walker saga 07 - earth (34 page)

They’re confident. Confident can be a blessing or a curse,
said Delane.
Either they’re overconfident and we destroy them, or they know we don’t have the skill or power and are simply waiting for us to fail before they annihilate us.

And on that positive note,
Fury said with a laugh,
let’s go with the ‘kick some Seventine ass’ version.

Word!
Talina chimed in.

Yes!
said Eva.

I am okay with this plan,
was Sapha’s reply.

Damn, I loved these half-Walkers. Never a dull moment.

The ring of elemental energy we were building was large now. Starting at our feet and rising up in circular layers until it rested above even the tallest of us. It was at least twice the height of the Seventine. And for the first time I noticed a flicker of something cross their identical faces.
Was that curiosity or unease?

We didn’t hesitate any longer. We needed this done and we needed it done now. Lingering would only bring us closer to the convergence. It could happen any day now, and then it would be too late. Once that cord was cut, the worlds would end.

Just before we let it loose, Eva released a small cloud of spirit energy. This was separate from our elemental ring. I wasn’t sure the Seventine even noticed as it floated across the breeze to drift lazily down toward them.

Only it never landed.

Instead the mist rested about a foot above them before dissipating.

Well, that explains the confidence,
I said.
Asshats are shielded. Good thing we’ve never let a shield stand in our way.

A simmer of laughter rattled around, and in that moment I shot forward our energy. I gave it as much kick as I could, knowing that we had to shatter the barrier erected by the Seventine. Our elemental ring took less than a second to reach them and the moment our energies collided there was an unnatural blast of icy power. Energy exploded in a light show, and as the aftershocks flew outwards, all of us were catapulted backwards.

My chest heaved as I flew through the air. I felt as if I’d been punched with a solid blow to my body, the ache starting in my gut and continuing to spread outwards.

Sever the energy, Red.
Brace was in full command mode.
You’ve connected with the Seventines’ power, and the two forces are trying to destroy each other.

Fighting through the pain and nausea – right before I was about to hit the ash – I wrenched my cord free. Cutting the ties. I had just enough time to close my eyes before slamming into the ground.

I landed on my back and all air was knocked from my lungs. Floundering around, it took me many moments to be able to fully breathe again.

Abby. Abigail. Speak to me, babe.
Brace sounded fierce.

I’m okay. Just winded.
I struggled back to my feet, my body screaming as I forced it to get up and start running.
I have to find him now.

A low growl filtering through my head was his unhappy reply. He hated that he was stuck behind the fugs still. Although, from the quick glance I threw behind me, the fugs’ numbers were dying down. The Seventine had stopped producing them, which gave me hope that they were now worried enough to conserve their energy.

I neared the area where we’d been blasted apart. A crater marked the spot. It wasn’t as large as the one in the center of the battlefield, and thankfully there were no bodies littering it – of course, I wouldn’t have cried had the Seventine been in there.

The half-Walkers were pulling themselves up from the various places they had been flung, and relief poured through me that each of them looked okay. Battered but okay.

Where were the ugly munchkins?

A scuff of noise from behind had me spinning around, but not fast enough. Small but strong arms crossed over my hips and yanked me down to the ground. As I hit the deck, I got a glimpse of the one which held me. It wasn’t the first. This one had white hair. I struggled, kicking out and blasting with energy, but the Seventine held me in a position which protected him from the worst of my blows.

I suddenly stopped, letting myself fall limp. He leaned in closer over me, and I felt his weird little hand reach down to grip beneath my throat. Despite their size, they were stronger than I was.

As he lifted my head up, using my neck as a convenient grip, I sprang into action. Swinging my right arm forward and palming him straight in the nose. Well, right in the place a nose should be. The white-haired freak’s head snapped back, and he shook himself a few times. I was up and on him before he could react again. I don’t think he expected me to be fast or trained. And I was both.

I punched him again, before reaching out to grasp his arm, flipping him around and placing my boot square in the center of his back and basically drop-kicking him across the dirt.

He looked strangely small, sprawled out like that.

Individually they weren’t very scary. Much of the Seventine strength was in their unity. Always together, always joined.

I wondered what their plan of attack was now that they knew we all couldn’t use our powers against each other. They were going to have to fight us the old-fashioned way.

White-hair was back on his feet. He glided across, his black robe disheveled. We faced off for a moment before he attacked again.

The little critter was fast, I’ll give him that, but then again, so was I.

Sparring started hard and fast, and I was the first to land another hit. Straight in one of the slash-like eyes. It shuttered closed, and he was down to two. Of course, my moment of cocky congratulations left me a step behind as he struck out. His two-foot kick to my side landed hard and, as a shard of pain shot up my body, I knew he’d broken at least three of my ribs. Ouch. Freaking ouch.

I could add breathing to the list of painful things that were happening to me right then.

Asshole.

The Seventine smiled, but it was weird, like the face did the movement, but there was no actual expression behind it. Like a sociopath practicing how to smile in the mirror. Especially with those dead eyes. They were black and slit-like. No color definition there at all.

I tried not to hobble as I advanced on him, but my ribs were not happy. He swung toward me, but I was expecting it this time. He favored the right side as an initial attack and, even though his fighting skills were exceptional, they were rusty. Which was to be expected. Fighting wasn’t like riding a bike. You might never forget the moves, but you did get slow. Your muscles did get weaker. Even for Walkers.

I used my elbow this time, and with my height difference managed to crack down across his face hard and fast. I split the skin he wore. A wide and deep gash. There was no real blood beneath, although I did see some red in the wound.

Knowing this was my best chance, I advanced again and a roundhouse kick took him down. He landed hard. I reached out and snatched one of his hands, before lifting him in the air and spinning around. I let him fly off like a shot-put. He was light, and I was strong from all the energy, so he sailed far into the distance.

I heaved in and out, my side still screaming at me as I looked around. All of the girls were fighting the Seventine. Delane stuck close to Sapha and Talina, our two most vulnerable. They faced off against the emerald- and black-haired Seventine. Eva had one on her own, the mahogany Seventine, her sword slicing away. The rest were against Fury and Ria. The girls were doing okay. No one could use their powers, so it was all about fighting skills.

I realized there was no red-haired Seventine in my line of vision. Where the hell was the first?

“Looking for me?”

The voice was close, to my left, but when I turned he wasn’t there.

“You should have joined us when I offered. Now when I destroy the worlds and take our rightful energy, there will be no place for you.”

Where the hell was he? How was he hiding from me?

My body protested the movements as I started to circle around, my hands up high. Protecting my face. All of a sudden the black ground shifted beneath my feet. Ash flew all around, obscuring my vision. I started to dance backwards, trying to get out of the cloud of dust. But I couldn’t seem to escape it. Something was beneath me, disturbing the land.

The ground split again, and I jumped backwards just in time to avoid falling into a massive hole.
What the eff?
I was about to haul butt when up popped the first. Was he for real? Hiding under the ground like a weird freaking gopher.

I realized then that he must have control of the Earth element. Strange – he wasn’t a conduit like myself. The Walkers believed the conduit was the key to saving the worlds. I still wasn’t sure what they meant by that, but maybe my abilities were more unique than I guessed.

His scarecrow-like face screwed up, and he dived across the space to land right in front of me. A sort of stillness washed over me. He was so close, but not quite in my reach. The world slowed down. There was only me and him right then. One of us was coming out on top.

“I find that since freeing my brothers and regaining a physical form, I can no longer feel your essence. Which will make it easier to end your existence.”

No emotion inflected his voice.

“The melding bond with your mate … it was confusing for me. I …
felt
and that’s not something we were designed to do. We do not feel; we simply are. We are power and we are destruction and we are the great equalizer.”

A trickle of sweat decided that was the moment to run right down the center of my face. The first’s three eyes followed the movement, and a certain level of revulsion spread across his features.

I almost snickered. Seriously – he looked like one of the gremlins that had been fed after midnight and a drop of sweat bothered him? I heard grunts and a yell. The bond told me that the girls were struggling to hold their own against the other Seventine. I needed to wrap this up quickly.

“Two questions: why are you wearing my hair like the king of stalkers? And is there a reason you’ve decided to politely talk me to death instead of fighting? Are you weaker than your brothers?”

The stillness which had come over me seemed to descend over the first then. He did not like being called weak.

“That was three questions,” he said.

And then he attacked.

Okay, I’d goaded him, but I hadn’t been prepared for the sheer speed with which he moved. He landed a series of jabs before I could even get my hands up in the air. Far too quick for me to latch on and trace. I hit the deck hard, my chin and shoulder aching from where he’d landed those solid blows. Those pains could join in with my ribs. Which were still pissed at me.

“I didn’t want to punish you. It would have been simple enough to wait and sever the tether of all the worlds, but I need you to know … I am not weak.”

I rolled over and lurched to my feet. He was standing over me, talking down, and I was not cool with that.

“Why aren’t you off severing tethers right now?” I said, spitting out a mouthful of the ashy disgustingness which coated my lips and tongue. “You’re just playing games.”

“We have no need to waste our time or energy. The convergence approaches.” His head dropped back as if he was basking in the warmest of sunlight.

Of course it was nearing night now, so he was mostly basking in slivers of moonlight.

“I can feel it humming through my blood.”

Now that he mentioned it, I wondered if that had been that strange thrumming I’d felt over the past week or so. Like a low-level buzz in the back of my head.

“The hair was my idea. I wanted my brothers to have a link with each of the half-Walkers. I wanted you all to be part of our family, but instead of embracing our power, you fight us.”

His face fell. “There can be no bond any longer. We remember now why the originals locked us away and forsook our abilities to rule. They were never happy to share the power, and we will not be locked away again. We will no longer share.”

The fugly features brightened then. “For now we are enjoying playing
games
as you put it, punishing the clans which locked us into a prison for many millennia. Suffering is so enjoyable, when it is done by others.”

And we were back to the psychopath. This freak-show needed like a hundred hours of therapy, because he had some messed up shit going on in his head.

A scream distracted me, and I realized that Fury was down on the ground. The black-haired Seventine was leaning over the top of her, stabbing down with some sort of object.

I moved before tracing across to her side, using my body and momentum to full-on tackle that ass. As I landed a punch and two knees into the Seventine, we both hit the deck. All of the air whooshed out of his body, and I flipped up to my feet before diving down again to hit him some more.

I would have stayed and beaten the crap out of him for a little longer, but I needed to help Fury. I hurried to her side, relieved to see she was sitting up.

“Fury, you’re okay?”

I dropped down next to her, noticing the trickles of blood around her throat and collar bone.

“Yeah, I managed to hold him off. They’re just some scrapes.”

I pulled her up and gave her a hard hug. “Don’t scare me like that,” I murmured against her shoulder.

She chuckled.

“Sorry, Supes. Those little crap-kickers are fast.”

They were and, speaking of, I needed to end this before one of the girls really got hurt. Besides, we were wasting blood and energy. Both of which we needed for the ritual.

“Be back in a moment,” I said, glancing over my shoulder.

Before Fury could answer I traced away again and landed in front of the first.

He moved himself at the last moment so that we weren’t touching. Seems the effers already had an idea of what I was doing. I wouldn’t get close enough by tracing at him.

“Why do you fight? You cannot beat us. We are too powerful and cannot be killed.”

I grinned. It wasn’t a nice grin. It was full of anger and some sort of feral hatred that bubbled inside me. I was done. I was tired. I’d had enough of fighting against these friggin’ pains-in-my-ass. More importantly. I was sick of watching my friends and family get hurt and die.