Hunter (15 page)

"We've got
another one," Briggles said.

His face
looked tired. It was blown up on Crusader's front screen, showing
every line and wrinkle. His hair was greyer than when Nova had
first met him. His eyes were bloodshot, it looked as though he'd
gotten just as much sleep as she had; which was next to
none.

"You're
kidding," Nova said, slamming her palm down on the metal control
panel.

"Afraid so.
I'm sending you through the photos and a map location now. I'll
meet you there."

Briggles
picture flickered, before blinking out of existence. His face was
replaced with gruesome images. A young girl with a ghostly white
face filled the first image. Her mouth was frozen open in a silent
scream. The map location was further into the city.

"Damn
lecheons. Why did I sign on for this again?" she muttered as she
stomped back to her sleeping pod to get changed.

"I believe it
had something to do with the three thousand credit reward," Cal
said, hovering into the doorway.

"I'm starting
to think I should have asked for much, much more," Nova said,
pulling a black singlet over her head. "Crusader, start heading
over. Park wherever you can."

In response,
Crusader's engines thrummed into life and the ship lifted up into
the dark night sky.

"You could
always just leave it and find a different mission," Cal
said.

Nova glared
at him. "You heard me talking to Tanguin last night. I'm not giving
up. I'm just frustrated that it's taking so long. I'm not going to
be scared off by a few lecheons. Besides, they're weak. I'm sure we
nearly have them."

"Is that
based on the fact that they've evaded you four times now?" Cal
asked.

Nova scowled.
"Corvus is injured, maybe even dead. Now's our chance."

"As you
wish," Cal said, hovering away from her sleeping pod.

Nova pulled
on her jacket and headed for the door. Crusader landed with a thud
and before the engines could fully power-down, she stepped through
the door and jumped onto the cement pavement. She headed down the
street to where the police had cordoned off a piece of the road.
They stepped aside when they saw Nova approaching.

She nodded to
them. Inspector Briggles and Doctor Dunwood were already there,
kneeling beside the body and talking in low whispers.

The victim
was young; eighteen at the most, and her neck was twisted. Her eyes
and mouth were wide. Nova shivered at the expression. It looked as
though she'd died of surprise or shock. Teeth marks lined her neck
and arms, and a dried circle of blood stained the pavement under
her body.

"Rosanne. She
left work at two. That was the last time she was seen alive,"
Briggles said as Nova knelt next to him.

"They made a
mess of this one," Nova said, pointing to the pool of
blood.

"It's very
unusual," Doctor Dunwood said. "Lecheons never let blood go to
waste. It makes me think this wasn't a normal killing."

"It's
Corvus's style though, his taste," Briggles put in.

"Did you say
you injured him?" Dunwood asked, looking at Nova.

"Yeah, got
him pretty good too," she said.

" Hmm. I
think they were out collecting blood for Corvus," Dunwood said,
frowning.

"Can they do
that?" Briggles asked, looking at the doctor with
disbelief.

"Oh yes,"
Dunwood nodded. "Especially for their coven leader. And it might
just give him enough strength to survive."

Nova cursed.
If Corvus survived then their little trek underground had been for
nothing and Johnny the veteran officer had died for nothing.
Johnny. She stared down at the girl. Rosanne's green eyes were
glazed over and tiny blood vessels had burst, staining the whites
of her eyes pink.

"Have you
found any clues as to where they're hiding?" she asked.

"Nothing,
this scene is clean. I think they were being very careful,"
Briggles said, waving his hand at the empty street.

"It's so
close to the main road," Nova said, glancing over her
shoulder.

There was
already a crowd of people gathered around the police barrier. They
craned their necks to look in and see the horrific scene, pushing
against one another for a better view. They stared with fascination
at the body and the officers, transfixed, until someone elbowed
them out of the way and reminded them to get back on with their
lives.

Briggles
shrugged. "If it meant the difference between saving Corvus's life
and letting him die, then they probably didn't care."

Nova nodded.
She got to her feet and began her own investigation. The whole area
was made of cement; a main walkway when it wasn't blocked off by a
murder scene. The spatters of blood spread out from the body in an
arc. There were a few red footsteps, but they collected around the
prone body and didn't create a definite trail.

"Wouldn't
this place have cameras?" Nova asked. Most streets so close to the
main road were monitored.

"Usually,"
Briggles said. He pointed up the side of the building.

Nova's eyes
followed his finger. Sitting at the corner of the roof was a round
black orb. Typically it would act as an all-seeing eye with a
direct feed straight to the police station. Now, it was smashed in,
wires hanging out, and a collection of shattered glass at the base
of the building.

"Happened
about two-twenty," Briggles said. "There's no footage of the
offenders and none of the other cameras picked up
anything."

"They know
this area," Nova surmised.

"Better than
I do," Briggles said with a grimace.

***

"Sit up, my
lord," Selene said.

She cradled
Corvus's neck with one hand and a bowl of blood in the other. The
blood was thick, congealing, but it smelled divine. It felt like so
long since he'd feasted. Corvus struggled to sit. Pain coursed
through his veins with every movement. His right side where the
bitch had stabbed him was numb completely. It was both a blessing
and a curse; at least he wasn't in agony any more, but it also
meant the poison was doing its deadly work.

He couldn't
see the wound. Ravyn, the medical specialist of his coven, had
wrapped it tightly with bandages after digging as much of the wood
out as she could. There had been tiny splinters scattered
throughout his chest, gradually working their treacherous way to
his heart.

He gasped for
air. For the last hour it had felt as if a massive weight was
crushing his chest, forcing his lungs closed. He couldn't get a
proper breath and it left him dizzy and confused. His head ached,
ached like it had never done before. The extreme pain hammered away
inside his brain.

The struggle
to breathe, the pain and the fear, made him wish for death. If only
the poison would do its work quickly, rather than dragging him
through this torturous embarrassment. Reduced to an invalid and
forced to be spoon fed.

Ravyn sat on
his other side. She looked fierce and determined. She was an
invaluable member of his coven; if his heart didn't belong entirely
to Laticia he would have taken her for a mate. She could never have
been prime female though, she wasn't right for the job; but then he
never would have thought Selene could take to the roll so
quickly.

His mind was
wandering. He had to focus.

Selene held
the bowl of blood in front of him. He allowed his mouth to open. At
first it was just a crack. His dry lips stuck together and stung
when he forced them apart. His parched tongue scraped against the
top of his mouth like sandpaper when he lolled it out.

The leach
part of him rolled out from between his lips but hung limply,
mostly drained of its energy. Corvus pushed with all his strength.
The leach lifted slightly but that was all it could
manage.

Selene moved
the bowl closer so that the leach was hanging down into the thick
blood. The rim of the bowl rested on Corvus's chin. He felt the
warmth as the leach dropped into the liquid, the taste of iron
coated his tongue along with the flowery scent of his favourite
flavour.

It took a few
seconds of being immersed in the blood before the leach began to
suck. It pulsated as it pulled, weakly at first, but growing with
strength. The blood surged into the leach's mouth, before sliding
down Corvus's throat. The warmth soothed his scratched mouth and
throat. The blood brought a refreshing zing which eased his
headache.

He felt every
drop as it fell down his throat to his stomach and was then
absorbed, flowing out to his veins. When the new blood reached his
injured side it tingled. Sensation returned slowly. At first it was
just a tingle, but soon progressed to an ache and before long he
was back to unforgettable agony.

Corvus
whimpered. He hated himself for it but the noise leaked from his
lips regardless. The pain was so extreme.

"Cut it out,"
he said, his eyes pleading at Ravyn. Surely carving out his chest
couldn't feel worse than the gut-wrenching pain he felt at that
moment.

"Feeling is
returning. That's good," Ravyn said. She bent over his side and
peeled back the tight bandages.

The relief of
pressure let more blood surge to the wound and a new wave of agony
rushed over him. He glanced down at the hole in his chest. The
flesh all around it was blackened and covered in puss. A horrible
smell emanated from the wound, a stench like rotting eggs. But
below all of that was something else, that flowery scent. Red blood
seeped up out of the wound; clean, human blood.

Tiny tendrils
of grey smoke wafted out of the wound and dissipated in the air. He
wrenched his eyes away; he couldn't look at the mess which was his
chest, not without throwing up all over it. He turned instead to
Selene. Her face was the very picture of calm determination. How
funny that he had chosen her just to get back at Pamielle and yet
she had been the perfect woman for the job. How funny -

The small
underground basement erupted with a loud clanging, like someone
beating on a meatal drum.

Selene jumped
to her feet, letting go of Corvus's head and laying the bowl on the
ground. Ravyn similarly stood, positioning herself between Corvus
and the only entry.

Corvus could
do nothing more than hold his head up. It took all of his energy to
focus on not letting himself fall to the ground, his head smashing
on the cement.

The rest of
his coven jumped into battle-ready positions. They reached for
whatever weapons they could find. Most of them carried swords or
knives, the rest were used to using their bare hands. All of them
glared at the single doorway which had suddenly burst inwards. The
steel door smashed against the opposite wall and the tunnel beyond
gaped with darkness.

"We seek
sanctuary under the lecheon convention," a voice echoed down from
the tunnel into their basement.

Corvus's
coven looked at one another with confusion and then looked to him
for direction.

Corvus was
overcome with confusion. Who would be seeking him out? What was he
supposed to do? He was in no condition to fight if they turned out
to be hostile; but if they were hostile, why would they request
sanctuary? His mind was racing and he had yet to respond when
Selene took control.

"Who seeks
sanctuary?" she called, keeping her knife at the ready.

"I am Brynden
and with me are the remnants of Byzant's coven."

Corvus and
his coven drew in a sharp breath.

"What are you
swine doing here?" Selene spat, exactly mirroring Corvus's
thoughts.

"We seek
sanctuary, and to join your coven. We no longer serve Byzant and
wish to serve the great and powerful Corvus," Brynden
replied.

Corvus's mind
went into overdrive. The remnants of Byzant's coven. The traitors.
How dare they show their faces here? They had killed his people and
he had given them one chance to escape with their lives, and now
they flaunted that offer. But then, if he was truly going to take
on the bitch and the other humans he could use some back
up.

Selene stared
down at him, her eyebrow raised. He looked up at her and nodded
once. They would get one chance.

"You may
enter. Leave your weapons at the doorway," Selene said.

Corvus's
coven crouched, ready to respond if things got ugly.

The foreign
coven entered one at a time through the door, placing their meagre
weapons down as they went. They shuffled down the stairs, their
eyes wide and staring. They crouched over, with shoulders bent as
if expecting a hidden blow at any moment. They were bruised and
broken; many had visible wounds or limped as they came down the
stairs.

The man at
the front, Brynden, opened his eyes wide when he saw Corvus huddled
in a corner, his chest a bleeding, blackened mess. He looked
between Corvus's face and his wound before ripping his eyes free
and moving forward into the centre of the basement. Brynden stood
with his hands spread wide and the rest of the coven followed his
example.