The Lillim Callina Chronicles: Volumes 1-3

by J. A. Cipriano

  “If you shoot me it will unbalance Fairy even more—”

  “I don’t know what it is that makes people think logic is going to make me lay down and submit,” I interrupted her.

  “If I wanted to hurt you, Lillim, I don’t think you could stop me.” Her hand fell to her side, and she stopped moving, going so perfectly still that it was unnerving.

  “Tell that to Valen and Grollshanks. Tell that to Jiroushou Manaka.” I exhaled slowly. “I’m a lot harder to kill than you’d think, and if you don’t back the hell off, this is going to end one of two ways.”

  Kishi shook her head, visibly wrenching her gaze from my face as she did so. The air seemed to go out of her, like someone was deflating a balloon, and she sank to the floor. “I don’t know what’s going on…” She glanced up at me and smiled weakly. Her eyes lost that horrific blaze, melting back into emerald pools.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, not dropping the gun. I wanted to help her, but at the same time I did not want her to freak out and try to kill me. If it came to that, I was definitely going to shoot her. To Hell with the paperwork.

  “I think so,” she whispered so softly that I almost leaned closer to hear her better.

  “Then get up, I’m not touching you.” I motioned with the Beretta for her to move. “We need to get out of here before something big enough to huff and puff comes to blow our house down.”

  A grin broke across her face as she stood and turned her back to me. Well at least one of us was in a trusting mood. I stepped forward, pointing the Beretta at the center of her back as she knelt down by the less crispy guard and pried the axe from his cold, dead hands. She hefted it in one hand before stepping into the corridor, quiet as a church mouse.

  She disappeared from view and a shudder ran down my spine as I followed, desperately hoping an axe wasn’t going to come flying in my direction.

  11

  “And you’re sure there’s something bad through this door?” I asked for the umpteenth time.

  “It’s annoying how you keep asking me the same questions over and over,” Kishi said, glancing back at me. She held her hand outstretched, fingers trailing lightly against the obsidian surface of the door. “I can feel it. I don’t know how, but I can feel Summer’s power drawing me closer, begging me to take its strength for myself.” She swallowed visibly and shut her eyes for a second as if concentrating. “There’s definitely something strong in there.”

  “I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to confront really strong creatures. Especially, when I don’t know what they are and how to kill them,” I said. I was still holding my gun at the ready, but I’d stopped pointing it at her, which, in my opinion, earned me several bonus points.

  “You have a gun. Just shoot whatever it is with your metal bullets, and it will die. It’s a fairy. They don’t really mix with metal,” Kishi said, turning back to the door and putting her other hand against it. She’d long since removed the armored gloves to expose her hands, which, given what happened last time, was fine by me. Then again, I didn’t really care what Kishi did as long as it got us the hell out of here.

  “That’s a bad plan,” I said, reaching down to grip the hilt of my wakazashi with my left hand. Just touching the blade made a little surge of confidence run through me.

  “This coming from the girl who kicked in Warthor’s door in the nether and confronted him with a weapon she’d never used before?” Kishi’s hand began to glow, casting off white light that reminded me of sunlight filtering through window panes.

  “That was a completely different situation,” I grumbled, stepping off to the side and dropping into a two-handed shooting stance. If something came through that door, I was shooting it.

  “How so?” she asked, and light pulsed from her hand like a solar flare. I turned my head away, blocking my face with one arm. Even still, spots of color danced in front of my eyes. When I turned back, Kishi was covered in a cloud of debris and rubble lay strewn about the floor.

  “Because Warthor didn’t really want to kill me,” I whispered almost to myself. I don’t think I’ve ever voiced the thought to anyone before. Everyone just kept going on and on about how I almost beat Warthor Ein, and the truth was, it wasn’t a fair fight.

  Not in the classical sense of how fair fights worked. It wasn’t fair because I would have killed him given the chance, and he, well, wouldn’t have killed me. I knew that going in, knew he would hesitate at the last second, and I could use that hesitation to kill him. Why? Because he wouldn’t have wanted to kill me after he’d practically ripped open Hell to have me reincarnated. It made sense, and I’d exploited it to beat him… and I’d still barely won.

  This was not like that. This was confronting some big, bad dark fairy and trying to kill it for no real reason. This was backing a Doberman into the corner and trying to beat it with a stick. This was… this was stupid.

  A screeching howl tore through the air. The hair on the back of my neck stood up and a tremor went down my spine. I exhaled through my teeth and barely got the gun back up in front of me when a dark form burst through the swirling cloud of debris and tackled Kishi to the floor.

  The giant black hound was the size of a horse. It snapped at her face as she tried to hold its snarling jaws back, arms straining from the effort. Her tiny hands were lost in the dark, shaggy fur around its neck. Its red eyes gleamed in the pale torchlight of the room as it lunged again, spraying Kishi with saliva as its maw bit through the air millimeters from her nose.

  I fired two quick shots that painted the doorway with crimson goo. The bullets hit the thing in the side as close to its head as I could risk without hitting Kishi. The creature turned its head toward me, glowing red eyes narrowed in contempt. Its haunches tightened, preparing for a leap. I fired again. The bullet caught the creature in the center of the forehead, blowing out the back of its head in a spray of brains and blood.

  The hound collapsed on top of Kishi, completely pinning her beneath its massive bulk. Another howl exploded from the room as I ran forward and tried to push the fallen creature off of Kishi. She rolled toward me as I pushed with all my might and just managed to squirm out from under it.

  “You killed one of my dire wolves.” The voice thrummed across my skin like an electric shock. “You shall take its place in my pack.”

  “Yeah. That’s not happening,” I muttered, trying to peer into the gloomy room. I could just barely make out a shape within.

  “Come out here, Keeper,” Kishi said, and I shot her a glance. She shrugged as if saying, “I have no idea how I knew who it was in there.”

  “Ah, Summer Breaker, you wish to join my pack as well? What a marvelous gift you will be to set before the Queen.” He stepped out of the door and four more hounds flanked him. He was huge, standing so tall that his head nearly touched the ceiling some five feet above my head. Giant antlers sprouted from his head, spiraling outward in front of his face, and long ebony hair fell about his ankles in a wave.

  He was wearing black leather pants that reminded me more of a cowboy with chaps than a rock star musician. His skin was the color of granite. The muscles in his bare-chest and arms rippled as he dropped one football-sized hand down to scratch one of the dire wolves behind the ears. It nuzzled its head upward against his fingers though its eyes never stopped watching me.

  Kishi wiped blood and goop from her eyes and flung it outward disdainfully before reaching down and unclasping her axe. The Keeper’s large, red eyes followed her movement, and his mouth twisted into an amused smirk. “I wouldn’t—” was all he managed to say before Kishi lunged at him.

  Sunlight trailed off her skin as she swung the axe upward to cut him from crotch to shoulder. With an almost casual effort, the Keeper reached out and caught the weapon with his free hand, his big fingers clamping down on the silver edge before it could touch his skin. He jerked it to the side, and the weapon ripped out of Kishi’s double-handed grip. His foot lashed out, catching her in the chest and flinging her b
ackward against the wall.

  Her head whipped back, smacking against the stone with a wet-sounding thunk. She dropped to her knees, sliding forward and falling onto her hands. Blood dripped down her chin and splattered against the marble floor, though at least some of it had to have come from the slain dire wolf. Her armor was dented inward in the shape of the Keeper’s huge foot, and I wondered if she’d be able to get it off without cutting it apart.

  The Keeper took a step toward her, his huge feet thudding on the floor like someone bouncing a medicine ball. He reached one giant hand out toward her, presumably to hoist her into the air.

  “Stop,” I said as calmly as I could, though my voice still shook a little.

  He turned toward me, face half-covered with ebony hair, and I saw the edge of a grin poke out. “No.”

  I fired, squeezing the trigger of my Beretta as quickly as the weapon would allow. The Keeper raised his hand toward me, and the bullets, quite simply, fell from the air. They clattered lifelessly on the floor in front of me. Damn.

  The Keeper grabbed Kishi by her hair and pulled her to her feet. She coughed and blood spurted from her lips. That was bad because it probably meant broken ribs and internal injuries.

  “Like I was saying,” he said, leaning down so that his face was inches from Kishi’s which was a feat because there was nearly a five-foot height difference between them. “I wouldn’t bother trying to fight me, Breaker. I am not your enemy.”

  “You have a funny way of showing it.” She coughed and bits of blood and saliva spattered across the Keeper’s face. A long black tongue snaked out of his mouth, licking up the mess before slipping back between his lips.

  “Mmm… you taste like power.” He flung her sideways, and her body arced toward me like a sack of potatoes. I had a moment to contemplate catching her before she slammed into me like a bag of wet cement. I stumbled backward, barely maintaining my balance before she slipped from my arms and hit the ground.

  “I can taste your mission in the air, Dioscuri. I even came here to watch your little hunt, but you cannot expect to add me to the scales of power in Fairy.” He threw back his head and cackled, a loud booming sound that made shivers run down my spine like a cascade of icicles.

  “And why is that?” I asked, pointing my gun at him again. It hadn’t done any good last time, but that didn’t make me want to lower it. Kishi groaned at my feet, and I took a step away from her, dropping my left hand and gripping Set, my wakazashi, once more.

  “Because I am not of Fairy in the classical sense. I am balance. I am the middle road that no one ever takes. I am fall and springtime, the sunrise and the sunset. I am all the days between birth and death.” He grinned, facing me fully and clapping his hands together. The sound was like thunder in the hallway, and it echoed off the walls.

  “So you’re trying to do what we’re doing?” I asked, and for the first time, a small thread of relief tickled the back of my mind.

  “Yes.” He bent down and touched the fallen hound. Its body melted away, leaving the form of a tiny pixie no bigger than a can of beans. He picked it up, and with a shrug, tossed it over his shoulder. One of the dire wolves snapped it out of the air, swallowing its tiny body in one gulp. “Though I am one hound short. I should take you now, but I am inclined to allow you to finish your hunt.”

  He was next to me in an instant, reaching out and stroking my cheek with fingers the size of rolling pins. I opened my mouth to scream but no sound came out. I stood there transfixed, unable to move as his fingers trailed along my face, rough and coarse like sandpaper. My hands dropped to my sides as he leaned in close, and the rough musk of wolf filled my nose.

  The Keeper’s face loomed over mine, his huge lips clamping down over my mouth and nose in a movement that jerked my entire body backward. I would have fallen if he hadn’t wrapped his arm around me, not quite pulling me close but not letting me fall either. He breathed outward and his breath filled my lungs, expanding my chest to nearly the bursting point.

  Stars flashed across my eyes, and a reddish haze filled my vision. My knees shook underneath me, rattling so hard that the metal armor on my legs clanked together. He stood back, releasing me so suddenly that I collapsed to the floor, my pistol slipping from my hand and clattering next to me on the ground.

  “You have been marked, Lillim Callina. I will allow you to finish this hunt, but afterward, you are to join your brothers and sisters in my pack. Is that clear?” the Keeper asked.

  “Like crystal,” I said shakily. My head was swimming as visions of leaping wolves and starlight jumbled my thoughts.

  “Good. I look forward to you joining me.” He grinned, and the wolves behind him threw their heads back and howled. Without thinking, I did the same and my cry echoed theirs. Blood rushed in my ears and a surge of adrenaline exploded through me. “Now go bring balance to Fairy, young one. Know that if you must you may call on me in this effort. I am at your disposal,” he added.

  There was a flash of color, like a flurry of falling leaves, and both he and his hounds were gone. Whatever he had been was bad. Him wanting me to join him was worse. I did not relish the idea of spending an eternity turned into a giant dog sniffing around Fairy. Still, he offered to help, that was positive, right?

  Kishi stirred, flopping onto her back and staring up at me with half-glazed eyes that made me think concussion. I grabbed the Beretta and pointed it at Kishi as casually as I could while still helping her to her feet.

  “At some point,” she wheezed. “You will have to stop pointing your gun at me.”

  “Look, you just got me chained to whatever Tall, Dark, and Scary is. He says he’s going to claim me after we restore balance. I think that as long as I don’t shoot you in the face, you’re coming out ahead,” I said.

  Kishi’s eyes got as big as saucers, and she took a step away from me. “He claimed you? As part of his pack?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well we’re screwed then,” she wailed.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Because he is the Keeper of the Wild Hunt. The Wild Hunt, Lillim. Do you know what that means?”

  I swallowed and took a step backward, releasing Kishi. She stumbled, barely catching herself as I tried to swallow again, but my mouth had gone dry. The Keeper of the Wild Hunt wasn’t a person or creature per se. It was more like the physical embodiment of an idea. The Wild Hunt was what made tremors run down your spine when the big bad wolf came to huff and puff and blow down your house.

  “It’s really not that big of a deal,” I said with a shrug.

  “It is a big deal,” Kishi insisted.

  “Look, I’ve dealt with things like this before. I’ll figure out a way to stop the whole Wild Hunt thing later.” I smiled at her though I knew it didn’t reach my eyes. Inside I was terrified. If we kept standing here talking about it, I was going to break down and start crying. That was not going to end well for anyone. “Besides… I’m sure Warthor has a way to fix this.”

  Kishi gave me a dubious look that suspected I might be crazy. “Warthor is a smart guy.” She bit her lip and shook her head. “But I think even this is out of his league.”

  I laughed then. It spilled out of me in quick staccato bursts of sound. “Warthor brought me back to life by threatening to rip the doors off of hell and release its denizens into the world. Warthor outsmarted dragons and demons alike. Sure, he’s never tried to get someone out of the Wild Hunt before, but only because he hasn’t had a reason to want to do so.”

  “This isn’t funny, Lillim.” Kishi glared at me. “This is serious.”

  “You just don’t understand Warthor. As soon as you tell him what’s happened and say he can’t do it… well, it’s as good as done.” I smiled. I was feeling better now. I was going to see Warthor when this was over, and he was going to fix it. He had to fix it. There was no other way.

  A large claw split the ground in front of me, bursting upward between us and showering me in rubble. I stumbled backward, trying to gul
p down my fear as the creature pulled itself from the hole. Another claw smashed into the stone walls composing the hallway and tore great gouts in the marble. I ducked, dropping to all fours as a giant, black tongue lashed through the air above my head spattering my shoulders with great gobs of sticky saliva.

  I rolled backward, coming to my feet as it opened one giant, yellow-blue eye and blinked at me. It was massive, with tufts of black and red fur springing up from its body as though a gardener had haplessly tossed seed on fertile ground. Large pointy cat-like ears topped its head. Its arms were like giant redwoods. It roared, a deep inhuman wail, and pulled the rest of its bulky body out of the floor. Now that I could see the entire thing, it sort of looked like a giant, reptilian cat.

  I took a quick step back and readied my Beretta, pointing my right foot toward the creature. I gripped the hilt of my wakazashi, Set, ready to pull it free in a moment’s notice. It lunged at me, toothy mouth opened wide. I pivoted on my right foot, sweeping my left leg back around. My momentum carried my body around in a tight circle, and I lashed out with my wakazashi, jamming it in the thing’s neck.

  It squealed as gobs of gray-green slime sprayed from the wound, covering me in hot, sticky goo. The creature’s eyes narrowed as it batted me to the side with one massive paw. I flew backward, smacking the stone wall with a thud.

  I flopped forward, trying desperately to suck in air. The wall behind me rumbled and before I could do anything, something burst through the wall and slammed me face first into the other wall.

  The entire world went blurry, and my vision swayed as I fell helplessly to the floor. I rolled, pointing the Beretta at the hazy shape looming over me, but the cat pinned my arm to the floor with one giant paw.

  It leaned down close until it was eye to eye with me, its whiskers brushing along my face as it sniffed. Casually, it opened its mouth to reveal a long, lolling black tongue. Its tongue lashed out and rubbed across my face like sandpaper, leaving a long, glistening trail of saliva in its wake.