Destiny Bewitched by Leia Shaw

and I’m not much to look
at.”
    He rolled his eyes.
    She pursed her lips.
“You want me to take this seriously, don’t you? How about…Samantha
the Wicked Witch of the – no, that’s been done.” Her eyes
brightened. “The Witchinator.”
    He opened his mouth to
protest, but she cut him off.
    “No, you’re right.
That’s lame. Um.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “Big Red!”
    Damn, she was cute. He
bit back a smile.
    She patted his arm
excitedly. “Oh! Oh! Sam the Savage. That’ll scare the
competition.”
    “Ridiculous,” he
muttered. Ignoring her little pout, he turned back to the
registration desk and gave their names.
    The slender man rose
and wrote their names at the bottom of a long list on the
chalkboard behind him.
    “Just Sam?” she said
disappointedly.
    His heart clenched. Never make her
sad.
    He whispered to the man
at the desk who was getting ready to stamp their names into leather
bracelets.
    The man arched a brow
then shrugged. “You fight tomorrow evening,” he said, pressing the
letters on the leather with metal stamps. “Come back an hour before
to see who you’ll be competing against. The rules are written here.
Your room number is forty two, on the second floor.” He handed Geo
a piece of paper with the rules and the two bracelets. With a small
grin that flashed his fangs, his gaze swept over Sam. “Good
luck.”
    Geo grabbed the paper
and the bracelets roughly from the vampire’s hands. “Thanks,” he
grated, eager to get Samantha away from his heated gaze.
    He corralled her to the
other side of the entrance and lifted her wrist. With a smirk, he
snapped the bracelet into place. She read the inscription while he
fastened his own.
    “Red Phoenix?” She
looked up at him and grinned.
***
    Geo’s hand felt warm
and a bit sweaty around hers as they walked the corridor that
circled the ring. The hall was crowded with all kinds of…creatures.
Most of them appeared human – aside from the occasional fang and
pointed ears – but she knew better than to judge a person by their
looks. Other than being bumped here and there, they mostly ignored
her. And she wasn’t the only female, which made her feel a little
better for some reason.
    Noxious odors filled
her nostrils and she started breathing through her mouth. But the
air tasted like death. She coughed a few times until she got used
to it. Angry shouting came from her left. On her right, two tall
fae-like creatures spoke in Irish accents. Every once in a while
the crowd erupted in cheers. She tried to tune out the fight.
    Geo’s hand tightened
around hers to the point of pain.
    She tossed him an
irritated look. “I’m not a toddler. I’m not going to wander
off.”
    Hesitantly, he let her
go.
    The corridor opened up
a bit and all along the side opposite the ring, peddlers sold
goods. A man yelling gibberish held up meat on a stick. A woman
dressed like an old-fashioned gypsy sold cheap costume jewelry.
Others had weapons and gadgets and clothing.
    Clothing!
    She moved slightly to
see the mostly leather collection. Damn, she wished she had some arians . Maybe
they took Visa card.
    Someone grabbed her
upper arm roughly and she yelped. She spun around and bumped into
Geo’s hard chest.
    Whoops.
    She must’ve wandered
off. His withering glare made her shrink back. He growled once then
took her hand, pulling her along again. This time he wasn’t letting
go.
    A stairwell broke off
to the side about halfway around the ring. They climbed it and came
out at another corridor. It also circled the ring but the other
side was lined with doors, each with a number etched into the
wood.
    The Underworld version
of Motel 6.
    They walked the nearly
empty hallway until he stopped them at number forty two. He looked
back at her. “This should be interesting.” He opened the door.
    Motel Underworld wasn’t
too much worse than her trailer growing up. There was a real bed,
though the mattress was bare. Guess it was a