The Last Hunter: Collected Edition (Antarktos Saga #1-5)

Aimee avoids my eyes.

“Tell me, please!” I knew there was something about Xin worth saving and if it’s true, if I’m right, then there might be a shred of hope for me yet. I take Aimee’s shoulders in my hands. “Xin saved me, Aimee. And he hid me from the other hunters. Without his help, I would be dead or broken again. Please.”

She gives the slightest nod, “He doesn’t know. None of them do.” She begins crying. “Please don’t go. Flee from this place. Go to McMurdo. Go home to your parents. Take Em with you and never think of Antarctica again.”

“You know I can’t,” I say. “My family is growing. There are more allies in the underworld than I ever thought possible. And I will not abandon them here. I will not abandon you.”

She takes my hand in hers, brings it to her face and kisses it. She closes her eyes and I feel her tears drip onto my skin. When she opens her eyes again, I’m holding out the gift I needed to deliver, in case I don’t come back as myself, or if I never come back.

When she sees it, she lets out a sob so sad that even Em cries a little bit. Aimee takes the Polaroid photo of Mira, her daughter, and me, in a shaky hand. After a moment, she clutches the image to her chest. “Where—where did you get this?”

“I’ve always had it with me,” I say. “It gave me strength when I was alone.”

She starts to hand it back, but I push it towards her.

“I’m not alone, anymore,” I say with a look back at Em. “You need it more than me.”

Having done what I came here to do, I step back and pull the skull hood back over my head and wipe away the tears on my cheeks. “We need to go.”

“So soon?” Aimee asks.

“We have four days to reach the gates of Tartarus,” I say. “If we’re not there in time, Ninnis will kill Luca.”

She stands and hugs me. “You have given me a gift more bright than the sun itself. You are still a precious boy.”

The familiar words, spoken to me by Aimee at my birth and when I was freed from the personality of Ull, bring peace to my heart. Aimee frees me from her grasp and to my surprise, and Em’s, wraps her arms around Em and says, “You are a precious girl.”

I see Em’s face quivering. While Tobias loved her as a daughter, he was never affectionate with her. This is the first physical expression of love, beyond our occasional hand clutch, that Em has ever received, and coming from a motherly person like Aimee, it’s almost more than she can bear. I smile when I see the muscles in Em’s arms flex as she returns the embrace.

After renewing my promise to one day free Aimee, we leave the library feeling renewed and emboldened, with a higher sense of purpose beyond simply freeing Luca.

We are the light at war with darkness.

We represent love in a land of hate.

And if we die in its defense, the Nephilim will have lost, and there will be hope for humanity.





30



Our hope disappears when the stench hits. Half a day’s journey from the gates of Tartarus, the odor of countless Nephilim and hunters fills the tunnels like an invisible fog. There is no escaping it. The scent of smoke and roasting flesh is mixed with the rancid tang of body odor and refuse. Every step takes us deeper into the stink, and it’s not long before I can taste it in my mouth. I’m not sure what’s worse anymore, breathing through my nose or through my mouth.

I choose to breathe through my nose because even though the smell is stronger than the taste, the flavor of Nephilim in my mouth repels me. I’ve tasted it before, when I consumed the flesh of Nephil.

Em stops, resting against the wall of the small tunnel we’ve been following. We haven’t come across another living thing on our journey thus far, nor have we detected anyone following us, but we’re sticking to the road less traveled just to be careful. I know Ninnis wants me to arrive as Ull, and show everyone that I’m willingly giving myself to Nephil, but that doesn’t mean he won’t have an ambush ready for me. I doubt it, but better safe than sorry.

“You okay?” I ask her. I know she’s not tired. We could both continue on at this pace for days.

“I’m just—are you sure about this?” She avoids my eyes. “You launched right into this plan, which might leave you dead or under the control of Nephil, without much thought. I mean, I want to save Luca, too. But I’m starting to wonder if the cost of getting Luca back is too high.”

“He’s your brother,” I say. “He’s my brother. He’s more than my brother.”

“What do you mean?” she asks.

“You know…what he is?”

She nods. “Tobias told you?”

“Tobias didn’t know everything.”