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

I get the waterskin free and stand. “Get away. Move back!”


They obey, laying her back beneath the water and propping her head up on a stone. I pluck the stopper from the skin. The smell that rises from the vessel is vile, but confirms its contents. Nephilim blood collected from the shifter, Eshu, formally known as Krane. Kainda’s foresight might just save her own life. Hopping out of the water and clinging to a tree, I pour the purple liquid into the water over Kainda’s chest. Applying it directly to the wound would kill her even more quickly, but diluted in water, the blood will merely burn as it heals.

The purple blood clouds out around her body. But nothing happens. We wait in silence. Ten seconds. Thirty. “Should I add some more?” I ask.

“That was plenty,” Tunis says. “Any more and—”

Kainda screams and sits up. She claws at the wound on her chest, feeling the pain afresh, but when the blood is wiped away, the puncture is gone, healed completely.

“Kainda,” I say, leaping down from the tree.

She flinches back from me, confused. I crouch in front of her, a wide smile on my face. “Kainda, it’s okay. You’re okay!”

She finds my eyes and sees my smile. She glances down at the purple haze in the water, then feels her skin where the wound should be and understands.

“It’s okay,” I say again, and then, overcome with relief, I pull her to me and squeeze her. With her sitting and me crouching, it’s an awkward embrace, but I don’t care. And apparently, neither does she. She squeezes me tight, wrapping her arms around my neck and burying her face into my shoulder. The excitement of seeing Kainda alive has pushed away my exhaustion and I lift her up out of the water, giving her a proper hug. Em joins us and Kainda embraces her, too.

“Thank you,” she says. “I was dead without you.”

“It was you who thought to bring the blood,” I say.

“I’m not talking about that,” she says. “Before you. Before you…changed me. I was as dead then as I was a moment ago.”

“Oh,” I say. The words are kind and honest in a way I never thought I would hear Kainda say, and hearing them reassures me that no matter how powerful the Nephilim and Ninnis become, what we have here—this transforming power—will always be stronger.





35



I stop and stretch. My legs are tight from endless hours of hiking over rough terrain. Kainda stops next to me and leans against a tree. She would never admit it, but she’s feeling worn down too. How could she not? We ran from the lake nearly all the way to Mount Olympus, then swam through rapids all the way back, fought Ninnis, nearly died and then spent the last two days moving back up river. But we aren’t following the river this time. Nephilim have been swarming above the water, probably searching for Enki and Ninnis. Two of their three leaders are missing.

So we’ve taken a roundabout route, away from the river and over the craggy foothills leading up to Olympus. We’ve hacked through vine-laden jungle and waded through swamps. Two flocks of turkuins harassed us, but provided meals, and if not for a one hundred foot stone wall that we had to scale, we would have had to face off against a thirty-foot male cresty and its pack of nearly thirty. This wouldn’t have been impossible with my abilities, but I’m still feeling the effects of my fight with Ninnis, not to mention my recent physical exertion.

But it feels good to be making progress. To be acting, rather than simply reacting. Kainda knows where Hades’s quarters are inside Olympus, so that’s where we’re headed. From there, we’ll find the Jericho Shofar. I’m hoping Hades can explain what it does. Once we have the Shofar, we’ll rendezvous with the others underground and move Luca someplace safer. After healing Tunis’s wounds with Eshu’s blood, we sent him after the others to explain what we were doing. They’ll be expecting us. And after that? I’m not sure. But at least it’s a start.

Em stomps up the hill past Kainda and me. She has a crafty look in her eyes. “Look at you two, lazing around like a couple of seals.”

Kainda and I look at each other as Em passes between us. Kainda gives me a smile that I’ve come to adore. She motions with her head to follow Em. She won’t back down from the taunt, even if it was made in jest. Rest time is over.

I take a deep breath and let out a grunt. I have no trouble with being made fun of. Reminds me of my childhood. When Kainda offers me her hand, I take it and set off up the hill. I make it only two steps when a flash of pain rips through my head. I shout in agony, and fall to the ground.

Solomon.

The voice in my mind is faint, as though distant.

Solomon!

“It hurts!” I shout.

Kainda and Em are by my side in an instant.