by Martha Carr
8
The cave narrowed and split off in two directions. No skeletons or traps were obvious in either, so Shay held her breath and listened. A quiet hum and the faint sound of running water reached her ears from one of the paths and she stalked that way slowly, searching for any sign of traps or angry-Taoist-priest ghosts.
The real trouble was finding the place. I’m already ninety percent to my prize just by being in here and not getting killed by the first trap. I mean, how well could they have fortified this place so far from home?
Shay’s smug satisfaction vanished as her path opened into a large cavern with a huge drop into inky darkness. The sound of running water had increased, swallowing the earlier hum, so she suspected an underground river lay at the bottom of the cavern. She deployed one of the drones she’d brought to check out the terrain ahead.
“Didn’t plan on some bitch coming with her fancy flying metal demon, did you?”
A long, curved, bladed polearm lay on the ground. It was clearly a guandao. The weapon fit the description of the Green Dragon Crescent Blade.
Shay crept toward it. She wanted to take the whole damn thing. If Brownstone could get his arsenal through Customs, he should be able to get one stupid ancient magical weapon through too.
A distant crack echoed through the cave system. Shay sighed when she realized what she was hearing.
“Oh, Brownstone, who are you shooting at now?”
Shay shouldn’t have worried. Brownstone’s little altercation involved some confused militia members. He hadn’t even needed any help.
That didn’t stop her from being annoyed.
She had successfully collected the artifact and they should have been on their way out of Mexico, but instead he was obsessed with his detour to take down a necromancer. She hadn’t minded when he’d first mentioned the job, but when she looked into it she thought the whole thing was a bad idea—not that the bounty hunter listened.
She looked down the path Brownstone had taken. “Hurry up, Brownstone, before I die of boredom and the necromancer has to bring me back.”
He knew she wouldn’t leave him in the mountains without a way to get back, so now she had to risk her life and the artifact because Brownstone had a raging hard-on for catching the damn necromancer.
Shay sighed. She still had her downloaded messages and emails available, and it wasn’t like she’d been keeping up with them since arriving in Mexico. She picked up her phone and started reading.
There were a few emails and texts from her friends talking about the great time they all had dancing the other night. Janelle even commented that Darius hadn’t been willing to give up, but suddenly after that night, he stopped calling her. A blessing, she called it.
Shay snickered. “I’d call it more an ass-kicking.”
Later that evening Shay sat on the edge of her bed. She couldn’t help but chuckle at how the day had unfolded. She’d collected a Chinese artifact in Mexico. Brownstone had fought both humans and the undead, getting himself a nice little necromancer head to turn in for a bounty.
The man was something else. She’d never met someone that powerful who possessed such a strange combination of naivete and cockiness. The bounty hunter got the job done, but she couldn’t ignore the strange amulet she’d seen him wear or the odd changes to his eyes during the fight with the Harriken.
The man didn’t claim to be Oriceran, but she had a hard time believing that an amulet that made him bulletproof wasn’t a magical artifact. Shay’s curiosity kept poking at her. She’d need to investigate sooner rather than later.
Brownstone had decided to head back to LA, which made sense. He’d done what he needed, and she’d collected the artifact the Professor wanted in exchange for helping Brownstone.
When she’d called Smite-Williams, he’d mentioned he had some other work for her but there was no hurry.
Her phone rang. It was Peyton.
“Hey, Peyton.”
“No, it’s me, Lily. I borrowed Peyton’s phone.” The phone was muffled as Lily said, “Grab for the phone again and lose a finger.”
“Play nice, he’s necessary to the operation and all of his fingers would make things run more smoothly.”
Lily let out a snort. “I can make it around the obstacle course without stopping and I flattened your sparring partner. He said you owe him extra.”
“How are you at taking direction?” There was a silence on the phone.
“Getting better at that one.”
“I know what you’re getting at, and yes, I’ll take you out on a job. Soon. But, see if you can take direction from Peyton.”
Lily let out a groan and Shay could hear Peyton in the background. “What? What? Has something gone wrong?”
Shay had to suppress a laugh. “If you can follow Peyton’s directions without shortcuts then I’ll know you’re ready.”
“That’s harder than dangling from the warehouse ceiling, but I’ll do it.”
“Do what?” asked Peyton. “Give me the phone. Finally! Hey, Shay. Everything still okay?”
“Yeah. I’m still figuring out if I’m gonna stick around Mexico for a day or two.”
“You really think that’s a good idea? You’re in Nuevo Gulf Cartel territory.”
Shay snorted. “I’m okay. It’s not a big deal.”
A distinct meow sounded over the line.
“What the hell was that?” Shay inquired.
“What?”
“That noise.”
“What noise?”
Shay groaned. “Are you fucking with me? The meowing noise.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She rubbed the bridge of her nose. It wasn’t worth fighting about.
“You at the warehouse right now, correct?”
Peyton laughed. “Come on. I don’t always have to be at the warehouse.”
“But I’m on a job, and I might need support.”
“You already got the artifact, so you’re done with the job. And I don’t like working from home.”
Shay frowned. “Whatever. Fine. Why did you even call?”
Did Peyton have a cat? Brownstone’s experience with pets had convinced Shay they were a bad idea, but she wasn’t going to bust Peyton’s balls over a cat, especially since he was training Lily and keeping the complaining to a minimum. Then again, hiding the animal was suspicious—unless it wasn’t a cat.
“Anyway,” Peyton continued, breaking Shay out of her thoughts. “I was just checking on some stuff, and since you’re already down there I thought you might want to check into some strange rumors.”
“Rumors?”
“Yeah, a lot of buzz on some of the tomb raider forums. There’s a small village in the mountains just north of Cabo. Rumor is that a tomb raider disappeared there last week, and he was supposed to have been tracking some big artifact. A lot of people just found out about this today because some of his people are reaching out.”
“Huh. What artifact was he tracking?”
Peyton sighed. “No one seems to know. The thing is, people are on the move. If you head out right now, you might be able to find out what’s going on and grab it before anyone else shows up. I’m thinking you’ve got less than a day before other people show up.”
“Give me the coordinates and I’ll look into it first thing in the morning. Can’t hurt to check.”
Peyton laughed. “Famous last words.”
“Don’t worry, I’m on a roll.”
Shay might respect Brownstone, but she didn’t need the man. The morning jaunt to the village would prove that. Scoring an artifact with no client attached would be a major coup.
She had her knives, but otherwise not a lot in the way of personally useful magical weaponry. Given that she was increasingly running into wizards, witches, and strange monsters, she should be better prepared. She needed a magical arsenal as big as her conventional one. That’s where Lily might come in handy, too.
The job should be easy. She�
�d sweep into town, throw some money around, and get someone to admit where the tomb raider had slunk off to. She wasn’t above stealing the artifact from the villagers if they’d stolen it from the tomb raider. This wasn’t about the honor of her profession, just risk evaluation.
She chuckled at the thought as she pulled into the village…and slammed on the brakes.
Bodies littered the street, some torn limb from limb. Vultures picked at the corpses, and the state of decay made it obvious they’d been dead for a few days.
“Guess the villagers didn’t steal shit from the tomb raider,” she muttered.
Shay threw open her door and stepped out. She grabbed her tactical harness from the passenger seat and slipped it on.
Something awful had happened in the village. No, not just something awful—something supernatural. Cartel assholes might chop a person’s head off, but they didn’t rip bodies apart and leave them in the middle of the village. They weren’t strong enough for that.
She shook her head. Whatever had happened in the village, it must have gone down fast enough that no one could get out a call for help.
Shay sucked in a breath. A drone survey or an AR goggle sweep might be in order. Given what she’d dealt with in Ohio recently, she couldn’t assume that she could spot her enemy without assistance.
No sooner had that thought crossed her mind when a flicker of movement caught her eye. Something human, or at least human-shaped.
Well, at least I can see it this time.
Shay pulled out her pistol and headed closer to one of the rows of brightly-painted adobe houses lining the sides of the main dirt road leading through the village. Caution kept a person alive whether it was a normal or a magical fight.
The tomb raider edged to the corner where she’d seen the movement and waited. She counted to three, then spun, her gun raised.
A tall pale bald man stared back at her. Intricate curving patterns had been etched all over his body, made evident by his lack of clothing other than a loose rope belt connected to a large leather pouch. His pointed ears registered after a second.
Shay kept her gun pointed at the elf. “You’re gonna tell me what the fuck happened here and you’re gonna give me a good answer, or I’m gonna put you down.”
The elf stared at her. His eyes were solid black. Not exactly standard, even on his kind.
“Why?” he croaked back. His deep and booming voice was not what she’d expected.
“Because there’s a whole fucking village of dead people here, asshole, and you’re Suspect Number One.”
“All that lives dies. Such is the way of existence. Planets die. Stars die. People are nothing.”
Shay snorted. “Well, aren’t you just a bag of sunshine? Let me put it this way, asshole—I’m the woman with the gun, and I want answers.”
“I’ve given you your answers.”
“Let me rephrase it. Did you kill these people?”
“Yes. I needed their lives. It’s been so long. I was so hungry and overwhelmed that I risked losing my vessel, but I’m calm now.”
“Good for you.” Shay’s face twitched. She doubted it would be more than a couple of minutes before she emptied her gun into the elf.
The scarred elf inhaled deeply. “You smell of magic, and…something else.”
Shay blinked. “Since when can elves fucking smell like that?”
“The vessel is unimportant.” He tilted his head like a curious bird. “You stink of something else, too. Unfamiliar, yet familiar. How long has it been since I’ve smelled that?”
“Where’s the artifact? In the bag?”
“Artifact?”
“You killed a man here for an artifact, didn’t you? Then killed all these people? Ripped some of them apart.”
The elf continued to tilt his head from side to side. “I killed them all, but the artifact? Oh, my prison. It’s gone now.” He patted the pouch. “Other things he had. Interesting things.”
“Give me that.”
“Ah, I know.”
“Know what?”
The elf pointed at Shay. “The stench—it’s gnome mixed with just a hint of elf. The smell of gnome is strong. No. You can’t have what I hold, She Who Stinks of Gnome. It gives me hints. Places to visit. For the future.”
“You know what, fuck this! I’ve had enough of this shit. Just die already.” Shay fired at his head.
Unlike her last encounter, the bullet hit its target. The elf jerked back and blood sprayed, covering the ground. He straightened, and the wound started closing immediately
Shay emptied her magazine into his body. It shook with each blow, but he didn’t so much as grunt in pain.
The elf shook his head. “The vessel is strong.” His eyes glowed red. “I will not return, She Who Stinks of Gnome.”
The tomb raider holstered her pistol and pulled one of her adamantine knives.
“This what you smell, asshole? I think I’ve got this figured out.” She pointed at him with the knife. “I don’t know what the fuck you are, but I think you’re wearing that elf like a suit. I’ll tear it off you and send you back to whatever freaky place you belong.”
“No. You will die. Everything that lives dies.”
Shay grinned. “Nope. Here’s the thing…you killed everyone here, but you haven’t come after me. You know what I think? I think you’re fucking afraid, and I think my gnome stink has something to do with that.”
The elf stepped toward a wall and punched through it. Chunks of adobe and brick shot from the hole. “You will die.”
“Everything that lives dies. That includes you, right, asshole?”
“No. I don’t live, I exist. I cannot die.”
“Guess we’ll to put that to the test then, huh?”
The village was dominated by low walls forming lots of narrow passageways between the homes, and a lot of flat roofs. This could work. Fighting this possessed elf or whatever the fuck he was wasn’t high on Shay’s list of favorite things, but she wanted whatever artifact he had on him.
For that matter, she didn’t like the idea that he’d slaughtered a village. If she could help Brownstone get revenge for a dog, she could spare a few minutes to teach some supernatural asshole not to underestimate humanity.
Shay rushed toward the elf, her knife at the ready. He threw a punch, but she dodged to the side. He might be strong, but he was slow—at least at that moment, and she didn’t want to wait around for him to get hungry again. She slashed his neck with her blade and took several steps back.
The blood poured from the wound, but the elf didn’t go down or even look mildly inconvenienced. It pissed Shay off.
Smugness swallowed the anger when she noticed the wound wasn’t closing.
“How that’s for gnome stink?” Shay taunted.
The elf bounded toward her and Shay jumped and grabbed the lip of the roof, yanking herself up in time to avoid the iron grip of her enemy. The glowing-eyed elf stepped a few feet back, then leapt into the air.
“Shit, that’s one way to do it.”
Shay threw the knife at the elf, then ran and hopped onto the next rooftop. She spun to face him and grabbed another knife. No, Lily is not quite ready for this shit.
The elf landed with a thud and the knife sticking out of his chest. He yanked it out and tossed it away. Like her slash to his neck, the new wound didn’t close.
A blow to the brain sounded good in theory, but Brownstone’s recent experiences with zombies convinced her it was no guarantee of a win. She pulled out her remaining adamantine knife.
The elf jumped again, and Shay sprinted and leapt back to the original roof. She offered her enemy a wink. Nothing like taunting a possessed elf.
He punched through the roof and yanked up a large chunk of adobe and Shay jumped backward off the roof to avoid the makeshift projectile. She rolled into her landing to mitigate the worst of the fall, but knew she’d be feeling it the next day.
Her enemy was already plunging toward her when she stood
and brought up both her knives and sliced. The elf’s body slammed into her as his head flew in the opposite direction.
She pushed off the headless corpse, surprised she’d managed the decapitation with the knives, but the asshole’s downward momentum and the gnome-enhanced sharpness of the blades had helped.
Shay stepped back and waited for the body to rise, but it remained motionless as a pool of blood formed beneath it.
Brownstone had the right idea. Sometimes you just had to behead the motherfucker.
The tomb raider sheathed her knives and recovered the third. They’d proven their worth, and she doubted she’d be able to replace them easily.
Shay jogged back to the body and nudged the pouch with her foot. There was something hard inside, so she opened it.
A smooth polished stone decorated with symbols she didn’t recognize lay inside. She shrugged—a little research didn’t bother her—and pocketed the artifact.
“I don’t know what the fuck that was all about,” she muttered to herself.
She wasn’t sure if she’d finished off her opponent, but she wasn’t going to stick around to find out. Besides, it wasn’t like there was anyone else he could kill.
Shay didn’t call Peyton until she was well away from the village. She half-expected the headless body to leap on her 4Runner and didn’t want to be distracted. Once the village disappeared behind her, she stopped on the side of the road and pulled the stone from her pocket.
She took a few pictures with her phone and called Peyton.
“Hey, Shay,” he answered.
“I’m gonna send you some pictures. I want you to do a little background research for me.”
“Pictures of what?”
“The stone I took from whatever the fuck I just killed.”
Peyton sighed. “It wasn’t just a matter of paying some bribes, then?”
“Nope. Some fucking weird possessed elf. Show Lily, too and see if she recognizes anything or… or anyone.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t worry. I geared up and expected trouble, so I won. Anyway, check out these pictures and see if you can get me any leads.”
