Fashionably Dead Down Under(88)

Cole removed his shirt and I had to admit the sexy in the room had elevated greatly. Satan slashed his hand in the air and Steven Perry started belting out Who’s Crying Now.
“Oh my, Astrid.” Dixie slid into Ethan’s seat and gripped my arm in distress. “Are you okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be okay?”
“The last four Demons Cole fought with are damaged,” she whispered. “Permanently.”
“Did he cheat?”
“He doesn’t have to. He’s a weapon even without his magic.”
I rolled my neck, pulled my legs up to my seat and sat crisscross applesauce. Dixie gaped at me with concern.
“Astrid, this won’t end well.” She was a wreck and I felt bad for her.
“You’re right Dixie,” I told her. “It won’t end well. Watch.”
The sex gods bowed to Satan and began slowly circling each other. Ethan’s perfect body was completely relaxed and excitement coiled in my stomach. Everyone, including the Devil sat forward in their seats.
Ethan refused to make the first move and waited patiently for Cole. Cole was stupidly cocky. He took Ethan’s inaction as fear. Mistake number one . . . He smirked at the Vampyre and made his move. It was the most violent balletic battle I’d seen. They were well matched and utterly focused. A bomb could have detonated and they wouldn’t have taken their eyes from one another. It was a mixture of martial arts and pure brute strength. Ethan was the deadliest fighter I’d ever seen and I hoped he didn’t accidently kill Cole.
They parried, each getting kicks and punches in. Ethan deflected most of what Cole dealt out, but it was inevitable that he would come out scathed. My beautiful man was getting bored. Cole’s moves, while powerful and potentially deadly, were predictable.
“You have nothing more than that?” Ethan asked in a disinterested voice. Cole sucked in a furious breath and attacked.
Ethan ducked to his left and Cole went tripping forward. His roar of fury made the hair on my neck stand up. Dixie’s grip on my arm was going to leave a mark, but I didn’t have the heart to peel her off. She was a mess.
Ethan was over it. As Cole charged, Ethan gave him an upper cut that sent him reeling backwards. He then aerial cartwheeled forward and scissor kicked his neck, dropping him to the floor. Cole jumped up and did a back tuck, aiming to land a foot on Ethan’s spine to break it, but my lover was too fast. The crowd cheered and hissed. Cole came down so hard and fast on the mat that his foot, meant to maim, twisted beneath him. He grunted in pain and slashed out with his fist catching Ethan near his eye. It swelled shut almost immediately, but Ethan’s reply was devastating. With right-left upper cuts, I heard Cole’s jaw shatter and his nose crunch. The blood spatter would have been comical if it hadn’t been real. The Demons gasped and chattered with glee.
Bleeding and broken, Cole refused to give up. Ethan had taken his fair share of brutality, but he was nowhere near the broken man that his opponent was. Cole came at Ethan like an out of control train. His wreck was imminent and I clutched Dixie in fear for Cole.
“Don’t kill him,” I told Ethan.
“Don’t worry. He’s a Demon. He’ll heal.”
“Of course he’ll heal,” I snapped. “Unless you kill him.”
“Fine,” he huffed. “Shall I knock him out and end it?”
“Yes, but DO NOT use the death touch. I know it doesn’t work on Vamps, but it might kill a Demon.”
“Good point. This is why I love you.”
“Not for my boobs?”
He laughed aloud at my last transmitted message and I was sure everyone in the room thought he was insane. He wasted no time and Cole probably never knew what hit him. With Vampyre speed and the precision of a surgeon, my mate destroyed the finest Demon warrior in Hell. I idly thought these Demons needed some lessons, but I realized in battle they most likely used their magic. Ethan doled out punch after punch and kick after kick until Cole went down. The blood pooled around Cole’s body, but Ethan had quite a bit of his own to wipe away as well.
The bell rang and the room went silent.
Oh shit. Were we about to get attacked by every Demon in the room? I rushed to Ethan’s side and the noise started. Whistles and shouts bounced off the walls of the training room. The screaming and cheering made me want to cover my ears. Ethan nodded once to Satan, took my hand and walked back to our seats. He pulled his shirt back on, much to the sadness of the women in the room and took a seat. My instinct was to attend to his wounds, but I did nothing. Showing weakness was not an option. I’d fuss over him like a mother hen once we were alone.