"How's the leg?" He asked and I narrowed my eyes at him. It had healed well enough to be able to continue training, but it would still hurt if Eli was the land a painful kick on my thigh like I knew he was planning to do.
"Fucking wonderful," I said sarcastically and got into a fighting stance. "How's your hands?"
"Good as new, thanks to you," he said smugly and I glared at him.
"Enough chit chat," Max said. "Fight."
The room went silent and every single pair of eyes focused on Eli and I as we faced each other off, waiting to see who would make the first move.
Eli did.
I was ready as he aimed a punch at me. I ducked and his busted knuckles went straight over my head, but he was prepared for me to duck and he neared the gap between us and threw his knee up, hitting me hard in the stomach. I groaned and there was a gasp from the audience as Eli grabbed my hair and smashed his knee into my face.
"Fucking hell," I groaned and blood sprayed from my nose and hit the floor. "I'd just got rid of the last bruises!" Eli let go of me and shoved my backwards. I glared at him and wiped my bloody nose on the back of my hand. "You're going down," I said simply and ran at him.
Eli was prepared, but he wasn't expecting me to slide between his legs. I jumped up and launched a kick at his back and he stumbled. While he was off balance I rammed my heel into the back of his knee and then swept his feet from underneath him.
The audience gasped again when Eli fell to the ground, but my victory was short lived and Eli quickly got up before I could do anything else.
For a few minutes we danced back and forth, blocking kicks and punches and waiting for someone to slip up.
I did.
My head flew backwards when Eli's fist connected with my jaw and I stumbled backwards. "Bastard," I hissed and backed up a little more. When there was a considerable amount of distance between us I ran at Eli. When I neared him I placed my hands on his shoulders and used my momentum and my grip on Eli to flip over him so I landed behind him, with my back to his. As Eli span round I directed my elbow to his face and punched him in the stomach. I then copied what he did earlier and grabbed a fist full of his hair and brought my knee up, smirking when Eli hissed in pain.
My satisfaction over Eli in pain distracted me enough for Eli to grab my wrist and spin me round, expertly twisting my arm up at an angle that felt like my bones were packed full of splinters. My body was forced towards the ground and I gritted my teeth when Eli grabbed the back of my neck and held me firmly in place.
"Submit and I won't break your arm, Daisy," Eli said sternly.
"He wouldn't!" A girl gasped.
"Oh, he would," I muttered and yelped in pain when Eli twisted my arm further.
"Give up," Eli said calmly and moved so his mouth was next to my ear. "You're good, Daisy, but I think we both know I'm that little bit better."
"Go to hell," I said sweetly and threw my head to the side, head butting Eli. I span free from his grip and an exited murmur went across the crowd as we squared off.
"I'm stronger than you, Daisy," Eli called, taunting me. "Faster. More skilled."
"You do have one thing that I don't," I nodded and I dodged a punch. "Can you guess what? To be honest, I was quite surprised at this."
"Oh really?" Eli said and I smiled, directing a perfectly aimed kick to his manhood.
"I knew you acted like a dick, but I wasn't definite that you had one," I said sweetly and Eli groaned, crumpling to the floor in pain.
"That's hardly fair!" A guy called. "That's a cop out! That's cheating."
"Tell me," Beth said, "do you think someone trying to murder you is going to play by the rules?"
The guy didn't say anything.
"Exactly," Beth smirked. "Oh and Daisy, keep an eye on your opponent."
I gasped and jumped back as Eli pulled himself up. He was slightly red, but to be honest I wasn't sure if that was from anger or pain.
"We all have weaknesses we can exploit," Eli growled and ran at me. He dropped low and swung his leg towards me, but I jumped over his feet and then easily moved into a forward roll and stood up, putting some space between us. "You wanna play dirty?" Eli said and his eyes flickered to my thigh as he walked towards me.
I deflected his kick and cursed myself when I missed a clear opening to his jaw. My punch hit thin air, an inch away from Eli's face. As I was withdrawing my hand Eli grabbed my fist and pulled me into him so my back was touching his chest. I struggled and groaned angrily when he wrapped his arms firmly around me.
"Submit," he said into my ear.
I scoffed and quickly moved my head back, hitting Eli in the nose. I managed to free my arms and I elbowed Eli in the ribs. As I span round I landed a clean punch to his face, but I couldn't back up fast enough and Eli lifted his leg and rammed his foot into the top of my thigh.
I gasped and screwed my face up in pain. Eli hit my thigh again and I swore loudly as pain shot through my leg, making my leg buckle and I dropped to the floor on one knee. Eli didn't hold back and a kick to the face threw me to the side. I groaned and rolled onto my back. I placed my arms above my head and expertly flipped into a standing position. My leg was slightly weak and I gritted my teeth in pain as I faced Eli again. There was blood seeping through the nearly healed stitches and I glared at Eli.
"You owe me new leggings," I said and ran at him. I tried out a new trick that Blake had taught me and hope it worked. I kicked Eli on his side and then jumped up, wrapping my legs around his neck and throwing my body sideways, sending both of us flying towards the floor, but I landed safely and Eli did not.
"Cute trick," Eli spat as I pinned him to the floor.
"Submit," I ordered.
Eli stared blankly up at me and then a smirk found it's way onto his face. "How cute," he said sarcastically, "you thought you could win."
My world span and my back hit the floor. Eli was suddenly straddling me, pinning my arms above my head. I glared at him and he held my hands above my head with one arm and then placed the other across my throat, putting enough pressure to make it uncomfortable to breathe, but not so it did any damage.
My breath was coming out in short breaths and I struggled in Eli's hold, but he was much stronger than me and had no problem keeping me down.
"Now, Daisy, I think we both know who the winner is here," Eli said smugly. "Submit."
"Fuck off," I growled and Eli raised his eyebrow, adding pressure to my neck.
"I can stay like this all day."
I stared defiantly at him and out of the corner of my eye I could see Beth smirking.
The bitch.
"Alright everyone," Beth said and clapped her hands. "Who would want to be on the receiving end of either Eli or Daisy?"
No one said a word and Max chuckled.
"Neither would I," he said. "None of you would have lasted 10 seconds if you went up against them. You would be hurting a hell of a lot more than they are right now. If anyone pisses about then you can go with them and get seriously hurt. Even in the state Daisy is in right now, she could take anyone of you with one hand behind her back. So, everyone get back into pairs and practise, without hurting one another!"
The crowd slowly started to disperse and Eli moved his arm from my neck. He looked down at me and his messy blonde hair fell over his slightly sweaty forehead.
"Remember you have counselling tonight," he said. "You have to get the bus."
"Do I have to be pinned to the fucking floor while you tell me this?" I snapped and Eli smirked.
"It seems the only way to ever get you to listen or to do things is by force, so yes, you do," Eli nodded. "Also, you have to make your own way home from counselling."
"Whatever," I muttered, knowing that I most definitely would not be going counselling tonight. "Now get the fuck off me."
Eli pursed his lips and roughly grabbed my chin, turning my head so I was looking up at him. "You were a good agent," he said lowly, putting emphasis on 'were'. "But I will always be better."
"Good for you," I said sarcastically. "I'm glad you are great and killing people, it's not really a hobby of mine anymore."
Eli looked down at me with his dark eyes and brushed his knuckles across my cheekbone, making me wince when he touched a tender part. He smirked. "You're going to be sporting some lovely fresh bruises, princess."