Chapter 18 #2
“Ladies and Gentlemen!’ the announcer cried, and I turned my head to watch him.
“Thank you all for coming out tonight! For our first match, we have a very special treat – black panther vs. jaguar! In case you don’t know, these two cats are actually the same species, so it’s a matter of light versus dark rather than a battle between species.
I hope you placed your bets accordingly! ”
The crowd burst into excited whoops and yells, and I braced myself as I watched several of the humans stride purposefully toward my cage.
I tried to attack them as they dragged me from my cell, but they were fast and well trained, and I was still weak from the drugs as well as lack of food – I hadn’t eaten since that measly sandwich in the early morning, and it had to be past nightfall by now.
The humans shoved me up a set of stairs leading to the platform, and then through the doors. I waited for them to unbind my wrists, but they simply slammed the doors shut on me, and I watched in horror as they walked off.
How the fuck am I supposed to fight if I can’t even get my hands free?
By Magorah, no wonder Danrian wasn’t concerned about my odds. He’d set me up so that I couldn’t defend myself even if I wanted to.
They tossed Mika into the ring next. I watched as she staggered in, my anxiety growing as I noticed her bloodshot eyes glowing with malevolence. Just what shit had they drugged us with? She snarled as soon as she caught sight of me, and a white glow enveloped her body as she began to change.
“No!” I cried. “Mika, it’s Sunaya! You don’t want to kill me!
” My own battle fever was tempered by the icy fear flooding through my veins – if I rushed to attack Mika like this, there was no way I’d win, shackled in human form with my magic cut off from me.
My sense of self-preservation was much stronger than the drug they’d pumped into my system.
But it was too late. She’d shifted, and her eyes blazed with battle fever as she crouched, tail whipping back and forth right before she pounced.
I darted out of the way as she sailed through the air, and she went crashing into the silver-coated bars of the cage.
She let out a pained yowl, and I winced as I caught the stench of burning hair and flesh.
Hopefully the injury would slow her down a little.
Mika landed on her side, but she quickly rolled back onto her feet, then flexed her powerful leg muscles before pouncing at me again.
This time, I took a gamble and rushed forward, my arms outstretched to meet her halfway.
Her jaws closed around the chain binding my manacles, and I forced them all the way down to her mandibles, pushing her back.
She lost her footing for a moment, and when she finally yanked away, two of the links ripped free.
Yay. At least I could use my hands now.
Mika reared up on her hind legs and swiped at me with a paw, and I hissed as her claws raked across my upper arm, leaving deep gashes. I twisted away, darting to the other side of the ring, but I knew it was only a matter of time before she caught me with a fatal blow.
Just as Mika spun around to face me again, I felt something thump onto the ground next to my boot.
I glanced down, and elation burst through me at the sight of my chakram pouch and crescent knives.
Finally, they’d arrived! Thinking quickly, I snatched up the knives first, then rushed forward to meet Mika as she lunged for me again.
This time I twisted to the right, letting her pass me, and I raked the blade along the side of her rib cage, making sure the cut was deep enough to cause significant damage without being fatal.
Mika let out an ear-splitting roar as she fell to the ground, and I winced sympathetically – I knew from experience how painful cuts from crescent knife blades could be.
But I didn’t have time to stand around – I only had a few moments before Mika’s wound healed itself and she was back on her feet again.
Whirling around, I snatched up the chakram pouch, then grabbed one and twirled it briefly around my index finger before flinging one toward the tops of the bars.
It cut through the silver-coated bamboo with ease, and I tossed another one toward the bottom of the cage, slicing the bar off at both ends.
It toppled outward, landing with a loud clatter on the concrete ground, and the crowd screamed as I jumped through the opening.
Several of the staff rushed toward me, but I used my chakrams to cut them off at the knees – literally.
They screamed in pain as the circular blade bit into the flesh of their legs, severing clear through, but I didn’t even give them a second glance – I was already sprinting for Danrian, who was racing for the hidden doorway I knew was located in the wall behind the shifter cages.
“Stop!” I shouted, twirling another chakram around my index finger. “Stop, or I’ll cut your head off, I swear!”
Danrian froze, his eyes wide with fear and loathing as he eyed the spinning metal disk – I knew he had no doubt that I would follow through on my threat.
“How did you get those weapons in here!” he shouted as I advanced on him. “Those shackles are supposed to prevent you from using magic!” He pointed toward the restraints on my wrists, his finger trembling.
“Guess I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve,” I sneered, grabbing him.
Cries and screams echoed off the walls along with the sounds of dozens of stampeding feet, and I knew the humans were all rushing for the exit behind us again.
Regardless of what happened to Danrian tonight, the Shifter Royale was finished – nobody was coming back after two incidents like this.
I didn’t have any cuffs of my own on me, so I turned Danrian around and slammed him face first against the wall, twisting one arm behind his back and pushing upward so that he was forced onto his toes.
He cried out in pain, but I only pushed harder, the battle fever still surging within me redirected to a new purpose.
“Tell me who the Benefactor is. Now!”
“I can’t do that!” He choked out. “The Benefactor will kill me for sure if I do!”
“If you don’t tell me right now, I’m going to kill you!”
A set of fangs sank into the back of my calf, and I cried out as burning pain ripped through the muscle.
Shocked, I twisted away, letting go of Danrian so I could confront my attacker.
My blood dripped from Mika’s fangs as she snarled and charged at me again, still crazed from the drugs.
My leg was too weak for me to dodge, so I dropped to the ground and rolled to the side, then slashed at her again with my knives.
I got her in the side again, and she roared as the wound from last time, which was not fully healed, split open again.
The battle fever pumping hard through my veins allowed me to spring to my feet, and I grabbed Danrian, who had been trying to sidle away, by the arm.
“Come on. We’ve got to get out of here!” As much as I wanted to release the shifters from their cages now, I knew they would all just attack us – I needed to get us to safety and wait for the Enforcer’s Guild to show up.
They had to be on their way by now. They just had to.
“I’m afraid I’m not going anywhere with you, Miss Baine,” Danrian said smugly as I spun him around.
I caught the glint of three darts in his hand as he raised it in the air, and I tried to avoid them, but momentum was on his side.
I cried out as the darts jabbed me in the side of the neck, then screamed in agony as the icy hot poison rushed through my veins, stronger and more painful than last time.
Fear burst through me, followed by a healthy dose of disgust – I couldn’t believe that I was about to die at the hands of a filthy human like him.
“That dose will definitely kill you if Mika doesn’t.
” Danrian’s voice sounded very far away as I sank to the ground.
I looked up at him, and it was like I was staring at him from the bottom of a pool – his form wavered, too blurry for me to focus on properly.
“You came close to winning, but not close enough. On behalf of the Benefactor, I give you my regards.”
He disappeared then, and the last thing I saw was Mika’s bloody fangs before everything went dark.