Page 50 of Shadow's Chosen

Elise took another slow breath then fell back on the bed. She knew she should just be focusing on them getting out of this mad clubhouse, but all she could think of at that moment was the hunter in the other room. The memory of her dreams in the little time she’d slept passed through her mind once more, and she let them take over.

The most vivid one of all had also been quite scary. She’d been in a very dark place, some castle made out of black stone. She sat at a long table filled with all kinds of food. A feast for a whole town, but it was only for her and for the demon on the other side of the table. He looked like Nezka save that he was larger, and his eyes burned true fire, like twin suns. His fangs were longer, and the row of spines across his back went up his head. His face was horrifying, with burned flesh exposing his sharp teeth, his eyes set in sunken pits. They sat together at that table with no one else around. Through a set of open windows, the ocean raged, waves crashing, colored red.

He'd called to her, and Elise turned to him.

"Convince me," he purred.

As if she understood in some dreamsense what he meant, she rose from her seat and went to him. She sat on his lap and let her hands and mouth possess every part of him, and something in the back of her mind told her if she didn't please him, he wouldn't keep her. He'd give her to someone else. She'd be back in the jungle which now grew alongside a dark city.

It had been the last dream, and it had woken her with a cry. She'd taken a cold shower after, but her body still felt hot.

Now, night approached again. She could tell by the fading light coming from the slated metal shades which didn't so much as budge at her pulling grip.

She heard voices out somewhere nearby, two people laughing and talking though she couldn't make their words. A woman and a man. Their steps went down the hall then seemed to stop close to her door. They passed by close until she thought she could hear them on the other side of Nezka's door. Frowning, Elise went over and listened and heard a man's low voice and a woman's soft one. She heard giggling then moaning and the wall thumping. Heat burned up her face as Elise backed away.

He wouldn't.

But why not? He wasn't hers. He could do what he pleased. He'd left her looking just as in need of release as herself, so why wouldn't he find someone to fulfill his needs? Why did she think it should be her?

Elise paced the room as the voices grew louder. She covered her ears, her breath quickening. She knew she needed to be logical, but her emotions drowned any logic out, and the next thing she knew, she was going for Nezka's door and flinging it open.

The room was dark. And empty.

Relieved, then confused, Elise noticed there was a door on his end leading to the hallway. She went over and opened it and found a male drogin pressing a female lygin against the wall, her legs around his waist.

"What...?" Elise began to say and the drogin saw her and nearly dropped the lygin. He barked in surprise, covering himself.

"You mind?" he said.

"Sorry." Elise started back into the room, but the drogin called back to her.

"He's downstairs already. I'll take you in a moment."

Elise frowned and nodded her head. Looking at him, she realized he was one of the hallway guards.

She let the door slide shut and stood in the dark. Then she laughed softly, rubbing her forehead. By the way the noise carried, she thought it had been coming from the room. Now that she was no longer worried about finding Nezka in bed with another woman, she was concerned with the fact that he had decided to leave her in the suite without him.

Elise went back to her side and waited until the drogin had finished. When he eventually came to her room to take her down, he bound her wrists, and she let him, only to keep up appearances. He didn't pull her away like Nezka but allowed her to follow.

When they entered the lounge, Elise froze in place as she witnessed Nezka already in the middle of a match within the ring, blood dripping down his back from several large gashes. The lygin he faced looked like an unhinged panther with blood dripping from his snout and talons.

Elise took a deep breath, ready for another awful night of watching these sickening fights, made even worse by the fact that, this time, Nezka was badly injured already, and she would have to endure seeing him in such a state, unable to say a word in fear of giving them away. She allowed the guard to bring her over to her usual seat next to Krow who was too fueled up by the match to notice her. The room was well packed already with early betters, anticipating Nezka's next win. Elise watched their jeering, shouting faces with anger and disgust. Her gaze drew back to Nezka, and her stomach turned, a deep ache settling in her chest.

Despite his wounds, Nezka got the better of his opponent in one powerful strike to the face and eyes, sending the lygin to the ground. In little time, they removed the body and sent in his next opponent, a large bull-like drogin. Elise eyed Nezka's wounds and wished she could make him stop, wishing she could make the others disappear. Instead, she could only sit and watch yet again.

The fight didn't last long as Nezka's sudden rage seemed to energize him. He seemed driven to fight till he blacked out from exhaustion. His seething expression could not be overlooked, even if the others chose not to regard it. But Elise could see he was pissed.

"You're one lethal son of a bitch, Nez," Krow said beside her, smiling. "Really incredible. Let's get this man a drink," he ordered a bar girl. "Come on out and celebrate."

Nezka didn't move from the ring. "Another," he growled, huffing. The wounds on his back still bled badly.

"Now, don't get greedy." Krow laughed. "You'll have plenty more—"

"Another," Nezka hissed. He began to pace the ring like a caged beast.

Krow's smile faded as he too eyed Nezka's wounds. "All right, but let's have someone wipe you off at least, eh? Have your little pet do it. Here." He grabbed Elise's arm and pulled her up, shoving her. Elise silently cursed him while grabbing a towel offered by one of the men and moved over to the stair. She caught eyes with Nezka who hesitated before approaching. She had half a mind to shout at him for being so stupid. She lifted the towel with her bound hands. Nezka said nothing as he turned around, letting her wipe the blood from the wound.

"You're an idiot," she whispered. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

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