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

His eyes snap toward me. “Eshu,” he says. “But you were close.”


Eshu. I read about him once, which means I remember every one of the scant details provided about him. He’s a trickster god—meaning he likes to fool people into harm’s way, causing injury, personal loss, loss of faith and even wars. Eshu is the trickster god of the Yorùbá tribe in Nigeria. But he’s not alone. There are many other trickster gods throughout history: Anansi, Lilith, Loki, Maui and like my initial guess, the most famous of them all, Lucifer. Satan. The Devil. While the warriors hold power among the Nephilim, it is the shifters who have had the most profound effect on the human race.

Eshu’s next statement corrects that last assumption. He spits purple blood as he speaks. “Lucifer is my father.”

My mind reels with this revelation. The demon, Lucifer, is not only real, but is this shifter’s father. Granted, I knew the Nephilim were the children of a coupling between human mothers and demon fathers, but I never put a name to the fathers, and for some reason, never that name.

While I try to make sense of this surreal revelation, my guard falls, and Eshu takes advantage. The big Nephilim is quick and agile. He leaps across the ground on all fours and tackles me around the waist before I can react. It’s like getting struck by a charging polar bear. Stars dance in my vision when I strike the ground hard, but I still see Eshu’s open maw as it approaches my neck. The double rows of sharp teeth will have no trouble tearing out my throat. I have just seconds to live.

Then I see Kainda, in the air above Eshu, hammer raised and ready to deliver a crushing blow.

But Eshu must have seen my eyes widen. He twists around with surprising speed and backhands Kainda in the side. Her body crashes into the jungle, stopping against the trunk of a tree.

“Kainda!” I shout.

My concern causes Eshu to laugh. “Hunters concerned for hunters. It’s heart-warming. Really.” He laughs again, turning his head to the sky with a howl that warriors use just before killing an enemy—me, in this case. Kainda won’t recover in time to help me.





29



For all of Eshu’s strength, speed and confidence, he has forgotten that the person he now faces is a hunter, trained by Ninnis and chosen of Nephil. I am not as weak as he seems to think. I put the time he spends mocking me to good use. Whipsnap never fell from my grasp. I slowly pull the weapon up. I turn the blade toward Eshu just as he throws himself down on top of me to finish the job. The blade pierces his chest, sinking ten inches deep.

For a moment, I think I’ve struck the killing blow. But he reels back and up onto his feet with a shout of pain. I cling to Whipsnap, and I’m pulled off the ground. I’ve impaled his breastplate and the blade can’t slice through. Rather than give up my weapon, I hold on tight, dangling two feet off the ground.

But I don’t want to be within Eshu’s grasp when his senses return. I pull myself up, plant my feet against his waist, and use my leverage to bend the mace end of Whipsnap around. The spiked ball strikes Eshu in the face, crushing his red nose with a crunch.

Eshu flails back, but manages to take hold of my arm. His face is twisted with rage. I kick and pull, but I can’t break free. I shove Whipsnap’s blade in deeper, but the pain doesn’t stop him. He opens his mouth, clearly intending to bite my arm off. The pressure on my wrist increases and I shout in pain. “Nephil was wrong, you are not strong at all.”

At the moment, I agree with him. He’s not even a full sized warrior, and though I’ve managed to injure him, I suspect the injuries will heal. The Krane skin he wore might not have, but I suspect that was intentional.

His breath tickles the skin of my arm. I close my eyes.

There’s a sound like a whistle. Two whistles. And each is followed by a wet smack. My eyes snap open as Eshu roars in pain and drops me to the ground.

The shifter devil stumbles back. Two knives are buried in his eyes. The skill with which they were thrown identifies the attacker.

Em.

But she is not alone.

Bolas wrap around Eshu’s feet, binding him in place. As he tears the knives out of his eyes, there’s a battle cry that comes close to matching any Nephilim’s. Kainda, now recovered, leaps at Eshu and brings her stone hammer down on his head with all of her strength. The crack of Eshu’s skull breaking is loud. The monster falls to the ground, immobilized, but still alive. In fact, I can see the fresh wounds healing.

I stand above the fallen Nephilim and yank Whipsnap out of his chest. He coughs purple blood, smiles and looks at me through one of his now healed eyes. “You are nothing,” he says.

“You,” I say, interrupting the shifter. “Are about to die.” I raise Whipsnap above my head. “You will cease to exist. So you see, Eshu, it is you, the Nephilim, who are nothing.”