Scars of her Blood • Shadowhunters

Chapter 14: Trial by Combat

Disclaimer: This chapter contains violence.

When Celia woke in the morning, she was disorientated for a second. Pushing a strand of hair out of her face, she hit something solid with her elbow. She turned around and was surprised to see Benicio next to her. He looked exhausted, but now that she had elbowed him, his eyes were slowly opening:

"Hey... How are you doing?"

"Better. Thanks to you.", Celia had felt him interfere last night, but she had not expected to wake up next to him, "go back to sleep, I need a shower after the night I had and then I'll make breakfast for us."

He nodded and immediately his eyes fell shut again. He must be really tired if he can't even stay awake long enough to start a discussion about the magic again. But Celia did not really mind that.

Every time the topic had come up so far, Benicio had pressured Celia to start embracing the whole situation. But she was absolutely convinced that if she would start practicing with her magical powers, people would guess what had happened and then Celia's entire team would be on trial for murder.

Celia took a very cold shower, and then went into the kitchen. The first thing she did was make coffee. We will need a lot of that today... and alcohol, for after the duel... if I survive. Under normal conditions, Celia would not have doubted her abilities, but she knew that she would be foolish to believe that she was in her best form at the moment. It is really perfect timing, isn't it, universe?

A few minutes later, Benicio entered the kitchen as well. He still looked like he would fall asleep standing up if he would stay still for just a little too long.

"Are you going to be okay this evening?", Celia was genuinely concerned. Benni had spent the better part of the night using his vampire powers – for her benefit. And even though Hybrids could combine all these powers in one body, it did not mean that their energy resources were endless. But Benicio nodded:

"I already activated my healing rune... and if I drink about a dozen cups of that stuff black", he pointed at the coffee, "then I should be good to go."

Benicio ended up only drinking half a cup and sleeping most of the day, while Celia was going through all her more complex fighting techniques on her own on the rooftop again. She just woke him up for the one or two times she really needed a partner. And then she felt really bad, because Benicio had to endure her beating him up on top of everything else.

The moment to leave came way too fast for Celia's taste.

She was completely dressed for the occasion and ready when she stood in front of the couch and poked Benicio in the shoulder to wake him up:

"Come on, sleeping beauty, we gotta go!"

They each packed their own weapons and made their way to the location of the duel. If they would need any others those would be provided by the army. The sites for the duels were equipped with all the necessary weapons and tools.

Half an hour later, Celia stepped into the arena with Benicio walking right behind her. Every territory had at least two or three of these buildings, hidden entirely in the Downworld. The colosseums of the ancient Romans had been heavily inspired by these set ups. Just that the Mundanes were feeling like they had to try and be better than the Hybrids.

On their way down the hallway, Celia and Benicio passed some familiar faces. People were coming here from all over the territory to watch the duel today. But many local Downworlders had decided to join them as well. These events were always crowd pullers, especially because their outcomes determined the fate of important power struggles. Celia tried to ignore them all. She was still irritated by the fact that she of all people seemed to have been the last one to know what was going down tonight. But for now, she would have to keep focused on the task at hand.