As he’d thought, Seth felt like the four hours of sparring and working out today hadn’t happened at all as he sat in the passenger seat of Andrew’s car, taking in the new-car smell Andrew worked tirelessly to maintain. Seth wore a pair of plain black fighting shorts under his faded jeans, and a heather-gray tee shirt under a red and black flannel, sleeves rolled and front fully unbuttoned.

Behemoth blasted over the speakers, Seth and Andrew nodding their heads to the beat, much to the chagrin of Jessica and her more delicate music tastes. She leaned up between them. “This isn’t the noise I like to be hearing when I’m in the b-” Seth placed a hand over her mouth.

Jessica licked his hand.

“What are you, twelve?”

She sat back. “Your guys music choices are awful, and I say that in the friendliest way possible.”

Andrew responded by grinning and maxing out the volume knob as they turned right on the fork to the Olson’s lake-house. Seth kept time with the drums on the dashboard, moving himself to displace the sinking, knotted feeling that had begun to grow in his gut. The line of cars began a ways out from the house, further even than when Seth had come here a few months ago for Madeline’s birthday party.

Andrew pulled in behind a cherry-red Mustang, his lip curling in disgust. “Have some originality,” he muttered as he turned the music down. The thump of heavy bass from up the road replaced the thrashing vocals of their playlist. He stepped out and pulled his seat forward to help Jessica out. Seth was very aware of the look she gave Andrew as he did so.

The three walked up the road. As they passed the Mustang, Andrew blew air out his nose. “Not even a V8. What a waste.”

“Sometimes slower is better,” said Jessica.

“No-” Andrew looked at Seth. Seth just shook his head. “But you’ll have to tell me some more about that.”

Seth walked ahead of them just enough the music blurred the details of their flirtation. Lights filtered through the trees along the path, the same lights Seth recalled from the time Nicole had taken him to one of these fights. That memory didn’t bother him nearly as much as the one of his and Madeline’s breakup that was beginning to resurface. He slowed, Andrew and Jessica catching up to him. She already had ahold of Andrew’s arm.

“Seth?” She said. “You okay?”

“Just need a minute,” he said, staring at the last turn in the lane before the lake-house. “Just a minute. You guys can go on ahead.”

“No,” said Jessica. “We’re your backup, remember?”

Seth nodded, crossing his arms and turning away from the direction of the house for a moment. He took in deep breaths, attempting to relax himself. He could feel his old stress-knots returning between his shoulder blades. Andrew’s hand rested on his shoulder. “We can turn around and go somewhere else.”

“No. I can’t back out. Even if it is here. I just…” He rolled his shoulders and his upper back cracked. “I just gotta get over myself.” He breathed out, willing his back to relax. “Okay.” He turned. “I’m ready.”

They rounded the lane to the house. David and Anthony had outdone themselves. A full UFC-style octagon was set up in the driveway, along with those same bleachers that looked suspiciously like the ones in the Northwest High gymnasium. The cage was empty for now, but people milled all around it. The garage was closed, but through the small windows, Seth could see lights pulse in time with the music. There had to be at least five hundred people present, and Seth knew David and Anthony were pulling a profit off of every single one. Those kids had to have college paid for by now.

Andrew grinned. “Goddamn, they know how to throw a party.”

“I’ll say,” said Jessica. “Dance floor?”

“Duh,” said Andrew. “Come on, Seth. We’re not leaving you alone until your fight.”

Seth nodded, following the two of them into the house toward the garage door by the kitchen. The house was packed to the rafters, and the kitchen had been converted into a bar, with two twin brothers from another school mixing and serving drinks to the crowd. Seth ran a quick glance over the collection of bottles and the four kegs in there. David and Anthony must have dropped thousands on this party. Made sense. This was their comeback. They hadn’t done anything since the shooting. From what Seth thought of them, that decision was probably equal parts respect and business acumen, if biased slightly towards business. They weren’t bad kids, just opportunists.

Andrew walked up to the countertop. “Three.”

The bartender looked him up and down, then glanced at Seth. “Fighters don’t get drinks until after their match. Sorry.”

“Well, two then.”

He nodded and handed two Solo cups, bottoms filled with vodka. “Pound ‘em,” he said.

Andrew and Jessica tapped their cups together and slammed the shots, then handed them back to the bartender to fill from the keg. Seth looked around, his senses overloading from the input. No sign of Madeline, or Sarah or anyone else immediately associated with the two of them. Good.

Andrew and Jessica snatched his arms and dragged him through the door to the garage-turned-dance floor, where about fifty high schoolers were packed, drunk, and moving to the music. A DJ set up in the corner controlled the sounds here and throughout the house with a light system rigged to the ceiling. It flooded the place with multi-hued fluorescence that gave off a a mild psychedelic vibe with the ever-changing color of the air.

Seth did not dance.

But his friends were not to be dissuaded, and they pulled him into the crowd. Andrew and Jessica had no problem syncing their bodies together to the rhythm, but Seth just sort of bobbed in time to the music, trying to avoid being bumped. He felt grateful no one had recognized or said anything to him yet. He watched Jessica snake her hands up behind her head around Andrew’s neck, and shook his head. “I’m gonna walk around a bit,” he shouted over the music. “Don’t worry about me.” Seth left them to it. He’d be fine for a little while. With all these people, it would be easy to stay anonymous.

Seth wove his way out back, the exact same way he had at Madeline’s birthday party, and walked downhill to the dock. He half-expected to see Nicole sitting on the edge, waiting for her prey. He shook the thought away. The dock was empty tonight, and the end of the pier was his to sit on as he stared across the lake, under the light of the almost-full moon. He could see the hills in the ancient forest across the water, the ones he had fled down just a night ago. Seth followed the slope of the hills, his eyes resting at the lake-level opening where Andrew’s car had peeled out of… Where he’d beaten that man well past the point of losing consciousness.

Seth stared down at the water a few feet below him. The music drowned out the noise of it lapping against the supports of the dock and the shore behind him, but the glistening waves were peaceful and centering nonetheless. Seth sighed. What was he doing here? He needed to be repressing the bloodlust, weaning it down to nothing, not slaking it with the misfortune of whoever stepped into the cage with him. His focus should be on the black tab selection. He should be striving towards that. Not… this.

Seth pulled his back straight. Maybe he should back out. David and Anthony would lose their minds, but that wasn’t his problem. Ms. Tull and Coach John expected more from him than bloodsport. If he wanted to fight, he should go through them and get an amateur match after he turned eighteen. There were plenty in the local area. Seth set his mind. That’s what he was going to do. The void was quiet within him tonight, anyway. He didn’t need to satiate it. This would only be encouraging it to be more active, to hunger for more blood. He couldn’t do that. He couldn’t represent CFA like that.

Seth stood up from the dock and turned to the house, crawling like an anthill with partiers and thrumming like a beehive with music. Seth walked up the hill and into the house, looking for at least one of the two promoters. It was still thirty minutes to nine, so finding them ringside wasn’t a guarantee. He felt a little bad. They would have no main card tonight, and that would probably hurt business for a few of these. Still, not his problem. Seth’s problem was respecting and upholding the reputation of CFA. Seth moved to the living room. He saw David with his legs up on the couch, drinking from a Solo cup and talking to an olive-skinned guy dressed in board shorts and a brightly-colored tank-top.

“Seth?”

The knots in his back instantly locked up at the sound of her voice. Seth turned around.

Madeline stood in the entryway between the kitchen and living room, hair dyed red with violet streaks and feathers braided into it, immediately recalling for Seth memories of the night they’d first met. “What are you doing here?” She asked, arms crossed, face drawn down and sour.

“Fighting, but I’m sure you’ve heard that already,” he said.

“You’re not welcome here. Not after what you did.”

“What I did?” Seth kept his voice as calm as he could. Not the time to cause a scene, not when he was literally about to walk out of his deal with David and Anthony. “I haven’t said shit about what happened between us, Madeline.”

“Yeah, makes sense since you were fucking that slut before you left me, and god knows how many girls while we were apart for the summer.”

“Don’t.” Said Seth, his voice edging into a growl, the sound centered firmly in his chest. “You leave Emma out of this. Drag me through whatever sick mud you want to, but leave. Her. Alone.”

“Why would I leave the girl who stole my boyfriend alone? I was in love with you, Seth. You’re the one who didn’t have the balls to leave me before you buried your dick in someone else. You’re a coward, and Emma is a slutty bitch.”

“Fuck right off.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but someone interrupted her as they came around the corner into the living room. “Hey, baby, what’s wrong?”

It took Seth a long moment to process what he was seeing, his mind double, triple-checking it wasn’t playing tricks on itself.

“Oh, nothing.”

“What-” Started Seth.

“Oh, Seth, this is my boyfriend, but I’m sure you’ve heard that already? You two haven’t met before, have you?” She raised her eyebrows in mocking surprise.

“We have,” said Seth as the void stirred within, waking up hungrier than it ever had been. He raised his chin and looked her boyfriend square in his steel-gray eyes. “Hello, Jayson.”