Run To Earth (Power of Four) (32 page)

Jean and Danielle stopped playing.

“Finally.” Kyran grinned, pulling out his gun. “Now we can really dance.”

One of the sandy-coloured snakes leapt towards him, fangs bared. Kyran moved out of the way. Jean and Danielle rushed to their feet, guns drawn and came to Ryan and Kyran’s side.

The snakes raised their heads, spitting and hissing at the Hunters. Aaron watched as the Hunters darted out of the way of the attacks. Aaron found himself watching Kyran, almost breathless with fear as he dodged the snakes’ fangs. The further Kyran backed up, the closer one snake came to him. Kyran held out a hand and the snake was pushed flat against the ground. It twitched, its pointed tail flapped this way and that, trying to get free from the invisible hold. Kyran stepped forward and pinned the snake under his foot before sliding the rack on his gun back. A single resounding shot and the snake fell still, then turned to ash.

The sound of the first shot sent the other nine snakes into a panic. Their attacks increased in vigour. All four Hunters managed to avoid getting bitten by keeping low, their backs curved as they darted out of the way of deadly fangs.

Again, Aaron could only watch Kyran as he pinned the snakes to the ground with either his power or his foot, and shot each one in the head. From the sound of it, Ryan, Jean and Danielle were doing the same. The last of the ten snakes was shot by Danielle and silence fell around them. Aaron released his breath, unaware he’d been holding it. Kyran looked up at him and waved the hand that was still clutched around his gun, gesturing for him to come over.

Aaron moved forward, his legs shaky under him.

“Keep close,” Kyran told him. “It’s about to get messy.”

Aaron turned to him with an open mouth. “What?” he asked. “Didn’t you just kill all of them?”

Kyran turned to look at him incredulously. “Did you think the whole of Danwan was being terrorised by only ten Ichis?”

Cold sweat broke out over Aaron. “How many are there?” he asked.

Kyran pulled out his second gun and grinned. “Enough for all of us.”

At first, Aaron didn’t notice it. Then he picked up the faint hissing, which got louder with each passing moment. With a sickening lurch in his stomach, he realised what it was: the angry cries of at least a hundred snakes as they slithered out from all directions, coming right at them. The four Hunters stood in a circle, with Aaron in the middle. All four had their guns drawn and aimed.

“Where are the rest?” Jean said.

“Who cares?” Kyran grinned. “More for us.”

“Too much for us.” Danielle pointed out and held onto her spiral pendant. “Skyler! Get down here!”

“Relax,” Kyran drawled in a perfect imitation of the blond-haired Elemental. “He’ll get to the party. You know how much he loves his big entrances.”

Ryan chuckled, his gaze fixed on the sea of serpents heading their way.

“That’s true,” he said, “but you’re just as guilty of big entrances. Remember the last Lycan hunt?”

Kyran laughed, highly amused. “I choose my moments.”

Ryan let out a grunt. “Yeah, but you–”

“Guys,” Aaron interrupted. “Poisonous snakes, around the clock!”

The sound of the spitting and hissing snakes was terrifying in itself but to see them sit up, heads raised and fangs bared, was truly frightening. Aaron couldn’t look away, even though it was all he wanted to do.

“Come on.” Kyran raised both hands, guns cocked and aimed. “Time for the big finish.”

His first two shots were the signal and the other three joined in. The sound of gunshots tore through the forest, reverberating throughout Danwan. Aaron covered his ears but it was hardly worth it; he was too close to the guns. His ears were ringing painfully.

The Hunters fired continuously, taking out snake after snake. Standing back to back in a circle, they managed to protect themselves and each other from the surrounding Ichadaris. When Kyran’s first gun emptied, he pocketed it and held out his hand, sweeping it back. At least thirty snakes were thrown up into the air. Ryan pulled back his hand and threw out a line of fire right under them. There was nothing to stop the snakes from falling into the flames.

“That’ll keep them busy for a while.” Ryan grinned. He leant back to speak to Aaron. “The only way to kill an Ichadaris is to crush its head.”

“Or make a hole in it,” Kyran added and then did exactly that to two snakes.

“Lovely.” Aaron grimaced.

“And only when they’re in their true forms,” Danielle said, pausing to click another magazine into her pistol. “Hence the Bean.” She started shooting again.

“Bean?” Aaron asked, then realised she was talking about the strange flute she and Jean had been playing. It was obviously what forced the Ichadaris to turn back to their true snake form. “Not that I don’t appreciate it,” he started, “but the lesson can wait till after.”

“On the field learning,” Kyran laughed. “Nothing beats it, Ace.”

Aaron saw a stream of snakes, still aflame, come thundering out of the fire, hissing horribly, twisting and turning on the ground. Even with their shooting, burning and using their powers, the Hunters couldn’t keep the snakes back for long. A few slippery serpents found their way close enough to try to bite. Aaron understood the need for heavy boots now. Kyran and Danielle made sweeping gestures with their hands and the snakes were blasted away.

Aaron spotted one snake amongst others, coiling itself tightly, rearing back. Aaron knew what it was about to do, even though the idea seems ludicrous. But to his horror, he found the snake launched itself into the air, coming straight at them with an open mouth, its glistening fangs ready. Kyran caught it, as easily as one would catch a ball. He threw the snake down and pinned it under his shoe before shooting it in the head. Following
that one snake’s example, others started throwing themselves into the air, attacking the Hunters.

Ryan reached for his sword, pulling Abigail out of her sheath. He sliced the serpents that came flying towards them, swinging the sharp blade this way and that. The other three kept shooting, catching the Ichadaris with gloved hands and throwing them back down.

Aaron caught sight of one snake from the corner of his eye, cutting through the air, coming right at him. Aaron didn’t turn but ducked instead. The snake landed next to him, having passed through the gap between Jean and Ryan’s shoulders to get into the middle of Aaron’s protective circle. Aaron could barely breathe, staring at the enraged snake as it reared its head up and looked right at him with its yellow eyes. The snake coiled tight and leapt upwards, fangs ready to sink into Aaron’s flesh.

“Ky–!” was all Aaron managed to get out.

It was all that was needed.

Kyran turned and grabbed the snake, before it could get near Aaron. He turned to slam the snake back onto the ground and shot it three times.

Voices, several of them, pierced their way through the ominous hissing and Aaron looked around to see the other Hunters had finally arrived. He caught sight of Ella and Skyler, Julian, Omar and the rest as they came with their guns blazing. Skyler tore his way across the grounds, gun in one hand and sword in the other. A mighty gust blew around him, pulling the snakes up into the air for him to shoot or slice.

“What’d I tell ya?” Kyran smiled. “Big entrances.”

***

The battle didn’t last long after the rest of the Hunters arrived. The Ichadaris didn’t stand a chance.

“How do you know that’s all of them?” Aaron asked Ryan as they walked back to their bikes in the bright sunlight. “There might be some left.”

“Nah.” Ryan smiled. “The Ichadaris attack together. You kill one of theirs, they’ll all come as one to kill you.”

“Loyalty,” Aaron said. “Not something usually associated with snakes.”

“These are Ichadaris,” Ryan said. “Snake demons. Vengeance is inbred in these beings.”

“The villagers,” Aaron said, glancing at the shaken group of people sitting outside their huts. “They looked like they were under a spell.”

“Enchantment of the Serpents,” Ryan explained. “The Ichadaris can hypnotise and lure you anywhere. Under their trance, you’ll do whatever they want. That’s how they take their victims; they sit patiently in line while the Ichadaris take their time to eat their way through them.”

Aaron grimaced. “That’s horrible.”

“That’s Ichadaris,” Ryan replied. “They have the power to shape-shift into pretty much anything, although they prefer to take on the form of beautiful girls.” Ryan shuddered. “Such a mind mess, that.”

“How come we didn’t fall under their spell?” Aaron asked.

Ryan held up his silver necklace, the inverted V dangled from the end. “Aric’s mark protects us, even if it’s only one of the four symbols.”

They reached their bikes and Aaron waited until Kyran mounted his bike first before he climbed on behind.

“So?” Kyran asked as Lexi purred to life. “What’d you think?”

“It was terrifying,” Aaron replied honestly. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more scared in my life.” He smiled. “So when’s the next one?”

Kyran turned to look at him, grinning broadly, a spark of pride in his eyes. He turned the bike around and sped off, following the rest back to Salvador.

***

That night there was a celebration, in honour of the success of the Ichadaris hunt. Before dinner, the Hunters and mages gathered at the table where Scott handed out beer bottles to all of them while Mary followed behind him, giving out tall glasses of fruit cocktails for the younger mages. Distracted by his talk with Mary, Scott put a bottle of beer down in front of Aaron.

Aaron lifted it up to examine the unmarked brown glass bottle. He brought it to his lips but before he could take a sip, Kyran came up behind him and took the bottle from his hand, replacing it with a glass of juice.

Aaron narrowed his eyes. “So I can use a gun but not drink beer?” he asked.

Kyran seemed to consider the question before nodding. “Yeah, pretty much.”

With his and Aaron’s bottle, he walked away to sit with Ella and Ryan. Aaron shook his head but sipped at his fruit juice nonetheless.

Everyone was in a cheery mood. Scott couldn’t stop smiling, beaming with pride over his Hunters. The younger mages – mostly the kitchen staff – were crowded around the Hunters, listening to the recount of the hunt with awe-filled expressions. Aaron was particularly amused with Ryan’s storytelling abilities.

“...then I swung round and sliced through three flying Ichis at once,” he said. “They were all coming for me, hissing and spitting, fangs ready, but I sent them to hell with one strike of my sword.”

“More like ten strikes,” Danielle corrected. “And you still couldn’t cut off their heads.”

“Shut up.” Ryan elbowed her.

Kyran and Ella chuckled, teasing Ryan. Through the jokes and laughter, Aaron found himself restless, waiting for his best friends. They weren’t in the cottage, Rose wasn’t in the Stove and Sam wasn’t in the orchard. Aaron had looked everywhere before coming to sit at the table. He couldn’t wait to tell them about the hunt. It had been just as exhilarating as it was terrifying. His wandering gaze saw the twins appear from the path behind the cottages. Aaron got up, eager to meet them.

“Where were you guys?” he asked, walking towards them, grinning from ear to ear. “I’ve been looking for–”

“Just a minute, Aaron,” Sam cut him off and walked past him.

Rose followed silently after him. Aaron stared at them with surprise
. Sam and Rose walked to the table, stopping before Scott.

“Scott,” Sam called, getting his attention.

“Hi, Sam. Rose.” Scott grinned. “Would you like a drink to celebrate the hunt?” He offered them two glasses of fruit cocktail.

“No thanks,” Sam said quickly. “We wanted to speak to you.”

“Oh?” Scott turned around and put the tray onto the table. “What can I do for you?”

“The vamages,” Sam said, gaining the attention of everyone. “How many are in the human realm?”

Scott’s pleasant smile slid away and he frowned at the question. “I’m not sure,” Scott replied. “The numbers fluctuate.”

“A rough estimate?” Rose asked.

Scott furrowed his brow. “Around forty, maybe fifty. Possibly more,” he said. “Why?”

Sam stood to his full height. “What if I told you we have a way for you to wipe out all the vamages in the human realm?”

The Hunters at the table shifted in their seats, eyes narrowed at the twins.

Scott looked thrown. “What do you mean?”

“That Q-Zone thing you do,” Sam said. “What if there was a way to gather every single vamage in the human realm and destroy them in the Q-Zone in a single attack?”

Scott’s expression relaxed. A small smile curved his lips. “Sam,” he said, shaking his head. “I wish it were that easy, but vamages were once mages. They know about the Q-Zone. They’re well aware of our tricks. They won’t fall for a trap.”

“What if we made sure that they did fall for it?” Sam asked.

There was something in his voice that scared Aaron.

“What if every vamage in the human realm couldn’t resist the temptation?” Rose asked.