Jayson reached Seth in less than a second. Seth’s guard wasn’t up, his focus was split, his nerves were ice. Jayson jabbed.

Knuckles impacted Seth’s teeth and snapped his head back. The follow-up cross crashed into his sternum like a hammer of bone and knocked him back against the cage. Jayson pivoted on his lead foot and slammed his elbow backwards, point driving into Seth’s stomach. The air left Seth’s lungs. Jayson snatched one of Seth’s unmoving arms and continued the pivot.

Seth flew, crashing to the center of the ring and rolling. Jayson rushed in, leg raised high for a stomp. The crowd jeered, their shouts louder than the music. So add another to the hundreds. It had been luck.

“Get the fuck up, Seth!

One voice snapped through the crowd. Andrew, his fingers locked into the cage, eyes wide with fear for his best friend. Jayson had half a second to reach him. No matter how much Seth wanted to do as Ms. Tull and Coach John wanted him to, he couldn’t take this. Not again. That tournament at Grand Island had put this to rest. Jayson couldn’t do this anymore. Seth wouldn’t let him.

Seth grabbed incoming heel with a single hand, digging his fingers into flesh like fishhooks as he twisted his hips up around and entwined them with Jayson’s. Seth pushed up on one hand and twisted, cutting through Jayson’s center of gravity and flipping him into the canvas face-first. Seth shoved up and away, coming to his feet and raising his guard. The crowd cheered. The beat changed to one Seth recognized: “I Don’t Dance” by DMX.

Jayson stood to his feet as the beat rose, wiping blood form his face. The two squared off. “Lucky shot, Seth,” growled Jayson.

“Come and prove it wasn’t.”

Jayson lunged forward, but Seth took the initiative from him, twisting into a no-telegraph roundhouse with his flesh augment that cut through Jayson’s knee like a knife through butter. Seth followed through into a turning back-kick. His heel planted square in Jayson’s stomach, but Jayson absorbed the blow and grabbed it, stepping forward with a shin-to-shin sweep. Seth threw himself with the momentum of it, rolling over one shoulder and coming up as Jayson whipped into a roundhouse at head-height.

Seth held his arms up at an oblique angle, the kick crashing into them and sliding down to Seth’s right armpit. Seth clamped that arm down, locking Jayson’s leg in place. Vale tudo rules. Seth kicked Jayson full-force in the groin, heedless of the fact Jayson would be wearing a cup. The augment was made of flesh, but it didn’t feel pain.

Jayson’s eyes bulged as the cup was jammed against his pelvic bone. Seth stepped through and swept with his leg, taking a stunned Jayson to the deck. Seth remained standing, holding on to Jayson’s leg, and scooping a forearm under his calf to apply an ankle lock.

Jayson fought the pain and used his free leg to take out Seth’s lead foot. Both of them crashed to the canvas, Seth losing the lock in the process. They rolled away from each other, Jayson coming to his feet first and taking two steps to cross the distance. His heel lashed out faster than Seth had ever seen him kick and crashed straight into Seth’s stomach.

Seth left the ground and sailed backwards, crashing into the cage as Jayson followed him with a flying Superman punch from the right. Seth turned and cover blocked, taking the powerful strike on the outside of his left arm, then whipping back with a short punch off the cage into Jayson’s stomach. It had no meaningful impact and Jayson came over the the left with a hook across Seth’s jaw. Seth reeled and a knee smashed into the inside of his left leg, bruising the nerve cluster and spasming his muscles. Seth went down.

Jayson grabbed the cage above him and soccer-kicked Seth in the face. The world went black for half a second, and Seth came to as the second kick came in. Seth covered, and shin crashed into his forearms. One more of those and his arms would break. Seth shrimped, using a heel on the canvas to drive out of the danger zone. The third kick went wide of his head.

“Take him down!” Shouted Andrew from ringside, shaking the cage as he did so.

Seth took Andrew’s advice and rose into a penetrating lunge, his arms circling around each of Jayson’s legs and holding tight as Seth came the rest of the way to his feet and drove up, hopping off the canvas and turning sideways, his shoulder planted firmly in Jayson’s stomach. They crashed down with an audible grunt from Jayson, and went to a scramble for the dominant position.

Seth placed the blade of his forearm in Jayson’s neck and drove down as he swung his hips over, claiming top mount and coming up to full posture. Jayson made one powerful bucking attempt, but it wasn’t enough. Seth snatched Jayson’s left arm, pinning it to the right and twisting his upper body hard into an elbow strike.

Impact. Jayson’s head rebounded off the canvas and Seth could practically see the stars in his eyes. The demon within hungered. Put this to rest. Strike. Strike. Strike. Jayson managed to get his arm free and cover up as relentless blows came over the top and all the way down onto him. Seth took the opportunity, grabbing Jayson’s arm—the same one he’d broken at Grand Island—and jerking his wrist up as he swung a leg around and over Jayon’s head. Seth fell back into the armbar.

“Fuck you,” growled Jayson, rolling up and tensing his arm as hard as he could. His hand found the toe of Seth’s augment and he cranked. Seth felt a crunch resonate up his leg, but he felt no pain. The shock was all Jayson needed, though, and he pulled his arm back. The two scrambled apart to their feet.

Seth looked down. The big toe of the augment was skewed ninety degrees to the side. At a motion from David, the music stopped as the crowd stared, muttering to each other. Jayson stood with his guard still up, mouth skewed in a smirk.

“Fighter, can you continue?”

Seth looked over at David and blinked. Then, he held up a finger, knelt down, and grabbed his toe.

POP!

He snapped it back into placed and stood up. David’s jaw hung slack, and the crowd went completely silent. Jayson’s eyes were wide.

“Kick his fucking ass, Seth!” Screamed Andrew, and the crowd erupted again.

“Fight!” Called David over the microphone. The music roared back to life.

This time, Seth stalked in. Jayson’s guard went up at the last second as Seth launched into his combination. Low kick. Checked. Jab, jab, jab. Third got through, knuckles square into the point of Jayson’s jaw. Seth twisted his hips all the way through on that one and snapped Jayson’s head back. Rear straight, low. Seth’s fist dug deep into Jayson’s stomach just below the waist. Rear straight, high. The strike crashed into Jayon’s face as it came forward. Step all the way through and backfist. The back of Seth’s closed left hand smashed across Jayson’s jaw. Shin-to-shin. Sweep.

Jayson flipped over, crashing into the deck and rolling away, fear now in his eyes. Seth had found his rhythm.

“I’m sorry,” said Seth teeth biting deep into his mouthpiece. “You were going to do what to me?” He surged forward. Left push kick. Blocked. Roundhouse from the left. Checked. Hand to neck, half-clinch. Knee. Jayson took the blow square in the stomach. Seth felt the air expel from Jayson’s lungs. Other hand to neck. Full clinch. Twist. Seth swung his hips around, dragging Jayson around the ring into another knee, then pivoted back and repeated the procedure.

Jayson crossed his arms to block, but Seth put everything he had into the strike and the knee drove into Jayson’s stomach all the same. He felt Jayson spit something onto him as he took one last pivot and let go, sending Jayson flying across the cage. Seth wiped himself of Jayson’s spit. It was bright red. Seth grinned, eyes alight with bloodlust as Jayson came to a rolling stop next to the cage.

Seth came in with everything he had. One clean, final blow. He stomped Jayson square in the jaw.

Bone cracked beneath heel and Jayson went limp.

Not good enough, said the void.

Seth grabbed cage, and hauled back, driving a wild kick into Jayson’s exposed stomach, and then again, and again, and again, battering Jayson’s defenseless body, all the anger from the times Jayson had shown no mercy to Seth coming forth from the void. A dozen kicks had battered Jayson before David realized Jayson wasn’t defending himself, and he moved in, trying to throw Seth off.

There was no chance of that. Seth shoved David aside and changed to punches, getting low and whipping his fist into Jayson’s unconscious skull over and over and over. Strength and anger surged through Seth’s limbs and he hauled Jayson up with his hands in his armpits, propping him up against the cage. He didn’t notice the music had stopped. He didn’t notice the crowd was silent. David stood at the door to the ring, calling for help.

“Wake up,” growled Seth, using one hand on Jayson’s neck to hold him upright.

Black and bloody eyes fluttered open and Jayson stared at Seth, no emotion other than pure terror on his face.

“We’re. Fucking. Done.” Growled Seth.

Jayson’s knee drove into his groin.

Seth tanked it. Too full of rage and adrenaline, he spat his mouthpiece to the side and bared his teeth at Jayson. “What was that? Want to try that again?”

Strong arms gripped Seth by the shoulder, and he drove an elbow back, finding purchase in face without even looking to see who it was. “I said,” he shouted. “Do you want to fucking try that again?”

Jayson drove a forearm into Seth’s elbow from the outside, trying to break either the grip or Seth’s arm, but he was too weak, too concussed. The blow bounced harmlessly off. All it did was awaken the demon of Seth’s anger further. Seth squeezed his hand around Jayson’s neck and drove up, lifting him off his feet against the cage with just the strength of one arm. He heard the vaguest notion of someone screaming to let Jayson go, but it didn’t register in any sort of meaningful way.

Jayson flailed and kicked, each blow worthless against the iron pillar Seth had become. The strong hands gripped his shoulder again, and Seth let Jayson drop, his anger turning on the interrupter of his vengeance. Seth lashed out with a powerful front kick, taking the air right out of the blue belt drop-in’s lungs and doubling him over. Seth shoved his head away, sending him sprawling to the floor. He turned back and ate a right cross from Jayson.

It had zero effect. Seth drove forward into a headbutt, dropping Jayson in one shot. Jayson stared up at him, nose broken, eyes already swelling shut, lips and face cut in half a dozen places. Seth spat on him and stalked out of the ring, the crowd making a wide berth for him. Jessica and Andrew couldn’t get through fast enough, and Seth disappeared around the house as the void drank his violence and left him with only numbness. Numbness and hunger for more. He disappeared to the left of the house, off into the darkness as he walked towards the woods.

The thoughts of Ms. Tull and Coach John came to the forefront of his mind again. He’d betrayed them, he’d betrayed CFA. This wasn’t how he was supposed to be. Seth sank to his heels behind a tree, well out of view of the lake-house, and hid in the dark as tears started to pool in his eyes. How he’d not killed Jayson, he didn’t know. He’d wanted to.

He could feel the trigger of the gun again, the kickback as he pressed the barrel to Nicole’s skull and squeezed.

Seth went to all fours and vomited, emptying the meager contents of the day upon the grass. His hands shook as he sat back against the tree, the tears flowing freely now. This wasn’t him. This wasn’t. This wasn’t.

Then why couldn’t he stop it?

Seth buried his face against his knees, arms wrapped around his legs as he rocked back and forth, trying to clear the numbness from himself, trying to find something to latch onto to make the bloodlust stop.

A deep voice came from the shadows beyond him. “Why does the warrior cry?”

Seth’s head snapped up to see a tall, broad-shouldered figure stepping out from behind a tree about ten yards away. He swallowed. It was the silver-haired man from the King’s Hall, wearing unassuming jeans and a gray flannel. He was barefoot.

“Has the warrior been defeated in battle?”

Seth made a little box inside his head and shoved all of his negative emotions inside it, allowing one central feeling to replace them. Fear. He stood to his feet as the man strode closer. He looked as if Seth hadn’t even scratched him the previous night.

The man came to a stop five feet away from Seth. “You’re going to have to choose.”

Seth clenched and unclenched his fists. The man stood a good head and shoulders taller than Seth, taller than Coach John even, though not as broad.

“Choose what?” Asked Seth, his eyes darting for a sign the man was about to attack.

“To choose which side you belong on, child of the spirits.”

Despite all his fear and readiness for an all-out brawl, a single though pressed through Seth’s mind. Does he know what I am? “What do you mean, child of the spirits?”

The man’s eyes twinkled in the moonlight. “I told them that the way we first met was only frightening you away. I told them that if.. If you understood your place in all this, you would gladly make the choice required of you.”

The man bore no threat in his posture. In fact, he was smiling. Seth refused to lower his guard, though. The moment he saw hair grow he was beating this man within an inch of his life again. Or an inch of wherever Seth had beaten him to. The violence Seth had opened up on him should have left this man’s face swollen and his brain concussed. Still, if this man could give him answers, Seth would take them. “Tell me what you mean.”

The man turned from Seth and looked out through the sparse pines here to the glittering lake beyond. Seth could hear that the music had started back up at the house. He wondered if Jessica and Andrew were still looking for him. “The spirits blessed my ancestors with power. Wisdom and strength flow through our blood, and we can take the shape of our spirit animal at will. Our tribe settled here long ago, and as the years went on, we assimilated, though we strove to keep the shamanic bloodlines pure, only marrying ourselves to those who also had the essence of the spirits in them.”

“Incest?”

The man looked over at Seth. “No, we mated with people of every faith and creed that had gifts. Over time it made us stronger. But, coming from the Old World, was a disease. The disease of the witch. Where we create, they corrupt. They curse, and they hex, and they twist the powers of the land into things they should not be while worshiping gods that should not exist. However, we are bound. We derive our gifts from the same sources-”

“Seth!”

Seth stepped around the tree to Jessica and Andrew running through the forest towards them. Andrew slowed to a stop, the tree blocking his and Jessica’s view of the man. “Jesus, Seth, are you alright?”

Seth swallowed. “Is Jayson?”

“Yeah, there’s a senior who’s an EMT. He’s fucked up, but he’ll be fine.”

Seth nodded, looking down. “I don’t know how. I lost control in there.”

“Eh. You had good reasons. And Jayson rolled with a lot of the shots. His face is messed up, but he’s walking around.”

“What? How?” Asked Seth, looking back up, his eyebrows raised. It made him feel better, but Jayson should not have been in any shape to walk around after that beating.

“Seth,” said Jessica. “I don’t like these woods.” She was twisting her head this way and that to scan the dark surroundings. “I’m getting a really bad feeling.”

Seth twisted and looked behind the tree. The man leaned against it, one leg tucked up, arms crossed, safely out of sight from Andrew and Jessica. “You’re right. Let’s get out of here. I don’t want to make any more-” He turned around once more, catching the man’s eye as did so, but making as if he was looking into the woods. “Bad choices.”

“You got it,” said Andrew. “We can drink at my place, I swiped a bottle of whiskey from the bar. And your fight money.” He pressed an envelope into Seth’s chest as he turned back to face his friends.

Seth opened the envelope and counted it as they walked towards the lane leading up to the lake-house. Twelve hundred and fifty. He let out a low whistle and looked back over his shoulder. The man stood in the open now, arms crossed, eyes boring into Seth. And then, Seth saw his eyes shift to Andrew. The man grinned.