Darkbeam Part I

Chapter 20

I opened my eyes and was in the Colosseum again. The wind howled. I had to cover my eyes as insidious particles of sand attacked and pricked my skin, my face, my mouth, everywhere.

The sky rumbled with thunder. Flashes of lightning lit the inky sky. I’d never realized how creepy the Colosseum was in the darkness of night.

My eyes caught on someone in the crowd. Just one. Then another appeared. It seemed to be the same guy. The first figure sat on the sidelines to my left and met the gaze of the one on my far right.

He was either fast, which made me think of a Night Seeker, or he was multiplying.

A third one popped up in front of me.

Then they appeared all over the place. It seemed to be the same person.

What was this?

The wind shredded at my being and a soft drumming vibrated against my feet. Something was coming.

I closed my eyes. Wake up, Blake.

The fear weighed me down to my core. It was heavy. My breathing quickened.

I searched at the crowd again. The crowd of Lucians. They all lifted their arms and pointed in my direction.

What did this mean?

The vibration grew stronger. A humming noise droned in my ear. My skin crawled; I hated feeling so afraid and vulnerable.

The gates opened and as one, a legion of knights in white armor came marching out. They poured straight for me, a sinuous, bristling serpent. They struck their shields and the ground in perfect tempo.

I drowned in their presence. I couldn’t breathe.

I woke up to my own screaming.

My senses were alert. Sweat soaked my body. I breathed hard and fast.

A cold hand touched me. I startled.

“It’s just me,” Irene said and our eyes met.

Mine welled up.

“It’s just a dream, Blake. It’s not real.”

I didn’t know if she saw it, or if she just said those words to calm my soul, but she held me tight as I succumbed.

I didn’t want to be dark. I didn’t want to be claimed. I was stuck in the middle and it seemed life was pulling me inexorably in all directions.

Friday night, I was in the ring again.

I made it to the final round.

We’d been fighting the entire night, with the finale being a gruesome last-man-or-dragon-standing.

Three remained. Two humans (me included, so not in reality) and a dragon.

He was a Night Villain and had been a favorite for years. He was huge, old, and undefeated.

The humans who went up against him had all failed. It looked like I might have to face him.

I didn’t want to kill my kind anymore, but I needed to hold on. What I was going to do when the tournament was over?

At least the limelight was diminished. Only the crowd here knew my name—or the one I had portrayed. One I could shed.

I could hear the officiator, the crowd cheering. It was a hard fight. They’d been grappling viciously for the past hour. It exhausted me just watching them.

I tried my hardest not to get involved with the Dragonians. This particular group loathed dragons. I could swear sometimes they smelled me.

Then it was as if Luke, the dragon, had enough. I heard Syd’s screams. I heard how his bones crushed and limbs shredded.

Half the crowd cheered; the others screamed in agony.

Like Samuel said, no money was bet on the dragons. Many gamblers had lost big tonight on Syd.

I tuned out and could hear the officiator announcing Luke as the winner.

He must have blown acid or something, because the crowd went mad again.

They started cheering my name: “Hansel! Hansel! Hansel!”

Dimi and Samuel entered the changing rooms.

“Kill him fast. Don’t try to wear him out. That Night Villain has no off button. The more he kills, the stronger he grows.”

I nodded.

He touched the back of my neck hard. “Do this, and everything is over. No more debt. Nothing.”

“You will leave my family alone.”

“It’s in the contract Blake. I can’t touch them every again. You will be free.”

I squinted.

“You have my word. Just kill him fast.”

Dimitri was close by.

They were giving me another half an hour.

Kill him fast, Blake.

Later, I’d wish that I could say it was an easy fight. It should’ve been easy. I was the Rubicon. But this turned out to be the hardest battle I’ve ever fought.

Part of me knew I wasn’t going to escape this ring alive. I was scratched many times. Blood poured in rivers down my body. I was tired and sticky and slowing down.

No matter what I did, Luke was like a machine. He didn’t fail and he didn’t weaken.

I was tiring myself out.

He gripped me tight around the waist and I could feel my bones crushing like chalk. I was blacking out and then, suddenly, the darkness inside me roared. The beast woke up.

I wasn’t conscious for what happened next. I was, how did people put it, out of body. I didn’t know if I gave up and the darkness took over, or whether the beast just came out to play, but my human part checked out.

Luke didn’t stand a chance.

Only when I was sputtering, literally drowning, in his blood did I come to. I was covered in it. I was panting hard and my body ached immeasurably. I wanted to burst and I wanted to get away.

The crowd went crazy.

They screamed and cheered.

I was tired, but I got up. I focused in on Dimitri for the first time.

His nose was bleeding. He’d struggled.

Seemed fair.

The officiator lifted up my hand as I held the a gash closed on my stomach.

I didn’t know which blood was mine and which was my enemy’s.

Soon, I found myself in the showers. Even this far removed, the crowd’s distant cheers echoed painfully in my eardrums. Nobody in the victory room but me. We’d started out as twenty-four players. I was the only one still standing.

I’d killed my own kind. I’d damaged my soul. I’d given into the darkness. But why did I still feel like me? Why did I still grieve like me?

The contract was finished.

No more fighting. No more.

I had enough stash to last me a good while. I just had to pace myself. A tiny bit whenever I needed it. That was the plan.

I partied Saturday. We stayed over at Samuel’s mansion. Tabitha even came. She hated it at Samuel’s because of all the drugs and girls.

Everyone was having a great time, including me. We were in the study on the top floor. It was off-limits and Tabitha had to stay below.

Samuel was different. Someone I could actually see as a friend. Maybe what he’d done was just business.

We used, and after that I didn’t remember much.

When I woke, I was with girls who weren’t Tabitha next to me. I knew whatever happened last night, I was going to hear about it till doomsday came.

My head was killing me. The loneliness was so bad this time, I just wanted to cash out again.

The rest was a blur. I didn’t know how I got back to the Academy or how I got through Monday.

The cut on my stomach throbbed, but my healing ability seem to be kicking in and when I woke up on Tuesday I was healed. I really hoped that it would’ve lasted longer. It would’ve given Lucian a fair chance to claim me, to succeed. But it seemed that it wasn’t in me to yield.

The darkness was just too strong. My mother was wrong. She had this saying: no matter how dark things seemed, hope was just around the corner.

Hope wasn’t meant for guys like me.

Members of the press interviewed Lucian, a steady stream of cameras and journalists. Somehow I managed to escape all of them. I hated the limelight, even though I loved the stage. I felt different up there, like someone else and not this evil being who had to fight to stay good.

Staying good shouldn’t be so hard.

My family had arrived. My father was hopefully somewhere in the crowd. Why I was even hoping for it, I didn’t know.

Tabitha wasn’t there. She was pissed off with me for whatever happened at Samuel’s. I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t help anything when I was drugged out of my mind.

I got up. I stood in front of the gate, waiting for it to open.

For a split second, that dream about the legion of white-armored knights flashed through my mind. The scales beneath my skin shivered.

The beast wanted to get out. It needed to stretch its wings.

I doubted another ability would show itself today.

The gate creaked open.

“The Rubicon!” Alex’s voice echoed over the microphone and bounced off the walls.

I stepped out and the crowd cheered like crazy, especially the dragons. The dragons. I was a dragon killer.

I lifted up my arms when I felt I couldn’t breathe and air filled my lungs.

You want to sit this one out? the beast offered.

No, I thought. You are not taking his life.

Then stop being a p***y, Blake.

I hated these confrontations.

I growled. The crowd misunderstood, thinking I was trying to get them excited. I wasn’t; I was furious. He shouldn’t try to claim me.

His father and mother sat on two thrones right next to Arianna’s parents. The rulers of Paegeia. A pity that none of them were royal enough to claim me, none worthy enough to walk out of that gate and face me.

Lucian was brave, but not the right one.

His name was called, and like clockwork, when he stepped out, so did the beast.

His form grew small in a matter of seconds, and I felt myself slip away.

Hang on, Blake. You can’t kill Lucian.

“Thunderstruck” started to play and the crowd sang along.

I hated that f*****g song.

Stop! I yelled. My internal voice sounded deranged to me. Lucian’s lifeless body lay on the floor. He had dodged countless acid balls, but it was the chlorine that ended it. It poured out of me, suffocating him.

I could still smell it.

The beast loved every single moment.

Enough! I yelled again and forced my human form to appear as the beast went to spit out another acid ball.

You weakling. He doesn’t deserve… I pushed his rantings to the back of my mind.

“Lucian!” I cried.

Still, he didn’t say a thing. I heard ribs cracking and bones breaking. Flesh almost tearing.

“Lucian!”

“Blake!” Mia was one of the professors holding me back. “Go calm down. Now!”

I frowned. But I listened to her and ran through the gate and out the door to my dressing room.

I ran until my lungs felt as if they were going to burst before I jumped into the air.

My wings took over and took me straight to my mountain.

I think I just killed the Prince of Tith.