Chronicles of the Uprising (Trilogy 1): Trilogy 1 by Katie Salidas, K.A. Salidas

feet that he’d lost. But being male and a warrior in his own right, he wouldn’t let a little thing like an undefeated warrior fed on fresh blood stop him. Tegan stood and squared himself, ready to fight again, but Mira caught the quiver in his lips.
    She stood and slowly cracked her neck and popped her back, making a little more of a show of it than she needed to. The pain of her broken ribs faded. They would be healed in moments as if they had never been damaged. All thanks to fresh blood.
    Tegan watched every move Mira made, but made no move of his own to initiate the next fight.
    “Scared now?” Mira said wickedly.
    “Of you? Never.” Tegan could lie all he wanted; the truth was in his eyes.
    “Liar.” Following Tegan’s body posture and movement, Mira calculated the best time and angle to strike. Other than a slight twitch of his muscles, Tegan was not budging from his spot. Probably too scared. She’d just have to make the first move herself. Putting all of her renewed energy into action, she began with a roundhouse kick.  Tegan easily side-stepped, caught Mira’s foot, and spun her backwards. Small and lithe as she was, Mira was able to use the momentum to roll back up on to her feet and spin around to face her opponent as gracefully as if she were a dancer. As soon as she faced Tegan, she squared herself again, ready for the next attack.
    “This ain’t the ballet, sweetheart,” Tegan spat at her, but there was more fear than anything else in his voice.
    “Oh, but I do so love to dance.” Mira dropped and swiped Tegan’s legs. The larger vampire caught himself before he fell. Taking advantage of her opponent’s momentary weakness, Mira delivered a few bone-crunching blows to Tegan’s ribs.
    Tegan dropped to the ground clutching his chest, but managed to roll away before Mira could deliver a nasty kick.
    “This ain’t dirt crawlers either, Tegan. Is this what you do in the arena? No wonder your record stinks.”
    That got Tegan fired up. He pushed himself back up to his feet and ran at Mira in a blind rage. She easily dodged his bullish attack and spun around to make sure he couldn’t catch her from behind.
    Tegan came at her again. She recognized the tactic: He was trying to overwhelm her, but he’d exhaust his reserves well before she would. Dodging him again, she threw a wild punch aimed at his gut. It caught him in the side with little effect.
    “At least I fight fair,” Tegan shouted. “No stolen blood.”
    “All’s fair in love and war. Don’t be a brat about it because you didn’t think of it yourself.”
    The two squared off again. Sneering at each other. Mira studied his body movements, watching for any clue as to his next move. She wanted to end this… quickly.
    The muscles in his leg twitched. He was going to lunge at her again, soon. She prepared herself.
    He was quick, but she was quicker. Tegan came hard and fast, but Mira stepped out of the way and caught him by the arm. They twirled together for a moment before she used the momentum to throw him down to the ground. Tegan landed with a thud, his head slamming heavily against the hard-packed dirt.
    Before she came down on him, she cocked her leg back and delivered a crushing kick to his ribs. The satisfying sound of bones breaking told her she had more than hit the mark, but it was Tegan’s groan of pain that made her smile. That cocky bastard needed a good lesson in manners. She mounted him, setting herself hard on his chest, pressing down on those freshly broken ribs.
    “We’re done here.” Mira placed a hand on either side of his head, ready to snap his neck if he tried anything stupid… hoping he would try something stupid, actually. Not that snapping his neck would kill the annoying vampire, but it would certainly bring her some instant gratification.
    Overhead a voice spoke through speakers. “Training is over. Gladiators, resume your spots and wait for your handlers to retrieve you.”
    “You got lucky…this