136 CHAPTER 132
Tristan's body was completely riddled with patches of coagulated blood as he found it harder and harder to force his regeneration due to the dampening effect Kali's claws had on him due to her status as an Alpha.
Just as his fight with her threatened to tap him into something primal, the same it was for Kali.
When was the last time she had such a fight that she actually struggled to kill her prey? The last time anything came to this was when she slaughtered her own pack to join Deucalion but even then, the thrill she was feeling now wasn't present then.
She really struggled to adapt to his complex movements and the way he attacked.
Oh she really wanted to kill him now – A compliment Tristan wholly agreed with.
This was the first chance he's had in fighting someone while using his blood because Malia didn't count. If not for his quick reflexes and his blood control, Kali would have succeeded in ripping open his throat a couple number of times.
As the feeling of inching an escape from sure death spurred his instincts further on, the irritation of missing her prey for so many times made Kali grow more feral.
In all her life, Tristan just took the permanent number two spot of the people she most wanted to kill.
Ducking under her leg swipe, Tristan grunted in pain as the heel of her other leg impacted a closing wound and sent him skidding back.
'Alphas really are different.' Only now was he realizing just how lucky they were to fight Peter when he was yet but an inexperienced Alpha.
His body subconsciously shivered at the thought of how exponentially monstrous Peter could have been had he been an Alpha for, say, a year.
If he had to compare the two of them, Peter had a more feral air around him due to how mutated he was as an Alpha, while everything about Kali felt threatening.
And the worst part? She had only been using a partial shift all this while.
Taking a step back, his claws slashed down to cut her outstretched hand but she deftly blocked it, and expecting her to either pull him in or break his limb, Tristan reacted instantly and the coagulated blood on that hand spiked out and pierced through Kali's hand, forcing her to pull back her hand.
Tristan had lost a good amount of blood and that pressured him to use it more conservatively and sparingly, even forcing him to call back two of his blood tails into his body.
Kali's face darkened even more at Tristan's last ass pull, anger climbing higher seeing he was constantly trying to push her into being defensive.
"You filthy leech." She growled as Tristan was up on her again. They fought in such a primal and precise way that felt both horrific and entrancing to watch.
Neither wasted any moment in their attacks as each of them were initiated with the intent of killing their prey or fatally wounding them.
While Tristan dodged most of Kali's attacks, the woman blocked his with seasoned experience, leading the young vampire to be more susceptible to taking more damage from her than he dealt to her.
"While you keep trying to sneak around me, Aiden is already halfway through killing your little girlfriend if she's any good. I wonder what face you'll make when the sound of her heartbeat no longer reaches your ears. Maybe you'll lose control and turn rabid, who knows?" She taunted darkly, steadily trying to push the boy's rationality over its tipping point.
No matter how much he tried to keep his heartbeat and blood-flow steady to remain calm and focused throughout the fight, Kali could only scoff at the futility of his actions.
He was just a teenager, basically a child from the perspective of both worlds, and while admirable, there was no way he could achieve what even the most hardened warriors could not.
Tristan did not react to her taunt but that only caused Kali's dark grin to grow darker. "I'm an Alpha, boy. You can control your heartbeat and blood all you want, but I can still smell the worry in your emotions even if you try to hide them~" She smirked.
And she was right.
With the smell of blood and aggression so thick in the air, the feral state he was in as he fought against Kali and the realization of how strong she was, how could he not worry about Malia?
Was such a notion even possible for him? Especially when she was fighting against an Alpha on her lonesome?
"Gotcha-" Kali's grin, as her black claws that had grown even longer snapped straight at his heart with such blinding speed that left no doubt about it piercing right through his body, faltered.
She had used the very split second, when his attention divided to check on Malia and momentarily caused his reaction to slow down for that impossibly tight window, to attack him knowing he couldn't dodge fast enough, only for her claws to be stopped at the last moment.
Almost instinctively, Tristan had forced the healing wounds on his chest area, even the ones that were only a centimeter wide from closing up, to erupt open to form a hard thick protective shell over his heart while also forming numerous tentacles to wrap over the hand, slowing it down from digging in further.
Her actions and Tristan's reaction happened in the split of a fraction's moment that his best efforts, while it kept him alive, couldn't stop her hands from piercing the shell and digging a bit into his flesh that he had to grab the hand.
She growled fiercely as he blocked her attack still, and used her other hand to finish the job.
At this point, Tristan was using his senses more than his eyes, even coughing up blood, but he still managed to react to the second salvo from Kali by using his two tails to block her hand's trajectory.
His body was already rattled and out of balance when he stopped the first hand that stopping the second one sent him flying back.
"Arghh…" He groaned in pain as he pushed himself to his feet. He couldn't risk a moment being unfocused to wallow in pain, not when his opponent was Kali, otherwise the results would be disastrous – just like she had shown.
"… Should I risk it?" He mumbled to himself. He had lost so much blood and his regeneration was gradually slowing down to a crawl with every injury she cut in his body.
His claws also slowed her down a bit and made the wounds he gave her harder to heal, but nowhere near the extent of effect hers had on him.
Right now, what he needed the most was to drink a good amount of fresh blood, something she was acutely aware of which made her keep a sharp focus on him every time he came very close to her.
"I'll admit that you are strong, kid. Unfortunately, you lack an understanding of just how fundamental the difference between us is." She slowly stated.
'A little drink wouldn't hurt… if she doesn't snap my spine in the process that is.' While he doubted that they had been fighting for quite some time, he knew he needed blood urgently or he'll risk his healing coming to a crawling halt.
He had already come up with a desperate last resort attack plan that'll increase his chance of him drawing blood from her but the question was if he'll survive to savor it.
"Whatever." Making up his mind, he waited for her to come to him. And while the smirk on her face told him that she had an idea of what he might try to do, he didn't care. It was called a last resort for a reason.
As she came near him, he jumped back and she trailed him. She swung her leg when she got close enough but Tristan blocked it, along with the two more strikes that followed.
Fortunately for him, what he wanted to do required no strategy or planning on his part except being in close proximity with her.
The moment he deflected another of her hand strike was the moment he acted.
Just like him, Kali was too drunk on their fight that she began using her senses more than her eyes which turned out to be a bad thing because as soon as Tristan spat the blood in his mouth into her eyes, a bloody fog immediately spewed out of his body which confused Kali for a second – a second that Tristan used to his fullest.
Attacking from behind, his two tails wrapped around each of Kali's hands to hold them apart while he sunk his fangs voraciously into her neck like a starved beast.
He didn't forget to inject his fang's poison into Kali's body as he drank her blood while she roared in defiance.
And like that, sparks went off in his head as the most intoxicating blood he's ever drank flowed down his throat greedily.
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