Right to Rule: Hunter Wars Book Five (The Hunter Wars 5)

by SD Tanner

  RIGHT TO RULE

  (HUNTER WARS BOOK FIVE)

  SD TANNER

  Right to Rule

  Copyright © SD Tanner 2015

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by law.

  Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Dedicated to Mousey.

  Because he insists!

  Table of Contents

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE: Hell hath only fury (Gears)

  CHAPTER TWO: Crossing the line (Hull)

  CHAPTER THREE: Hollow man (Pax)

  CHAPTER FOUR: Make or break (Gears)

  CHAPTER FIVE: Blood sport (Angel)

  CHAPTER SIX: Little Devil (Hull)

  CHAPTER SEVEN: Another birth, another star (Gears)

  CHAPTER EIGHT: Heaven divided (Max)

  CHAPTER NINE: New horizons (Captain Ted)

  CHAPTER TEN: The aliens have landed (Gears)

  CHAPTER ELEVEN: Sleeping with the enemy (The Possessed)

  CHAPTER TWELVE: Army of the Dead Souls (Hull)

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Lady Luck smiles (Captain Ted)

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN: City that never sleeps (Gears)

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Redemption (Luke)

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Doctor Death (Farrington)

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Devil’s play (TL)

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Rock and a hard place (Captain Ted)

  CHAPTER NINETEEN: Little man, big problem (Angel)

  CHAPTER TWENTY: Escape from New York (Pax)

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: A man worth his weight (Mackenzie)

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: The price of success (Captain Ted)

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: Ships Ahoy (Farrington)

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: Little Devil no more (Hull)

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: Brothers divided (Gears)

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: Déjà vu (Captain Ted)

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: Marie Celeste is born again (TL)

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: Best laid plans are a waste of time (Gears)

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: Second time’s a charm (Pax)

  CHAPTER THIRTY: Dance with the Devil (Gears)

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: Escape in New York (TL)

  EPILOGUE

  PROLOGUE

  The man held the KA-BAR with both hands and without any emotion, he plunged it deeply into his own gut. Not content with stabbing himself, he savagely twisted the blade and slowly pulled it up toward his chest.

  He didn’t look down at his torn shirt turning crimson with his own blood. The stain spread down to the belt on his trousers, and another wet stain grew around his crotch. The blood quickly drenched the front of his pants and covered the evidence of his own urine.

  Finally the man yanked the knife from his gut and casually dropped it to the ground, before slowly sinking to his knees. His face remained impassive, even as he slid sideways from his knees and lay with his head bent at an awkward angle on the concrete. Slowly his mouth became slack and his eyes glazed over.

  CHAPTER ONE: Hell hath only fury (Gears)

  The room was beautiful. A shimmering, oval-shaped, crystal chandelier clung to the ceiling and thick, rich red velvet drapes with luxurious gold tassels graced the windows. Beneath the gold metal-trimmed glass-topped coffee table was a plush tapestry rug, with a complex red and green pattern woven through it. Two light green over-stuffed sofas topped with generous pillows sat facing one another. Through the windows, he could see tall buildings with rows and columns of mirrored glass windows.

  Ruler turned, and he saw beyond the elegant lounge was a large mahogany table, so highly polished it gleamed. Down the length of the table were rows of matching chairs, and each was covered with a green and gold striped fabric blending perfectly with the colors of the room. The uncarpeted wooden floor was sealed and waxed to a brilliant shine, adding to the overall effect of opulence. He had no idea where this luxurious room was, and he waited to see what would happen next.

  An emotion of contempt rippled through him as Ruler said, “Hello imp.”

  Ip speaks: Here you are yet again. Still think you rule the game, or so you pretend.

  He both heard and felt her reply and to his amusement, she delivered it with utter disinterest. Joined with her mind, he realized she didn’t feel Ruler was worthy of contempt. To her, he was a nuisance and not a threat.

  When his mind connected with hers, it was like sharing a room that was hers alone. He retained his own sense of self, but her swirling thoughts, physical sensations and emotions swam ceaselessly around him. If he wanted, he could reach out and catch a stream of her consciousness and become one with it. It was something he’d done many times. Her mind was always steady, peaceful and contented, and in many ways, sharing the essence of Ip was like taking a vacation from his own worries. She was filled with things he never knew existed, and the stars she always spoke of really were like planets in the night sky. Even now, he could see them flickering around the room that represented her mind.

  It was her mind and hers to control. Although he could share her consciousness, he couldn’t do anything in it without her agreement. At his request, she’d touched the densely dark star that was Ruler and her mind had joined his. He was only a hitchhiker in her consciousness, and Ruler didn’t know he was there. Through Ip, he stepped further into Ruler’s thoughts, and it filled him with a sensation of something he’d never felt before. Unlike his own, Ruler’s mind wasn’t structured or organized, and it seemed like he was slipping over the edge of an abyss. Scattered feelings, images and emotions swirled up from the murky depths and confronted him in brief flashes of insight. It all felt highly unstable, chaotic and dangerous.

  Staring down at the grey dark void, the face of a howling woman drew close to his own, and with blood running from her eyes, ears and mouth, she whispered desperately, “Help me,” and then she was gone. He drew back and he heard Ruler reply to Ip. “We should be friends you and I. We both enjoy killing the living.”

  Ip speaks: You kill for pleasure and pain. When I kill there is no gain. For me, death is only a small step. Only the living fear death and fret.

  Meshed with Ruler’s emotions, he felt them shift from mild amusement to agreement. “Ah well, that’s the difference between us. We both see death as a small step, but I need their fear. The energy of fear is better than sex.” He was aware of Ip’s mockery when she replied.

  Ip speaks: What do you know of the pleasures of the flesh? Your pleasure is pain and only you gain. You have a purpose that much is true. But I think you have gotten too big even for you.

  Ruler’s emotions shifted again and he sensed a rage within him. Still balancing on the abyss of Ruler’s mind, feeling like he might fall at any moment, he tried to work out where the rage was coming from. Without warning, a leaking red pus-filled lump emerged from the darkness of the abyss and erupted, spewing vile green and grey fluid through his presence. He tried to pull away, but he was only a tiny consciousness with no control over his actions, and he was flooded with a filth he couldn’t comprehend. Desperately wanting it to end, he held himself in check and waited for Ip to com
plete the mission he’d set for her. They needed to find Ruler’s location, the lives of at least ninety thousand people depended on it. Despite her initial sulky refusal, he’d ordered Ip to make contact with Ruler. He hadn’t wanted to force her to do anything, but he was desperate and it seemed Earth was now more under the control of hell than not. If he was to enforce their right to rule, then Ruler must die. He would kill him time and again if that’s what it took to rid their home of hell.

  Clearly Ip was annoying Ruler and his rage was erupting like the boil it was. With his emotions laced with disgust, Ruler sneered and asked, “What do you want, you idiot imp? It’s unlike you to come to visit.”

  Equally as much disgust fired through Ip and it surprised him. In all the times he’d shared her consciousness, anger and disgust were nothing he’d ever known her feel. It was obvious to him now that Ip loathed Ruler with every part of her existence. Ip believed she was the Horseman of Death, and it was her purpose to kill, and on his orders Ruler was her target.

  Ip speaks: That is true. Poor company is you. You still bore me through and through. But the time has come to dispatch with you.

  He felt Ruler laugh, but it was only a laugh. Now inside his mind, he knew Ruler was only appearing to laugh. Once again the rage-filled beast within Ruler burst from the abyss, and it undulated and shuddered before subsiding once again into the dank hole that was the core of his being. He’d once known a woman who laughed when she was angry and smiled when she was sad. In her it was a coping mechanism, but in Ruler it was all he had inside of him. Anger. A spiteful, relentless fury so barely contained, it threatened to explode at the slightest perceived insult to his fragile sensibilities. Other than rage, all that appeared to be inside Ruler were people who clawed their way out of the abyss to beg for mercy. While he waited for Ruler to speak again, another face appeared in front of him. This one was the face of an old woman with gentle blue eyes, and she was weeping softly. For a fraction of a moment, the woman’s face drew close to his, and she stared sorrowfully at him and whispered, “I’m so sorry.”

  More than her words, it was her deep sadness that penetrated him and washed through his own awareness. It was a lingering loneliness that tapped his own need to be with more than just himself. Her grief mixed with his own, and he wanted to grab the old woman and take her away from this place of madness. For the first time, he understood Ruler was utterly insane and this what not the mind of a human, but that of the Devil. Ruler was not a man, but a dark force that brought hell to all and anywhere he went.

  With this new comprehension, he became aware there were doors weaved around the abyss. Now he’d noticed them, one door opened and behind it was a man, hanging, hollowed and gutted, but still alive and screaming. Flaps of ragged skin hung empty, and the man’s hands kept flicking uselessly in and out of his empty torso. How is that possible, he wondered? How can this man be inside of Ruler?

  Tearing his awareness away from the screaming man, he focused his attention back to the conversation between Ip and Ruler. He heard Ruler giggle, but he wasn’t really laughing. The pus of rage bubbled up from the abyss and still giggling, Ruler asked, “So, what do you want, imp?”

  Ip speaks: Look out of the window and you will see what I have brought for you from me.

  A flutter of confusion followed by suspicion flashed through Ruler’s consciousness. A door in Ruler’s mind opened, and he caught a glimpse of woman on her knees and she seemed to be praying. While she prayed, her throat spread open as if cut by an unseen hand. Blood exploded from her slashed neck, but in a trance-like state, she continued to pray as if oblivious to what should have been her death. The woman seemed oddly at peace, and he wondered how she could ignore these insults to her existence.

  Allowing his curiosity to win, Ruler walked to the window and peered out. Outside the window were more buildings, but through the narrow corridor between the buildings he saw the only thing he needed to see.

  With a feeling of satisfaction rippling through his mind, he thought, gotcha, ya sonofabitch!

  As this thought tumbled out, Ruler’s rage exploded from the abyss, and swept through every corner of the room that was his mind. He felt a wave of intense anger pass through him and it tapped his own anger, making him want to destroy everything including himself. It was like a vast wave that didn’t stop and he felt he might be swept along, lost forever as his anger grew and joined the fury building around him.

  He heard Ip speak in her soft musical voice. “Stay with me, my love, the Devil has his ways, but not for us.” Feeling like he was surfacing from a sea of blooded fury, he gasped and held onto the sound of her voice.

  While Ruler’s rage spun erratically around every corner of his mind, he felt his indignation and shame at being tricked. Outwardly Ruler seemed delighted and was giggling, and he heard him say. “Oh I see! You came to make a fool out of me.”

  In one loud and abrupt movement, all the doors inside Ruler’s mind opened and behind each was immeasurable suffering. Shredded bodies, screaming victims, and blood flowed in a stream of continuous agony that travelled into his consciousness leaving footprints of pain wherever it went. A darkness was flooding into him and he desperately wanted it to stop. If left unchecked, it would bring him death by his own hand. Without hope, without purpose and no reason to exist, he knew he would choose his death over life.

  Once again, he heard Ip speak to him, and she said with a confidence he needed to hear, “Turn away. This is not for you. Death and Devil know one another true. He is mine to run my blade through.”

  He understood Ip was Death. At his command, she would bring death to the one that mastered it, but where the Devil was the master of death, she was its owner. Only she could rule over death and the Devil would always die at her hand.

  With a cruel smile that couldn’t truly reflect the evil within his being, Ruler said, “You brought the dogs to me, didn’t you, imp?”

  As Ruler spoke, images of the living seemed to appear from nowhere. He watched them floating and spinning above him, while they shredded and burned, shrieking in pain and begging for death. He understood they were the ones who would suffer for their actions today. He and Ip would leave, but Ruler would let his rage rule, and the innocent would be torn apart until his unstable equilibrium was restored. This awareness dulled his senses and he wished he’d stayed silent. Ip told him to watch and not interfere, and now he knew why.

  Feeling a draining sadness at his own stupidity, he said, “It’s time to go, honey.”

  With that instruction, Ip closed the dark star in her mind and they were alone again, sharing their thoughts and emotions. His were chaotic and littered with the guilt of knowing while they sat quietly, others in Ruler’s domain were bleeding and dying.

  Ip speaks: You could not know the hell within. The Devil’s light is deeply dimmed. It is in contrast to the opposing side. Now you know how bright the light, that man should let guide.

  He felt as if he’d just stood inside hell and he supposed he had. Hell was contained within Ruler and wherever he went, hell would rule. With this new knowledge, he supposed this was the joke Ruler made when he named himself. Remaining connected to Ip’s mind, he began to drift with the soft current of her contentment and slowly relaxed. The memory of Ruler’s consciousness would never be forgotten, but it wasn’t somewhere he would ever have to be. Reaching for her hand, he felt bad for insisting she talked to Ruler, but it had to be done. Squeezing her hand, he thought, sorry, honey, I didn’t know his mind is hell.

  Ip speaks: He brings to earth what he is. If you did not see, then you might have missed. Man is wasteful, that is so. But the Devil is more than deserved, that we both now know.

  True, he thought. The little shit couldn’t be allowed to win. He’d no doubt before, but knowing Ruler was the Devil filled him with resolve. For all the crap he’d seen man commit, nothing they’d done deserved this sort of punishment. Still quietly, enjoying the tranquility of Ip’s mind, he heard a voice booming in hi
s ear and it startled him.

  “Gears!” Pax said loudly. Getting no response, he shouted louder still. “Gears!”

  Still wanting to dispel the corruption of Ruler’s cruel insanity, he didn’t answer. While he continued to rest contentedly within Ip, he felt his adrenalin and heart rate settle. His growing ease was again rudely interrupted by a solid thumping on his shoulder, and it yanked him from the warm comfort of her serenity.

  Pax was punching him repeatedly, and each blow was becoming progressively harder and he continued to shout. “Gears! Gears!”

  Realizing he was going to have to leave Ip and join his brother, he growled, “Cut it out, Pax, ya dumbass.” As Pax came into his focus, he saw his brother was grinning like an idiot.

  Practically bouncing, Pax asked excitedly, “Well, did you find him?”

  Fully opening his eyes, he looked around their suite on the ship. It felt like he’d been away for hours, but he suspected it was only been a matter of minutes. Pax was still sitting on the coffee table next to him. Ip was curled up in his lap, and TL was seated on the sofa opposite both of them. Outwardly nothing had changed, but inwardly he knew he would never view the world the same way. He now knew the Devil was real and he brought hell wherever he went.

  Realizing Ip was gone from his mind, he felt his own consciousness reinstate and settle into itself. Sighing, he said, “Yeah, but some people are gonna pay for that.”

  TL leant forward on the sofa. “What happened?”

  Still feeling disturbed by the experience and not wanting to dwell on it, he replied, “Ip tapped his star and she spoke to him. I see why she doesn’t like doin’ that. It’s the kinda place that corrupts you jus’ by lookin’ at it.”

  Pax punched his shoulder hard and exclaimed, “Gears! Where is the fuck is he?”

  Giving him a dirty look, he pulled away and said grimly, “He’s in New York.”