He chuckled. "Of course. Can you?"
"Anything you can do, I can do better," I said.
With a grin he crouched, muscles bunching before he jumped, and the rest of the vampires followed his lead.
Just like that, it was a race with all of us leaping for handholds. A strange sense of nostalgia rolled over me, like we were kids on a playground. Maybe a rather large, deadly playground, but still the feeling was there. Like I"d shed all the rules and demands of being an adult, wife, or good girl.
I climbed as though I"d been doing it all my life: finding hand- and footholds with ease, leaping to the side where I had to, swinging off one hand even.
I couldn"t stop grinning. My brother"s life was in jeopardy, and for that matter so was mine. But I"d never felt so alive. Like I was finally a part of something that was important.
"I think she likes this." Max spoke over my head, but I didn"t care.
He was right.
Another few seconds and we were at the top of the stadium, hanging on by our fingertips. They all looked to me like I knew what was supposed to happen next. I wished I"d watched more of the action movies Roger liked so much.
"Pull up slow, stay on your bellies," I whispered.
They did as I asked, and I did the same. From our bellies, there wasn"t much to see. I looked up to the sky, but there was no sign of Beth or Sandy. Then again, their dark feathers weren"t going to show up well in the night.
"Stay here." I eased into a crouch, climbing over the cement barrier in front of us while still keeping as low as possible. The stadium opened up in front of me, the green gra.s.s churned to mud by a thousand pairs of hooves. Three-quarters of the stadium was full of humans, the hum and warble of their voices rising through the air at a low drone. In front of me, the stadium section was bare, without a single human sitting in the stands.
Jensen hadn"t been exaggerating about the Bull Boys. There were easily a thousand of them. Some stood out, though, larger than their buddies. Bull Boys on steroids. At the center of the stadium was a huge platform with two stakes standing in the middle of it, a man tied to each. Tad was on the left, and Jensen on the right.
Ernie floated between them and Achilles paced the front of the platform, a microphone in one hand and a sword in the other. His voice echoed up to me perfectly. "Where is she?"
"She"ll come. I"m sure of it," Ernie said. "But you"d better be careful, Achilles. She"s stronger than we all thought she was going to be."
"Pah. Merlin handpicked her."
Handpicked . . .
"I mean, he even convinced her brother to infect her! And now they"re both going to die." Achilles strutted across the platform, his hands spread out to the sides. He did a slow spin and brought the mic back to his mouth. "Am I not a hero? Have I ever failed in killing a monster? This Drakaina will be no different."
The humans clapped, but the sound died out almost as soon as it started. He was losing their attention.
They were used to monster-truck rallies, baseball games, and huge concerts. Not a man wearing a skirt talking to them about a monster they couldn"t see.
I slid back to where the vamps waited. "Spread out close to the mud. If the bird girls can get Remo and Dahlia in and out, we may not even need you. Can any of you defuse the bomb on the doors?" I should have thought to ask that before.
Max nodded. "I can. I think."
"Do it. Otherwise when the fighting starts and the humans try to get out, there"s going to be a real mess."
He nodded and slid back down the side of the stadium. I slipped back over the cement, keeping low but still watching Achilles. I spared a glance for the night sky. A flicker of bright wings caught my eye for a split second before they appeared, dropping from the sky in a breathtaking dive. Remo and Dahlia clung to their claws, legs swept straight back with the speed at which the four of them fell.
Achilles looked up, some instinct preserving him as the first feathers shot forward on a flick of one of the girls" wings. He dove to the side, right off the stadium and into the mud. The feathers rat-a-tat-tatted into the wooden platform like a machine gun.
"Stymphalian birds! They were just turned!" Ernie yelled. Remo and Dahlia dropped from the birds and ran to the two men at the stakes. Their movements were too fast to follow, but the ropes dropping were enough to know they were getting the job done.
The crowd went wild, cheering, and the Jumbotron came to life, projecting exactly what was happening in minute, horrifying detail.
Tad slumped into Dahlia"s arms and Jensen into Remo"s. I couldn"t take my eyes from the scene as Achilles stood up, a sword in one hand and a s.h.i.+eld in the other. With a roar he leapt to the stage and rushed them.
There was no way they"d make it away from him carrying the two men.
"No!" I screamed, and bolted down the stairs.
Achilles spun, saw me, and grinned. "There you are, Drakaina."
The crowd oohed, like they"d been prepped for me too.
I was halfway down, the people around me twisting in their seats. "I"m the one you want."
"I want all the monsters dead, fool. I care not what breed of evil they are, only that they end their lives on the tip of my sword." He whipped his sword hand around, the blade s.h.i.+ning in the stadium lights, as it swept toward the one closest to him.
The crowd began to chant his name. "Achilles, Achilles, Achilles." He held up his hands, asking for more.
Tad"s eyes lifted to mine as Achilles drove the blade through my brother"s stomach and out his back. The crowd gasped, Achilles"s name stilling on their lips as the moment stretched. I could not believe what I was seeing. It wasn"t possible that Tad was run through.
"Alena. Run. Get away." His words were not loud, but I knew him. I knew his heart and how he would have fought for me. That even now, he would try to protect me.
"Tad!" I screamed his name, and the crowd nearby turned away from my grief-stricken cry. The cameras zoomed in closer on me, and I saw the smoke begin to curl around me.
The uncoiling of my snake ripped through me and carried with it a second scream that arched from my throat and into the night air, the stadium acoustics throwing it high and wide. Around me, the vamps slapped their hands over their ears and fell to the ground. The humans closest to me scrambled away, leaving a large swath of stadium below me wide open.
The mist wrapped up around me with the speed of a lighting strike, and in a split second I rose in the stadium, my coils moving me toward Achilles at top speed.
Ernie spun. "Alena! Don"t let the rage take you, it"s what he wants!"
I whipped my head toward him, hissing and flicking venom from my fangs. Ernie was not my friend, I knew that much. Just his being at Achilles"s side was enough for me to consider him an enemy.
Behind me, the crowd cried out in fear, some of them calling on Achilles to save them from the monster. From me.
Achilles grinned, and the Bull Boys around him raised their weapons, roaring their challenge.
"Boys. Let"s get her." He pointed his sword at me and I swung my tail forward, slamming it through the first row of Bull Boys as if they were bowling pins. I moved into the open s.p.a.ce, swinging my head, biting through flesh and leather armor as if it were nothing. Screams rent the air, pulsing through my blood.
He"d killed Tad.
I"d failed my brother.
"Rope her!"
The first rope settled over my neck, strangling me. A hiss erupted out of me, and I snapped my mouth at the Bull Boys who held the end of the rope. But another woven rope settled over my mouth and clamped it shut. I whipped my tail forward again and tucked my head down into my coils, writhing for all I was worth. Mud and blood flung through the air as my multicolored scales glittered and flexed.
"She"s wounded! Aim for it!"
Wounded? I wasn"t wounded, what were they talking about?
"Alena, you idiot, you cut yourself?" Ernie screamed over the din. Was he on my side or not?
I couldn"t answer him, even if my mouth weren"t clamped shut. More ropes settled over me, pinning me to the ground despite my writhing. I looked for Tad, but he was gone, as were Jensen and the three girls.
Remo had stayed.
And my heart did a funny little thump as I watched him battle with Achilles, the crowd cheering once more. The two men were well matched, but Remo was bigger. Faster.
But Achilles was a hero, and I was beginning to understand that there was no beating a hero. That wasn"t how the world worked.
The monsters didn"t take first place. Not ever.
A sharp pain ripped up through my side, and the Bull Boys bellowed with nothing short of triumph. I twisted my head to see a spear sticking out of my side about ten feet down from my head. The wound I"d given myself to save Dahlia. They pushed the spear in farther and I groaned with pain. Laughing, they twisted the weapon like they were making meringue out of my innards, whipping it around faster and faster.
Ernie fluttered down to me, his face splattered with mud and several of his feathers bent. "Listen, you can still beat him. You have to. Do you understand?"
I tore my eyes from the men to look at Ernie. The Bull Boys tightened the ropes around my neck and I gasped for breath, the world darkening for a split second. Maybe that would be better. At least I wouldn"t feel what they did to me if I was unconscious.
"You can"t kill her, that"s Achilles"s job," Ernie barked. The stranglehold lessened, as did the pain in my side as they yanked the spear out.
Ernie was back to me, whispering, "s.h.i.+ft down, out of snake form, and take this." He held out a tiny arrow. "Use it on Achilles and no one has to die."
Except that Tad already had. I jerked my head to the side, managing to dislodge several of the bulls that held me, and smashed my head into Ernie. I sent him tumbling head over b.u.t.t into the mud, where he lay on his back, not moving, but I still heard him. "Ahh, I thought I was wrong about you, Lena. I thought you would show them a different kind of monster."
His words stung, hitting home as no threat of violence could have. The anger left me in a rush, and I let the snake"s desire to protect itself and its territory slide away from me. The mist wrapped around my form once more, and I fell to the mud, the snake gone, along with all my clothes.
The men, and a few women, in the crowd whistled and catcalled, a cacophony of noise I did my best to block out.
This was not a time to be prudish. I ran, clutching my now-mangled arm to my side, slipping through the mud and taking advantage of the Bull Boys" shock. I dropped to my knees beside Ernie. "I"m sorry. Give me the arrow." He pressed it into my hands, and I helped him out of the mud. "I thought you were on Hera"s side."
"It"s complicated," he muttered. "Go. Before Achilles does more damage."
I spun in the mud and started toward the platform. Whatever advantage I had was gone; the Bull Boys were back on me. But the mud wasn"t any easier for them to maneuver in than it was for me. They"d reach for me and I"d flinch away, missed by an inch at best.
Like a game of horrible tackle football, we careened toward the platform. I"d catch glimpses of weapons, of Remo"s face, of a set of horns as one of Achilles"s minions charged. Twice I fell to my knees, and both times Bull Boys flew over me as they leapt and missed.
I"d swept around the platform twice before I realized there were no stairs, no easy way to get up to where Achilles stood. Clutching my mangled arm, I spun, put my back to the platform, and faced the Bull Boys.
A screech that resonated along my skin snapped every eye to the sky. The two Stymphalian birds swept in a perfect dive. I raised my good hand and one of them grabbed me, yanking me out of the mud with a squelching pop. "Drop me on the platform!"
She did a single loop while arrows and knives were thrown at us. I was. .h.i.t twice, but they glanced off. My human skin tore, but the scales underneath protected me.
Thank G.o.d for that. Good grief, did I really just thank G.o.d I had scales?
Her claws clung to me as we circled, and then she dropped me right behind Remo. He leapt forward and into Achilles. They went down in a tangled heap. Remo was on top, his fist slamming into Achilles over and over, the power of my blood running through his veins. Achilles dodged several of the blows, which sent Remo"s fist straight through the base of the platform. The second time it happened his fist seemed to stick for a split second. It was enough of an advantage for Achilles.
The hero pulled a s.h.i.+ning silver blade from his side and drove it into Remo"s neck. Remo slumped, his body limp as one hand rose to the blade in his neck.
"No!" I screamed the word, and Achilles grinned at me.
There was a gasp from the crowd and one woman cried out. They didn"t want to see Remo go down any more than I did.
"Turn for me, monster." He grinned at me, and I clutched the tiny arrow in my hand.
There was nothing I could do for Remo if I was dead. "You want to fight me, then fight me. Leave the others out of it. Unless you"re afraid?"
He circled around me, his sword flicking back and forth like a metronome. "Are you not enraged by the death of your brother?"
His words sparked the anger and I fought to breathe through it, the snake in me las.h.i.+ng with her tail and snapping her deadly fangs as she hissed. The sound rumbled out past my clenched lips, which only exaggerated it.
Achilles waved his sword at me. "Come then, let us see your snake again. Let this be a true battle between hero"-he gave me a mocking bow-"and monster."
The crowd in the stadium gave a low oohing gasp. I wiped the mud from my face, flicking it off my fingers. The arrow I clutched with my bad hand was tucked carefully against my side so it wouldn"t p.r.i.c.k me.
Without warning, he lunged, slamming his s.h.i.+eld into my chest and throwing me across the platform. I slid on the wood, caught my hip, and tumbled off the edge. I caught the lip of the platform with my good hand, barely stopping my free fall.
"Just give up, Drakaina. I"ll make it quick. Easy. Relatively pain-free. I have to make a bit of a show of it, otherwise the good people here"-Achilles stood over me. He lifted a foot and brought it down on my fingers. It didn"t hurt, but he ground his heel, forcing my fingers to slowly release, one by one-"might be upset that they didn"t get what they wanted."
The arrow began to slip.
I stared up into his dark eyes. "You"re more of a monster than me, Achilles."
He threw back his head and laughed. "Oh, I don"t think the people would agree. Would they?"
The crowd was silent as I hung there, fighting for everything I had. He"d wanted an audience, and he"d gotten it. Except the people here had no reason to be afraid of me. Not really. I"d not killed anyone. Achilles had killed Tad without provocation, and now Remo too.
He was the killer in their eyes, and I think we both knew it.
Achilles stepped away from me and lifted his hands to the crowd. "Does a monster not deserve to die? Would you rather I let her go? You saw what she can do, how big she is. How dangerous. There is no way to contain that. I will save you, because Hera wishes it. And you will wors.h.i.+p her for the G.o.ddess she is."
The arrow slipped from my fingers, and with it my hope of resolving the situation peacefully fled. How was I going to end this now? How was I going to make him go away without killing him, or him killing me? I could see no way out.
A murmur began to build in the crowd; fear spilled from the humans and into the arena. I pulled myself back up onto the platform and crawled to where Remo lay. I touched his head, turning him so I could see his face. He gave me a wink, the wound in his neck gone already.
"I like the dirty look," the vamp said.
A hand clamped onto my shoulder and spun me around. I went with it, driving my good hand in a hard fist up into Achilles"s family jewels. He gasped and his face went white, yellow, then green as his eyes rolled back in his head.
Remo sat up. "Tell me you held back."
"Not for a second." I wobbled to my feet. Achilles writhed on his back, tears streaming from his eyes. I bent and scooped up his fallen sword. "Remo, roll him to his belly."
"Whatever you say, boss." He smiled at me, slapped my a.s.s as he walked by, then grabbed Achilles"s feet. With a quick flip he had him on his belly. "Now what?"
"I"m just guessing here." I laid the sword across the back of Achilles"s legs, right above the ankle. I took a deep breath. "Achilles, I don"t want to kill you. But I think if you can"t walk, you might be less of a problem." I pushed hard enough to cut through the tendons, but stopped at the bone. He screamed as the blood pumped out.
Remo"s eyebrows shot up. "That"s cold."