Coletti Warlords: Reality Bites (15 page)

Rami coughed.
“I think he broke something.”

Energy bolts sizzled wildly overhead.

Jaylan returned fire.

I did a quick scan of the area. Crap. The Radan’s assassins had found us. One of them was on top of a pinnacle of rock and had us effectively pinned down. “Can’t we teleport out of here?”

“They have an energy barrier in place.”

A black-armored glove popped out of the bubbling goo and clamped on to a rocky outcrop protruding over the pool.

“Fuck. The Terminator’s back.”

Throwing a glance over his shoulder, Jaylan settled his gaze on Rami.
“Can you create a wormhole big enough to transport all of us back to the cavern?”

“I’m not sure.”

Karoo pulled himself out of the pool. Steaming mud rolled down his suit.

“If we stay here, we die,”
Jaylan growled.

I looked Rami in the eye.
“If you can send the Queen Mother halfway across the galaxy, you can do this.”

“Me no want to die,”
Cokie wailed.

A strange, burring hum escaped from Rami. The air around us began to swirl faster and faster. A gray void opened beneath us.

I clutched Jaylan’s leg as we fell through a spinning vortex. My insides tangled into twitching knots. I tightened my grip.
Don’t let go. Don’t let go.

With a thunderous
clap
, the vortex spit us out.

The ground rose up and smacked me in the face. “Ooof.” I spat out a mouthful of dirt and took a cautious look around. Whew! We were back in the cavern.
“You did it, Rami!”

She wiggled happily.
“I did.”

Rio dropped off my head.
“Monster still lives?”

“Yes,”
Jaylan snapped and rose to his feet.
“Stay here.”

Oh hell no. I tackled him, knocking him down. “We don’t separate for any reason. Remember?”

“Bree.” Menace laced Jaylan’s voice.

“Jaylan.” He looked so adorably savage. I slid sinuously up his body and pressed a gentle kiss on his mouth. “You can’t wrap me in Bubble Wrap. I’m a warrior just like you. You need me.”

“I do.” He took my lips in an intoxicating blend of hunger and tenderness.

Rami made a hacking sound.
“Are you going to poke her?”

Jaylan sighed.
“No, but I should spank her.”

“I’m starting to like the kinky stuff, big guy.”

He grinned at me.

Cokie queried,
“What kinky?”

“We’ll discuss it when you’re a lot older.”
Fireflies zipped around my head. My Siren senses were picking up some kind of danger.

A glittering blue light sprang into existence. When it faded, Karoo stood there with a huge sword in one hand.

Oh shit!

Jaylan shoved me behind him. “If I’m defeated, run.”

“Not a chance in hell.”

Karoo bellowed his war cry.

Roaring his own, Jaylan pulled his sword and attacked.

Karoo went into hyperspeed and attacked Jaylan.

In a frightening dance of death, Jaylan teleported in and out, avoiding the Askole’s slashing sword.

Icy fear flooded my body. One tiny miscalculation, and Jaylan would be sushi. They were moving so fast I didn’t dare interfere.

“Me scared,”
Rio cried.

Cokie bristled.
“Me bite monster.”

“Not a good idea, honey. Askoles are immune to most poisons.”
There had to be a way to stop the fight.

Jaylan suddenly flew backward, slammed into the cavern wall, and crumpled to the sand.

Oh dear God, he was out cold.

The Askole prick sauntered over to Jaylan.

“Die, asshole.” I fired my laser pistol. To my dismay, the beams were absorbed by his armor. Crap. Drawing my 9mm, I emptied a clip into him. The bullets just bounced off.

Karoo swung around.
“Wait your turn.”

“I’m the impatient type.”
Using my telekinesis, I punched him as hard as I could in the groin.

The Askole’s eyes bugged out, and with an agonized cry, he dropped to his knees.

I smiled gleefully.
“Bummer. Your armor doesn’t protect you against psychic attacks, does it?”

“You will beg to die!”
Karoo shouted in fury.

“You murdered my father.”
I mentally grabbed Karoo’s balls and twisted them viciously.

“As the father died, so shall the daughter,”
he choked out.

“Your plan has a few holes in it. There are no horses on Gansu.”

Shock flared in the Askole’s yellow eyes.
“Thor was your father?”

“Yep, which makes Zarek my grandfather.”

“He cannot protect you from my wrath,”
Karoo spat.

“I don’t need his protection.”
I looked down at the snake curled around my arm.
“Rami, can you dump his ass in this solar system’s sun?”

“With great pleasure.”
Her body began to vibrate. A burring hum grew louder and louder.

The air around Karoo began to churn.

“Surrender, and I will allow you to live,”
Karoo promised hoarsely.

“Liar.”
I tightened my grip on the Askole’s manhood until he writhed in pain.

Pop!
A gray void swallowed Karoo.

“Good job, girlfriend.”
I hurried over to Jaylan and scanned his body. Thank God, other than a concussion, he was okay. I turned to the kids.
“While I fix Daddy Jaylan’s boo-boo, I need you to watch for the bad guys. Okay?”

“We protect Momma Bree,”
Rio and Cokie said in unison and climbed on Jaylan’s chest.

“I’ll guard the entrance,”
Rami said, slithering off.

I quickly did a mental check of the surrounding desert and heaved a sigh of relief. There was no sign of the assassins. Placing my hand on Jaylan’s forehead, I entered his mind and channeled healing energy into the damaged area.

The stench of burning flesh broke my concentration. Every nerve in my body went on alert.

“Monster back!”
Rio and Cokie yelled.

I turned and gasped in horrified disbelief. Tendrils of smoke rose from Karoo’s crispy fried body. Ugh. Pieces of his armor had melted into his swollen red flesh. His tentacles had been reduced to blackened stumps.
“Guess your armor doesn’t protect you from everything.”

“Now you die.”

Shit, my shields were down! I hit the icon on my bracelet, pulled a dagger from my right boot, and threw it at him.

Karoo dodged it.

I wasn’t fast enough to evade the big, charcoaled fist rocketing toward my face. It broke through my fluctuating energy field.
Bam!
I was suddenly tumbling through the air. Twenty feet later, a boulder rose up and smacked me.

“Momma Bree!”
Cokie screamed.

Everything spun in a nauseating blur. I swiped at the blood flowing down my face. Damn. My nose was broken.

“Get up! He’s coming for you!”
Rami shouted.

I shook my head to clear it. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Karoo had Jaylan’s sword. I struggled to get my feet under me.

A ferocious roar shook the cavern. A second later, an eight-hundred-pound tiger pounced on Karoo.

The Askole went into hyperspeed, dislodging Tiko and flinging her like a Frisbee. She crashed into a rocky outcrop.

Croaking his war cry, Karoo, stalked toward me.

“Mess with the best; die like the rest,” I yelled and psychically grabbed for his balls. Shit. They were gone. My hand dropped to my holster. It was empty. My backup piece was gone too. I looked around frantically. I needed a weapon.
“Backpack! Anyone seen my backpack?”

“I’ve got it.”
Rami wrapped her tail around it and ’ported.

The vortex opened beneath her, and ten seconds later, the backpack and Rami fell on me. Off balance, I tripped over a stone and did a face-plant. A sword swished over my head, missing me by a scant inch. God, Karoo was worse than one of those villains in a slasher movie who just won’t die.

Rami curled around my neck.
“How do we kill him?”

“Any way we can.”

Karoo reached for me.

I pulled my cattle prod, jammed it into his stomach, and lit him up.

The Askole staggered back, howling in agony, and dropped Jaylan’s sword.

With an ear-shattering roar, Tiko leaped on Karoo. Bones snapped and crunched loudly, but the Askole refused to go down.

Grabbing Jaylan’s sword, I shoved it into Karoo’s belly.

A big paw knocked me out of the way of Karoo’s slashing claws.

Madal vaulted on the Askole’s back and chewed viciously on his shoulder.

My can of military mace rolled out of the backpack. What the hell? I was running out of options. I quickly scooped it up and sprayed Karoo in the face.

He immediately collapsed on his hands and knees, chest heaving, mouth sucking in air hoarsely.

I gagged and struggled to breathe.

In one smooth movement, Tiko ripped Karoo’s head off. It rolled to a stop by my feet, a look of surprise permanently frozen on his face. About fucking time!

More blood sprayed the sand as Tiko ripped his body to pieces.

I scrabbled backward, trying to get far, far away from the pissed-off tiger and the mace. My back hit the cavern wall.

Madal padded up and began licking the blood off my face.

“Enough, Madal.”
I pushed him away.

His rough tongue swiped my neck.
“We saved you.”

“We saved each other.”

“My debt to you is paid,”
Tiko snarled. Blood dripped off her muzzle.

“It is. Thank you.”
Something poked me in the butt. Rolling to one side, I pulled my gun out of the sand. Yes! There was a God.

I stiffened when something big moved in the shadows. Fuck. Karoo’s punch had knocked my radar offline.
“Uh, Tiko, we have a problem.”
I slowly got to my feet.

She turned and bared her fangs as the Pantos with only one tusk stepped into the light.

Shit. How long had he been tracking Tiko?

One Tusk growled,
“I claim you as my mate. Submit to me willingly, and your cub dies quickly.”

What a sadistic prick. I rammed a clip into my gun.
“No one hurts Madal, asshole.”

“You, I will eat,”
One Tusk snarled.

“Not real bright, are you?”
I shot the tiger between the eyes, and it crumpled lifelessly to the ground.

“It seems I’m in your debt again.”
Tiko sighed.

I pulled Jaylan’s sword out of what was left of Karoo.
“Nah, let’s call it even.”

Rio and Cokie scurried up my back.
“More monsters, Momma Bree.”

“What? Where?”

A beat-to-all-hell assassin popped in. He waved his bloody sword around his body in an intricate dance. “I’m going to cut you until you beg for death.”

Too bad the blast from my booby trap hadn’t disabled his communications bracelet.
“Really? That’s the best you’ve got?”
I did my own sword dance with a little Texas two-step thrown in.

The idiot laughed.
“A mere female can never defeat a warrior.”

“Now you’ve done gone and insulted us.”

Alarm spread over the assassin’s face.
“Us?”

I pointed at Tiko, who was crouched on a boulder behind him.
“Us.”

The warrior whipped out his laser pistol and whirled to meet the threat.

I hurled my sword at him. It sliced into his legs and knocked him off balance.

Tiko leaped, and her lethal teeth clamped down on his head.
SNAP!
She broke his neck and dropped his lifeless body to the sand.

I cautiously surveyed the cavern.
“Anyone else need killing?”

“I hope not,”
Rami answered.

A shimmering blue light filled the cavern.

Give me a fucking break. How many enemy warriors were there?

The light vanished, and six armored Askoles stood there.

God, did I need some chocolate. I kicked Karoo’s head at them.
“Your entire army couldn’t catch one renegade?”

The smallest Askole picked up the head.
“You killed Karoo?”

“It was a team effort.”

Tiko bared her fangs menacingly.

The Askoles drew their weapons.

“You harm a hair on Tiko’s head, and I will kill every one of you.”

The warriors laughed.

On a private link with Rami, I said,
“I think these assholes need to be taught a lesson, don’t you?”

“Yes, but I cannot ’port all of them to the sun.”

I pictured the hellish swamp in my mind.
“Can you send them there?”

“NO!”
Jaylan appeared at my side.
“The smaller one is Sariel, the Askole High Commander.”

“So?”
I glared at my mate. Not a word of thanks for healing him?

Jaylan clamped his right hand to his chest.
“You honor us with your presence, High Commander.”

I snorted. A sharp pain zapped me in the butt, and I jumped a good foot.

“Remember your manners, granddaughter,”
Zarek rumbled.

“Yes, sir. Tiko, sit. Stay.”

A low growl rumbled in her chest as she obeyed.

Madal plopped down next to her.

Off-the-chart power roiled through the air. An instant later, Zarek, Voss, and Talree were standing next to us.

Yikes. Their expressions of sheer menace made them scary as hell.

Cokie whimpered and hid under my hair.

Zarek surveyed the mangled bodies, Tiko, and my blood-covered form before turning his attention to Sariel.
“I see you’ve met my granddaughter, Bree, and her family.”

Sariel removed his helmet.
“I have.”

Thunk
. A thermal grenade landed at our feet.

I instinctively grabbed it with my mind and lobbed it out of the cavern.
“Fire in the hole.”

Jaylan, Zarek, Talree, and Voss jumped on top of me.

I could feel Tiko’s shock when one of the Askole warriors’ energy field encircled her and Madal.

Boom!
The ground shuddered. Rocks and a thick cloud of dust slammed into the Askoles’ protective shields.