Hunter

by S. J. Bryant

  The others chuckled.

  "Nope, he said 'it wasn't me' just like that. Face as serious as you can imagine," Aart said with a chuckle.

  "I had one the other week who swore he had been set up. Frame job, you know?" Orion said. "Of course I didn't believe him and sent him straight to the lockup. But turns out, a week later, that his wife did it! Caught him cheating and wanted a bit of payback! Well, he got out of prison, but I don't think he'll be saving his marriage. He said something about setting fire to a house… or her arse… I can't remember which. He compared them so frequently that I lost track!"

  The bounty hunters sniggered.

  "Are you guys entering this year's bounty cup?" Nova asked.

  "Of course," Aart said. "You?"

  "I don't know why you two would bother." A big man leant over from the adjacent table. He had greasy black hair and a smirk on his face.

  "Interesting," Nova said, her hands clenching into fists. "I don't remember asking you, Kero."

  "I just thought I'd warn you now; save you some embarrassment," Kero said.

  "What is that?" Tanguin's face was a mask of horror. Her mouth hung open as she pointed a shaking finger at Kero's neck. Dangling from a crude necklace made of string was a shrivelled ear. It was black and green with flecks of dried blood.

  Nova's stomach churned. She could smell the rot coming of the blackened hunk of flesh as Kero leant closer.

  "Trophy," he said. His mouth twisted into a wicked grin. He grabbed the ear and held it out towards Tanguin. "Do you like it?"

  Tanguin pulled back, her mouth working.

  "Where did you get that?" Nova said through gritted teeth.

  "Class five planet," Kero said with a shrug. "Me and the boys went down there for some fun."

  "Class five planets are forbidden!" Nova said through gritted teeth.

  "Like you can talk," Kero scoffed. "You've visited them."

  "Yes, but I didn't kill anyone and dismember them!"

  Kero shrugged again. He laid his hands on their table so that his face was only inches from Nova's. The ear dangled between them.

  "Do you have any idea what it's like to be so powerful?" he whispered, running his tongue over his lips. "They cowered before me like I was a god. I could have crushed them all."

  His eyes were dilated and his voice dripped pleasure.

  Nova leant as far away from Kero as her chair allowed. "You're disgusting."

  "I was merciful!" Kero yelled, slamming his fist on the table, the room echoing with the sound. "I let some of them live; a few children."

  "You're a monster."

  "I'm a hunter."

  Nova's hands clenched into fists on the table. If she killed him now she'd be doing the universe a favour.

  "Oi, Kero! I've told you before!" Tim, one of the owners of The Jagged Maw, glared at Kero from across the hall.

  Kero smiled at Nova and walked out of the mess hall without turning around.

  "He's sick." Tanguin stared after him, her face even whiter than usual.

  "I hope he crashes his racer and burns," Nova said.

  "I just love our conversations with him," Aart said drily. "Does that mean you're entering the race?"

  Nova took three deep breaths. There was nothing she could do about Kero right now. Unfortunately most of The Jagged Maw thought he was a big-time hero. He only showed his true self to Nova and her companions. She'd find a way to take him down and unmask him; then he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone anymore. She forced her mind away from Kero and back to the race and Aart's words.

  "Yeah, thought I'd kick your arse again," she said, holding up her glass.

  Her companions chuckled and clinked their glasses against hers.

  "Oh come on, last year was a fluke. I could easily have beaten you," Aart said.

  "As I seem to remember, you crashed on the first lap and had to be taken to the med-ship," Nova said with mock concern. That garnered an even bigger laugh from the hunters.

  "Oh ha-ha, hilarious. I was distracted."

  "Yes," said Orion. "I'm sure if you'd just paid more attention to where you were going instead of looking at the Happy Hunter's cheer team you would have been fine."

  "Doesn't that speak volumes," Nova said with a smirk.

  "What a ridiculous name anyway," Aart mumbled. "Sounds like a group of fluffles or something."

  "I don't get the point of those things," Gus said. "You have to feed them, walk them, and clean up after them. What a nightmare!"

  "They're adorable," Tanguin said. "Have you seen the new range?"

  "Of what?" Aart said.

  "Of fluffles. I hear you can get spiked metal ones now," Tanguin said.

  "Doesn't sound very cuddly," Nova said. "May as well get a pet-bot for that."

  "No way. I want one of those glow-in-the-dark, spotted fluffles," Orion said.

  "And maybe you and it can retire to the Austral System with all the other old people." Aart smirked.

  "Aww shut up Aart, I saw you looking at them on the Cloud," Orion replied, sticking out his tongue.

  "Oh, have you guys seen the new poster?" Tanguin said.

  "Yeah, but I wouldn't touch it in a million years," said Aart.

  "Me neither," Orion replied, laying out a digi-poster on the table.

  "What's this?" Nova said, pulling the message down from the communal screen and onto her personal reader.

  "Didn't you hear about that one?" Tanguin said. "Of course no one's willing to touch it."

  "Oh that, yeah I'm heading there after I eat," Nova said.

  "Are you serious?" Tanguin said.

  "Yeah, the man running the case called me up. Easy peasy."

  "You say that now but look; it's dealing with lecheons on Boullion Five."

  "I didn't know they were still allowed in human colonies," said Gus, taking another swig of his drink.

  "They're usually not. Boullion Five allows some but this one escaped from prison," Aart said, pointing to the relevant section of text.

  "Still," Nova said. "Three thousand credits?"

  "No way Nova, you'd have to be crazy," Tanguin said.

  "Well then, call me bonkers because I'm doing it," she replied.

  "No way! I would never be that reckless!" said Aart.

  "Your loss." Nova shrugged. "I'll see you in a few days when I'm rich."

  CHAPTER FOUR

  "They broke in here," Chief Inspector Briggles said. He pointed to a gaping hole in the side of the prison.

  "How did they make it? I thought lecheons weren't much stronger than us?" Nova asked.

  "They're not. It was some kind of explosive; we've cleared away most of the debris now."

  "Why did you put the call out to the bounty hunters?"

  "Our usual methods didn't work." Briggles shrugged. "Of course the Confederacy didn't want to hear one word about it. They don't want an inter-species incident. We're desperate if I'm being honest with you. It's been two weeks since he escaped."

  "Okay then. Lead on," Nova said, waving her hand.

  Briggles led her through the gaping hole and into the hallway beyond. Dim lights flickered overhead, lighting the ancient corridor.

  "They knew where they were going, that's for sure. They could have been watching the place for months for all we know."

  "Any casualties?" Nova asked.

  "Five, all the men we had in this wing."

  "Did any other prisoners escape?"

  "No, just the one. Corvus. He was the only lecheon we had in here."

  "How long had he been imprisoned?"

  "It would have been about five years now. I was one of the prosecutors that originally put him away."

  "How long was his sentence?"

  "It was supposed to be fifty years. He drained seven young girls, can you believe it? It was shocking to see, their faces were as pale as ghosts. Double rings of teeth marks on their necks. Of course, those seven are just the ones we know about."

  "Why did his coven wait so long to
release him?" Nova asked.

  "I couldn't say, maybe they were waiting for a special occasion, or maybe it's taken them this long to get ready, although I doubt it. It's not hard to find explosives."

  "What about the bodies of your guards who died?" Nova said.

  "We've moved them now of course, but we've got reality projectors set up so you can see the scene exactly as it was when we found it. The normal recording equipment was offline for the whole incident, some lecheon trick I assume."

  "Show me the projections," Nova said.

  Inspector Briggles clicked his fingers and the room around them changed. The lights turned off and were replaced by projectors. They cast a grim scene on the stone corridor, exactly recreating every inch of the passage as it had been found by the inspectors, down to the tiniest drop of blood.

  "You can see the first few guards went down here." Briggles gestured to three bodies in security uniforms. They lay at disjointed angles and their faces were deathly white.

  "Why are there so many bites?" Nova asked. She had always been taught that a lecheon left a single set of teeth marks on a person's neck. These bodies were covered with multiple bites.

  "Our experts say that's what happens when they hunt in a pack." Briggles looked with sad eyes on the fallen guards.

  "The whole coven fed on these men?" Horrified, Nova imagined a horde of lecheons feasting on the guards.

  "Drained them dry," Briggles said.

  "How many?"

  "Hard to say. More than five."

  "Do you have any idea which coven is involved?"

  "Obviously I can't make any open accusations but it has to be Corvus's coven. Aside from logic, security footage at the local club caught his long-time girlfriend, Laticia, in the area."

  "Do they have any known hideouts on Boullion Five?"

  "We've already checked the ones we know about, but I'll send you a list anyway."

  "Good," Nova said.

  "If you'll follow me there's the final victim. A new guard, he only started a week before this happened. He was fascinated by the lecheons, wanted to fight for open communication between our species. I wonder what he'd think of them now?" Briggles sighed.

  Nova followed Briggles further down the corridor where another body lay. Like the others, it was drained of colour, and covered in bite marks.

  Nova stepped forward to examine the body and noticed something by her foot. She knelt down and lifted up a wooden pellet.

  "Ah yes. Wooden bullets. All the guards in this wing were armed with them. It looks like Felix here was the only one who managed to shoot any off though."

  Nova cast her eyes around the dim room. Felix's back had been against the wall. The lecheon's had come at him down the hallway. In her mind's eye Nova could see the events playing out. She saw Felix pulling his trigger and spraying the bullets at his attackers.

  "They would have gone in an arc from his position," Nova muttered to herself, striding to the nearest wall. She ran her hand along its length until she found what she was looking for; a chip in the rocks and a wooden bullet lying some distance down the hall.

  She stepped away from the wall and cast her eyes around for the next bullet. Her eyebrows drew together when she couldn't see it.

  "It should be right here," Nova said, tapping her foot on the ground.

  She knelt down and pattered her hand on the cement floor.

  "Look at this," she said, pointing to a slightly darker patch.

  "You don't think?" Briggles said, his voice trailing off.

  "Lecheon blood, I'd put money on it. Felix managed to take one of the blood-suckers down."

  "A wooden bullet would have killed it," Briggles said.

  Nova shrugged. "Obviously they didn't want to leave us with a body. Is the blood any good to us?"

  "No. The Confederacy doesn't let us keep files on the lecheons. Even if we could sample the blood, we wouldn't be able to match it."

  "Bloody Confederacy."

  "Poor Felix," Briggles muttered, shuffling down the corridor. "Corvus's cell is here. You can see they basically hacked it to pieces, probably with axes."

  "Made a mess of it too," Nova said as she looked at the splintered wooden box.

  "So what's the next step?" Briggles asked.

  "Keep me posted. I want to know as soon as you have any more information."

  "Of course," Briggles said. "What will you be doing?"

  Nova shrugged and trudged backwards away from the cell. "Searching. They're a coven of vengeful blood-suckers. They're bound to show up again soon enough."

  ***

  "You know you really should be focusing on the lecheons, not on your space racer," Cal said as he watched Nova tinkering with the engine.

  "I can do both."

  "Yes, but can you do both well?" Cal asked.

  "It's fine," Nova replied. "Besides, I've got to get this thing up to scratch; the race is only one week away."

  "Are you hoping to have the lecheons in prison by then, or are you just going to dash off for a quick illegal space race?"

  "Whichever. And you know as well as I do that they shouldn't be illegal. The only reason they are is because the Confederacy wants to run them so they can tax the entrants and take tolls on all the spectators."

  "Yes, yes, I know the economic reasons."

  "Good. I think this is nearly finished, at least for now. I still need you to chisel down the steering socket."

  "It's at the top of my to-do list," Cal said dryly.

  "I thought one of the benefits of having a robot was that they don't have attitudes?"

  "I'm afraid you were mistaken."

  Nova rolled her eyes and tucked her tools back into place in their box. Her hands were covered in grease that refused to come off even when she wiped them on a piece of cloth.

  "Crusader, can you patch me through to Tanguin?"

  "Affirmative."

  A few moments later the intercom crackled into life.

  "Hey, what's up? Have you been sucked dry by lecheons yet?" Tanguin's voiced floated down out of Crusader's speakers.

  "Hey," Nova said, walking through Crusader to the pilot's chair where she took a seat in front of Tanguin's face. "No. Although that is what I wanted to talk to you about."

  "I don't see what good I can be, but okay. What do you want?"

  "There's a whole coven here," Nova said. "At least six lecheons, probably more."

  "What? On Boullion Five?"

  "Yeah I know, that was my response too. Something about releasing their coven leader, I don't know. He's been in there five years. Who can understand lecheons? Anyway, my point is, things could get ugly."

  "Then back out now," Tanguin said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

  "You know I'm not going to do that. Besides, I'm not really scared. I just wanted someone else to know."

  "Thanks. I'll be having nightmares for weeks now."

  "Not so," Nova chuckled.

  "You really should ask for backup. I'm sure Aart would lend a hand, even if he was scared stiff at the first mention of lecheons."

  "No." Nova's voice was firm. "Tanguin, if you so much as breathe a word to Aart that I even called you, then I will hunt you down and feed you to the coven myself."

  "Chill your wires girl," Tanguin said, holding up her hands in surrender. "Even though you know I'm right. If a few of you field hunters worked the case together it wouldn't even be a problem."

  "No way, then I'd have to share the bounty," Nova said, grinning.

  Her stomach clenched, but she kept her smile in place. Lecheons were dangerous at the best of times. Even with a group of hunters, this was a dangerous mission.

  Tanguin rolled her eyes. "Fine. But if you don't check in with me every twenty-four hours, then I'm allowed to tell someone."

  "Tanguin—"

  "Nova. If there's nothing to be scared of then it won't matter, it just means I get to talk to you every day. But if something does happen, at least I'll know a
nd can do something."

  "Just not Aart," Nova said.

  "It will be whoever is around."

  "Fine," grumbled Nova. "Not that it will do any good. It's not like any of them would risk an entire coven just to save my sorry arse."

  "I think you'd be surprised," Tanguin said. "But all the same, I'm taking that as a yes."

  "Alright, if that's your condition. I'll call you every evening. Just don't go mental if I'm a few minutes late, okay?"

  "Of course not, I know what your sense of time is like," Tanguin said, smiling.

  They both chuckled. Tanguin was more than aware of Nova's obsessive need to know the time, and be on time, all the time.

  "Good, I'll talk to you tomorrow then."

  "Talk to you then. And, Nova, be careful," Tanguin said. Her pale eyes stared straight at Nova through the screen, not a hint of humour in them. It was clearly a warning.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Corvus stood on top of the building and relished in the wind rushing against his skin. He hadn't felt this powerful since being locked in the wooden cell. The whole universe was spread out before him, ready to be drained dry.

  Humans walked about on the streets below. Stupid cattle.

  He couldn't wait to feast. The synthetic blood he'd been forced to eat for the last five years made his stomach churn. It was foul; he may as well have licked the rust off the walls to survive.

  "Where shall we hunt tonight?" Laticia asked.

  Corvus felt her step up behind him. Her voice was shaky, scared. Good. She deserved to be scared. The whole coven had betrayed him. It was unthinkable, unprecedented. A coven was more than family, more than blood. To be part of a coven was to be a part of something bigger. Any lecheon worth the air they breathed would give their life for their coven, and give it twice for their coven's leaders.

  So why had he been left alone to be captured?

  Coven spat at the ground. He would get his answers, but first he had to feed. The yearning for blood was so strong that he couldn't concentrate.

  Laticia's perfume was heady. He licked his lips and looked over his shoulder at her.

  "After all this time I think I should treat myself," he said.

  "A young girl it is then," Laticia smiled. Her open mouth revealed the leach moving back and forth behind her teeth.