Night Cries (Hunters of the Dark #2)

by Dave Ferraro

  The four sirens that Krystal’s army of skeletons had previously vanquished were jumping over to them over the rooftops like they were toads. Their faces weren’t as pretty as they had been before. Their eyes were solid black, their mouths were full of needle-like teeth. Their hands and feet were all extended into sharp-looking talons. And they looked really pissed off.

  “Damn,” Shanna muttered. “They are persistent.”

  “I got it!” Amelia cried out suddenly.

  Shanna looked back to see a small glass vial float out of the statue’s open mouth, a cork stopper keeping its contents, a blue liquid that glowed eerily, within.

  The sirens saw it at the same time and stopped their pursuit with wide eyes.

  “It’s...it’s the vial!” Raidne yelled. “It’s...they found it!”

  “Yes, they did,” Alsa said. She looked over at Valor with normal, human eyes again, her voice loud enough to be heard. “We could make a deal here, I’m sure.”

  Shanna looked over at Natalia, then at the vial again as it floated toward Amelia. They couldn’t really just hand it over to the sirens for their own safety, could they? She recalled for a moment how fervently Nora of Arta had tried to keep the power from them. She must have had her reasons to sacrifice her life to keep it from them. Perhaps they really could take over the world if they freed their Dark Queen.

  Shanna was about to voice her opinion when the vial suddenly shot through the air and into Amelia’s open mouth. Amelia’s eyes bulged as she choked and swallowed the vial. She looked over at the others with horror on her face.

  Shanna looked back at the sirens and noted that Alsa’s eyes had once again turned a solid black.

  “Well, there goes that idea,” Rachel sighed.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “I didn’t mean to swallow the damn thing!” Amelia said as she stumbled back away from Raidne’s searching claws. “I promise!”

  “Stand still,” Raidne ordered her. “I’ll make it quick. Promise.”

  Amelia ran past the statue of Nora of Arta and tried to keep it between herself and Raidne.

  “If you leave me alone for a minute, I might be able to get it back out,” Amelia told her.

  “I’ll get it out,” Raidne said with a laugh. “I won’t need as much concentration to do it my way.”

  “No, I’ll get it,” Ligeia corrected her, coming up to stand beside Raidne. “And when I do, I will search her insides until the vial is in my grasp!” She laughed. “What a beautifully-”

  “Insane thing to do,” Shanna finished for her, shoving Ligeia to the ground. “Anyways, I won’t miss out on another fight. I haven’t gotten my exercise for the day.”

  “And I could use a good tussle myself,” Jade added, moving to stand beside Shanna.

  “Fine, Girls,” Ligeia said as she jumped to her feet. “Let’s dance.”

  Raidne and Amelia looked at each other for a moment before Amelia shrugged. “I always was more of a one-on-one girl anyway. Call me old-fashioned.”

  “Sorry, but I’ve never been one to watch,” Damien announced, stepping up to them. “And there’s no way in hell your demon queen is going to be freed under my watch.”

  Amelia grinned. “I can handle my own, but man, it’s going to be fun pummeling her alongside a vampire.”

  ***

  “Well, well, well,” Alsa said with a smile crawling across her face like a cockroach. “It must be my lucky day, getting to kill three hunters at once.”

  Rachel, Natalia and Valor circled the siren queen warily.

  “You’re kind of like little rats, thinking that you can outbattle a lion. I couldn’t have planned this better myself. Rats in a maze, nowhere to run, but too stupid to realize it.” She turned to look back at Serene on the sidelines. “Watch the boys. I’ll take care of this myself.”

  Serene looked like she was going to protest, but Alsa was already dodging hits, moving lightning-quick.

  Krystal chanced a look at Serene, who was watching the proceedings with a mask of sorrow. “You could do something here,” Krystal whispered, sidling up to her. “Stop this. I know you don’t want to...be like them. You have no dead flesh in your stomach. You don’t participate in their massacres, but you’re just as strong. You’re better than them. You’re more-”

  Serene slapped Krystal across the face, causing Krystal to gasp as her neck snapped to the side.

  “You know nothing,” Serene hissed in her ear. She shoved Krystal to the ground and ran over to help Alsa.

  “Three blind mice...” Alsa sang softly. “Three blind mice...see how they run...see how they run.” She laughed and before long, Valor was out of the mix, unconscious for the second time that night. “Hmm. Two blind mice. And the odds are…just as pathetically in my favor as before.”

  Serene hesitated as she reached her, noting that Damien and Amelia were overwhelming Raidne not far away. She began to sing softly under her breath and Damien stopped cold. She smiled, having thought that he was no longer wearing his earplugs, a suspicion that his reaction confirmed. Still singing, she coaxed the vampire away from the fight, evening the odds.

  “That’s better,” Raidne muttered, “but I grow weary of this whole game.” She quickly kicked Amelia in the jaw, knocking the hunter off of her feet momentarily before she crumpled at Serene’s feet.

  Serene paused in her singing, but quickly restarted when Damien made a slight gesture to resist. She stared down at Amelia as she coughed and struggled to stand.

  When she looked back up at Raidne, she saw the siren suddenly levitating into the air, her feet dangling above the ground. Her eyes growing a solid white.

  “Oh, Raidne, no,” Serene said, forgetting Damien and rushing over to her. “There has to be another way.”

  “But there isn’t, Sister. Watch my body when I finish this. I will be lost for awhile.”

  Serene looked up at Raidne with alarm until she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to receive a punch in the face from Damien. She fell to the ground with a laugh. “You will pay for that,” she promised, wiping the blood from her mouth. She stood up and let out a quick scream at Damien, who flew backward as if the scream had physically hit him, slamming into Rachel who was fighting Alsa nearby.

  Raidne, in the meantime, had sprouted wings. Two long wings of yellow feathers spanned out to either side from the back of her shoulders. They shimmered a pinkish-blue hue as the air rustled them.

  Cameron and Hunter rushed Serene then, not willing to sit out any longer, but she made short work of them with her scream as well. Even with earplugs in their ears, they were affected by the attack and looked stunned as they hit the ground.

  A white, pearly glow began to emit from Raidne’s eyes and mouth as a second pair of wings appeared at her feet, this pair about the size of a dove’s wings. They reminded Krystal, who watched on helplessly, of the wings she’d seen adorning the ankles of many Greek gods in paintings.

  “You have to stop this,” Serene begged, looking up at Raidne with a pleading expression. “I can’t guarantee your safety. I can’t...I can’t let you do this to them. They’ve done nothing. They only wish to survive!”

  Raidne didn’t even seem to hear Serene as the white radiating from her mouth and eyes began to surround her head. Another pair of small wings unfurled from behind her ears, framing her glowing face.

  Serene suddenly leapt up at Raidne and slashed at her eyes with her talons, a savage growl escaping her throat.

  Raidne opened her mouth in a scream that seemed to shake the landscape. The ground suddenly rumbled, throwing the fighting hunters and sirens off-balance as the surrounding ruins groaned in protest. Everyone fell to the ground as the two sirens floated slowly to the ground, struggling with one another in the air.

  “Let it go!” Serene screamed. “Let it go!”

  Raidne grunted and slashed back with fingernails that were in human form, fl
imsy and ineffective. She must have realized that she couldn’t do much in her state and suddenly grew still. The wings all receded back into her body and the white glow dulled as they touched down on the ground. She seemed to fall fast asleep.

  Serene stood up and gazed down at the other siren lovingly. “I am sorry, Sister. I feel I am already lost.” She turned around to look at the others and watched sadly as Rachel and the men approached her while the others reengaged in their battles.

  “No, guys!” Krystal shouted, gasping in pain as she hobbled over to them. “Don’t hurt her!”

  “Krystal,” Damien said, “She was just controlling me. She used her power against us. She’s with them. She has to be stopped.” He hit Serene with a club that sent her to her knees with a startled cry.

  Krystal gasped as she reached them. “I controlled you too! I know how she feels. She’s supposed to be bad, like they are. Like how I’m supposed to be like other necromancers, except this is her family, for God’s sake. They’re all she knows. She’s…she’s trying to help! She’s just...confused.”

  “Confused?” Rachel demanded. “I’ve been watching these ‘confused’ things do some pretty sick shit the last few hours. I say we take them out while we still can.”

  “But Hunter gave me a chance. Serene deserves...”

  Krystal’s voice trailed off as Serene rose to her feet and slashed at Rachel, causing the hunter to jump back. Even with the jump, Serene had slashed Rachel’s arm, a shallow wound, but a wound nonetheless.

  Rachel kicked back and struck Serene in the throat with a heavy boot.

  The siren dropped to her knees immediately, gasping and clutching at her neck, which emitted a white light like the one that had surrounded Raidne’s head a moment earlier. The light pulled free of Serene’s neck, as if her flesh were not there, and floated for a moment, a ball of white crackling energy, and then it hurtled up into the sky in a flash, Serene reaching her arm up toward it helplessly as it disappeared into the clouds.

  Krystal moved toward the fallen siren, but Rachel held her back for a moment, unsure of whether it was safe or not. When Serene didn’t stand up a minute later, she released the girl, feeling a pang of guilt for her actions, even though she felt they were justified. She hadn’t meant to kill the...thing.

  “Rachel, you might have broken her windpipe,” Hunter said, bending down to examine her.

  Serene protested Hunter’s advances at first, but then just lay back calmly, the fight suddenly out of her.

  “Don’t everyone, you know, thank me at once or anything,” Rachel muttered. “Did anybody notice how I was almost slashed to ribbons there?”

  Serene shook her head and opened her mouth to say something. Hunter turned to Rachel for clarification. “I can’t hear with the earplugs in. I’m going to take them out.”

  Rachel looked over at Krystal. “But...she didn’t say anything.”

  Hunter dug into each of his ears and withdrew the rubbery earplugs. He hesitated as he looked up at Rachel. “What did she say?”

  “Nothing.”

  Hunter gazed down at Serene as she opened her mouth again, mouthing words. She started to look panicked.

  “Her breathing sounds fine,” Hunter said, “But...I think she’s lost her voice.”

  “Lost her...” Rachel smirked. “Well, how’s that for irony? Kind of like a declawed cat. Can’t tear up the furniture now.”

  “No, I’d say she’s rather...defenseless at the moment. Perhaps we could…bring her back to Lime Bay, examine her, see if this is permanent.”

  “Bring her back to Lime Bay? Are you nuts? She’s not a stray cat. Bad analogy. She’ll kill our...she’ll kill all of the men in the city! I say she belongs to the same fate as her sisters, dead or…or exiled to their little island, safe away from everyone who doesn’t...well, get shipwrecked or whatever.”

  Hunter shook his head. “This is too good of an opportunity to pass up. We can run tests, understand them better. Find a way to kill them, if you want to look at it that way. But this specimen is coming with us.”

  “And do you recall how quickly these things heal? Did you not see that?” Rachel demanded. “It was within, like, seconds. Her vocal chords-”

  “Yes, seconds,” Hunter interrupted her with a sharp, resolved look. “And she hasn’t been healed minutes later. I have a feeling that the white light that exited her body when you attacked her, took whatever magick powered her voice with it. I would say that that seems very likely, given her current state and what we’ve witnessed.”

  “Likely?” Rachel murmured. “Shouldn’t we be, you know, 100% positive?”

  “Are you really sure, Hunter?” Krystal asked. “I mean, she was trying to stop her fellow monsters, but she still is a monster.”

  Hunter looked up at her with a set jaw. “How can you even ask that?” He turned to Rachel. “Without her voice, she is of no use to her sisters anymore anyway. Who’s to say they would even tolerate her presence? We need to take her one way or the other. For mercy or for strategy. Take your pick if it helps clear your conscience.”

  Krystal bit her lip and glanced over at Rachel, who was staring at the other fights in progress.

  Serene looked around, dazed. Her eyes landed on Raidne a few feet away, still unconscious. She mouthed a few more words and slumped to the ground.

  “She’s...fainted,” Krystal said. “She’s...” She paused and tilted her head up. “Do you hear that? It sounds like a ticking. Or a...”

  Rachel’s eyes widened. “Good God.”

  ***

  Ligeia danced to the right, and Shanna copied her move, making sure to keep a safe distance from her deadly-looking talons.

  “I can do this all night,” Shanna told her smugly.

  Suddenly letting out a roar, Ligeia charged at Shanna, who tripped in her haste to elude her, then quickly rolled out of the way as Ligeia’s hand quickly occupied the space her face had been only moments earlier.

  Jade kicked the siren and suddenly turned toward a whirring noise that filled her ears. “What in the…”

  Shanna looked around, trying to place all of the sirens to see where it was coming from, when a helicopter suddenly appeared over a nearby temple, like a mirage. It quickly landed at the latter end of the courtyard, another helicopter appearing behind it a moment later.

  She watched as the men filed in, Hunter and Cameron carrying the unconscious Jordan. Then Krystal was helped in by Damien, who also reached back to assist Brett and Rachel, who were supporting the weight of…was that Serene? The helicopter full of hunters lifted away quickly and the second helicopter took its place.

  “I think this is our exit,” Shanna announced to Ligeia, sending her a little wave as she moved toward the helicopter. She hesitated as she noticed Jade sneak another kick into Ligeia. But Ligeia had seen her coming at her and grabbed hold of her foot before the blow was landed, then used the foot to throw the hunter into a nearby wall.

  “Stop them, you idiot!” Alsa suddenly screamed, distracted in her own fight with Natalia, who took the moment to land a blow to the siren’s shoulder.

  Ligeia nodded and clenched her fists as a pair of wings sprouted out of her back. She flew up at the helicopter that had taken off, hands extending into claws.

  “Shit!” Rachel cursed from the aircraft. She grabbed a gun from one of Hunter’s men who was on the helicopter and aimed it down at Ligeia. “Stay away, Ligeia. I’ll shoot.”

  Ligeia merely snarled as she flew at them faster.

  Rachel shrugged and shot at the siren, catching her in the shoulder.

  Ligeia went down hard, holding her shoulder as she hit the cobblestones below, a cloud of dust rising around her. She sat up, dazed, as her shoulder knit itself back together.

  Jade stumbled past her toward the waiting helicopter, but Ligeia wouldn’t be denied a second time.

  Shanna helped a dazed Valor to her feet and quick
ly climbed into the craft, where Amelia was waiting, and turned back to watch as Ligeia sprinted after Jade and succeeded in overtaking her. She grabbed Jade by the shirt and twirled her around, the hunter immediately smashing her fist into Ligeia’s face before the siren had a moment to react and get her own hit in. She could have taken off then, as Ligeia recovered, but instead Jade hit Ligeia in the back, sending her to the ground, where she went on to kick the woman in the face. “That’s for my brother, you little bitch.”

  It looked like Ligeia was out for the count, and Jade turned back to the helicopter, but Ligeia was on her feet in a matter of seconds, snagging Jade by the hand, pulling her back and holding both of the hunter’s arms behind her, pinning her.

  Jade struggled, and Shanna immediately reacted, jumping out of the helicopter and racing toward the pair.

  Then, as Shanna watched in horror, Jade screamed louder than the helicopter’s blades cutting through the air and bending the weeds that grew through the cracks in the cobblestone. Before she could really follow the events, Shanna could tell that something was wrong, and screamed herself when she realized that Ligeia had one of Jade’s arms free from the rest of her body. Blood streamed out of the hunter’s shoulder as disbelief colored her face pale.

  “Natalia!” Shanna screamed at the nearby hunter who was still engaged with Alsa.

  Natalia quickly assessed the situation and landed a final blow to Alsa, moving quickly on to Ligeia before the first siren could recover, knocking Ligeia in the back of the neck and to the ground. She then gathered Jade and her arms, diving toward the helicopter as it took off, all in a blur of movement that Shanna could barely follow in her own slow mechanical movements to board the vehicle.

  As Valor shot at the sirens on the ground who were attempting to fly up to them, Shanna and Amelia held Jade down while Natalia quickly cauterized her shoulder with a sword she’s heated over an emergency flare. Shanna felt helpless as she watched this take place, doing her best to calm the injured hunter and keep the shrill note out of her own voice. Tears leaked down her cheeks as she tried to ignore the constant scream issuing from Jade’s throat. She stared into Jade’s unfocused eyes, her clammy, sweaty forehead that was too white, and couldn’t help but stare at the scalded shoulder that was no longer gushing blood, but was torn and burned and still seeping. Shanna suddenly felt both dizzy and nauseous, and was ashamed when she had to actually lean out of the helicopter to vomit into the open air.