The Elites

Prologue- Just Business- Part 1

Jayden POV

"Alright! Are you ready to ruuumble!!?" Ester shouted, sounding the alarm vibrantly, as he thrust his arms enthusiastically in the air, towards the raging crowds. The crowds cheered back loudly fired up by his enthusiasm ready to see the battle begin. Stephanie scoffed noisily in her throat beside me, folding her arms over her small chest, as two humans began to fight and instinctively I knew she wasn't going to let this be a peaceful session either. I didn't even bother to look down to see the frown I knew she wore on her 10 year old face, instead I just continued to stare blankly forward, watching as the two men exchanged blows.

"I think, he's over doing it," she grumbled so softly, that compared to all the noise from the cheers of the crowd, a normal person wouldn't have heard. However that didn't matter since I was far from normal and we both knew that amidst the hoards of people, only I was meant to hear that message.

"It's just business Steph – it can't be helped," I added, I voice sounded bored as I spoke, like I had said this hundreds of times...I was certain by now I had. I still didn't bother to look at her, yet I knew she flashed a cold glare at me, and from the corner of her eye, I could see the bitter hate etched in her face.

"You and I both know, that, that's not true-"she finally growled out in burst of anger. She tensed beside me as if thinking about what she was going to say next, but then narrowed her eyes into another expression of annoyance, before she lowered her voice even more, even I had trouble hearing her, so I turned my head slightly to look at the very unhappy face she was sporting, before she hissed the rest, "People are- DYIN', Jayden, because of this." I could feel her anger and the poison drenching her words, she was definitely spending too much time with me if she could sound so angry. Nevertheless, my eyes didn't wavered for a second. Even if she was angry, it was nothing compared to anger I may have, I knew, as I turned away from her to watch the people in the stands. Steph bit her lip harshly, but didn't say anything else, as if sensing I wasn't planning to change my mind, and my patience was wearing away.

The fighters continued to put on a show, each anxious to win. The crowd jumped and hooted as blood spewed from one of the fighter's mouth, in vindictive happiness. I turned to arch my body to shield Steph from the mob of people, as they jumped and pushed against her, she didn't seem to care if I blocked her view a bit when I did it. Human fights were so pointless, I thought grimly, glaring at a man who came way to close to hitting my sister in a frenzy, and yet it caused so much ruckus. They began to make even more noise and shove even more in the stands; cursing civilians and booing individuals alerted me that the favorite fighter was losing the fight.

I grit my teeth instinctively, not even bothering to look up, focused solely on defending my sister from the crowd. Those idiots had no idea how lucky they were their 'friend' was losing. Steph nudged my shoulder, my head turned down to see her pointing back at the stage. The fight was over. Somewhere in my thoughts, I had missed the entire fight and already the whole stadium was cheering even his non-supporters. The other guy was kneeling hunched over on the ground, in a pool of his blood, clenching his jaw in agony as an assistant ran over to him. My eyes fell back to Ester, he was clapping simultaneously with the crowd now, smiling and laughing.

He pulled the vistor's hand into the air again, as the crowd praised him. Slowly he turned him around, until he faced me. In a split second, Ester's eyes locked on mine, and flashed a pitch black. I held his powerful gaze, in response. For a single heated moment, I could sense the energy in our little exchange rising up between us. His energy left a mark on my mind, detailing the information for the next task and that was all I needed. And then Ester released contact.

"It's time to go." I barely breathed the words to Steph before I started to push my way through the crowd to reach the exit. I didn't need to look back to know she was less than a foot behind me. I left just in time to hear the winner announce proudly to the crowd, "From now on...call me," the man called out, "Champion!" I grit my teeth again. Is this really what should be considered winning? Either way his fate was now sealed.