We Hunt Monsters

  Book Six

  Aaron Oster

  For my fans. I could not do what I love without your support.

  Thank you.

  Contents

  Prologue

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  25

  26

  27

  28

  29

  30

  31

  32

  33

  34

  35

  36

  37

  38

  39

  40

  41

  42

  43

  44

  45

  46

  47

  48

  49

  50

  51

  52

  53

  54

  55

  56

  57

  58

  59

  60

  61

  62

  63

  64

  Epilogue

  Keith’s Skill List

  Afterword

  Prologue

  Opal, the leader of The Glutton’s slave trade in Humania, swept down the corridor of her mansion, her aide, Tribble, hurrying to keep pace. She wasn’t ready for a meeting, and her current state of dress spoke to her unpreparedness for the summons.

  It had been a perfectly fine day until now.

  Opal had spent the morning out on her private lake, taking breakfast with a man whose name she couldn’t remember, though he was handsome enough to catch her eye. Once she was done with that, Opal had taken a meeting in her office, sending him off – he didn’t need to know what she did for a living. He’d even promised to return in the evening, which she’d been greatly looking forward to.

  Her meeting hadn’t been too bothersome. It had just been reports about how trade was moving along as well as some things she needed to sign off on. Once that was all finished, she’d gone out to the deck of her boat with a cool drink, knowing that she had nothing else to do until late in the afternoon.

  Opal had spent the rest of the morning luxuriating in her wealth and freedom by lying out beneath the sun and working on her complexion. Where she’d grown up, it was a sign of wealth and affluence, so Opal made sure to spend plenty of time working on hers.

  She’d been dozing, enjoying the heat of the sun on her skin, when the summons had come. The Opalescent tattoo on her shoulder began to shimmer and pulse and the meaning had been clear.

  Her boat had been steered back to the docks, from where she was now rushing, still dressed in a swimsuit, her tanned skin slick with oil and perspiration.

  No one got in her way, though one of her personal staff – Frelica – rushed off to grab her a cover as she motioned her to.

  Opal burst into her office, finding that the drapes had already been closed and a gleaming orb hovering in mid-air. Her eyes flicked to her desk drawer, which had been shattered, splinters littering her very expensive carpet.

  “The door,” Opal snapped as Tribble followed her in.

  Her aide did as she was bid, the half-goblin shutting the door behind her and taking up her post. Opal would have waited for Frelica to arrive but seeing as the orb had already freed itself – and her tattoo continued to pulse – she knew she didn’t have the time.

  Opal strode purposefully across the room, placing her hand on the orb, and a moment later, two ghostly figures were projected into the air before her, each in a different location.

  Her eyes flicked to the right, toward the projection of a man lounged behind a desk. He was old. So old, in fact, that it was a miracle – in her opinion at least – that he was still alive. He was dressed in a set of clothes that were too tight for him, his wrinkled and liver-spotted arm sporting the mark of The Glutton, just as she did. Dark blue ink flowed in the symbol of the infinite up his arm and coalesced into the eye of The Glutton on his shoulder.

  “Opal,” the man leered, his voice sounding so clear he may as well be standing next to her. “Nice of you to join us, and in such fine attire.”

  “I’d say I was insulted if I didn’t know you, Lapis,” Opal said back, fixing the man with her golden eyes. “Shame about what happened to your family.”

  Lapis’s smile vanished, his eyes narrowing.

  “What are you insinuating, you barely dressed harlot?” the man asked.

  “I’m not insinuating anything,” Opal said, placing her hands on her hips. “Simply stating a fact.”

  Lapis’s face darkened as he sat bolt upright, his eyes going wide and teeth bared in an angry snarl.

  “Ha!” barked the projection of the other man, his youthful voice full of mirth. “I always knew something was up with you, Lapis. Always busy making sure to tell everyone about all of your exploits, despite the fact that you’re basically a walking corpse. I knew something had to be off! No one talks like that unless they have something to hide.”

  He turned to Opal, his grin growing wider.

  “Looks like I owe you one.”

  Opal smiled thinly as Jasper continued to laugh, the short, almost childlike man cackling in glee at Lapis’s misfortune. She wouldn’t have minded if she’d gotten nothing out of discovering that juicy piece of information. Lapis’s reaction was more than worth all the bribes and promises she’d had to make and then some.

  “You little witch,” Lapis snarled, shooting up from his chair – the geezer no longer appeared quite so relaxed. “When I find you, I’m going to wring that pretty neck of yours until you beg!”

  “I’d like to see you try,” Opal said, giving him a wide smile and revealing enlarged canines.

  Lapis was about to reply when a knock came at the door. Opal peered over her shoulder as it opened a crack and a silky cloth was shoved through. Tribble took the garment, moving swiftly across the room.

  Opal smiled, extending her arms out and turning her back on the woman as she helped her into the cover. As much as she admired herself and the hard work she put into staying fit and looking good, she never felt comfortable around the leering geezer. The slip was tied at the front, and the smooth silk felt nice against her skin.

  Once that was done, Tribble exited the room, closing the door behind her. Opal knew that if anyone tried to come disturb her now, Tribble would butcher them before they could so much as lay a hand on the knob.

  “A shame, really,” Lapis said, seeming to have composed himself. “Harlot, you may be, but at least you had the ability to back it up.”

  Opal ignored him, tapping her foot impatiently. The Glutton still wasn’t here, which meant that she’d likely had had time to change before coming here.

  “Are we still waiting for Jade?” she asked, noting the woman’s absence.

  She knew that Jade had been hit hard recently, as some rat had upended a good portion of her Shimmerdust trade. Unlike many others in the organization, she didn’t take pleasure in seeing others in her position fail – except for Lapis.

  Jade had been a bit of a mentor back when Opal had been someone else and gotten involved in The Glutton’s trade. In fact, if not for Jade, she wouldn’t be where she was today. She was the youngest in the organization, at only 31 and had held her current position for a mere 4 years. It was nothing compared with Jade’s 16 or the geezer’s 30-odd years of service, but in her time, Opal had proved herself over and over again.

  “Yeah,” Lapis said, looking around. “Where is the brat?”

  “You do realize that that brat outearns you by more than two-to-one, right?” Opal said.

  “Oh, what do you know about how this organization works?” Lapis snapped. “You’re a child, nothing more. I was leading this organization when you were still soiling yourself and drooling over whatever filth you could shove into that disgusting mouth of yours.”

  “And yet, you somehow make less than me,” Opal retorted.

  “I provide intelligence and political intrigue,” Lapis snapped. “What would some flesh monger harlot like you know about the intricacies and inner workings of running an operation like this? Why, if I-!”

  The man abruptly cut off as a new figure flickered into existence, floating above the three of them. It wasn’t Jade, as Opal had been expecting, but rather, The Glutton.

  The man’s massive figure was hidden in shadow as he appeared, shoving something into his mouth and chewing agitatedly. Bones crunched beneath his teeth and an ugly snorting sound, distorted by the voice modulator, came through.

  “Good,” The Glutton said, his gleaming eyes flicking between the three of them. “You’re all here.”

  “All?” Opal dared to ask.

  “Jade has betrayed us,” The Glutton said, crunching down on what appeared to be an entire chicken.

  Bones crunched beneath his jaws, his shadowy chins wobbling as he gorged himself.

  Opal was in shock, disbelieving what she was hearing. Jade betrayed them? That wasn’t possible.

  “She was sent after the man responsible for interrupting our Shimmerdust trade,” The Glutton continued, his v oice garbled due to the half-chicken he was chewing. “Instead of killing him as instructed, she joined up with him. The man is sneaky and clever and has found a way to block my vision.”

  He crunched down on the remainder of the chicken, and though his voice didn’t rise, Opal could feel his rage leaking through the projection. She’d only ever seen him this angry once before and that had been after a rival tried to interfere with his business dealings in the Fourliance.

  She was still having a hard time believing that Jade could have done this, but The Glutton wouldn’t lie about something like this. No one double-crossed Guzzlarian The Glutton if they valued their life.

  “Someone has managed to block the eye?” Lapis asked, sounding shocked.

  “Have you lost your hearing as well as your manhood?” The Glutton snapped, shocking Lapis into silence. “Do not make me repeat myself.”

  Opal silently cursed at all the wasted money and bribes. The Glutton had literally just given Lapis’s greatest secret away. She remained quiet, afraid the man would say something of her own shame. The last thing she needed was Lapis finding out about hers.

  The Glutton paused, lifting a shadowy tray, and shoveling the food placed upon it down his throat, snorting and crunching all the while.

  “Now,” the man continued, swiping a hand across his lips. “I need her taken care of. Since one of my generals betrayed me, it is the job of the ones who remain to deal with this personally. I want Jade and this Keith person dead. That is an order. Leave whatever you’re doing, get on a ship, and go to Beastland. Today!”

  The Glutton’s voice thundered through the room, then the man’s projection winked out, leaving shocked silence in his wake. Opal had just a moment to share a look with Lapis and Jasper before the glass sphere went dark and dropped to the ground with a loud thunk.

  The tattoo on her shoulder continued to burn.

  “Tribble!” Opal barked, after letting the silence hang for several moments longer.

  The door flew open, the woman standing there, serrated knife drawn and looking ready to attack. When she saw no one else was in the room, she relaxed, sheathing the blade.

  “We’re leaving on an extended trip,” Opal said, crouching to lift the sphere from the floor. “I want all of my things packed and ready to go.”

  “When are we leaving?” Tribble asked.

  “In two hours,” Opal replied, shoving the sphere back into the lockbox in her desk.

  If The Glutton needed to contact her while she was away, he had other ways of doing so.

  “And Edmund?” Tribble said.

  “Who?” Opal said.

  “The man whose company you kept last night and this morning,” Tribble said.

  So that was his name. Opal’s mood soured further when she thought about what she’d be missing.

  “Get someone to send him my apologies. Also, tell him that I’d be most eager to take him out to dinner once I return.”

  She didn’t know if the man would go for it, but she could only hope.

  Tribble nodded, then rushed from the room, going to do as she’d ordered. Opal, meanwhile, slumped behind her desk, mind racing. She didn’t know what was going on with Jade, but there had to be some kind of mistake. This meant that she would have to reach her before either of the other two. Maybe she could make sense of this then.

  For now, though, she needed to wash off, get dressed, and formulate a plan.

  “So much for my relaxing day,” she muttered as she rose from her desk.

  One thing stuck with her, and she was sure the others had noted it as well. There was someone out there who was powerful enough to oppose The Glutton. Whoever this Keith was would not be an opponent to take lightly.

  ***

  “Keith? That is the man’s name?”

  Sabrina, the Avatar of Affluence, stood in her meeting hall, facing down the red-faced woman who’d come storming in not ten minutes ago.

  “Yes,” her acolyte, Ginger, said.

  “The disrespect sounds quite unbelievable,” Sabrina replied, watching the quivering woman.

  “Believe me or not,” Ginger said. “What I’m telling you is the truth. It happened exactly as I said.”

  Sabrina watched the enraged woman for a few moments longer. She didn’t doubt her at all, but if she was going to go through with this, she’d had to be absolutely sure.

  “After all the begging to have one of our number along for their mission, their supposed team leader threw you out without a second thought,” Sabrina said. “Their disrespect has been noted.”

  Sabrina drew herself up taller, exuding a sense of strength as her eyes blazed.

  “I will consult with the great Spirit over this slight,” she declared. “You will stay here to await further orders.”

  Ginger nodded, still appearing outraged at her mistreatment. Sabrina didn’t begrudge her in the slightest. After all, having one of their acolytes along on a mission was the height of honor. To have the Spirit’s blessing and protection was something to be cherished, admired, and praised, not decried and dismissed.

  Sabrina swept out of the room, weaving her way down the smaller corridor, ignoring all the splendor of the Spirit’s temple.

  Veins of gold, platinum, and precious stones lined the marble walls, the ceiling illuminated by sparkling motes of flowing crystal. The floor echoed with her footsteps, the rich, otherworldly wood feeling divine beneath her bare soles.

  It didn’t take her long to reach the room, a circular chamber with a raised walkway and platform, floating in the center of the globe. Sabrina strode purposefully to the center, silently admiring the obvious wealth displayed around them. The influence of the Spirit was palpable here, as the room was special, crafted by the Spirit herself. Only Avatars were allowed in here. Anyone else would be turned into statues of gold the moment they tried to enter.

  Sabrina stopped at the end of the walkway, where it widened, giving her a bit more space to move.

  “Great Spirit,” Sabrina said, dropping to her knees. “I beseech you for just a grain of your wisdom. What are we to do with this rude man who dared dismiss a fellow acolyte?”

  Sabrina had been expecting whispered instructions, a sense of what the Spirit wanted. It was what she always got. Instead, she received the surprise of a lifetime, when the color in the room began to brighten, a sense of power and wealth radiating throughout.

  Sabrina staggered to her feet as swirls of light began to dance throughout the room, veins of precious metals and stones beginning to dance as the sensations redoubled. New veins of precious metals – the kind never found naturally in this world – began appearing. They showed as shimmering lines of green-black, red, blue, and purest white made only by the presence of Spirits.

  Lines of gold, silver, platinum, ruby, emerald and diamond began flowing from all around her. The globe she stood on came alive with the presence of her Spirit coalesced into a sphere and floating before Sabrina.

  Within seconds, the precious materials had resolved themselves into the shape of a woman, one of exquisite beauty and grace. Sabrina, remembering herself, dropped back to her knees as flowing tresses of gold and ruby threads flowed around the Cordona, the Spirit of Affluence.

  “I was not expecting to see you, my Spirit,” Sabrina said, her voice quivering.

  “Peace be with you, my chosen daughter,” Cordona said, her voice melodic and rich, carrying with it a sense of amusement.

  Her voice also held something else that Sabrina could see and feel – anger.

  Sabrina remained as she was, prostrated on the ground before the mighty Spirit as the feminine figure stretched, glowing eyes flowing over their surroundings. The silence stretched as Sabrina waited for the Spirit’s holy word.

  “You have asked for my orders involving the Sortie known as Keith,” Affluence finally said, nearly spitting the words from her lips. “This creature is an affront to Spirit-kind. An apostate. A creature of such wretched origins and filth that it does not deserve to remain in this world!”

  The Spirit’s voice boomed, her rage shaking the air. All around them, metal darkened and flaked, diamonds shattered, and marble crumbled. The air seemed to lighten as the Spirit relaxed, though the destruction around her didn’t slow.

  “You, my faithful Avatar, and all my servants are to go hunt this man down and bring him to me. He is a creature most foul, one my siblings and I wish to remove from this world permanently. Do not underestimate him, however. Be cautious, as he contains more power than his appearance might reveal. Now, you have my orders. When next we speak, I expect the man to be in custody.”

 

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