Misfortune Market: A HASEA CHRONICLES STORY (BOOK 1.5) (10 page)

“Oh my god, oh my god!” screamed Andrea and sank into a crouched position, covering her head as we continued to battle around her.

“I know it’s difficult, but it’s important that you remain calm Andrea,” Gabriella panted as she swirled out the way of a buckshot from an adamantine round shotgun, fired by an advancing Skinshifter guard. The round smashed into the podium and reduced it to a pile of wood splinters.

“H-how do you know my name?”

“Because we were sent here to rescue you,” Gabriella answered, firing back at the shifter and winging him on the shoulder.

I sprinted forward and rose upwards with my sword, stabbing the tip into the wounded creature’s belly and slicing upwards until he was unseamed from the navel – killing the hound inside. He collapsed to the floor and I retreated back to the relative safety of the circle.

Attacks came from every direction as drugged up, pissed or just plain desperate market-goers tried their hardest to collect the bounties on our heads. Sweat poured from my damp skin, soaking the cloying boiler suit that covered my uniform. I dodged, ducked, pivoted, parried, sliced, shot and stabbed my way through dozens of Pandemonians and Hybrids. But the more the body count piled up, there more seemed to keep coming. It was like a pack of hyenas that had smelt blood and were coming from every corner to claim their piece.  

“Crow’s Nest we need support
NOW!
” yelled Gabriella into her coms bracelet. A blade jerked towards her and I thrust forward, deflecting it with my own. The Imp looked shocked – it was the same one Delagio had stolen the coin from. The mention of profit had seemingly bought him back to his senses.

“Del!” I shouted.

He turned towards the Imp and jerked his palms towards the creature’s eyes. There was a sickening crunch and two bloody marbles popped out the back of his skull. The creature’s legs folded and he hit the deck.

“Three minutes Huntmaster. They are almost there!” said Crow’s Nest.

“Shit. Keep fighting.”

“There’s too many!” shouted Grey.

“
Keep fighting
!” screamed Gabriella. With a shriek she stabbed a Blood Brother into the neck of a Pixie, wrenching it out with a spray of blood and thundering it into the chest of a Skinshifter, creeping up from the side.

Where’s Malachi?
I turned to see him moving through the crowds rushing the stage. “Malachi is getting aw-”

My words collapsed into a gasp as something hot and sharp thudded into my collarbone. I turned to see Zaris glaring at me – his face not one foot from mine – his bone blade embedded deep in my shoulder. Sickness rose in the pit of my stomach as my brain registered the vicious attack. I could feel my knees going weak as he leaned forward and I felt him carve the blade deeper, as if I were a lump of raw meet. A pinknife came streaking in from the side, but Zaris held up one hand and simply allowed it to enter. He swatted Scarlett’s face, driving the spike into her cheek. She hissed and sank back as dark blood spilled between her fingers.

Spots appeared in my vision as he forced the blade deeper and deeper into my body. Sounds slowed and became distant. At first I thought I was dying – then I realised that something entirely different was happening. A sense of dislocation swept over me – a fuzzy sidestepping of myself that forced me into the position of bystander, and leaving room for something else to take over. I watched through a skewed lens as my hand thrust into the Devil’s stomach, pushing through hard flesh as if it were wet paper and sinking deep into the slick folds of his intestines. Searing waves of fire swept down my arms, engulfing my fingertips and becoming alive with thrumming energy that I could feel all through my body.

The Devil’s jaw fell open and he produced a sound of agony that was unlike anything I’d ever heard, even through my diluted hearing. My head bowed downwards and I saw that my exposed hand was as black as a winter night and seeped inky fluid into the wound.

The agonising cries of Zaris were cut short as Gabriella lobbed off his head with a sharp swipe of a blood brother. The thing that had taken over wrenched my hand back out of the black mess that had become the Devil’s stomach, and in an instant the black stain had vanished.

What was that? Did you see?
I tried to ask, but my mouth wouldn’t respond to my brain. A thick fog of confusion descended over me and began to steal pieces of my memory.

“Alex are you okay?” Gabriella shouted at me, her voice muffled and almost incoherent. She fended off a Skinshifter attack meant for me.

What happened…what did I do?
I tried to remember, but like water the memory of my actions spilled from my grasp. Soon it was gone.

I could not remember how I’d killed Zaris.

“Alex, are you okay?” she repeated, whirling around to face me. Her panicked voice became clearer as I swam to the surface of my fugue state.

I stared down at the blade still embedded deep in my shoulder. At the same time Gabriella tried to get to me once again, but too many people were attacking her. “Cover me!” I yelled. The others pushed me into the middle and I crouched down next to Andrea. She glanced up at me, her face turning white as milk when she saw the blade five inches deep in my shoulder. Gritting my teeth together, I pointed at the offending item. “Pull that out.”

Andrea face went white. “I can’t.”

“Do it!”

I expected more complaints, but instead Andrea wrapped both hands around the bone handle and slid it out in one harsh movement. I retched as pain filled me up.  I doubled over and breathed in deeply through my nose, trying to calm myself down. Blood poured from my wound, pooling on the stage around me.

Out the corner of my eye, I saw the Bloodseeker.

The weapon trader we had seen earlier was thundering towards the stage, her lithe frame covered in all manner of belts and straps – all containing a nerve-wracking number of weapons. She tucked a hand in a belt and something glinted in the red light.  She flicked her wrist.

“Grey look out!”

I stood up and spun him around. Grey howled in pain as the blade she’d thrown sank into the flesh of his arm, instead of his throat. With my good arm I jerked the dagger back out and threw it back at the Bloodseeker. She hopped to the side and hissed. Grabbing another blade she threw again. Grey and I jerked apart and the dagger sailed through the narrow gap, clattering off the far wall. I tried to rejoin the fight, but I was too weak.

“Gabriella, help,” I breathed. She finished dispatching a Djinn with her blade and reached out a hand. As soon as we connected I felt my healing powers jump start – we broke apart when a masked Bloodling butted me to the ground. Better, but not fully healed I jumped to my feet and drove my blade through his heart.

A second later I saw Malachi jump down from the stage and run over to the Bloodseeker. He yanked a weapon attached to her back and pushed her away. As I focused on what he held in his hands, panic flooded through my veins. It was a squat unit of sleek metal with steam vents running down the sides and a hydraulic barrel.  An LED light on the side blinked from yellow to green.

Compact Whiteore Grenade launcher.

My brain barely had time to register before I heard a loud
THUNK.

“TAKE COVER!” I shouted at the top of my lungs.

The team scrambled away. Grabbing Andrea, I dove as far away from the stage as I could. A blinding white light stole my vision – like someone using the world’s brightest camera in a pitch-black room. It was followed instantly by a deafening sound and what felt like a thousand hands shoved me in the back, making me lift higher and travel much further. The world spiraled as I flipped over. I landed hard on my side, knocking the air from my lungs and feeling things break underneath me – including my ribs.

I rubbed at my eyes furiously, forcing the bright spots that had formed in them away.  It took a few seconds but my eyesight returned. The market had descended into chaos. Pandemonians missing limbs were walking around in stunned silence. Others were lying in unmoving heaps. Wails and groans of pain came from every direction. I was lying on top of the masks, overalls and other remains of the Trollites stand. The creature was kneeling down next to me, gingerly trying to steal from a pouch on my belt.

“Piss off,” I growled and shoved him away.

The creature scurried away and I stood up groaning. Andrea had collided with a hypothecary stand  - sending vials and bottles clattering everywhere.

“You okay?” I managed to shout.

She looked up at me and nodded. I turned my attention to the stage. It had collapsed and scattered everyone on it. A fist of panic seized my stomach.

Gabriella!

I scanned desperately through the curling smoke. Relief washed through me as I saw her helping Scarlett to her feet to one side of the stage. I caught site of the rest of the team. They had been scattered around the area by the grenade and all looked a bit worse for wear – a few burned arms and pieces of shrapnel sticking out of limbs, but nothing fatal. The blast had stunned those still alive into inertia. Most seemed grateful to still be in one piece. Running into a deadly fight no longer seemed to be top of their to do list.  The bounty had lost its allure.

For all but one.

“Five hundred notches if you finish them off!”  the Overseer barked to the Bloodseeker, shoving the launcher back into her hands and scrambling away.

“With pleasure,” she said with a smirk.

I heard a hollow click as the Bloodseeker loaded another Whiteore grenade. She lowered the launcher and aimed right to where Gabriella was standing. Her yellow eyes narrowed and her fanged teeth clamped together in concentration. The valves on the side of the weapon hissed hydraulic steam as the light on the side changed from red to yellow.

No time to warn them.

I sprinted towards the Bloodseeker as the LED switched to green. Jumping into a spinning kick, I forced the grenade launcher from her grip just as she pulled the trigger. The launcher spiraled through the air and there was a second
thunk
as the round was released. Using my arms to cover my face from the blinding light, I heard the deadening blast. I waited to be lifted off my feet again, but felt only a faint rippling on my overalls. Opening my eyes I saw that the round had collided with a wall further away, sending a shower of bricks tumbling down around the Shinroba stand, knocking Gemmell off his feet in a landslide of rubble. He was pinned underneath the wreckage, struggling to get free.

A blade swiped at me. I caught the attack between my hands and lurched downwards, using the Bloodseeker’s own energy to unbalance her. I drove the heel of my palm upwards into her nose, feeling cartilage crumble and sending dark blood spraying from the wound. She stumbled backwards and drew a gun, aiming at my face. Before she could fire a round, I pulled myself close and snapped my bad shoulder into her arm. An electric shock of pure pain jerked down my right side, but the shot went wide. I drove my head forward, feeling the thick thud of my skull hitting hers. Her head snapped back and she lost her grip on the gun. I kicked out and watched as it flew across the market.

Stepping backwards the Bloodseeker opened her mouth wide, exposing her deadly fangs. I whirled my blade around and waited. She drew two more guns and fired. I sidestepped and span around, feeling the incredible tremors as the blade deflected the bullets. She kept pumping the triggers and I felt a heavy thuds reverberate through my collarbone followed by deep pain as one of them met their target. Gritting my teeth I kept spinning the blade, staring through the rising smoke that came from the red surfaces of the blades as the bullets hit and ricocheted away.

Click. Click.

Both guns were spent. I sprinted forward at the same time the Bloodseeker did. She unhinged her jaw so deep it looked broken. I waited until she was almost on me and span around on the spot, sweeping the blade out on front of me.  The slightest catch of pressure ran along the blade towards my fingers and told me everything I needed to know. I rolled the blade around once more and then sank my hand behind my back, sheathing it.

The Bloodseeker had stopped moving, her eyes wide and distant. A second later a dark line appeared on her throat – a thin slice of shadow sweeping across her alabaster skin. The shadow yawned open until it became a dark smile on her neck, which released curls of hissing smoke. Her face went slack, the bones dissolving and deforming as the fire bloomed into life inside her.

A second later she was a pile of ash.

I stood, breathing out as my wounds stitched themselves together and pushed the bullet from my bone, sending it thumping into something sticky on the grimy floor. Scanning around I searched for Malachi. The market was in ruins. Most of those who remained had come to their senses and were trying their best to escape. Gemmell was still scrambling to free himself from the pile of rubble that had pinned him to the ground.

“Help me you stupid whores!” he roared at the Elves standing in shock around him. One of them went to kneel down, but a beautiful and noble looking one with long red hair and tribal markings running down her neck and arms took hold of her friend’s shoulder and shook her head. She moved towards the abandoned weapons stall and picked up a number of iron blades, walking back over to the group. She handed them out to the Elves. The girls’ stared down at them as if they were some kind of alien artifact. Then their expressions shifted, becoming more resolute. Gemmell’s eyes went wide when he realised what was going to happen.