Desa Kincaid- Bounty Hunter Read online

  “What did you do to them?”

  “Oh, nothing much,” he said. “Just a few nightmares. An illusion here or there.”

  “Why?”

  Throwing his head back, Bendarian cackled. His laughter echoed off the walls and sent chills down Desa's spine. “Why?” he exclaimed. “You ask me why? I should think it would be obvious!”

  His gaze snapped down to her, and Desa nearly jumped backward. By the eyes of Vengeance, the man had her on edge. “I've been trying to kill you for years,” Bendarian said. “And each time, I was met with failure. Your stubborn refusal to die haunted me until I thought I might go mad. Was I doomed to live out this cycle forever, battling you over and over and yet never achieving victory?”

  “You have a very grandiose opinion of yourself.”

  “But then, at long last, I understood,” Bendarian continued as if she hadn't even spoken. “I couldn't kill you before because I wasn't meant to kill you then. Because you were meant to die here.”

  Turning her head to survey her surroundings, Desa felt her brow furrow. “I suppose there are worse places to spend eternity,” she muttered. “One of us won't be leaving here; that much is certain.”

  Bendarian raised a single finger, waggling it at her as he strode forward. “You see, it all made sense to me when I finally grasped the true nature of the Nether,” he said. “You wounded me in Ofalla, and in that moment, my power increased tenfold.”

  Bendarian spread his arms wide, and then he floated upward. In seconds, he was hovering above the raised floor, directly in the sunlight that came in through the hole in the ceiling. “Emotion, Desa!” he exclaimed. “After Thrasa, I understood. You wounded me, and I hated you for it!”

  Slowly, he descended to land on his toes, and his grin widened into a sickening rictus. “That hatred made me powerful enough to pull myself back from the brink of death. The Nether responds to raw, unbridled emotion. It was the only thing that saved me.”

  Desa aimed her gun with a steady hand, cocked her head to one side and sniffed disdainfully. “Can it save you this time?”

  “It won't just save me,” Bendarian declared. “It will elevate me to godhood. I found this place years ago when I was still searching for a way to Infuse the Ether directly into living tissue. Our abilities are amplified here. We can manipulate the Ether with greater dexterity. So, when I kill you here, I will be strong enough to rip a hole in the Ether. The Nether will flood into this world, and I will remake it in my own-”

  CRACK!

  Bendarian's hand shot up to close around something. A moment later, his fingers uncurled to reveal a bullet in his palm.

  Desa stood with her gun pointed straight at his chest, a thin trail of smoke rising from the barrel. “I have no patience for speeches,” she said. “If we're going to fight, let's be done with it already.”

  She triggered the Heat-Source in the bullet.

  Bendarian screeched as his hand became a blackened mass of scorched flesh. He tossed the bullet aside and then vanished with the slight whoosh of air filling the space he had vacated.

  Every sensation was heightened as Desa ran across the raised floor and leaped from the edge. Triggering her Gravity-Sink allowed her to fly up to the second level, where a doorway in the wall led to a tunnel.

  She ducked inside, spun around and pressed her back to the stone wall, gasping for breath. Sweat rolled over her face. “Come on, you ugly bastard,” she whispered. “Show yourself!”

  No sense in staying put.

  Desa hurried up the narrow passageway with her pistol held in both hands. It wasn't all that long before she came to an opening the wall on her right, and when she went around the corner, she found a corridor identical to the one she had just left. A corridor that was illuminated by stones that gave off a soft, orange glow. Light-Sources.

  No sooner did she take that first step than Bendarian appeared twenty paces in front of her with a fireball balanced above his upturned palm. He sent it flying toward Desa with a flick of his wrist.

  Desa spun around the corner.

  Pressing her back to the stone, she watched as the fireball hit the wall across from her with enough force to send chunks of rock flying. Some of them grazed her, and one left a gash across her bare shoulder.

  Squeezing her eyes shut, Desa trembled as she drew in a breath. “Mercy shield your daughter from harm,” she whispered. “This I pray as one who has served you from birth, as one who will serve you until the moment of her death.”

  She fired around the corner.

  Bendarian danced backward in the adjoining corridor, his hands flying up to snatch her bullets out of the air. Soft laughter echoed off the walls as he retreated. Desa followed him in, advancing as he backed away.

  Suddenly he vanished.

  Her last shot hit the wall, shattering one of the glowing stones. Its fragments fell to the floor, but they still gave off faint orange light. An Infused object was still Infused even if you bludgeoned it into a hundred pieces. The Infusion was woven into every molecule.

  Desa continued forward. If Bendarian could appear anywhere at will, there was no point in trying to get away from him. And if she could keep him away from the crystal, so much the better.

  A whoosh of air behind her.

  Twisting on the spot, Desa fired the last bullet in her gun without even bothering to look at her target. When she turned around, she saw Bendarian backing up with his fists closed around several of the slugs she had loosed.

  He hit the scorched wall, then bared his teeth and gave his head a shake. “You are becoming quite the nuisance,” he snarled.

  He threw the bullets back at her.

  By instinct, Desa raised her left hand to shield herself. Four smoking slugs came to an abrupt halt right in front of her. They all fell to the floor when she let her arm drop, but Bendarian wasn't done with her.

  He stretched a hand out toward her, and his face contorted into an inhuman mask of rage and malice. Desa was lifted off the floor, pulled toward Bendarian like a fish caught on a line. There was no way to stop it. The man had her in his grip, and he knew it.

  Discarding her empty pistol, Desa made a fist and triggered the Light-Source in her ring. The harsh glare hit Bendarian's face, forcing him to shut his eyes tight. In that brief moment of distraction, Desa drew her knife.

  She collided with Bendarian, wrapping her legs around his waist, and then drove the blade of her dagger into his throat. His eyes flew open, and he let out a gurgling sound as dark blood spilled from his gaping mouth.

  He vanished again.

  Desa landed, bent double with a hand over her chest, shaking her head as she tried to get her bearings. “It's not that easy,” she whispered. “Mercy protect your foolish child, it can't be that easy.”

  She straightened and rubbed her eyes with the back of one fist. Then she recovered her lost pistol. Popping open the cylinder, she loaded six more rounds.

  That done, she went back around the corner and ran for the central chamber. She was only two steps away from the ledge when Bendarian appeared just beyond the opening, floating in the open air on nothing at all.

  He was snarling, with dark veins growing over his face, and there was a scar on his neck where her knife had pierced his flesh. “Die!” he screamed, flinging one hand out toward her.

  Jagged cracks appeared in the ceiling, deep chasms in the stone, and then chunks of rubble were falling on Desa. Shielding herself with her left hand, she triggered the Force-Sink in her bracelet.

  Large rocks floated right above her head, suspended in midair. That gave her time enough to run at full speed and leap from the ledge.

  She slammed into Bendarian, and her momentum propelled them both down onto the raised floor. They hit hard and rolled apart, grunting from the impact.

  Skidding to a stop, Desa got up on one knee and looked over her shoulder toward Bendarian, a line of blood dripping from the corner of her mouth. “You were right,” she panted. “We are destined to do this.
..Forever.”

  “No!”

  He stood up, facing her and shaking his head in disgust. “No! I will not be bound to you!” His trembling hands came up, and a ball of fire coalesced between them, growing larger and larger until it was the size of Desa's head.

  She opened the cylinder of her gun and spun it to select the bullet she wanted. Then she slapped it back into place and took aim.

  Bendarian was standing with the growing fireball between his palms, his face alight with devilish glee. His laughter echoed through the pyramid. For half a second, he let his gaze linger on Desa...and then he sent that monstrosity hurtling toward her.

  Desa fired, triggering the Heat-Sink.

  Perhaps it was her increased awareness of the Ether, but everything seemed to slow down. The bullet came spiraling out of her pistol, trailed by a line of smoke. It flew lazily toward the oncoming fireball, and when it passed through the flames, they winked away in an instant, their heat consumed.

  Onward, the bullet flew toward Bendarian, who stood with his gaping mouth frozen in a silent scream. It pierced his body, just below the chest, and frost spread over him in a wave, stretching to the souls of his shoes, to the tips of his fingers and the top of his head. There was a crackling sound as flesh stiffened and moisture crystalized over his eyes.

  He was dead.

  It was over.

  Pressing her fingertips to her forehead, Desa shut her eyes as she struggled to catch her breath. “It's over,” she whispered. “Sweet Mercy, it's over.”

  She stood up and became instantly aware of her aching muscles. The effort nearly knocked her back down again. Of course, she could just...The Ether seemed to wash over her almost of its own accord, and the pains throughout her body began to fade. Slowly, but they did fade.

  When she looked at the collection of particles that made up Bendarian's body, she gasped in fright. There was a darkness between them, linking every molecule to each of its neighbours and straining to burst forth from his skin. The Nether. He was its conduit into this world, and it wanted out. Which could only mean one thing.

  Bendarian was still alive.

  She released the Ether and watched in horror as the frost that covered Bendarian from head to toe melted away. His lips parted in a smile. “You simply refuse to learn, don't you?” he said. “How many times must I tell you, Desa? You can't hurt me.”

  He spread his arms wide, striding toward her and tittering like a madman. “Do you not see?” he bellowed. “I am connected to a force far older than this universe, a force that will remake the cosmos. I am immortal! Unbreakable! You cannot hurt me!”

  CRACK!

  Bendarian stumbled as a bullet went through his left side and burst out his right. CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! He staggered with every step forward, squealing as hot lead pierced his flesh. Finally, he collapsed to his knees.

  Adele stood on the edge of the raised floor in a tattered dress, her long golden hair braided and wrapped around her neck, a pistol in her outstretched hand. “Maybe not,” she said. “But I can!”

  Chapter 26

  Desa rushed into her lover's arms, abandoning any thought of lecturing the other woman for foolishly following her into the desert. She stood on her toes, taking Adele's face in both hands and kissing her lips.

  Closing her eyes, Desa let her head sink with the weight of her exhaustion. “I love you,” she whispered. “Thank you.”

  A blush coloured Adele's cheeks, but her fond smile was one of the most beautiful things Desa had ever seen. “What are soulmates for?” she asked. “But we must be quick. He will be on his feet again shortly.”

  “I'll finish him.”

  Wincing as if the thought of it brought her pain, Adele shook her head. “You can't kill him, Desa,” she said. “He was right about that much at least. The Nether will sustain him through any damage you inflict.”

  Desa took a shaky step backward, her pistol in one hand and pointed at the floor. She drew in a shuddering breath. “Then what do we do?” she rasped. “I can think of no other way to subdue him.”

  Adele looked upward, blinking as she took in the sight of the massive crystal in the ceiling. “He needs that to release the Nether,” she said. “If I can destroy it, it won't matter if we kill him.”

  “Can you destroy it?”

  An impish grin was Adele's reply. She bent forward to kiss Desa's forehead. “I don't know who created that thing,” she said. “But it amplifies our abilities. In this place, I can guide the Ether with a precision I would have never thought possible. It's a simple matter of creating a feedback loop.”

  A feedback loop? Turn the pulses back on their source. Yes...Desa could see how that might shatter the crystal. But it would require Adele to enter a trance-like state. She would be vulnerable.

  The other woman seemed to realize the implications because she turned her back and rushed down the stairs, running for the tunnel that led back outside. “Just keep him off me for a few minutes,” she said. “This won't take long.”

  A few minutes? Something about that felt off. Even with enhanced control of the Ether, it should have taken longer to crack a crystal like that. But then, Adele had always displayed abilities beyond anything that should have been possible. Perhaps it was fate. Perhaps she was here because Desa needed her. Either way, Desa didn't argue.

  When she turned, Bendarian was getting to his feet, and his face was...demonic. His skin was a dark, ashen gray with black veins that seemed to pulse. His one remaining eye was red. It seemed that every time he used the Nether to heal himself, he lost a little more of his humanity. “The girl is a fool,” he spat. “She cannot shatter that crystal. Certainly not with only a few minutes of effort.”

  His lips parted in what might have been a smile, and Desa gasped at the sight of two large fangs protruding from his mouth. “I will dispose of you,” he said. “And then I will deal with the girl.”

  He threw a small fireball.

  Desa jumped, triggering her Gravity-Sink, and backflipped as the sizzling ball of flame passed by beneath her. She uncurled, killed the Sink and dropped to land upon the edge of the raised floor.

  Her head came up; she breathed slowly through her nose, and then her eyes flicked open. “You simply refuse to learn,” she said. “You cannot kill me.”

  With a snarl, Bendarian flew up toward the crystal.

  He floated in the air, spreading his arms wide, lightning flashing from the tips of his fingers. Damn it, Marcus was right! If only Desa had bothered to make an Electric-Sink. Then again...

  The Ether came to her with no effort at all, and Desa worked by instinct. She chose her two earrings, laying down a lattice that would draw electrical energy from anything coming toward her, but not from her own body.

  She broke her connection to the Ether.

  Bendarian hovered under the bottom the crystal with a ball of lightning crackling between his palms. He screamed, thrust his arms forward, and Desa triggered the Sinks.

  A jagged silver lance tried to stab her, tried to obliterate her, tried to scour her to ash, but it winked away before it got within an inch of Desa's body. Even still, the light was so fierce that even behind her eyelids, her eyes were smarting. “Why won't you die?” Bendarian moaned. “Why won't you die?”

  He began a quick descent toward her.

  Desa ordered her belt buckle to drain gravitational energy.

  She jumped when Bendarian drew near, turned belly-up and brought her feet up to smash the underside of his chin. Flipping over, she flew backwards until her feet hit the wall. Then she compressed like a spring and pushed off.

  A dazed Bendarian was still floating in the air before her, black blood dripping from his mouth, running over his chin. Desa slammed into him, propelling them both across the room until his back hit the wall.

  She punched his face once, twice, three times. Each blow elicited a snarl from his monstrous throat. Two claw-like hands grabbed Desa's shirt and shoved her away.

  Even factoring
in its low height, climbing to the top of the pyramid was not easy. No, not the least bit easy. A woman of means should not have to subject herself to this, but Adele stifled her complaints.

  She had work to do.

  On her knees at the edge of the pyramid's flat top, Adele panted and wiped sweat off her brow with the back of one hand. “Focus...” Her eyes flew open. “Just a few more minutes. You can do this.”

  She looked back over her shoulder.

  Midnight was waiting at the base of the pyramid, watching her with apprehension on his face. If a horse could display apprehension in his gaze, that was. This one certainly managed a reasonable facsimile of it, anyway. This wasn't the first time Adele had caught him staring, and she hated it.

  Getting to her feet was difficult, but she did it and then stumbled forward to lay her hand on the crystal. It was warm to the touch, and the Ether's pulses seemed to intensify when she made contact.

  Only a few minutes more.

  If Desa could keep Bendarian busy just a few minutes longer, Adele could do what had to be done. She set to work.

  Desa hit the raised floor and rolled like a log across its surface. Flopping over onto her belly, she groaned and then tried to push herself up on extended arms. Her head was ringing like a struck gong.

  Through blurry vision, she saw Bendarian descending toward her. Only one thing to do. Drawing her pistol from its holster, she extended her arm and pointed it at the wall. A wall would do well enough.

  She fired.

  Once her bullet embedded itself in the stone, she triggered the Gravity-Source that she had Infused into it along with the Sink in her belt. Bendarian was yanked backward until he crashed into the wall. And with him pinned, she had a moment to get up.

  Desa rose, lifted her gun in one hand and fired again and again. Each slug that ripped through his body caused Bendarian to writhe and spasm against the wall. He shrieked and hurled fire at her.