Page 116 of The Star's Sword

“Crush this weakling, Vasara!” a vampire yelled, to cheers from his cohorts.

“Shut the fuck up!” Os yelled back, uncharacteristically angry. “All of you are too stupid to know you’re about to die, but at least stop punishing us all with your stupidity before you do so!”

“Yeah!” Griffin yelled. “Shut up about our friend!”

“Get ready to hurt,” Mor said as well.

Cayne was quiet, grinning and waiting like he had no doubt Vasara was about to pee her pants and run the second pain started.

I had the same feeling.

“Trial one is starting!” Simon said. “Electricity!”

I heard something crackle, and then felt shocks as blue lightning rose up from the pedestal and went up my body, sending instant pain through me, along with burning, as I felt electrocuted right through my teeth. “Ahhh!” I yelled, locking my legs and closing my eyes as the pain continued to grow, the electricity like little paralyzing fires in every nerve of my body.

I fell to my knees on the pedestal, and lightning zapped at me, causing my skin to sizzle and burn.

Vaguely, I became aware of screaming. Not from Vasara, I realized, through the searing, sparking agony of being electrocuted.

From her vampires, some of whom were rolling on their tiles, trying to escape their bonds, being electrocuted.

I looked at Vasara, who was standing off her pedestal, brushing at her arms and legs frantically like she was trying to chase away remaining sparks.

I felt lightning ripping over my teeth as I glared at her.

“Get back on the pedestal,” a vampire screamed. “Get back! It hurts!”

The lightning finally stopped, and I dropped to my hands and knees on the pedestal, still holding on, my entire body feeling like it had been burned and flayed at the same time.

My skin was literally smoking. It had been some of the worst pain I’d ever felt.

“Are you okay, Cleo?” I heard Os call, and I put up an unsteady hand. “Don’t worry about it,” I murmured. “Nothing compared to Cayne’s decapitations.”

I was lying. It had hurt like hell. I sent a glance to Simon, wondering what the hell he was thinking, but saw him gazing intently at the burned vampires whose friends on nearby tiles were helping them up to stand.

“If the champions do not want to forfeit, they must be on the pedestal by the time trial two starts!”

I slowly forced myself to a standing position, my inner demon healing me fast from the inside out.

The vampires on Vasara’s side were murmuring to each other, some of them starting to feel almost afraid.

It was odd, seeing their sureness finally slip, when it was far too late.

For their sake, I hoped Vasara would stay on the pedestal.

“Trial two!” Simon yelled. “Flame!”

Fuck.

Normally I would have been immune to fire, including hell fire, but with my healing barely able to keep up with the electric damage, I knew this was going to hurt.

I felt fire lick up from the pedestal instantly, burning my pants and eating into my skin as I was forced to stay still. My skin seared, burned, and bubbled, and pain worse than almost anything so far began to cover my entire body as the flames continued to spread. I looked over at Vasara, who was holding on as the fire reached her waist, but then, with a curse, she jumped off the pedestal, brushing at the flames.

Simultaneously, several of the vampires on her side of the floor caught fire.

I stayed on my pedestal as the fires reached up and claimed my hair, burning across my face, taking my eyelashes. Smoke blocked my vision, but I could hear the screams of the vampires burning.

But the knowledge that my friends were safe, and that this would only take a little longer, kept me there in the burning, searing pain, which did get better as I felt my nerves get seared off.

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