Spider's Game ((Book One) #Wattys2016 Winner!)

Chapter 7-Magic & a Gun

One of the spider's massive legs drove down into Berrick's thigh. Berrick screamed as blood welled from his leg. His vision blurred under a haze of agony that threatened to pull him under its waves. Another leg drove towards him. He kicked into its underside. The spider jerked back, and Berrick pulled himself out of the way.

The gun lay a few feet from Berrick. He dove and grabbed for the gun. A spider leg tore the fabric of his shirt, leaving a burning pain down the side of his back. His fingers met cold metal.

He pointed and shot. He shot again, and the spider fell back.

The spider let out a high-pitched scream. One of its legs hung limply at its side, and blood dripped from the right side of its body. Berrick hoisted himself up against the wall and lifted the gun.

The creature before him was huge, and it had Halis' cold, laughing eyes. He steadied his arm and aimed at the thing's eyes.

A word exploded in the air and caught him.

He tried to pull the trigger, but his finger wouldn't move.

Silvia moved into his line of sight with Henri slumped behind her. Her finger pointed at Berrick, and the whites of her eyes swirled with black.

Berrick struggled to scream. Struggled harder to pull the trigger.

He knew magic, but this wasn't in the scope of reason. This went against everything he'd ever learned about the mystical arts. For her to wield power so extreme wasn't possible.

Henri's face was pale as death, and he stumbled. His hair was entirely gray and his skin a shade that nearly matched. Silvia gripped Henri's shirt and threw him in front of her on the ground. Henri crumpled, giving no resistance.

The sorceress stepped toward Berrick with her teeth bared. She struck the gun from his hand and the pistol spun across the floor. She hissed another word, the gun melted.

Henri twitched behind her. His body sank inward, skin shriveled and colorless.

Then Silvia slapped Berrick. Her ring dug into the flesh of his cheek and ripped a bloody patch out of it. Berrick struggled to move again, and the spell rippled around him. She shoved him back against the wall, and he drove against her. She had amazing strength for a woman so slender. And then Halis was by her side. A line of blood trickled from his mouth. He punched Berrick in the face, and Berrick slammed into the floor.

Silvia pulled her foot back and kicked Berrick in the ribs. Berrick's eyes clouded and his brain struggled to overcome the agony in his leg, fill his aching lungs with air and find some explanation, any explanation for what just happened.

When Berrick's vision cleared, Halis leaned on Silvia's shoulder. The darker man's arm dripped blood, and a crimson stain spread across his shirt.

"You'll make the calls needed to get our papers ready. Now," Silvia said. Her black eyes broached no argument.

"A spider... Darith said he was attacked by a spider." Berrick gasped in pain.

"Get up and call them," Halis said, a sneer in the place of his characteristic smile. "We need you alive, or you'd be dead right now. We don't need your daughter."

Berrick pressed his back against the wall and forced himself up. Silvia's eyes flickered. Halis leaned onto her, but he recovered his smile.

How much did Berrick trust the count? On leaving, he'd provided instructions to take Marim and the boy to another planet to hide them if Berrick didn't return. He looked into the cold dark eyes of Silvia and Halis.

"Give me a goddamn phone," Berrick said.

Halis let go of Silvia's shoulder, and she walked across the room. Halis held his side and smiled.

"No one has shot me, you know," Halis said. "Be proud of that. You'll have scarred me. Silvia won't thank you for that."

Berrick spat at him. Halis laughed.

Silvia returned with one of the old fashioned phones favored on Yahal. She held the receiver out to Berrick. "No tricks, Berrick. The only ones who get to play games are Halis and me. This is our gambit, and we'll succeed."

She took Halis' hand and led him back to the bed. Berrick considered running, but he still remembered the power of her stare.

Berrick looked over at Henri on the ground. His hand was gray, as if he'd been drained of all his blood. He didn't move, and he didn't breathe. Berrick felt nothing looking at the corpse. Brother or no, Henri had opened the door that put Marim and Darith in harm's way. He earned his end. But to die like that... and they knew where his Marim was. Marked her.

He'd left his badge behind. What difference was there between this illegal deed and the one he intended? As long as it kept Maris safe? But a queasy churning competed with the blinding pain at the thought of using the badge he'd built his life around to betray that system.

"Make the call," Silvia said. She was looking at him again as she perched on the edge of the bed. Her hair fell down her back like a black flame.

"Whose life'll you drain for your next spell if I don't?"

"I have more reserves than you could dream. Make the call. I'm tired of your games."

Berrick lifted the receiver and dialed. His fingers were numb. He made three phone calls, talked to numerous people and chatted with a good number of them. He did all this with her eyes on him. The cold crept out of her gaze and drained him. When at last he hung up the phone, she dropped her eyes.

"When will we have our papers?" Silvia asked and used one long finger to prop up her chin. The bracelets jangled on her slender wrists. Their gold shone on her pale skin.

"A week, maybe two," Berrick said.

Silvia stood and walked over to him. "Then that is how long we will stay with you. Or more accurately, how long you'll stay with us."

"I'm not staying here," Berrick said.

"You'll not be out of our sight until we're on that ship, Berrick," Silvia said. "We could come with you, to your home, and sleep in your bed...but that puts us under the same roof as Marim."

"We'll stay here," Berrick said through gritted teeth.

"Didn't you have a son once, Berrick?" Halis said from the bed. "I read about it I think. He died a while back in some tragic accident. It was all over the papers four years ago."

Berrick glared at the grinning man on the bed.

"Ah yes, a shooting it was. The boy was shot twice in the head, once at point blank range after he was already dead, then dumped off a cliff. Two days until your police force found his cold broken body. Wasn't that the story?" Halis continued.

"Yes, dear. You have such a wonderful memory. I never would have recalled that." Silvia glanced at the bed her white teeth flashed in a smile before she turned back to Berrick. "Was there ever an investigation?"

"No," Halis said. "Odd thing for the wife and son of the police chief, no? You'd almost think you already knew who committed the crime and chose not to accuse them."

Berrick glared at both of them.

"Wasn't your wife with your son?" Silvia asked.

"During the attack, she was," Halis said when Berrick stayed silent. "Pretty thing, very like her daughter. They have the same eyes. They didn't shoot her in the head though, would've been a pity to destroy that face. I'm glad they didn't. They found her . . ."

"Shut up," Berrick said. How they found Polly shone in a bitter cold cutout across his mind, bloody, three gunshot wounds and numerous stabs. The coroner said she was alive for all but the final shot.

"Hmmm, actually I think he's right, my darling. We must fetch a doctor, or one of you will bleed to death," Silvia said and took the phone.

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*Revised 4/5/2016