Beware The Hunter

by Martha Carr

  Beware The Hunter

  Rewriting Justice™ Book Four

  Martha Carr

  Michael Anderle

  Beware The Hunter (this book) is a work of fiction.

  All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

  Copyright © 2018 Martha Carr and Michael Anderle

  Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing

  A Michael Anderle Production

  LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact support@lmbpn.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  LMBPN Publishing

  PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy

  Las Vegas, NV 89109

  First US edition, August 2018

  Version 1.01, September 2018

  The Oriceran Universe (and what happens within / characters / situations / worlds) are Copyright (c) 2017-18 by Martha Carr and LMBPN Publishing.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Author Notes - Martha Carr

  Author Notes - Michael Anderle

  Other Revelation of Oriceran Universe Books

  Other Books by Michael Anderle

  Connect with The Authors

  Beware The Hunter Team

  Thanks to the JIT Readers

  Daniel Weigert

  John Ashmore

  James Caplan

  Peter Manis

  Kelly O’Donnell

  Keith Verret

  Tim Bischoff

  Angel LaVey

  Larry Omans

  Micky Cocker

  If I’ve missed anyone, please let me know!

  Editor

  Lynne Stiegler

  From Martha

  To everyone who still believes in magic

  and all the possibilities that holds.

  To all the readers who make this

  entire ride so much fun.

  And to my son, Louie and so many wonderful friends who remind me all the time of what

  really matters and how wonderful

  life can be in any given moment.

  From Michael

  To Family, Friends and

  Those Who Love

  To Read.

  May We All Enjoy Grace

  To Live The Life We Are

  Called.

  1

  Leira forced herself to move faster, holding onto the bars of the elliptical machine. The large screen hanging from the ceiling in the empty gym played the news in Turner’s old mansion. It had been a while since she had worked out, and she felt it every time she got into a fight.

  Sweat rolled down her forehead, but she ignored the inner voice trying to get her to stop. I gotta keep pushing myself. As they grow stronger, I have to grow stronger.

  Leira breathed heavily. The workout was more intense than she had done in a long time. She had already conquered the weights, done a few laps around the gym, and run the obstacle course, but didn’t feel it was enough. She already had to deal with dark magic on a regular basis, and she refused to allow a lack of physical fitness to be the reason she went down.

  Leira lifted her shirt and glanced down at the familiar scar on her belly and the healing bruises from the riot and London. She wrinkled her nose at the green and purple blotches and lowered her shirt back over the top of her yoga pants. She knew she wasn’t invincible, but she needed to be a hell of a lot tougher than she had been. Regardless that she was part-Jasper Elf, she was also part human, and that part was holding her back.

  The sound of her own voice from the television screen caught her attention. It was a replay of the same video for the three hundredth time. The news had become obsessed with her rant. They played her speech to the public after the riot over and over on every news channel and online.

  The video disappeared. The newscaster sat behind the desk with her wide pearly-white smile and perfect blonde hair. “If you haven’t seen it before, that was a clip from the Los Angeles riots. When the riots were stopped, Leira Berens approached the media and gave a speech that’s sure to go down in history. Though Leira is both human and magical, she fought alongside the magical beings during the riots, and from what we’ve learned from eyewitnesses, saved a bunch of people’s lives.”

  Behind the newscaster, screens popped up displaying viewers’ comments, tweets, and emails about her speech. The newscaster continued, “Though the speech touched on Leira Berens’ being part-human and part-elf, and fighting there for the good of all mankind, it wasn’t without backlash. Blowback from those fearful of the magical community immediately started to flood in online. People from all over the world have both praised and condemned her for her work with the magical community. She has received several death threats, but we believe she isn’t really taking them seriously. The President has come forward and asked that people refrain from contacting her until she requests it.”

  Leira rolled her eyes. “There’s more than one kind of troll in the world.”

  Tired of hearing the repeated words, Leira waved her hand, her eyes momentarily burning bright. The screen shut off and disappeared. She gripped the bars of the elliptical machine and put her head down, pumping even harder than before.

  “If you push any harder, you’re going to run right off that thing,” Joey, her training partner, said with a smirk as he walked in.

  “Hey! I didn’t know you were coming here today. I figured you’d be training with the Master Jedi to perfect your Light Elf skills.” She slowed down as they laughed.

  “I didn’t plan on training today, but I saw you come in. I figured from the look on your face that you could probably use a partner. Sorry they’re being so hard on you. I thought that speech was brilliant.”

  Leira stopped the machine and shrugged. “No matter who you are, and no matter how much good you try to do in the world, there will always be someone who doesn’t like you. I’m the focus right now because the media was all over that event.”

  Joey picked up a towel and tossed it to Leira. “No, they are all over you because you stood up and made a speech in front of the whole world. Not to mention, it was on a topic that people were just starting to hear about outside of the big cities, and it happened to fall on the eve of the dark wizards’ attack. Once people calm down, they’ll leave you alone. You know how humans can be. You’re half one, and you have the attention span of a flea.”

  Leira wiped her face and threw the towel back at him with a smirk. “Hey, don’t put me down for something I can’t help.”

  “I’m not putting you down. I think the magical community could use a little bit more of that empathy thing humans hav
e. Sometimes we can be downright cold.”

  Leira did some stretches to get ready to spar with Joey. “I don’t think that’s empathy. I think that’s sympathy, which is different. But, I won’t argue with you. I’ve met some pretty cold magical people, but I’ve also met some who are better than any humans I’ve ever been around. Present company not included.”

  Joey chuckled at Leira’s teasing. “You got jokes. Okay, I got you. Where you got jokes, I’ve got an ass-kicking.”

  The two moved to the sparring mat and faced each other, already bouncing back and forth with smirks on their faces. Leira stretched out her arms and prepared to defend herself. “So, what are we working with today?”

  Joey jabbed at Leira, but she dodged it with a chuckle. “I’ve been studying Krav Maga a lot. You familiar?”

  Leira nodded. “A little.”

  As they circled each other Joey shook his head. “I still don’t understand why we don’t use it more often. It’s for close-quarter combat. When are we ever in a situation where fighting magical beings is like the Civil War? There’s no giant field of men and no reason to take it easy on them, just fast and strong tactics to take them down.”

  Leira stopped moving and raised her eyebrow at Joey. “We don’t always just want to take them down.”

  With that, she turned her body and shifted her weight to her right leg, kicking her left out and bashing Joey in the stomach.

  He groaned. “Ugh…nice one.”

  Leira smiled. “Thanks. There’s plenty more where that came from.”

  Joey chuckled and started to circle Leira, waiting for the perfect moment. He faked right and moved left, using an uppercut to hit her chin. As his fist connected with her skin, he sent out a jolt of magic that knocked her to the floor. She bounced on her butt, coming to a stop a few feet away.

  Joey walked over and put his hand down with a laugh. “You didn’t think I was just going to use martial arts, did you? Who are we practicing to fight here, the Girl Scouts?”

  Without taking his offered hand, Leira jumped to her feet, ready to kick it into high gear. She jabbed right and left hitting him in the shoulder a couple of times before she grabbed him by the arm and twisted it backward. He turned his body slightly and swung around, slamming his open palm into her chest and knocking her back again.

  Her eyes glowed bright red, and she chuckled as she dropped her hands and used magic to stay on her feet. “That was really slick.”

  Joey stopped and shrugged. “Who said I play fair? There’s no fair in war.”

  Leira thrust her hands out, and symbols appeared up and down her arms and neck. A streak of white light shot toward Joey, and at the same time, she ran forward, slid toward him on her knees, and threw a punch at his stomach. What she didn’t realize was that he was a lot quicker than her. He instantly put up a shield that blocked both the magic and her.

  Her fist hit the shield of light and bounced back hard enough to slide her all the way across the gym floor. She hit the wall with a groan. “Good lord, Joey! Who have you been fighting lately?”

  “Does it matter?” he asked, releasing the shield and grabbing a towel.

  Leira pulled herself to her feet slowly and reached for the towel. “I suppose not, but those moves will put just about anyone on their ass.”

  “You want a break?”

  “Normally, I would scoff at you, but since I’ve been here three hours already, yeah, I need a little break.”

  Joey patted her on the shoulder and followed her over to the bench, sitting down next to her. He stared as she wiped off her face, then rested her elbows on her knee, looking at the ground. “You okay?”

  Leira glanced at him and tilted her head from side to side. “I guess. Between the riot and sparring with you, it’s obvious that I need to up my game. I’m not playing at being a bounty hunter, and I’m not just doing it for the money either. I want to deal with the dark families once and for all.”

  “You and the rest of us,” Joey scoffed.

  Leira wiped the back of her neck. “Yeah, except you guys weren’t hunted by the dark families. You haven’t lost friends to the dark families, so I guess I have a grudge.”

  Joey chuckled. “I get it. I know some people say that holding a grudge is bad but personally when it’s someone like the dark families, I think it almost makes you fight harder. Hell, you’ve been here for three hours doing all sorts of training to get yourself stronger just to fight against them. I’d say you have enough motivation.”

  Leira sat up straight and looked around the room. “My biggest problem is that when I get into a tight corner, I don’t know how to handle it with this bracelet on. I want to be able to fight them without using my full magical strength because it’s too dangerous. It only takes once without this bracelet to end up floating in the great beyond because I lost myself to my light magic.”

  Joey picked up her wrist and looked at the bracelet. “You didn’t lose yourself before you got the bracelet, and you won’t lose against the dark families now that you have it. It’s all in your head. You’re your own biggest stumbling block right now. There’s no question that you are fit. You know skills and tactics, and your magic is strong. You panic because you think the bracelet is holding you back, but in reality, it’s not.”

  Leira chuckled and pulled herself to her feet. “Thank you, Buddha. Come on. I’m not done kicking your ass out there on the floor yet.”

  Joey followed her. “Hey, I’m not the one who needed a break.”

  2

  “Ouch,” Joey grunted as he slammed to the floor. Leira was still holding onto his wrist.

  She laughed and let go, backing up and readying herself for the next move. “You’re the one who wanted to spar…”

  Joey jumped to his feet, laughing, and put his hands out. His eyes were bright, and symbols flashed over his skin. Leira gave him a mischievous smirk as they circled each other. Something flashed across the room, blinding Leira for a moment. She blinked and looked over as Turner Underwood appeared in the gym door.

  He was as elegant as always, wearing one of his handmade suits and leaning on his hand-carved cane. He may have been the Fixer Emeritus, but he looked as boisterous and happy as he had when he’d reigned supreme in the title. Before she could say a word, though, a flash caught her eye, and she realized that she’d been distracted just long enough for Joey to launch a small fireball straight at her.

  The symbols on her arm flashed faster and faster with the different outcomes for the different choices she could’ve made at that moment. She was fast, though; fast enough to bend backward to avoid it, but the fireball circled and continued targeting her. She twisted around, arms and eyes glowing brighter as she flipped her hands over and closed her eyes, absorbing the energy of the magic that he’d thrown at her.

  “What the…” Joey had never seen anything like that before.

  Leira smirked as she returned the volley, sending his magic straight back at him. “You know, just one of my many magical tricks. I can pull bunnies out of hats too.”

  When she saw that he’d be able to brush off the volley, she shot out a beam of light that knocked him off-balance. Her bracelet slid up and down her wrist. The energy was sparking across her skin. She didn’t feel it though. The excitement of the battle was just too much for her to focus on anything else.

  “That was tricky.” Joey narrowed his eyes as he caught his balance. “You still didn’t hit me with the fireball, though. I’m not completely off my game.”

  Turner smiled and tapped his cane on the polished wooden floor. “That’s new. Well done. You are becoming a master if you can bend magic to your will like that.”

  Both Leira and Joey turned to Turner with a smile. Leira shrugged and wiped the sweat off her forehead. “I had a great teacher.”

  Turner shook his cane at her with a smirk. “That you did, my dear. And I’m glad I taught you when I did, because I’m pretty sure you’ve passed the point where I’d be able to teach you anything
new.”

  “I wouldn’t say that. You should’ve seen me about twenty minutes ago when I got my butt kicked.” Leira laughed, walking over to Turner.

  Turner chuckled, but then his face went straight and serious. “I don’t mean to interrupt you, but there’s someone who wants to see you.”

  Leira looked at him, confused, and stood a couple of feet back as he pulled magic into his palms. He swirled one hand over the other, creating a large ball of light, and it expanded into a portal. Leira squinted, then recognized the place on the other side.

  “Is that…”

  Turner nodded. “Inside of the throne room at the Light Elf palace? Sure is.”

  Leira was mystified. “I don’t understand.”

  Just then, Queen Saria appeared on the other side of the portal, and Turner held out his hand to help her through. Leira quickly wiped the sweat off her forehead and straightened her shirt. Joey had walked up next to her, and his mouth fell wide open.

  Leira glanced at him and nudged him in the side. “You’re not supposed to drool on the queen.”

  Joey quickly closed his mouth and stood up straight, then bowed as the queen looked at them both. Leira couldn’t remember the protocols, so she just gave her a crooked smile and hoped for the best. The last thing she expected while she was at the gym was for the queen of the Light Elves to come for a visit.