by ST Branton
“What is that?” I asked as soon as I’d situated myself across from her.
She gave me a brief, confused look before brightening. “It’s my gun. You didn’t think I’d come trekking out here without it, did you? I was born here. I know better than that.”
I wasn’t a huge fan of the fact that she was packing heat.
“You’re making a face,” Amber said. “Trust me. It’s all good. It’s my gun, and I know what I’m doing.” The grin reappeared. “This isn’t even the only gun I have. So relax. It’s not like I can go home and put it away now anyway.”
A sigh escaped me. “Okay. Got it. I’ll try to be less weird about how young you are.”
Amber picked a leaf off the branch and dropped it, watching it float to the ground in the vanishing dusk. “Honestly, you’re still doing a ton better than almost everyone I know. Nobody even thinks about taking me seriously here, except Pops. Most of the town is populated by idiot, hypermasculine bros who think I’m just some stupid little girl.”
“I feel that on a spiritual level,” I said. “Who’s your Pops?”
Her smile this time was softer, a different kind of genuine. “His name’s Smitty. He owns the blacksmith shop at the southernmost end of town. He’s been taking care of me since I was a kid.”
It took all my concentration not to let my jaw unhinge from my face. So not only was I directly defying Smitty’s sage advice, I was also endangering the granddaughter he had recently described as the only thing he had left. My stomach tied in knots.
“Funny you should mention that,” I started awkwardly. “He offered me the room he’s renting on the top floor of your house. I just put my stuff in there a few hours ago.”
“Hey, cool! Does that mean you’re staying for a while?” Amber’s whole face lit up.
“Maybe. Depends on how things go.”
“Man, sometimes I wish I could swing the drifter life.” Amber leaned back against the sturdy bough and sighed dreamily. “Not having to put down roots anywhere or bog myself down with too many possessions. Just pack my shit up whenever I wanted and hit the road. I think that would be the life, at least for a while.”
“Don’t like it here?” The question was mostly perfunctory. I had been a broody teenager once; I knew what it was like to go stir crazy in my hometown, even when that hometown has eight million people in it.
“I mean, the location is fine. It’s idyllic, the climate’s okay, I like rain. That part’s whatever. It’s the people and their attitudes that really get to me.” A deep scowl crossed her face. “They’re all just backwards here. If you ask them, I’ve got one place and it’s barefoot in the kitchen. Preferably with a bun in the oven.”
“You’re seventeen,” I said incredulously. As if she needed reminding.
“Right? And I want so much more than that anyway. After I graduate, I’m out of here.” She paused. “And maybe I can get Pops to come with me. I doubt it, though. He loves that house too much.”
“It’s a sweet house,” I said. Amber looked at me and laughed.
The snap of steel on steel cut her off. We froze where we sat, listening for the telltale sounds of struggle and pain. Nothing happened.
“That was the trap,” Amber said softly. “There’s got to be something in it. Maybe it died right away.”
“Let’s hope. You stay put. I’ll go check.”
She nodded. “If you have to reset it, be careful! It’ll take your arm off if you let it.”
“Noted.” Thus encouraged, I jumped down from the tree and stole in the direction of the triggered trap, preparing myself for the potential sadness of a crushed rabbit or fawn or other small, cute animal.
As I drew closer, however, I began to hear noises coming from the spot where we’d laid the trap. Heavy grunts reached my ears, backed by the crushing, snapping sounds of the brush. Then the trap site came into my field of view, and I knew we had what we were looking for. A huge dark shape hunched over on the riverbank, clearly pulling and gnawing at the trap’s teeth in its leg.
It was neither small nor cute. I reached down and pulled the sword hilt off my belt but kept it dormant on the approach. The creature’s movements were getting more erratic, more panicked and furious. I was just starting to feel a little triumphant when I saw the two halves of the trap jaw go flying with a horrible, ripping screech of metal. Freed, the beast whirled around to face me.
Two bronze eyes glared from under a heavy brow. Bent as its form was, the long, powerful arms nearly touched the edge of the water. Its broad, coarsely furred chest heaved from the exertion of demolishing the trap. A little bit of blood trickled from the wounds on its leg.
The monster was missing a hand.
But the ragged end of its arm held my attention for less than a second as I recognized the thing in front of me. It wasn’t a werewolf at all, but something much bigger, much uglier, and with pure death in its eyes.
There was no mistaking that I was staring down a god.
By Kronin… Not him. Not Lupres. Victoria, tread lightly.
There was a resemblance to the wolf I fought earlier. Long furry arms and a canine shape to its jaw. But whereas the werewolves were wild, this thing seemed almost elegant, perfectly groomed with a stately appearance. Golden armor covered its chest and arms, and a large ornate blade hung from its belt. Now that it was free of my trap, it stood proudly. A purebred killer.
We looked at each other for a small eternity, neither of us blinking in the absence of light. Its eyes glowed like cruel embers. A sneer curled his thick lips. “I am your superior in every way, human. It would be polite to bow.”
“Funny, that’s what the last god I cut in half said,” I retorted.
“Ah,” he replied. His voice rumbled like an avalanche. “You are the one who clipped Lysiani’s wings. Strange. I would have thought you would be bigger.”
“Well you know what they say about size.”
His smile stretched wide, like a jackal trying to seduce his dinner. “No, what do they say about size?”
“It doesn’t matter when you’ve got a kickass glowing sword.”
Lupres’ eyes narrowed as I summoned the Gladius Solis into being. The hungry smile shrunk to one of cruel distaste.
“So it’s true. The dead king’s blade outlives him. It will make a fitting trophy.”
“Yeah, or maybe I’ll use it to gut you. It’s kind of hard to rule when your body’s been turned into my throw rug and your head is mounted on a wall.”
He barked a laugh, and his overgrown teeth glistened in the dark. “Do not compare me to my foolish siblings. I have no desire to rule this infernal slagheap. The praise of mortals means nothing to me. You only need to die so that this world might be razed and cultivated for a greater purpose. But first, every river, every current, every babbling brook must run scarlet with my sacred blood. The cycle has begun. You cannot stop it.”
“No?” I held the blade in front of me. “I’m gonna bet I can stop you.”
He smiled. “It has been far too long since I was offered a real challenge. I’m afraid I shall be disappointed once again.” He stepped backward and began to circle around me, one foot stepping in the river. “Well, well. Let us at least see how the sword has taken to its new master.”
Take it easy. Remember your training and you’ll do fine. Make me proud, Victoria.
“Don’t I always?” I readied myself for the inevitable assault. “Don’t answer that.”
Lupres kept his distance for longer than I expected, sizing me up and trying to calculate my first move. He was a hunter, waiting for the right moment to strike. I mirrored his tactic, unwilling to be the one who broke first. The distance between us as we circled grew less and less, until he sprang from all fours in an attempt to grab me.
His speed was unlike anything I had seen. He charged with the force of a bullet train, but with a nimbleness that would make a gazelle jealous.
Instinct kicked in and I spun backward. The sword lashed out in
an arc of burning fury. His claws pinged off the flat edge, and he recoiled, smoke curling from his fingertips. Almost immediately, he swept an arm out along the ground. I jumped, swung overhand, and barely missed.
He grinned nastily. “Better than I thought, girl. Most mortals would be dead by now.”
I grimaced. “Yeah well death is not really my color.”
I braced myself for another charge, but he changed tactics. Reaching out with his good hand, he grabbed ahold of a pine tree as thick as a telephone pole. Ripping the tree from the ground, roots and all, Lupres swung his new weapon like a club. I ducked the first swing, then managed to raise the Gladius in time to block the second. The sword’s magic absorbed most of the blow, but I was still knocked on my ass as the tree shattered into a million pieces.
Lupres wasted not a second. He charged through the dust claw first.
If he still had both hands, there was no way I could have escaped his clutches, but with one appendage shorter than the other, I was able to predict his attack.
So instead of falling dead like he assumed, I leaned in.
The sword was quick in my hand and it struck true, cleaving down to the bone in his shoulder before he twisted away. When he looked back at me, his face was a mask of shock, pain, and rage. Now the blood flowed freely, soaking his fur.
“How dare you!” The last word was swallowed by a roar.
I had just enough time to see him leaping up toward me, and then a flying weight crashed into my chest. I dropped backward like a boulder. My head struck the ground so hard that my vision in both eyes went white for a second. Kronin’s sword fell from my hand and tumbled out of reach.
The points of his claws dug through my clothes, and something dripped on me from above. His weight on my chest was tremendous. I could hardly breathe through it. My lungs were collapsing in on themselves. As the hazy picture of the world swam back into focus, I caught sight of those terrible bronze eyes locked on mine. He reared his good arm back. I gasped for air as I waited my inevitable death.
I was saved by a bullet.
As the shot rang out, Lupres’ right shoulder jerked backward, his arm flailing. It was clear from my vantage point that the bullet barely fazed him—but the annoyance of it couldn’t be ignored. His head snapped up, gaze searching for the sniper.
“Gladius Solis!” I shouted.
The beast’s eyes grew wide at the sound of the words. Just as the hilt hit my hand, the blade came to life. I swung it upward in a wild slice, skimming the god’s side. The force of another shot almost whipped him around completely. There was more blood caked in his fur. But he held his ground unfaltering, as if he were struck by a kid’s peashooter.
The third shot grazed his cheek; I saw the shallow wound appear in an instant. He clutched at it, clearly seething. He threw up his arm against the last strike from Kronin’s sword and took a deep gash from wrist to elbow. Then he turned tail, running on all fours unsteadily into the cover of the trees.
Rejoice Victoria! You have done battle against one of the most vicious the Forgotten have, and you are not dead.
“Lucky me,” I coughed.
I forced myself up on my elbow so that I could see and take aim at the god, but once Lupres was gone, I let myself fall back again. The air wheezed painfully in and out of my struggling lungs, like a straw with a hole in it. I heard a close thud, running footsteps, knees hitting the ground.
“Vic? Oh, shit. Vic, can you hear me?” I opened my eyes and tried to wave dismissively at Amber as if to say I was fine and she didn’t have to worry. To her credit, she didn’t buy this ridiculous charade. “Cut that out, will you? That thing beat the shit out of you.”
My pride was wounded, but not as wounded as the rest of me. I pointed to the injury I’d had before the fight even started. I was pretty sure it had reopened. The bandages that had been firm and dry all day now felt suspiciously sticky. “Look, please,” I croaked.
“Shut up. Don’t talk. Yeah, that’s all kinds of messed up.” She used her phone to shine a light over me. “Oh yeah. Okay, we need to get you back to town. I took a first-aid course back when I started babysitting, but that was years ago, and it’s not going to help you.”
A grim smile managed to crawl its way onto my face. “Thanks, doc.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Amber took me back to Maya’s clinic, my arm slung haphazardly over her shoulder. She raised her hand to knock, but I stopped her at the last second. “Don’t. I’ve already bothered her once today. I’ll be fine.” I winced as a hot pain shot through my stomach. “Just help me sit down for a second, okay?”
She looked worried. “I’m going to be in so much trouble if you die. And, I mean… just don’t die.” She helped me sit my ass down on the sidewalk outside the clinic. I leaned back on the wall next to the door and let out my breath.
“That’s better.” The wound in my side had definitely reopened. I could feel the new blood seeping uncomfortably down between the bandages and my skin. “Damn it. I just bought these clothes.”
Amber crouched beside me. “That’s what you’re worried about? I’ll lend you some clothes if you want. I’m just here to make sure you don’t check out for good.”
“I said I’ll be fine.” But the kid’s concern was touching, if a tad overbearing. What I didn’t want was to go back to her grandfather’s house in the glen, bleeding in multiple places, with her in tow. Something told me the old man wouldn’t take it well. “Relax, would you? Your anxiety’s rubbing off on me.” Her huge, nervous eyes had been glued to my face since we’d stopped moving, and it was starting to weird me out. “I’m not dying, Amber.”
“Okay, okay.” She plopped down on the pavement, stretched out her legs out, and blew her bangs out of her eyes. “Sorry. I just… was surprised you got hurt. That’s all.” Her tone made it clear that she hadn’t really believed we were out to hunt a dangerous creature, and now her head was spinning.
I sympathized. “Me too, honestly. I’m kind of still getting used to having my butt kicked.” No doubt, my previous injury didn’t help.
She glanced at me again. “What the hell does that mean? You’ve done this before?” A note of incredulity, bordering on panic, stood out bare in her voice.
Holding in a groan, I avoided eye contact. This was exactly the conversation I didn’t want to be having as I sat leaking blood on the side of the street in a strange town thousands of miles away from my home. But I knew I’d dragged her too far in. It couldn’t be avoided, especially not now that she’d seen too much.
“Yes, I’ve done this before,” I said. “Not with one of those bastards, though. Those are new.” I wasn’t trying to lie to her, but it was an awfully complicated story to tell in my current condition. The details swirled around my brain. I hoped I could keep them all straight.
“What was that thing?” Amber asked. “I mean, it had to be a prank, right? Someone was filming, weren’t they? Like all those assholes on YouTube. That’s guaranteed to go viral.”
I wanted to scoff at how ludicrous her theory was, but honestly, it wasn’t any crazier than the truth. “No.” I sighed, willing my lungs to take in more air. “That was a god as far as I can tell. And it got away, which blows. Probably off to create more werewolves”
She didn’t say anything for a while, and finally, I sneaked a glance at her to make sure she hadn’t gone completely into catatonic shock. She hugged her legs to her chest, resting her chin on her knees. The streetlight above us reflected an eerie orange glow in her eyes.
“You were really going to kill it, weren’t you? With that sword.”
She’d gotten an eyeful of the Gladius Solis, too? There really was no going back. “Don’t get all bleeding-heart on me, kiddo,” I told her brusquely. “I bet you got a damn good look at that ugly dog in the moonlight, from wherever you were taking those shots. We’re not talking about a puppy here, all right? He only ran because he was hurt, and he knew it.” I paused. “Nice shooting, by the way. I owe yo
u one.”
She grinned, coming back to herself. “Told you I could do it.” After another beat of thoughtful silence, she said, “You know, I bet Pops would get a kick out of seeing that sword.”
“No.” I shook my head so vehemently it made the world spin. “I can’t just go showing this thing off to people. You saw what I use it for. That’s what I’m doing here. That thing is a monster, and it’s my job to stop it.”
Amber got quiet. “Or else, what happens?” She glanced toward the east. “Is that what went down in Mormouth?” All the cheer had rapidly drained from her demeanor, and I felt a little bad, but at the same time, we were living in a heavy reality. Sooner or later, she was going to learn about the dark side of life.
Might as well be from me.
I thought of the dead girl staring up at me with those frightened, lifeless eyes. Goosebumps stood up on my flesh. “Yeah,” I said. “It’s probably responsible for Mormouth. And if we don’t catch that son of a bitch, it’ll happen here, too.”
Amber chewed her lip, still hugging her knees. “Maybe Wade will get it,” she suggested. “He’s the biggest dickhead in town, but he’s not a bad hunter. It’s the only reason I think people still put up with his crap.”
“If he messes with a god or one his minions, he’s as good as dead. That’s not a regular animal, Amber. And I don’t have my backup weapon yet, either. Your grandfather said it would take a few days. I’ll just have to try again in a little while.”
“A little while? Have you seen yourself?” Amber gave me a skeptical onceover. “I’d be shocked if you could even stand up on your own right now.”
“Don’t worry about it. I can manage.” As shaky proof, I pushed myself up into a straighter sitting position against the wall, sweeping my loose hair back into a ponytail. “I just need a little more time.” Ponytail secured, I leaned back and gazed up at the stars against the velvet black sky. The heavy fog had receded, leaving a night clearer than any I’d ever seen.
