Death has a Daughter (DHAD Series) (3 page)

Dave and I walked up to the tournament board at the Reaping, and I stared at it, searching for my name and my first opponent.

“I got Eric,” I said to Dave when I finally found my name.  “Who did you get first?”

“
Drake,” he said coldly.

“
Sorry.”

“
Yeah, someone’s got to face him first, I guess.  I just wanted to advance a little farther than the first round,” Dave said, and I agreed.  It would be naïve to encourage him to win.  He just wasn’t at Drake’s level, and we both knew it.

“
Eric has no jump,” he said to me, but I already knew that.

“
I know; I’m going to start with a leap and take him out quickly.” I smiled.  “I need to save my energy for Drake at the end.”

“
Drake always goes for brute force first; try and use that against him,” I suggested.

“
I will.” He smiled.

“
Don’t worry; I’ll tire him out so that when he faces you, it’ll be easier.”

“
I really hope you do.”  The bell sounded, letting us know that we needed to get to our places, and I went into the arena where my first round would be held. When I arrived, Eric was already waiting and looking confident.  Several of the other Reapers were sitting in the stone bleachers for encouragement.  Looking over at the side that was supposed to be designated for my fans, I found Dad smiling.

The arenas where the matches took place were like mini-versions of the famous ancient Roman coliseum that I had learned about.  We had two arenas in our realm.  They were mainly used for training, like today.  Who knew why we needed so much room
?  The main stage consisted of harsh, dry, red soil.  The only way in or out would be teleportation or climbing the 50-foot high wall that separated the spectator seating from the main arena. 

The rounds would get over much more quickly if we had
a smaller arena.  Instead, it made us chase each other, which was annoying but, I guess, realistic to what we would face with Guardians in the real world.

The real reason
the arenas were so large was so that we could have big stands for the audience.  Reapers loved this last day of training.  To be able to watch the new talent for the first time was practically a holiday.  To my shock, more Reapers weren’t here yet.  It was probably too early; surely, they’d all be here later to watch the final match.  After porting into the arena, I walked up to the trainer who was here to judge the match.  It was Herald,
great
, so that meant everything would have to be by the book.

“
Hello, Cendall,” he said, as I came up to where he stood.  “Nice test score—98%. Puts you and Drake tied for first you know.  Not to add any more pressure, but if you make it to the finals to face him, it would determine if you deserve to be a R...I mean, deserve that top spot.”  He said this with a wicked smirk.  You didn’t have to be a genius to know what he really wanted to say.

“
Good to know.  Can we get on with this already?  Wouldn’t want to throw off your world balance by starting this match late or anything,” I said as I looked directly into his eyes.

“
I’m glad to see you’re finally paying attention to time.  Yes, the match will start as soon as Eric comes up to us.  I will be the judge at the arena all day, just to let you know.  I look forward to watching your matches.  Good luck,” he said, and it almost appeared sincere.

“
Matches?  So I’m guessing your money’s on me this round?”  I asked, and he smiled.  It was no secret that several of the Reapers and trainers had tournament brackets that they bet on for this.

“
I am no fool, Cendall.  Eric!” He called out to Eric’s side of the benches.

“
Come now, we must begin.”

Eric gave his buddies one last high
-five and stalked my way.  As he walked over, he stared at me with what I could only guess was his game face.  He was trying to intimate me, but this only made my smile widen.  If this was the first time I had seen him, I may have been—based on his looks—but I had trained with him for years.  He indeed towered over me, being six-foot-ten, but most of the men in my class did.  He had gold eyes, long, wild, dirty-blonde hair, and a nice chiseled jawline.  He was definitely huge, but I knew his weakness, as did many other Reapers, which was why he was facing me in the first round.

“
Remember, no porting!! Now, bow, take three steps back, and begin,” Herald commanded as Eric stood a few feet away from me.  This was it—first round; I took a deep breath and bowed.  When I looked up, Eric was doing the same.  We both then stood up, took three paces back, and brought out our scythes.

“
BEGIN!”  Herald bellowed, and Eric came running.  I faked to the left, causing him to switch his grip on the scythe as he charged forward.  At the last second, I darted to the right, and he charged straight past me.  Momentum kept him going for about fifty paces before he stopped and spun on his heel.  Frustration changed the lines of his face as he charged at me again. I ran to meet his charge head on.  He flipped his grip on the scythe again, expecting another fake out, but I kept running.  His eyes widened as he came to the conclusion that we were actually going to collide.  Not ready for impact, he fumbled, and I used his unease to grab his shoulders and propel myself into the air over his head.  I flipped forward once and landed on the ground, on the balls of my feet, then threw myself onto my back and slid perfectly between his parted legs, with my upper-half in front of him.  I looked up, just as his eyes found mine, and watched as they widened in horror at the sight of my scythe entering his “fake heart.”  The bell went off, ending the match.  As I got up, I dusted off my legs.

“
Good match.”  My dusty hand reached out for his.  His eyes were still wide, but a small smile had found his face.

“
I have no idea how you did that,” he said as he stuck out his hand and shook mine with a hard grasp.

“
Something I picked up from watching human movies.”  Herald came over and raised my hand in the air and the crowd cheered, which took me back a bit.  I had assumed only my dad would, but everyone in the arena was on their feet and cheering.  Herald released my hand, and I walked over to the stands where my dad was sitting.  It took me a few moments to get to him because a lot of people, who had never talked to me in my life, were saying ‘good job’ and ‘how’d you do it?’  It was odd, but I greeted each of them with a smile and a handshake.  Relief washed over me when I finally made it to Dad.

“
Forty-five seconds—that’s impressive!” he said as he grasped me in a hug.  “That flip was amazing, Cendall. I hope you didn’t spill all your beans with that trick, for it won’t work again,” he said, trying to give good advice.

“
No worries, I’ve got many more up my sleeve.  I just wanted this match over quickly. Who do I face next?”

“
Well, no one else is finished just yet.  Your boy Dave is giving Drake a pretty good run for his money.  The fight is definitely in Drake’s court, but I’ve heard that Dave is at least making a good opponent.”  Relief washed over me, but it quickly faded as I heard the bell sounding from the other arena.  The match must be over.  I teleported to the stands of the other stadium and saw one of the trainers holding Drake’s hand in the air.  A much larger crowd than I had began roaring in cheers.  As the crowd rushed to meet him, I looked for Dave.  He was surrounded by a small crowd as well, who I overheard saying, “Good fight, Dave, nice attempt.”

“
A couple years, and you’ll be right there!” another said.  Dave’s back was turned as I approached him.  My hand grabbed him as I whipped him around and embraced him in a hug.  He would need it.

“
Thank you,” Dave said, as we walked away from the crowd, hand in hand.

“
How did your match go?” he asked as he spit blood out of his mouth. Their fight must have gotten rough.

“
Good, forty-five seconds,” I answered and tried not to smile. I didn’t want to make him feel any worse.

“
Damn, I knew I heard the bell early, but I didn’t think—wow.  How’d you do it?”  Dave asked.

“
It was cunning and had acrobatics, deception, and mad skill,” Eddie interrupted. “Our cold, little killer looked deep into his eyes as she staked him. It was truly ELECTRIFYING!”

“
Where the hell did you....”  I started to ask.

“
Come on, you know I’m super sneaky and fast,” Eddie laughed.  “I have to face Drake next. Any tips?”

“
All my tips went out the window when you unhooked my bra during training.  Don’t think I forgot.”  Eddie’s face flushed red.

“
Sorry about that. All’s fair, I guess.  Good luck in your next match.”  He ran off as fast as he had approached us.

“
That kid is so freaking fast,” Dave said, as we both let out a laugh.

“
I know, I wouldn’t be able to even think of how to start strategizing a fight against him.  I mean, he’d be easy once you caught him, but the whole catching part is what gets me,” I said.

“
Well, I’m glad you won your fight,” Dave said.  “I’m not going to lie...when I heard cheering, I thought maybe Eric had won.”

“
I know. That was weird, huh?  People were actually cheering for me when I won,” I said, still feeling shocked.

“
Yeah, it must have been the ELECTRIFYING move,” Dave said, imitating Eddie.  “Either way, let’s go see who you play next.” We headed for the board.

“
You don’t want to talk about your fight?”  I asked.

“
No, it went better than expected, and that’s all I really have to say.  He used brute force, as you can tell by my face, but I blocked a lot of his shots.  That guy is insane though. Good luck, Cendall,” Dave said. I nodded in agreement, knowing that I would need luck.  I would have to use everything I had to defeat Drake.

When we got to the board, it seemed like everyone I knew in our realm was gawking at it.  We managed to sneak our way to the
front, and I saw that I had a buy this round due to the odd numbers.  Drake would face Eddie next, then the winner of Tom and Xavier.  I’d face the winner of John and Williams.  Once these matches were won, if things went according to plan—Drake beating his person and I defeating John, since he ranked much higher than Williams—I would face Drake in the final.  Yippee.

The fight between John and William
s ended quickly.  It took about a minute and thirty seconds for John to place his scythe into Williams.  I had expected, and hoped, it would go a bit longer so that John would be tired for our match, but oh well. 

As I waited for the last minute of John
’s break to expire, I scanned the crowd again.  There was a much larger crowd than I had for my last fight.  Probably because there were only four of us left.  As opponents got knocked out, their crowd of fans joined those that remained.  Either way, it made me feel edgy.  More fans were oddly on my side than John’s.  They were all huddled around my dad and Dave.  My dad was probably the only reason why I had fans at all.  I mean, he was the best Reaper in the record books to this day, which was why I had to win this.  The horn blew, and John and I approached Herald.

“
Here we go again.  Are each of you ready?”  Herald asked, and we both nodded.

“
Then let it begin.”

We each took our steps back and made our quick bow.  Unlike Eric, John was more cautious.  He stood there
, waiting for me to make the first move.  His weakness in training had always been his hand to hand combat, so I would have to start with that.  I flicked the switch on my scythe, watching it extend to its full length with an impressive zing.  Then I struck.  I raised my scythe high in the air and swung it downward at his head.  He counter-blocked by using his own scythe to stop mine from slamming on top of him.  It was time to let him think this would be a test of strength.  I slowly, while making grunting noises, let his scythe push mine away from his body and towards mine, letting him think he was gaining the upper hand.  His eyes stared at the top of his scythe as it came closer to my body.  It was all the distraction I needed, because he wasn’t watching the bottom of my scythe, which was heading right for his heart.  When it was at chest level, I shoved the blunt bottom into his fake blue heart, and the bell rang.  My father had taught me this trick when I had just started training.  I wasn’t sure if it would work, but I figured it was worth a try.

“
No way is this over. That is not fair. It wasn’t the blade of her scythe. It’s not...  No!”  John fumbled.

“
The rules do not state that it has to be the blade of the scythe. If any part of the scythe is inserted into the heart, the soul will be collected. This match is over.  Cendall is the winner,” Herald explained to John as he grabbed my hand and thrust it into the air, announcing my victory.  The crowd erupted in a conflicting roar of cheers and boos.  Oh well, I wasn’t going to win over everyone.