Crown (The Manhunters Book 3) Read online

  Rayph stepped over him into the bar. He snatched a glass from a passing bar wench and caught her eye. He snarled at her to cover his relief as he continued into the middle of the room.

  He tossed the drink back and smashed the glass on the bar floor. He kicked out a chair from under a man, grabbed the edge of the table and flipped it away. Drinks and food flew up into the air. Rayph turned to all corners of the room and laughed.

  The serving wench walked past him, slipping something in his palm. It was a tiny vial of some liquid he slammed like a shot. The liquid burned going down, but his jaw snapped back into place. The pain from the break disappeared.

  “Brody!” Rayph screamed. He snapped out a word and his sword dropped into his hand.

  The second story boasted a balcony that wrapped the entire building. From the balcony, many halls shot off going into other rooms and sections of the bar. This place was a maze of rooms and booths that could never be properly mapped out in the few moments Rayph could stay alive in this place. He stared up at the balcony to the people looking down at him.

  The bartender rushed away. The floor cleared of patrons as the crowd left. The drink wench slipped behind the bar, ducking out of sight.

  Blade Silvertooth emerged from the shadows of one of the upper halls. He wore a murderer’s smile and snarled, baring his fangs and one silver canine. He stepped out of the darkness and flexed his enormous muscles.

  Radamuss stepped out of the back room from behind the bar and laughed as he poured himself a drink. He leaned against the bar top and winked at Rayph.

  Rayph looked at the upraised section of floor in the corner where a large table sat. It was chained off to keep common patrons from sitting there, and in the back corner of the platform sat a massive throne. The table had carved on its surface the symbol of the Chaos Syndicate, arrows shooting off in every direction. From behind the throne stepped Brody. He carried a veil in his hand, small and black. Rayph knew it was the one Tawny had been wearing when he met her.

  “It’s the eyes that draw me to a woman,” Brody said. “I fall in love with the eyes first.”

  From a hall shooting to the left walked Mayakill, her veil pulled over her face, her hands free of any weapons. She wore a tight-fitting yellow dress and her corded hair fell from her back in a long ponytail that hung almost to her hips. She was in every way elegant and in every way the deadliest person in the room. She climbed the platform and stepped beside Brody.

  “Tawny had lovely eyes. I’m telling you, Rayph, you could fall right into those eyes and never come out. She was so beautiful. I had to take a trophy.” He smelled the veil, smiling. “Not the sort of trophy I usually take, but my man just got so hungry when he set to work on her that there was not much left when he was done.”

  Rayph looked up at Blade, who flicked his silver tooth with his thumbnail. He picked a piece of meat from his teeth and flicked it away.

  “Cable had the most transfixing eyes I have ever seen. She just sent shivers of pleasure through my body.” Brody’s body broke out in a mock quiver. He smiled. “Couldn’t help myself.”

  Hate boiled within Rayph. He found himself incapable of speech, his hate was so great. He could do nothing but stand and watch them coming out of their holes. Rhonda stepped out next to the raksa and looked down at Rayph. The light hit her sword’s jeweled handle and Rayph quickly looked away. That light had the power to enslave. Rhonda kissed Blade Silvertooth before jumping from the balcony and landing a few short steps away from Rayph.

  “I’m gonna let you survive,” Brody said. “I will take you and beat you. Then when you’re nearly dead, I will hand you over to Rhonda. She likes trimerians. She will set to work on you, and you will fall in love with her.”

  Rhonda slowly slid her sword from its sheath and crouched into an aggressive stance. Rayph knew her to be deadly as a viper with the blade, and he knew better than to let his guard down. He stepped back and pulled his sword in front of him.

  “She is going to fuck you until you beg for her love, and then she will send you out after your buddies. You will gladly butcher every one of them for a smile, I promise you.” Brody grinned. “I’m going to find every one of the women you came to this city with and I’m going to feed them to my machine.” He motioned to the men and women surrounding him and grinned. “They will use them and harvest trophies for me.”

  Brody sat in his throne, dropped his feet on the table. “Come now, let’s get this going. There is so much to do in this town.”

  Rhonda stepped forward and thrust, but Rayph knocked it aside.

  “Dissonance,” he said. A portal ripped open and the holy warrior sprang from it. She looked around the room quickly before rounding her spear on Radamuss. He snarled as his face warped. It pulled and stretched from the face of a man to that of a rat. His body grew in size but drew in tighter and thinner. A tail sprouted from his rear. His hands grew longer and leaner. Razor claws snapped and he hissed as he leapt onto the bar top.

  He opened his mouth to say something when Dissonance swung her spear and swept him from his feet. He howled as she thrust into his thigh and her prayer lifted into the air.

  The bar wench screamed and ran from behind the bar to the main floor behind Rayph.

  Rhonda’s sword came in at all angles. It was angry and fast. It hummed through the air. Rayph could do nothing but bat it aside and watch his footwork. He needed her a little more to the left, but it would take him a while to get her there.

  “Dran!” Rayph shouted and a portal ripped open beside him. Blade Silvertooth leapt from the balcony to face her and the soldier took his rage without a bit of fear or panic. His was a wrath unfettered, a rage unhindered by humanity or the bonds of rational thought. He was raksa, more beast than person. As he threw himself at her full force, Dran stepped in with the battered soldier sword she had been handed when she was fifteen, the shield she had borrowed from a town guard in the city, and she held back his storm. She was silent as she worked, cutting with every swing deep into his fur. She met his fangs with her shield and slowly moved him back, toward the back wall, where a huge window waited.

  Brody smiled as Rhonda landed her first real blow and Rayph jumped back hissing. A trail of blood drawn up his side opened him wide from armpit to belt. He tucked his arm in tight and put his sword between them.

  Rhonda smiled. “You’re gonna beg so nicely,” she said with a lick of her lips.

  Rayph nodded and spun in on her. She blocked the obvious strike and he stabbed out with his dagger and took her in the thigh. She wailed as he twisted it and spun away. The second sword swipe she missed and he cleaved into her left arm, slicing to the bone before twisting again. Rhonda dropped to the floor. Rayph kicked her in the face.

  Brody whistled and the bar floor was suddenly flooded with grunts. Thugs and toughs from the street with little training and no expertise rushed into the fray and hacked and slashed their way to Rayph.

  The drink wench stood and pulled her hair into a tail. She bound it and gripped two blades hidden under her shirt. She slashed a thug’s throat out and stepped in close to Rayph.

  “Where is my man?” Trysliana asked.

  Rayph cut into every man of them that drew near and had little time to think of anything. The sound of Radamuss screaming over the sound of Dissonance’s prayers made him smile.

  “He is running around, hiding and getting chased,” Rayph said.

  Trysliana snarled as she punched her dagger through a man’s skull. “It had better not be Cable doing the chasing,” she snapped.

  Rayph had no time to think on that, so he let it pass him. Dran reached the back window, curled her legs under her, and flipped backwards through the glass. “She had better have a plan,” Rayph said as Blade jumped after her.

  He turned in time to see a man in front of him scream. The man snarled as he growled and spat. He stared up into the sky as his skin took on a grayish color. His screams became hoarse, and within a breath, his skin and entire body had
turned to stone.

  Rayph screamed out in terror. “Her veil is off!” He pulled his hood down over his head and jumped behind the stone statue that had just been a breathing human man. Trysliana closed her eyes. She stood twenty feet away from Rayph and Rayph called out to all.

  “We have to leave!” he shouted. “Retreat!”

  He ran for Trysliana. As he darted across the floor, the men before him turned to stone, one right after the next. Rayph knew Mayakill’s sight line was following a step ahead of him. He saw Trysliana in the path and realized he was helpless to do anything about it.

  One statue, then the next, directly in front of him as he ran. The scan of Mayakill’s eye line was headed straight for Trysliana, who stood, eyes closed, waiting.

  Rayph dove for her as she lifted her head. Trysliana smiled. Her hands flew fast out in front of her as Rayph grabbed her mid-leap and drove her into the ground.

  A terrible scream entered the air and, out of habit, before he could stop himself, he opened his eyes and looked in the direction of the scream.

  Mayakill’s hair rose behind her head, flared out in all directions like the bloom of a terrible flower. Each cord of hair sported a snarling viper head. Her mouth was open in a scream that ended all other screams. Her voice cracked in terror even as it grew. It redoubled on itself and crushed the will out of everything around it. From the gorgon’s eyes protruded two small knives.

  Brody leapt to his feet and shouted. Rhonda stood. The toughs and thugs pulled back and Radamuss grinned at Rayph and stepped forward.

  His arm wrapped Dissonance around the neck as he stalked forward, smiling. A claw poised at her neck, Dissonance could do nothing but close her eyes and pray.

  “You’re gonna leave now,” Radamuss said. His rat face snarled brown and oily as it came. “You’re gonna walk out of here and let us put ourselves back together.”

  “Why would we do that?” Rayph said.

  “Because you are out of time,” Radamuss said. “You have minutes before she bleeds out.”

  Rayph screamed as Radamuss bit down hard on Dissonance’s throat, ripping a massive chunk out of her neck. Blood spurted in a fount and Radamuss shoved Dissonance at Rayph.

  Rayph grabbed her as the holy warrior glugged on blood. The strength ran out of her legs and she slumped in his arms.

  Trysliana made for the door. Rayph whistled for Dran. He swept Dissonance in his arms and rushed out.

  He had no time. He had about a mile to go before he would reach the religious district. She was bleeding out.

  The Home of Rage

  Roth pulled his sword and lifted it into the air. He spoke the words of his spell and felt the magic of Hell rush into him. It was a rotten energy, an energy pulled from the very core of hate. This was the home of rage and suffering, and the magic that flooded into his aura was dark and wet.

  He flipped the sword in the air and drove the blade into the ground. His spell rushed out in all directions, passing through the crowd in a wave of power. Silence overtook the area as the spell took hold and dropped. The only thing Roth heard was Arcturus cussing and laughing.

  Instantly every ounce of steel that did not belong to them or their allies melted and ran like water. Swords held back in rage dripped in a flood or liquid metal. The slave blocks erupted with sudden screaming and roaring as the shackles dissolved to nothing. The demonic horde pulled back in shock and Tate stepped forward.

  With a cry of utter rage, he brought his fist around and drove it into the ground beside the sword in Roth’s hand. The ground shook, the dust and rock of the place lifting to hover a few feet off the ground. Tate brought his gloved hands up and screamed as he punched the sky. The dirt and rock shot out in every direction, throwing demons and devils back in a sudden wave.

  Tate turned to smile. His nose was bleeding. Roth touched his own nose and felt blood coursing down his face. The magical energy of the land was having an ill effect on them. Roth pointed in the direction Arcturus was heading and grunted. He wanted it to be words, but his fear and hate were too strong for words.

  Burke’s sword was a thing of horror. He sliced into demons with ease, his blade seeming to possess the power to flow through solid objects as easily as through water. Demons screamed and Burke began singing. It was a tune Roth did not know, but Arcturus broke out into raucous laughter and joined in the song.

  A strong line of demons formed in ranks before them, as an army might form a wall impenetrable. Roth stepped aside for Tate, who slapped his palms together toward the line and screamed as he ripped them out wide. The line instantly parted and tossed in two directions, clearing a path through the demons.

  Arcturus saw his moment and seized it. He broke out into a run, slicing as he passed through it. Roth rushed after him, and before Roth could do anything at all, a massive demon with a huge mouth stepped before Arcturus and opened its enormous jaws.

  Arcturus did not slow or change directions. He dropped to his knees, leading with his sword, and slid under the monster. He cut straight through its crotch and gullet. Offal exploded in a wave on Arcturus, but he never stopped at all. He stood on the other side of the creature and kept moving.

  Like a prow parting water, Burke sliced the beast in half as he ran through its corpse. Roth followed without pause.

  A spell-casting demon stepped before them and summoned up a flaming wall. Arcturus stopped and rolled left. Burke spun right. Roth pulled his sword, and with both hands pointed its tip at the wall.

  He spoke his words of power and flames exploded in every direction. They lifted like a wave into the air, rolling like water. Roth stood his ground as demons rushed him from both sides. Arcturus and Burke held them back and Roth opened the sword’s energy field and pulled.

  The fire spun before flying in a straight line directly for Roth. He braced himself and shut his eyes, feeling the fire rush into the tip of his sword. The power filled the weapon to bursting and Roth could feel it heating up.

  He stepped right and Tate never slowed. He ran directly past Roth, his hands grasping out before him.

  He closed them both in tight fists and the gray energy rushed out to wrap the magical demon. Tate screamed as he ripped his fists in two directions and the demon was ripped in half with a spraying of blood and bile. Tate threw his hands in a motion over his shoulders and the torn demonic mage flew behind him like trash discarded.

  Arcturus was moving again, whistling to the prince and breaking out in a run. Roth followed. Tate was not far behind. Burke spun, slicing a monster in half, and took the rear.

  Roth looked to the left as he burst out of the marketplace. A gigantic demon with a heavy maul swung with crippling force at the outside wall of the building they were passing. The building spat rock and groaned. The demon jumped back as the building began to collapse.

  Roth grabbed Arcturus and opened a portal. He threw it over his head, hugging Arcturus tight to his chest. The falling debris dropped into the portal. Roth pictured the shattered building falling into the hole, envisioned the hole high in the air above them. He yelled out to Tate.

  Tate’s portal opened under the raining rock and another opened behind them. The falling building rained into the marketplace, burying the demons there and cutting out all pursuit by blocking the street completely.

  Arcturus whistled and Burke was suddenly beside him. The massive demon charged. Shoulder-to-shoulder, the two waited.

  In the last breath before impact, they spun in opposite directions. Blades sliced from both sides into the thighs of the monster and it hit the ground. Arcturus turned and crouched. He leapt higher than any man ever could have and landed on the creature’s head. With crippling force, he drove the blade of his sword directly into the creature’s skull. He dropped to roll off the other side and whistled. Burke followed behind, and Roth and Tate leapt, forcing their magic under them and soaring over the dead demon.

  They hit the streets of Strainus and kept running. They heard the city rolling behind them as de
mons gave chase.

  Roth threw his hands out and opened a portal to Purgatory. He spun, facing a wave of demons rushing behind them, and he loosed the fire from the tip of his sword.

  The demons screamed, melting and bursting into flame, and Roth turned in time to enter the portal. He ran out into the wide blank field of Purgatory, and with a wave of his hand, slapped the portal closed again. He turned to the three men beside him. Tate smiled. Arcturus laughed and hit his knees. He collapsed on his back, staring up at the sky and sighed.

  Burke took a knee and braced himself against the ground. Tate howled and lifted into the air to soar, and Roth dropped to his knees, sobbing. He collapsed to the ground and fell asleep.

  The Meeting

  “I’m not waiting here any longer!” Jon Jon said, getting to his feet as Rayph walked into the room with Trysliana, Smear, and Sisalyyon. “Great, now they are finally here and we can get ordered around by the true boss of this crime family, a damn Manhunter!” the young thug said.

  “Shut up and sit down,” Ty said from his seat. Jon Jon glared at him and kept his feet.

  “What are you going to do about Tawny?” Jon Jon asked as he stormed toward Rayph. Rayph almost could not hear the young man coming at all. The sounds of Dissonance’s screams were still trapped in his mind. He blinked at Jon Jon, unsure what the boy had just said.

  Jon Jon kept coming and Smear stepped in the way and shoved the thug. Jon Jon pulled his steel bat and Smear slapped him across the face. The thug stumbled back and opened his mouth to speak again, but Smear slapped him before he could form a word. He loosed half a roar before Smear slapped him again. When the boy swung his bat, Smear was a blur. The bat swung a full circuit, never hitting anything, and when the power of the swing was played out, Smear stepped out from behind Jon Jon and gripped him by the throat. He shoved a blade into the skin right above the kidney and snarled.