Run To Earth (Power of Four) (30 page)

“The only thing this brings is death,” Aaron said, feeling a horrible sense of d
éjà vu, but too occupied to figure out why exactly.

Kyran sighed and straightened up. “Suit yourself,” he said, grabbing his pistol back from Aaron. “Good luck hunting without any weapons.”

“Kyran!” Aaron called after him as he started walking away. “I want to learn how to use my powers, not guns.”

“When you’re hunting in the human realm you can’t use your powers,” Kyran said, stopping to turn and face him. “This,” he held up the gun, “is your power then. Your sword, your guns, your blades – they’re an extension of your hand. You have to learn to use them as such.”

Aaron felt his already darkening mood take a further plunge. “Because of the vamages?” he asked bitterly. “We can’t use our powers in the human realm in case vamages are lurking around.”

“Pretty much,” Kyran replied. “And of course to avoid putting the Trace on any spying humans.”

Aaron ran a hand through his hair, exhaling deeply. “Fine!” he bit out. “Give me the gun.”

Kyran smirked but held out the semi-automatic pistol.

Aaron grabbed hold of the firearm and went over Kyran’s instructions again in his head. He reached out and slid the rack back. Breathing out a slow, calm breath, Aaron held up the gun, one hand underneath to steady the firearm. He took aim at the first dark brown glass bottle sitting on the wall at least three metres from him. He aimed and pulled the trigger. The shot rang loudly but nothing happened to the bottle. It sat untouched. Aaron dropped his hands with a grimace.

Kyran looked from the bottles back to Aaron. “That’s amazing. You managed to get the bullet to go completely in the opposite direction. You know what to do? Aim at the other wall, you might hit the bottles.”

Aaron glowered at him. “Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.”

“And pointing that out is the lowest form of cool,” Kyran returned.

Aaron ignored him and took aim again. The second shot rang out and missed, leaving the bottles untouched. Aaron took the next shot, then the next and the next. Each one missed its target.

“Wow,” Kyran said dryly. “You missed
every single
bottle.” He gave him a mocking grin. “Nice one, Ace.”

Aaron ignored him and took the last shot. It too missed.

Kyran let out a sigh, hands on his hips and head dropped. “Mages are born with good aim,” he muttered.

“You’re not helping!” Aaron snapped.

Kyran took the gun from him, loaded a full clip and turned to face him. With his eyes on Aaron, Kyran aimed at the bottles and blew each one off the wall until nothing was left but shattered glass.

“It’s not hard,” Kyran said as he handed the gun back to Aaron. He waved a hand and another dozen bottles floated up to line the top of the wall.

“Where did you get so many bottles from?” Aaron asked moodily.

“The beer fairy,” Kyran replied. “Focus on shooting the damn things, will you?”

Aaron ignored him and took aim again.

“What’s going on here?” Scott’s voice came from behind them.

Aaron turned and lowered his gun. A sharp look from Kyran and Aaron fumbled with the little lever on its side, decocking it.

“Kyran is teaching you how to shoot?” Scott asked, as if it were the strangest thing in all the realms.

“Yeah,” Aaron replied. “Apparently it’s part of the requirement of becoming a Hunter.”

Scott looked surprised. “A Hunter?” he asked. “You?” He eyed him for a moment before smiling. “Taking over the family business, huh?”

Aaron fought to keep his expression clear of bitter anger. “Something like that.”

“It’s good,” Scott said. “We need more Hunters.” He winked before laughing. “It’ll be good for you to understand the dynamics of how to use your powers.”

“Yeah, if we ever get to that part,” Aaron said, throwing Kyran a look.

“You can’t hit a stationary target three metres from you,” Kyran said. “We’ll deal with moving the earth later.”

Scott chuckled, shaking his head. “Take it easy on him,” he told Kyran. “I came to tell you there’s a meeting in exactly thirty minutes. Get yourself down to the Hub.” He looked at Aaron. “You too, Hunter.” He smiled and turned to walk away.

“Half an hour,” Kyran said. “Let’s see how many bottles you can miss.”

***

“Welcome, everyone, to another meeting.” Scott smiled at the twenty or so mages. “Let’s get the updates out of the way. Firstly, we got confirmation from Latan. The devastation was indeed the work of the Scorcher.”

A ripple of incensed muttering spread across the room. Scott raised a hand and the mages quietened.

“Secondly, we’ve received information that suggests the Scorcher is moving east,” Scott said. His hand hovered over the map and it changed, zooming into the mess of spidery, thin lines. “If we plan this right, we may just have a chance to get the son of a demon.”

Agreement swept through the room.

“There’ll be more on that in the next few meetings,” Scott said. “The topic for today is the Ichadaris in Danwan. They are posing a real threat to the locals. There have been teams sent out over the last month or two but they’ve failed. So, it’s come to us.”

Ryan snorted loudly. “Of course it’s come to us. We’re freaking brilliant.”

“There’s the modesty I love.” Zhi-Jiya grinned.

“Seriously, though,” Omar said, “the other teams can’t handle a bunch of Ichis?”

“Apparently teams have been ‘lost’ over these particular Ichis,” Ella said.

“No, no.” Scott waved a hand in dismissal, scrunching up his face. “No one’s been lost. The hunts have failed, but no lives have been lost, thank Heavens.”

“Alright,” Skyler drawled, looking bored. “When do we move out?”

“Tomorrow,” Scott replied. “Get plenty of rest tonight. You’ll be going first thing in the morning.” He clapped his hands. “That’s it. Thank you for your attention. You can go now.” He turned to the table and leant over it, examining the map.

Aaron remained seated while the rest of the mages got up and started to make their way out the doors.

“Coming?” Kyran asked, standing up.

“Yeah, in a minute,” Aaron said. “I need to ask Scott something.”

Scott looked up at the mention of his name. “Really?” he asked with a frown. “What do you want to ask me?”

“The Scorcher,” Aaron called out. “You’ve mentioned him before but I don’t know who he is.”

Skyler and Ella were almost out the door when they stopped, turning to look at Aaron. An expression of unease blanketed Scott’s face. He stepped away from the table, shaking his head.

“Of course,” he mumbled. “You have no knowledge of him.” He stepped forward, rubbing his hands nervously. “Now that you’re training to be a Hunter, I think it’s imperative that you understand the war and where the situation currently stands. Even your father can’t raise an objection against that.”

“Don’t worry about my dad,” Aaron said at once. “Or his objections.”

Scott looked a little thrown by Aaron’s brazen disregard for his father’s wishes, but he didn’t comment on it. “Okay.” He looked over at Kyran and then Skyler, seemingly trying to figure out what to say. “I think it’s best to start at the beginning.” He walked over and sat down next to Aaron. His expression grew solemn. “To understand the war, you have to understand who Hadrian is.”

“A vamage,” Aaron answered.

“You know about that?” Scott asked in surprise.

Aaron glanced awkwardly at Ella. “Found out just recently.”

Scott nodded, his expression darkening. “Hadrian turned about sixteen years ago,” he started in a quiet voice. “When he escaped Neriah, Hadrian was the one and only vamage. A hybrid had never existed before.” He looked around at Aaron. “There was nothing known about such a creature. Half mage, half vampire. What were its powers? What were its weaknesses? No one knew. Neriah bound Hadrian’s power, locking it. Truth was, most of us thought Hadrian would die. Our powers are linked to our life force. If our powers are taken, so is our life.”

“But Hadrian didn’t die?” Aaron asked.

“No,” Scott replied. “His demonic powers sustained his life force.” He looked down at his hands, which had curled into balls. “He should have died,” he whispered. He raised his head, his expression showed his struggle to remain composed. “For about a year, nothing happened,” he managed to continue. “Neriah and the rest thought it was the last they’d seen of Hadrian, but Hadrian was slowly and quietly building an army of his own – vamages like him but with their powers unbound. They became his strength and Hadrian declared war by tearing down the first Gate.”

“When did he do that?” Aaron asked.

“About fifteen years ago,” Scott replied, “but it wasn’t so bad. Hadrian tore down a few Gates and took over the zones but Neriah fought back. When Hadrian tore a Gate down, Neriah and his mages went in and set it back up again. They snatched the zones back from Hadrian, only for another Gate and zone to fall victim to the vamages. It went on like that for years. Even then Neriah managed to keep Hadrian back. I don’t think Hadrian ever got more than three or four zones at any one time.”

Aaron frowned. The map he had seen had nineteen red zones – Hadrian’s zones. His confusion must have been clear to read, for Scott nodded sadly at him.

“Two years ago, we started losing the zones. One by one, the Gates fell and vamages took over. We couldn’t get past their defences. The power behind their attacks had increased a hundred fold. In a matter of months, they took over twenty zones.”

“How?” Aaron asked, horrified. “What happened?”

Scott held his gaze. “The Scorcher happened.”

“Son of a demon popped up out of nowhere,” Skyler added.

“I don’t understand.” Aaron looked to Scott.

“The Scorcher,” Scott said, “is the reason Hadrian took twenty zones in six months. The Scorcher is the leader of the vamages. They’re under his control. With Hadrian’s powers still locked, it’s the Scorcher’s power that we’re really up against.”

“Why’s this Scorcher so strong?” Aaron asked.

Scott paused, taking in a deep breath. “The Scorcher,” he said, “is Hadrian’s son.”

Aaron’s eyes widened with surprise. “Son?” he asked.

“Vampires can’t procreate,” Ella said, “and at first we thought the same would be true for vamages.” She took in a long breath. “But like Scott said, not a lot is known about vamages. Their species is only sixteen years old.”

“How do you know he’s Hadrian’s son?” Aaron asked.

“The Scorcher wields the Blade of Aedus,” Scott replied. “Only Hadrian’s direct descendant could do that.”

“And the Scorcher is proof himself,” Kyran added. “Only Hadrian’s son could do the things he does.”

“Hadrian didn’t have any descendants when he was a mage,” Scott said, “so it stands to reason that the Scorcher was born after Hadrian turned. We’re assuming that vamages follow the same growth pattern as mages. At age thirteen the core awakens and powers start to come through.”

“Which is why after years and years of sitting on only three zones, suddenly Hadrian’s kingdom grew to twenty zones practically overnight,” Ella said.

“It took six months,” Kyran corrected.

“Details,” Ella brushed him off.

“That’s when the Scorcher turned thirteen,” Aaron realised. “He started taking the zones as soon as his core awoke.”

“Hadrian must have impregnated some poor woman soon after escaping Neriah,” Ella said.

“Probably with the sole purpose of having a descendant do his bidding,” Skyler added.

“And the Scorcher does his father’s bidding well,” Scott said. “He’s tearing this world and the human realm to pieces at Hadrian’s orders.”

Aaron shook his head, trying to slow the influx of information so it all made sense. “Why do you call him the Scorcher?” he asked.

“Why do you think?” Skyler asked, in his usual, annoyed-because-you-spoke tone.

“’Cause he’s hot.” Ella smirked.

“He is?” Aaron asked.

“How am I supposed to know?” Ella asked. “I haven’t seen him.”

“The call him the Scorcher,” Kyran started, “because he burns everything he touches. That’s the
hot
reference
.
” He looked over at Ella and pulled a face. “Not particularly clever.”

Ella shrugged.

Of course,
Aaron berated himself mentally. He should have known that.
Avira have the power of Air, Afton have the power of Water, Adams have the power of Earth so Aedus must have the power of Fire.

“Hadrian’s powers were bound by Neriah,” Scott said, “but the Scorcher has his powers. He’s an Elemental, so the force of his power is phenomenal. If he comes into his full power, he will destroy this realm and all the others with barely a twitch of his finger.”

“Full powers?” Aaron asked. Then he realised the Scorcher had only turned thirteen two years ago, proven by the takeover of the zones at that time. Which meant that the Scorcher was only... “Fifteen,” Aaron breathed. “He’s...he’s fifteen.” The Scorcher – the one destroying this realm and wreaking absolute havoc on the human realm was a boy, only a year older than him.