walker saga 07 - earth (33 page)

Although, I did take a second to be grateful that Josian and Lallielle had missed my ‘almost dying’ at the hands of Que. That was a stress no parent needed to live through.

We were fast, moving as a single unit of seven girls and seven majestic animals. Brace and the others followed; my mate would always have my back. I also noticed that Dune, Ladre and Lucas had joined our small group. Looked like the other girls would be going into battle with their mates by their side.

We might be the ones with the power to beat the Seventine, but our interconnected network of mates and family were important too.

As we closed in Delane drew on our collective energy. Her winds whipped out and crashed against the barrier of the Seventine.

The moment our energy touched theirs, a cold and biting power slapped out at us. It was the antithesis to our warm and living energy, the true opposite. Repelling and yet wanting to be joined with each other.

The wind whipped across the shadows and, with very little effort, we blew through the scary aura surrounding the Seventine. Delane’s wind started to round up the shadows, like a sheep dog would its flock. Once she had it all in a tight ball, the darkness was zoomed off into the atmosphere. Then, just like that, after all the time we’d been fighting them in their ghostly specters, the Seventine were revealed.

In all their ugly glory.

Chapter 17

I couldn’t stop looking at them. It was ironic really that those morons thought the shadow and smoke show was scary; their actual faces were worse.
Much worse.
They were like the messed-up version of a garden gnome. For reals. One part of me wanted to laugh, but for the most part there was nothing funny about the fact that they looked like that freaking doll. The one which used to come to life and creep around stabbing people. They were unsettling and wrong – just plain wrong.

“Of all the bodies they could have chosen for themselves, they went with demon munchkins,” Lucy said from behind us. “Just the way they were in my fake vision.”

I remembered her vague descriptions of them from the vision she had had during that battle on First World. Three slanted eyes, holes for a nose and slashes of mouths. She was pretty spot on. They were also shorter than all of the half-Walkers. Around five feet. Wearing black yoda-style robes which skimmed their calf muscles. Then, to add even more creep to this creeptastic image, they were all carbon copies of each other. Except for their hair.

They had the same freaking hair as each of us half-Walkers.
What the eff?

The first had red curls, the second had an emerald-green mop, the third’s was white and flyaway, and so on with the rest of the girls. The seventh of them was particularly cute with his blond waves.

“Methinks that they’ve been stalking us in our sleep or something,” Talina said with an extra snort in her tone. “Stealing strands of hair so they can make themselves some wigs.”

I don’t know why, but at that moment I almost lost it. Laughter bubbled up through my throat and tried to exit out of my nose and mouth. It took quite a few sternly repeated reminders that this was a serious end-of-the-world situation, and laughing wasn’t appropriate, before I got myself under control. Stress was getting to me or something.

“We ready to do this?” Delane swung her weapons. “Let’s not give them time to figure out our plan. We attack as we practiced.”

I was totally down with that.

“Sapha,” I said as I shifted my weight forward, arms hanging loosely. “Shadow us, girl.”

Just like that we were the ones cloaking ourselves in the shadows of First World. The sun hid behind a few dark clouds that marred the purple-hued sky, which helped with the camouflage tremendously.

Right then my one aim was to get close enough to grab onto the first. I could try to do what I had done with Que, trace straight into him, but that was my last option. Mainly because they were all together at the moment and I wasn’t sure what would happen if all of them got their hands on me. Would they have enough power to prevent my trace? Could they sever the tether of my life? Risks I couldn’t take.

So, I’d bide my time and wait until they split from each other. I only had one shot at this. The moment the first knew what I was doing, I’d never get close enough to touch him.

Before we reached them, the ground started to rumble beneath us. I almost bit my lip off when ruptures appeared and these huge ass pincers and antennae emerged. What followed was like a giant tick, or armored bug. I had never seen anything like this before.

Each one was massive, the size of a small van. Many of them popped out between us and the rest of our friends and family. The sacred animals launched into action, working as a team to start taking the critters down. The others reacted also; Brace and Colton moved so quickly I almost couldn’t track them as they engaged in battle. Damn, those boys could fight.

Brace was doing his ninja thing, his speed and grace unparalleled. He mostly used a pair of double blades, only on occasion reaching for Walker energy. He was relentlessly slicing and dicing his way through the creatures. Colton at his back. Lucy remained sandwiched between them, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t still lethal. Glitter and pixie dust flew all around the place. Cerberus was close to the trio, which gave me some relief. The hellhound was a good one to have at your side. He was one giant ball of ferocious when he felt like it.

“Abby!”

A shriek drew my attention away from my impressive mate and back to the situation at hand. During my distraction I’d still been running with the girls toward the Seventine. Apparently, what I should have been doing was watching where I was going since I was about three feet from a giant tick pincer.

It was long and wide enough to completely disembowel me, so slamming into it didn’t seem like a good plan. Sure, we were still cloaked in shadows and the bugs would have trouble seeing us, but if I ran straight into it then shadows were not going to be much help.

I was too close to avoid the collision; there was only one option left for me.

In a heartbeat I traced a weapon to my hand, not caring what it was as long as it was sharp. Then just before the pincer would land on its intended mark, I dropped down onto my back. With a burst of energy, I sent my body forward to travel beneath it. Through the six spindly legs.

Raising the weapon, which looked to be a heavy sickle, I sliced it through the less protected underbelly with ease. Globs of blood and guts showered the ground, but I managed to avoid most of it with just an extra boost of energy. I could feel the burn of rough ground in the spot where my shirt had lifted during my slide, but my adrenalin was enough that I barely registered the pain.

Now that was impressive, Red.

Brace was keeping an eye on me also. Back on my feet, I noted that the other girls had taken out the few bugs which had stood between us and the Seventine. One looked like it had been struck by lightning; Delane was learning to harness storms with her wind power. Another was drowned. Two were burned. And the final had been sliced and diced by the Angelica and Earth half-Walkers. Those two were pure fighting perfection with weapons.

Behind us the others still battled. They had a lot more of the creatures to deal with. I was relieved to see that Brace and Lucy were still holding their own but – where was Colton? I was about to worry when I noticed a flash of white, and realized he was in his wolf form. Ripping the crap out of a bug. All good. He was in his wolfy element.

Melting chocolate eyes and hard features caught my gaze, and the lopsided grin he threw my way had me shaking my head. Brace loved to battle. Crazy-ass Walker.

“Don’t you find it so very convenient that the crags are keeping your friends busy? It allows us to have some lovely alone time with you girls.” The first was such a chatterbox.

His voice was thin, dry and high-pitched. Like his vocal cords had been strangely pieced together. Sort of like a musical instrument in desperate need of tuning.

Oh, and apparently the ugly bugs were called crags – I’d have named them fugs. For obvious reasons.

The Seventine had not moved from where they had initially positioned themselves in a straight line of freak. And while the first spoke, the rest just stood there wearing identical expressions and – our hair. Which I was totally going to rip from their heads.

No talking to them,
Delane said through our bond.
We fight.

Yes!
Ria’s tone was strong.
Talking will only clue them in on what we have planned. Not talking makes the enemy uneasy.

They both made great points, but I was pretty sure the Seventine were not our usual enemy force. Still, I wasn’t one for small talk with tiny killer dolls anyway.

The shadows were upon us still. Sapha’s eyes glowed red, and I knew that she was feeling her element right then. We moved as one unit, gliding over the darkened ground, cloaked from sight. Eva was close to my right, and I could see her zeroing in on the Seventine. She blinked more than a few times, before shaking her head.

They have no weaknesses,
she said, her voice kind of choked.
There’s a strange red link between them, like they’re chained or joined together, but I can’t see a weakness. It’s as if they have no spirit at all.

I couldn’t even be surprised about that.
I’m not sure they do have a spirit or soul. They’re just energy, a single force which exists in seven vessels. That’s the chain you see. They’re basically all the same thing, just filtered down through the ugly doll suits.

So how do we fight them?
Fury asked.

We don’t.
A sigh escaped me.
We just need to separate them so I can get to the first. I’ll be able to trace him into the cave and the rest of his brothers will follow. Jedi is setting up a cage inside to hold them while we do the ritual.

I felt a filtering of joy along the bond.

Jedi is very powerful and smart.

The words were from Sapha, and they were strangely soft for the solemn Drone.

He teaches me things, so many things. He makes me feel safe. Safe … it’s an odd feeling.

Her musings were kind of cute. She clearly had no idea that she liked Jedi. This relationship was going to be fun to watch. I could already imagine Jedi’s confusion about what to do with the very serious Sapha.

I heard a screech from behind us and turned to find Nandia, Sapha’s phoenix, lifting up one of the massive fugs. She dragged it across the field, before dropping it into a large pit of fire. The fire had come from Crete. Gods, he was like Fury, only fluffier.

Brace was no closer to me, still lethally cutting his way through the creatures. The damn fugs seemed to be multiplying, and it was only through the effort of the sacred animals and the rest of our group that they weren’t completely overrunning our people.

I should be by your side,
Brace grumbled through our bond.

My eyes were drawn to him again; hot damn, people. Brace was lethal, graceful, and hotter than Hades. I sort of loved the fact that he preferred to fight hand-to-hand rather than relying on Walker energy. It especially came in handy when facing giant ugly bugs who were most likely immune to energy balls, since they were formed from the Seventines’ energy.

Plenty of time for that. Just keep everyone safe.
Stress made me bossy.

Keep yourself safe, or no one will be.
The dark warning reminded me of Brace’s power.

It filtered through me, touches of the cyclonic storm which could literally rip beings to pieces. I could sense that he was close to letting go of that energy and tearing through the Seventines’ fugs.

I forced myself to focus; we had slowed our movements but were closing in on the Seventine. They still hadn’t moved, which gave me an uneasy flip-flopping feeling low in my gut. Why were they so calm? Did they not fear us at all?

“Are you ready to join us, ancient one?”

The first was still talking to me, all pleasant-like. As if they weren’t facing down seven crazy, dirty, shadow-cloaked chicks barreling toward them.

You’re so popular, Supes.
Fury sounded amused.
Everyone wants a piece of you.

Shut it.

She did, but the amusement still lingered.

When we were ten yards from them, we split off. The seven of us would surround them from all sides, forming a ring of energy. Our aim was to blast at them, and hopefully scatter them away from each other. Then I could go for the first. I ground to a halt across from the one with the red curls, and those three slash-like eyes bored into me.
Okay.
I was pretty sure the shadows were not hiding us from them at all – seriously, this guy was like the king of creepers. He never removed his gaze from me.

Now that we were in position, the swirls of energy started to streak between the seven of us. Elements flowed and merged. The shadows left us and connected in with the rest.

Eva’s spirit energy helped to control the flow. It was like a sheen of mist covering the rest. Her power was less active than the other girls’, but when we had used it in the Mother’s realm, it had sort of stunned our opponents. Like it was a soul tranquilizer. Adding her power to the mix slowed the enemy and gave us an extra moment to attack. Team that with her ability to see weaknesses – pretty awesome.

I was, as always, the center. Holding the seven of us together, helping the flow and boosting with energy from my well. I would use everything within my center if needed, but I would not touch the filing cabinet. That was for the ritual.

The Seventine were still not moving.

Should we be worried?
Ria’s purple eyes were wide and shiny.
These guys are like the king of cool. I’d think they were statues if their ugly faces weren’t moving occasionally.
Her face was pinched with concern, long strands of mahogany hair whipping around her.