Fighter’s Spirit

DEVOREX

Hmm. A surprise?

I don’t like surprises.

Especially when I know ~exactly~ what I signed up for.

The Dobrzycka twins might take me for some fool, but I read my contracts front and back and twice over.

The combatant opposite is almost my size and has one hell of an ugly, mean mug on him.

Though that’s not the surprise.

See, I signed up for weapons. Fans love when I snatch a metal pipe out of someone’s hands or break a baseball bat in half.

It’s all part of the show.

The combatant across from me plants his feet and holds the longsword over his head. He’s trained and knows what he’s doing.

A purple sheen shines off the blade.

~That sword has been dipped in dragon’s bane. ~

This man is no fighter looking for a chance at a cash pool.

~This man is here to kill me. ~

I hold both my hands outwards while the crowd bursts into mayhem. Other swordsmen have broken out into the arena, chopping down victims.

It’s a theater of screams and agony.

So I’m right at home.

“What are you waiting for, pussy?” I scoff at the swordsman.

He inches closer to me, his eyes trained on my hands.

~Maybe this asshole really knows how to fight. ~

No matter. I’m fueled up. Hazel’s blood is fresh in my veins, and it’s confirmed one thing to me

~She is my mate, and with her now,~I’ll be stronger than ever…~

I cough up blood.

A twisting, horrid pain sizzles through my abdomen.

~No. This can’t be happening.~

I curl a clawed hand behind me and scratch off the face of an attacker. He recoils, leaving the dragon’s bane sword he attacked me with in my back.

My vision blurs.

Purple poison drips by my feet.

~Hazel…~

She’s out there.

I’ll do anything to protect her. Even reach into the darkest depths of my dragon for another assault.

More figures surround me.

More blood hacks up from the back of my lungs.

Still, I smile.

A dozen slayers surround me.

I fall on one knee, but I feel my wings about to sprout.

My laughter makes the already hesitant slayers exchange nervous glances.

~Finally, a challenge. ~

NAUTICA

“Cut them down!” I shout, raising my longsword high. Embedded in its hilt is a purple gem.

~Raw, condensed dragon bane. ~

My slayers slice down everyone who is inside the manic arena.

Dragon or not.

A screaming woman in a cocktail dress runs over to me, pleading.

A swift stroke of my sword brings her down to the floor face-first in a pool of her own blood. I lick the blade clean.

~Damn’t. Human. ~

Oh well. If this dead filth thought it should watch dragons for sport, then she deserves to be cut down like a dog.

I stroll through the crowd, slicing through everybody within my sword’s reach.

In these six months, the slayer army has grown tremendously. All the dragons wildly underestimated the reach of Xander University.

~And the reach of my own powerful hand.~

Another woman in combat shorts and a sports bra pushes through the crowd of fleeing, screaming people.

~Ah yes, one of tonight’s competitors!~

How stupid could the Dobrzycka brothers be to stage an event that brought so many new dragons together?

I grab the female fighter by the neck, and in one swift motion, slice open her throat. Blood gushes out, and I tug her head back while she chokes to death.

As the blood fountains out of the gash in her throat, I drink it down.

My muscles pulsate. My vision sharpens.

Nothing can defeat the slayers now!

The cage in the middle of the arena explodes into bits of metal. More chaos and panic screaming fills my ears like a beautiful symphony.

An enormous black dragon with a crimson-scaled underbelly singes several slayers to ash.

~Just the scumbag I was looking for. ~

Devorex too shall fall.

I toss the bleeding carcass in my hands to the ground amid other bodies and break out into a sprint.

His stomach!

Devorex is bleeding and hurt. Excellent job, slayers.

This coup will serve easier than I ever imagined.

A second matte black dragon sprays fire into a group of slayers. It lands and chomps off the head of one of my lieutenants.

We lock eyes.

Horrible, evil, crimson eyes glare at me.

I have never felt fear in the face of a dragon. I have killed more than I can count.

Yet this dragon makes my sword hand tremble.

It rears its head back and spits fire to the ceiling, crashing down brick and hot glass from the stadium lights onto more slayers.

~This was an unexpected variable. ~

But wait, I’ve seen this dragon before. I’ve nearly killed it, too.

Could this be…

~Loch?~

I dodge an emerald green fireball that blows a hole through the wall behind me. Rex is hurt, and Loch is uncontrollable. Many new dragons have fallen.

Our work here is done.

I raise my sword above my head, and purple sparks fly out of the tip. My retreat beacon.

By the dozens, my slayers retreat, massacring all those who stand in before them.

Loch seems to be frenzying. His head flails and he attacks recklessly, sometimes at slayers that aren’t even there.

He doesn’t know how to control whatever is powering him up.

~Good to know.~

As I speed away, another gift is presented before me.

Tending to the wounded is Adara Dobrzycka.

I ready my sword…

HAZEL

What. The. Fuck.

So that’s what a dragon looks like. Giant, scaly, and irradiating power.

~Can that really be Rex?~

Six men with swords surround him. In the chaos, I lost track of Adara. Bodies lie everywhere. Another matte black dragon flies almost drunkenly throughout the arena, smashing into walls and crumbling brick over the empty stadium seating.

Rex knocks back a swordsman with his colossal head and stomps on another.

But he’s surrounded.

Blood dribbles from his ferocious mouth and from his belly.

~And I want to kill whoever harmed him. ~

Somehow, the movements come naturally to me.

I sprint past the wreckage and leap into the ring, my dagger glowing a bright blue in my hand.

“The Sword Dancer!” one man calls out, his eyes wide like his life is flashing before his eyes.

And I hope it did.

With lightning speed, I lunge my dagger into his neck, then into the heart of the man beside him.

I twist the blade, hoping they feel every rancid moment of pain.

~Nobody attacks my mate.~

This must be what Rex was saying. The second coming. The six-pointed star

A sword is slashed down behind me, but instinctively, I block, parry, and slice the man’s head clean off.

Rex coughs up fire and burns away the final slayer.

Even through his dragon’s mouth, I think I see a smile.

Without hesitance, I reach a hand out to his snout and pet it. He shuts his eyes, then coughs up a wad of rich, red blood.

“It’ll be okay,” I tell him, kissing his nose.

In a flurry of black mist, Rex transforms into his human form. He’s completely naked and holding a hand over a wound on his stomach.

He stands tall, but his breathing is tasked. He wraps an arm around me and brings me close.

Dust in the arena settles.

“I’ll be fine,” Rex grunts. He points a finger to a destroyed section of seating. “But things are far from okay.”