Page 11

There was a low bell-like tone, more like a sepulchral chime, that had everyone but Ryder and Lawson leaving the ring and making their way to the stands.

Demos was the last to clear out. He patted Ryder’s shoulder and stood near, yet somehow far apart, from the other Weryn, even though only a few feet separated him from them.

Lawson pounded his right fist into his left palm several times as his feet lightly danced over the sand.

His lips were skinned back from his teeth and his fangs were extended.

Grayson’s right leg began to bob up and down.

Ryder didn’t move. He stood completely still.

His hands were no longer even fisted, but hung loose at his sides.

Isn’t he going to fight? He looks… empty. What is going on?

Lawson ran towards Ryder, covering the twenty feet between them in a blink of an eye.

His right, meaty fist pulled back and he punched the right side of Ryder’s face.

Ryder’s head jerked to the side, but his body didn’t move.

The crowd roared with approval and hands shot into the air, waving pennants of all different colors.

The force of Lawson’s punch, however, had the Weryn Vampire stumbling a few feet to the left as the forward momentum kept him moving. A thin trickle of blood ran down his chin from the corner of his lips.

Why didn’t he even try to dodge? That must have hurt! But he’s not reacting? Why isn’t he reacting?

“Aren’t you even going to try to defend yourself, pup?” Lawson snarled, seeing the same thing that Grayson was. “I thought you wanted to lead . But, then again, you’ve always been soft .”

Lawson crouched low and brought his arms tight against his sides as he used the force of his whole body to send five, six, seven powerful blows into Ryder’s stomach and chest. Ryder partially bent over, but he didn’t try to block them nor did he appear to cry out in pain.

He tracked Lawson with his silver eyes as if looking for something.

What are you looking for? What are you waiting for? Protect yourself!

The crowd let out “oooooohhhhhh” of empathetic pain. There were grimaces and groans.

“You think I can’t take you apart piece by piece, Ryder?” Lawson frothed. “I’m going to devour you! Just like I drank your blood that first night! I’m going to do it again!”

Grayson shuddered. The horror of that. Of one’s Master threatening to eat a Childe. A Childe that should be beloved.

This is wrong! This is so wrong! Ryder, please, please stop him! Protect yourself! Protect others!

Grayson was practically at the very last inch of his seat. But Daemon’s hand on his shoulder kept him from moving any further. The hand wasn’t heavy or tight upon him. It was light as a feather, but Grayson was unable to shake it off.

He was able to look over at Demos though.

Demos was not groaning or shouting or anything.

He was staring at Ryder with a look of… what?

What was that look? And that look was mirrored in the other two standing Weryn Vampires, especially the gender-less looking one with the black hair and Asian features.

It’s fear. They’re afraid. Of Lawson winning? No…

Lawson was swinging at Ryder again. One punch. Two punches. Three. Four. They kept coming. Blood poured from Ryder’s mouth, nose, ears. But still he didn’t fight back.

“This isn’t right,” Grayson said to Daemon. “You have to stop this! He’s not defending himself! You can’t let this happen!”

“It’s all right, Grayson. Daemon knows what he’s doing,” Julian said.

“You’ve got to be kidding! Don’t you see what’s happening?” Grayson cried.

“It’s not what you think,” Caemorn said gently.

“Balthazar? What’s he thinking? What is Ryder thinking?” Grayson demanded.

The Eyros Vampire narrowed his eyes. “He’s thinking… he’s thinking about… about… the War. He’s thinking… ah!” Balthazar held his head with both hands. “Ah, no! That’s… no, that’s not… Ah!”

Balthazar sagged as if stricken. Caemorn grabbed him. Julian leaped from his seat to help.

“Balthazar? Balthazar, what’s wrong?” Julian asked. “Let’s get him down.”

Julian and Caemorn got Balthazar sitting in a chair. The Eyros Vampire held his head in his hands and rocked back and forth. Grayson’s gaze snapped between him and Ryder, who continued to stand and bleed.

“Better yet I’m going to eat you in my lion form! I bet you’ll all like to see that! Wouldn’t you? WOULDN’T YOU?” Lawson shouted at the crowd.

There were answering yells of encouragement. Bloodthirsty laughter. Screams of delight. Only the Weryn remained still and wary. Grayson wondered if this sounded as taboo as it was.

“I didn’t know,” Balthazar said. “I didn’t remember…” He lifted his head from his hands, looking stricken and pale. “Daemon, did you know? Did you know?”

Daemon, who hadn’t left his throne, gazed back upon Balthazar with sad eyes. But said nothing.

“Know what?” Grayson asked.

“He’s just figuring it out. He’s remembering. He’s… gods, he had no idea who he is or what that means or… none of us did either,” Balthazar continued. The “he” appeared to be Ryder not Daemon. Balthazar looked up at Daemon again. “You knew, you knew what he did, what he is, but you want him back?”

Want who back? What is he talking about?

Daemon let out a soft sigh. “I was not there last time. I am here now. We are all here now.” The Vampire King’s eyes moved to Grayson for long moments. “And the past is never really past.”

“And after I’m done eating you , I’m going to make that little bastard my play thing!” Lawson jerked one hand towards Grayson. “I’m going to have so much fun, before I devour him too!”

And in that moment, Grayson felt something change in Ryder.

Whatever he had been waiting for, Ryder experienced it.

He didn’t get into a fighting stance. He didn’t even tense.

He seemed almost more relaxed than ever before.

Demos and the other standing Weryn Vampires were rigid now, eyes unblinking, as if they knew what was going to come and were holding their breaths for it.

It’s not about the leadership of the Weryn. He’s showing he’s not doing it for that. He wanted Lawson to expose himself for what he is: a monster.

There was a horrendous roar. Grayson’s eyes snapped back to the ring.

Lawson had shifted into an immense lion.

Golden, powerful body. Dark mane. Silver flashing eyes.

Claws sharp and ready to slice open skin and gorge on flesh and blood.

Lawson let out another roar and the crowd went wild.

The lion turned and ran full bore at Ryder.

Again, Ryder made no move to defend himself.

But then…

Just as the lion leaped for him, Ryder’s right arm snapped up and caught the front of the lion’s throat in an iron grip. Before Lawson could slice Ryder to ribbons with his claws, Ryder simply threw Lawson across the ring. The lion smashed against the box and slid down into a heap.

The crowd leaped to its feet and cheered so loudly that Grayson felt deafened by it. Ryder though did not respond to their yells of support. He seemed to not hear them at all. He calmly wiped the blood from his nose and mouth as he stood there. Waiting.

Demos and the other standing Weryn looked like they were still waiting for something. Something terrifying.

“He’s remembering, Daemon,” Balthazar’s voice was low, urgent. “He’s remembering he was far different than now.”

“Yes, but that does not mean who he is now isn’t his real self,” Daemon responded.

“I don’t think--”

“Wait,” Daemon murmured.

Balthazar fell silent, but looked pale as milk. Julian and Caemorn still kept hold of the Eyros Vampire as if they feared he would faint or something.

Lawson was up again. He shook his shaggy head as if to clear it.

He let out a roar of anger and raced towards Ryder again.

This time he went low rather than high. He swiped at Ryder’s leg’s with a low, deadly paw.

But Ryder’s legs simply were not where they had been by the time that Lawson’s paw struck. Ryder was behind Lawson.

Ryder grabbed the lion by the scruff of his neck and his tail and heaved Lawson above his head.

The crowd roared with approval and amusement as Lawson’s paws frantically scrabbled at the air while his head twisted this way and that, trying to bite any part of Ryder he could reach.

Ryder tossed him again. This time into the crowd. Into the Weryn.

They had not been cheering or egging Lawson on. Not even those that had come out into the ring on his behalf. Yet Ryder’s expression when he looked at them as they scattered in every direction was of complete disgust , except for Demos, of course. His teeth showed between his lips.

Lawson had landed on his back. He scrambled to get onto four paws, roaring and snarling in his fury and fear. He ended up shifting back into human form. He was bloody and bruised, but mostly it was his pride that was hurt. He glared at Ryder.

“Fight me, Ryder! FIGHT ME! No more games!” Lawson screamed.

It seemed to Grayson that Ryder had been fighting him.

It was just that Lawson was completely outclassed.

How could he not have known that before this fight started?

And yet, Ryder seemed different than he had compared to when they had faced off against the Horys Vampires and their other Sect of Dawn members at the church.

Stronger. So much stronger. Colder. So much colder.

“Fight you?” Ryder asked. His voice was and wasn’t the one Grayson knew, that had whispered his name, that had spoken so lovingly to him last night. “Fight you?”

The crowd went quiet. Pennant dropped. People shifted uneasily.

“FIGHT ME!” Lawson pounded his chest.

Ryder laughed . It was the coldest sound that Grayson had ever heard. Full of mocking contempt. There was no fear here of Lawson. There was no dismay or sadness at ending Lawson. There was only disgust.

Grayson shot a glance at Balthazar. He, Julian and Caemorn were all frozen, eyes wide, knowing that this was not good. So not good. Daemon appeared calm. Certain. Knowing. And sad. But it was the sadness of seeing something he almost knew was going to happen.

What’s going on? Ryder’s not acting like himself!

Grayson looked back and jerked in his seat. A red line had appeared on the ground stemming from Ryder’s feet to either side of him like a half-moon. That red line extended upwards into the air and Grayson could see beings moving inside of it.

Animal shapes.

Bears, tigers, lions, panthers, wolves, stags, birds and other forms that were alien that glided or slumped or prowled. They came to the edge of the red light. All of them looked out. Ready to do whatever Ryder commanded them too.

Lawson launched himself on Ryder again. It was a berserker rage, but he held in one hand an axe.

Where had he got that? Someone in that crowd had given it to him!

The blade glowed with witchfire. It was magical.

Grayson knew that. If he’d never seen a magical weapon before he still recognized it now.

The animals surged out of the red light.

They moved with a predator’s fury. Ryder stood there, unconcerned, even as Lawson tried to chop at them, to cut them down and carve a path towards him.

But he didn’t get a chance to go two steps before the animals were upon him.

Lawson let out a scream as they surged over him.

There were screams. Unbelievable screams. Then there were crunching noises as bones broke and then gurgles.

And then… nothing.

The animals calmly went back into the red haze. What was left of Lawson was just a red smear on the ground. Had they eaten him? Absorbed him? Tracked him away on their hooves or paws? Grayson didn’t know. His stomach lurched.

There were no other sounds in the ring now. There were no shouts or cries. There were no cries of victory or defeat. Everyone appeared to be trying to remain absolutely silent so that Ryder wouldn’t notice them.

“What do I see? What do I see?” Ryder asked with a deep sigh as he regarded the Weryn Vampires who crouched there like frightened animals themselves. “Not the proud bearers of my Bloodline.”

My Bloodline? Oh, my God… he’s Weryn, Grayson realized.

A smile, cold as an arctic dagger crossed Ryder’s face. “I think I shall have to start again. Start from fresh, except for you, Demos.”

Demos’ head snapped up. His mouth opened, but no words came out at first, but finally he said, “Ryder, I--”

“That’s not my name, Demos,” Ryder corrected.

Demos swallowed. “ Weryn .”

A gasp went through the room. Now, all these Vampires that had come for one show had realized that Daemon had brought them for quite a different one.

“Come here, Demos.” Ryder pointed to his side. Demos did so. “I wouldn’t want you to get caught up in the cleansing of my Bloodline.”

And it was then that Grayson knew that Ryder was going to kill every single Weryn Vampire right then and there. Just like he had Lawson. But unlike Lawson, they all didn’t deserve that.

He’s not himself. He’s not! I have to stop him!

This time, Daemon’s hand on his shoulder did not keep Grayson in his seat, but rather, released him. Grayson vaulted over the box’s railing and ran towards Ryder to try and stop a massacre.