Page 47 of Golden Eagle

Lanny dug a PowerBar out of his bag and ate half of it in one bite as he stared across the ring – now empty, blood being hastily mopped from the mat – toward the man, the vampire, he was about to fight.

The other vampire met his gaze, and grinned, flashing his fangs.

Lanny choked down the rest of the PowerBar, growl building deep in his chest. This was going to befun.

~*~

This was going to behorrible, Alexei thought, as the two vampires circled one another inside the cage. Both rippling with muscle, and gleaming with sweat. The stranger was a little bulkier than Lanny, his waist and neck thicker. But Alexei knew exactly how strong Lanny was, and that his veins burned with Grisha’s blood.

He’d pulled him aside moments ago, right before he went into the ring. “Compel him if you have to,” he’d said.

Lanny had sneered at him.

But Alexei prayed that he would, if he needed to. This other vamp was doubtless strong, but not just any old vampire could force his way into another’s mind the way the children of Grigory Rasputin could.

“Alright, boys,” Connie shouted through cupped hands, safe on the outside of the cage. “You know the rules.”

The bell dinged, and it began.

Lanny moved first this time; the other brute stood his ground, chin ducked, smiling, and let him come.

Alexei laced his fingers through the chain link and hissed out a breath between his teeth. “Lanny,” he whispered, “what are you doing?”

Testing the waters, apparently. He danced back, still circling, and his opponent turned with him. Alexei could see the pulse leaping in his throat, and the wild gleam in his eyes. He was a true fighter, through and through, and he was delighted to have a worthy contestant now. To be truly tested.

In Alexei’s estimation, a fair fight was nothing but a fight you stood to lose, and where was the fun in that?

“Come on!” a spectator shouted. “Kick his ass!”

They circled, circled, circled.

Dread surged in Alexei’s belly.Back out, he thought, wildly, knowing it would never happen.Just stop.

Lanny moved in again, and the other vamp lifted his taped hands, and engaged.

Strike, block, strike.

Jab.

Grunt.

Lanny tucked his shoulders, guarded his face, and moved in. The smack of his hit landing in the other vampire’s ribs cracked off the brick walls of the courtyard, loud as a gunshot. Not just a punch, but a bomb; bone had broken.

Alexei winced…and then gasped, along with the crowd, as the other vampire smiled and pushed back.

Lanny took a hit to his shoulder, to his middle, grunting, smile giving way to bared teeth. The lights glinted off his fangs, long and sharp, fully-extended. He shifted back–

And the other one followed.

Alexei’s fingers flexed, so tight his knuckles went white.Back up, back up…

Lanny blocked, blocked, blocked, jabbed, struck.

The opponent chased. It collapsed into one of those tight, quick, brutal exchanges. Punches, jabs, blocks all blurring, standing close as lovers dancing.

A crack. Worse than the last. Sharp, awful. The sound of injury.

Lanny fell. And didn’t get back up.

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