Meeta nodded and I wondered how much of what Walker and I thought was open to her. The way she looked at Walker now. There was compassion and worry but also understanding. She’d seen all this before. I listened as she continued her explanation to Walker.
“You feel the Beast within you. It has needs separate from your own. You push when it pulls. In times of stress it's difficult to control but stronger. The closer you let it to the surface the more powerful you become. That power is like a drug. You want it. When you tap into your Beast you feel things differently, sense things normal humans could never know. It feels like you're inside the minds of those around you, because you are. And without realizing it you feed, because to control it, you have to give it something. You sip the strength from the ones around you and that makes you faster. Because you're in their minds you can predict their actions, even know what they’re thinking. That gives you all the advantages.”
Walker listened, mouth open, then she shuddered. “You’re right. I have this thing inside me. I know it. It's exactly as you describe, but I'm not like Henry. I‘ll never be like him! This thing, this Beast as you call it, will never own me.” She put her hands to her face, covering it. Deep inside she felt her Beast shift. It was tired now but often it whispered to her for release. Promised her power. All she had to do was let go. A deep sadness rose in her. Henry had been the strongest and he’d surrendered to it. Maybe she would be the next to fail as well. She felt IT step forward, rising quickly toward the place where control lived. “No,” she said softly, stepping back and knocking over some equipment so that it crashed to the floor and shattered. “I’ll NEVER let you control me!”
“Nicholas, help her!” Meeta's voice was an iron command and I leapt to Walker's side but she pushed me away.
Taking deep breaths she said at last, “I'm fine. For a moment there...” She stopped, caught up in the memory of Henry trying to kill her, “I lost it. That won't happen again.”
She shrugged and looked directly at us. “What you said brought out emotions I've kept buried for a long time. I had a friend I was close to and he died, terribly. This thing inside you call our ‘Beast’ got out and he went crazy; tried to kill us. I was lucky to survive, and just got caught up in the memory. This Beast you speak of, it’s all about emotion. The more you feel the stronger it grows, the less control you have, until you just want to let go. Even thinking about letting it out makes my blood race! I'd be so strong! I could satisfy this hunger! That's how it gets to you. Through your emotions. So I keep them in check. I can’t even grieve for the friends I've lost, not fully. Not the way I should. I hold back. Always.” She choked back a sob.
I nodded. The last month had been difficult for me but how long had she been dealing with this? What had been done to bring her Beast to life? I walked over and put a hand on her shoulder and this time she didn't pull away.
I gestured loosely toward the lab and all it contained, “I know all this seems like the beginning of some alien invasion. But it's not. Meeta‘s here to help us. So is Belle.” I pointed at the big cat who'd risen on her haunches and was now favoring Walker with an appraising stare. “But these are just the support staff, the real firepower’s here.” I tapped my head with one hand. She looked puzzled and shook her head.
“I get the rest,” she said, “Meeta, the lab but not you. I know you're different, I just can't decide how.” With a half-smile she gave my chest a gentle poke. Then the smile disappeared and her eyes frosted over. “If I hadn't seen the video I'd find it difficult to believe you were a killer. What you did... It doesn't seem like you.”
“It wasn’t me,” I said quickly. “I'm not sure how to explain it.” Then I felt Kat rise on a furious wave of anger. She hadn’t liked what she'd heard.
“He finds it difficult to explain me, stupid girl!” Kat fairly hissed as I felt myself pushed aside. “I'm the killer inside him. If you find that difficult to believe I could show you!” Surprisingly it was Meeta who stepped between us, head bowed, arms spread placatingly.
“Hunter, your control fails you,” was all she said and I felt the tidal wave of Kat’s power break against her words and fall back upon itself. Deep inside Kat took a breath that was like a hot spicy wind against my consciousness. Then there was stillness while all the parts of the Beast she'd loosed were reined back until she had control once again. I felt my head bow slightly toward Meeta, “Healer, this Hunter thanks you.” It was only then I realized how badly Kat's control had slipped just now and how close we'd come to real disaster.
“What just happened?” I asked Kat but she seemed unable to respond. I asked it again of Meeta who bracketed my head with long fingers and began pushing waves of calm into me. When she was confident calm had been restored she pulled away and said, “I've spoken of this before but you did not fully comprehend. What you just saw is the reason for the extinction of the Hunter species. Two Hunters in a single territory let alone a single room cannot abide one another.” She sighed. “Hunters are territorial but above all there is the hunger. That alone can bring them to kill one another. It's how Hunters become stronger. When they kill another they take a part of its power into them. Think of Hunters like powerful batteries able to store and expend energy on a whim. When one Hunter kills another a small amount of the defeated one's storage is added to the victor who becomes, in this way, stronger.” Meeta frowned. “That's why I don't understand what happened with Kailex. In the battle he seemed able to work with those damaged Hunters. That should not have been possible. So many Hunters in such close proximity should have set them against one another. Instead they shared one mind, his.”
I considered this for a minute, “But he's dead now. I killed him. I remember Kat arrowing down into my body bringing all her power with her. So much power I couldn't hold it. Together we created a weapon and fired it at Kailex.” Just the memory of the event staggered me. All I really remembered was light and a terrible wrenching feeling that snuffed out the world I'd been dragged into by Kailex. “Nothing could have survived that,” I added soberly.
Kat stirred and came forward, pushing her words out for all with the power to hear. “We sent Kailex unstable compressed energy. It would have gone off like a grenade in his mind. His body could have survived, but his mind should have been destroyed.”
Meeta nodded. “I've seen Kat use this trick before and it's never failed. Even a prepared mind shouldn’t be able to survive such a shock.”
I gave a surprised laugh. “So basically you're saying you killed him by feeding him more energy than he could handle? In simple terms, you overloaded his internal battery until it blew?” Meeta nodded gravely, accepting my statement at face value.
Suddenly Belle leapt onto the counter and stalked toward Walker, neck hair raised, claws extended and clicking on the counter top. For a moment I thought Belle was going to attack but she stopped short in front of Walker, producing a loud angry hissing, muscles quivering. For her part, Walker sat as if frozen in place. Then I realized that wasn't exactly true. Muscles rippled along her body as if she were trying to move and failing. A bead of sweat rolled down her nose and fell to her lap. I looked into her eyes and saw sheer terror.
Abruptly Walker started talking in short rapid bursts of words, “All this talk's been illuminating. I wondered what you'd done to me. Now I know. But I'm not dead yet. In fact. I'm more powerful now than I ever was. Thanks to you I'm simply brimming with energy! So much I feel like a wasting a little of it.” Then she laughed. Meeta and I stumbled back from her. My first impulse was to shake her but Kat forced me back even further.
“To touch her is to open a conduit to your mind,” she warned. “Somehow Kailex has her! Touch her and he can get to you as well.”
Gritting my teeth I wondered if Kat had Walker’s best interests in mind. “Why not open that conduit?” I shot back. “His connection must work both ways! If we go in we can follow it back to him!”
“You want reasons?” Kat snarled incredulously. “Let's sta
rt with the fact he survived my hardest blow. One that would have killed me! Then move on to the fact he’s somehow invaded your friend's mind from a distance. Both feats I would have said were impossible!”
“Kat's right,” agreed Meeta quickly, “Invasion of a Hunter's mind can only be done through touch. What he's done should not be possible.”
“Agreed,” said Walker/Kailex, casually picking up the knife lying on the counter and twirling it dexterously in the air before catching the shaft and moving purposely forward. “Not possible for an ’ordinary’ Hunter, but for a God? Very possible.” Suddenly she reversed the blade and threw it. Even with my speed I couldn’t have avoided the knife. It flew so close to my right ear I felt the draft of air as it passed by. The knife embedded itself in the wall with a heavy ‘thump’ and was quickly enveloped and spit back out onto the floor where it lay vibrating for several moments.
Looking puzzled Walker/Kailex said, “That shouldn't have happened. I missed.” Then he/she stopped in mid stride, arms falling to her sides. “This bitch is still fighting me,” he/she said from a calm, emotionless face, though I saw the eyes still bleeding raw terror. Walker was fighting him!
“No matter, the closer I get the smaller she becomes... in here.” With obvious effort he/she tapped one finger clumsily against her temple. “In a few minutes she’ll be like the others; emptied and mine.” He smacked his lips as if tasting something real and satisfying. “This is so much fun! It's like finally getting to play with a toy you've always wanted.” A wide smile fixed itself over Walker's face. “And I plan to have a lot of fun with this one.”
“Walker's still in there fighting. Maybe we should knock her out,” I suggested breathlessly.
Meeta vigorously shook her head. “Walker’s not holding him, she's keeping him out. The moment you break her concentration is the moment he destroys her.”
“Then there's only one option,” I said. “We go in and fight. She's holding him by herself. Against three of us, even Kailex can’t win!”
“Of that, I'm not certain,” said Kat diffidently, “His mind is different from the usual Hunter's. My energy burst should have destroyed him, instead he became stronger. He may be too strong for even the three of us.”
That was different. Kat was usually the one demanding I go after the bad guy. Still, this wasn't the time for caution. Walker couldn’t hold out on her own. I made my decision. “No more talk,” I said stepping forward and putting a hand on either side of Walker's temples.
“Stop!” yelled Kat, moving to take control.
It was like stepping through a thin fog. One minute the lab was all around me, the next I was standing beside Kat, on a bluff looking down into a valley where a great walled city stood. In front of that city stood another, a giant, carrying a huge flaming club.
Boom! Pause. Boom!
I watched as the giant smashed his club against the black gates defending the city.
Boom! Pause. Boom!
The sound was deafening. Caught inside the sound was the pain of a living thing resisting the pressure. Again, the club crashed down and again I heard the cry from within. Kailex was really hammering at her.
“The city is her,” I whispered in awe. Just like Meeta, the inside of Walker’s mind was beautiful. I saw the same tall spires connected by silvery lines of light that wound from one tower to the next. Like Meeta’s, it looked fragile. The only thing hard about it was the wall that resisted Kailex’s entry. That was thick and impenetrable as was the gate.
Boom!
I saw the gate buckle, then quickly renew itself.
“She only defends?” Now it was Kat's turn to be puzzled. She stood beside me dressed in red leathers, her skin pale as always. She frowned, dark eyes contemplating the scene below.
“There's a monster at her door. What more can she do?” I replied, somewhat taken back.
“This is Walker's world. He's come to her door. She must fight to win or she will die. Hiding inside makes defeat inevitable.” There was an edge of contempt inside that statement.
I gave Kat a hard stare. “She's a warrior and a friend. We're going to help her.”
Kat returned my stare unfazed. “If she remains in her walled city she is lost.” Now I noticed that Kat had begun to change, black robes flowing out from the red leathers like a living thing around her, making it difficult to track her position. In her right hand she now held a sword that pulsed with a golden energy. And she was getting bigger even as she held my gaze. Her long black hair mixed with the living robe until it was difficult to separate the two. Her face was very white while her eyes stood out, glowing with the same golden radiance as her sword.
“This is her world Nick,” she repeated, her voice a sibilant hiss. “Until Kailex makes actual physical contact, Walker is the real power here. But he’s coming. I believe he’s trying to hold her until he arrives. If she doesn’t fight and he succeeds with his plan, she’s doomed.”
“How are you doing that,” I asked incredulously. Kat was now at least half as tall as Kailex and he was a frigging giant. If either of them stepped on me I was likely to be squashed flat. Kailex was too big for me to fight but Kat seemed to have found an answer.
“This isn’t the physical world, Nick. This is the world inside.” Kat held up her sword, “My sword is a manifestation of my power, as is my size. Speaking of which, I am troubled Kailex seems so much larger. Well, no matter. Size here is not as important as it seems.” Her eyes blazed with shifting patterns of gold and black. Then she smiled and the smile helped me remember that battle was what she loved the most.
Down on the plains Kailex hit the gates again, then laughed, watching as they repaired themselves. He was enjoying this, making it last. I wondered if he was holding back. Maybe he wanted to take her slowly. I saw a wolfish grin spread across his face. He was just staring at the city in front of him now. Sudden energy sparkled around his body and I saw the outline of something else appear, something only vaguely human. An animal shape. I realized it was his Beast pulling him forward. The giant body shuddered hungrily. He was staring so hard at the towers that he barely registered Kat’s first blow.
Kat struck, driving her sword through the resting club so that the meaty fat end was severed and fell with a thump onto the sand below. Kailex seemed stunned to see her there, open to a quick attack along his flank. Golden sparks flared wherever her sword struck, becoming a hornet’s nest of buzzing black and golden sparks. Roaring in pain Kailex sank to a knee, then rolled away from her attack. Her blows had opened his back and side. In my estimation the fight was over. Black lava fell from his wounds in a wicked spray. Although I’d thought the strikes a killing blow, Kailex only slowly shifted his attention from the city to Kat. Then his face darkened as his gaze became more focused on her.
“You dare!” he shouted, seemingly baffled at her appearance, hefting his decapitated club with perplexed chagrin. “You come to fight me knowing I have the power of the old ones?”
“You’re no God,” refuted Kat, “just a damaged animal. I’m here to put you down.”
Then she lunged forward and planted her sword deep in his gut. He screamed from anger as much as from hurt. Even as she twisted and rocked the sword, carving at his insides he raised his great club, which I saw with amazement had become whole again, and swung it in a sweeping arc. It hit with enough force to send her ninety feet through the air. The blow was so quick she lost her grip on her own sword which remained stuck inside his abdomen. With a grimace of pain he pulled it hissing and sparking from his body. I realized the sword itself was an extension of Kat. It hated and fought him even as he held it. Shouting profanities, he hurled it at the city gate where it sunk to its hilt. A moment later the gate launched it back like a missile toward Kat, where it landed point first in the sand in front of her.
Kat's sword had done real damage. Kailex’s gut had a ragged tear that was leaking a thick black tar. One of his hands was pressed against this in an effort to stop the flow. But Kat
also was slow to get up. The blow she'd taken had hurt her as well. Gathering herself she picked up her sword. “Nick! We can’t give him time to recover. Join me!” Rushing forward she began a series of heavy swings that pushed him back from the gate.
I wondered what I could possible contribute to this fight, then remembered what I’d been told. This was the world inside. If you had power you could be anything, and I had power. Snarling I told my Beast to help or die. My body tingled strangely and just like Kat I grew until I was much bigger than before. I was still smaller than Kat and she was only half the size of Kailex so I supposed that size, even in this realm was relative to the power one possessed. No matter. I placed a furious smile on my face and imagined my own sword into being. It sparked with a white hot energy. Raising it high I raced down the hillside and joined the fight, swinging lustily at Kailex's legs. “The bigger they are,” I thought, “the more important their legs are to them.” My sword sparked hungrily with each hit leaving ragged black scars that seemed to eat away at Kailex's calves. This time his screams held real pain and I was surprised to find myself suddenly facing his full wrath.
“What mosquito buzzes and strikes at me?” he asked contemptuously, sending his club in a casual arc at my head. With wide eyes I backed away. Several more crushing blows destroyed the sand around me as I leapt and ducked my way to safety. Behind us Kat took full advantage of his concentration on me, unleashing sweeping cuts to his back and arms. Except for small grunts of pain he barely acknowledged her attacks. His focus was on killing me just as mine was on avoiding being killed. I did nothing now but skip from side to side while backing swiftly up the hill. He was just too big! My mind boggled at the thought of standing under one his heavy blows. My safety hinged on him missing me entirely. As I ran I tried to understand what was happening. The damage Kat had done should have been devastating but he wasn’t slowing down. He ignored her while continuing to chase me. I back-peddled furiously, wondering how he was doing this. Then I saw the ragged tear in his gut close up and the black tar he’d been leaking slow to a few drops before stopping altogether! He was healing himself as we fought! And he was getting faster at it. How much power had he stored away to be this strong?
The God Hunters Page 21