As they sat in silence, Darius returned, and Mer tucked herself into her chair in shame as they all exchanged wordless glances and situated themselves. Up ahead, the two new vampires faced off, but Mer kept her attention on the vampires surrounding her.

"Who died?" Darius said, and Lorenzo let out a slow breath that turned into a laugh. "What are you doing here, Lorenzo?" Darius' words were pointed, where Rush's had been cautious.

"Chatting with friends, I'm assuming," Lorenzo said back coyly, readjusting his long blue hair as he waited for Darius to nod before he continued. "Meredith and I were discussing where my loyalties lie."

"How did that subject come about?" Darius' tone dipped to a threat in her direction, and Rush slid his hand over to hers and held it protectively. Normally, Rush would have gone all hulk, protection mode on her, but it would disrespect Darius here if he did so.

"We were talking about Talamayas making a point to grind you to dust because of the turmoil Neil has dredged up. It was an innocent question, and I'm not bothered by answering. I won't fight alongside the northern vampires. I am well known as a human sympathizer, so there is no harm in saying it aloud. The northerners will not support an alliance between mages and the vampires like the one I am striving for."

"Oh, you can do that?" Mer asked, snapping her mouth shut when Darius and Rush homed in on her with wariness. Lorenzo tilted his head in question, forcing her to continue. "Outwardly support working with the mages without these guys dropping a gavel on the writ of your death," Mer said plainly, and Lorenzo smiled and then laughed again.

"They can try." Lorenzo smirked, showing off his fangs, and Rush growled for the first time, pulling her closer and onto his chair when he felt she was giving Lorenzo too much attention. Lorenzo paid him little mind as he continued, "My armies are large and my commanders and tacticians extremely savvy. Attempting to assault my castles in the mountainous territory they're hidden in would result in death for any attackers. My position of power and the safety my territory affords me gives me the freedom to express my desires openly, even if they are against the mainstream."

"A luxury the Shades do not share with our lesser numbers," Darius replied curtly, leaning on one hand as the vampires in the arena went at it in a display no one around here cared about. "Our territory is in elevated but easily assailable land. While there is mountainous terrain around the Shade territory, it is not buried in cliffs and jagged peaks like the Fleurs'."

"I suppose that wasn't the question Meredith asked though." Lorenzo eyed her before lifting his gaze to Rush's when the growl vibrated in his throat. "You're quite protective of her." Lorenzo's smile grew knowingly, and Rush bared his fangs. "I'll do my best to stay out of this scuffle, if I'm being honest, Meredith Aurion. But if the sides force me to choose between them, I would fight beside the little cretin." Lorenzo chuckled, and Rush loosened his grip.

Mer looked to Rush, and his expression had changed from hostile to curiosity. It dampened his crunched in eyebrows, closed his rolled back lips, and reduced him back to the emotionless statue he was.

"You can't be serious?" Rush said. "You were calling for his execution not a year ago."

"I was angry at him," Lorenzo said with a decent smile and a shrug of his shoulders. "Anger fades, and I have a modicum of respect for him that I'm never going to tell him about. Neil's a piece of shit half the time, but he's rational and sticks to his guns on things. When he is committed to something, he gives everything he has for it. So, if after all this, he decides to fight, it will be because he believes in it and also because he thinks he can win. Wouldn't mind throwing in my lot with that."

Lorenzo settled into his chair as the two vampire's from the last match departed. Two fights had gone by, neither significant to her, and her eyes snapped to a wisp of white. She was on the edge of her seat as Neil came out into the arena, the same as he always was. Perhaps his clothes were a little fancier, black streaked with white that ran down his front like lightning bolts. It was meant to emulate his predisposition for wind magic, she was sure, but he had his hair loose around his shoulders, and walked timidly to the place where they would face off. Shoulders hunched just so much in, he fiddled with his hands in front of himself.

Poor guy.

"That is what you want to side with?" Rush leaned into Lorenzo, and the vampire regarded him with nothing but a smile as he faced forward. It seemed like Lorenzo knew something that neither of them did, and she wondered on it.

"This isn't going to go well," Rush said, leaning on a hand next to his father.

"Doesn't Neil know how to fake confidence at least?" Darius groaned, rubbing his eyes.

Lorenzo de Fleur was silent to her left as he focused unduly hard on the two of them. Neil's opponent was the general of the Zehirs, but he wore clothes which was a pleasant refresher after seeing Tanya's jiggly chest and Talamayas nearly stark naked in combat. Finally a fight with people who didn't look like dancing strippers.

Mer would call Jesse Zehir elegant. Unlike Neil, he stood with confidence in a black suit that was accented by white and teal ruffles that folded under his collar. Every vampire was a looker, she supposed, but his blue eyes were visible even from this far in her seat, glowing much liked Neil's crimson mirrored them. Just looking at them, standing across from each other, the result of the match already looked clear.

The sound to start echoed like a wind chime and Neil disappeared. Mer rubbed her eyes as she searched for him, and found him behind Jesse Zehir right before he ripped two curved bladed across Jesse Zehir's back, one through his left knee and the other his right arm at the elbow. Blood splattered into the air, and Neil retreated a few feet to spin his blades as a smile curled his lips, showing off his fangs in a cocky smile.

"Piece of shit," Jesse Zehir rasped, and Mer looked to Rush as he slammed his hand from his chin onto the arm rest of his chair.

"Dammit," Rush said, losing his face into his hand just as his father had moments ago.

"What?" Mer asked, just now noticing that every vampire in the stadium had hushed.

"It will be rather hard to move with one leg and your dominant arm incapacitated," Neil cackled. "Feel free to surrender."

"Over my dead body, you Arc shit." Jesse growled, twitching his arm as if he wanted to move it, but it lay limp. Whatever Neil had done, it had been calculated to sever necessary tendons with his blade and wind magic, but why had he done that instead of winning?

"Remember I gave you a chance." Neil and Jesse moved, though the Zehir general so slowy that she could follow him with not much concentration. It was like a wounded animal limping away from its inevitable death.

The man barely stumbled a few feet before Neil kicked out his good leg and threw him to the ground. It forced Jesse Zehir to crawl away, and a few curses came out of the crowd. Neil descended on him, and Jesse's dark magic clashed with a storm of wind that tossed the Zehir general some distance, the crack of the man's back on the dirt echoing in the silence. With not a care in the world, Neil wiped the cut on his face and licked the blood off his fingers.

"Giving up yet?" Neil asked, stalking toward him as he spun a new pair of wind blades in hands.

"Fuck off," Jesse responded, bringing himself to his feet only long enough to steady himself for Neil to move again.

They caught each other, but Neil had two hands and wrenched the man's good arm down. Neil slammed his elbow into Jesse's face before he planted it in the ground with a knee. For effect, Neil really rubbed it into the dirt, mouth and all, and Mer licked her own lips to try and alleviate the unpleasant image. A spell exploded from the ground soon enough and forced Neil back. Dust spun in the wind as an angry mist to protect Jesse Zehir, but Neil threw up a wind spell and blew it away with ease.

"We can do this all day," Neil purred, and this time Rush cursed. Around them, the audience was restless, and Mer was starting to get really worried.

Jesse and Neil clashed again, and the Zehir general screeched as Neil ran his blade against his back and threw him back down. Coughing up blood, Jesse Zehir still cast a spell to push Neil back with his only functioning arm, but he collapsed, leaning against the arena wall not a moment later.

"Why hasn't Ares stopped him?" Rush asked, turning to his father who had just as grave an expression. "This is making him look worse."

"I don't understand?" Mer asked. "Don't they have to fight till a victor is declared?"

"Yes," Darius hissed. "Neil knows that and is abusing it. He won the moment Jesse underestimated him, and he struck to incapacitate, not to win. The Zehirs will never surrender to the Arcs, so Neil is torturing him for his amusement instead of winning. There is no reason for him to prolong this fight other than to shame Jesse Zehir, which isn't the point of these fights."

"He's making enemies and pissing people off," Rush said in a hush of air. "This is suicide for his house. Ares should have stopped Neil the moment this was won and demanded a de facto winner from a judge, but his general is doing nothing. Neil, I can see being a rash ass, but not Ares. If they wanted to make a point against the Zehirs, he's going about it wrong."

"This has nothing to do with houses," Lorenzo said, drawing both Darius and Rush's eyes. "This is personal. Jesse touched something that didn't belong to him, but Neil saying anything about it causes more trouble than anything, so he's settled for beating the shit out of him."

"You're saying he's dooming his house over something so petty?" Rush asked, and Lorenzo shrugged.

"I'd go about it differently, but I share his sentiments, so I can't argue," Lorenzo said.

Neil and Jesse clashed again in the predictable pattern of Jesse trying poorly to defend himself and Neil slicing off another pound of flesh. This time, when Jesse collapsed, he let out almost a whimper and several house heads around them stood up. This looked like it was going to get violent, and it seemed a little too forgone for someone to slap some sense into Neil.

As they moved again in the arena, dark energy descended on them and pushed anyone standing back into their seats. Standing in the arena between Neil and Jesse Zehir, Talamayas Sol had parked himself and cut them off from each other, though about as painfully as she'd expect. Neil dangled from the man's long arm as he gripped him by the throat, and Talamayas held the other hand down to stop Jesse Zehir from moving. No amount of Neil clawing at Talamayas' fingers freed him, and Talamayas turned to the Zehir general.

"It's as dishonorable to drag your house's name through the mud by refusing to surrender when you know you've lost, as it is for Neil Arc to have taken advantage of it, Jesse Zehir." Talamayas growled, and Jesse bowed his head almost to the dirt. "Since, Neil Arc broke no rules, I am naming him the victor, but if you get any notion to repeat this juvenile tantrum in a place of honor for our kind, I'll snap your head around, Neil Arc."

Talamayas tossed him, and Neil flew through the air straight into the stone walls that surrounded the stands. The impact of Neil's body against such a sturdy wall shattered the tiny vampire and the wall, and he fell limp as stones fell in on him. Ares was there in an instant, protecting him in his unconsciousness and preventing any more harm.

"Well, he got what he asked for," Lorenzo chuckled something dark. It was between amusement and satisfaction, and she wasn't sure if he approved or disapproved of what had happened. Rush and Darius were clear in their displeasure of this. "You should head down to the arena, Remus. Oz might fall asleep if his opponent doesn't show."

"Yes. Darius, please watch Meredith." Rush dipped down to kiss her on the side of her forehead and then he disappeared. It was his turn to fight, and with what had just happened with Darius and Neil, she was worried how this would turn out. Hopefully Talamayas Sol didn't have to choke Neil in his next fight if Remus won his first match.

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