Right to Rule: Hunter Wars Book Five (The Hunter Wars 5)
Page 26
“Why does it always have to go this way with you? You’re always so stubborn…and annoying.” Leaning back in his chair, he crossed his arms over his chest and glared at him petulantly. “You won’t win this time, War. You’ve missed your chance. I have the upper hand. My army is here now and you know you can’t win.” Cocking his head mischievously, he added, “Besides, it’s my turn. It’s not like I haven’t ruled before.”
He didn’t know what Ruler was talking about and he didn’t see any point in asking. He always aimed to mislead, and not wanting to show the little shit any sign of weakness, he shook his head. “No deal. I’ll see you on the battlefield.”
Ruler uncrossed his arms and reached out an arm as if to appeal to Ip. “Can’t you talk sense into this old fool? You’re his eternal partner, surely you have some say in this?”
Ip speaks: Stupid Devil, but give him his due. He has as much right as the other to rule.
Turning to Ip, he said adamantly, “No, he doesn’t, honey. According to both of you, I’m the Horseman of War and I get to call the shots.” Turning back to Ruler, he said bluntly, “My game, my rules. Now fuck off.”
Standing up so abruptly, his chair tipped over and crashed to the floor, Ruler’s face tightened with rage. “You will regret this, War. You’ll wish you’d taken my offer. Now the deal is off the table. I will end you here in this city and leave you with nothing left to fight for.”
Before he could speak, the sky behind Ruler lit up with a sharp white flash. One flash was followed by another and then another. His anger was immediately replaced with pride. Sneering, he asked derisively, “Really? With what army?”
Ruler’s eyes widened with shock and he whirled to face the large window. Flashes of light continued to spark in the distance, and it was obvious their birds were successfully bombing Ruler’s convoy just as he ordered.
Turning back to him and in a low, and bitter tone of voice, Ruler said, “Nothing is over.”
He was about to fire back his own angry retort when Ruler simply vanished. Looking around the room, he turned to Ip in surprise. “Where’d he go?”
Raising an eyebrow, Ip replied, “He was never here.”
Looking back at the table where Ruler was seated, the chair he’d knocked over was sitting upright and still tidily tucked under the table. The dust that covered the table was undisturbed and he realized Ruler had never been physically present. Now, no longer distracted by Ruler, the smell of death in the room filled his senses again and he decided it was time to leave. He knew why he’d been drawn to return to the hotel. Ruler had wanted to negotiate and he was glad he came. He realized Ruler must believe he was at risk of losing the battle, otherwise he thought the arrogant little shit would never compromise if he didn’t think he had to. Despite their losses that week, he was now confident they had a fighting chance at winning the war against Ruler and his demons.
With the elevator swiftly taking them down to the lobby, he rubbed the scar on his face thoughtfully. “It’s interesting the Devil was willin’ to deal. Maybe we’re doin’ better than we seem to be.”
He looked across at Ip and she smiled at him. Yeah, he thought, maybe we’ve got that little shit on the run.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: Escape in New York (TL)
Gears had sent a messenger to tell them Ruler was gone and the city was clear of demon super hunters. It seemed he’d found a way to avoid a full-scale battle. He and Pax turned most the convoy around and Cutter and Benny were leading it back to the base. They now had two thousand combat shooters and all of the medics and supplies with them. They’d also been told to avoid the George Washington Bridge, and go north of New York and take the Henry Hudson Bridge instead. According to the messenger, the George Washington Bridge was down, and having entered the city using the Henry Hudson Bridge, they were now less than a half a mile from the Financial District. As the Stryker rumbled along the road, he was wondering what Gears had been up to while they’d been driving halfway across the country, and he was also fretting about his son, but he decided there was nothing wrong other than he missed the boy. They’d only shared a night and few waking hours at the base, but the sight of his tiny face was firmly fixed in his mind. Summoning up an image of his young son in his mind, he felt his face crease into an easy smile.
“Whatcha grinnin’ about?” Pax asked.
They were sitting facing one another in the Stryker. “I was just thinking about Bob.”
Pax pulled a mock-horrified face. “You shouldn’t be smilin’ like that about Gears.”
He sighed and shook his head at his idiot brother. “Not that Bob…baby Bob.”
“Oh, yeah,” Pax said sulkily and pulled his mouth into a downward smile. “Why’d you name him after Gears real name? I mean, he don’t even use that name no more.”
One of the female shooters sitting next to them said, “It’s a good name. It’s strong…and it’s short.”
“It ain’t that,” Pax complained. “I wanted TL to name him after me…or maybe he shoulda been called Tommy Lee Junior.”
He’d hated his name, which was why he insisted on being called TL. There was no way he would curse his son with a name he didn’t even like himself. “No, Tommy Lee is crap name. You know I don’t like it. Bob is a good name and anyway, he could do a lot worse than his namesake.”
Pax roared with laughter. “You mean the guy that beat your ass.”
“Shaddup, Pax, and I didn’t lose. I just had…other priorities.”
“Nah dude, you lost. Gears was gonna beat your skinny ass. He’s got sixty pounds on you, plus he’s crazier than you, and in a bar fight, that counts for a lot.”
The female combat shooter ignored Pax and said, “You should take a picture of baby Bob. There’s a guy in the comms room at the Marine supply base that lends us charged cameras, and then downloads the pictures and prints them for us.”
While she was talking, she’d pulled a picture in a plastic wallet from her top pocket and handed it to him. The picture was of a small boy with dark hair and a cheeky smile, who was maybe eight or nine years old.
Smiling at the picture, he asked, “Is this your boy?”
She nodded. “Yeah…he was. After he died, I kept my phone which had some pictures of him, but the phone was dead. I kept hoping someone might be able to charge it again, and after I got to the base, someone did and they got me some prints.”
Feeling a little sad for her, he handed the picture back. “He was a good looking boy.”
“Yes he was and I miss him.”
Nodding, he gripped her hand briefly. “I know what you mean.”
When they arrived at the buildings, he saw the rescue operation was already in full swing. Thousands of freed people were standing and sitting in the streets, and medics and combat shooters were moving between them, caring for their injuries. Food and water was being handed out and there was a sense of success as people were talking loudly and laughing. The human spirit is unbreakable, he thought, and he grinned at the people who were now waving and cheering at the convoy still driving along the road behind them. Walking over to the building where they’d first found the survivors, he asked one of the combat shooters if they knew where Gears was. The female shooter nodded, and he followed her to a nearby truck, where he found his brother talking to Mike.
“Gears!”
Ip jumped from the back of a pickup where she was sitting and ran over to him. Sweeping her up in a hug, he kissed her cheek. “Hello Death.”
Pax appeared at his elbow. “Hey, where’s my hug.” She pushed herself away from him and firmly hugged Pax. “That’s better.”
Gears asked, “How was the trip?”
“Borin’,” Pax complained. “Fuckin’ long drive. Next time you drive and I’ll fly.” Looking around, he asked, “What happened? Couldn’t be bothered waitin’ for us to win the war. You hadda be a hero?”
“Nah, I jus’ got lucky. For some reason, Ruler’s demon army was leavin’ and we bombed ‘em as the l
ast of ‘em crossed the bridge.”
Nodding slowly and sounding impressed, Pax said, “Nice.”
“Not for them it wasn’t,” Gears replied with a wink.
Sounding as surprised as he felt, he asked, “So, they’re gone?”
“Nah, of course they ain’t gone. We didn’t get ‘em all and we didn’t have enough shooters to go hunt ‘em down. They took off, and I reckon we’d be wastin’ resources and lives to try and find ‘em now.” With a smirk, he added, “But I did talk to Ruler.”
Pulling a disgusted face, Pax asked, “How’d you do that?”
Sighing at his brother’s stupidity, he shook his head. “Wrong question, Pax. And to think I thought you were getting smarter.” Turning to Gears, he asked, “What did Ruler say?”
Gears smirked at his question. “He wanted to deal. He said we could have all of the prisoners and our people, plus the UK, as long as we let him have the U.S..”
“Fuck off,” Pax sneered derisively.
Gears widened his eyes in mock surprise. “That’s exactly what I said.”
Pax chortled. “So, what’d he say to that?”
“Well, he wasn’t too happy and said he’d use his army to kill us all. You know, his usual bullshit, but his speech kinda got cut short when our Hellfires blew the crap outta his goddamn so-called army.”
He could imagine how it all went down. No doubt Ruler was posturing and being overconfident like he always was, and in the middle of his threats, their army had blown his army to hell. Imagining the shock on Ruler’s face struck him as hysterically funny and he began to laugh loudly.
Pax eyed him suspiciously. “What are ya laughin’ at, TL? Are you not feelin’ right in the head?”
“I can just see Ruler being his usual arrogant asshole self and threatening to rain hell down on earth, and then our guys blow his army back to hell. He must have looked like a total ass.”
Gears face broke out into a wide smile that strained the scar around his mouth. “Yeah, he kinda did.”
He heard someone laughing behind him and Mike had been listening to their conversation. He stepped aside, so Mike could join them. “I’m surprised you can see the funny side of this.”
Mike snorted with laughter. “What the hell else is there to see.” Looking around at the people who were now being cared for, he added, “We should be dead and we’re not. Today we’re free. Tomorrow we might not be again, but today we are and we should be happy about that.”
Suddenly somber, Pax said seriously, “We don’t know where Ruler is now, but we know he’ll rebuild his army and it doesn’t seem to be very hard for him to do that.”
Gears nodded. “Yep, he can create plenty more demon super hunters, and now they can use weapons as well as the hunters.”
Now not so amused himself, he said, “That’s a hell of a demon army, Gears.”
“It is what it is, TL.” Nodding at the people around him, he added, “We’ve got a lot more people now too. We’re gonna need to move the civilians off the mainland and train the rest to fight. This is the same problem we had before and we’ll use same plan to solve it, only now we got more people to solve it with.”
“Yeah, but more people means more problems, bro’,” Pax observed.
He shook his head. “No, Pax, it’ll be fine. Sure, it adds risk and we’ll lose some people along the way, but we’ll save most of ‘em.”
“But we dunno where Ruler is. Hell, we don’t even know what he looks like now. He could be here right now and we wouldn’t know.”
“It doesn’t matter, Pax,” Gears replied. “We gotta learn to roll with the punches, work with what we’ve got, and anyway, I got a plan for that.” He and Pax looked at Gears quizzically and he said, “Gray says he willin’ to spy for us, and Ip reckons Lucie is still inside her hunter body and she wants to help us. All we gotta do is get ‘em close enough to be picked up by whatever’s left of Ruler’s army. Ruler won’t stay away from his demons for long, and we’ll plant our own goddamn spies this time. Forewarned is forearmed.”
It was an aggressive tactic, and grinning at Gears, he said, “Let the games begin.”
EPILOGUE
Her feet were slipping in her shoes while she tried to walk on the muddy land. Stopping, she stared down at her feet and wondered what she was doing. The man and the blonde woman stopped with her. Sniffing the air, she could smell the blood pulsing quickly through the man’s veins and she wanted to taste him. Saliva filled her mouth and her teeth ached to be used. She snarled.
Ip speaks: No my child, you cannot eat. He is not for you. Release your feet.
She reached down and tugged off the boots that were loose around her skinny feet. Seeing her white feet emerge from the dirty boots, an image of soft white feet with bright purple painted toenails filled her mind, and she felt sad. Reaching her hands to her head, she tugged and pulled out a fistful of red hair. Staring at the hair in her hand dumbly, she felt hurt. Holding out the fistful of hair toward the blonde woman, she moaned her unhappiness.
Ip speaks: This time is done. You know that well. But it is not the end, so do not dwell.
Blinking rapidly, in her mind she saw herself whole again. Vibrant, healthy and happy. She trusted the blonde woman. When their minds joined, she became whole again. Without the woman to hold her shattered mind intact, she was driven by needs she didn’t understand and was no longer in control of herself. Dropping the hair to the ground, she sought the blonde woman’s mind again.
Ip speaks: This life is done, but there is more for you, for you are one of the chosen too.
She felt soothed. There was a future for her. This moment was just a stepping stone to somewhere where she would be whole and happy again. Smiling softly, she sighed and then, as the blonde woman’s mind left hers, the need to move took control again. Without her shoes, she could walk quickly, and she paced ahead of the man and the blonde woman. Although she didn’t understand their words, she heard their voices behind her.
“She’d kill me if she could,” the man said.
The blonde woman huffed and replied, “She is not the only one who wants you dead.”
“I know and I deserve to die for my crimes.”
“Make good your bad and all will end well. The Devil’s camp is over there. This friend now hunter will give you safe passage to his demons that are near.”
She stopped and sniffed the air. It smelt of fresh blood. She could taste it in the wind. Growling, her need to eat built like a sexual energy and she wanted to run, but she didn’t. Maintaining her pace with her partners, she heard others calling to her. They were like her. Their voices whispered to her, kill, kill, kill. Her senses heightened and she wanted to join them, but still she didn’t.
Ip speaks: No need to wait to join your kind, but watch for this man for he is yours to mind.
Stopping and standing in front of the man, she reached out and touched his face with her dirty hand. Taking back her hand, she held it to her mouth and breathed in deeply. She could taste his scent and she allowed it to imprint deep in her mind. Looking at the woman, she tilted her head and moaned softly. The blonde woman smiled at her.
Ip speaks: Go now, we will talk more, but now it is time for you to explore.
While the blonde woman watched, the hunter and the tall skinny man wearing wire-rimmed glasses disappeared into the gloom of falling night.
Books in Hunter Wars Series
Book One:
EVE OF THE HUNTER WARS (Purchase Now)
Book Two:
HEAVEN MEETS HELL (Purchase Now)
Book Three:
ARMY OF ANGELS (Purchase Now)
Book Four:
GIFT FROM GOD (Purchase Now)
Book Five:
RIGHT TO RULE (Purchase Now)
Book Six:
CALL TO WAR (Purchase Now)
Books in Eden Lost Series
(Series Two of the Hunter Wars)
Book One:
HIDDEN EVIL (Purchase Now)
<
br /> Book Two
DEAD ALIVE (Purchase Now)
Book Three
BATTLEFRONT
(Release: 2016)
Books in DNA Series
Book One:
THE LOCKE FILES (Purchase Now)
Book Two
TIME TO DIE
(Release: to be scheduled)
Books in NAVIGATOR Series
Book One:
ENEMY LINES
(Release: to be scheduled)
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