Hunter

by S. J. Bryant

  Corvus's mouth hung open and his fists clenched at his sides. He stared up at his long-time mate as if she was a complete stranger. He and Selwyn had lived in the same town on their home-world. They were competitors for everything, most importantly Laticia. Selwyn had always resented him for taking Laticia's heart. There was no reason for him to settle a coven on Boullion Five. There were so many other human colonies.

  "He wanted to get rid of you," Laticia said, answering his unasked question. "I thought that if I went along with him that I could find a way to warn you but he knew me too well. He kept me locked up until you were captured. There was nothing I could do."

  The thought of Selwyn keeping Laticia prisoner sent a shard of ice through Corvus's chest. When he found that good-for-nothing sucker he would rip his limbs off.

  "It was Pamielle who called in the tip which got you captured. You know she's always wanted to be prime female. I think she thought Selwyn would take her. She was right in a way, he did take her. But then, he took all of us at one stage or another."

  Corvus choked on a gasp. This was low even for Selwyn. Humans were another matter; they were cattle, animals, but his dear Laticia?

  "And I know you're probably already getting ready to rush off and kill Selwyn. Don't bother. He's already dead. Five years I waited and finally I got my chance. He woke up, or rather didn't wake up, with a wooden stake through his heart. With him dead the rest of his coven fled like cowards. That's why I'm recording this message; I'm coming to find you. I've convinced our old coven to rescue you, now that we're free. We want nothing more than to serve you again. If I die in the attempt I want you to know the truth."

  Corvus lowered himself back onto his haunches. Selwyn dead? His coven had willingly gone over and betrayed him?

  "I hope I get a chance to tell you this in person. Although I suppose if you're watching this I never got the opportunity. You can't trust Pamielle. She's been very careful to protect herself so far, and I haven't been able to cut her loose. The rest are loyal; I got rid of the ones who weren't. I'm sorry this isn't the message you were hoping for, but I hope it's the message you need."

  Laticia's hologram stopped talking but stayed standing, staring down at Corvus. Her large eyes blinked every few seconds, a perfect replica of her real self.

  Corvus stood up. He reached out his hand to stroke her cheek but his fingers passed straight through. He blinked back more tears and returned his hands to fists. His heart rate slowed as the all-encompassing rage reduced to simmering hatred. He would have his revenge, one way or another. He trusted Laticia's judgement entirely, if she said the rest of the coven was loyal then he believed her. Pamielle must die. He should have done it thirty minutes ago when he had his hands around her scrawny neck.

  He picked up the locket, snapping it closed, and the hologram disappeared. He shoved it into one of his many pockets and took a deep breath. He couldn't let his coven see him falter, even a little.

  CHAPTER TEN

  "Inspector Briggles," Nova said into her communicator.

  "Nova?" The inspector's voice sounded surprised.

  "Yes, I've found the coven. They're currently at one hundred twenty-four Iris Street but they have a set of underground tunnels. They could travel almost anywhere and we wouldn't know."

  "I'm dispatching a force right now."

  "I killed one of them. They're going to come after me."

  "Then get to the safety of the station."

  "I'm going as fast as I can, I should be safe until nightfall at least."

  "I'll wait for you here," Briggles said, before signing off.

  Nova kept running through the streets. It would still be some time before the sun dipped over the horizon but she had a lot to do before then, including leaving a scent trail for Corvus.

  ***

  "You made it," Inspector Briggles said. He was standing at the entrance of the police station with a false smile plastered on his face and a high-powered rifle in his hands.

  "Yes, but we don't have much time," Nova said.

  "There's no need to rush. There's plenty of lights here, the lecheons would be blinded if they tried to get in."

  "They'll turn off the power," Nova said with certainty.

  "The backup generator—"

  "Won't work." Nova leant against the nearest wall, panting. She lifted her gun from its holster and inspected it. It had been a big risk, returning to the warehouse to collect her weapon but she'd be lost without it. Not that it would do her much good against a lecheon. "Do you have wooden bullets?"

  "We have some here at the station."

  "Enough to take out thirty lecheons? I'd say there are at least that many."

  Briggles frowned. "There are fifty officers here but we don't usually stock many wooden bullets. We've probably got twenty rounds."

  "Not enough."

  "Not for the whole coven," Briggles said, shaking his head.

  "What about the prison? Are there more there?"

  "There used to be. The lecheon bastards took them all when they took Corvus."

  "Clever bastards," Nova said. "Hand the bullets out to your three best shooters."

  Briggles nodded.

  "What businesses are nearby?"

  "There are a lot of antique shops in this area. A gym and a restaurant just around the corner. Oh, and a bakery."

  "Okay." Nova's mind raced. There had to be a way to take down this coven. They were so strong and as soon as night came they had the advantage. "Alright, we'll set up here."

  "There's no way they'll come here. They know better than that."

  "Trust me. Corvus wants revenge. He won't let a police station stop him. Get your people moving; if they don't they'll make a very tasty treat for the incoming lecheon coven."

  A bead of sweat dribbled down Briggles's forehead as he rushed off to start routing his officers. Nova looked around the station. It was much like any other on this world. Everything was made of metal with not a single scrap of wood to be seen.

  "Send two of your deputies to the restaurant. I want them to collect every scrap of wood they can find. I especially want them to bring me every single toothpick."

  "Why?" Briggles said.

  "Because I've got food stuck in my teeth," Nova said. "Just get on it."

  "You heard her; toothpicks," Briggles barked, nodding to two of his nearby officers.

  They nodded in response and jogged up the street towards the restaurant which was spilling warm light into the road. Nova watched until they disappeared inside and then turned to the rest of the station.

  She marched inside, followed by. She took stock of the thin doorways and the metal desks. It wasn't going to be easy but here was as good as any place.

  "Set up a barricade near the door. We need a clean line of sight but we don't want them getting in," Nova said. "Arrange your officers; make sure the ones with wooden bullets are behind the counter and out of the way. I want every one of you to have a gun in hand and be in position within ten minutes."

  "What will you be doing?" Briggles asked.

  "Plan B," Nova said, as the officers returned carrying handfuls of toothpicks.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  "Oh, little killer. Come out, come out, wherever you are," Corvus sang. His shadow and those of his coven were outlined against the barricaded glass door.

  Suddenly, the lights cut out, plunging the police station into darkness.

  "Candles!" Nova yelled.

  Candles flared up around the room. The power had been cut just as she'd predicted.

  "Hold positions," Briggles said to his officers.

  "If she comes out we won't hurt her little police friends," Corvus called.

  He paced back and forth outside the door. The rest of the coven stood like statues behind him.

  "I'll have to kill you all if you don't come out. Surely at least one of you officers wants to live? Just give the foreign woman to me and you can go free."

  "Don't listen to him," Briggles said. "The
lecheons are known liars."

  Nova looked around. Although their hands shook, the officers held their positions. A few glanced in Nova's direction but turned their sights straight back to the door when she caught their eyes. The rasping quality of Corvus's voice was obviously getting into their heads; a few of the officers were twitching.

  "Fine. You leave me no choice," Corvus said.

  The main door exploded in a shower of glass. The lecheons pushed past the barricades as if they were made of paper instead of solid metal tables. They roared as they broke the glass and burst into the station.

  Shards rained down on the police officers. A piece cut into Nova's cheek leaving a sudden sharp pain. She gasped as a trickle of blood ran down her face and dropped to the floor.

  Gunshots echoed throughout the station. The standard rounds slammed into the lecheons, but barely slowed them down. Lecheons darted through the shattered glass door and surveyed the room. As they poured through the door, two collapsed with screeches of agony.

  Nova cheered under her breath for the expert shots of the men with the wooden bullets. But it wasn't enough. There were too few bullets and too many lecheons. Nova's stomach clenched. There were so many of them, they were like an unstoppable tide.

  She swallowed and pushed the thoughts from her head. All she could do now was focus on the threat at hand.

  Corvus and a woman to his left leapt forward. They grabbed hold of the two closest police officers and their thick black tongues extended out. The lecheons locked their teeth onto the officer's necks and ripped the flesh. Chunks of meat, muscle and blood splattered across the room. The officers dropped to the floor with solid thuds.

  Nova aimed her own gun and fired at Corvus. The blast of energy hit him in the shoulder. It left a hunk of burned flesh, but before Nova's eyes the skin began to heal.

  Corvus glared at her. His mouth widened, revealing a bloody smile. Blood poured onto the floor from the officer at his feet. The man's face became whiter and the life drained from his eyes.

  "Bastard!" Nova yelled. She squeezed her trigger and fired a volley of shots at Corvus.

  He dove to the side and avoided the bullets completely.

  Officers collapsed under the weight of the lecheon onslaught. Screams echoed about the station as bodies fell to the floor. The lecheons moved so quickly that their bodies were blurs in the darkness. They darted between the police officers, slaughtering them with sudden slashes of hidden knives or their vicious teeth.

  The officers with the wooden bullets fired at the shadows, but most of the shots went wide. The racing lecheons were too fast to pinpoint amid the chaos.

  "Nova, we can't hold this position!" Briggles yelled. He fired shots at the lecheon attack, but like most of the bullets they barely slowed the creatures down.

  "Throw the bags!" Nova bellowed.

  Two burly men ambled from the back of the station carrying plump bags. They pulled back and hurled the open bags over the heads of the officers and into the midst of the lecheons. The bags exploded in puffs of sawdust.

  The tiny specks of wood lifted into the air and floated on the erratic currents. The dust blew around the room and coated everything, including the lecheons. Some of the dust was sucked straight into the lecheon's lungs.

  The room filled with the sounds of choking. Two lecheons bent over double. Lines of dribble fell from their lips as they coughed and hacked. They drew in ragged breaths interlaced with pain.

  "What has she done?" Corvus bellowed.

  The affected lecheons were in too much pain to respond. They'd stopped their mad rampage and had become sitting ducks for the officers. Those with wooden bullets took careful aim and fired. The two incapacitated lecheons collapsed, dead.

  Briggles ambled to Nova's side. "That's all the sawdust we could find. It's about as rare as unicorn piss."

  "I know," Nova said with gritted teeth.

  "What else can we do? There're still eight of those bastards and now they're angry."

  Nova took a deep breath.

  "Duck!" she bellowed.

  She didn't have time to check if the officers obeyed her command. She reached behind and lobbed one of her weapons towards the front of the station. Most of the lecheons were still gathered in that area, tearing at the front line of police officers.

  The ball soared through the air, completely unnoticed by the battling forces. It sailed over the barricades to the area just in front of the main door. Nova dived to the ground.

  A loud bang echoed around the station followed by cries of agony. Nova lifted herself from the floor and assessed the situation. Three lecheons had fallen to the floor. The rest, including Corvus, looked back at them with confusion. A few officers clasped at wounds but they would survive, unlike the lecheon victims.

  Nova ran to the closest lecheon with a wooden stake in hand. Toothpicks protruded out of the creature's body. It writhed on the floor and cried with pain. The lecheon was male, with dark hair and a bright red scarf. Pools of blood poured out from the toothpick wounds and the skin had turned a mottled green. She lifted the stake above her head and slammed it into the lecheon's chest. He convulsed, wailing, and crumpled, dead.

  "What have you done?" Corvus yelled, storming towards Nova.

  Somehow, he seemed to have avoided the onslaught, even though scratches covered his arms .

  "Not so good with wood, huh?" Nova asked grimly.

  Corvus looked around at his fallen comrades. There was only him and four others left standing.

  "What?" He looked back at Nova with confusion.

  "The perfect weapon: toothpicks. " Nova reached into her pocket and pulled out another ball of toothpicks wrapped around explosives.

  She didn't have time to act; enraged, Corvus moved too quickly for her eyes to follow. One moment she was standing with a lethal ball of toothpicks in her hand, the next she was flying backwards, slamming into the far wall. By the time she looked up, Corvus was gone.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  "What the hell was that?" Corvus hissed as he ran through the dark streets.

  His coven spread out behind him as they fled from the restaurant and the blood and flying shrapnel which had surrounded them.

  "She knows what she's doing," Selene admitted.

  Her feet pounded in time with his on the cold hard concrete. The sound of them grated at Corvus's eardrums. His own breath wheezed in and out as he sprinted as fast as he could. The night was dark. The back alleys they ran down were void of streetlights, yet he saw everything. A black cat went past in a blur, as did the doorways and trashcans. They moved too fast for smells to catch up with them.

  Corvus spared a glance over his shoulder but all he saw were the large reflective eyes of the rest of his coven. The police couldn't hope to give chase. Good. The bitch-woman also wasn't behind them, a pity because he would very much enjoy draining the life out of her.

  "Separate," Corvus barked. "Tell the rest of the coven to meet us at the Helliot."

  In response, members of his coven split off from the main alley. They ran down side streets or climbed up stairs to get to the roofs. In the blink of an eye there was just him and Selene. He glanced at her and nodded. She was adjusting well to leadership.

  A prickle went up Corvus's spine. The cold shiver went from his lower back all the way up his neck and into the back of his head. Someone was watching. He kept running as if nothing had changed, but his ears were straining for any hint. He could hear nothing. He risked another glance over his shoulder; only the dark laneway spread behind him.

  He adjusted their course. They darted in and around buildings, over bins and under stairways. It didn't do any good. The chilling feeling remained with him. He shook his head and tried to force his mind away from the presence. There was nothing he could do about it; not right now.

  He and Selene ran through the night. They ran all the way to their old home, where his sweet Laticia had died, before doubling back and heading to the other side of the city. They needed to d
isguise their tracks. There were people after them. They had experienced this before, but for once, these people were dangerous.

  The attack on the police station hadn't gone anything like what he'd planned. He'd thought they would be an easy target; he'd stroll in, take the woman, kill a few officers, and be done with it. Instead they'd been prepared. There was no way he could have foreseen their weapons. Sawdust and toothpicks? He had no doubt that the bitch-woman was behind it. Now she was responsible for not just his dear Laticia's death, but seven of his companions' as well.

  Corvus and Selene ran along empty streets, blurring in and out of the glow of street lamps. Corvus's mouth hung open and his sharp teeth glinted in the moonlight. The black slug pulsated inside his mouth, shimmering.

  Selene looked good when she was running. The hunched shoulders she normally sported were gone, revealing her long neck and sleek muscles. The sight was enough to draw Corvus away from his thoughts, at least for a few moments.

  An hour after running from the restaurant they came to the front of the large Helliot hotel. It was one of the classiest on Boullion Five. The tower rose up into the night sky, lights sparkling. The golden balconies gleamed amid the darkness and the parking garage was filled with the most expensive ships money could buy.

  "Pamielle and Gregor are here," Selene said, bowing her head to a dark area at the left side of the hotel.

  "And Winton and Annabel," Corvus said, nodding to another deep shadow near the parking bay. He grabbed hold of Selene's hand and walked with her towards the second pair, deliberately away from Pamielle. Selene's hand was warm in his when he grasped it and he enjoyed the feel of it. It would never be the same as Laticia's, but it was better than nothing.