“He’s made Naxos angry.” Phanes sounded almost surprised. “I’ve never seen Naxos angry before. Things are about to become very bloody.”
Ian sighted down the field at the line that marked the necessary distance for the throw. Then, he spun in a circle, building up momentum, as if there wasn’t an enraged Minotaur now barreling down the arena toward him.
“He won’t get away with that jumping trick twice,” Phanes said, leaning forward in anticipation.
I’d grabbed the heavy golden wineglass Helena had left for me and raised it before I stopped myself. No, I could not bash it over Phanes’s head no matter how much I wanted to. Besides, the wineglass wasn’t large enough. The kylix would’ve had a much better chance at splitting Phanes’s skull.
Helena filled my glass, making the assumption that I’d raised it in a silent command for wine. I set it down without looking away from Ian as he spun for a second time. Naxos was now so close, Ian should be able to feel the breath from the Minotaur’s furious bellows. Why did he only keep spinning?
Jump! Run! Or fight! I silently screeched.
Ian released the discus right as Naxos rammed into him.
Horns ripped through Ian’s midsection. Blood and larger hunks flew as Naxos shook his head, resembling a great white shark more than a mythical bull-man hybrid. Ian grabbed at Naxos, trying to get enough leverage to pull free, but the Minotaur rammed Ian into the earth with a vengeful bellow.
A shower of crimson and dirt spurted around Naxos’s head. He’d used such force, only Ian’s arms and legs were now visible on either side of the Minotaur’s head. The rest of Ian’s body was in the hole Naxos had made with the horrific impact.
In my peripheral vision, I saw the discus tear through the base of the stands at the opposite end of the field, well past the measuring line. Not that it mattered now.
More gore rose from the hole around Naxos. My power pushed against my skin as if it were a living thing trying to escape.
I would kill Naxos. I would rip him limb from limb, and then command ice shards to riddle his bleeding corpse—
Phanes grabbed my arm. I hadn’t been aware of standing, but his hard yank pulled me back down.
“You cannot interfere,” he said in an urgent tone. “You will only needlessly forfeit your life. Let him die with honor, not live long enough to see that he’s condemned you, too.”
Oh, that wasn’t going to happen. Screw my more natural powers over water and ice. I’d rip out Phanes’s and Naxos’s souls like the horrifying creature I really was—
Naxos flew backward, landing on his ass over four meters away. Ian leapt after him, his shoulder armor spattered red from his own guts while the rest of his tunic was torn away.
Phanes’s hand dropped from my arm. “How?” he whispered.
I didn’t care how. I gripped my bench, exultation shooting through me until I felt drunk with it.
Naxos quickly recovered and charged Ian again. Ian leapt to the side, but swung his fist. It landed dead center between Naxos’s eyes, denting the Minotaur’s face. Naxos staggered as if he’d been shot.
I jumped to my feet. Naxos staggered forward. Ian pivoted and kicked Naxos’s legs out from under him, then landed a brutal elbow to the back of Naxos’s head. The Minotaur fell, and Ian pounced, using Naxos’s horns to whip his head around until his neck snapped.
Naxos went limp. Gasps sounded all around the arena as Ian grabbed Naxos’s ankles and vaulted himself up. Then, muscles in his back bunching, Ian swung Naxos over his head as if the massive Minotaur were nothing more than a sack of grain.
Those gasps turned into stunned silence as Ian slammed the Minotaur into the ground, using Naxos’s great size against him once again. Naxos howled as multiple bones broke from the tremendous impact. If they’d been on concrete instead of earth, the Minotaur’s skull would’ve cracked open.
Naxos tried to rear up, only to be slammed down again, harder. Ian’s remaining armor flew from his shoulders as he kept heaving the Minotaur over his head, only to slam him down before repeating the brutal punishment. The incredible effort should have slowed Ian, but astonishingly, he seemed to be picking up speed.
I was so mesmerized that it took a second to notice the strange, zigzagging line running up Ian’s back. At first, I thought the dark red marking was just more blood. But this marking had sharp angles, unlike the drips and smears from Naxos’s goring, and it was also slightly darker.
A scar, I’d think on anyone else. Except vampires couldn’t get new scars, and Ian hadn’t had this one before.
“How is he doing this?” Phanes whispered. “How?”
I wasn’t sure. Yes, Ian was a Master vampire, and Master vampires could throw a car if they wanted to. But they could only do that two or three times, and only if they were old, powerful Master vampires. Naxos had to weigh more than a Chevy Suburban, and here Ian was thwacking him from side to side like the Minotaur was a bag of ice cubes that needed to be broken up.
Then, Ian let go of one of Naxos’s legs to snatch his arm. The Minotaur tried to gore him with his horns, but he couldn’t reach him. His back and several other bones must have been too badly broken. With a fierce grin, Ian began to spin in a circle with Naxos still in his grip.
What was he going to do? Throw the Minotaur across the field like he’d thrown the discus? That wouldn’t stop him for long!
Ian spun faster. Soon, I couldn’t make them out as individuals. I only saw a dark blur against a pale one, spinning until it was dizzying to watch. Ian was building up to something more than tossing the Minotaur down the field. I could feel it in the power that now sizzled out of Ian like an erupting volcano, shocking me with its intensity.
He’d never felt like this before. I hadn’t even known he could. What was happening?
Ian abruptly stopped spinning, and something dark shot straight up into the air. The crowd jumped to their feet, their roar causing the stadium to shake as they realized what it was. I realized it, too, but unlike them, I didn’t move.
Phanes rose, too, shock suffusing his features as he watched Naxos rocket into the sky as if he’d been fired from the world’s biggest cannon. Soon, Naxos was gone, leaving only a hole in the clouds where his body had blasted through them.
Ian’s muscles were still bunched from the unbelievable strength he’d utilized to throw the Minotaur so high that Naxos had disappeared from sight. Then, Ian knocked the last of his shoulder armor off, leaving only a few ragged pieces of clothing and that strange, new scar on his upper body. Finally, he turned, flashing a grin my way that shook Phanes from his silent disbelief.
“He couldn’t have done that with his strength alone,” Phanes said, rounding on me. “No vampire could! If not magic, then how did he do this?”
I didn’t know, but I wasn’t about to say that. “You saw for yourself,” I said in a firm voice that belied my confusion. “He threw him. No magic, no tricks. Just raw power.”
Power that shouldn’t be possible. Yes, Ian had always been unusually strong and quick, even before his added power from absorbing Dagon’s essence when he was trapped inside the demon. But Phanes was right; this was beyond a vampire’s ability, even a Master vampire who’d absorbed demon powers. Hell, it was beyond my ability, and I could do downright freaky things when I let my other half have free reign.