Marked by the Demon Wolf

ARIA NASH(20)

"You. Get the f**k out."

"Why the sour face? It's not like we even know each other." I say with a calm I don't feel.

"Don't play dumb here. I know what you did."

"Oh really?" I exaggerate my shock and climb up. "What did I do?"

"You were the one who killed in that hunt. You killed my Alpha."

I can barely stop myself from rolling my eyes. "If I truly have the capabilities to kill your Alpha that you speak of, what makes you think it wouldn't be easier to kill you, no? You haven't thought of that?"

"You are very arrogant for someone who is about to die."

"And you are surprisingly ignorant. Oh look, it even rhymes!"

That sparks his fury. He launches himself at me and I can only think about all the spots he left open that I can easily attack. So I choose the bloodless option. I ram myself into his side. He stumbles backwards and falls on his ass.

From the corner of my eyes, I can see Azrakel shaking his head and looking the other way. I nearly smile. He did said not to rely on brute force, he didn't completely reject the idea of it.

My opponent doesn't look very pleased as well. He seems shocked to realise my tiny body packed such raw strength.

What can I say? I surprise myself sometimes too.

He recovers quickly, flipping himself up very athletically and charging straight for my blood. I drop to the ground and sweep his legs from underneath him. When he falls — again — I mount him and wrap my legs around his throat, and squeeze.

He wheezes. His hands scramble and reach for his inner garments. Maybe he has some hidden weapon there, such a pity. I snap his neck.

That was too easy. I didn't even need my dagger.

It feels exhilarating to be back in control like this. Not fighting some overpowered bastards. My feet feel light as I skid back to my original spot.

"Damn, girl. Cut some slack for the rest of us, okay?" Aria remarks.

"Please. Don't s**t me. You are a much graceful fighter."

She laughs. "Graceful or not. I wouldn't want to challenge you to a fight."

"See?" I mind link Azrakel to gloat. "I didn't really rely on 'brute' strength as you call it."

"Don't talk to me. I don't know you."

"Oh, come on. Don't be so dramatic. It wasn't that bad."

He doesn't respond.

"Thank you for saving Mia." I tell him.

"You are terribly mistaken, love. I did nothing of the sort."

"But the lights —"

He cuts me off. "I do not possess that sort of power." He cuts me off.

"But you knew and delayed on purpose."

A sigh sounds down the link. "Whatever element of good you are trying to find in me, I fear you'd be very disappointed."

"It sounds more like you don't want me to find it."

He doesn't respond. I try to seek him tephatically again only to realise he has slammed the access shut. When I try to mindlink him again, he narrows his eyes at me in warning.

The pounding of the drums resumes, distracting us. I see Belle for the first time today. Her complexion is unnaturally pale. Sebastian didn't look like his usual self too.

"Now." She booms. "We proceed to the second round of contests. This is the round that decides who the final winners will be. Try not to die."

The tension in the air ignites. Some faces are confident, the others, not so much. I am the others.

The others is me.

Any of these people I am about to face would have crushed the scarred fool I fought in a similar fashion.

The audience explodes into chaos as challenges are thrown back and forth in extravagant fashion.

The giant guy from earlier crushes his opponent in seconds.

Ysala struggles against a bear shifter before finally separating his head from his body.

Aria wins her duel with no surprises.

And finally, my own opponent to face. He is much harder to defeat than the last one.

He is as shrewd as he looks. Smart and calculated. He evades most of my attacks in a way that causes me to scowl internally.

I think I've got him but I actually didn't. He is like a slippery fish. I had been observing him with the other people, not so great on the attack side but he has mastered his speed well and he stalls…stalls for even the slightest opening in defenses and attacks.

But unfortunately for him, he's not the only fast one. So we keep circling and dodging. Circling and dodging.

"Just do something already!" Someone from the audience shouts.

The scowl I've been fighting ultimately makes an appearance on my face.

All it took was just a second of distraction and he is already in my face. That throws me off balance. Aaand he strikes. Finally.

I see the tiny beads of sweat on his face before I see the flash of his silver. I avoid it just in time to avoid my body being slashed into half like a banana and immediately make my counterattack.

Blood and pain dilutes the air once again.

He is holding his nearly disconnected shoulder sockets and glaring at me. I shrug a 'sorry'.

By the time we are fighting, his agility is obviously reduced more than bearable. His attacks are all starting to have a touch of franticness.

As a result, he unconsciously creates endless openings for me to attack him.

Then when I start to think….I have seen this picture somewhere before, long ago. And I was not on the winning side. Gods, he is going to die and be the one to kill him.

Not only a sharp pain lances in my side.

Fuck, the openings were a bait and my hesitation has just caused the death of me.

I stumble back to see his bloodied grin. There's ringing in my ears all of a sudden, pain is blurring my vision while the instinctual pressure not to unleash my wolf doubles down.

I suck in a deep breath and choke while doing it.

This isn't good. That one stab is affecting me more than it should.

Of course, they didn't fight fair.

After putting an effective distance between me and my opponent, I drop my knees, groaning like I can't help it. My hand is now covered in warm, sticky blood. My blood.

My opponent approaches me carefully, clutching his twin blades in both hands.

I wait till the cold steel of his blade is resting on my neck. "If this were the North, I would have taken an interesting thing like you back with me, but alas, what a shame—"

A dagger straight into the foot shuts him up. "You are not the only one who can bait." I wrench the dagger out, his scream grows in pitch.

Ignoring the agony on my side, I leap to my feet faster than he can get over his pain and drive my dagger into his throat.

We hit the blood slick soil at the same time. I stumble back to my spot in a daze.

"Are you— are you okay?" Aria Nash asks, her expression laced with worry.

"Huh?"

"You are bleeding."

"Yes. The obvious. Of course I am bleeding." Feeling funny, I look up at her. Hers. There are so many of her in my vision now.

My hand reaches my side and there is indeed still a steady stream of blood rushing out it. Panic from realisation lances through me.

My voice breaks as I whisper it: "I am not healing. Why am I not healing?"

Am I going to die?

"Shh. It's going to be okay." She tries to reassure me.

"No. You don't understand. I am not healing."

"It's probably because of the Red Moon so it may take time." She gets me to sit.

In a while, a strange thing happens.

An unfamiliar heat flares up in my ribs. The pain leaves first, then the bleeding stops. And inch by inch, my skin mends itself till there's not a single hint of a wound again.

"There." Aria looks pleased. "Didn't I tell you it'll heal in due time?"

How I do tell her that I had nothing to do with what just happened?

For some reason, I think of Azrakel's "siphoning" from back earlier. I look at him but he is not looking at me.

The number of contestants finally cuts down to four at dusk. The giant, Ysala, Aria and me.

"I, Aria Nash, officially withdraw from this year's tournament." Aria suddenly announces, her voice strong and firm.

"What? Why?"

She doesn't respond to me immediately. "It's been a pleasure." She nods at Akrakel, he nods back. To me, she says: "we will surely meet again, brave one. I already found what I was looking for."

~

With her gone, the number drops to three. I am left with two vicious opponents. If they both just challenge each other — thank the Gods — I'd automatically level up and become one of the two contest winners.

Unfortunately, the Gods don't care and I am out of luck.

The two of them exchange cryptic nods and the big guy is staring at me with a look of excitement that is creepy as f**k. Goosebumps explode all over my arm.

"You. Come over here."

I point to myself questioningly, my feet refusing to move from the spot.

His nose scrunches up. "Do you see anyone else here besides you? Don't waste my time."

I still don't move. "Can't you just...can't you just pick someone your match instead?" For a good impression, I add, "please?".

He looks more offended than appeased. He stomps down the platform and strides straight for me. I confirm that I've never felt more frozen in my life.

My thoughts spin and spin in a chaotic mess till he gets in front of me. The first thing he does is swing a blow at my f*****g face. I dodge it out of pure reflex but I'm too slow. His giant fist does nearly colide with my face. Every bone of my body is straining with effort from the Red Moon.

How does he seem not even deterred one bit?

When I look back at him, his grin is so wide, my cheeks are hurting just by looking at it.

I nearly growl in response.

His grin grows feline. "Come on, fight me!"

"To be honest, I really don't want to. You'll just kill me too easily anyway. How about you just pick someone your match—"

There's no talking to a serial killer. He yells, "talk less nonsense!" And attacks me again.

My eyes water as I dodge all his attacks seconds too slow. "Damn it! At least let's fight on the proper platform!"

He pauses. Moves to the platform without a word and jerks his head at me to join him. I grind my teeth in undigusted hatred.

As I climb to meet him, I can hear a snickering voice in the crowd who is wondering how on the earth I made to the last stage alive.

I can't lie that I've not wondered the same.

Now, I'm most probably, truly going to die.