From Shadow to Light - Book Ten

Bonus: Kalama's Match

Kalama Alli Breevort was not the type of girl to back down from a fight. She was fire incarnate with the force to destroy anything in her path, especially her opponents. One might say it was a suicide mission for allowing her to battle against the world's most dangerous criminals. From Vampires to Witches alike, she did not care what they were as long as they were brave enough to battle against her in the boxing ring she liked to call home. Her name represented hope and a warning to those who wanted to hurt her and her family and it was her name that spread throughout the underground fights in every city, even countries. New York was the most notorious of them all with its grimy blood-splattered walls and rodents swarming past the dark corners of the abandoned building she and others roamed for the past few hours. No one knew the background and history of the other but they all had something in common. Bloodlust. Greed. It was in the eyes of the bald-headed human man clawing at the cage beside her, screaming at her opponent to stand back up. In the snarl of the Vampire demanding more blood and in the growl of the Werewolf as he looked like he was two seconds away from biting her head off.

Her opponent was nothing short of weak for a man his size. Almost seven feet tall with muscular arms and he wore nothing but a pair of jeans. Sandy brown hair and dark-rimmed murderous eyes angled at her as he struggled to stand on his own two feet again, spitting out blood. Kalama was curious as she waited, wondering when the man that called himself The Destroyer would gather his strength and fight. She was already getting bored of this. Bored of the weakness and blood on the walls and especially every man in the room underestimating her. Well, except for one. It took Kalama a long time to realize he was staring directly at her away from the crowd, leaning on the grimy wall beside him as though he had no care in the world. She could not get a better look at him from the distance she shared with him, but she knew it was him that bet the others she would win every match this week. And she did— which meant he earned half a million dollars already and counting. It was not like she cared about the money for she had many in her royalty fund and even more in her personal one. What she cared about—no, what bothered her was the man somehow figured out she was powerful. That she belonged to a family that was even more so.

He stared at her like it was a dare. As though he counted on her to win this match and the upcoming ones. Fine. If he wanted a show, so be it. Kalama tilted her bloody lip to the side directly at him before turning to face her opponent again. She clenched her knuckles in the air again as The Destroyer stood up again and snarled at her. As he used all his energy on attacking her, she did not have to do the same. The flames in her veins gave her all the strength she needed to survive. To win. In a blur of motion, her opponent's fist aimed toward her but she quickly moved to the side as he was sent flying to the cage trapping both of them inside. "What, are you getting tired already?" she mocked.

He growled again as he turned around to face her again, the Destroyer's fangs coming out almost immediately. Kalama cocked her head to the side—unfazed. Hers were sharper and more lethal. Both she and her opponent circled each other as though they were prey and predator, seeking out the perfect time to attack. She barely heard the hisses and screams from outside the ring as she was focused on the match before her. About the thrill of winning once again. "You see, I know men like you. Men who see girls like me as weak and fragile so that's why you have not fought me with all the strength you have in your arsenal. You have this idea that women should sit and be pretty instead of raising their voices and fighting for the injustices in this world. You call yourself the Destroyer yet I haven't seen why that is. Tell me, are you able to destroy me?"

"I can squeeze the life out of you within seconds." he threatened.

She raised an eyebrow. "And I can turn you into a pile of ash without blinking. But that wouldn't be fair, now would it?"