Chapter 2

The moment the judge said begin, an axe was flying through the air at me. It flipped through the air, gaining speed as it came closer and closer to me. I dodged to the left and the axe hit the ground about ten feet behind me. If I had been a little slower, I might have been dead. Relieved that it hadn't hit me, I snapped the whip towards the fallen axe with my right hand. The leather twined itself around the handle of the axe and gripped it. Soon, Alex was coming towards me with the long knife in one hand and an axe in the other. The other four axes were in sheathes, strapped across his chest.

Alex slashed at me, a smooth swing that barely missed me again. I flicked the whip at him, the axe at the end providing a blade as the braided leather swung in an arc with a swift snap. He stepped back and the axe swung in front of him, flying toward a pillar when the whip met its full length. There was a loud crash as the blade hit the stone of the pillar, breaking off a chunk that fell to the ground. I winced and snapped the whip again. It met his knife blade, both connecting at the same time. The whip unbraided when the blade sheared off the end, falling into a multitude of long leathers strands. They tore into his skin as they continued to rush forward.

Alex flinched, his right hand coated in blood where the whip split his skin open. He flipped the axe at me with his left hand and the blade sunk into the flesh of my right arm, just below the shoulder. I screamed at the pain and felt my fangs jab into my skin when I shut my mouth again. That was not good. Breathing deeply, I pulled the axe out of my arm and ducked as yet another axe came flying at me. Three down and three to go. After it was safely burrowed deep in the ground, I snapped my whip at Alex, but missed as he danced back. Faster than I thought was possible, I snapped my whip again and watched, awed as it struck Alex's next axe from the air. The axe clattered to the ground and Alex was lunging at me again with the knife.

It was strike and dodge for a while after that, neither one of us gaining the upper hand. Soon, Alex's axes were scattered all over the battle area, his knife his only weapon left. The arena was blotted with our blood as we moved around. We continued to fight, each looking for an opening and finally, I found one. However, I had been getting tired and hesitated before moving. Alex took that moment and shoved forward with his knife, but had to fall back as my whip snapped overhead when I regained my footing. I snapped the whip again, although with a lighter swing as he tried to regain his balance and it twined itself around his neck.

I smiled, my breathing a little less ragged. "You're down."

He looked at me and smiled back. "Good job."

We stood there for a while until we were brought back into normal time.

A judge came into the area, nodding at us. I pulled my arm down and the whip slid down and curled on the ground. "Good job," he echoed. "We're going to heal you quickly and you'll start again with your next weapons. They've already been picked. You'll find them on the ground next to the person who will be healing you. Lay your current weapons there after you take your new ones. Understood?"

Without waiting for an answer, he turned around and led us out. Outside the barrier, there were two beds with healers next to them. They too were surrounded by barriers so that they did not influence other things that were going on. Behind that, Jason and Dawn were waiting for us. The judge sat us down on the beds and the healers began their work, spreading salves on our cuts and muttering under their breath. Blood clotted and flesh knit itself back together. No bones were broken, but the healers checked anyway. When they were finished, they led us out of the barriers and showed us our new weapons. This time, I had my set of daggers and the twelve-inch knife and Alex had his claws. That meant that in the last battle, we would both be using swords. Oh joy.

We were both put back into the arena with our second set of weapons. Again, the judges brought us into a loophole in time, though it was a different one. We were given a few minutes to practice again and then it was time for round two. "Begin," was all that the judge said before the next match started.

As Alex had done in the first fight, I flung a dagger at him. As soon as the blade began its flight, I rushed up to him, knife raised. He dodged both my dagger and my first strike, but my second slash connected with his claws. Metal grated on metal as our weapons locked. As I struggled to extract my knife, Alex slashed at me with his other claw. It raked across my side and cut through my shirt, into my skin. I rolled away, dropping my blade as I retreated. With as much force as I could, I grabbed a dagger in each hand and hurled them at him. He backed up just enough for me to grab my knife again, but my side was still gushing blood, though it was healing. I slashed at him, determined not to give him an opening, but he blocked all of my attacks.

This went on for a while with me attacking and him blocking. I began to get tired and soon I was also becoming clumsy. Reminding myself that I couldn't keep doing this the whole fight, I decided to drop back into defense for a while. Bad idea.

Alex took up offense the moment I switched to defense. His swings were strong enough to kill someone if he tried. I was tiring, actually, more so than before. It was over soon. Alex kept on slashing at me with both of his claws and I had to parry off all of them with only my one knife. I couldn't find any chance to grab another dagger and throw it at him so I just went on using my one blade. It wasn't long before I made a mistake and he got through my defenses. I blocked too high and his left claw came swishing towards me. He stopped it just before it reached my throat and grinned.

I grimaced and held in the urge to sulk at the lost battle. The process of healing and retrieving new weapons was repeated and we were back in the barrier faster than I thought was safe. Thankfully, we were given special herbal tea to help us become less fatigued, but I still felt a little tired. Oh well. It was too late to back out now. We were transported one last time to a hole in time and the next battle started.

With our swords raised and our breathing steady, the next match started much like the ones before. The judge came in and told us to begin and then it was all ours from there on in.

This time, the battle began with the two of us eyeing each other and walking in circles facing each other. After all, swords were our weapons of choice and the only weapons we had seen each other use. That is, except for our own teeth and claws, of course. After a few turns, I decided that I had called up a pretty good memory of Alex's fighting style. Apparently, Alex was thinking the same thing. We both rushed each other at the same time and ended up just locking blades for a second, my one sword resting against his crossed two. We struggled for a moment and then unlocked our blades, bringing them down with a swift downward motion. I took the offensive, reluctant to take defense after the last battle. Alex slid comfortably into defense and the sound of clanging metal was heard as our weapons hit again and again.

For a while, we continued to fight, the battle consisting mostly of hit, block, hit again, and then block again. After a while, I changed tactics, swinging my sword at Alex, but with the flat of the blade. The blade slid down his and cut into his right hand, going deep enough that I felt it meet his bone. He cursed, dropped his sword and slashed at me with his other blade. I dodged as fast as I could and then kicked his sword across the ground, out of the way. My own sword was dripping blood and throwing crimson droplets everywhere as we resumed battling, Alex fighting with twice the intensity as before. Our blades became almost invisible as we swung them with as much speed and force as possible.

We began to move all over the arena, the lighting finally making a difference. We ducked behind the pillars and took big chunks out of them as we fought, slamming our blades against the course stone of the pillars when we missed each other. The light kept changing as we fought, flickering in places and shining with blinding brightness in others. We kept fighting for what felt like hours and soon, sweat was dripping down my forehead and into my eyes. I cursed at it and brushed it away, taking care to dodge back as I did so. Still, I was not fast enough and Alex's blade sliced through my arm. I clenched my jaws together at the pain and fought back, my left arm limp at my side. Yet somehow, I managed to keep on fighting.

The time seemed to drag on and on until it felt like the fight was never going to end. However, Alex and I fought on, unwilling to accept defeat, especially after our earlier battles. Time continued to pass and soon the both of us were breathing heavily and slowing down. The judges were nowhere to be found and there was no sign that the battle would be over soon. Panting and trying to sort things out in my mind, I missed a block and Alex's sword came flying at me, ready to take my head off. I noticed a little too late and stepped back quickly in a frantic attempt to avoid being beheaded, but to no avail. Despite my efforts to dodge and Alex's pulling back his sword, the point of the sword swept across my eyes, slashing through flesh and skin alike. I screamed and dropped my rapier, my hands flying to my face. In front of me, I heard Alex shout out in surprise and call for help, dropping his blade as well. The metal hit the floor, clanging loudly, but I could barely hear it. My blood pooled in my hands and began to overflow, rushing out of my cupped hands and covering me. By now, I was sure that something was wrong. There was no way that the judges would have just left me bleeding under normal circumstances. Apparently, this wasn't a normal circumstance.

Fortunately, I could still hear Alex calling for help and telling me to hold on. However, he sounded like he was off in the distance, an eternity away. The pain was blocking out almost all my senses and I could barely feel my skin begin to knit itself back together. I still couldn't see and I had a sinking feeling that I wouldn't be seeing anything for a long time, assuming I regained my eyesight at all.

After some time, Alex seemed to get fed up with calling out to absolutely no one so he directed his voice back to me. "Hey Kristin, can you still hear me?" The bad news was his voice was getting quieter and quieter in my mind. It was hard to make out his words, much less string them together into a sentence.

"Yeah," I croaked, trying to talk through the pain and the blood coating my face.

Alex seemed to think that meant I was okay because his next question was rather ridiculous. "Uh, do you think you could send us back to normal time?"

It was a bit too much for me. "Oh yeah, of course. Just leave it to me. I mean, being blind and gushing blood is normal for me so it shouldn't be a problem, right?" I snapped, attempting at sarcasm, but in too much pain to make a good effort. Unfortunately, it came out a bit sharper than I had intended.

Alex sounded sheepish when he muttered a hurried sorry, making me feel bad. "No, it's okay. I shouldn't have said that," I told him. I tried to take back my earlier comment, but my tone still sounded gruff so I ended up trying once more in a valiant attempt to make up for my irate remark. "Actually, I think the area that was slashed has mostly healed over by now so I should be able to try bringing us back. After all, it doesn't hurt that much anymore."

Alex still sounded apologetic when he replied, but he seemed to regain his confidence after a while. "Can you see though?"

"I would have to say no, considering the only thing I see is a bunch of black with the occasional flicker of light and I don't think that's what you're seeing."

Alex chuckled lightly at that and I smiled.

"So, let's get my eyes bandaged so that I can try this," I said, wiping my hands on my pants in an attempt to rid myself of the blood that had caked onto me.

Alex didn't reply, but I could hear him rip off a piece of his shirt and I felt the cloth cover my eyes. He wrapped it around my head a couple of times, gently tugging at the cloth to make sure that it was tight, then made a knot and tied it securely, taking care to put the knot under my hair so that it wouldn't come off. "Good?"

I nodded. "Beautifully done."

"Thank you." He paused. "So, do your thing."

I snorted. "Easier said than done."

He laughed, a light pleasant laugh that made me feel better for some reason. "That's your problem, not mine," he said, grabbing my arm. "I just need to be in contact with you, right?"

"If you plan on coming with me," I returned. Alex squeezed my arm and I laughed. "It's not my fault. You're the one who asked."

"Ugh, Just get on with it."

"Touchy aren't we?" I felt his grip on my arm tighten again. "Alright, alright. Moving on. Just make sure you're touching some part of me the whole time and you're in the shadows."

"Done."

Well, here goes nothing, I thought. This was going to be fun.

The moment I started the shadow-walk, I could feel the difference. Having another person with me, and a non-vampire at that, was like trying to shove an elephant into a keyhole. Much harder than I expected. I was halfway through the time stream when I heard Alex growl behind me. Not good. His voice penetrated through my concentration.

"Kristin, why the hell are their demons and angels flying past us?"

I scowled. "I'm not so good at this so we have to go one dimension at a time. They don't feel like they're going to attack though, so we should be fine. Actually, they seem kind of like they're in a hurry." I frowned. "Wonder where they're going."

"Well, they are going the same way as us. Does that mean anything?"

"Possibly, but shut up for a second. I can't concentrate." I heard him sigh and then my hearing blanked out too. The shadow-walk took quite a bit longer and more energy than I had anticipated, but I was happy to have made it through, especially considering I was the one controlling it. Time didn't seem to agree with me much, but eventually, Alex said he saw a light that was growing bigger. There was a flash that even I could see and then we arrived at our destination, surrounded by demons.

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To be continued…