As Dorian dive-bombed the Immortal, striking out with a knife as long as my forearm, a creature I hadn’t spotted before snapped sharp teeth in Dorian’s direction, like a dog defending its owner. It sat on the shrieking decay’s head in front of the golden Immortal and was definitely shorter than the other two. A small, goblinoid creature covered in scaly green-and-red skin, it had a pair of leathery wings on its back. I had absolutely no idea what this thing was, but it appeared to be a companion of the younger Immortal.
Dorian swung at the younger Immortal with his knife again as the shrieking decay tried to move closer. The blade scraped off the armor, sending up sparks, and the hunter glared at him, brow knitted with contempt and impatience. His haughty eyes said this was beneath him. From the other side, Laini and Roxy attacked on their redbill. The redbill clawed the inky side of the shrieking decay, which bucked backward to avoid both birds’ talons. Dorian fell flat onto Drigar’s back, narrowly missing a giant bubble that reflected the shrieking decay’s ugly grimace.
I took a chance while the female hunter was preoccupied with Kane and Arlonne and dashed out across the final stretch toward Sike and Bryce. As I ran, my body mostly concealed by the grass and my lack of aura, my eyes went to the harness contraption on the shrieking decay. Dorian tried to get close enough to land a hit on the younger hunter, dodging out of the way as the beast swung a spiny wing at him. For a moment, I saw the shrieking decay in perfect profile. The harness the Bureau had used had definitely been modeled after something they’d learned from the Immortal Plane… except the immortal harness worked. It was sturdier, made of a high-grade material I couldn’t identify, and the design fit so well it was practically a part of the creature. A ripple of worry flowed through me. It was unsettling to find more proof of a full-blown conspiracy between the higher-ups of the Bureau and the Immortals. How else would the Bureau have produced that kind of technology?
It was a small blessing that the Bureau’s harness hadn’t worked back in the Mortal Plane. While the Bureau had modeled it after the Immortal Plane’s technology, they’d failed. We didn’t know the creatures as well as the Immortals did. But these Immortal rulers had given the Bureau enough information to perform the basics. Who knew what other secrets and knowledge the Immortals had shared with unscrupulous board members? It would be tough to gain the upper hand. Even with all their strength and speed, I wondered what the vampires could do against magic weapons.
I made myself focus on the task at hand, holding my breath as I ran beneath the belly of the shrieking decay, eventually coming to hide behind a tumble of rocks covered in more of the hairy vines. Beyond Dorian’s fight, I saw the crumpled redbill and had to suppress my curses against the hunters. I couldn’t see Sike or Bryce in the wreckage. The redbill shifted slightly—or were those merely the feathers rustling in the breeze? A spike of fear stabbed through me. It rose to my throat, where it turned to white-hot anger. My friends were somewhere out there, and I would protect them any way I could.
The hunter’s voice rose again, cutting the tense scene with her mocking laugh.
“What a pleasant surprise to find so many worthy vampires. I was right to linger by the lake,” she gloated. “Thank you for the amusement, but it’s time to end this. I have a party to attend.” Her last statement had a punch of finality to it.
Her voice carried strong resonance, seeming to bellow around me from all sides. It must be able to cross great distances.
She tapped her boot impatiently. “You should just surrender,” she said, her voice growing louder. The boulder beside me vibrated slightly at the timbre of her tone. She looked expectantly at Arlonne and Kane.
The two vampires glanced at each other and laughed, the next moment leaping into a run to attack once more.
She scowled and huffed. “Fine. Onder, finish this!”
The little onyx wildling nodded on the back of the shrieking decay. It had stayed so still on the saddle that I’d forgotten it was there. Dorian snarled and swung Drigar around, crouched low on his bird’s back to prepare for the oncoming attack. Somewhere on the back of the other redbill that now circled to the rear of the beast, I was positive Roxy was giving a rather explicit description of exactly where she would like to shove the female hunter’s knife.
The wildling shoved the little winged creature out of the way as it scampered up onto the head of the shrieking decay, then raised its hands. It made a few sharp movements in the air with its short charcoal fingers, then slammed the fist of one hand into the palm of the other.
Thorny red vines, far more vicious than the ones I was close to now, broke through the ground beneath Kane and Arlonne. I held back a gasp. What power was this? Wherever the vampires stepped as they ran, vines sprang up and coiled around their legs. The thorns tore into their bodies and held them in place as they struggled. Arlonne growled and tried to rip the vines from her body. They tore, the sound like ripping leather, before the vines wound up her arm with frightening speed. Blood began to drip down her arms where the thorns sank into her flesh. Laini rose higher on her redbill with Roxy, obviously worried that the vines might strike out for the birds. It was smart, but it left me with fewer options for how to escape with Bryce and Sike when I finally reached them.
Urging Drigar on, Dorian dove for the wildling, his mouth open in a roar, fangs exposed. The rocky creature dove to the side with a sound like an enraged piglet, and the vines temporarily slowed their growth.
Kane grunted angrily and took advantage of the moment once the wildling wasn’t concentrating on controlling the vines. Pushing himself up from his position lying face down on the group, he ripped through the spiny net by sheer force of will. The thorns sliced into him and created thin rivulets of shadowy blood. One vine snapped like a tight rubber band, and another reeled back for a moment but ultimately snared both his hands behind his back. The hunter smirked. She gave a laugh as sharp as broken glass.
Suddenly, Dorian leapt from Drigar’s back onto the shrieking decay, his fangs flashing in the light. I had never been so happy to see vampire fangs. He launched himself at the Immortal, who cried out as Dorian struck him across the face with the blade of his knife. I couldn’t imagine the hunters were used to physical blows actually connecting with their pretty faces. He tussled with the hunter for control of the shrieking decay but was attacked from behind by the little winged goblin creature. The three of them wrestled in the broad saddle while the wildling regained its balance and threw its small arm forward with a grating chattering sound. The serpentine monster drifted toward the ground at the same time as the vines crawled higher, seeking Dorian. I wanted to scream for him to watch out, but Laini did it for me.
“Dorian!” Her cry, mixed with Roxy’s behind her, echoed terribly over the clearing.
The hunter stepped toward a trapped Arlonne, raising her right hand with the embedded jewel. The woman grinned as she prepared to unleash an energy shot straight to Arlonne’s face, elongating the moment to toy with her victim. To her credit, Arlonne met the hunter’s gaze with an unpleasant scowl. She spat on her boot, unable to move any more. The hunter’s glee faded for a faltering moment, quickly replaced by disgust and annoyance.
The vines tightened around Arlonne’s body. Blood leaked from the many thorn punctures all over her, matching the tears that began to spill from my eyes. I slowly pulled my pistol from its holster, ready to lose my cover and invisibility if it would be enough to maybe help in the fight.
The jewel began to glow. The older Immortal narrowed her eyes, her lips lifting back into a haughty smile. She knew she had Arlonne right where she wanted her. I raised my gun, aiming for the center of the Immortal’s palm.
Movement fluttered on the lakeshore and from under the crumped redbill’s wing, Sike leapt from his hiding place.
“Hey! Over here, you ugly giant!”
Chapter Twenty
“Sike, stop!” Dorian shouted in a strained voice from the shrieking decay.
Too late.
For a moment, everything froze except for Sike. He sauntered from the redbill with a limp. Blood leaked from his nose, the telltale shadows dancing in the brilliant red liquid. His long, thin limbs moved slowly. He wasn’t a warrior like the others, but he certainly knew how to plot a dramatic twist.
Dorian wouldn’t be able to protect Sike. None of them could while tied down with the vines. There was only me and maybe Bryce, with our gun that I wasn’t even sure would pierce the Immortal’s armor if I fired on her. I crept beneath the tail of the shrieking decay where it floated some ten or fifteen feet above me, watching the scene unfold as I tried to get to Bryce. Sike was giving me a chance to get my former captain out of here, and I had to take it.
Strangely, the red tendrils didn’t rise up to grab Sike. I looked to the wildling and found it watching the hunter intently. She held up a single gloved finger.
Dorian snarled in fury as he clashed with the other hunter, who was still trying to get control of the shrieking decay. The hunter stepped forward slowly. The wildling chirped.
“No, don’t bother with the vines for this collection of bones,” the older Immortal drawled. Her melodic voice dripped with cold disinterest. “This one is weak. I’ll happily snap him in half myself when this is over. I think his strange little skull would look excellent in my collection.”
God, I had never wanted to rip out someone’s cold eyes so much in my life. I let my rage simmer in silence as I paused behind a cluster of spiny bushes. I had to keep my position hidden if I wanted to try anything.
“Whose skull are you calling strange?” Sike asked, a twinge of fake offense in his voice. “I know you guys are all so hideous you spend ridiculous amounts of soul energy powering your glamors, but… really? You’re poking fun at how I look?”
“Speaking of soul energy, tell me,” the hunter said in her carrying voice, “where has your group obtained all that wonderful fresh soul energy? I saw one of you use it to power some kind of weapon when you attacked my mount at the beginning of this fight.”
My heart leapt to my mouth. Bryce had fired at the shrieking decay. She had seen him.
“I can sense so much fresh energy all around us yet can’t find a specific source. What are you storing it in?” She sucked in a breath for a moment. Her eyebrow twitched with annoyance. “I’ve never felt anything like it before. If you tell me, I’ll break your legs instead of your neck and let you go free.”
Sike swayed slightly on his feet but stared back with his chin tilted high. “Still sounds like a crappy offer, so no thank you,” he said with a grin. I knew it was forced, but to others it would appear cocky.
His attempt to be brave in the face of danger made my heart swell with pride.
Her nostrils flared angrily. I could almost hear her thoughts. How dare someone so weak be so defiant?
“Very well,” she snapped. “Your neck it is then.” She leapt forward, her feet moving far faster than her giant boots should have allowed. In mere seconds she was within range and brought her fist swinging like a club toward Sike’s face.
To my delight, he managed to dodge, twisting nimbly out of the way as the metal-clad force came rushing by.
She immediately wheeled around, her dexterity as impressive as her power, and dealt a backhand strike with the handle of her knife.
I recognized her strategy. She was feeling out his weaknesses and trying to determine whether he had any hidden weapons powered by the soul energy. He swung his arms upward, taking the brunt on his forearms to protect his head. Kane cheered with a jarring laugh until the vines squeezed him, causing him to hiss.
While I was inwardly cheering for Sike, the female hunter was now almost directly next to the fallen redbill. There was no way I could get to Bryce without her seeing me.
The hunter scowled—apparently deciding that there were no hidden threats—and began to swing at him harder, moving faster despite her massive armor. Sike managed to defend himself for another few moments, but not only was she bigger and stronger, she was clearly more agile and better trained. Sike cried out in pain as the hunter’s fist struck his side. He recovered, but the hunter circled him quickly. A moment later a kick sent him sprawling. The knife slashed through the air, and he barely rolled out of the way in time, the blade sinking five, six, nine inches into the ground. The scent of blood reached my nose.
The wildling chirped again, its voice a panicked flurry. Arlonne groaned through gritted teeth as the vines wrapped around her more tightly. We couldn’t fight a battle without two of our best fighters. The wildling needed to go. The Immortals hadn’t noticed my presence yet, but that couldn’t last forever.
I aimed at the wildling, years of training moving me smoothly through the motions, and sucked in a ragged breath. I had one shot, one chance to get this right.
I fired, the silenced pistol making little more than a soft cough as the bullet zipped through the air. The wildling cried out, but the sound cut off in its strange, rocky throat. It slid from the shrieking decay and tumbled the twenty or so feet to the ground, where it landed with a meaty thump. The vines immediately sagged. Arlonne gave a grateful gasp as she sucked in air, before she began tearing at the plants. Kane stooped over. Blood poured down their bodies. He smashed the vines beneath his feet.
Sike’s pained gasp made me turn. I froze. The hunter held his arm at a painfully unnatural angle. It was the same arm he’d injured before. His face contorted as he drew in a ragged hiss. He tried to struggle out of her grip, but it was useless. She was too strong.
And now she was staring directly at my hiding spot.
In a horrifying show of casual cruelty, she snapped Sike’s arm like it was a piece of straw. He screamed, the sound echoing across the steaming surface of Lake Siron.
Without a care, she released him, and he crumpled to the ground.
“No!” Kane bellowed, careening toward her. She whirled into a kick that hit him with such force that he fell like a stone and lay on the ground gasping desperately for breath. In a blur of speed, she appeared in front of the boulders that I was hidden behind.
Keeping a cool head, I fired twice with perfect form, once at her chest and once at her head. One bullet ricocheted off her chain mail armor, and she sidestepped the one I’d sent toward her head.
She literally just dodged a bullet.
The display of speed made me lose concentration, and before I could evade her strike, the hunter smacked the gun from my grasp. A jarring complaint reverberated up the bones and muscles of my hands and arms, and my fingers went numb from the force of the blow. I barely registered my wrist twisting and the gun falling to the ground before the hunter grabbed me by the front of my camouflaged uniform and hoisted me into the air.
“What the hell are you, little bug?” she asked, her tone laced with both interest and contempt. “And where did you get all this purified energy?”
Kicking and swinging helplessly in her grasp, I couldn’t help but stare at the glowing gem in the middle of her forehead. It had the same effect as when I’d been looking at the grove—like everything was shimmering and rippling—but it was less intense. The signal for this one was stronger somehow.
Something burned against my chest, and I choked back a startled gasp as Dorian’s stone burned white hot against my shirt. It didn’t alert the Immortal at all, however. She just kept turning me this way and that, then poked at my fallen gun with her giant boot.
I heard Dorian snarl somewhere above, and movement stirred behind the hunter’s shoulder as a redbill flew through the air, but I blocked it all out. I needed to keep her attention on me, and for that I would need all my wits.
“If you put me down, I’ll tell you,” I said hoarsely. My hands wrapped around her armored arms as I swung my legs for momentum, hoping to get close enough to strike. When I tried to kick her, she sighed wearily. I was playing a losing game, and we both knew it. I couldn’t touch her, thanks to her long limbs. How could I break free from her grasp?
I looked squarely
into the hunter’s cruel green eyes. Up close, she was even more startlingly beautiful. The sharp lines of her face made her appear almost elven, but the vertical pupils gave the impression of a snake. The cold interest behind them wasn’t lost on me, but it was fading as she found my form increasingly disappointing. Her mouth twitched irritably as she sized me up, as if she’d expected something more interesting. How ironic that someone so utterly beautiful could be so horrible. In the Mortal Plane, ancient people might have worshipped this woman.
The hunter narrowed her eyes as my legs swung at her once more.
“That won’t work. Don’t do it again,” she said.
Her tone took on the same echoing resonance as before. It fell over me like a warm blanket. My muscles relaxed. She was right… I should stop struggling. I loosened my grip on her arms and hung there compliantly. The hunter smirked, pleased. I felt drugged as I stared into her eyes. They consumed me, threatened to swallow me whole.
“Answer my question,” she demanded. “Where did you get all this purified energy?”
I blinked slowly, trying to comprehend the sounds as they left her moving mouth. Her lips were the same purple as grape jelly, I realized. The comparison seemed very funny to me in that moment, but I got the feeling if I laughed she might shake me.
“I don’t know.” It was the honest answer. It slipped easily from my mouth.
The hunter shook her head and glared at me. “Tell me what you are, creature,” she commanded.
The echoes of her speech wrapped around me. I wanted to tell her. I opened my mouth, trying to remember why a small voice was screaming at me to keep it closed. This woman was clearly nice. She just wanted me to answer her question.
Darklight 3: Darkworld Page 21
