At one point during the second song, Ember landed a solid kick to one of the man’s kneecaps, but he had already started swinging his opposite leg up and hit her square in one of her shoulders. Ember gasped, her face turning white. She immediately grabbed her shoulder as they both went down. Painfully, they crawled away from one another. The place was silent as they picked themselves up. Ember did not move her hurt arm from her side, and she still managed to make it through to the last of the third song.
They stood panting and holding areas of themselves that were injured as Mrs. Donovan and the Mayor maneuvered back into the ring. Both went immediately to Ember, and the Mayor touched her shoulder. Again, her face drained to white, but she jerked back and shook her head, eyeing her competitor. He grinned even as he sucked air, favoring his knee she had knocked hard.
Mrs. Donovan raised her eyebrows in silent question.
Ember shook her head.
She sighed and grabbed the lowered mike. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have our first Death Zone match.” She nodded to Woody. “You had the most blows according to the score card. You pick your teammate first.”
Grinning at Ember, he stated, “My twin. Stone Chin.”
Ember’s eyebrows furrowed, more than likely, imaging another just like him.
He was. Stone and Woody were identical twins.
I seriously hoped those were nicknames.
As Stone got into the ring, Ember’s eyes went all freaky-creepy again. So much so, that she missed Mrs. Donovan asking her whom she wanted from her team. The referee touched her shoulder, and that woke her up. She winced and pulled back, scrubbing her face again before staring up at her group.
“Ember?” Mrs. Donovan asked, “Who would you like to fight with you?”
Ember’s face went cold, and she glanced back down to the men in the ring, and then back up to her group. She stated simply, “Grigori.”
Instantly, I turned and started taking shots, but dammit, I had missed Grigori’s initial reaction. So I altered my view to where Brent and Cole sat next to each other. It appeared Ember was going to have some explaining to do by how pissed they were, glaring at Grigori as he made his way down the bleachers.
Sorry boys, but you were gone for two years.
I made sure to keep my line of vision away from Daniil when I lowered my camera and turned back to the ring as Grigori slipped through the ropes. My gut feelings were never wrong, and Grigori had taken a position at Lion Security, the company that Ember co-owned, and kept the job, even after I had ousted him a year ago as Daniil Kozar’s son.
The Mayor spoke quietly to him in passing that made Grigori’s eyebrows raise, but he nodded, even as he stalked straight toward Ember. He did not pay attention to his competitors that were eyeballing him, or acknowledge that Mrs. Donovan was introducing him, or even glance up as the crowd went wild when they realized it was ‘The Grigori’. He did not say anything to Ember or vice versa, but his large hands went directly to her injured shoulder.
She grimaced, turning her face from him.
I had started snapping pictures and was rewarded with a beautiful shot when he jerked her chin back around so they were face to face.
He was furious; his eyes no longer blank. She acted just as livid, but she quickly murmured to him just as the referee started reading off the rules, which effectively were, the fight continued until both teammates were down. No time limit.
Grigori’s nostrils flared. He gripped her shoulder in an odd way right before he jerked his hands and a horrible snap sounded. Her complexion turned lily white, and she looked as if she wanted to puke, but Grigori briskly began massaging her shoulder. A few silent seconds passed while he worked her shoulder.
Ember’s coloring sluggishly returned before she stepped away from his touch. She started wind milling her arm, a look of relief passing over her features as she rotated it faster.
And I got it all on film, baby. Grigori had just popped her shoulder back into place.
The referee was staring wide-eyed.
Ember glanced at him. “Let’s do this thing.” That brought on hollers from the crowd.
As the bell sounded and music blared, she and Grigori moved next to each other.
If I had thought Ember alone was spectacular, well, she and Grigori were like moving extensions of one another. Even compared to the martial arts twins that had probably been doing this since they were babies together, Ember and Grigori were breathtaking.
I stopped taking pictures just to stare.
I knew I should have had one stunning part on film; but…yeah, no, I had to watch.
Grigori spun, ducked low and kicked Woody in his injured leg, just as Ember jumped high, pressed off Grigori’s back, using him like a spring, and kicked Stone straight in his jaw.
The twins did not go down from that move, but by the time the first song ended, the two men were knocked out when Ember dropped and twisted, taking both their legs out, and Grigori followed her down with two fists to the falling men’s heads, knocking them unconscious before they even hit the floor. In mid-fall, Grigori rotated and landed side-by-side with Ember, both gazing at the ceiling and panting for only heartbeat before they did one of those legs to their chests, pushing back with their arms, and flipping up to their feet moves…to stand sucking air and wearing ice-cold expressions as they stared down at the fallen twins.
I could not wait any longer. I stopped gawking and brought the camera up, snapping pictures of them, all cold and deadly as sin. There was shocked silence as the music abruptly cut off, but almost immediately, an uproar of applause startled the shit out of me. Guess the fans enjoyed the show as much as I had.
Mrs. Donovan and the Mayor hopped into the ring, patting Grigori and Ember’s backs while they stood as if they were dead to the world and their surroundings. It was remarkable. It made me want to dig even deeper to see what they were hiding. They could not be that way unless they were sociopaths, and I knew this was not the case because I had observed them before Brent and Cole’s return.
Speaking of which, I turned my camera and zoomed in. Brent and Cole were staring with astonishment at the ring. Apparently, they were not seeing what I was. All they expressed was that they had just witnessed their girlfriend act like death’s own blade, and it had shocked them. That was all.
Goody for me.
Chapter 2
I was attending the party that was held that night in the main ballroom of the resort. I think there was going to be more in here throughout the two weeks, but this was the first. More than likely, only the last party would be more extravagant than this one.