Pursuit: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 4)

by J. A. Cipriano

My arms went up into the air like a conductor leading an orchestra. Roses tore from the ground, climbing around the fallen Dioscuri and wrapping around their limbs, cinching down on them so hard that blood flowed over the ground. The smell of the blood hit my nose like a thousand pennies as I whirled and threw my hands forward at Masataka.

  The baying of wild hounds filled the air as the ground in front of me split open like a ripe melon. Masataka grinned, and with a movement so quick I couldn’t follow it, drove his trident down into the moist earth. It felt like he stabbed me, and I staggered back.

  My magic died away just a few feet from him as I reached down and clutched my stomach. Blood seeped from the wound, staining my clothing as Masataka withdrew his trident from the earth. Bloody dirt caked the points of the weapon as he pointed it at me, his face strangely calm and empty.

  “Sekijun,” he said, and as the word left his lips, the ground around me shattered. I was flung to the side, and I hit the ground hard enough that my brain rattled around in my head. My eyes opened wide in shock as I stared at the spot where I’d been. A mass of stalagmites filled the area where I’d been just a moment before only now they were skewering my mother. She’d pushed me out of the way in time to save me, but she hadn’t been so lucky.

  “Run, Lillim. Run!” she gasped as blood dripped down the rock and spattered against the ground. Above us, the sky began to darken, swirling with shades of angry black like the inside of a witch’s cauldron.

  “No! I won’t leave you, Mom!” I screamed, turning back to Masataka and pointing my weapons at him.

  “Good!” Masataka smiled, and his teeth glinted. “I had hoped you would stay here and die.” He vanished. He actually vanished. Something hit me hard in the back of my leg, ripping through my flesh as I toppled forward to the dirt.

  Masataka stood over me and tore the spear-like back end of his trident from my thigh. He raised the weapon high as my other leg lashed out, catching him in the knee. A look of pain flashed across his face for a moment, though he had no other reaction. His trident came down, and I reached out, catching it on my wakazashi. He pressed down with his full weight, and my arm started to give. The points of the blade came down, pressing against the flesh of my face.

  “Are you? Attacking? My girlfriend?” Caleb’s voice was so full of rage that if it’d have been directed at me, I’d have spontaneously combusted. Instead, I was shocked because while I was used to Caleb using his Blue Prince powers over space and time to pop in randomly, he hadn’t been there one freaking second before. I swallowed, trying to will my heart to stop trying to smash its way out of my chest as Caleb took a step forward, one hand clenched in rage.

  Masataka glanced over his shoulder to see Caleb standing there. Blue flames wreathed his body, dancing along his skin like blue-white fireflies. Incinerator was in his hand, blazing like a freaking funeral pyre. The air around him was hazy with heat lines as he took a step forward.

  “Blue Prince, this is none of your concern. This is merely an internal matter,” Masataka said, his lips curling into a sinister smile. “You are no longer one of us.”

  Caleb pointed his huge broadsword at Masataka and flame split the air, stopping just millimeters from him. Masataka turned back to me, and his grin was even wider. “See, I knew the Blue Prince would see things my way.”

  Behind him, Caleb fell to his knees. Incinerator slipped from his grasp. It hit the dirt with an empty thump as the flames went out. Caleb put a hand to his head, gripping it violently, his fingers digging into his own flesh as his eyes darted around. Was he losing control of the Prince? What the hell was happening to him?

  A sharp pain brought my focus back to Masataka. My arm was straining so hard that he’d managed to push the trident down, just digging it into my skin. Blood welled from a wound on my forehead and dripped down into my eye. I blinked as my vision filled with a reddish haze.

  “Goodbye, Masataka,” I said, and the roses that had crept up behind him lashed around his limbs, hauling him backward in a flurry of pink petals and green leaves. Thorns curled around his flesh as he hit the ground and was dragged backward through the dirt.

  I wiped my face and tried to stand, but my leg hurt too much to put much weight on it. Unlike my mother, I couldn’t heal super-fast. I could take a lot of damage, yeah, but I wasn’t freaking Wolverine or anything. I staggered over to my mother in a sort of half-broken way and tried to pull away the rocks skewering her wrecked body.

  My mother looked past me, and as I turned my head, a lightning bolt split the air behind me. Masataka’s body tumbled backward through the air. He hit the ground with a thud. More lightning split the sky, slamming down on the spot and turning the sand to glass. I turned my head away, shielding my eyes from the glare. Even still white spots danced across my vision.

  “Lillim, I’m not going to say this again. You need to run,” my mother said, her eyes meeting mine. There was something in her brown eyes I’ve never seen before. My heart went thumpity thump in my chest. Was that fear? Was my mother, the vicious Diana Cortez, afraid?

  I’ll be honest. I’m a little ashamed to say it, but I turned and ran. I sprinted past them toward the border of fairy. Already the Royal Guards were cutting themselves free of the roses. Without the magic of fairy to draw upon, the roses were little more than angry plants, and that wasn’t going to stop the Royal Guards for long.

  Just as I was nearing the border, Masataka appeared in front of me. His uniform had been burned away, revealing his body armor. It writhed around him like a living oil-slick. I’ve heard about the stuff before, it was some sort of creature that absorbed magic. So that was how he was tanking all our attacks.

  Masataka stepped to the left as I swung my blades at him. My injured leg gave out beneath me as I tried to pivot around him, which I suspected was his plan. His trident came forward like a striking serpent, snaking through the air as I twisted my body. It tore through the fabric of my sweatshirt as I landed hard on my shoulder and tucked myself into a roll.

  I came to my feet and wobbled forward, trying to keep from falling back to the ground as my leg throbbed. I clenched my teeth, and tried to draw on the magic around me. It didn’t work. Something was blocking me and everything else. Something was ripping all the magic out of the air.

  I opened my eyes to my ethereal sight, and glanced around, but I shouldn’t have bothered. Masataka’s armor seethed with neon-pink light. So that’s where all the power was going. That thing was taking all our power and feeding it to Masataka.

  “Well, that’s cheating,” I called, pointing my weapons at him.

  Masataka shrugged. “All the Royal Guards are equipped with a Vajra. How else would we be able to put down renegade Dioscuri?” His face twisted in rage. “If we had these during the war, maybe Dirge wouldn’t be dead, and you wouldn’t be here.” He made a fist, his hand clenching so tightly that I could see his entire arm strain with the effort even beneath the writhing creature. “Even Jiroushou Manaka couldn’t stand up to this.”

  “Manaka couldn’t stand up to a bullet either,” I snarled, taking a step to the side so that if I darted left, I’d have a clear shot at the border. “An angry mugger could have taken him out.”

  “Yes, I know how you killed Manaka,” Masataka Mawara snapped. “You took that from me too, Lillim. I should have been the one to bring him to justice, but you took that too.” He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “Why won’t you just stop taking things from me?” he screamed as he flung his trident through the air.

  It transformed into a huge net as I dove to the side. The fabric hit my legs, wrapping around them and sucking me back toward its center like a spider pulling me back into its web. I drove my wakazashi into the earth, and my progress halted with a jerk. My body strained as the net tried to suck me in. I slashed backward with my katana, slicing through the net and the sudden jolt of being free made me lurch forward a few inches.

  Masataka charged, hands in tight fists. I surged upward with all the str
ength I could muster with one good leg, catching him around the stomach with my shoulder. He let out an ‘oomph!’ as we tumbled across the line in the sand that made up the border of fairy.

  Power swelled over me in a crashing wave, and the smell of autumn pine trees filled the air. The sand beneath us opened up as I shoved Masataka down into the dirt. He struggled, throwing his hands upward and smacking me in the throat.

  I fell backward and pain made my vision hazy. I was only disoriented for a moment but that was all it took for Masataka to stand. He dropped back into a fighting stance as the air between us split open, grey light spilling outward across the horizon, bathing the sand in silver.

  The Keeper was just there, his long ebony hair dancing in wind I couldn’t feel. His huge antlers glistened like freshly polished wood as he reached one of his huge hands down and grabbed Masataka around the throat and hoisted him into the air.

  Masataka’s feet dangled at least three feet from the ground as he reached up and gripped The Keeper’s massive wrist. “Why are you in Fairy, Dioscuri? You are forbidden passage.” The Keeper’s tone was gentle, almost concerned.

  That’s pretty much when the Vajra surge forward like an angry octopus. Its black tendrils wrapped around the Keeper’s arm and pulled him closer. Masataka yanked The Keeper’s hand away from his throat like it was a cobweb. With an almost absent flick, Masataka sent The Keeper skidding across the dirt.

  “How many people are you going to make me hurt to stop you, Lillim?” Masataka asked. “How many will I have to crush beneath my heel in order to bring you in? Every single person I hurt will be on your head.”

  “Um no,” I snarled as I got to my feet. “Everyone you hurt is your own damn fault!”

  “Say what you want, but I know how you think, Lillim. They are all your responsibility.”

  That was when I pulled out my Beretta and emptied it into his chest. The bullets threw his body backward. Even from here, I could see that he’d only superficially been hurt. Somehow, the Vajra had managed to absorb the impact of every single shot. Already he was beginning to stir. In another moment, he’d be on his feet. I was out of bullets and magic was worthless against him. Damn.

  I shut my eyes drawing in on the power of fairy and stuffing it into my wounded leg like supernatural gauze. My eyes opened and The Keeper met my gaze. He smirked and waved at me. The pain vanished, and a strange numbness settled over me in its place. I glanced at Masataka flopped over onto his hands and knees, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

  “Go,” The Keeper said, his voice hanging in the air like the calm before a storm.

  I ran, and this time, I didn’t stop.

  Chapter 3

  “And you came here? Are you mad?” Gib, the werewolf shaman of the White Alpine Clan, glared at me through narrowed slits as he spoke. “What makes you think I would help you?”

  “Um… I saved your son from a dragon?” I offered, cheeks flushing. “That’s worth something, right?”

  “You kidnapped him to begin with,” Gib replied and started to close his door.

  He hadn’t actually let me inside. I was still standing on his porch. The werewolf shaman had only cracked the door a couple inches and looked out at me. In fact, if I hadn’t stopped him from closing the door by wedging my foot in the crack, he’d have slammed it in my face. Talk about a lack of respect.

  “Okay, so maybe I owe you one,” I said with a shrug. “But who keeps track of those things?”

  “Lillim, I am going to be very clear with you. I want you to leave my village and never come back. Ever. I’d rather you leave my continent, but I know you live in North America so I will allow you to stay on the continent. See, I can be gracious too.” Gib pressed on the door, and I had to bite my lip to keep from crying out in pain as the wood pressed against the side of my tennis shoe.

  “Please stop that or you’re going to hurt my foot,” I said, pressing my palm against the door and shoving as hard as I could. It was like trying to push a cement truck uphill on its rims.

  A cursory smile passed across Gib’s lips, and the pressure on my foot lessened to just this side of painful.

  “Lillim, the last time you offered to help, my son was almost killed, and I got burned to cinders by a flame demon. You are not the sort of person I am keen on helping.” He paused rubbing his chin with his free hand. “What’s that saying? Fool me once…”

  “Gib, I’m being hunted by the other Dioscuri. I need to hide somewhere they won’t look for—”

  Gib cut me off in mid-sentence. “You’re being hunted by others like you and you came here? Are you stupid?”

  Awesome. Now we were stuck in a repeating conversation loop. I sighed. “Gib, I’m not asking you to come with me or protect me or anything like that. I just know that werewolves are some of the best trackers on the planet, and you’re one of the strongest werewolves I know. All I want you to do is tell me how to hide from someone who is probably on his way here, right now.”

  Gib’s eyes widened, and he glanced over his shoulder and barked something. Literally, he barked… like a dog. So much for stereotypes being wrong. He turned back to me, swinging the door open and stepping outside into the cool night air. He was bare-chested, and his body glistened in the moonlight like spun silver. He’d added a new tattoo as well. A giant black dragon being impaled on a spike covered the upper right side of his chest and shoulder.

  “Nice artwork,” I said a second before he grabbed me by the wrist and began hauling me into the forest.

  “I want you to think about what you just told me. You just said a bunch of Dioscuri are on their way here right now. What do you think they will do when they get here and you are not here? Do you think they will take our word for it and leave peaceably? Or is it more likely they start hurting people until we admit we helped you?” Gib growled. His voice much deeper and bestial then it had been just a moment ago.

  I swallowed and was about to reply when Gib started talking again.

  “I know you’re going to say something ridiculous like ‘I didn’t think about that’ and that’s the problem. You never think. You just go about on your way, and the rest of us get screwed.” His voice had dropped a few more octaves, and when he glanced at me his eyes had taken on that wolfish yellow color he had when he transformed. Great.

  “Um… sorry, I… um… I didn’t…” I murmured, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand as I stared at the ground. He was right of course. I hadn’t thought about what would happen once the Dioscuri found out I’d been here. And, to be fair, normally the Dioscuri would just leave after questioning the wolves. But Masataka? He was clearly a few eggs short of a cake and… well it wouldn’t surprise me to see him raze the whole village. Dammit.

  That said nothing of what he would do to my mother. Now that Masataka had her, he could be torturing her and there wasn’t anything I could do to stop it because I was running away and endangering even more people. I swallowed, trying to push the thought away and failing. My mother had made her choice to stay behind, but these people hadn’t… they were going to be collateral damage for me. They hadn’t asked for that.

  “I’m an idiot,” I added a moment later, and it was a struggle to keep my voice from cracking. “I’m sorry, I’ll go.”

  “At least you’re sorry,” Gib growled and bent down next to me so that his mouth was close to my ear. His breath was warm on my skin as he spoke. “I am going to cut you now. I’m going to spill your blood on the ground. This will serve two purposes. It will allow you to be untraceable until the blood dries, which should give you something like an hour at this temperature.”

  “And the other thing?” I asked.

  “It will look like we fought,” he said as his right hand morphed into a fist full of claws and doom. “Ready?”

  I nodded and steeled myself. His hand transformed, fingers elongating as brown fur flowed over it. Black claws burst from the tips so quickly that I couldn’t exactly put my finger on the where and when of
it. One moment his hand was normal and the other it was something out of a nightmare.

  Without a word, he slashed me, his nails cutting through the flesh on my right forearm. Four gashes welled with blood. It stung like hell, and I had to reach down and spend some tough girl points to keep from yelping, even though I could tell it was mostly a superficial wound.

  Gib reached out and grabbed my bloody arm in his hand and began to rub my blood all over the nearest trees. The trees blazed, glowing bright green for a moment and I turned my face away. White spots danced across my eyes as he dragged me forward and sprinkled more of my blood over the grass. Then he took his index finger and scratched a thing that sort of looked like a stick-figure cat on the back of my hand.

  He blew on it, and it blazed with green fire. The creature looked up at me from my flesh and yawned, its mouth opening to reveal several crude teeth. Okay, that was a little weird.

  “When the marmot dies, the spell has run out of time. Good luck Lillim Callina. Don’t come back.” He released me and began walking away, his long braid swishing behind his ankles as he moved.

  “Where am I supposed to go, Gib?” I asked, staring after him as he disappeared toward his village.

  The werewolf paused, turning back to look at me. “There’s a guy in Antigua that used to be a Dioscuri. Maybe you should talk to him about hiding. He’s been at it a while.”

  “Well that’s just swell. How the hell am I going to get to Anig-whatever?” I snapped, and I’ll admit it, stamped my foot on the grass.

  Gib huffed before stomping back toward me, his feet slapping against the grass like a moody child. When he got to me, he reached out, pointing past my head. I turned, glancing where he pointed to see the tree still glowing. “Go ask the tree for help,” he said. “Or don’t. But either way, go away!”

  I didn’t watch him walk off because I was too busy trying to approach the tree, one hand splayed across my face to help with the blinding green light. As I got closer, a tiny demonic looking chipmunk with blazing green fur leapt down from the branches and began chattering at me.