“Everyone and everything. Me, my brother, and my nephew against Harker, his whore, and his hound.”
While the audience laughed, Mira moved a little closer and asked, “How do you kill rephaim?”
“Same as any other animal. Be careful, though.” I tilted my head toward a pile of what looked like broken boulders. “They turn to stone when they die.”
I glanced at Rome, saw the rage in his doggie eyes, and knew I was gonna pay a hefty price for dragging Mira into this.
I deserve it, too, although I didn’t ask her to fight with me.
She stood close enough that I could feel her trembling and hear her short, sharp breaths. I hoped she didn’t hyperventilate. After seeing the golem fight, she was probably scared to death.
I should be shot.
“Ready?” I asked.
“Let’s do it.” She gave me a curt nod.
Rome sneezed and shook himself.
Taking that as yes, I gave the signal to Rock.
“Begin!” he shouted.
Two seconds later and Mira had Greenie wrapped in metal from his ankles to his eyeballs. Rome didn’t waste any time, either. He snapped and snarled at Droog, who looked panicked as he skittered back.
“One down, two to go.” I grinned as I called up my katana. “And Droog ain’t looking so good. Save yourself the embarrassment and yield.”
Og roared and, like the idiot he was, charged me. I rolled between his legs and sliced my katana through his left thigh, then his right. He howled, but didn’t go down.
“You’re lucky I didn’t take your balls!”
I pivoted and ran at his back. Leaping, I held my sword with both hands and went to drive the blade down into his spine, but he was fast for such a big, ole bull. He dodged, then jumpedstraight up. When he came down, a ton of rust and metal and other junk came with him.
I threw my diamond shield over me and Mira, but Rome had driven Droog too far back to be under the umbrella. Then again, crap wasn’t falling down over there. Nah, it stayed over my head like a little black rain cloud.
That was why it took me too long to realize Og had pulled the heavy chain hook off the overhead crane. Standing in the dead center of the arena, the son of a whore started to whip it around the floor. Now we all had to play jump rope.
“Watch out!” I shouted. I still wasn’t used to fighting with others, but I figured a warning was the least I could do.
I don’t know if it was me yelling or what, but something made Droog overcome his fear of dogs or whatever it was that had sent him into a retreat. He leaned over and tried to smash Rome between his hands, but Rome wasn’t a warrior for nothing. He jumped over Droog’s head and ran down the giant’s back. He sank his teeth into Droog’s butt, worried it like a bone, and ripped out a big chunk. Droog screamed, then screamed again as Og’s chain came around and clipped his ankles. Unfortunately, it caught Rome, too, and he went down.
“Rome!” Mira screamed.
A gray light burst from where I’d last seen her and something zipped across the circle and into Droog with a wet thunk. When the light faded, I saw she’d skewered him with an I-beam. He flopped to the ground, dead before his body stopped quaking.
The crowd loved it.
As it roared its approval, I bolted toward Rome, but she beat me there by hurtling Og’s chain like an Olympian. She dropped to her knees and ran her hands over him, looking for injuries.
I kept one eye on Og as I crouched next to them. Sweating and growling, the rephaim leaned opposite the chain to add more speed and power in its swing. The hook glided about two feet above the ground, so I figured Rome was safe where he lay, but Mira and me were dead if we didn’t move.
“Boots, you need to get up. The chain’s coming back around—”
Gray power shot across the arena and ripped the chain outta Og’s hands. She didn’t slow it down or change its path, just raised it to the level of the second row of spectators and let it fly. Even from the floor of the arena, I could hear bones breaking and the unmistakable wetschlunk!of limbs separating from bodies.
Strangely enough, the crowd loved that, too. Og’s slack-jawed expression probably fed into it.
A hand fisted up in the front of my shirt and yanked me down, and I met a pair of blazing golden eyes.
