I looked down at the mark on my hand. “I’m guessing activating my mark would be a bad idea?”
“What part of ‘runes all around us’ is unclear?”
“What about null swords?” I asked, making sure Ebonsoul was handy. I realized this was a nervous tic, but there was no way I was going to absorb the thing. “Last time I faced a Blood Hunter—Anastasia—she had a null sword that was not fun.”
“That’s what my Sorrows are for,” Monty answered. “They also have a passive sonic defense, hence the wails.”
“Won’t her sword set off the triggers? I mean its active energy.”
“It’s active non-energy. A null sword will read like a void. Would you like me to explain the interaction of energies between the triggers and a null artifact?”
“Not really, no. I get the gist of it. Null sword won’t activate the triggers. Watch out for blood arrows and don’t get cut or shot.”
“Make sure your creature avoids them as well,” Monty said. “I don’t know what could happen if he’s hit by either, considering his defenses are currently compromised.”
“Basically: Take them down, don’t get hit, stabbed, or shot.”
“That about sums it up,” Monty said with a short nod. “Avoid the null blade, especially. Do not let it cut you.”
“Wasn’t planning on it,” I said, checking Grim Whisper.
“Use your gun or your blade—no runic energy. The runic triggers are for the Blood Hunter runes in addition to their weapons. Once they activate their runes—”
“Boom?”
“No. The triggers are percussive, not explosive,” Monty said. “We only need to stop Esti to derail the hunters.”
“I hope you’re right,” I said. “They certainly aren’t going to be worrying about our well-being.”
Monty looked at Grim Whisper. “Your ammunition?”
“I’m using persuaders, because a group of dead Blood Hunters in a courtyard sounds like a recipe for meeting whatever passes for the NYTF in Japan. Even with ‘stay away’ runes, dead bodies tend to attract attention.”
“Converting the courtyard into a cemetery will certainly alert the authorities. Best to avoid that scenario.”
“Will I explode if I use persuaders?”
“It should be fine,” Monty said after a moment of thought. “They act on a delay, which means any runic activity is released after they hit their target. Erasure rounds and blood arrows are active and radiate a constant runic energy signature.”
“Have you tested this theory?”
“No, but the theory is sound,” Monty said. “I even compensated for your creature using his abilities.”
“Meaning?”
“He shouldn’t set off the runic charges if he phase shifts while he attacks.”
“Shouldn’t—meaning there’s a chance it can happen?”
“Every time runes are used there is a degree of risk. Energy manipulation is dangerous and volatile. You should know this by now.”
“I do. I’m just noticing that we do the volatile and dangerous thing more often than not,” I said. “Now I know why the Repository needed a basement. What about your Sorrows? Aren’t they active?”
“Not unless I want them to be, but nothing in life is guaranteed.”
“Except pain,” I said. “My life has guaranteed pain.”
“Well, that’s because you’re special,” Monty said with an almost smile. “Energy is not always an exact science, despite the fact that mages think they can control it. Many times, they cannot.”
“You don’t know how scary that sentence sounds,” I said seriously.
“Actually, I do.”
“You’re saying there’s a chance my gun can explode, your swords might detonate, and my hellhound can end up in small bits if he phases—is that about right?”
“We will be fine,” Monty said. “Have you ever seen anything that can hurt a hellhound? Jun protected him, you’re immortal, and I have control over my blades.”
“He is indestructible as far as I can tell,” I said, looking down at the growling Peaches. “Although London wasn’t fun.”
“Fun is not the word I would use, no.”
I flashed back to the time Thomas Rafael, a mage and frenemy of Monty’s, tried to kill Peaches by poisoning him. Almost losing him wasn’t a pleasant memory.
Several large, black trucks raced down the street and stopped at the newly formed entrance of the courtyard. I noticed, then, that we were in a dead-end and they had just blocked the only exit. By placing the runic triggers and standing at the end farthest from the opening, we were enticing the Blood Hunters to come to us.
We were using ourselves as bait by standing in what amounted to a box-canyon kill box. This was going to be an exercise in percussive pain.
“Maybe we can convince her to stop this insanity,” I said, realizing how crazy my words sounded as they escaped my lips. “Maybe she’ll listen to reason.”
“Always a possibility,” Monty said with a nod. “I’m sure Esti just wants to have a small chat. That’s why she brought so many Blood Hunters with her.”
I looked and saw two more trucks pull up before more Blood Hunters poured out of them. This was going to get bloody, fast.
“Fine,” I said. “Let’s go help her see the error of her ways.”
We walked forward to meet Esti and her Blood Hunters.
FIFTEEN
“Surrender,” Esti said from across the courtyard.
Around her I counted no less than twenty Blood Hunters, all holding some kind of weapon. The six holding swords flanked Esti and walked forward with her. Another six fanned out near the entrance of the courtyard to either side and drew bows. I saw the remaining eight spread out near the trucks and take positions with rifles.
“Time to unleash your unique charm,” Monty muttered next to me. “The more crazed she is, the better our chances.”
“I’m on it.”
Esti was dressed very much like the last time I saw her. She wore what appeared to be a black bodysuit—it was overlaid with sections of ballistic armor that covered parts of her body. Over the left side of her suit, I saw a blood—red emblem designating her rank. I figured it meant ‘head psycho hunter.’
Her face, neck, and arms, like all of the Blood Hunters, appeared to be covered with some kind of camouflage paint, but it was really a group of photosensitive runic designs.
From a distance, it looked like they had been dipped in black ink. Her black hair was cut short on one side and long on the other, covering one side of her face. Beneath the hair covering her face I could see wisps of black energy wafting around her.
“You’ve decided to surrender?” I asked. “Who said you weren’t smart? We accept.”
“I’m going to enjoy watching you die, Strong,” Esti said, drawing her black blade and walking toward us. “Right after I gut your vampire and bake her carcass in the sun. Would you like me to save some of the ash? I can spread it over your corpse, and you can finally be together.”
“Seems like we got off on the wrong foot,” I said, taking a step back. “I’d love to give you the blade, but that’s going to be a little complicated. Have you been working out?”
She glared at me. Easily a one on the glare-o-meter, but off the charts on the psycho scale. The lights were on, but no
one was even near the house—they weren’t even in the same neighborhood.
“For the death of Anastasia Anyxia Santiago, former leader of the Cazadoras Sangrientas—the Blood Hunters—I pass judgment and find you guilty.”
Esti was unstable on a good day. Today, I needed her irrational.
“Guilty of what?” I asked. “Anastasia tried to kill me, you know.”
“Guilty of what?” Esti spat. “Vampires are a sickness—a disease. One that needs to be eliminated from the face of the earth. Anastasia was fulfilling her duty of cleansing your city, and you killed her.”
“She and I just disagreed on the whole ‘removal of essential body parts’ argument. I’d say I managed to come out ahead in that conversation—unlike Nick.”
“You deserve to die, just like he did. You deserve to have your arms and legs sliced off, your tongue ripped from your throat, and a dagger plunged into your heart repeatedly.”
“That’s pretty medieval of you,” I said. “I’m flattered.”
“I’m going to kill everything and everyone you care about,” she said with a smile. “Then I’m going to kill you, you vampire-lover.”
“Tell me how you really feel,” I said, drawing Grim Whisper without making any sudden movements. I was conscious of how many weapons were pointed my way. “This doesn’t have to go down this way.”
“There is no other way, Strong. How could you side with them? They feed on humans. You would turn on humanity to protect them? They’re monsters.”
“You know, in my short time exploring this fringe world of the supernatural and the mostly unbelievable—runes, energy manipulation, mages, vampires, werewolves, gods, and more—I’ve learned that some of the worst monsters, the most dangerous ones”—I glared at her—“look very human.”
“You would protect them and forsake humanity?”
“No, I would protect them against your madness that would hunt them because of what they are,” I replied, making sure my mala bracelet was free, “the same way I stop them from hunting humans. You do know not all of them feed on humans.”
“Oh, you’re standing up for the good vampires? Do you hear yourself? There are no good vampires, unless they’re burning and turning to ash!”
There was no reasoning with her, but I had known this from the beginning. Her ideal reality was a vampire-free world, and nothing I said would convince her otherwise.
She was too far gone down her path of vampire cleansing, but I knew one thing about Esti—she wouldn’t stop after the vampires. There would be other threats that needed removing after them. Her kind of crazy never specialized.
“Killing me and Michiko will achieve what? There are others who will stop you.”
She laughed as I looked into her eyes and stared into the abyss of madness. Esti had left mildly insane long ago and had entered full-blown psychotic sociopathy—also known as batshit crazy.
“Killing you will get us one step closer. We’ll take care of the dark mage later and retrieve the second blade. Killing that bitch, Michiko? That’s just plain enjoyment. She deserves death a thousand times over, and I’m going to make sure she suffers before the end.”
“When did you become judge, jury, and executioner?”
“The moment that scum, and every other monster like her, decided humans were food,” Esti answered, the madness in her eyes screamed oblivion. “Have you made your peace, Strong?”
“You can fool yourself and the rest of these confused Hunters”—I pointed to the stabby-looking hunters that flanked her—“who follow you, but your kind of crazy is familiar.”
“Don’t call me crazy,” Esti said with a hiss. “I’m not crazy.”
“Cruel, petty narcissists with delusions of grandeur, like you, are never in short supply,” I answered. “What surprises me is how far you crazy fucks get before someone puts you in the ground—where you belong.”
“Don’t. Call. Me. Crazy.”
“What about Monty?” I asked, changing gears. “Will you let him go? What about my hellhound?”
Esti looked at Monty as if seeing him for the first time. She glanced from him to Peaches and smiled. It was the smile that sealed the deal for me—she had stepped so far over the edge there was no turning back. In that moment, I had clarity of thought.
Esti needed to die.
“I won’t let them go, Strong,” she said as black flames engulfed her sword. “But I promise to give them peace.”
“No, thanks,” Monty said, moving forward and raising his swords. “I have enough peace to last me several lifetimes.”
I pressed my mala bead, materializing my shield, raised Grim Whisper, took aim, and all hell broke loose.
SIXTEEN
The Blood Hunters holding the bows did what came naturally, and activated the runes on their bodies.
That was a mistake.
They were slammed into the walls of the courtyard as their runes activated the runic triggers Monty had placed in the area. I heard the impressive thuds as they collided with the brick walls at high speed. Peaches winked out of sight and reappeared near the trucks with an ear-shattering bark.
Esti moved fast, leaving the other sword hunters behind as she closed the distance between us with a slash. Monty slid in front of us and parried her attack. I rolled to the side and drew Ebonsoul as an arrow whistled past my head. I kept my shield up and fired at the rifle hunters in the back. Peaches kept blinking in and out crunching on weapons and disappearing before the Hunters could get their bearings on him.
The sword hunters stayed back, forming a line of blades between us and the hunters near the entrance to the courtyard. Esti was going to face us alone.
Monty lunged with a thrust, moving his gleaming blade in a blazing attack. Esti twisted to the side, deflected one of the Sorrows, and unleashed a kick that Monty barely managed to block in time. The force of the blow sent him flying back several feet with a grunt.
“You have been working out,” I said, turning to fire at her.
She whirled on me and unleashed a crescent kick, removing Grim Whisper from my hand, nearly shattering my wrist in the process. I brought up Ebonsoul just in time to stop another horizontal slash. The black flames of the null sword were a little too close for comfort.
“I am a Blood Hunter, Strong,” she said through gritted teeth as I grabbed her arm. It felt like squeezing a steel cable. “I’m faster, stronger, and more powerful than you will ever be.”
“Funny,” I said with a grunt as I tried to keep her from breaking free, realizing she was right on the stronger part, “Anastasia said something like that right before I sliced her throat and ended her.”
I saw the rage flit behind her eyes as she hissed at me.
“You are a stupid man,” she said, unleashing a spear hand at my throat that would have destroyed my larynx.
I dodged and stepped back. “I prefer to see myself as intelligence-challenged,” I said, looking for an opening and staying away from her lethal sword.
I shifted to the side as she compensated, aiming a palm-heel strike designed to shatter my chest. I’d have had a set of broken ribs had I not raised the shield at the last second. The strike shoved me back and nearly broke my forearm. It was like being on the receiving end of a wrecking ball, an angry, crazed, Blood Hunter wrecking ball.
“Ouch,” I said with a grunt, rubbing my arm as my body flushed hot. “If this Blood Hunter thing doesn’t work out, you could always do MMA. We could call you Esti the Testy.”
“The lattice!” she yelled, ignoring me. “I’m going to kill you, Strong, but you’re going to suffer first.”
In the rear I saw another group of Blood Hunters spill out of a truck, holding what looked like a large net.
“You going fishing?” I asked warily as Monty raced back at Esti. “What’s the net for? You think you can stop us with a net? You’re crazier than I thought.”
“Who said anything about stopping you?” Esti said, unleashing a ba
rrage of kicks and slashes that kept Monty and me back. “We need you dead not stopped you idiot.”
“That…almost hurt my feelings,” I said, closing the distance. “You do realize a net can’t hurt me.”
“In the larger scheme of things, you are both insignificant,” Esti said, dodging a thrust by Monty. She rotated around the attack and ended up behind him, slicing down with the null sword to cut him in half. Without turning, Monty raised the Sorrows in time to stop the downward attack. “By the time you realize what is happening, it will be too late. We know you, Strong. Better than you know yourself.”
“You don’t know me,” I said, closing with Ebonsoul. “But let me introduce you to my blade.”
Esti laughed and maneuvered Monty between us. “You’re always out of your league and out of your depth. You are a liability.”
“Simon,” Monty said, struggling to hold both swords in a cross block as Esti slashed down. “Your…creature.”
“My what?” I said, for a moment not making the connection. “What are you talking about?”
“Mage,” Esti said with a grimace as she kept bringing her sword down. “Did you think we wouldn’t sense your amateurish traps? We’ve been hunting vampires for centuries. Creatures that are ten times faster, stronger, and more cunning than you will ever be. Your runic triggers are meaningless. We were expecting them.”
Another group of Blood Hunters poured out of another truck. These weren’t part of the initial group, and they all carried what looked like machine guns. Behind them I saw a smaller group cast blue orbs into the courtyard. The orbs rolled into the entrance of the courtyard, merged together, and formed a large, shimmering blue sphere of energy that then began to shrink slowly.
“Shit, you guys have mages? Totally not fair. I mean, at least give us a warning.”
“Sorceresses,” Esti spat. “Not weak, ineffective mages.”
Esti backflipped away from us and held the null sword in front of her like a shield. The hunters holding the machine guns opened fire, none of their rounds hitting Esti as she raced back to the trucks. Almost as one, the rest of the hunters started moving back to the trucks.
Reaping Wind Page 7
