“Last night, we felt her powers. Traced it to a hotel. She was gone but her bag was still there. We found this address on her state ID.”
Max almost cursed. He’d felt something last night, but had been unsure of what it was. It had made him uneasy but he’d never thought it might have been Vivienne, until now.
Suddenly, the man’s eyes lifted to a point beyond Max’s shoulder, and his lip curled, neither smile nor frown. Instinct and experience had Max releasing him and dropping to the floor. A dagger came sailing through the air and embedded itself into the man’s chest, impaling him against the wall. A shrill scream escaped his lips as Max ran at the other man, knocking him to the floor and in one smooth motion, pulling off the ski mask that covered his face.
He was older than the previous attacker, faster and stronger, and their powers clashed as both struggled for dominance. The tracker flipped Max over, wrapped his hands around his neck, and combined all of his powers to squeeze.
As his air supply shut down, Max felt himself dying.
The tracker must have felt it too, for he smiled and began to speak.
“Did you think you could beat me, halfling?” The smile faded and Max’s lips opened though no sound emerged. “I always thought you were weak, unworthy to be called a tracker.” His hands tightened. Max’s body grew cold. “The Grand Wizard should never have given such a weakling his name—even if he is his half-breed son!”
The insult barely stung anymore, so accustomed was Max to hearing them. His body shook once before he twitched and went utterly still. His eyes remained open, staring sightlessly upward.
***
Grunting, the tracker stood, glaring down at Max in disgust. He turned to the other tracker staked against the wall by his dagger. Weak. Moving over to him, he retrieved his weapon, barely blinking as the man disintegrated instantly, turning to black ash before vanishing completely.
About to collect the framed picture on the floor to produce as evidence of betrayal, as a means to explain to the Grand Wizard why his son was dead, he froze. A haunting cold pushed through the layers of dark clothing he wore, chilling him to his bones.
The tracker turned just in time to see Max standing upright, his hands loose at his sides, his skin so pale it looked slightly blue. Those eyes were not the voided black of a witch, but a startling electric, swirling blue. His hair was now ink-black, blowing almost peacefully around his face by—by what? There was no wind….
“What the fuck?” he hissed out before an invisible force punched into his stomach, slamming his body into the wall, once, twice…he lost count. Finally, it stopped and through the pain, he tried to summon his powers. Bound. Shock pulsed through him in waves. His powers were bound, meaning while he could feel them, he had no way of summoning them. He was an ancient tracker, at the mercy of a halfling.
Eyes peeling open, he saw Max standing directly before him and for the first time in many years, he felt a twitching of fear.
“What are you?” He tried to keep the tremor from his voice. Did not succeed. “What the fuck are you?”
“I’m a half-breed.” The voice was demonic, haunting. Max suddenly placed a hand right over the tracker’s heart and the coldness swirling around the room seemed to lodge directly in his chest. Max drew in a deep breath, one that seemed to last forever, and the tracker felt his body grow weaker.
What’s happening? His eyes closed. His limbs went limp. Disbelief settled in when he felt his life force slipping out of him and going directly into the halfling….
***
Drew released a high-pitched scream as she watched the scene unfold in Max’s bedroom. Her baseball bat forgotten, she watched in dread as some type of creature straight out of a Sci-Fi movie sucked the life out of a man! She knew it was impossible, but that was what was happening. The thing inhaled deeply, and something like white mist was being sucked through his mouth and nose. She wanted to run but couldn’t. Her legs felt like stone pillars.
Where was Max? What the hell was this thing?
Upon hearing her scream, the creature dropped the man, who was probably dead, and turned to face her. As she stared into a frightening yet beautiful face, Drew was transfixed. The baseball bat slipped from numb fingers as the creature reached out a hand to her. Shaking her head, she willed her legs to move backward. Pulling her gaze away from it, she searched the room for Max. With fear in her heart, she called his name. Once. Twice. Max did not appear. Didn’t call out to her. Where was he? She began to tremble. Had this thing killed him?
She backed away further. The creature moved. Drew turned and was about to run when she heard Max’s voice call to her, “Drew….”