Chapter Twenty-Eight – Blood Instead

  Gray was in the place of water and stars but only for a second. The minute he felt the water under his feet, the screaming started. It was Rynn screaming, and he wasn’t sure if it was in the dream or in real life.

  He was jerked awake, and for a moment, he had no idea where he was. The room was all wrong, far smaller than his room at home, and the mattress was lumpy. Was something crawling on him? According to Rynn, Inn’s had enchanted sheets that killed bed bugs and other vermin immediately. Ah, the wonders of mana. It meant Gray wouldn’t have to shave his head because the lice got too bad. That had been a common occurrence for both the gladiators and the arena slaves.

  Rynn touched him. “Is everything all right, Mr. No?”

  He felt so out of sorts it was hard to think. “Were you screaming, Miss Yes?”

  “No, Gray. I was sleeping. You should be as well. Tomorrow, we face the pitiless Pinch on the field of battle. I can’t decide if I’m afraid or excited. That Chaotica game is unnecessarily brutal.”

  “The perfectly describes the world we live in, Miss Yes. Unnecessarily brutal. I suppose I should have more of Bonny’s brew though I might never wake up if I do.”

  He heard the smile in her voice. “Oh, I’ll wake you up. Never fear.”

  That made him chuckle. “I suppose you will.”

  Rynn used mana to light a candle, and he brewed himself a little cup of tea. There was a magic kettle—a bit of lust rock and water later, he was steeping the tea. The room only had the bed, a desk, and wardrobe. The view out the window was of the building next door—a pretty mauve color but not very scenic.

  A second later, he was out again. This time, he didn’t dream.

  Waking up was a joy, however. Rynn had her mouth on him and truth be told, her lips were far more pleasurable than the petal milk. She certainly was a wonder.

  * * *

  Settie frowned at the field. There was precious little grass and what was there looked sickly. At least it wasn’t raining, though after the night’s storm, it was going to be a muddy, slick morning. The only good thing about the Chaotica field was the lines drawn to mark the killing strip and the midfield line. The field was right next to the wall that separated Lust City from Gluttony City. At least it smelled good. The scent of baking bread hung in the air like a comfortable fog.

  Ames had been suspiciously quiet the entire walk to the field from their inn. They were in their hooded coats to protect themselves from the morning cold. The breakfast buffet had any number of sausages and hardboiled eggs, fruits and grains, though they hadn’t been able to eat too much because playing Chaotica on a full stomach wasn’t a good idea.

  Gray had drunk an extra cup of charbrew to get rid of the lingering effects of Bonny’s brew. When he ate his ironbite, he felt his lips, fingers, and toes tingle. That fucking tea was working but it wasn’t enough. He didn’t need to feel tingles; he needed his meridians swollen with magic.

  Settie went to talk with Pinch and Duskdrop while the rest of Gray’s squad removed their coats and did some stretches. They found decaying wooden benches next to a gravel track on end of the field.

  Gray went to Ames. “Why did you ask Pinch’s squad to scrimmage us?”

  The Quelling elf looked him in the eye. “We needed them. They are here to watch the Briarblood’s Chaotica matches because they think that’s going to be the main event at Soulshred Week. That’s their theory. We know it to be true. Settie wasn’t upset. Are you mad at me, Gray?”

  He shook his head.

  Ames came closer, so much so, he could smell her sweet scent. She touched his arm. “I have more information. Pinch knows a way into Old Town, into a section that no kill squads go to. They say it’s too dangerous. We can find our demon there. You can harvest the mana.”

  Gray squeezed his eyes closed and grunted. “Dammit, Ames. You didn’t tell Pinch about me, did you?”

  “No. I—I said I was curious about Old Town. That I’d never been. I lied. Your name didn’t come up.”

  “Why are you being nice to her?” Gray asked.

  “Because she’s like me. She’s ice, fire, and blood. And sometimes, you can use friendship as a dagger. If I learned nothing else from Father learned that.”

  Gray opened his eyes and sighed. “You’re doing it again, Ames. Just tell me what you’re thinking.”

  Ames looked uncomfortable. “I don’t want to, Gray. You might hate me if you knew the truth. You’ll forgive me, right?”

  He chuckled, even though he had a bad feeling in his belly. “For future sins you know you’re going to commit? It’s a tall order.”

  Ames fell silent, eyes cast down. She seemed so sad.

  Gray found some love for her in his heart. “Look, Settie isn’t upset about the scrimmage, so that’s good. But now, we can’t go into Old Town here, not when Pinch might use it against us. It would work perfectly, though. We’re not using Settie’s tunnel or her warding. We could pass it off that we were just curious.”

  “Gray! Ames!” Settie called out. “It’s time.”

  Rynn came over and grabbed Gray and Ames by the hands. “You two are talking about something every seriously. Should I be worried?”

  “Not about me, Rynnanatha,” Ames said quietly. “But be careful with Pinch. She’s very jealous of what you and Gray have.”

  Rynn only smiled. “Let’s make her even more jealous.”

  She took Gray in her arms, held him tight, and kissed him long and sweetly.

  Everyone on the field was watching them.

  Even though he enjoyed kissing his bonded, he couldn’t shake the bad feeling. Maybe it was the potent mixture of the petal milk and the charbrew, but no, it was something else. He finally decided it was probably the nature of the brutal game they were about to play.

  Settie said she would be playing the part of the demon horde that would be unleashed at the beginning of the second quarter. She wasn’t going to use mana, but she had claws and fangs, and she claimed she wasn’t going to pull any punches…for either team.

  Gray believed her. But what was Ames hiding?

  Settie had brought a net full of the Chaotica balls as well as an ancient coin. She tossed it to Gray. “Look at that. Have Tomi give a glance.”

  He and the cat girl examined the coin. On one side was an image of a city filled with grand spires with writing around the edges.

  Tomi could read it. “That’s ancient Alastrian. It says something about angels lifting up the destiny of dragons. Something like that.”

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  On the other side were three dragons in flight and no writing.

  However, Tomi knew the image. “That was the last of the Alastrian royal family.”

  Gray knew that it was Settie toying with their image of her. It seemed to him that she both loved and hated the fact they thought she might be Princess Cassandra.

  Pinch snarled at them. “Will you fucking toss the coin, so we can get this started. It’s bad enough that I have to watch Gray and his slut drooling over each other. Now, you are wasting all of our time with a history lesson.”

  Gray glanced over at Rynn, who only smiled. “I don’t think I’m the only slut on the field. Based on what I know of the fae, I would bet on it.” She then winced and then the rambling started. “Not that I’m talking about such things. Everyone is different and race doesn’t much matter. However, I shouldn’t have to explain myself at all. Have I ruined my quip? I think I have ruined my quip by rambling. I would like to say in my defense, however, that while I love being with Gray, I’m not a slut.”

  “That’s right” Tomi laughed. “Gray doesn’t pay you, does he? Wait. That’s a whore. A slut is someone who has sex with anyone and everyone. And a bitch is someone who will have sex with everyone but you.”

  Rynn then gave Pinch a smile. “Let’s not talk about sluts, whores, and bitches, Miss Thornpinch. Because for all I know, you are all three.”

  Pinch glared at the elf girl. “Flip. The Fucking. Coin.”

  Settie did the honors. “Pinch, you call it in the air, since you’ve been so patient and accommodating. City or dragons?”

  That made Duskdrop laugh. The other fae just seemed bored.

  Pinch called out, “Dragons” with the coin in the air.

  The fae squad won the toss.

  “We’ll take the ball first,” Pinch snarled.

  Settie retrieved her coin and put it away in a pocket. “Let’s discuss the rules. For the first quarter, the demon doors will remain closed. No flying is allowed but all other mana skills are fair game. For this scrimmage, the bloodless blades will remain non-lethal the entire time. When I do enter the field, my attacks will be non-lethal as well. As for the rules, for the few that there are, I shall be the final say.”

  Gray raised a hand. “So they can’t fly, which makes sense, but can they throw their mana balls?”

  Pinch snorted. “Do you mean our shuriken? Yes, we can, but it has to be non-lethal. We can make adjustments. We don’t want to kill you but—”

  Duskdrop cut her off. “But we do want to hurt you.”

  “Don’t!” Ames said suddenly. “You have to promise to control yourselves. All of you. Please. You have to promise.” She wasn’t looking at the others, only at Pinch.

  “It’s a violent game,” Pinch said simply. “Gray and Rynn never complained about the beatings I gave them, over and over, so why should you have an issue, Quelling?”

  Ames didn’t say a word more.

  Midj came up and took Gray’s hand. “Let’s just be careful out there. This isn’t for a prize. It’s just practice, and if we treat each other poorly, we won’t get to scrimmage. And I don’t think we want any of the other squads to know about our little Chaotica fun.”

  “We’ll show some restraint,” Duskdrop conceded. “Right, Pam?”

  Gray had to laugh. Pinch was far more a “Pamalee” than she as a “Pam.”

  He led his team out to the field. “Let’s play defensively for now. Ames is right to be careful with these assholes. If they come for our heads, we call the game.”

  Gray carried his stick, but they all had bloodless blades thanks to Settie’s wealth.

  Settie watched from the sidelines as Pinch and her team took their place in the end zone.

  Pinch herself carried the ball with her teammates around her, all except one of the women who stood there with her arms crossed. She wasn’t too happy being left behind in their kill strip but those were the rules.

  The other woman was left in their base field as Pinch and the four boys left entered Gray’s base field, where Tomi immediately shifted into her massive form and went lumbering toward her along with Midj, who kept up with the cat girl.

  They did a move that they’d practiced, setting down a mana hand in front of the ball carrier but Pinch’s squad was smart. They had one of their men running ahead of them, and he noticed Midj’s hand motion and hit the wall instead of Pinch.

  But it did allow Tomi to bash into Pinch, pick up the ball, and go racing toward the midfield line where Rynn and Gray were waiting. Then Rynn and Gray went racing across the midfield line and into enemy territory. Ames was left at the kill strip, which was probably where she’d spend most of the time.

  Tomi and Midj tackled the fae who were trying to get back to their base field.

  By that time, Rynn and Gray were heading toward the fae end zone.

  Two fae were there, but Rynn bashed one with her sword and dodged the other, legs fueled with mana. However, the problem was, she couldn’t really use all of her speed because she’d out pace Gray, and he had to be there to recharge her.

  The fae ignored him, though, and went after Rynn, but by that time, she had shouldered her way past the woman in the kill strip and dropped the ball into the end zone, at the farthest corner, so the fae would have to run to get it.

  Then, Rynn and Gray were racing back to their base field to help with the next onslaught.

  The play went back forth, with the Winners—Gray still had to laugh at their very questionable name—scoring twice while Gray’s squad had scored three times. One run had him following Tomi into enemy territory, so she’d get practice. It reminded him of their gambit during the Sixblood match on Culling Day. Tomi seemed far more confident now, and on their first try, she scored easily.

  However, the fae got smart and used her size and slowness against her. Since she couldn’t use her leaping ability, the fae were able to gang up on her, tackle her, and strip away the ball. Then it was up to Rynn and Midj to defend their base field, which they did, since Gray could give Midj more mana. With her new mana hand powers she could splay the ghostly fingers of hands to create bigger obstacles. Plus, she could work two hands at the same time.

  Rynn was getting good at throwing her focused mana bursts and was able to knock the ball out of Duskdrop’s hands on one run. Tomi scooped it up, and while her acolyte powers gave her advanced leaping and sharper claws, she had to keep those powers in check They didn’t want to kill anyone.

  At the beginning of the second quarter, the Winners had the ball, and they were at their end zone when Settie came flying in. She could fly, but the fae couldn’t.

  She bashed into them, and the ball went flying.

  This time, Midj and Gray made their run into enemy territory, but with only two of them, they lost the ball, and then had to dash back into their territory, but not in time to stop Pinch from running the ball into their end zone.

  Pinch’s team scored five times in a row, putting them at eight goals to Squad 23’s three points. The fae would come in with their four runners all in a group, the three blockers preventing Gray’s squad from getting the ball. They were fast, vicious, and efficient and were able to run the ball past Ames and into the end zone.

  Having their healer back in the kill strip wasn’t ideal, but Gray didn’t know a way around it.

  To make matters worse, since Squad 23 was so far down in points, Settie would come storming out at various times and attack them. Tomi, usually, squared off with the dragon, but then that was one less player they had, and they were already down two.

  Right before the half-time, Gray tackled Pinch, and they ended up on top of each other while Rynn ran away with the ball.

  Gray tried to get up but Pinch latched onto him and pulled him onto the ground. Filled with mana, she was so much faster than him, so much stronger, and he ended up on his back. Pinch stared into his face without saying a word.

  But mana swirled around her core—she was feeling lust, he knew it, and before he knew it, so was he. It was insane, but he could use the magic regardless.

  What did this fae girl think would happen?

  He smiled. “You have seven players. I only have five, so I need to go. And if you hold me down, you’ll be ejected from the game. Which would help us. So, either kiss me or let me go.”

  “Kiss you?” Pinch looked like he’d offered her a bowl of fresh vomit. “Why would I want to kiss you?”

  Poor girl. He knew her mind more than she did.

  She leapt off him and went racing after the ball, which Midj had, though she didn’t have it for long. Duskdrop took it from her and ran for Gray’s end zone. He crossed into the kill strip, but Ames was there, and she leapt onto him.

  Duskdrop howled at her touch, dropped the ball, and Ames picked it up, but she couldn’t cross out of the kill strip. Gray sped toward her, but he was so fucking slow. It wasn’t fair.

  Rynn grabbed the ball from Ames and started back across the field though a second later Pinch rammed into her, but Pinch wasn’t going for the ball, she was going for the elf girl. A second later, the ball was on the ground, but Pinch had a fistful of Rynn’s hair, and then the punches started. Over and over, Pinch rammed her fist into Rynn’s face, spraying them both with blood.

  Rynn tried to fight back, but she’d been caught unaware. After all, this was a game, not a fight, but Pinch had turned it into one.

  Ames picked up the ball, but she merely held it, watching what was going on. The look of horror on Ames’s face would haunt Gray. But it wasn’t surprise or shock or any of that. It was sadness and revulsion. Ames knew that this was what would happen. This is the blood she was talking about, and when Pinch finally stepped back, Rynn crumpled to the ground.

  Settie charged over. “Pinch! You are ejected! She didn’t have the ball.”

  Gray expected Pinch to fight, or scream, but she just stood there, flecks of Rynn’s blood covered her face and dripped off her hands. She was breathing hard, and she couldn’t stop shaking. She had clearly lost her mind, and Gray wasn’t surprised when her eyes filled with tears.

  Duskdrop casually took the ball out of Ames’s hand and walked into the end zone. He laughed. “We lost Pinch but won the goal. It’s seven to five. Should we continue?”

  There was no way that was going to happen. Rynn’s body was broken, yes, but Ames could heal that. Her spirit was a different matter.