Page 22 of The Clash of the Damned (The Titan Syndicate Saga #2)

Luca

I t’s hard to believe my father’s murderer is in the same building as me.

While they’re clearly a threat to my life, I see it more as an opportunity for the revenge I’m owed.

One I wasn’t sure I’d ever have. “Well, I’m ready for life to go back to normal, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to get what I want either. ”

“You don’t understand Luca–”

“Then help me understand.”

“There is a fight room in the basement of Tao. It doesn’t get used often, and with everything that’s happened, it hasn’t been my priority to get you up to speed on it.

” Silva pauses to double check the text that set these events in motion.

“We’re needed there now, and if you don’t show, you will automatically forfeit leadership of our empire and possibly your life too.

” Disturbed by how quickly I’m watching Silva unravel when nothing fazes her normally, I decide to ignore my better judgement and follow her. “I thought we had more time– ”

“Well, we don’t, so give me the crib notes version.” While I’m pissed off at being pushed into another situation where the truth has been kept from me, my priority now is to survive. Following Silva through the winding passages of Tao, we begin our descent into the deeper levels.

“This fight room is something we don’t advertise to the other empires.

They have their secret ways, so do we. Most of the time, we like to pretend we’re civilized and can resolve things without violence.

The rest of the time, we resort to our baser instincts.

” She stops at a door and offers up her wrist, the hardware extracting a droplet of her blood to verify who she is.

It’s tech we’ve possessed for years, but I’ve rarely seen it used.

“The room didn’t see much use after your mom challenged your grandfather for leadership.

She was supposed to tell you about it, but well, she had her reasons for not.

I kept an eye on it since then, in case it was ever needed again.

Since her death, it’s picked up practice and gained popularity as no one in leadership is limiting it. ”

I’ve been following Silva closely up until now, but her latest admission makes me stop. “Let me get this straight. If we have a disagreement amongst the Undead, we fight it out?”

“Exactly.” Silva hurries me along. “When our kind left Romania, there was only one of us each. Well, two if you look at the Druids, but that’s not important.

” Her mouth opens and shuts before she continues her explanation.

“As our families grew, we needed a place where we didn’t have to hide our nature, and this was the solution.

It’s not ideal, but it works. It’s why we created so many rules around its use. ”

We stop at a door, and Silva is as serious as I’ve ever seen her. “Since you’re being challenged, once you walk in here, you can only leave if you’re victorious, or if you’re dead. Do you understand the risk? ”

“Do I have a choice?”

“No, you don’t.” I follow Silva into the fight room, and I’m assaulted with the noise of a cheering crowd as I step into another world.

The smell of blood, both old and fresh, overwhelms my senses, indicating a fight has just concluded.

If there is one thing I have to give my parents, it’s that they had high expectations of me.

Sure, I needed to train, but these Undead instincts I’m hearing about seem completely foreign to me.

It’s like my parents were trying to train it out of me, wanting me to be the perfect business woman instead.

It wasn’t until this moment that I’ve gotten the full picture of the brutality of my kind.

Between that epiphany, and what Silva shared on the walk down, I can see fighting has been going on here for a long time, and I was none the wiser for it.

It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dim lighting in the room.

An old school boxing ring is set up in the center, and the Undead around it part to the side to give us room to approach.

Undead in their party clothes, clearly bored from the festivities upstairs, have come to join a different type of festivity here.

I didn’t realize killing each other for fun was the new thing.

Silva climbs into the center of the boxing ring, and I follow her, climbing through the bars and ropes.

She holds out her hands, indicating she needs quiet, as I catalogue faces.

It looks like there is a representative of each Undead family here.

Sure, I’m not thrilled to need to fight, but I’m not scared. Not when I know what I’m capable of.

“Tonight we have two challengers that have lost faith in the De Greer family and their ability to lead our people.” Some cheers echo throughout the room, and Silva attempts to quiet them again.

I know I’m outnumbered, but when I win this thing, I’m going to rip out their entrails and wear them as jewelry while they die a slow and painful death for their disrespect.

“We work on a first come first serve basis, so the first challenger, Thalia of the Morvin family, step forward.” Silva waves her hand towards a tall, thin, pale woman who steps forward, a look of hatred on her face, which makes me pause. It doesn’t take me long to figure out who she is.

“You fucking bitch, you murdered my brother. Now, I’m going to rip out your heart and make you eat it while everyone watches and laughs.” Well clearly Storin took after his family by that display. I hold up my hand, and she stops talking.

“Sounds thrilling, but I’ll pass.”

“The only rule is you cannot use your blood manipulation magic. Fighting only. Only one person leaves the ring alive.”

Well, that’s inconvenient. Not all our strength in magic is equal, and it’s something we can’t train, so the rule makes sense.

Fighting on the other hand is trainable.

I’m thankful that my evening dress is short and won’t restrict my movements.

I kick off my platforms and try to ignore the squishy feeling under my feet.

Turning to look at the people I’m supposed to lead, I see some won’t meet my eye, and I’ve never been more disappointed in our kind.

“We’re being picked off by the religious group like fucking animals, and your answer is to attempt to overthrow me?

Humor me, you overthrow me, and then what?

The enemy is still out there killing us, and you think this is the solution!

” I ask, my arms thrown wide as I drive my point home.

“I will fight and win. I never thought I would see a day that I would be ashamed to be Undead.” Facing Thalia, I move into a defensive pose with my fists raised, the earlier cheers now gone .

“A fight to the death. Begin.” Silva waves her hands and exits the ring, giving us room to fight.

I circle the ring, stalking my prey, Thalia.

Instead of sizing up my strength, Thalia attempts to strike, but her moves are sloppy and all over the place.

Like her idiot brother, she relies on bullying instead of skill.

I dodge her attack effortlessly, and the crowd boos.

They want blood and crave violence. I may not agree with the events that led me here, but I’m Undead just like they are, and I get it.

I’m not inclined to give it to them now because my second challenger is who I’m really after.

If I were him, I would use this as a chance to see what I’m capable of before he attacks, but I’m not about to give him an advantage.

I want to paint this room with that man’s blood. Impatient, I jump onto Thalia’s shoulders, and with a bit of assistance from my magic–fuck the stupid rules–rip her head clean off. The tendons in her neck wave at me as her head rolls across the floor.

The crowd is silent as her blood spurts, coating the fighting ring floor.

I assume they’re shocked at the unexpected end of the short challenge.

I don’t care, not when the person responsible for my father’s death is so close.

Thalia and her idiot brother definitely didn’t have the brains for it, so it must be the next challenger.

Silva darts back into the ring and holds up my bloody hand, announcing me the winner.

I don’t know if it’s a shock that I won so fast, or that I survived, but I’m met with silence.

Two Undead cart Thalia’s body out of the ring while her blood stains the floor and my silver lamé dress.

“Thorne Dramont, our second challenger, please step forward.” I know every single Undead, and I haven’t seen Thorne in years.

Last I heard, his family had moved to Europe, one of his distant relatives looking after his club, and now I know why.

They were hiding. His dark blonde appearance hasn’t changed much, but he’s bulkier than I remember.

Immediately, I know this fight will not be as easy as Thalia’s.

“Pity, so much wasted potential,” he says.

“Our families could have been great together after I got rid of your dad. But your mother wouldn’t hear of it, and despite my attempts at uniting our families to give the Undead the best chance of surviving, you’ve ignored me.

Now I need to take matters into my own hands. ”

The crowd gasps at the admission. Even with the “laws” of this fight club, there is no precedent for murdering their previous leader. It’s not our way. But I will avenge my father tonight, I decided that the moment I heard about this challenge.

“Which attempts have I ignored?”

“Well, Storin was working with me, and you killed him.”

“After he insulted our donors in my club? That was your attempt?”

I beckon Thorne forward, and we circle each other as I goad him into attacking me.

I suspect with his size, my speed will become my weapon, but I can’t be wrong about it.

One wrong move, and I’m dead. He moves–a blur of motion, fangs bared, and I don’t flinch.

Instead, I twirl my claws where his neck was only a moment before.

Thorne counters quickly with an elbow to my jaw, and the crowd cheers.

Finally, they’re getting their promised violence.

He follows up by grabbing my arm and twisting it behind my back.

I hear a crack from my own body, but I refuse to scream.

I won’t give him that power over me, but I’m pretty sure he’s dislocated my shoulder.

When I don’t scream, he keeps twisting as I grit my teeth, until he breaks my arm.

Managing to finally get a kick to his shin, I break free of his grip.

A quick glimpse down shows the bone sticking out of my arm as it hangs limply at my side.

I underestimated Thorne’s speed. A mistake I won’t make again.

Ducking and sliding on the floor through the blood, I grab a rusted pipe fragment from the edge of the ring and yank it off.

Using what remains of my strength, I throw it and embed it in Thorne’s thigh.

A roar of pain echoes throughout the fighting room, and Thorne pulls the bar out of his thigh, tossing it across the room.

While the move won’t kill him, it will give me what I need, hesitation from him and his blood.

Climbing on what’s left of the ring after taking my makeshift weapon, I launch myself off the edge and drive both feet into his chest. With my weight firmly on him and my abilities controlling his blood to hold him in place, I move my good hand to the side of his face and explode his head.

Blood rains everywhere as I close my eyes in a brief moment of relief, then I stand.

“I know you said no magic, but they changed the rules to get me here, so I did the same.”

She smiles proudly. “And that’s why you are fit to be the Undead leader. You’re smart and think with your head, not your emotions.”

“But I’m injured.”

“With blood, you’ll heal. You’re alive. That’s all that matters.”

Victorious, I listen as Silva announces me the victor to the Undead, and they cheer for me.