The poachers raised their automatic weapons. A bullet zinged through the foliage near his head. Another passed through a flap of his shirt.
Nikolai was already moving, heading straight for them as rage flooded through him. Rage like he’d never felt before. He closed his fingers around the amulet and yanked from the surrounding life essences. As it passed through him, the blues and greens of it warped into a swirling, chaotic black that emanated as a fog from his skin.
Another bullet winged by him, zinging through strands of his hair. Mai uttered a tortured squeal and launched herself out from Nikolai’s hair, leaping free from his body and running across the ground.
Had she been hit? Nikolai’s rage spiked, raw and wild, as he flung out a hand, and from the swirling black fog attached to his skin, shot a bolt of red lightning. It struck the poachers with a vicious snap and crackle, shredding them from the inside out, leaving nothing but cloth and raw flesh in its wake.
Silence fell over the land. And then, thunder, from clouds that had roiled up out of nowhere. The amulet burned the skin of his hand; he released it, letting it fall back against his throat.
As Nikolai dropped to his knees beside Ngubi’s body, the skies opened up, drenching him in an instant. The older man’s eyes were wide open. He’d taken a shot to the head, and was far beyond any help Nikolai could offer. Rain mixed with tears cascaded down his face. As Nikolai bent over Ngubi, something small and warm toppled away from the body. Mai landed with a soft plop on the ground, and lay limp.
Nikolai scooped her up. She wasn’t breathing. At first he thought she’d been shot, but there wasn’t any blood. What had happened to her? He blinked away the moisture as he touched her soft fur; she was fading fast.
He could do nothing for Ngubi. But he could help Mai. He laid two fingers over her tiny body, and folded his hand around his amulet, still hot against his skin. Then he reached for the energy to heal her.
And found nothing but blackness. There wasn’t a trace of life essence left around him. All he sensed was death.
Shocked, he extended himself further than he’d ever had to before. And finally found it, well away from where he crouched over Ngubi’s body.
He gathered it and funneled it into Mai.
For a moment, she just lay there. Then the little shrew took a deep breath. Her entire body shook as she rolled to her feet. Before long, she chittered at him, and jumped off his hand onto the ground, before backing away.
“It’s okay, Mai,” Nikolai said, reaching after her. But she wouldn’t let him touch her. Perhaps she knew he was lying. Because none of this was okay.
“Nikolai. What has happened?”
Nikolai rose and spun in one fluid movement. He’d been so absorbed with Mai that he hadn’t sensed Mosode’s approach. Now he looked into the man’s panicked gaze.
The Khomani had a springbok carcass slung over a shoulder. Unheeding of the pouring rain, he stared at the poachers’ blood-soaked flesh. Only the shreds of clothing gave any evidence that they had ever been human.
The hunter’s horrified gaze passed over the bloody bits, darted to Ngubi’s still form, and snapped back Nikolai. “What happened?”
“They k-killed Ngubi,” Nikolai stammered.
Mosode’s eyes returned to what was left of the poachers. “Then who killedthem? And—how?”
“I-it wasn’t my fault,” Nikolai stated. But it had been. His eyes drifted over the surrounding bushland. Silence. The leaves were brown and crumpled, the grass bleached. Not a creature stirred.
Only then did he realize what he’d done. He’d drained the life essences and twisted them, used them to kill the poachers. But in doing so, he had killed everything for hundreds of feet around him.
His gut twisted painfully, and his heart pounded. Another roll of thunder swept over them, so powerful it shook the earth. Even the weather raged in the wake of Nikolai’s journey into darkness.
Mosode’s keen gaze also examined their surroundings. Nikolai saw the moment when the hunter reached the conclusion that Nikolai was, in some way, responsible for it all.
“What have you done, Nikolai?”
Nikolai took a single, long stride to scoop a resistant Mai off the ground. Then, with her squirming body clutched in his fingers, he turned. And he ran.
6
Lucas pulled up the hood on his jacket and pushed his shades farther up his nose as he prowled the streets of Winnipeg.
Much easier to disguise than to morph the pointed tips of his ears, or his distinctive eyes. He seldom had enough reserves to expend on maintaining small changes in his appearance. Sometimes he wished he was like a Dire or Dragon or Sabre. Once they shifted, they could be their animal or remain human without effort. But every morph cost Lucas resources not only to accomplish, but to hold on to. And he didn’t have a natural animal form.
From the moment he changed shape, he was running on borrowed time.
As he walked, he pulled a chocolate bar out of his pocket and peeled back the wrapper. He needed the fuel for tonight.
