“Fight?” I repeated softly.
“I had to win challenges against six of his best men,” Lucas explained, his eyes taking on that far away look again. “It was to be a fight to the death with each of them, one after the other. If I won all six challenges, I would be allowed to leave. If I lost—” His voice dropped away for a moment. “Ripley was a member of the same Kiss, had been for many, many years – decades in fact. I knew how miserable he was – he too was considering trying to exist without the need for human blood – but Ripley has never been a warrior. He"s cunning and wise, but not a physically combative man unless extreme measures are called for. He and I had grown close during my time with the Kiss and I decided I would try to gain his release. I told Alterus, the leader of the Coraclãs K
