A Rematch #2
Blood runs freely down my chin.
My ribs ache.
My shoulder is half numb, but I meet him head-on.
The collision between us is like an explosion. The impact creates a shockwave powerful enough to flatten everything around us.
The mountain trembles.
The dome pulses.
The storm screams overhead.
And despite the destruction stretching across the battlefield, despite the blood covering both of us, despite the terrifying power pouring from Vincenzo, a cold smirk crosses my face as I notice something that wasn’t there before.
His breathing is heavier, and he’s bleeding.
“Fight all you want, Deimos King, but she will be mine. The power within that dome will be mine.”
Rage flashes through me, and I glare at him with pure hatred.
“You won’t fucking touch her.”
How does he know about my connection to the dome? Sienna asks through the mind-link, and it’s a valid question, but I have no answer for it.
The lightning around me intensifies, crackling across my armour as Zeus’ power surges harder through my veins. Above us, the storm responds instantly, thunder rolling across the mountains whilst brilliant forks of lightning illuminate the battlefield.
I launch myself forward, the ground exploding beneath my feet, reaching him before the snow he’s standing on has even settled.
My fist crashes into his ribs, and I feel the impact travel through him before I twist, driving my knee into his stomach and following immediately with an elbow aimed at his jaw.
He blocks, but I’m fast. After all, the Deimos bloodline is known for its strength and speed.
But I know the only reason I’m holding as well as I am is because the dome is affecting his powers.
I noticed it a while back; it affected mine somewhat, too.
Until Sienna marked me, now it feels better, and my control is sharper.
Looking across at Vincenzo as we fight, I can tell he’s slower than before, and I take advantage of that before he recovers. I send a wave of moonfire towards him, and it slams him back.
I raise my hand. And the sky answers.
Thunder explodes so loudly that the mountains in the distance seem to shake beneath us. The clouds split apart, and lightning tears downward in a blinding pillar of white and blue. Not towards him, but towards me.
The power crashes into my body.
Pain rips through every nerve.
My muscles scream.
My vision flashes white, but I hold on to every fucking ounce of it.
The power keeps flooding through my veins until I feel as though I might split apart from the force of it. Across from me, Vincenzo has gone completely still.
Jayce, I can help-
I’m fine. I cut her off; she needs her energy for the dome. I’m not risking her.
For the first time since this battle began, he’s looking at me as if I’m now a threat.
The lightning dances wildly around my body now, wrapping around my gauntlets and armour in thick arcs that illuminate the entire mountainside. The snow around me evaporates from the sheer heat, whilst cracks spread beneath my feet.
Then I break into a run, and the world becomes a blur. The distance between us vanishes.
I see the exact moment he realises how fast I’m moving.
His eyes wide, shock flashing through them.
Then my fist connects, and thunder explodes across the battlefield.
The force sends both of us skidding through the snow, but I don’t stop. I keep driving forward, strike after strike hammering into his defences as lightning erupts around us. He spins around and delivers two punches that slam me deep into the ground, pain snapping through my neck.
I’m up instantly, the ground trembling beneath us as we carve a path of destruction through snow and stone. Then I see it, a small opening.
I twist beneath his next attack, feeling darkness skim across my shoulder as I drive forward. My hand closes around his wrist whilst my other arm crackles with enough lightning to blind me. Raising my gauntleted fist, I punch.
Jayce, careful! Sienna calls through the bond just as we collide.
The impact is unlike anything I’ve ever felt.
The world disappears in white light; the force tears through everything around us.
For a moment, I can’t see or hear anything beyond the light, then the light begins to fade.
I stumble backwards, breathing heavily as the blizzard begins landing on us.
Now. If we attack him from the front and back, I say to Sienna through the mind-link. Together we’ll destroy him and end this.
On it.
Across from me, Vincenzo remains standing, although for the first time since this fight began, he doesn’t look untouchable. Blood runs between his fingers as he keeps one hand pressed against his face, his chest rising and falling heavier than before.
Let him bleed and fucking feel what it’s like to be on the receiving end.
On my signal, I say through the mind-link.
Perfect, Sienna responds.
I straighten slowly, readying to launch myself at him again, ready to finally end this before he can say another fucking word. I can see a deep cut running along his cheek from my last attack, and I know it’s going to leave a scar.
Payback is a bitch, init.
But then he lowers his hand, spitting blood onto the ground as what remains of his mask falls away.
And the world suddenly stops.
The storm.
The vibrations of the dome.
The lightning.
Everything.
My heart slams against my ribs.
What the…
My eyes lock onto his face, and for a moment, my mind simply refuses to process what I’m seeing.
Because it isn’t possible. It can’t be.
Every instinct inside me screams that I’m wrong, that exhaustion and adrenaline are playing tricks on me, but the longer I stare, the worse it becomes.
Sienna’s gasp comes from somewhere behind me, confirming what I’m seeing.
The same dark hair.
The same jaw.
The same nose.
Even the same fucking eyes.
Younger.
Harder.
Crueler.
But undeniably familiar.
My stomach drops.
The resemblance is so overwhelming that it feels like I’ve just been punched in the chest.
It’s not even a resemblance. It’s like a twisted fucking reflection.
I can feel Sienna’s shock through the bond, feel her heart hammering wildly as realisation crashes into her, too.
Gods… This can’t be true.
She sees it.
She fucking sees it.
Vincenzo now smiles coldly.
The smile of a man who has been waiting years for this exact moment.
“What’s the matter, Deimos King?” he asks quietly. “Have you finally connected the dots?”
My mouth goes dry.
For the first time since this fight began, I’m taken by surprise.
Because all I can see is him. All I can see is the face staring back at me.
“You’re...” The words die in my throat.
I can’t even voice it.
Vincenzo’s cold sneer widens.
“The son of a king,” he says calmly, the words carrying effortlessly through the storm. “And in all rights... the true heir to the Night Walkers Pack.”
And there’s nothing I can say to refute it.
Because standing before me is the carbon copy of Alejandro Rossi himself.