Blood Circus

Chapter 4- Fighter

" And you're my next challenger." 

Grisby grinned widely, showcasing glinting white fangs. Sylvia looked at Liam 

" Eight." Liam was rooted to his spot, his eyes darted to hers. He looked scared, and with good reason. 

" There's no way I can beat him!" he whispered to her. Grisby laughed at him, his laugh echoed through the empty ring.  

" Don't be a coward, Hunter! Fight me!" 

" I'll fight you." Sylvia challenged him. She saw Liam give her the 'don't be stupid' look, but she didn't care. If her role was the reckless one, she'd live up to it. Grisby was more than twice her size, in both height and weight, and so was obviously stronger than her, but she knew she was smarter. She started to climb up the ring, when something grabbed the back of her jacket and dragged her across the room. She was stopped in mid-air just before she crashed backwards into the solid brick wall. But whatever was holding her up didn't let go. She felt something click around her wrist. Another click made her look to see she had been handcuffed to a pipe running up the wall. The grip on her jacket let go and she dropped to the floor. She managed to land on her feet, but the handcuffs dug into her wrist as she fell. She kept trying to break free while a female voice spoke next to her. 

" Sorry, but we were ordered to kill him and keep you alive. So be a good Hunter and stay here." A woman materialised in front of her. The woman's long black hair trailed down her back to a pile on the floor. She wore a slim dark purple gown with her narrow lips stained a matching colour, all the darkness contrasting with her sheet white skin. Sylvia stopped struggling, realising it was useless, and looked at Liam. His eyes caught hers and she spoke confidently. 

" Liam, you can do this. Try not to kill them straight away. We can find out what's going on here from them." Liam hardened his expression and nodded at her. He climbed into the ring with Grisby. The woman cheered Grisby's name in her husky voice. Sylvia rolled her eyes. 

" Hey! Can it, Rapunzel!" The woman looked at her. She snarled, vampire teeth beared. 

" My name is Morgana, not Rapunzel. And I hope you enjoy watching your friend over there die! My man Grisby never loses!" 

" He'll be dead in a minute." she said flatly. Morgana slapped her hard across her face. She fell to the ground due to the force of the slap, her cheek stung painfully. She looked up to see Grisby shout at Morgana. 

" We need her alive, remember?" 

Morgana scowled at him, but returned to the ringside. Liam coughed impatiently. He had ditched his guns and appeared unarmed, but Sylvia knew he wasn't that stupid. He still had a knife hidden on him somewhere. Grisby instantly charged at him, but Liam managed to slip sideways, and he fell into the ropes. He charged at Liam again, and again Liam dodged and he fell into the ropes. Liam continued dodging Grisby's attacks and attempts to grab him. Sylvia couldn't work out what his strategy was. She thought of reasons for taking a defensive post instead of an offensive. One was if your opponent greatly outweighed you, which was definitely the case for Liam, but despite that, he could still attack at least once. Liam was just dodging.  

Then she realised what he was doing. He was stalling for time. He was waiting on something, but what? She looked around and spotted a small pin on the floor just within her reach. Now she had an idea. She quietly picked up the pin, watching to make sure she wasn't seen doing so. Thankfully, Grisby was too busy trying to catch Liam, and Morgana was too busy cheering him on, for to notice Sylvia had even moved. She kept her eyes on them while she used her free hand to pick the lock of the handcuffs. She fiddled around for a few seconds before a quiet click signalled the lock opening. Confident they weren't looking, she loosened the handcuff and slid her hand out. She stayed low, took out her handgun and aimed it steadily at the back of Morgana's head. Still completely unaware of Sylvia being free, she was now complaining about how long Grisby was taking to kill Liam. 

" Come on, Grisby! Kill him already! I'm getting bored! Can't you do anything..." 

Morgana's words were cut short by the bullet entering the back of her head. Grisby froze in the middle of the ring, his face twisted in disbelief. Morgana's lifeless body remained standing as it withered away to ash like the last vampire Sylvia had killed. From the ring, an agonising cry came from Grisby as he forgot about Liam, jumped over the ropes and kneeled next to his wife's ashes. Liam exited the ring at the other side and walked around to Sylvia. He was breathing fast and heavy. 

" I thought you'd do that, that's why I stalled for time. I knew you would find a way to escape and kill her." 

" Am I that predictable?" 

" No. You're that reckless."  

She pouted at him, pretending to be hurt by his comment, but it quickly turned to a small smile. However the smile faded as quickly as it came when they noticed Grisby stand up. He was clenching and unclenching his hands, and was practically growling at them.  

" You killed her!" Sylvia raised her gun to him. Grisby stared with pure rage and hatred, all of it aimed directly at her. For the first time since she was 12, she actually felt the feeling of fear build up slowly inside her. Grisby gave a roar of anger and rushed to grab her. 

Sylvia pulled the trigger.