Mastim's Curse

Chapter 48

The burning from my back is spreading to my chest now and I can barely keep my eyes open. Bryan is spinning the wheels again. I hope it's not another snake... I've decided I don't like snakes... The wheels stop, and this time it's a brand to the face. I'm glad Nicole isn't getting that... Her face is too pretty to be branded... My eyes close.

I'm looking down at a baby being held by a familiar woman standing at my apartment door. The woman is Lilith. I had a one night stand with her about a year ago. That night, she flirted scandalously with me at a party and then proceeded to show me the time of my life... all night long. I hadn't seen or heard of her since. And now she stands at my door with a baby.

She says the babies' name is Nicolette and that she's our love child. I feel it's true, but later I have a DNA test to confirm it. Lilith said she couldn't take care of the baby anymore, and that she was going to put her up for adoption if I didn't want her. When I held Nicole in my arms for the first time, I fell in love with her and my decision was made. The last thing her mother said before leaving was that Nicolette was special. That she would someday do things unfortold.

Tremendous pain snaps me out of my dream with a desperate scream as I try to grab my face. My eyes focus on the red hot "A" shaped brand being pulled back from my face. The nerve endings in my cheek scream so loudly that their cry is all I can hear. I've never known pain this intense. Then another sound draws my attention. It's Nicole.

Nicole is a volcano of darkness. Her scream is a demon enraged and the bars she's holding almost seem to be melting under her fevered touch. A dozen men nervously point their guns at her.

I wave my hand to calm her. "No. Don't do it. Please baby. Just stay calm, and we'll ride this out together." My words are garbled, but she seems to understand.

Bryan comes to stand next to me. "Tony, if your team endures the last round, you can have the antivenom. So, hang in there." He's holding the blue box out for me to see. "However, you can't take the next spin, so who will it be? You're daughter or the mega-talented, superstar Aleale?"

Nicole yells, "Please Dad, let me take it. Please don't pick Aleale. Please!"

I'm paralyzed by a choice I can't possible make, and the pain... the searing, awful pain prevents any coherent thoughts. Neither name will come to my mouth.

As if reading my thoughts, Bryan says, "If you don't pick, you all three will have to take the outcome. I know it's hard, but being a hero is hard. Heroes have to do whatever is necessary when the situation is bleak and the obstacles seem insurmountable. In war, sometimes a hero has to order his troops into battles when he knows they have little chance of surviving. That's the hardest thing for anyone to do, to let others suffer for the greater good. Tony, are you that kind of hero? I think you are."

I look at my distressed and deadly daughter, her face pleading.

"Dad, this is our fate, not Aleale's. I need to take this one."

She's right. This is our fate. As hard as it is, there's only one name I can say. "Nicole." The effort of saying it tears apart my heart. It's a wound that will never heal.

The wheels spin and I can only hope the people voting feel sorry for us and we get a pass. When Bryan brings them to a stop, combat is the outcome. Combat... She's as good, or better at every form of combat I know. Still... I'm concerned for her.

They move Nicole's cage up to the gate that leads into the small arena. The poison is deep in my chest now making it hard to breathe. If I could just take a few deep breathes... All I can manage are wheezily gasps that wouldn't satisfy a cat's need for air. I raise my hand to Nicole and try to shout. "I love you." It only comes out as a whisper and ignites sharp pain from my burned cheek.

"I love you too Daddy," she says.

And so, with a hundred odd pains fighting for attention in my torn, tortured, and poisoned body. it is the heartache of watching my only daughter being lead off to do combat with a madman, at my own words, that hurts the most. What a father I am.

Bryan is talking to the camera again.

He says, "Very soon we'll get to watch the electrifying Nicolette in action again as she takes on Alfred Parkinson who is eager for another chance to prove himself after he ran from Nicole and Suzie in the Mad House last night. Apparently, his manhood has been questioned. Oh good, here come the weapons, and just in time."

A door leading from the building to the enclosure opens and it takes a moment for me to recognize the man carrying two swords in his arms. What the hell? It's Lan Smith from the swinger club. I'm in way too much fucking pain to get the full ramifications of seeing him here. I do remember he told us he was an event planner...

He sets a large two-handed sword on the table at the far side, and then comes to our side and places a more slender Katana on Nicole's table. It's her favorite weapon. Is that a coincidence? It's lighter and faster than the big, double edged sword on the guy's table, but the heaver sword can be very forceful if used properly. Either weapon can be effective in this kind of combat as long if its used right. Nicole's an expert with a Katana. She could cut the wings off a bird in flight. How often has this other guy used that type of sword? Maybe never, or he could train with it every week as far as we know."

As Lan turns to leave, our eyes meet and he gives me the slightest of nods, the kind that could mean good luck, or I got your back, or just about anything. With my daughter's life on the line, I'd give anything to get inside his head for only a moment to find out.

Alfred is still out of view. He must be just on the other side of the Clubhouse, ready to go in just as Nicole is. My eyes fix on my daughter. Her face is set with dark purpose, and I swear there are black flames surrounding her. She is completely infused with the darkness in a way no one else in our family has achieved. Flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood... what have you become?

Ryan takes an air horn from one of the men standing nearby and raises it over his head. "It's almost time to start. When I give the signal, the gates will open and the match is on. For this duel, the rules are... that there are no rules. The contestants may do whatever they wish to each other for as long as they like." That gets whistles and yells of approval from the crowd which has continued to grow around us.

His words are jabs of ice. If this starts to go bad for Nicole, I'll exhaust every ounce of life within me to break out of this cage.

After a suspenseful moment, Bryan blows the horn.

When the door to her cage opens, Nicole sprints out like a dark gazelle and is to her sword in the blink of an eye.

She's so damn fast that even I'm taken off guard. She doesn't lose a step while taking her weapon from the table and unsheathing it in one fluid motion as she continues her swift flight across the arena. She's across so quickly that Alfred is only now lifting his weapon from the table. My heart is racing as I realize he's too late. He looks up with a jerk and his face reacts in shock at the incredible quickness of the dark shadow that Nicole has become. Without slowing, she sweeps past him with her razor sharp blade slicing across his throat as she passes.

Blood spews out over the table in front of him and he drops the weapon to press his hands to the gaping wound in his neck. He drops to his knees in the dirt.

We're all so absorbed with his mortal wounding that no one notices that Nicole still hasn't slowed down and is approaching the wooden wall at full speed. She leaps up and stabs the sword high into the wood, using the leverage to vault herself to the top. The razor wire along the wall cuts into her as she pulls the sword free, and I cringe at the sight of her blood. A few hasty shots ring out but miss the mark as she disappears from view on the other side.