Revenge's Web (Kieran Grey Psionic Hunter)

by R. B. Fivecoat

  I grabbed a painkiller from my belt-pack as I chewed out Yuric, “You could’ve told me they didn’t work underwater! Shit Yuric, that could’ve taken my arm off!”

  “But it did not. You are unharmed. I would have told you that the ammo was not for use underwater if I had known. As I said, it was never intended to be used in an aquatic situation. A design flaw that I assure you will be remedied as soon as I return to my office.”

  Ash held out Glock pistols to both Ren and myself, “Here, I’m better with the blades anyway.”

  “Will those guns work underwater?” I asked skeptically.

  Sorrow answered me by taking one of the guns and firing it as she held it under the water. The silver plated hollowpoint imbedded itself into the floor. She shrugged and handed me the gun. “Works fine. It’s only going to have enough power to be effective for about two to three feet though. So let the target get close first. By the way, you’re also a round short now.”

  “Gee thanks.” I grumbled, taking the gun in my hand as the feeling rapidly returned to my fingers.

  Chapter 23

  With yet another sigh I pushed on into the water. It only took a few steps before the water swallowed me up. I kept my regular-ammo-holding-Glock-that-would-only-work-at-two-feet ready as I slowly made my way further into the open hall. The flooding had filled all but the top foot of the corridor. Both sides of the hall held solid walls of bulletproof glass that kept the sharks at bay. The walls seemed intact. I swam to the surface and checked that the air was breathable. Once satisfied I returned to the others back at the ruined elevator entrance.

  “The entire floor is flooded as far as I can see. Good news is that there is about a foot of breathable air at the top of the hall.”

  “And the s-sharks?” Ren glanced around me at the water skeptically.

  “No sign of them. Maybe I was wrong. It doesn’t look like the tanks have been broken open here. Maybe something else flooded the halls, like the fire sprinklers malfunctioning or something.”

  “Just because you do not see something does not negate its existence.”

  “Thank you for lightening the mood Yuric!” I growled sarcastically.

  “I do what I can. We do not need to breathe so we will walk along the bottom, keeping an eye out for your missing sharks.”

  “This is going to be a long swim, right?” Sorrow asked.

  I nodded at her. She sighed and shook her head. Then she reached down to the top of her thigh-high boots. She pulled out something that looked like a mouth guard used in sports. She held it up before slipping it into her mouth.

  “Siphon breather. It pulls oxygen out of water for me to breathe.”

  “Don’t s’pose you have a few more of those?” Derrick asked hopefully.

  Sorrow looked at him with an evil grin before shaking her head no at him. She slid under the water. One by one we all followed. True to his word, Yuric and the vamps actually walked along the bottom while the breathers stayed swimming on the surface. Seeing the vampires walk along underwater like that without breathing sent shivers up my spine. Sorrow swam next to me under the water just above the vamps heads, using her wings like fish fins to propel her along.

  I had my attention to the chambers flanking us on both sides. I knew from my other visits in that particular part of the Halls of Horrors, that the tank next to us at the moment held the giant shark the size of an airplane. I didn’t want it swimming up looking for a meal, even with the glass still separating us. And I had no clue what was in the other tank across the hall.

  My attention had been so directed that it took a second to hear the muffled screams under the water. I glanced up in time to see rows of jagged teeth holding a severed leg flash by. A large mako shark darted past after successfully attacking one of the werecats. I glanced above at the chaos. The cat was thrashing about, apparently terrified at having his leg bitten off. The churning water was spreading the blood faster than it was pumping out of his stump.

  Hasn’t that guy ever seen the nature channel? Him splashing around like that with blood in the water will only draw more sharks to a feeding frenzy. How did that one get past all of us anyway?

  Sorrow yanked on my boot. She was pointing with a wild look in her eyes. I turned to look where she had wanted me to. The entire glass wall shattered as the giant great white smashed into it. Its jaws opened on the way through the hole.

  Those jaws closed around me. Sorrow tried to pull me out before the teeth closed, but all she managed to do was get my foot caught in the teeth just above the ankle. Even through my shields the pressure of those closing jaws almost broke my leg in two. Water rushed around me as I was thrashed back and forth inside its mouth as the beast tried to sever my leg though my shields.

  I fired my borrowed gun up a the roof of the beast’s mouth. The bullets flattened against the tough tissue without even leaving a bruise. After what seemed like hours of violent shaking, the jaws parted and I was pulled away.

  Sorrow had held on to me as the shark had swam around the giant tank while it thrashed about. I mouthed to her asking if she was alright. She smiled and gave me a thumbs up then pointed. We were now on the opposite side of a tank as wide as a football field was long. I squinted to see better and my glasses reacted. I had a close up view of the others still in the flooded hallway. Two other – regular sized – sharks had arrived to finish off the werecat that the mako had already sampled. The sharks were too busy with the easy meal to make a new kill.

  Suddenly the giant shark slammed into my back as it made a line for the others. I rolled away from it as it passed, struggling to keep my bearings. I tumbled twice before I got reoriented. The shark was almost to the hall. Without a thought I pushed myself with my shields, propelling myself through the water the same way I flew through the air. I was ahead of the shark in seconds, just before it reached the others.

  Ren had her head under the water looking around for me and Sorrow when I caught up to the beast. I wrapped myself around its snout and pushed against it with my shields. I was trying to change its direction when it slammed into the roof of the hallway, pinning me in the process. The shark began to thrash about again before taking off away from the others. I glanced around and noticed Ren was missing.

  REN!!!

  My eyes scanned the waters. There she was hanging out of the corner of the giant shark’s mouth by the strap of her rifle. The strap had gotten tangled around a tooth of the beast. I shot off from the wall like a rocket. Pouring all my strength into my shields as I aimed for the nose of the shark. I crossed the chamber in the blink of an eye, slamming head first into its head right by the eye. It shook off the impact and lunged to bite me. I held out my arms, molding my shields into knife blades as the jaws closed around me. The shield blades cut through the roof of its mouth easily. It jerked away from me before the blades could cut deep enough to kill it.

  As it tore itself away from my shields, the razor-sharp teeth finally cut through the strap that held Ren captive. I tried to move to her, but the shark bit down again trapping me at the waist as it swam off again.

  Suddenly something flowing and golden blurred my vision as I felt hands holding on to me and digging out one of my throwing knives from the sheath on my arm. A blue scaly tail slapped me in the face as the golden hair darted away. Then I recognized the bare breasted teenage form of the mermaid Silis. She swam as fast as she could to keep up with the monster shark. As soon as she was within reach she jabbed the knife she had stolen into the eye of the beast. I swore I heard it howl in pain as it opened its jaws and twisted away from us.

  Silis’ face appeared before me as her lips pressed to mine through my shields. The move was sudden enough that I let my shields fall enough to allow her to kiss me. I started to protest the kiss when I felt the warm breeze escape her lips into mine. She was breathing for me under the water. The shock took me a second to register what was going on. I grabbed her shoulders pulling her off me as I raised my shields again.

  “I
can breathe underwater but Ren can’t! Find her and help her!” my voice echoed loudly inside my shields under the water, even though I wasn’t sure she could hear or understand me.

  Silis’ eyes grew to the size of dinner plates before she nodded and swam off. I watched her go to Ren. Sorrow was holding Ren’s arm as she put her siphon breather back in her mouth. Had she shared her air with Ren? As soon as Silis reached them she swam into Ren’s arms and placed her lips against the detective’s. Ren’s eyes flew open in shock. I had to smile at that. The kiss of life from a teenage mergirl to a heterosexual woman.

  I whipped my head around looking for the monster since I knew Ren was safe. The giant didn’t disappoint. Jaws open and ready, it rushed towards me again. I turned and forced my shields to push me straight at that open mouth as fast as I could go.

  At the last second before I passed under the nose of the beast I shifted the shape of my shields to a giant knife blade as tall as I could make it in the room. My momentum, added to that of the shark, pushed it right into my shield-blade. The monster shark split in half straight down the middle. One half falling to each side of me in the bloody water.

  The other sharks that had joined the party left the others alone to feast upon the easy meal of their fallen brethren. I pushed myself through the water back to the hall where the others waited for me. As soon as I passed through the shattered remains of the wall I saw the carnage in the hall. The werecat that had been attacked first was now reduced to tiny floating bits and gnawed on bones scattered around the others. There were four carcasses that belonged to other dead sharks. One of which was a twenty-three foot great white that had been blown to Swiss cheese.

  Thank goodness some of the guns work underwater, even if only at a few feet.

  * * *

  Joining everyone from our little hunting party was four overly muscled mermen. They looked like different versions of Triton or Poseidon from mythological stories. Each one with a body that would have made Tanaka, or even Marsala jealous – except for the fish tail though. The merfolk each took turns breathing for those that needed it, regardless of sex, as they led us to the filter vents. The vents were narrow enough that the overly large shouldered mermen had to twist and angle themselves to squeeze through. We let them lead us to a filtration room where they had us all surface for a much needed breath of fresh air.

  “We are safe here for the moment,” one of the mermen said with a light accent I couldn’t place.

  “What the fuck is this place?” a vampire asked.

  “One of many water filtration rooms.”

  “I believe he was inquiring to the Archives as a whole, not this individual room.”

  I glanced at Yuric as he spoke. He was sitting back like someone would on the beach. Only there was no beach. He was sitting on top of the water. Yuric caught me staring and he gave me that creepy smile full of fang.

  It’s like when he levitated in the elevator shaft. Almost like he is showing off his powers. He wants to show off? Fine, look at this.

  I pushed my shields to lift me up out of the water. Then I mirrored him by sitting down on the surface like it was a solid mass. Ren took advantage of the island I’d made of myself. She threw her upper body across my legs like I was a blowup raft in a pool. We all breathed heavy while we rested. Those of us that had to breathe anyway.

  “I didn’t know you could talk outside water,” I nodded to Silis.

  “Of course. We’re just like you when on land. Well, maybe not you, but like a normal human. You’re something different.”

  “That she is indeed,” Yuric added.

  “I assume that you are here because of the siege?” the oldest looking merman with a thick beard asked.

  “Yes. We’re trying to get to the sub-reactors. The man responsible for all this is down there with hostages. We intend to rescue them.”

  “The way is blocked.”

  “No it isn’t brother! It’s only the Lair. I’ve swam through there hundreds of times without problems.” Silis declared.

  “They cannot swim as you can. The way is blocked to them.”

  “You mean because of the Kraken?” I asked interrupting them before the argument could escalate.

  Everyone stared at me like I’d sprouted a second head.

  Did I forget to mention that earlier?

  “Yes. The Kraken is in the Lair. The filtration vents that would have safely allowed us passage around have collapsed. There is no safe way back to the colony. We were working in the tanks when the siege happened. We have been cut off from our families.”

  “Can this Kraken be killed?” Yuric asked a little too casually.

  “I-I am not sure. I suppose so if you had enough men.”

  “We have Kieran, that should be enough.”

  “WHAT!?! Thanks for the support Yuric, but how exactly am I supposed to kill a mythical sea-monster by myself?”

  “You aren’t. You need only to keep it busy while the rest of us slip past.”

  “How come I have to be the bait?”

  “Because, of everyone here, you are the only one likely to survive an encounter with a beast like that.”

  “How’d you know? You’ve never even seen the thing! . . . Uh, wait, have you?”

  “During one of my visits to Arkon he showed me footage of the Lair. You are the only one that will survive a direct encounter, of that I am certain.”

  “You’re taking my shields for granted here. What happens if I can’t keep it busy?”

  “Then we will all die.”

  Great! No pressure there!

  Chapter 24

  The mermen led the way. The narrow vent pipe opened up to a room at least twice as large as the tank the giant shark had. Black-and-white rocks covered the floor in a pattern that looked like the entire room had been lifted out of the sea and moved here as was. Off to the right was a cave opening that was larger than an airplane hangar.

  “There is the exit we must reach,” the eldest merman spoke in a bubbly voice that filled my head as if it were in echoy stereo, and pointed at a small cave opening on the far side of the tank.

  I pointed to the large cave, “Kraken?”

  He nodded.

  “How long do you need?”

  “Until we are all safely on the other side.”

  Wonderful.

  I glanced back at the others crammed into the small tunnel like sardines. Ren and Ash were getting regular breaths from Silis as the other air breathers shared the mermen. Funny that the guys breathe for guys and the girl breathes for the girls. I smiled to myself forcing the dirty thoughts away and edged my way into the large chamber.

  I floated down to the floor and swam slowly towards the cave, hugging the ground. Only when my hands touched something strangely familiar did I tear my eyes away from the black abyss of the cave. I looked down at the white rock under my hand.

  Then suddenly as if someone adjusted the picture on a TV I saw it. The rock was a skull. A human skull. I panicked and let out a YELP!

  Slamming my hands over my mouth to keep from screaming again, I glanced around at the floor between stares at the cave. The floor was littered with skeletons. Among the human remains were others that looked like they belonged to the merfolk, top half human with fish tails instead of legs.

  The ground shook with a deep rumbling. The shadows inside the cave started moving. I pushed off the floor and swam right up to the center of the entrance. Using all my strength I forced my shields out, creating an invisible door over the entrance to the cave.

  “MOVE IT!!!” I cried over my shoulder hoping that my voice carried enough through the water for them to hear.

  Something slammed itself against my shields tearing my attention away from the crowd behind me. A snake-like tentacle slithered and thrashed against my shields over and over. Others joined the first. Each one trying to find a weak spot in my shields. One of the tentacles stopped moving and pointed straight at me as if it were staring at me. Then, without warning, the en
d opened. Three slits appeared, then the jaws split, opening the end of the tentacle into a large mouth. The three-sided jaws each held rows upon rows of teeth. As soon as those teeth were bared it attacked again. This time it tried to eat its way through the shields. The others followed suit. Soon I had nine razor filled mouths trying to eat my shields.

  Fighting them all was taking a toll. I pushed against my shields harder to keep them at bay. Each second that I could keep them there I knew was yet another second the others had to escape. The entire room shook as the cave rumbled. The nine mouths kept up their assault. I closed my eyes in concentration.

  That was a mistake.

  I felt the cave walls explode outwards. The beast couldn’t get out through the front, so it broke down the sides. Before I opened my eyes back up, garbled screams erupted under the water. Tentacles shot out around my shields to snatch up two of the werecats that were too slow. Silis and another merman ushered the remaining others to the exit. One of the vamps had stayed behind with the other mermen to help the captured werecats. Yet another tentacle snaked around my shields to wrap itself around my waist.

  With more strength than the shark had displayed earlier, the Kraken shook me back and forth hard enough that I lost control of my shields and dropped the borrowed gun. With the wall of shields down, other tentacles reached out to help pull in the prey they already had. They managed to grab the slower moving vamp as well, but the mermen were too fast for the straining limbs. Each time the mermen moved in closer in an attempt to help, they were forced back to avoid the reach of the beast.

  With another great shake I was spun around.

  That was when I got my first view of the great Kraken.