Desa Kincaid- Bounty Hunter Read online

  His wish was granted when he heard the smacking sound of shoes on cobblestones behind him. A quick glance revealed that Morley had jumped out the window. The man was slowly rising from a crouch.

  He turned hateful eyes on Marcus.

  Without warning, Morley jumped and flew in a high arc that took him right over Marcus's head. The man collided with the front wall of a neighbouring townhouse and then dug his fingers into the stone. He clung to the building like a spider on a wall.

  Morley leaped off, grabbed one of the black lampposts with both hands and ripped the damn thing off its mountings as he fell to the ground. He spun around and around in circles, swinging the lamppost and then finally threw it at Marcus.

  Pulsing his Gravity-Sinks, Marcus jumped and let the metal pole pass beneath him. He landed with a grunt, raised his weapon and fired.

  More bullets tore through Morley's body, each producing a spray of black blood as the man stumbled backward. That sight alone would have been unnerving, but Morley's soft laughter made it even worse.

  A wicked grin split the man's face in two. “Fool,” he spat, shaking his head. “You never learn, do you?”

  “No,” Marcus said. “You never learn!”

  He retrieved a penny from his coat pocket and tossed it down on the cobblestones just in time to watch Morley step over it. The other man was charging like a raging bull, ready to tackle Marcus to the ground.

  Marcus triggered the Gravity-Sinks in his shoes along with the Gravity-Source that he had placed within the coin. Without warning, Morley was yanked backwards, thrown to the ground.

  Killing his Source but leaving the Sinks active, Marcus ran forward at full speed. He leaped, flipped upside down in midair and extended his arm to fire his very last bullet down at his enemy.

  It pierced Morley's forehead.

  With a bellow of triumph, Marcus turned upright and killed his Sinks. He landed in a crouch, grunted and then slowly got to his feet. “Well then,” he said, turning around. “I suppose that puts an end to-”

  The hole in Morley's forehead sealed itself, and the man groaned as he sat up. “You really don't learn,” he panted. “I must have said it a dozen times now. You can't kill me!”

  When she saw Morley follow Marcus up the street, Desa made her move. She took a deep breath, triggered her Gravity-Sink and then leaped from the rooftop. In seconds, she was passing through the shattered window in Bendarian's front wall and then landing in what appeared to be a sitting room.

  Releasing her hold on gravity, Desa bit her lip and nodded. “No time to waste,” she whispered. “Let's be done with this.”

  She drew aside her coat, pulled her gun from its holster and thumbed the hammer. Glass crunched beneath her feet as she made her way slowly across the room, but Desa figured that with all the commotion outside, no one would notice. All she had to do was get upstairs and then-

  Bendarian stepped into the open doorway.

  The man looked very much as she remembered him: tall and lean, dressed in a fine coat with golden lions embroidered on the sleeves. His face was immaculate and framed by long blonde hair that fell to the small of his back. “Good to see you again, Des-”

  Desa was yanked backwards and sideways by some unseen force.

  Her shoulder went right into the wall, and she grimaced on impact, one tear rolling over her cheek. “Marcus,” she hissed. “You never were careful.” It lasted only a moment, but that surge of gravity could have seriously injured any number of people on this street. The sound of gunfire outside made her flinch.

  Bendarian had braced himself against the door-frame, and the shock of it had taken most of the colour from his face. “Your friend Marcus is something of a blunt instrument, it seems.” He regained his balance with little difficulty and faced her as the very image of stately poise. “Crude but effective.”

  Desa looked up to fix her gaze on him, then narrowed her eyes. “You would know something about that, wouldn't you?” she breathed. “I have had the pleasure of tangling with your favourite blunt instrument many times.”

  The smile on Bendarian's face only widened as he took a few graceful steps into the room. “Indeed,” he said. “You couldn't even kill Morley when he was nothing more than an ordinary man. And now...Now, he is something else entirely.”

  “What did you do to him?”

  Bendarian shrugged, then tittered as he shook his head. “I did only what he asked me to do.” Somehow, Desa had a difficult time believing that even a bastard like Morley would ask to become an abomination. “I made him immortal.”

  “You don't have that kind of power.”

  “Don't I?”

  Red-hot anger flared to life within Desa when she remembered the things she had seen on the road to Ofalla. “The people you killed at that farmhouse,” she began. “They were possessed by something. What is it?”

  Bendarian spread his arms wide, threw his head back and roared with self-satisfied laughter. “The future!” he exclaimed. “The end of one world! The beginning of another!”

  She was about to sneer at Bendarian's grandiose claims when he surprised her by stepping aside and revealing Sebastian in the hallway. The treacherous young man was deathly pale as he watched Desa with wide eyes. “Your friend here has seen the wisdom of cooperation,” Bendarian said. “Like many his age, he is unwilling to let humanity be constrained by outdated ideas and-”

  CRACK!

  Sebastian flinched when a bullet ripped through his body, his arms flailing as he fell to the floor. Blood pooled around him, soaking into the thick red carpets.

  Desa stood with one arm extended, smoke rising from the barrel of her gun. Even she was surprised by how readily she had killed the boy. Perhaps Tommy would hate her, but she could deal with that later. Sebastian had caused enough trouble. She wasn't about to risk her safety by leaving him alive.

  By the fear in Bendarian's eyes, it was clear that the man had not expected her to kill one of her former companions. “You've grown ruthless, Desa,” he whispered. “A pity. The boy had potential.”

  “This ends now,” she whispered.

  “Indeed.”

  The room went dark, and Desa threw herself to the floor just before she heard the thunk of a knife landing in the wall. There were muffled footsteps on the carpet, and then Bendarian's shadowy silhouette was leaping through the window, sailing across the street.

  Clenching her teeth with a throaty growl, Desa shook her head. “So, escape is your game, is it?” she muttered, getting to her feet. “Sadly, Bendarian, it won't be that easy.”

  She spun around and ran for the window, then leaped and ordered her belt buckle to suppress gravity's power. Flying across the street, she stopped herself by bracing her hand against the wall of a townhouse.

  Without gravity to pull her downward, it was easy to scale that wall and climb to the roof. There, she found Bendarian leaping from the peak and crossing the next street over. He landed lightly on a rooftop and ran.

  “You won't elude me this time,” Desa rasped. “This ends tonight.”

  Up the slanted roof and down the other side; she didn't even bother to extinguish her Gravity-Sink. Running while weightless made it easy to avoid damaging the tiles or slipping and falling to her death.

  She leaped from the ledge and flew across the street with her arms stretched out before her. Wind caressed her face and blew her hat off. She didn't try to catch it. All that mattered was ending Bendarian once and for all.

  Desa hit the next roof and then somersaulted across the tiles. In a heartbeat, she was crouched and then rising to her feet.

  She ran in hot pursuit.

  At this rate, she would expend her Gravity-Sink's power in about five minutes. She had to be cautious. Forcing her to use up her Infused arsenal might have been Bendarian's plan all along. It was time to change tactics.

  Desa killed her Gravity-Sink every time she landed. Doing so forced her to move at a slower pace – it was all too possible to lose her footing
on these precarious rooftops – but she had to conserve her power for the fight to come. Keeping up with Bendarian was not that difficult.

  He was headed for the river, bouncing from rooftop to rooftop.

  She followed.

  Eventually, the man settled on the flat rooftop of a small warehouse by the docks. He chose that place to stand his ground, spinning to face Desa and drawing his own gun. So, it seemed the man was capable of something other than rampant cowardice.

  Desa landed on one knee near the ledge, then slowly rose to face her enemy. Gusts of wind pummeled her as she strode forward. “Tonight, you're going to answer for all the people you killed,” she said. “For all the lives you destroyed.”

  From up here, she could see the dark river snaking its way through the city and beyond it, more buildings, some with lights in their windows The gibbous moon allowed her to make out wooden ships moored along the riverbank.

  Bendarian chuckled softly and moved toward her with his eyes fixed on the stone under his feet. “Your talent for severity never ceases to amaze, Desa Nin Leean,” he said. “If you truly wish to kill me, by all means, try.”

  With lightning-quick reflexes, she drew her pistol, thrust her arm out and fired twice. Each squeeze of the trigger produced a flash from the barrel of her gun, and gray bullets jerked to a halt in front of Benwoth.

  The man raised his own weapon.

  Desa triggered her Gravity-Sink and jumped.

  The roaring thunderclap of gunfire filled her ears as bullets sped past beneath her. Letting gravity reassert some of its power, she flew over Bendarian's head in a wide arc and then descended to land on the rooftop behind him. Quickly, she spun around to aim her weapon.

  Bendarian was faster.

  He was already facing her and throwing a golden coin that glittered as it caught the moonlight. A powerful wave of kinetic energy hit Desa like a gale-force wind. She was propelled backward off the rooftop.

  Her Gravity-Sink prevented her from falling, but now she was stuck in an uncontrolled flight over the neighbouring buildings. Humans were not built to ride on air currents. She could not easily adjust her trajectory.

  And Bendarian was taking aim.

  Letting herself drop a few feet, Desa flinched when she felt bullets passing over her head. She pointed her own gun into the distance behind her, aiming slightly downward, and fired several times. The recoil sent a jolt of pain through her arm, but it was enough to push her back toward the warehouse. It also used up the last of her ammunition, and there was no telling when she would get a chance to reload.

  Desa grabbed the lip of the roof, planted her feet against the warehouse wall and then launched herself upward without gravity to slow her. Killing her Sink, she flipped over Bendarian's head and dropped to the rooftop behind him.

  She turned to face him, tossed her gun aside and took a few steps forward. “For ten long years, I have pursued you across this continent,” she said. “I must admit that ending this with a bullet would be far less satisfying.”

  Bendarian whirled around, hissing softly, then dropped his pistol and drew aside his coat to reveal the rapier on his hip. “You speak truth, woman.” He drew the sword with a menacing rasp. “We always knew it would end this way.”

  Desa removed the ring from her finger and then threw it down in the middle of the rooftop. With a thought, she made it glow, producing enough light to see Bendarian as he adopted a battle stance.

  He flowed toward her with exquisite grace, moving across the rooftop like a ribbon on the wind. There was no fear, no trepidation as Desa waited for his approach. She drew her daggers, focused on her breathing, and let her instincts take over. Bendarian raised his sword and swung downward in a vertical arc.

  Desa hopped to the left, the blade whistling past her right shoulder. She stepped forward, kicked the back of Bendarian's leg and forced the man down onto his knees. She swung her dagger out to the side, trying to cut the back of his neck.

  Bendarian threw himself forward, somersaulting across the rough rooftop. He rose with graceful elegance, then spun to face her.

  When she turned, she found the man striding toward her with his teeth bared in a mocking sneer. Light glinted off the curved blade of that rapier as he raised it in a salute.

  He performed another downward cut.

  Desa crossed her knives above her head, catching his sword in the x of her blades. She kicked the man's stomach with all the strength she could muster, producing a wheeze of pain as Bendarian stumbled away.

  Desa jumped, then twirled in midair, one foot lashing out for a spinning kick that took Bendarian across the cheek. Blood flew from the man's mouth as he went sideways toward the ledge.

  Desa landed.

  Rounding on him, she sprinted across the roof at full speed. It surprised her when Bendarian reached into his coat pocket, pulled out a coin and then tossed it down in front of her. She tried to stop, but it was too late.

  Frost spread across the rooftop in a wave, and the air turned bitter cold. Desa's ears burned from the chill. Her feet slipped on the ice, and then she was falling, sliding on her backside toward Bendarian.

  The man lifted his sword as if he meant to hack her to pieces.

  Skidding to a stop next to him, Desa used her daggers to catch his blade before it carved her up. Bendarian used that opportunity to deliver a quick kick to the ribs. Sharp pain flared through her body.

  Desa rolled like a log across the roof, trying to put some distance between them. She got up slowly and forced herself to ignore the agony in her middle, a fierce ache that made her want to double over.

  Bendarian was coming toward her in a slow, inexorable march, the tip of his blade bobby and weaving with every step. He was smiling, showing bloodstained teeth.

  Clenching her teeth and seething with every breath, Desa shut her eyes. “All right,” she whispered. “Let's end this.”

  She slid one dagger back into its sheath. Then she reached into her duster's pocket and slipped on the brass knuckles. With a bellow, she slammed her fist down on the roof.

  Kinetic energy spread through the stone with a rumbling sound. She kept her fist in place, draining the Force-Source of every last scrap of energy. Thick cracks spread across the rooftop and Bendarian stumbled.

  Stone fell away beneath him as the roof collapsed, but Bendarian did not fall. His Gravity-Sink allowed him to float gracefully on nothing at all, and his smile never faded. Not for an instant. Clearly, the man didn't understand his predicament. He couldn't move, and Desa was lucky in that a small lip of rooftop remained beneath her.

  She jumped and slammed into him, wrapping her arms and legs around Bendarian as her momentum propelled them downward. Without gravity, the fall seemed to last forever and a day.

  Desa punched him with the brass knuckles, striking his nose again and again. At full strength, they would have shattered his skull, but she had drained them of every last drop of kinetic energy. That didn't make it any less satisfying.

  They landed, and Bendarian brought his knee up to force Desa off him. She rolled away over a pile of smashed wooden crates. Her clothes were covered in dust when she finally stood to find herself in a narrow trench between mountains of stone fragments.

  Bendarian was at the other end of that trench with the sword in hand. His hair was in a state of disarray, and there was an ugly gash across his forehead. Desa imagined that she didn't look much better. Her ring had fallen with them, and now it cast a fierce glow upon the both of them.

  Removing the brass knuckles, Desa flung them to the floor. She looked up to fix her gaze upon her enemy. “What was it?” she asked again. “The thing that you unleashed upon this world.”

  “A power such as you could never imagine.”

  She drew her daggers, crouched down and faced the man with her blades pointed out to the sides. “And yet you rely on Field Binding to defeat me,” she said. “This power you speak of must exact a terrible cost.”

  Bendarian said nothing.
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  He just came forward with the grace of a master swordsman. No longer toying with her, he moved with serpentine grace and surprising speed, closing the distance in a matter of seconds.

  He swung at her neck.

  Desa ducked, allowing the sword to pass over her head. She moved in close to slash at his leg, drawing a red gash across his thigh. That brought a hiss of pain to Bendarian's lips and forced the man to bend double.

  Desa rammed her blade upward into his stomach, producing a croaking sound as Bendarian shuffled backward. Blood spilled from his mouth and dribbled over his chin. He tried to speak, but a fit of coughing overtook him.

  It was over.

  Marcus ran as fast as he could across rooftop after rooftop, then down into the city streets. His Gravity-Sinks were nearly filled to capacity. He would not be able to evade Morley much longer.

  His teeth were bared, his face slick with sweat as he sprinted up a street lined with squat, stone buildings on either side. There was no one in sight, nowhere to turn for help. He was alone. And the thudding of Morley's heavy footsteps filled his ears.

  He turned around to find that demon of a man a mere twenty feet away and loping up the street without the smallest sign of exhaustion. Morley pulled a stop in front of him, and a grin split the man's face. “Finally decided to stop running and take what's coming to you, huh?”

  Marcus backed away.

  “Oh, don't be shy now,” Morley said, shaking his head. He came forward with the cautious movements of a predator could all but taste its cornered prey. “Ain't nobody here to see your shame. Might as well get it over with.”

  Marcus shut his eyes, a single tear rolling over his cheek. “May the blessed light of Mercy welcome me home,” he whispered. “Let my sins be forgiven. Let my failings be absolved. I walk into this new life clean.”

  “Your heathen god can't save you, son,” Morley said. “No one can-”

  The man shrieked as he folded up with a hand on his belly, and black blood slipped through the cracks between his fingers. But how? Marcus didn't stab him or shoot him.