Kat had just used me to kill a man.
“Frances! Are you alright?”
Another guard barreled through the door. Stupid. He’d come too fast to be careful. I snarled and punched him in the throat as he came through, crushing his larynx. I rolled to the other side in time to send a sweeping kick at the last guard entering far more professionally. As he fell I leapt onto his back and struck the side of his head with the flat of my palm. Once, twice. He stopped moving and I was up again. No more guards.
I blinked and abruptly felt too weak to stand. I lost my balance and staggered up against the wall. My breathing was out of control and things were spinning around me. Kat released her hold with an abruptness that dropped me to my knees.
“What's wrong?” I asked weakly.
I felt hot, far too hot. I was sweating but it was a dry sweat now. I looked at the dead men in front of me and knew there was something I wanted. A vast hunger slowly rolled through my body. My stomach felt like an empty pit but strangely, the thought of real food wasn’t all that appealing. I didn't know what I wanted. Outside the room I could hear doors slamming and voices. More security was on its way. I needed to get my strength back and think a little.
I lurched to my feet and jammed the door back into its frame. It wobbled there like it felt as sick as I did. That door wasn't stopping anyone. I looked around for something to fortify it with. The room was Spartan in terms of furniture but what it had was top class. Four long white leather couches formed a rectangle at the room's center bordered with high standing green cactus of some kind. I grabbed a couch and shoved it against the door. Then the others. They were expensive and heavy.
A wave of nausea rolled over me and I had to lean against the wall again. There was something wrong with me. One of the men on the floor moaned and my head snapped in his direction. A strange feeling rose in me. I took a step toward him.
“Not now!” snarled Kat. “Feed later.”
When I still didn't move she added, “It's death to feed now.”
Something inside me screamed in frustration. Abruptly I was me again and the feeling dissipated. That was more than weird, I thought. That was frightening! There was something going on inside I didn't like.
I picked up one of the big cactus plants thinking I’d jam it into the small opening that remained when bullets began coming through the door frame. More guards. I had no more time to fortify the door. A few couches and plants wouldn’t stop them for long. I had to be somewhere else before they got through.
My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might burst through my rib cage. My strength was back but I wasn't fooled. Something was wrong with me. Each expenditure of energy took a greater toll. I took a few deep breaths and that helped. Then I noticed two cars with flashing lights roll to a halt outside the front entrance. My new found calm left me. More men with guns. The police. Now I had guns in front and back of me.
“Elevator.”
Only one word. It came out tired and quick. Kat sounded in worse shape than I was. My worry level increased considerably. I was depending on her help if I got shot. It sounded now like she couldn't help herself. Not reassuring.
“You said to stay away from elevators!”
“Elevator now!”
The extra snarl caught my full attention. I sprinted for the elevator directly across from me. Bullets followed me all the way. With ten feet to go I leapt and rolled to a crouch, madly punching the call button. Fortunately a thick marble column stood between me and the gunmen who didn't allow that small fact to stop them from decorating the area with bullet holes. The elevator doors opened with a "whoosh" and I dived through scrambling to put them between me and a hail of bullets. The door closed with another efficient "whoosh". I decided I really liked this elevator.
“Belle says to go all the way down. He’s there,” said Kat. I was relieved to hear full sentences from her. She sounded better. That was good. If we survived this, I had questions she needed to answer.
The elevator was wide and spacious and smelled faintly of clover. There were thirty three buttons on the panel. I hit the one at the bottom and felt seconds of weightlessness as we dropped with speed. Soft music began playing.
“How Deep Is Your Love?” Not my favourite but I was alive and inclined to feel generous. Then I had a thought.
“Why was Belle on the bottom floor when we were almost killed on the first? We could have used her help!”
“Belle’s the tracker. She stays with our quarry until we catch up,” came the curt response.
“Fine,” I muttered.
Inside I was thinking this was anything but fine. “Can I depend on her to help when we get to him?
“Yes”.
One word. Kat wasn’t a talker. I leaned against the cool glass and rested. What was next? I‘d already killed someone. For all I knew this was just the start. Maybe I would die. There could be twenty guards waiting for me when the door opened.
“Belle says there are six. All with guns pointed at the door. I suggest you move to the side of the opening.”
I gulped and threw myself against the wall next to the button panel. That would give me some protection. But it would be brief.
“Kat,” I began, then realized I wasn't in control again. She was.
The door opened and a lot of things happened at once. First, a rain of bullets butchered the back of the elevator. Second, the screaming started and third I sprinted from the elevator into the middle of the mayhem.
The first thing I saw was Belle tearing a man's head from his body. Four others were trying to get distance so they could shoot without killing each other. Another was pinned beneath her. She tossed away the dead guy and began munching on the one she was holding. I rocketed forward hitting, chopping and kicking.
It was weird. I watched as guns flew, arms and legs were broken and people went down hard in short order. Belle killed three while the remaining men lay in various states on the floor in front of me. I went to the closest. He was what my grandmother would have called ‘a tall drink of water’. His eyes pleaded with me as I grabbed his head and twisted. The neck snapped with the same sound as the head I’d cracked open earlier. I looked at the next guy who was barely moving. I could feel the smile on my face. I crushed his larynx with my foot. It was deeply disturbing. I was disgusted, shocked. But I wasn’t in control. There were no guards left. All were dead. Belle was an efficient predator and I’d proven to be her match. She opened her bloody muzzle and grinned at me.
Someone started clapping.
We turned to the front of the room and the creature sitting there.
The outside wall was clear. At first thought I was looking at a massive aquarium. Then I realized it was the sea, held back by thick, clear glass.
He was sitting on a leather couch next to a cluster of four chairs. All white. His suit was white, immaculate. No tie. He was trying for a modern look with a light blue crew neck sweater under the expensive double breasted jacket. He was at ease with both hands visible and relaxed in front of him. He was extraordinarily thin but tall. He must have been quite tall because even sitting behind the desk his eyes were nearly level with mine. He was bald and fine featured, handsome really. But it was his eyes that drew me. They were deep green, intense, with surprising depth that made you want to look at him, to hold his stare with one of your own. I felt myself began to relax as I met that stare.
It was like falling into a pool.
Suddenly I wasn't in the room anymore. I was on a beach laying back on a recliner. The waves were gentle and the sun was bright, warm. I felt sleepy. I might have dozed off but I heard a voice. It was far away, but insistent. I wanted the voice to go away. I was tired and just wanted to enjoy myself. It didn’t go away. Now it sounded frightened and that disturbed me. How could I rest if someone was in trouble?
I got up slowly. Someone was calling my name. It was a woman’s voice. She was insistent. I followed her voice for a long time. The air had been clear but was now foggy
and cold. I shivered and looked back but couldn’t see where I’d come from. All I had on was a swimsuit. I was so cold. I tried to hurry. There was a light ahead, pulsing weakly like it had a bad battery. Her voice was coming from there.
The cold was slowing me down.
The fog was a shroud so thick moving through it was like pushing through taffy. The fog wanted me to give up and lie down. It promised warmth, told me I could sleep for as long as I wanted. I shook my head and ignored it. I could never sleep while someone needed me. There was a light ahead.
It was difficult to move forward. Everything pulled at me. Held me back. I fought against the urge to give up. I’d always been stubborn. Somehow I managed to plod on, finally reaching the edge of the light. The light formed a perfect circle. Inside, at its center was a woman of extraordinary beauty. Tall, my height minus a few inches, slim, lean and strong. Her hair hung down, straight and black past her shoulders. Its dark flood stood in contrast to her alabaster skin. Her features were Asian, particularly around the eyes which were fierce. Her face was long, oval, accented by red lips and an aristocratic nose. She was beauty and power and the source of the light. The light was her. Her power. It drew me like a magnet. She extended her hand. I wanted to take it but I'd come a long way. I was tired. The fog gripped me and wouldn’t let me move another step. She saw my predicament and anger appeared like a storm across her face. She took a step towards me, one step only. It must have cost her because she grimaced in pain while her light pulsed red. The moment she touched me the fog fell away and I was back in Kailex's office listening to him clapping.
“Well done! Well done! Very impressive actually. You should know I killed the last Hunter the exact same way. Trapped her. Held her while I walked over and … just fed. A merciful way to die really.” He chuckled. “All the while she watched the waves and thought how peaceful it was. How restful. I think she died grateful. All the bother of the hunt. Finished. Now she's getting a good rest isn't she? The rest she deserved.”
His voice was deep, rich, a tool he used like his eyes to lull and hold his victims. I struggled to throw off my lassitude. Whenever I'd been free, Kat had been like a dull ache in the back of my mind. Since the beginning of our partnership she'd always been there. Now I felt nothing. Like the connection was broken. For the first time in ages I was alone. This was not the time for her to go missing.
Kailex leaned towards me, still seated. His eyes eager. “You're beginning to grasp the extent of my gift to you. I see understanding, but also fear. Why? You were doomed the moment she took you. Now you will die free. From my own experience I assure you, that’s worth any price!” His own eyes narrowed while he watched. He was playing with me. Just having a little fun.
Kat was gone. I had no sense of her anymore. Had he killed her? Then I realized the danger of my position. If she was dead, so was I. But maybe he wasn’t sure. Maybe he was waiting to see if he’d been successful. Without her I was just human. Weak. With her, I was a threat. Now I saw the intensity in his eyes for what it was, hunger and the desire to know if she still lived. A shiver ran through me. He was like Kat, unknown, dangerous. Other Hunters had been sent and he’d killed them. I couldn't let him know I was alone.
“You’re a fool.”
I filled my voice with the scorn I'd come to know from Kat. I had to get him thinking she was still with me. “I'm not like those other Hunters. I am Katal-Tik, and you're just another hunt I’ll put behind me soon.” I took a menacing step forward, saw him draw back surprised. Then he smiled and stood, pushing away from the couch. I’d been right about this size. He was very tall, over seven feet. His thinness made him seem even taller. He was like a human mantis.
“Well, well. It seems the Hunter still has her claws. I know you, Katal-Tik. I used to watch you in the Games. ”
He backed up until he was firmly pressed against the bookcase behind him. Then he backed up some more and vanished altogether leaving only his voice behind him. For the first time, it held a hint of respect.
“I told you how I killed the second Hunter. I think it’s time you learned what happened to the first. I'll give you a hint, it wasn't me who killed her.” Then he laughed and the laughter was genuine and deep.
“Katal-Tik is an esteemed warrior. Kill her swiftly Fusto.”
From the shadows a being emerged. It stepped into the light drawing an unexpected gasp from me. I was so dead!
Fusto wasn’t human. He wasn’t anything normal. He was a monster in the truest sense of the word. I stepped back involuntarily. My body screamed for me to run while my mind cautioned me not to move. I didn't and for a moment he was content to just stand there and let me look him over. He was aware of his effect and wanted me to understand the hopelessness of my situation. I think he was smiling, though on that face I wasn’t sure.
My brain said he shouldn't exist. He was like the tengi, a made thing. A nightmare blend of human and animal. The human part was visible in his eyes which were minuscule and looked out dimly from over a wide mouth featuring rows of pointed white teeth. His arms and legs were heavily muscled. The human part, what was left of it, had been subsumed by the predator. His coloring was a blend of green and dark grey scales. The green was patchy, partly covering his shoulders, head and feet and looked like it might be iridescent in the dark. The scaled skin looked thick and bullet proof. Two tiny bat ears adorned the top of his head which was lizard shaped with a jaw large enough to envelop a human head. The hands were too big for his body with only four claws to serve as fingers and no opposable thumbs. His legs were small tree trunks ending in three forward-pointing massive toes with another in the back that acted like a heel, providing balance so he could stand. It was like looking at a great white shark while you were in the water with it. A perfect killing machine. Unstoppable.
Suddenly he gave a weird and totally unnerving shriek and his bat head centered on me. Two massive fists shattered the marble desk in front of him in a rain of stone and timber. The desk probably weighed five hundred pounds and he’d smashed it with a single blow! He kicked the pieces aside, clearing a path to me. Another shriek brought my hands to my ears, the sound was so high pitched and shrill it deafened me. I looked up to see him pounding his way towards me, picking up speed as he went. He was fast, but it was the kind of fast that took time to build. I leapt to the side, jumping over bodies, struggling to stay on my feet. I heard him hit the wall, crushing the paneling and making a hole where I'd been just moments before. I looked over my shoulder and saw him crouch low, then he was airborne. Four hundred pounds of muscle sailed over my head. As an afterthought he gave me a swat that lifted me off my feet and spun me into the corner. He landed in front of the only exit, the doorway and turned to face me.
Again with the shrieks! These were ongoing now, every few seconds. Somewhere in my brain I realized this must be how he found his prey. His eyesight was too poor but his hearing? It was like a superpower, a gift from his bat DNA. He was using echo location to track me.
The next time he came at me I dove between his legs and rolled to my feet. Fighting him didn’t seem like an option. All I could to do was survive and hope to get away. I ran for the shadows Kailex had hidden in. There had to be a door there! I saw an opening, dimly lit and difficult to make out. Not a human made door, it had some sort of tech making it almost invisible until you were right on it. I felt a strange vibration thrill my body as I went through right before a massive green talon dug into my shoulder and yanked me back. The room spun in front of me as I went airborne until I eventually crashed up against the outside window. I hit with enough force to put a hundred long cracks in the thick glass. Thankfully it didn't break completely, though small glass shards pelted me as I lay on the floor stunned from the impact. I heard him coming to finish me but couldn't move. The air had been knocked out of me. Nothing specific hurt. Quite the opposite. Everything felt numb.
Fusto picked me up and slammed me against the window, cracking it further. I had to admire the window. It
could take a beating. He had me pinned against it now, raised high in the air so he could look directly at me. I tried to attack his eyes but his reach was too long and I ended up poking away at the side of his muzzle. The tiny eyes considered me.
“Not Hunter,” he finally said. I'd expected a deep voice but his was shockingly high pitched. Coming from him the sound didn't seem real. He opened his mouth wide, giving me a glimpse of what was to come. Rows of perfect teeth.
If you’re about to die there's no sense lying.
“I’m not sure what’s going to kill me first. Those teeth or your breath!” While not a telling blow, it was all I had to offer at the moment.
I watched him struggle for a suitable retort. “You smell like dinner.”
He obviously liked short and to the point sentences. From my side, I wasn’t thrilled with the direction our conversation was taking.
“Why not talk instead? This could be the start of a brand new friendship,” I said, amazed I was able to say anything at all.
“Eat now.”
Up to that point it had all seemed unreal. Now I realized he was about to literally tear my head from my body! I shouted something inarticulate as he leaned in, fighting to get free. Abruptly another set of teeth filled my view, biting down on Fusto's neck and shoulder. With a high pitched scream of pain he threw me to the side to free his hands. It was Belle! The two of them careened around the room in a bizarre dance of death. The way was open so I ran for the door, the real human elevator door I knew would take me out of there.
I got to the door when I heard Belle scream! A good chunk of Fusto hung from her jaws but she was now in the same position I’d been in earlier. Up high, held aloft with one arm while the other tore at her heavily scaled under belly. And he was making inroads. Blood poured out of her. She couldn't take much more and she was caught. I stood undecided. She’d risked everything to save me. There was nothing to think about. I couldn't leave. I searched the floor and found what I needed. A gun. One of many actually. I scooped it up.
The God Hunters Page 5
