well. In fact, you’re all containing your rage, which is surprising.”
“Which only proves how powerful these dickhead strigoi are. I know why I’m in control. I’m vastly superior to other vampires.”
Caliban heard and sneered. “You’re a fucking draugr—which means ‘loser’ in Norse.”
She chuckled, saw Rolf’s look of hurt, and sighed. “Oh, come on. That was funny.”
“And true,” Caturix said.
“Seriously?” Rolf crossed his arms over his chest, ignoring his previous plan about going in for the kill. But Sylvara would use it. While he distracted them, she moved aside, poised to dart in with her ax at the right moment.
“Come, Rolf. The world hates you. And you have the nerve to attack Hades in his own domain. Not too bright, are you?” Caturix shook his head. He spoke eloquently for a monstrous looking bruiser. Big hands, large frame, muscular, with eyes cold and flat, devoid of empathy.
“Smarter than you.”
“How is that, exactly?” Caturix and his twin stood shoulder to shoulder, massive creatures of destruction that made Rolf look small by comparison. Their long, dark hair, large hands ending in sharp talons, and arrogant smirks had fans in the stands screaming.
Too many warped people thinking fangers made sexy idols.
Though she couldn’t help noticing that Rolf was better looking than anyone she’d seen today. Hades included.
Sylvara wanted to smack herself for getting lost in the blond idiot’s dark eyes and sexy—annoying—smirk. “Rolf,” she warned in a low growl.
“Syl, please. I’m trying to educate the brainless twins, here. You see, the strigoi are weak. Everyone knows it.” Caturix and Caliban lost their smiles. “My patriarch killed theirs not long ago. And Varu’s so much younger than Master Atanase was. Talk about a tribe of pathetic losers.”
“Watch your tone, boy,” Caliban snarled.
“Or what? You’ll talk me to death?” Rolf narrowly avoided a swipe at his throat from Caturix while Caliban trembled in rage.
She could see the twins working to hold themselves back, and then she understood. Rolf was pushing the vampires to lose themselves to their anger. Not a bad strategy, but when the Butchers of Ephesus let go, they decimated whole towns.
Too bad Rolf hadn’t stuck to the original plan.
He didn’t look her way, flinging more insults while shifting with minute movements to avoid decapitation, losing limbs, and at one point, steering clear of a disemboweling.
Then the strigoi got serious and reached across their backs for their swords, thick bladed weapons with a reputation for killing their own kind.
The crowd went wild, which added energy to the twins, who didn’t need it.
Today, female, flew to her on the wind. A quiet message from Rolf while he moved at impossible speeds to evade myriad attacks that grew stronger, the strigoi no longer holding back as much.
She wound up her ax, building up steam, and called on the strength of her elemental power. Lightning that would shock the shit out of the vampires, at least enough to give Rolf some space.
Rolf feigned an attack at Caliban and instead threw Caturix into his brother before shooting back toward her.
She screamed as loud as she could while directing her lightning rage at the vampires.
The attack hit hard.
They shrieked in pain as lightning cursed their bodies into temporary immobility, bloode pouring from their ears and eyes.
Rolf flew back toward the vampires and started slicing and dicing. She joined him, swinging her ax. Before she knew it, they’d carved up the enemy into a bloodied mess.
The crowd didn’t respond. Hades was laughing and doubled down on a bet with Loki and Apollo.
But why…?
“Shit.” Rolf grabbed her and jumped into the air with her.
Her wings appeared, thank the Fates, and she kept them alight as they watched the twins explode, spattering bloode everywhere.
“But we won.”
“No. That was just the warmup,” Rolf growled and wiped bits of bloode from her face and his before hugging her waist to allow her hands to be free. “They’re reforming.”
“How is that even possible?” She stared in shock as the vampires shimmered into being, forming from bones and magic then sucking back in all the bloode they’d expended.
The large cheering section in the front near the Roman contingent went wild. A few of the dead threw panties.
“Seriously?” She fumed.
“I was impressed by the scream though,” Rolf said, hugging her tighter. Cuddling?
“We should set down.” She needed to figure out how to defeat the undefeatable. Yet instead of alarm, she felt a surge of anticipation and joy at the battle to come.
She grinned at Rolf.
After a pause, he grinned back.
They turned as one and dove back into the fight, taking as much damage as they gave despite the twins still forming.
But what a rush.
Syl laughed and stared a hole through Caliban’s torso, her lighting creeping up the stands and frying the already dead audience, who laughed and cheered her on. The lightning continued up toward Hades.
The god of death watched with amusement, but she was smart enough not to strike him…though she kind of wanted to.
She and Rolf were holding their own. The crowd took notice, now chanting their names as much as they cheered for the strigoi.
Then the unthinkable happened. Caturix disappeared and reappeared right in front of her.
He dodged her ax, grabbed hold of her arm, and flung her to the far end of the arena.
Too far away from Rolf.
She melted in a scream as torturous pleasure consumed her.