Auroras Academy

Chapter 12

My heart is thumping wildly as the announcer's booming voice echos out.

“AND WHAT WE HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR… THE MATCH OF THE NIGHT… LAST CHANCE TO PLACE YOUR BIDS BEFORE THE ROOKIE WHO CAME OUT OF NOWHERE TAKES ON THE UNDEFEATED CHAMPION!” His voice magically booms across the clearing as the small crowd roars banging on the wired fencing around the ring. Each fighter walks to their corners and the hooded fighter drops his cloak.

Max…

He stands there in his shirtless glory, a tattoo of a serpent winding down his neck over his shoulder blade and resting coiled at the center of his back. It flexes as he rolls his shoulders, bouncing on his toes. Each muscle is visible and defined on his pale back. Muscles that weren’t there in middle school, neither was the deep scar slashing against his lower back. I can’t take my eyes off it. What happened after middle school? I thought my life went to s**t after what he did but it doesn’t look like he had it much better either.

“No need to be scared, little bird.” The Vampire Boss cues, pinching my jaw in between his fingers, turning my face to his. My nose crinkles at the distinct smell of blood on his breath.

“I’m not.” I snap, not backing down from his cold lifeless eyes. His fingers dig into my jaw causing me to yelp. His tongue flashes out like a snake testing the air, licking his lips.

“I like them feisty.” He smooshes his pale grimy lips against mine. I shove against his chest, trying to get away. Finally, I escaped with a wild swing of my hand, slapping his cheek. His head whips to the side, as his jaw works a malicious grin stretches across his mouth.

“You’re going to regret that-“ The Vampire Boss begins, however the announcer interrupts him, distracting him from me.

“3… 2… 1… FIGHT!” The announcer waves his hand disappearing from the ring and the match begins. Max lunges across the ring swiping at the green eyed man’s feet who easily dodges, leaving him open though for Max’s right hook. The green eyed man stumbles back touching his jaw, surprised by Max’s speed and confidence.

“Oh it’s on now, Blood Bastard.”

They viciously attack each other and a few times I have to look away when a punch lands too hard and sends the teeth flying. The green eyed man's confidence from earlier has lessened with each punch he took from Max, forced to focus solely on Max instead of the crowd. I find myself unconsciously rooting for Max. Even though he’s my mortal enemy it was hard not to with everyone pinned against him. He never lets up his position as the main assailant and the green eyed man can’t keep up, taking punch after punch. Max is toying with him, faking punches and leaving openings, luring him into his trap. My favorite was a fake jab to the jaw into a roundhouse kick.

I had no idea where Max learned to fight light this. And I could help but thank God that he didn’t know how to do this when we were in middle school. Or else I would have left with a lot more than a few bruises. The only explanation I could think of is that the school taught him this. Fear strikes me.

Were they going to make me do this? What were they training us for? To beat up innocent people? I didn’t want to fight anyone. In school I would preach that no war was necessary. Fighting people to the death in this day in age seemed… barbaric. I flinch as the green eyed man lands a left hook to Max’s ribs, a crazed grin with missing teeth spread across his face.

The Boss, noticeably more entranced in this fight, is sitting at the edge of his seat. Surprisingly, his features were rather dull, nothing really standing out except for his pale skin. He was handsome in the traditional way but his nicely pressed black suit that looked too old for his age made him look like a little kid playing dress up. My earlier fear of this mock vampire gang leader lessened. With him distracted with the fight, I figured now was the best time to slip away.

I slide to the edge of his lap, staring straight forward at the ring so he doesn’t notice me moving. His fingers loosen around my waist and I nearly make it off his knee, ready to make a break for it, when Max lands a killer uppercut to his green eyed opponent. The Boss jumps up, his arm snaking around my waist, hauling me up against him. The air is knocked from my lungs as my feet dangle in the air and I’m held like a football in the vampire boss's one arm. My fear quickly returns at the vampire's sheer strength.

Max stands over his opponent as he struggles to get up crawling to his knees. The announcer begins a countdown. The green eyed man manages to find his way to his feet using the ring fencing as support. Max forms his fists again, raising them to protect his face, on the defense for once. Instead of attacking, his opponent reaches out in front of him, each finger wrapping around something.

“He has a weapon!” I scream out just as the green eyed man swings. Max jumps out of the way grabbing his opponents wrist twisting in back until he drops the foot long dagger. It thumps uselessly in the cage's dirt. Max finishes him with an elbow to the back of the head, knocking him out.

Applause and cheers come from the crowd along with a roaring of anger and excitement. Some even fall to their knees crying. A lot of people must have lost money as dollar bills fly as people attack the bid collector. The announcer appears in the ring again hoisting Max’s fist in the air.

“AND WE HAVE A NEW CHAMPION! GIVE IT UP FOR THE ONE… THE ONLY… MAD MAX!” The crowd gets impossibly loud, rumbling the fences around Max and the unconscious green eyed man. Through the chaos Max looks up, spotting me on the Boss's lap. A deep seated annoyed scowl is on his slightly bruised face. I glower back at him. I can’t believe he supports this twisted institution. There was no way the school was okay with this despite it blatantly being run by students because almost everyone still had their school uniform on.

The Boss holds up a hand, silencing the crowd.

“Does my new champion have any words?” The Boss purs, his chin resting on his hand, interest sparkling in his eyes. He leans back in his chair and pulls me against his chest. I squirm in his hold. The announcer holds the mic in front of Max waiting for his answer98.

“Just one,” Max rips the mic from the announcer hand, stepping forward. Gasps come from the crowd murmurs in surprise. “What’s my prize?”

“A prize!” The Boss cries out, a boom of laughter spilling from his mouth. The crowd laughs with him, immediately dying out when he stops. “I like the way you think. Anything you desire. Money, blood, a part in the clan? Anything you desire.”

Max pauses, thinking. He glances around as if he’s searching for something in deep thought, rubbing his chin before his eyes land on us again, particularly me. He winks.

“I want her.” He points to my chest and I gulp as every ravenous bloodsuckers eye turns to me. The Boss frowns his grip tightening around my waist.

“Hmmm, I just got her though… I haven’t even gotten a taste yet.” The Boss’s voice is hazy with desire, as he presses his cold nose against my neck. My eyes turn pleading to Max. I don’t know what I want him to do but he can’t just leave me here. Right?

“Well, only the best for your new champion.” Max smirks, knowing he won the second the Boss said he could have anything he could desire. The Boss sighs and lets his arm drop from my waist. I fight my own sigh of relief.

“I suppose. She smells too good to be true anyways.” The Boss slumps against his throne and I dart from his lap. Max grabs the fencing, taking two large steps and vaulting himself over. “But after you're done with her I expect her returned.” The Boss's low tenor chuckles.

I freeze, they’re talking about me like I’m a toy. I shutter. It’s beyond revolting. How could anyone stand by and watch a woman be bargained with? Though, I doubt any of them could do much against the Boss of this so-called ‘clan’.

“Sure, thing.” Max purrs, grabbing me and taking a deep bow. He whips around raising his hands. “And goodnight!”

The crowd cheers and in a flash they disappear. Max and I are alone in the woods now. My brain is too overloaded to care that we basically just teleported.

“What the f**k! Did you just buy me on loan or something?” I spin on my heel stomping away from him. I’m exhausted and I want to go back to my dorm.

“I wouldn’t have too if someone didn’t have to be caught wandering around out here. God, Lynn.” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “You're going to get yourself killed! What were you even doing out here?”

“I was… investigating? Doing my civil duty? I don’t know! Does it matter? You would have been chopped up to pieces if it wasn’t for me.” I scowl, crossing my arms.

“What, the knife? You think I didn’t do my research on my oppennet?” He scoffs and my shoulders slump. I should have just let the green eyed man take a chunk out of him. “But thank you for almost getting yourself killed and making me waste my bargaining chip on you.”

“I didn’t ask you to do anything.” And I never will.

“I guess it was just my civil duty then.” He mocks with a glare, c*****g his head waiting for me to come back. I open my mouth but it flaps shut, realizing I didn’t have one.

“Thank you…” I utter, he was right he could have just left me there but he didn’t. Who knows what that gross Vampire Boss had planned for me. At least he did something, even though he’s being an asshole about it.

“You’re welcome.” He crosses his arms, his eyebrows pinching. “How did you know about the weapons?”

“I saw them hide them.” I explain and his small smirk plays at his mouth breaking into a full grin. “The green eyed Vampire hid them making them invisible or something? It was right before the match.”

“Huh, he cheated.” He chuckled, oddly not seeming upset about his opponent cheating. Though it didn’t make much of a difference; Max still won. “and he’s not a Vampire. He’s a demon.” Max stuffs his hands into his pocket.

“A demon?” My head spins, I think it’s safe to assume that everything that I thought was a myth or folklore is real. Though this thought didn’t help my head spinning very much.

“Demons are a special breed of Aurorian. No ones really sure where they come from but they fall under seven categories. He’s a demon of greed. I should have known that demons can’t do anything honest.” He shrugs and I stare after him. There is no way in hell I’ll ever get used to this.

“Why? Why even fight him? Why the risk?” I ask, something not adding up. Why would Max purposely put himself in danger by going to a Vampire fight club?

“I don’t know? Free tuition?” He said with a shrug, but I could sense an underlying cord of honesty. His easy smirk melts off and he points to where I entered the woods, ending the conversation before we could approach a touchy topic. “The dorms are that way.”

I stare at his face a second longer before turning away. During the fight the green eyed demon called him a “Blood Bastard” it had to be some kind of vampire insult.

“Hey,” he calls out. I whip around raising an eyebrow. “Are you going to tell?” He asks, his voice unwavering, just curious.

Pausing, I think about what I should do. It wasn’t like anyone was getting hurt and everyone seemed to be there willingly besides, well, me. There was also no way there wouldn’t be repercussions if I ratted the fight club out. The vampire boss and his ‘clan’ didn’t seem like the forgiving type. I shake my head no.

“Good, see you later Peaches!” He does a mock salute and I frown. “What? Don’t like your new nickname? I thought it suited your assets better.” He grins, shoving his hands deeper into his sweatpants. I scowl at his tattooed shoulder, utterly disgusted in him. But as we both went out opposite directions I could help but realize this might have been the first moment ever that Max was actually nice to me in his twisted, backhanded kind of way.

My breath came in quick short huffs. Each one feeling like they are falling short of my lungs, making my head light. My hands shake in front of me as I fumble for my dorm keys. The key slips from the lock several times before finally finding its mark. I swung the door open then quickly locked it shut. Finally a rattly deep breath fills my lungs as I pressed my forehead against the door’s wooden frame.

What the hell was that?

“b***h, in or out? Decide now or else I’m not letting you back in.” My roommate snapped, but her voice sounded like a muffled TV playing in the background. My feet dragged my exhausted body to my bed, pitching forward and clasping on it. I curled up in a tight ball under my covers, squeezing my eyes shut. The memory of those red beady eyes haunted me. The spit flew from his mouth as he roared in fury, slamming fist on the Freshmans dorm lobby door.

I narrowly made it inside. A second later… If my key card didn’t work…

Questions raced through my head; why was he chasing me? How did he get in? What did he want? But one thought prevailed. I absolutely had to get out of this school. My eyes trailed down my bawled fists to my wrist where my watch lay.

I click open the top of my watch, rolling over to my nightstand to get a bobby pin, before cramming it into the watch's wind up key hole. The hands on the clock pick up speed.