Fighting to stay focused, Tommy stood still and aimed at the oni holding the elf. He missed the first shot, making the oni flinch aside as the bullet whined past his ear. The second bullet caught the warrior behind the ear, and he went down. The other oni holding Jewel Tear had been focused on the elf and had missed any sign of the first shot. He looked over at his fallen leader with surprise and took the third bullet in the throat.
The oni started to react to Tommy’s attack, but they couldn’t tell where he was. Jewel Tear scrambled to her feet and bolted into the woods. Tommy locked down on a curse, which would have given away his position. He didn’t need her finding more trouble. He had enough here in the clearing. At least she served as a distraction. The oni were reacting as if they thought she must be running to their attacker. Three charged after her. He managed to kill two, but the third vanished into the trees.
“There’s just one.” The leader identified himself. He’d taken cover on the wrong side of a tree, shielding himself against attackers in the direction that Jewel Tear had run.
Tommy crouched down as they scanned the wrong direction, and took careful aim.
“I don’t see any—” The second-in-command glanced to the leader as Tommy’s bullet sprayed blood and brains against the tree trunk. “Behind us!”
Tommy froze in place, trying to not even breathe, as the warriors whipped around, leveling guns in his direction. None were pointed directly at him.
Empty clearing. He held on as tight as he could to their minds. Six was easier than twelve, but they were still slick and unwieldy in his hold. Nothing to see.
“Where is he?” the nearest growled to the second-in-command.
They were clumped too close together. There were six tight around him, and he only had four bullets left. They’d cut him to ribbons before he could change his clip.
Carefully, he fed them the image of someone darting through the trees, running from them.
“There!” one bayed and leapt after the phantom image. A second and third were quick on his heels.
“Idiots!” the second-in-command shouted. “There’s no—”
Tommy shot him. The first bullet hit the male in the left shoulder. The oni roared with pain, lifting up his machine gun and firing blindly. The others aimed in Tommy’s general direction and fired.
Dust, lots of billowing dust, something staggering to the right as bullets slammed into it.
Tommy gritted his teeth, staying still as the bullets tore up the ground beside him, spraying him with dirt and bits of stones. He emptied his clip into the second-in-command, dropping him. After that, he could only wait until the other two warriors reached the end of their clips, hoping they didn’t hit him.
As he hoped, they both emptied their guns at the same time. For one moment, they lost their focus as they changed their clips. He ejected the clip from his pistol, slammed a fresh clip home, and gave them a new image.
Dust billows, revealing and hiding a body laying on the ground. Elf long hair, wyvern armor, sekasha tattoos.
After the thunder of guns, the silence rang loud in his ears.
Slowly the warriors moved closer to look at the phantom body.
“Can they do that?” the one asked. “Be invisible?”
The other was shaking his head like a wet dog. “Isn’t right. Isn’t right,” the male growled.
“Can they or can’t they?” the first asked.
The second worked his nose, sniffing. “Not the right scent,” the male growled. “I smell that damn cat.”
Shit. How good was the warrior’s nose? Would he be able to track Tommy?
The three that had charged into the woods, though, were returning. He reached for their minds and made them see two elves standing over the fallen oni. Their response was satisfyingly violent. In a matter of minutes, only one warrior was left alive.
And one warrior he could completely blindside easily.
From the woods came Spot’s cry of anger. Tommy’s heart leapt in his chest, followed hard by rage. He had told the boy to stay put! He dashed toward the sound, rejecting the spent clip and inserting a new one.
The lone oni warrior had caught the elf female by her long dark hair, but as he had struggled to subdue her, Spot had jumped the oni from behind. Tommy couldn’t shoot in fear of hitting his cousin. The oni reached over his shoulder and grabbed the boy. Spot bit down hard on the oni’s hand. Roaring with pain and anger, the oni flung the boy down onto the ground, stomped down on Spot, and pulled his gutting knife. Pinned, the boy was at least out of the line of fire. Tommy took aim and shot.
The oni went down, and both Spot and Jewel went for the knife. The elf was closer and snatched it up awkwardly with her tied hands.
“Don’t hurt him!” Tommy roared in Elvish, leveling the gun at her. “Hurt him and I’ll gut you myself!”
Jewel backed away from the boy, bound arms bent at the elbow to hold the knife ready to strike. Luckily her hands were still tied too tightly to let her cast magic.
Spot scrambled up and dashed to Tommy, wrapping his arms around him and burying his head into Tommy’s side. The boy was shaking hard.
“Are you okay?” Tommy asked him in Mandarin. The boy only whimpered. “Damn it, are you hurt or not?”
Spot shook his head. Tommy sighed out relief and patted the boy on the back. Reassured, he focused back on Jewel Tear. The greater blood oni bred for brute force, not caring that the lesser bloods looked like monsters. In the case of the oni warriors, it might even be a benefit. The elves went for looks; there was no such thing as an ugly elf. Jewel Tear was radiant even when muddy, bruised, and battered. Her rich sable-colored hair fell to her knees. Her eyes were a stunning amber brown with thick long lashes and dark elegant eyebrows. Her skin was a warm caramel color. The oni had torn rends into her green silk gown, and, through the tears, Tommy could see tantalizing glimpses of her body.
That she was bound and yet armed and ready to fight only made her more erotic to him. They eyed each other over the oni gutting blade.
“I don’t want to hurt you.” He indicated with his pistol that she should drop the knife. “But I will if I have to.”
“You will have to kill me. I will not submit.”
He reach out with his ability and projected an image of him standing before her, gun leveled, thinking out the problem. Keeping that firm in her mind, he holstered his gun, stepped forward, jerked the knife out of her hand, and shoved her to the ground. She landed with a cry of dismay. He stepped back out of her range and let go of her mind.
“What — what did you do?” she cried as she struggled to free her fingers.
“I told you, I don’t want to hurt you.” Tommy handed the gutting knife to Spot. It had been a mistake not arming the boy so he could defend himself. “If you haven’t noticed, I’m trying to rescue you.”
Her eyes narrowed in study of them. She in took in Tommy’s catlike ears and Spot’s doglike features. “You’re Wolf Who Rule’s half-oni?”
“We don’t belong to the viceroy.”
“But you’re saving me? For him?”
“True Flame thinks I had something to do with your kidnapping.”
She grasped it instantly. “Because the oni used the kitsune’s illusions? And you have that mind trick of yours.”