The Blood Bracelets #2: Demon Born

Chapter Seven

The door to the arena passageway began to open again, the hinges grinding with age against each other. Kael turned to face it with a sigh.

'That was fast,' said Drake. 'Isn't there usually an hour between each match?'

'At least,' Kael said. 'Tank must be excited to see me lose.'

'Reckon you'll win?'

Kael gave Drake a flat stare. 'Again, are you offering to take my place?'

'Yeah, yeah, I get it. Don't ask,' said Drake, waving his hand at him dismissively. 'Good luck.'

Kael tested his shoulder, rolling it gingerly to feel the skin tight and raw as it stretched, but it was healing at least. He slipped around the rolling door and headed back down the passageway, again trying to anticipate what type of demon he would be going up against for his last round.

The crowd's anticipation and excitement engulfed Kael as he entered the arena, his hearing drowned out by the cheers. It wasn't even a huge crowd, probably around fifty or so spectators, but they made a hell of a lot of noise. He paused when he saw his opponent.

It was a human.

Kael walked forward, stopping at few metres away from his opponent. He was instantly suspicious, but his demonic sense wasn't picking up on any unusual energies. This man was human.

Tank didn't even introduce them, he merely flicked his hand and the crowd's cheers erupted again. Kael tensed when his opponent stepped forward, and he realised that if this man was simply human Kael couldn't take his soul or his energy. Worse than that, Kael wouldn't take his soul or energy.

'You're underestimating me,' said his opponent, watching Kael carefully. 'There's no need for that.'

'And why would that be?' Kael asked.

His opponent crossed his arms. There was nothing overly intimidating about him, since he was Kael's height and not at all built like the other demons Kael had faced, his frame wiry and narrow, hidden under loose clothing. 'My name is Metus,' he said, 'but you're not fighting just me.'

A doppelganger? Kael thought.

Metus' eyes began to darken, until even the whites of his eyes had turned black. 'You'll be fighting my Contractor as well.'

Kael felt the demonic energy then, rising like a steady wave as it headed for shore with such force behind it Kael felt the need to brace himself for the impact. The last time Kael had felt this swell of power was when he faced Jerry, which meant Metus' contract wasn't with just any demon.

It was an Infernum.

'Animas,' said Metus, 'meet Abbadon, the Destroyer.'

Kael took a step back as the energy crashed over him, invisible but powerful, like a surge of gale wind. Metus didn't change into a grotesque creature like Jerry had, but instead symbols began to appear across his skin, rising from underneath the surface like bruises. Kael couldn't read the symbols, but it looked like a mixed language of Latin and demon.

'I don't know if Abbadon would be too please to find his Contracted using his power to fight in the Demon Brawls,' said Kael, shaking off Abbadon's energy.

Metus smiled. 'He will once he discovers I killed an Animas.'

'Now who's underestimating who,' Kael muttered.

Metus burst into black smoke, like a magician's smoke screen, but Kael caught a flurry of movement behind him and before he could turn around the black smoke coiled around Kael like a snake. He felt a hand grab his injured shoulder, sending a jolt of pain through him, but Kael spun out of his grasp quickly and jumped back to create some distance between them again.