Chapter 13 #2
My attention flickered to the spot in the stands where I had seen him sitting a moment ago, which was now empty. Fuck. This guy really did move like a ghost.
His fans went ballistic, banging and thumping.
The metal under my feet vibrated so violently it rumbled up my spine, wobbling my legs.
None of it seemed to faze him. Not taking any notice of the crowd, he rolled his neck and shoulders, stretching as if he had recently woken up from a nap.
The giant towered over Warwick, but strangely, it didn’t minimize him at all.
Where the giant took up the immediate space around him, Warwick Farkas took up the room, his presence shoving against my skin and down my throat.
Not an ounce of emotion fluttered over Warwick’s face as he prepared to fight this creature.
A buzzer sounded through the room, the chants quieted down, and people watched the two men circle each other. The giant swung first, his movements quicker than I figured. Warwick didn’t even try to make a move. Goliaths usually moved slower, making it possible for the Davids to win.
Not this one. The giant was swift and not at all clumsy with his actions, his large fist grazing Warwick’s head as Warwick dropped to the ground, rolling away and jumping to his feet so smoothly it looked choreographed.
Warwick’s actions were efficient and controlled.
Standing right in front of the beast, he somehow slipped in closer, jabbing the brute in the gut.
The giant looked confused, waving his arms around as if he was batting at a fly, allowing Warwick to slip around and kick him in the back of the knees.
The giant dropped to the ground, and the crowd sang with brutal enthusiasm.
The giant roared, his expression pinching with fury. He clamored to his feet, whirling back to Warwick. In a blink, the Wolf was already behind him again, fisting him in the back of his spine.
Crack!
His hand ricocheted off bone, and the giant bellowed again. He tumbled to the ground, his back curved in pain.
“Warwick, we love you,” a woman screamed. For a second, his eyes darted to the stands, stopping on me. Or that’s what it seemed like. I knew there was no way, but the fire in his aqua eyes tore through all the voices, people, and commotion to find mine.
My gaze dropped to see the giant reach for the stick Rodriguez had left on the ground, still coated in blood and matter, directing it toward his enemy.
Behind you! For a second, it felt as if I was down in the pit with him, yelling in his ear, but just as quickly it was gone.
Warwick swung around as though he heard something, but not fast enough. The spear drove deep into his hip.
Warwick’s form jerked, but he made no noise, his muscles locking down as he tore the harpoon out of his flesh and tossed it to the side as the giant got back up. The giant was in pain, saliva dripping down his chin as he growled at Warwick.
The Wolf lowered his head in fury, rolling back his shoulders, done playing.
The giant leaped for him. Warwick dropped, cracking his arm against his knees, bending them the wrong way. With a cry, the beast toppled over, panic and pain on his face as he crashed onto the ground with force. Dirt sprayed up, clotting the air and spewing debris as if a bomb had gone off.
Warwick leaped onto the man’s back, wrapping his arms and legs around his thick neck.
Shouts and cheers of excitement thundered through the stands.
“Blooding! Blooding!”
The giant rolled, thrashing against Warwick’s hold, whipping them back and forth vehemently, smacking the Wolf against the dirt and slicing gashes into his face.
Blood trickled down Warwick’s temple, but like a boa constrictor, the legend coiled up tighter, his jaw locking as he tried to hold the massive man in place.
“War-wick!” People throughout the arena shouted for him.
The giant’s bulk twitched and flopped as Warwick tightened his hold even more, crushing his windpipe, snapping his neck. The monster’s body went instantly limp, sagging into Warwick. He held on a few more beats before Warwick released his arm, shimmying out from under the giant’s weight.
The crowd went insane: jumping, screaming, chanting, and clapping.
He stood up, wiping the blood off his face with his arm.
He glanced up, and once again, I swore his gaze met mine through the throng of people, way up where I was seated.
Unsettling aqua eyes burned up into the stands.
It felt like they had the power to part the crowd and land exactly on me, ripping the oxygen from my lungs.
Then he jerked his head away, spun around, and strolled out of the pit in the same lazy, cocky manner he’d walked in. While Rodriguez fed off the crowd, Warwick seemed ambivalent to them. And they loved him more for it.
Four guards came in to drag the dead giant away, struggling to move him. It was then I realized Warwick didn’t use a weapon, choosing to kill the monster with his bare hands. The bloody broken spear still lay right where he chucked it.
He never needed it.
“Wow,” I muttered to myself in utter awe of this man.
“Told you.” Tad slowly turned to me, grunting. His back curved farther over, his hand on his hip, a puff of pain coming from him. “You had to see this for yourself.”
“Yeah.” I inhaled. No one could have described this scene to me in a way that would have prepared me, with its deafening noises, assaulting smells, and violent energy. It was an onslaught of extreme emotions, thrilling and exhausting, which left a trail of acid burning in my stomach and throat.
A bell rang through the arena, sounding dim compared to the chants around me for the last hour.
“Curfew.” Tad tilted his head at the sound of the bell. “Better get to your cell. You don’t need any more lashings.” He pointed to my face and exposed bruises, the evidence of my beating.
With Kek in the lead, the three of us made our way out of the pit and into the hallway.
“See you tomorrow, little lamb.” Kek winked at me before slipping into a crowd heading down a corridor.
“I also bid you good night.” Tad hobbled off in another direction, swept up in the throng of people.
The masses moved me along, bouncing and smashing into me like bumper cars as we all tried to file into the dim tunnel toward our cell level. The crowd thinned as more exited toward their block.
For that hour, I had forgotten about my aching body and torn flesh. Now exhaustion swallowed me, my eyes aching with the need to sleep, my shoulders heavy from the long, brutal day.
It was a moment—a stupid lapse in judgment. I had briefly let myself relax. Let my guard down.
It would be the last time.
Because when you lowered your defenses, that was when the monsters attacked.