There was a flash of color, like a flurry of falling leaves, and both he and his hounds were gone. Whatever he had been was bad. Him wanting me to join him was worse. I did not relish the idea of spending an eternity turned into a giant dog sniffing around Fairy. Still, he offered to help, that was positive, right?
Kishi stirred, flopping onto her back and staring up at me with half-glazed eyes that made me think concussion. I grabbed the Beretta and pointed it at Kishi as casually as I could while still helping her to her feet.
“At some point,” she wheezed. “You will have to stop pointing your gun at me.”
“Look, you just got me chained to whatever Tall, Dark, and Scary is. He says he’s going to claim me after we restore balance. I think that as long as I don’t shoot you in the face, you’re coming out ahead,” I said.
Kishi’s eyes got as big as saucers, and she took a step away from me. “He claimed you? As part of his pack?”
“Yes.”
“Well we’re screwed then,” she wailed.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because he is the Keeper of the Wild Hunt. The Wild Hunt, Lillim. Do you know what that means?”
I swallowed and took a step backward, releasing Kishi. She stumbled, barely catching herself as I tried to swallow again, but my mouth had gone dry. The Keeper of the Wild Hunt wasn’t a person or creature per se. It was more like the physical embodiment of an idea. The Wild Hunt was what made tremors run down your spine when the big bad wolf came to huff and puff and blow down your house.
“It’s really not that big of a deal,” I said with a shrug.
“It is a big deal,” Kishi insisted.
“Look, I’ve dealt with things like this before. I’ll figure out a way to stop the whole Wild Hunt thing later.” I smiled at her though I knew it didn’t reach my eyes. Inside I was terrified. If we kept standing here talking about it, I was going to break down and start crying. That was not going to end well for anyone. “Besides… I’m sure Warthor has a way to fix this.”
Kishi gave me a dubious look that suspected I might be crazy. “Warthor is a smart guy.” She bit her lip and shook her head. “But I think even this is out of his league.”
I laughed then. It spilled out of me in quick staccato bursts of sound. “Warthor brought me back to life by threatening to rip the doors off of hell and release its denizens into the world. Warthor outsmarted dragons and demons alike. Sure, he’s never tried to get someone out of the Wild Hunt before, but it was only because he hasn’t wanted to do it.”
“This isn’t funny, Lillim.” Kishi glared at me. “This is serious.”
“You just don’t understand Warthor. As soon as you tell him what’s happened and say he can’t do it… well, it’s as good as done.” I smiled. I was feeling better now. I was going to see Warthor when this was over, and he was going to fix it. He had to fix it. There was no other way.
A large claw split the ground in front of me, bursting upward between us and showering me in rubble. I stumbled backward, trying to gulp down my fear as the creature pulled itself from the hole. Another claw smashed into the stone walls composing the hallway and tore great gouts in the marble. I ducked, dropping to all fours as a giant, black tongue lashed through the air above my head spattering my shoulders with great gobs of sticky saliva.
I rolled backward, coming to my feet as it opened one giant, yellow-blue eye and blinked at me. It was massive, with tufts of black and red fur springing up from its body as though a gardener had haplessly tossed seed on fertile ground. Large pointy cat-like ears topped its head. Its arms were like giant redwoods. It roared, a deep inhuman wail, and pulled the rest of its bulky body out of the floor. Now that I could see the entire thing, it sort of looked like a giant, reptilian cat.
I took a quick step back and readied my Beretta, pointing my right foot toward the creature. I gripped the hilt of my wakazashi, Set, ready to pull it free in a moment’s notice. It lunged at me, toothy mouth opened wide. I pivoted on my right foot, sweeping my left leg back around. My momentum carried my body around in a tight circle, and I lashed out with my wakazashi, jamming it in the thing’s neck.
It squealed as gobs of gray-green slime sprayed from the wound, covering me in hot, sticky goo. The creature’s eyes narrowed as it batted me to the side with one massive paw. I flew backward, smacking the stone wall with a thud.
I flopped forward, trying desperately to suck in air. The wall behind me rumbled and before I could do anything, something burst through the wall and slammed me face first into the other wall.
The entire world went blurry, and my vision swayed as I fell helplessly to the floor. I rolled, pointing the Beretta at the hazy shape looming over me, but the cat pinned my arm to the floor with one giant paw.
It leaned down close until it was eye to eye with me, its whiskers brushing along my face as it sniffed. Casually, it opened its mouth to reveal a long, lolling black tongue. Its tongue lashed out and rubbed across my face like sandpaper, leaving a long, glistening trail of saliva in its wake.
“Hmm… you don’t taste so good, Dioscuri,” it bellowed in a deep throaty voice. “You don’t taste like the Breaker at all.” It glanced over its shoulder and a sigh vibrated through its body. “My sister has all the luck.”
“Sorry to disappoint you,” I wheezed, “but I wouldn’t taste good anyway, I’m rather tough. You know, hard to chew and all that.”
The cat sat back on its hind legs and looked at me for several moments. Slowly and deliberately, it raised a single talon and placed it against my stomach. With a flick of its wrist, the creature slashed through my golden armor, peeling back the metal to reveal my flesh.
There was a scream down the hall, and the cat smiled, revealing a set of stupidly sharp teeth. It dug its talon into my flesh, and I howled as it ripped a chunk of meat from my body. Blood gushed from the wound, pouring out over my skin and pooling down around the insides of my armor. The cat took the strip of flesh and dangled it over its large mouth before dropping it in. It chewed, very slowly, and its eyes widened. Its tongue lashed out, lapping up the blood that oozed from the wound.
“You don’t seem tough at all,” it purred, its face so close to mine that I could smell the metallic scent of my blood on its breath. “Won’t need a stewpot for you. Could eat you raw.”
I kicked at it, and it smacked me in the side of the head with its paw. The world went a little dim, and for a moment, the only thing I could see was its leering smile. My left hand dropped to my side, and I seized hold of my Set. With one quick motion I pulled the blade free and jabbed it into the cat’s paw.
It roared in anger and leapt backward in surprise, taking my sword along with it. I raised my aching right arm, pointed the Beretta at the creature, and fired. The bullets hit it with that same sound that reminds me of smacking a side of beef with a meat tenderizer. The bullet punched through its chest in an explosion of gore that sprayed backward along the wall behind it.
I scrambled to my feet and fired again, but the cat darted forward, dodging by the bullet with ease, and brought its massive paw down on top of my head. It felt like I’d been poleaxed by a sledgehammer. I hit the floor with a thunk and rolled. My left hand bit into the rubble, tearing the flesh from my palm as I put my weight on it and crawled down the hallway.
The cat reared back, ready to pounce as I pulled my katana, Isis, free of its sheath. The weapon felt awkward in my left hand, but I didn’t want to lower the Beretta. The cat leapt, and I spun around on the balls of my feet. The creature slammed into the ground next to me, and I ducked its swipe as I drove the katana into its eye. The weapon tore from my grip as it wobbled forward, its face a mass of blood and ichor.
The creature growled at me, one eye squeezed tightly around my katana. The cat charged. I fired as quickly as I could pull the trigger. Nine bullets blew holes in the creature the size of watermelons as it darted forward, ignoring the injuries completely. It slammed me into the stone wall so hard that said wall crack
ed.
It began to furiously beat me with its uninjured paw as I struggled to dodge its claws.
“Boom!” I cried releasing a burst of magic at close range into the cat’s chest. The blast ripped through it like a cannonball, and for a slight moment, the creature hesitated. I grinned and made a grabbing motion with my hand, and used my magic to tear all the bullets out of its body in different directions.
It screamed as its blood spattered across the hallway. It reared back in its rage and flung me across the across the hallway. I hit the ground and rolled, coming to my feet in an instant and glaring at the creature.
“I told you I was tough,” I growled as my power swelled around me, thrumming through the hallway like a living thing. I called it down, and as I did so, the air around me began to glow as I pointed one hand at the creature. Lavender light began to stream from my fingertips, throwing garish shadows on the wall.
“Goodbye,” I said, but before I could release my magic a giant meteor-like blast struck the cat from behind. It exploded, painting the walls with blood and meaty scraps. Thick black smoke filled the hallway leaving a lone figure just barely visible.
Chapter 12
A scream echoed down the hallway, and I swung my body around, tearing my gaze from the shadowy figure. The other cat was holding Kishi in the air between its paws. I decided to ignore the figure and sprinted toward Kishi, stopping only to scoop up my two swords. My abdomen screamed in pain, and warm fluid seeped from the wound and down my waist.
The second cat’s ears perked up, swiveling toward the back of its head. It turned and flung Kishi at me. I dropped my swords and threw my arms up to brace myself as she slammed into me.
I fell backward, landing hard on my shoulder blades as I dropped Kishi and rolled to keep from breaking my neck. I came to my feet, pulled my Beretta, and fired into the pouncing cat. The bullets struck it just below the chin, blowing the back of its head to smithereens as my gun clicked empty. The creature careened through the air and slammed haphazardly into the wall to my left with a bone crunching thud.
“Well they’re certainly easier to kill when they aren’t actively beating the tar out of you,” I said as I picked up my swords and sheathed them. Kishi groaned in response, got to her hands and knees, and vomited all over the floor. I was caught with the sudden urge to flee, and rather than hold her hair out of the way, I took several steps backward and turned my back to her.
“Hello, Bunny. How are things?” Warthor Ein stood in front of me. He was looking over my shoulder at the dead cat and shook his head. “I hate Cheshires. The damn things are like Texas cockroaches. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to kill a Texas cockroach, but it’s damn hard.”
“Cheshires?” I asked, glancing back at the creature before sighing. “How’d you get here anyway?”
“Gee, thanks for saving me from the Cheshire Cat a moment ago, Warthor. I’m forever in your debt,” he mimed in an almost uncanny imitation of my voice before clapping me on the shoulder and grinning. There was a flare of cold in the air, like a thin thread of frost webbing over the back of my brain. Silver-blue light wrapped itself around my wounds, and I watched in amazement as they closed over in seconds.
“Thanks,” I grumbled.
“Oh you’re welcome,” he said, ruffling my hair with his hand. “Don’t mention it.”
“You’re the Warthor Ein,” Kishi gasped from behind me. I peeked over my shoulder and watched as she wiped her mouth on her armored sleeve, leaving a glistening smear that made my stomach gurgle in horror.
“Yes ma’am,” Warthor said, sweeping forward and taking her hand in his. He bent his head toward her hand, and the moment his lips touched her skin, the same silver-blue light spread over her body, healing her in the time it took him to stand back up.
“I thought you’d be taller,” she said, but even as the words left her mouth her eyes went wide. She ran her hands over her flesh. “How’d you do that?”
“He gets that a lot,” I said with a smirk. “The taller bit, I mean.”
“I do not get that a lot,” Warthor grumbled, glancing at me like I was a petulant puppy.
“You do so,” I responded, and Warthor Ein’s eyes narrowed. That was the problem with Warthor Ein. Yes, he was one of the most powerful Dioscuri ever. He still looked like a scarecrow in baggy clothing. He wasn’t short exactly, he stood average height. It’s just that when people hear about how powerful he is, they just assume he’s nine feet tall and built like a chiseled bodybuilder.
“Either way,” he snarled, “we have to get you out of here, right now.”
“Why’s that?” I asked, taking a step back from him, my hands dropping unconsciously to the hilts of my swords.
“Why? Because I did not bring you back from the dead to have you become the Wild Hunt’s puppy.” He reached out and seized my wrist in his boney hand before I could even blink and started dragging me down the hallway.
“We can’t leave until Fairy is balanced,” Kishi exclaimed from behind me. “I can still feel it shifting toward Winter. Even killing those cats was barely a blip.”
“Duh. The only way you’re going to right those scales is by killing the Winter Breaker or the Queen of the Cold and Dark herself. You aren’t at that level, Kishi. Neither of you are.”
“So help us,” I said, trying to keep myself from following him, but my feet just slid along the marble until he was practically dragging me.
“If you rebalance Fairy the Wild Hunt will claim you, and I don’t know how to fix it yet. Our only chance is to escape before Fairy balances, then I might be able to hide you until I figure something out.”
“That doesn’t sound very Warthor Einy to me,” I growled. “You’re supposed to already know how to fix this.”
He wheeled on me, turning so quickly that I crashed into him. He bent his face down until we were eye to eye. There was real fear there, not the kind of fear I saw when I had almost killed him with Haijiku. No, this was real, tear-you-in-half fear.
“I can’t. And before you ask, yes I spoke to both Zef and Trius. Neither knows what to do either,” he said.
“How could you have already done that? It’s been only a few minutes,” I asked, taking a step back from him.
“Fairy time is slower than normal time. You’ve been gone over a month.” He resumed dragging me across the stone floor.
“Mattoc!” I screamed and both Kishi and Warthor turned to look at me. “Come out here now!”
“Yes?” Mattoc said as he popped into existence in front of me. He was wearing black, wraparound sunglasses and a two-thousand-dollar suit. He shoved his hands in his pockets.
“You told Warthor what happened didn’t you?” I snapped.
“Yes,” Mattoc said sheepishly.
“Is he telling the truth?” I asked.
“Yes,” Mattoc replied.
“Damn,” I grumbled. “Well… I’ll figure it out later. We still have to balance Fairy or what happens to me won’t matter.”
“No,” Warthor said. “I lost Dirge because she was stupid enough to throw her life away for a bunch of wretches. I won’t let you throw your life away to save a bunch of fairies. Do you have any idea how ridiculous that is?”
“If we don’t rebalance Fairy then the whole world will shift into never-ending winter,” Kishi said, stepping up to Warthor and poking him in the chest. “We can’t just leave.”
Warthor Ein looked down at her finger, and Kishi retracted her hand so fast that it blurred. “If you touch me again. I will kill you.” Warthor’s voice was as cold as a blizzard. Kishi nodded and took a step backward, a tremor running down her body.
“The girl is right, Warthor. They need to fix this.” Mattoc sighed and rubbed his face with his hand.
“I know that, ghost,” Warthor snarled. “Diana is sending in a task force to mop up this mess.”
“You talked to my mom?” I swallowed, and I swear my heart actually stopped beating. I sank to my knees and stared absently a
t the floor.
“Yes. And she agreed we need to get you out of here,” Warthor said.
“I can’t believe you told my mom.” I glared at him. “Why would you do that?”
Warthor held up one and slowly started counting on his fingers. “To. Save. Your. Life. Brat.”
Chapter 13
“Well, if it isn’t the Warthor Ein.” The Winter Queen’s voice swept through the hallway like a glacial storm, filling the air with ice and snow and chilling me down to my core. “How nice of you to visit my Court.”
Warthor dropped into a bow that hid me from view behind his body as he spoke. “My dearest Queen. It is truly a pleasure to visit you here in your Court.”
The Queen of the Cold and Dark grinned, teeth like glinting icicles flashing in her mouth as she swept her arms back to reveal two bare-chested men standing on either side of her. Their hair fell to their knees, cascading around their bodies like capes. Muscle that reminded me of a professional swimmer rippled down their sleek bodies. They stood stock still, yet seemed to convey a sort of anxious energy, like a wolf waiting to pounce. The left one had skin as dark as charcoal with brilliant purple cat eyes. The right one was snow white, with blood-red lips and sea-green eyes.
The Queen glanced at me and the look in her eyes made me blush. I tried to look away as she gestured to the two men with a flick of one delicate hand. “Do you like my men? Should I arrange for them to—”
“No, that’s quite all right,” I squeaked, trying to hide myself behind Warthor’s now standing form.
“Are you sure?” the Winter Queen asked, running one hand down the white one’s arm, trailing her fingers over his flesh. “The brothers are quite skilled,” she added.
“She said she’s good. You hard of hearing or something?” Mattoc said, and the Winter Queen’s eyes narrowed into thin slits.
“Have a care, ghost. I could make you corporeal with a snap of my fingers and give you an agony so exquisite you’ll wish I’d left you in your current state.”
Fairy Tale: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 3) Page 9
