The mantis god screamed. Rage began to pour off him, shining through the chinks in his chitinous armor and spreading out around him in a dark red halo the color of blood. “What are you, mortal?” he demanded, voice scraping across my eardrums.
Not a mortal. But I didn’t answer, eyes narrowing as I concentrated. I watched his hands carefully, my muscles tensing in preparation as they curled into fists. The crimson energy was beginning to pool around them, swirling ominously.
Lilith… I asked again, silently. You ready?
I could practically hear the demon lick her lips. Don’t make me repeat myself, she purred.
The god hissed. “Curse you then, foolish one!” His two humanoid arms thrust forward, channeling the scarlet light into a single lance that shot across the distance between us fast as thought. Apparently, blasting me with holy power wasn’t out of the question after all.
Even faster than the light, however, was my blade, the black metal intercepting the bloodred beam. My feet skidded back across the smooth tile, face set in a stern grimace as I battled to hold the sword steady.
There was an intense ringing in my ears as the god gnashed his mandibles and redoubled the attack, and I could feel his heat and rage through Lilith, seeping across our bond and into my body. But the demon simply devoured it, a soft cry of satisfaction sounding silently in my mind.
Yesss… Lilith’s voice was deeper now, darker, no longer the lighthearted feminine tone. More! I felt her own power shift, her spirit writhing and changing.
With a grunt, I twisted the blade.
The lance of energy shattered, dissipating like sunlight at dusk.
The bug looked shocked. He shook his head silently, dark-skinned hands opening and closing spasmodically. “Impossible!” he rasped.
That was when I attacked. I bounded forward, siphoning Lilith’s energy so that each leap covered half a dozen feet. My gladius sliced forward, but the mantis god skittered sideways in a blink so that all I managed was a shallow cut that carved a furrow in his black, armored torso.
His scythe-like arms slashed defensively, and I ducked, my shoulder slamming into the wall. My breath left my body in a whoomph, but I spun, lashing out with Lilith to defend against a counterattack. The bug was standing just out of range, massive eyes glaring down at me. Up close, he towered above me by at least a yard, his body coiled like a spring and his mantis arms curled back.
It was a frightening sight, but I fought down the shard of fear that pierced my core and pushed off the wall with one hand, going on the offensive. I sped forward, my gladius a black lance aimed right at the center of the bug’s body.
His feet skittered on the tile as he retreated, out of range of my lunge. From the corner of my eye, I could see the other god watching silently, hands still folded in the long sleeves of his robe.
But that was the only glimpse I got as my opponent suddenly jinked sideways. Lilith practically wrenched my shoulder from its socket as she curved out in a devastating sweep, seeking blood, but even she wasn’t fast enough as the bug twisted around the blade and bore down on me, serrated claws slicing down in an X.
I ducked, shouting in pain as I felt one of the scythes smash across my shoulders, carving through my robe and into my back beneath. The woven fibers of the enchanted cloth were good for deflecting lasfire, not so good against serrated god-claws.
I flung myself forward and away, going with the momentum of the scything arm, feeling the ripping and tearing of my back as I rolled and came up panting. I swore softly, grunting as I felt the hot and cold of pain and blood pouring down my skin.
The mantis god spun and bore down on me, sensing an advantage, and I did the only thing I could. I bounded forward again, yelling senseless sounds and thrusting with all my enhanced strength. My blade slid between two plates of its armor, all the way to the hilt, even as one of the god’s clawing arms speared through my back.
There was a deafening silence, the god’s mandibles clicking and hissing above me. I glanced down and saw a couple inches of black, serrated scythe sticking out through my stomach. We stood there for a moment, shock numbing our wounds as we stared into each other’s alien faces. Then, with a chittering cry, the bug stumbled away, its barbed scythe ripping free of my body.
I vomited out a grunt of pain, heard the pitter-patter as my blood painted the curving wall behind me, and I sagged before regaining my footing. My hand went to the murals beside me, the stone cold beneath my palm.
Lilith… I asked quietly.
The gladius sighed. I recognized the sound. She could feel the god’s stolen power surging through her, making her forget her place.
With a grimace, I clamped down on the soul binding, eliciting a gasp of pain.
Not. Now, I growled silently. Sometimes demons had to be put in their place.
Very well, came the deep, haunting voice. Then, she pushed power through my fist and up my arm, a surge of adrenaline that momentarily washed away the pain and allowed me to shove myself upright.
Ten yards away, the mantis’s dark, humanoid hands were pressed to his stomach, black ichor seeping between his fingers and dripping to the floor.
“What are you?” the god demanded again, staring at me with every lens of his multifaceted eyes.
I grinned harshly and spat, tasting iron in my mouth where I’d bitten my tongue. “More than you bargained for.”
Behind the god, I could see his brother, a derisive sneer of triumph on his features as he slowly ascended the dais. We made a rough triangle, the two of us combatants squaring off as the spectator surveyed the scene.
That was when my employer made his fateful misstep. “See, brother?” he taunted, his face twisting into a malice-filled smirk. “Your Sun sets. Even this mortal—”
But he didn’t get the chance to finish his insult because the elder god spun on insectile legs and covered the space between them in a single, massive bound. With a great hiss, he landed on clattering feet and grabbed his brother between two bloody hands. He raised him into the air, mandibles snapping together inches from his face.
“Silence!” M’ardukaath’s voice rang across the space as the enraged divine turned to face me, shifting his grip. His arms flexed, thick muscles bulging as he held his sibling aloft, while one of the long, curved claws gently tucked under his brother’s chin.
A black claw brushed across a bronze throat, and a trickle of ichor ran down my employer’s neck.
“Mercenary…” The god’s voice was wheedling now, black blood dripping down his side, unheeded. “You have wounded me, this much is clear. But I, M’ardukaath, the First Sun, have wounded you in return.”
He shook his brother now, and beneath my employer’s swaying robes, I could see a matching set of insect legs struggling weakly.
“I will wound you far more dearly if you attempt to continue. I will slay my brother, and you will have no payment. No payment for your wounds, and no payment for your contract.”
I swayed slightly, blood trickling down my back from the great gash across my shoulders and soaking through my robes where his scythe had pierced my side. I put my free hand to my stomach, and it came up red. Not good. I might have a stronger constitution than most mortals, and I was much harder to kill, but bleeding out would end me just like anyone else.
I let out a sigh, switching Lilith to my off hand.
What are you doing? the demon asked, her voice a thrumming growl. She had tasted the god now, could feel his power inside her, and she wanted more.
Did you get him? I asked silently.
Perhaps, but—
Did you get him? I demanded.
There was the silent, sullen equivalent of a nod.
Good.
Then, raising my free right hand, I called across the intervening space. “Mardi Gras,” I said, “or however you say your godsawful name. I really don’t think you understand how this bounty hunter thing works.”
The god tightened his grip on his brother, and I could see my employer’s eyes widen with fear. Sweat beaded on his bald pate, but he didn’t move, fear paralyzing him. Perhaps for the first time in his long, nasty life, he was silent.
“You see,” I grunted, taking a slow, unsteady step forward. “As of now, my payment is already in escrow with an impartial third party. That payment,” I took another step, insect eyes watching me, “will be released just as soon as I’ve killed your beetle-black ass, whether my original employer is alive or not.” I set my feet. “So the way I see it—”
I moved in a flash, thrusting my hand under my robes to the leather holster slung across my right hip. Blood had slicked the handle of my pistol, but I whipped it free, the Colt Dragoon heavy and satisfying in my grip.
The bug flinched, didn’t even have time to move before the barrel was up and pointed right between his massive eyes. The claw tightened under his sibling’s chin. Then he stared at me, mandibles opening and closing in shock.
“You can kill your brother,” I continued conversationally, the muzzle of my revolver aimed directly at the god’s head. “I don’t much like him anyway. He seems like an asshole.”
My employer’s eyes were furious, burning into mine as his lips twitched in a silent snarl.
“Or…” I paused. My fingers took a stronger grip on the slick handle of the pistol. Lilith, get ready… “You can drop him, and we’ll finish this the way we started.”
I hefted the gladius in my other hand, fingers curling and uncurling around her hilt. “It’s been a while since I’ve had a good fight, and I’ll bet you never have.”
For the second time, the insect’s raspy, chittering laugh echoed in the chamber. “Fool!” the god hissed. “You think that flimsy little blaster frightens me? Your blade may be demon-cursed, but no mortal weapon can pierce—”
Now!
Lilith struck mercilessly, the black ichor beading her blade providing all the connection she needed as she tore furiously at the god’s soul through the distance between them.
M’ardukaath, the First Sun, hissed out a grunt of pain and staggered back, claws leaving his brother’s throat and striking desperately at nothing.
The gun cracked in my hand, a single bullet splitting the air between us.
It exploded through one of the mantis god’s massive, kaleidoscope eyes with a sickening crunch, punching out the back of his head in a spray of gore. His body spasmed, claws flailing and hands releasing the body of his brother, who dropped to the floor and onto his knees, scrambling away in a panic. Then, with a last twitch, the god’s insect legs curled up against his body.
There was a second of bloody silence. Mortal weapons: 1. Desert god: 0.
Dead, Lilith confirmed, her hold on M’ardukaath’s immaterial form dissipating.
“Good,” I grunted out loud, lowering the smoking revolver.
From the dais, the younger god heaved on his hands and knees, a stream of sick spilling from his mouth.
Blade hanging loose in one fist and handgun in the other, I trudged toward him. “Not so easy, is it?” I asked, my mouth a grim, stern line. “Murder, and all that.”
The god turned his head, and I saw hate flash in his blank eyes. They were the dusty brown color of desert sand. “You could have killed me!” he spat, and I could smell the fear and bile on his breath.
I shrugged, silver eyes unmoved. “But I didn’t.” I kept moving, walking up the steps until I was standing above him. “The final part of my payment,” I said, holstering the Colt.
Dusty eyes stared up at me. Like all gods, he hated for me to see his weakness. But he seemed smarter than his brother, because he groaned and hid his rage behind a sickly grin.
Fishing in his robe with one deeply tanned hand, he tossed a single, golden coin in my direction. As his sleeves flared out, I could see that folded inside the cloth, he had the same curved claws as his brother.
I caught the coin in a bloody palm. I didn’t check it. The barest glimpse as it spun through the air had been enough. It was a Roman aureus, minted almost ten thousand years in the past.
“A pleasure,” I muttered in his general direction.
Then, I spun on my heel and strode across the chamber. Behind me, I could practically feel him staring daggers into my back, but I knew he wouldn’t try anything. He had already shown what he was.
Well… Lilith’s voice was back to its usual, seductive murmur. That was fun…
I gripped her tighter, willing more of her energy into my body, and didn’t answer. It was a long walk back to my ship, and I didn’t feel up to talking.
From the tip of her blade, blood dripped—pat pat pat—onto the smooth stone path, my blood and the bug’s intermingling and falling like dark, red rain.