SITN10



Disclaimer: Blah blah not mine blah blah blah don't sue blah blah Ginger blah

Author's note: Sorry it's been a while, but I had an out of state Renaissance Festival this weekend. I also missed 'Belly of the Beast' big pout! Must remember to beat roommate for taking the tape out of the VCR…

Also, for non-chess players, Castling is the name of the move where the king trades places with the rook, which is represented on the board as a castle or tower, hence the term. Check is what you announce when you are one move away from taking your opponent's king, unless he does something. Checkmate, or simply mate, is when there is no escape for the king, and you win.

Regina fumed under Tyr. She couldn't believe she hadn't budged him. If anything, he was more firmly settled than before. There was only one thing left she could think to try. She was reluctant to do it, as she felt one headache a day was plenty. However, after that 'I suggest you yield' comment, the headache was beginning to seem like a small price to pay for getting free.

"Cease your struggling, you are well and truly caught. If we were playing chess, I would say you were in check." Tyr continued in that same tone.

That smug bastard! At least he had kept his face directly over hers while speaking. Regina slammed her forehead into his nose. When he reared back in pain, he was out of balance. She heaved and twisted again, and this time he fell away from her. She rolled on top of him and said, "Consider that my 'castle' move."

Tyr was now in her previous position, his hands pinned, her body over his. There were two differences, she was keeping her head out of range for a similar attack, and she was straddling him with her legs outside his hips. She looked with surprise at the thin crimson rivulet making a path down to his chin.

His nose had already stopped bleeding, but the fact that it had bled at all meant an escalation in the fight. The scent increased his aggression, as had the feel of her, first underneath him, and now over him. He wanted her to yield to him, and not just the match. Her behavior was triggering certain instinctual responses in him. He concentrated on reining in his instincts, even as he replied, "It was well executed, but castling only delays the inevitable."

Regina watched something dark swim through his eyes and felt that the match had become something else. It was her fault, she knew. She had not meant to bloody him, but part of her was pleased she had marked him. It gave her a satisfaction as dark as the thing that had moved through his eyes. Tyr surged underneath her, only to find her as difficult to dislodge as he had been. "I believe you are the one now in check."

He could see the pleasure in her eyes as she surveyed him beneath her. So, she liked to be on top did she? Or maybe it was the blood. If Undinians were cut from a similar cloth as Nietzscheans, she could have the same triggers. Since she was too well settled to be unseated by conventional means, he would try unconventional ones. Tyr said huskily as he ground his hips into hers, "As much as I am enjoying this, I really prefer to be in the dominant position."

The feel of him pressing insistently against her, coupled with the suggestive voice, was too much for Regina's overloading senses. For a moment she reveled in the feel of his body under hers, the hunger in his words igniting a fire under her skin. She jerked back, completely shocked by his behavior, and her response to it. She had no desire to make a fool out of herself with another Nietzschean male that had no real intention of mating with her.

When Regina pulled back, she left Tyr enough leverage to shove her off him. It was a dirty trick, but it had worked. She rolled to her feet letting the sexual frustration and indignation lend her speed. She attacked with a flurry of strikes.

"Hmm, Flashing Dagger and Striking the Serpent, nice." Ice commented from the sidelines. They had all fallen silent when Tyr had pinned Regina, thinking the match was finished. He had been pleased when she had head-butted Tyr. It was an intelligent move, but he had lost that glow of satisfaction when she had lost her center. It was a bold move on the Kodiak's part, using their gender differences to accomplish a mind hit.

However, it was beginning to look like Tyr should have stayed down. He had pushed one of Regina's buttons with that little stunt. The barrage she unleashed upon rising to her feet was hitting him hard and often. She seemed not to feel any of the hits Tyr was landing in return.

"Well, I'd say the gloves are off now." Callisto said with satisfaction as Regina pounded on Tyr.

"True, but losing one's temper in a fight can be fatal. She knows better than this." Ice said grimly as Tyr spun away and kicked Regina in the back, the momentum sending her to the edge of the mat.

"When is the last time you saw our little chimera out of control?" Callisto responded defensively as Regina spun around and met an advancing Tyr with a series of kicks.

"Two years ago. I came in as she was beating the dummy the same way she's beating on Tyr now. I would have stepped in but Alyx gave me the hand signal to retreat. So I left it to her. Sometimes I wonder if I should have stayed. Shortly after that Regina became interested in all things human." Ice shook his head in disgust. At least Tyr appeared to still be in control. He was trying to get her off balance, probably for another takedown.

Diane looked away from the carnage for a moment to eye Ice. If he'd stayed, he would have made Regina tell him what was wrong, and maybe this whole foray into human dating could have been avoided. She found herself wishing he had stayed as well. It had been a blow when Regina had rejected Nietzschean cultural values in favor of human ones. She whipped her head back around to the arena when she heard Callisto gasp.

Tyr felt triumphant, and more than a little primal. Once they had gotten back to their feet she had come after him, her reaction to his 'castling' move had been very telling. Finally she had been off balance enough for him to manage to foot sweep Regina and then follow her down. She was on her stomach, without a way to kick or head-butt him. He had her arms pinned at her sides. He leaned down until his lips brushed her ear, "I believe this would be check and mate."

"Mate?!" Regina hissed indignantly under him and twisted. How dare he imply sex? The innuendo in his voice made a mockery of any attempt to maintain that the sentence was innocent. There was no give, however. She was very neatly caught. She knew it had been her temper that had cost her the match, but she could not seem to leash her anger or hurt. It had actually pained her more to have him insinuate that they could be together, when she knew he didn't mean it, than the blows she had taken in the fight.

"Yield to me, Regina." Tyr breathed against her neck, his mouth only a fraction away from her rapidly beating pulse.