SNAFU: Hunters

“We’re getting some strange signals from where we cleared the rift. Tighe and Vida are still busy with the belos’. I want you to take Kai and Faina back in to check it out.”

Harris set his cup down and got to his feet. “Just the one Cobalt?”

Bronze nodded. “Esfir injured a paw, so we’re letting her rest. The cats are linked to both girls, so Kai can interpret for you, and Tchaz can keep us informed here. Take the Jeep so you can drive all the way in. Nothing fancy, just a good thorough sweep to see why we’re still getting a signal even though Vida shut down the rift.”

“Yeah, no problem.” Harris didn’t dawdle, but by the time he’d grabbed his gear and walked to the small SUV, Kai and the Cobalt were waiting for him. “You go off alone regularly?” he asked, starting the engine after sliding into his seat.

“I’m never alone,” the girl returned, smoothing one hand over the cat’s broad head. “Plus, you’re here. It’s a party.”

Harris smiled and shook his head. She looked all of fifteen years old, slender and petite, but she was cool and confident with the presence of a queen. He glanced once at the cat, who was gazing at him solemnly, her bright green eyes reflecting his face back to him. Then he put the Jeep in gear and headed back down the rutted dirt road.

As he drove down the rough track, the cat put her head in Kai’s lap and purred loudly. The girl lightly dragged her nails through the Cobalt’s thick blue-grey fur, her eyes on the way ahead. After they’d turned onto a narrow paved road that would take them closer to their destination, she said, “So why did you volunteer for this outfit?”

Harris glanced at her sharply, before facing forward again. “What makes you think I volunteered?”

She chuckled softly, gazing down fondly at the feline head lying heavy on her leg. “We’re all volunteers. Tighe and Vida agreed at the very beginning, there would be no member of the Bani who didn’t want to be here.”

“The Bani?” he asked. He’d read the term before, but didn’t know what it was supposed to mean.

“Bane. We’re the curse on the dark, the downfall of those things that hide in the shadows.”

He snorted. “A little melodramatic.”

She laughed, a sweet tinkling that made the cat open one eye. “Yes, but still true. We hunt the things that wish to do us harm. But we are all hunted, too.” She turned to study his profile, her dark eyes giving nothing away. “What hunts you?”

He didn’t turn to look at her, but could see her quite clearly in his peripheral vision.

“Someday, if you want to talk about it, Faina and I will listen.”

His mouth twitched; he was going to confess his secrets to a cat?

“We’re very good listeners,” Kai said.

Harris turned onto another dirt road, this one little more than a couple faint tire tracks through the high grass. He slowed to squeeze past a fallen tree and started as the cat got up and leapt out of the still-moving vehicle. Faina landed squarely on the downed trunk, tail high and twitching, then raced along the rough bark and disappeared into the trees.

“She’ll go around and meet us at the meadow,” Kai explained.

“So why did you volunteer?” Harris asked, continuing to follow the rough track.

“There were three of us,” she replied in her light, breathless voice. “Tchaz, Nikki, and me. Nikki was taken from us. We hunt for the thing in the shadows that took her.”

He thought about saying he was sorry, but what good would it do? “Was it one of these things? A ’ponera, or… or the big one, a belos’?”

She was looking out the windshield again, her face composed and emotionless. “No, not one of them. But something like them. It came through a rift, like they do. Someday, we will see it again, and it will pay.”

They both fell silent then as Harris guided the vehicle down the winding trail through the trees. Eventually he had to pull off the almost nonexistent road, following the coordinates on the GPS unit attached to the dash.

“Faina is rounding the northern edge of the meadow,” Kai reported, her eyes vague as she accessed her link to the Cobalt. “She can still smell the OHs. When she is across the clearing from us, she’ll enter to investigate.”

“Don’t let her jump the gun,” Harris said, fighting to hold the wheel as they bucked over the thick undergrowth. “Tell her to wait for us.”

He parked when they had driven as far as they could; they had to walk the last few hundred yards. The sun shone, spangles of golden light through the trees, and dense underbrush made for slow going. Ahead, he could see brighter light through the trunks where the meadow opened up. Beside him, moving as silently as her cat, Kai alternated her attention between their surroundings and her link to the Cobalt. She surprised Harris by producing a handgun, which he hadn’t even known she carried. Despite her slim stature and young age, she was obviously well versed in its use.

“She’s straight across from us,” Kai whispered when they reached the edge of the clearing. The smell of the belos’ lingered, making her wrinkle her nose. “She’s nervous. We’re not alone.”