Showdown

KYLE

I sprinted down the hall toward the front door.

Just outside, Azazel and Zagan were locked in a fight to the death.

“Hey, I wouldn't do that if I were you!”

Minnie was a few steps behind me.

“They haven't seen each other for years, and you do ~not~ want to get between them.”

“I don’t give a fuck," I said, “that’s my alpha. If Zagan kills Azazel in Grayson’s body, Grayson will die too. I can’t have that.”

I came to the front door and sprinted out into the snow, instantaneously wishing I were wearing any shoes other than slippers. I couldn’t believe I was having the battle of my life in my pajamas.

Azazel and Zagan were a blur of motion and body parts as I approached, using my newfound energy from Minnie’s healing to propel me.

I was about to help Grayson when—

“Stop!” Minnie shouted.

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” I grunted as my legs ground to a halt.

I was ~really~ getting annoyed with these vampires.

“Let me go, you stupid Mortar!”

Minnie was in front of me in a flash, holding her face in her hands.

“Sorry, sorry, but you saving your alpha is not part of the plan. And you don’t want to mess up one of my dad’s plans. He is not a very forgiving man.”

My jaw clenched in anger.

I didn’t care about the stupid plan. Grayson could not die.

“Let me go right now, or I swear to God your throat will be the first I rip out when I get control of my body,” I said.

Minnie’s jaw dropped. “How rude,” she uttered, and crossed her arms and scowled. “You just made sure you won’t be let go for a while.”

~BOOM~.

My gaze snapped over Minnie’s shoulder.

Zagan had slammed Azazel back into a large oak tree, splintering and cracking it.

They went tumbling over. Azazel, in Grayson’s body, fell to the ground, spitting blood.

But it didn’t stop there. The fight continued, moving in a blur that I could barely keep up with. Their graceful movements were powerful and almost choreographed.

It was obvious that they were both extremely well-trained in combat.

Zagan was not going easy on Azazel and soon dominated the battle, throwing Azazel around like a rag doll. With every move, Azazel became weaker and less capable of hitting back.

I was watching my alpha, whom I was incapable of helping, get beaten to death.

Azazel had chosen to fight in Grayson’s body in the case that Zagan won. Because if Zagan defeated him now, Azazel would be able to leave Grayson’s body with no harm done to his own. It was becoming very clear very fast that this was going to be the case.

Azazel was going to lose, and Grayson was going to die.

Finally Zagan lifted Azazel from the ground, holding him up by his neck.

He jumped high into the air and forced Azazel back with powerful might, stabbing a large tree branch into Grayson’s back and all the way through his chest.

Azazel gasped as the branch punctured his chest.

He was stuck in the tree, twenty feet up in the air.

The battle was over. Zagan had won.

“No!” I screamed.

I fought more than ever to break free of Minnie’s vampiric control.

I had to get free. I had to.

Grayson was going to have his life taken from him. I was barely aware of Minnie’s small hand on my shoulder.

“It’s going to be okay. Don’t worry.”

Then I looked at her. There was genuine confidence in her expression. She believed her words. I wished I could have the same confidence.

“I’m not going to let him die,” she said.

Another loud noise.

Zagan had jumped from the tree and landed on the ground. He looked up at Azazel, who hissed at the large branch in his chest.

“You have gotten strong, brother,” he said to Zagan, dribbling blood. “No one would know you were a weak little boy who could only dream of being king.”

Zagan held his brother’s harsh gaze with an even harsher one.

“Leave this body now or die with it, Azazel. Stop hiding in another’s body like a coward. Come out and fight me in the way you tried to avoid all those years ago. The way you owe me.” Azazel smiled faintly. Grayson’s body was running out of time.

“You will get your fight, King Zagan,” he said, spitting out the title as if it were an insult, “just not today.”

Black dust rose, spreading into the air, swirling around and around until it finally flew away into the forest.

Grayson slumped against the tree, held up by the branch lodged in his chest.

Azazel had left his body.