Page 58 of Hell Raising and Other Pastimes (Grave Concerns 2)

“Is this really the time?”

A spark of light came up in the center of the dirt, so blinding I had to place my hand in front of it to shield my eyes.

On the edges of that, though, a figure moved so fast it was little more than a blur of yellow. In its path one of the red fell, then a green and finally a purple.

I leaned forward and my breath caught as the flash of light dissipated and that one person felled combatant after combatant.

“He can’t do that,” I said. “He isn’t even focusing on the actual enemy!”

Lucifer didn’t lean forward, didn’t seem interested in the battle at all. “Of course he can. That’s part of the game. It is about the last team standing, and nothing in the rules says a team can’t remove another team.”

My heart pounded as I watched that yellow blur approached the black team, my fingers digging into the arm rests of the chair.

It closed in on Kase, and I barely stifled a gasp when it slammed into him. I expected Kase to fall, as all the others had done, a scream already in my throat.

Instead, the yellow came to a complete stop, held in place by nothing more than Kase’s grip around its neck. He jerked to the side—I felt a sickening crack more than I heard it—before the yellow team member fell limp to the ground.

“You see, you worry too much,” Lucifer said. “I may not care foryourteam, but there is no chance any would fall in round one. Hunter alone has taken on teams such as these in the past.”

His reassurance didn’t help much. Somehow knowing theycouldwasn’t the same as knowing they would. I’d learned plenty of times in my life that could didn’t matter.

Icouldhave lived a perfectly normal life, but I didn’t. Thingscouldhave gone right, but they never did.

Couldcould bite my ass as far as I was concerned.

“You seem to find yourself in the wrong place a lot, Ms. Harlin.”

Dust cleared from the center of the space, where the light had shone, and I got my first look at the thing they faced.

It wasn’t that big—which was funny, because weeks ago I would have said it was huge. It was the size of a horse, but after having seen thingsmuchlarger, I breathed a sigh of relief.

It looked like some strange cross between a tiger and a buffalo. It had teeth and claws, but also had horns and the large, stocky build of a buffalo. Black fur covered it, and smoke escaped its nostrils when it breathed.

Not that anyone seemed to pay it any attention.

Where I’d assumed the battle would be between the beast and the competitors, the teams were more focused on one another.

Hunter had shifted, his huge dragon form incredibly fast. He charged though the field, much like yellow had before, leaving carnage in his wake.

Troy had shifted as well, his body now taller and wider than before, his claw-tipped hands swiping. When he moved, it wasn’t like a man. He’d drop to all fours for a quick burst of speed, looking every bit the monster he thought he was.

Kase remained near Grant—probably for the best since Grant was the most at risk—while Grant shifted his hands and his lips in quick succession. Flames erupted, consuming the entire red team in a blink. He lifted his left hand, made a fist then drew it down. A boulder the side of a car came crashing into what was left of the purple team just as Hunter moved out of the way.

The battlefield was bloody and terrifying and vicious beyond anything I had expected.

And why was that?

The men had never been shy about their abilities, about their natures, and yet seeing them in action was different. It wasn’t a case when I was in danger, when it was kill or be killed.

It was forsport,and they seemed to enjoy it far too much.

“You know,” Lucifer said in a conversational tone, “I declare a winner at the end of this round.”

“I thought the winner happened at the end?”

“The main one, yes. However, each round also has a winning team. They don’t get a favor, but there is a benefit.”

“What? Bragging rights?”

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