She could tell it was hurting him. It was hurting her to keep the steady pressure up. Shooting stars of pain were zinging in her elbow.
Jez's heart was beating hard and her muscles were beginning to tremble with fatigue. This was much more difficult for both of them than a clean break would have been. And he was a vampire- his wrist would heal in a few days. She wouldn't be injuring him permanently.
I have to do it, she told herself. She tensed her muscles-
And Morgead took a little quick breath, an indrawn hiss of pain. For just an instant his green eyes lost their gemlike clarity, unfocusing a bit as he winced.
Jez let go of his wrist and collapsed to sit beside him, breathing hard.
You are so stupid, her mind told her. She shook her hair out and shut her eyes, trying to deal with the fury.
Beside her, Morgead sat up. "What are you doing?"
"I don't know!" Jez snarled without opening her eyes. Being weak and idiotic, she answered herself. She didn't even know why she couldn't go through with it. She killed vampires-and less obnoxious ones than Morgead-all the time.
"I didn't yield," Morgead said. His voice was flat and dangerous. "So it's not over."
'Tine, blast me."
Tm going to."
"So do it."
"What, you like it so much?"
Jez snapped. She grabbed her stick off the ground and turned to look at him for the first time since she'd sat down. "Yeah, I love it, Morgead! I'm crazy about pain! So do it, and then I'm going to hit you over your thick head so hard you won't wake up until next week!" She might have said more, but the look in his eyes stopped her.
He was staring at her intently, not simply belligerently as she'd imagined. His green eyes were narrow and searching.
"You're just crazy period," he said, sitting back, his gaze still probing. In a different tone he said softly, "So why didn't you do it?"
Jez lifted her shoulders and dropped them. There was a pit of anger and misery in her stomach. 'I
suppose because then I'd have to break every bone in your body, you jerk. You'd never give up, not with that new power you've got."
"I could teach it to you. The others aren't strong enough to learn it, but you are."
That forced a short laugh out of Jez. "Yeah, right." She shut her eyes briefly, wondering what Morgead would say if she were to tell him why she could never learn it.
He'd squash me like a bug, she thought, and laughed again.
"You laugh weird, Jez."
"I have a twisted sense of humor." She looked at him, blinking wetness out of her lashes. Where had that come from? There must be something in her eye. "So. Want to start this fight again?"
He was staring at her hand gripping the snakewood stick. Jez tried to keep that hand steady, but she could feel the fine tremors in the muscles. She took a deep breath and clenched her teeth, making her gaze challenging.
I can fight again. I can do it because I have to, and this time I won't let any stupid sympathy get in the way of beating him. I have to win. Everything depends on it.
Morgead looked back at her face. "No," he said abruptly. "We don't have to do it again. I yield."
Jez bunked in shock. It was the last thing she'd expected. Morgead's expression was cold and unreadable.
Jez got mad.
"Why?" she blazed at him. "Because I'm tired? Because you don't think I can take you?" She whipped the stick up, ready to split his stupid skull.
"Because you're crazy!" Morgead yelled. "And because-" He stopped dead, looked furious. Then he said curtly, "Because you won fair the first time."
Jez stared at him.
Slowly she lowered the stick.
Morgead's expression was still distinctly unfriendly. But he'd just made an almost unbelievable admission.
"You just don't want me to whop you anymore," she said.
He gave her a sideways look that would kill pigeons in midair.
Jez let out her breath. Her heart was just beginning to settle down and relief was spreading through her.
I did it I really did it. I'm not going to die today.
"So it's over," she said. "I'm back in."
"You're leader," Morgead said sourly. "Enjoy it, because I'm going to be right behind you every step, just waiting for my chance."
"I wouldn't expect anything else," Jez said. Then she blinked. "What are you doing?"
"What do you think?" His face set, his eyes on the far wall, Morgead was tugging his shirt away from his neck, and leaning his head back.
"I have no idea-" Then Jez realized. She went cold to the tips of her fingers.
I didn't think. I should have remembered, but I didn't, and I didn't plan for this....
"Blood in, blood out," Morgead said shortly.
Why didn't I remember? Panic was stirring inside Jez. She couldn't see any way to get out of it.
For human gangs "blood in, blood out" meant you got beat up when you were jumped in, and you didn't leave until you were dead. But for vampire gangs...
I can't bite him.
The most frightening thing was that something inside her wanted to do it. Her entire skin was tingling, and it suddenly seemed as if it was only yesterday that she'd had her last blood meal. She could remember exactly how it felt, sinking her teeth into smooth skin, piercing it easily, feeling the warm flow start.
And Morgead's blood would be dark and sweet and powerful. Vampire blood wasn't life-sustaining like human blood, but it was rich with the hidden promise of the Night World. And Morgead was one of the strongest vampires she'd ever met. His blood would be full of the mastery of that new attack, full of raw, vital young energy.