Skin (11 page)

I heard
scratching. The sound grew louder and I felt vibrations beneath my
feet. Whatever was coming, it was coming in a swarm.

The stage
erupted as a thousand and more giant insects spewed out of the
openings. Each had the body of cockroaches, a foot long, with their
six legs scrabbling wild. At the front, each one had a set of sharp
chomping fangs, like piranha teeth, snipping and snapping at
whatever was in their way.

John brought
his giant ape arm swinging down and smashed one with his leathery
fist. It squished like any other cockroach, crunching and sending a
smear of custard guts across the floor.

“
Smash
‘em,” John yelled. “Quick!”

I brought my
foot down on the closest bug and crushed it easily. I jumped and
smashed another and the whacked another with my hand, narrowly
escaping its chomping fangs. A hot pain shot through my calf. One
had climbed my leg and sunk its teeth into his flesh. I tore it
off, taking a chunk of skin with it in its mouth and threw it, John
finishing the job with a single swipe. The orangutan arms were a
flailing orange blur, smacking down roach after roach. He used the
ropes for leverage swinging himself up and around and then down
again onto a new swarm.

I leaped about
like a Highland dancer, squishing bugs with my shoes that were now
a wet mess of insect insides. It was fun, I admit, and the whole
game reminded me of one of those Whack-A-Mole games I used to beg
to play when I was a kid.

The game
was over in what seemed a short space of time, though it could have
been hours, it could have been minutes. I had no idea. I was
excited, almost to the point of laughing as I brought my heel down
on the last insect, relishing the crisp crunch of its shell
disintegrating under my weight. The stage was a sea of goop and
legs and broken teeth. John too was smiling, holding up his ape
arms as the crowd cheered. The whole thing had been a bit soft, I
knew, likely orchestrated for my first time. Darius was pitting
against slathering werewolves and what did I get? Bugs. I
didn
’t care though, I was having too good a
time.

My run
of thought was cut short by John
’s enormous fist
driving straight into my stomach, the full weight of those ape arms
behind it. I flew backward, winded and retching, landing heavily
and sliding through the creamy mess of our last opponents. I hadn’t
been ready.

I pulled
myself to my knees, desperate to draw a breath. John climbed a
nearby rope, swinging from his arms to come down feet first with
the full weight of his body aimed at crushing me. I rolled and
missed the impact by a hair. John grabbed onto my ankle and pulled
me back to him, flipping me onto my back. I felt like a doll, light
and floppy and just as useless. I arched and flicked my body, just
missing the impact of the paw coming down where my face had been
less than a second before. The crowd cheered. I saw frustration in
the boy
’s eyes.

John went for
the ropes again. The swing was his strength, I thought, I had to
get higher. I jumped for the closest rope and pulled myself onto
the main part of the web.

Focus, I
told myself. It
’s just another weight to push. John
climbed and I climbed higher until I was perched on the very top of
the frame. The crowd was a maniac and they all cried out for the
Priest.

John met me on
the apex, balancing and swaying on the uppermost rope. He struck
out and wobbled to near falling. He was top heavy with those stupid
arms and I could use it. Gripping the thick rope, I vaulted my legs
sideways and took John in the chest knocking him down, but the kid
grabbed the rope and hung, dangling the thirty foot drop held on
only by his fingers. Before he could hoist himself back to
purchase, I scrabbled over and stood on his hand. He cried out a
grunt and I twisted my gut covered shoes, feeling one finger loosen
and then another. He fell. Not all the way to the sloppy stage but
it was far enough to shake the kid. I scrambled down before he
could take his bearings and get a grip, and kicked him again hard
in the sternum. This time he did fall, all the way.

I leaped
down after him, hitting a rope on the way down, leaping and flying.
He lay face down, trying to get himself to standing after the shock
of the fall. I landed hard, sitting up high on his back with the
orangutan
’s arms pinned hog style. He could only flail
his legs. I had won.

The Guardians
lifted their swords and cried out in unison, a signal that I was
the victor. I released and the kid lifted himself shakily to his
feet, grinning and stupid as if he were pleased to just have had
his ass kicked. He grabbed onto my arm, holding it aloft. We turned
in circles before the cheers and mad applause of the crowd. I drank
it all in, elated and running high on a cocktail of adrenaline and
pride. They loved me. I felt transcendent. I was their victorious
champion. And I wanted another go.

I had wanted
Sveta to meet me once I came off stage, to congratulate me on my
win, a prize waiting for me in the wings. Instead I was lowered,
alone, into the same dim corridors I had risen through as if
nothing was different, as if I was not different.

I found
Sveta in her office in the exact position as he
’d left
her in when she dismissed me before the fight. Had she even been in
the stands to see it happen? She barely looked at me. No, this was
not right. I stood in front of her desk, still shirtless and
sticking with sweat and bug guts.

“
I won,”
I said.

“
I
know,” she replied, pausing from her papers to at least look up at
me.

“
And
you’re not going to say anything about it? Did you even
see?”

Sveta
replaced the cap on a silver fountain pen and sat back in her
chair, her hands folded gently over her middle. She smiled and I
felt a release of tension I hadn
’t even known I was
carrying.

“
Of
course I saw, my darling,” she said.

I moved to the
other side of the desk and took her hands, pulling her gently into
standing.

“
And?” I
asked.

Our faces were
close, our bodies closer.

“
And
your triumph was exactly what I had expected of you,” she
said.

I kissed her
firmly on the lips. Gripping her waist, I lifted her so that she
sat on the edge of the desk. She ran her fingers with a feather
touch across my chest.

“
I want
to do it again,” I said. Her legs lifted and wrapped around my
thighs, my hands pressed on the small of her back, fitting
perfectly like a puzzle piece, pulling her closer to me.

“
You
will have whatever you want,” she whispered as I moved into
her.

I heard the
adoring cheers of the crowd echo in my ears as I came.

I woke
but did not open my eyes. I was warm, comfortable and felt
Sveta
’s naked body curled into mine, sleeping like a
contented kitten. My eyes flickered open to a soft morning light
washing through the sheer curtains of Sveta’s bedroom. Kissing her
gently on the top of the head, I pulled back the covers and moved
to the window, standing completely naked before the
city.

This
tower was a pillar that stretched from hell to heaven. The arena on
the bottom, Sveta
’s bedroom on the top. What was in
between? Somewhere, I reasoned there would be the beasties lowered
into the arena. And the other floors? I’d never seen anyone else
coming or going.

I was
sore and bruised. My jaw was tender from that first blow John had
dealt me. The previous night was a strange blur punctuated by
blinding flashes of clarity. The feeling of my hands and feet
connecting with the opponent, with firm and absolute force. The
lightness of my body moving down the climbing frame as if I were
flying. Screwing Sveta on her desk afterwards, twice more on the
floor in the middle of her atrium room and once again in her cloud
like bed before falling asleep in the hours just before dawn. I was
spent, my eyes felt heavy and dry like they were filled with sand.
But otherwise, I felt strong, a power coursed through me that he
hadn
’t even dreamed was possible.

“
I
didn’t expect you to be awake for hours,” Sveta said in a gorgeous
sleepy voice.

She rolled
over onto her back, propping herself up on her elbow and revealing
a perfect breast. I felt a warm stirring and wanted her again.

“
No you
don’t,” she said with a perfect laugh, noticing my arousal. “You
need to eat and then, if I’m not mistaken, you have a job to go to
today?”

“
I’ll
phone in sick,” I said, climbing on the massive bed and crawling
toward her. “I keep telling you, I’m in good with the
boss.”

“
You
can’t let the rest of your life fall by the wayside,” she said,
pushing me away playfully but with enough force to tell me that it
wasn’t going to happen. “Go, shower, I’ll have Simone bring us
breakfast.”

I exaggerated
the pout of a boy being denied candy before dinner and left her
side.

“
Rev,”
she said, stopping me before I stepped into the bathroom. “Your
mother would be proud of you.”

I
smiled. I knew she was right.
“I’ll move in with you,”
I said. “Is today OK?”

I floated into
Sanctuary while Sveta stayed upstairs, still in her night gown,
poring over more paper work she told me would bore her even more to
talk about. She had tried to give me those balms of hers to fix the
bruising and swelling but I refused to let her help me heal. My
mother had never needed any special potions when she had been
minced. She just got back up, her cuts and bruises like war medals,
and fought the hard fight. These were my badges, my medals of the
cross last night and I would wear them proudly.

Cato was
doing a series of impressive one armed push ups. I did a quick
sweep about the room to check I didn
’t need to do any
actual work before joining him on the gym floor. I was looking
forward to clearing my mind with a good session before taking up
the arena for the second time later that night.

“
You
look happy, Pal.” Cato said. “You’ve got a spring in your step and
everything.”

I
threaded plates onto the chest bar, smiling broadly.
“You ever feel like everything in your life is just falling
into the exact right place? Like everything in the universe is
working overtime to make sure yours is the life that’s turning out
for the best?”

Cato
snorted.
“Not really. What are you taking pills or
something to fell that good? Can you hook me up?”

“
No
pills, buddy. Just life. Life and love.”

“
And a
bit sting from that snake eyed tail?”

“
It
doesn’t hurt, but it’s just so much more than that. You know what
I’m talking about?”

“
Absolutely no idea, mate. But I’m happy if you’re happy.
That’s what this place does to people after a while. We all belong
here. We’re all friends, even when we step up on the cross
together. Maybe that’s what’s finally got to you?”

“
Do you
know who I’m beating tonight?” I said, pushing out a slow
lift.

“
You’re
a cocky one,” Cato laughed. “I wouldn’t speak too soon though, I
think the rotation has you down with Imogen. You’d better watch
her. No one gets by those claws on their first round against our
Imogen. It’s almost mandatory to fall before her.”

“
But not
really mandatory, right? Just because it doesn’t happen, doesn’t
mean I’m not allowed to win, right?”

“
I
guess. But listen Pal, Johnny is green, an easy win for a newbie.
If you can get by Imogen on only your second round on the cross,
then what they’re all saying about you might just be
true.”

I waited
at my end of the cross, the crowd stamping a thundering heartbeat.
What were they saying about me? Was it about my mother? Was it
something to do with Sveta? They thought she was favouring me. Were
they saying I deserved it? Or I didn
’t? She gave me an
easy fight on my first night and now, so early I was up against
Imogen, a veteran. I’d brought it up with Sveta before I’d
descended into the belly of the stage and she only
shrugged.

“
It’s
the luck of the draw,” she said.

“
Why are
they calling me Priest?” I asked.

“
It’s
just a nickname. These things always have an oddly lateral
evolution. Just go with it.”

There
was a new strangeness about her that I didn
’t like.
She was running hot and cold, one minute, inviting me to live with
her, stripping me naked and letting me do unspeakably erotic things
to her body and the next she wouldn’t even do so much as look at
me. The glare of the lights made it hard to see the deck where she
sat, but I was certain she was not even in the audience this
night.

The Guardians
were dressed in a futuristic metallic garb that made them look
alien. Even their features had taken on an alien sense, their heads
elongated beneath shining steel skull caps, their eyes wide, dark
and soulless.