Episode 1 ~ Gray - Blue Eyes
REYNA
Moscow, Russia
Reyna tugged her suitcase up the stairs to the old house she'd rented. "¡Pendejo!" She cursed her brother under her breath while roughly trying to pull her coat lapels closed. Not that that helped with the cold. Alejandro Fernandez, her brother, was the definition of a good boy turned bad. Reyna swore her parents must be turning in their graves. The poor souls. He was in school and doing amazing things at that. Reyna made sure he had everything he could ever need by busting her ass in a local bar that could be described completely by the word "shitty." Thank God for their Aunt Bella. Reyna didn't have to carry the financial load alone because that woman left them every dime of her savings. What did Alejandro do with his share after she died? Bought a one way ticket to Russia. He left her behind. Alone.
Reyna hissed in a breath, the air heaved out of her lungs soon after. Each breath felt like breathing in glass, the white cloud of mist of her exhales was pretty though. Another rough tug of her suitcase, it hit the higher stair hard and she cursed again when she heard the hard shell crack.
Drugs. Fighting. Constantly, hiding his face with hoodies on their video calls, but she saw the bruises. Three days ago she got a call from his friend. Alejandro owed the wrong people money and for sure they wanted their money and they wanted him dead. When she got the call she almost said, "What the hell am I supposed to do about the mafia trying to kill my hermanito?" The last bit was what stopped her. Alejandro was her baby brother. Her hermanito. He was a child and their parents, their tía entrusted her with him. He was the only living family she had left. So instead, she said, "I can get there for Thursday."
She'd arrived and she was pissed. Reyna threw the suitcase up the last set of stairs. Its landing was chorused by cracking sounds. "When I get my hands on you, Alejandro... I'm going to kill you!" She screamed. Then remembered herself, glancing around at the weary passersby whispering in a language she didn’t understand.
Reyna dug for the key under a heavy flower pot by the door. She opened her door. The flat was exactly what she'd paid for, minimalistic or should she say basically empty. She fell into the sofa and was instantly poked in the ass by a spring. "Oh for fucks' --." She got up, dropping to the dusty old carpet instead. "It's okay, Reyna. You'll pay off the debt and take him home." Home. When she thought of the word she pictured España, the country side with her parents. Then, the apartment in New York. Remembering New York only made her think of the state of her bank account. She dropped her face into her palms. Twenty three with nothing. No experiences, no real memories. She was in fucking Russia. Russia! She spent almost her entire savings to get here and she couldn't even enjoy it. No life. She'd never even been to college. She left all the dreaming and living to Alejandro. She was older than him. She was responsible for him and that meant she had to make sacrifices and she'd sacrificed everything. She dropped out of her final year of high school, mere months before graduation, to ensure he could eat comfortably after their Aunt died. She never lived to give him a life and he... decided to throw that life away.
Reyna pulled her phone from her coat pocket and dialed Orville's number. Orville, the twenty-one year old roommate that her younger brother followed to Russia. "He has a fight tonight. I'll get you in. You can talk some sense into him and get him to leave."
"You still have him fighting!"
"I can't stop him. He fights on their rules and Aleks owes these people big time. Thrown fights among other things. Look, Aleks needs to leave after the fight. He needs to disappear or they'll make him. He doesn't understand when I try to tell him. He actually thinks everything will be fine if he talks to them. Just make sure you get to this address."
A ping on her phone showed the address. So that night, Reyna wasted no time following Orville's instructions. When she got inside, flashing a digital ticket, she realised she was in a different world. Her thermal leggings, jeans skirt, black turtle neck and sneakers, didn't belong. Not where blondes wore heels, leather and lace and hugged men wearing shades and leather jackets in doors. No one there was a regular person. No one inside the basement was like her. A woman she assumed had to be a model from her face and height walked by and scuffed at her then whispered to her friend in Russian. Her three days of practice couldn't help her decode the words, but she knew they weren't friendly.
Reyna whipped her hair, the wavy reddish brown trenches shifted, swaying down her back brushing her thighs. She stepped off. She didn’t come here to impress anyone. She had a mission. Trying to get closer to the cage she maneuvered through the crowd. Roars erupted. Her eyes searched for the cause of the commotion. Men were already hanging from the caged ring, their fingers slipping through the wires. The announcer called out a name and Reyna pushed out to get a better look. It wasn't Alejandro. The fighter wore black and blue boxing gloves. He pounded them together and against his chest. Spit dripped from his mouth, his teeth bared to show off his mouth guard. A roar. The crowd erupted. Shaved head. A snake tattoo running over the skin of his skill. The tail coiled at the base of his neck, the very tip of the tail slipping to a point on his spine. He was covered in ink. Green with blue, red and black art painted up his arms and across his chest. Death dealer written over his eyebrows or rather where eyebrows should have been.
Reyna held her breath. The crowd went quiet. A chant began in a corner of the basement and spread like wild fire. She finally made out what they were chanting "Byk! Byk! Byk!"
The announcer spoke in Russian at first then shifted to English, "This is what you came to see. This is what you're here for. No other animal in the ring like this. No other beast. El Toro!"
Bull.
He came barrelling out. Slamming red gloves against his head. Roaring around his mouth guard. His brown hair. The hair their madre loved so much was buzzed low, and bleached blonde. Tattoos of tears under his eyes. He was already shining in sweat. She barely recognized him. Alejandro. Her brother's eyes were crazed. Despite his excellent physique. He was high as a kite. She could picture herself strangling him.
He bounced into the cage. He raised his hands and the crowd screamed. He was muscular, he was hulking. Someone was doing bench presses. She remembered when she used to sit on his back and pull his legs up. It would be harder now. Crestfallen. Is that how they describe the feeling of a heart dropping from a chest? Reyna drowned the crowd out. She knew he couldn't see her out in the crowd. She wished he could. A flash of bright color went past her eyes. A neon pink bra went falling just before her. She glanced around and underwear was being thrown at the cage. At her brother? She was going to be sick.
No time to be, the fight started, the announcer gave the go ahead and the opponent landed the first hit. He sent Alejandro's face whipping left. She couldn't help but wince. A drive up. Alejandro got him back. Hitting him hard enough to shatter his jaw from below. The opponent recovered quicker than she'd anticipated and went hard for Alejandro. Three hard hits to the stomach. A knee lifted to his face. Alejandro shoved off. A full extension of his right arm, his fist landed square in the opponent's face.
A body brushed past her causing her to sway. Hands prevented collision with another. She looked up. "Gray eyes?" She studied his face. "No. Blue." His hand lingered. She still stared. She'd never seen eyes like that, nor had she ever seen any man that looked so dangerous. A gnarly scar through his right eyebrow down to his cheek. How didn’t he lose an eye? She lifted her hand, reaching for it. Then remembered herself. He released her and Reyna steadied herself. "Proshu proshcheniya." His voice. It sent shivers down her spine. Who... was he?
She shook her head. Hoping he was saying sorry and not telling her he'd put a bullet in her head. "No te preocupes. We’re good."
"Hispanic..." He wasn't talking to her. Over the crowd's rage she still heard him. He left before she could confirm and she watched broad shoulders shift through the crowds for way too long.
"He was kinda hot." She breathed, bringing her eyes back to the fight. The crowd screamed and she joined them. Alejandro crossed the ring landing three consecutive hits. Where did he even learn how to box? The opponent came back. She heard the crunch when the punch connected with her brother's face. A mean hook. His opponent went down hard, hitting the ground like a sack of potatoes.
He stayed down. Alejandro won. Despite the bleeding lip, the broken nose and one eye bruised and threatening to swell, her brother spat out his mouthguard and grinned, his hands raised.
Reyna started to move.
