a bad movie.” Butch unsheathed both his black daggers. “I expect more from the likes of you.”
“Such credit. I’m tickled. And I’ve missed you.”
“Can’t say the same over here.”
“You downplay your emotions.”
“Not when it comes to hating you.”
The Omega drifted over, leaving the Fore-lesser behind. “You know, you are one of my few regrets. If I hadn’t made you, you wouldn’t be such a problem.”
“We’re almost done here. The prophecy nearly complete.” Butch knelt by the slayer Qhuinn had taken down. “You come any closer, I’m going to go to work. And not with these daggers.”
The Omega paused. “Do as you wish. I like to watch.”
“If you leave, right now,” Butch said, “I’ll stab this piece of shit back to you. You hang around? I’m going to suck him down like a milkshake on a hot summer night. And something tells me by the look of your robe you can’t afford to lose much more.”
An unholy growl rose up, emanating from under the dirty white folds. “You mortal scourge—”
“Enough trading insults.” Butch leaned down, putting his mouth over the still moving lesser’s. “So what’s it going to be?”
“You need to learn the real meaning of power.”
With surprisingly quick reflexes, the Omega curled back an arm-like extension, and cast a dense, shadowy projectile through the air, the buzzing sound of its flight like that of a wasps’ nest riled up, the dark magic coming fast and on-target. The force hit Butch like a ton of bricks, throwing him off the gurgling, useless pile of slayer, slamming him against the building behind him.
There was no time to recover. Before the Omega could pitch a second strike, Butch surged forward, grabbed the mangled face of the lesser, and made out with the oily mess of anatomy, inhaling like he had been underwater for a half hour, like not only his life depended on it, but like the lives of every single one of the brothers and the fighters who Qhuinn was going to drag here in the next thirty seconds would be saved by the suck.
The Omega let out a high-pitched howl that was so loud, it knocked out Butch’s hearing and went straight down his spine.
But he did not look up. Did not stop. Did not slow down.
It was his only shot . . . to save his brothers who were going to come running, regardless of that all clear he’d sent.
Syn re-formed a block away from the coordinates that had been sent out by Qhuinn, but the instant he resumed his physical form, he received a contradicting message that all was clear from Butch.
Flaring his nostrils, he scented the air.
The stench of lesser was so loud, it could only be explained by a juicy kill. So maybe Qhuinn had brought one down, but been worried about backup on the slayer side or something? Only to have Butch take care of round two?
Beneath his skin, his talhman surged, and it was the need for bloodshed that sent him forward at a jog—just like it was the need for a kill that had made him get up from that table at the bar, when he hadn’t wanted to leave Jo. He was desperate to release his inner burn, however. Overdue to let his bad side express itself.
Maybe there was something left over for him to play with. Maybe there would be others. Maybe this wouldn’t take long and he could go back and find Jo—
Syn came around a tight corner and stopped dead.
Even as his eyes focused on the figure in dingy white robing, and his instincts told him what it was, his brain refused to believe the conclusion he drew.
Yet the draped figure with evil spilling out from under its hems could be one, and only one, entity. And the Omega was in attack mode, its form reared back as if it were gathering strength to throw something . . . at Butch.
Who was inhaling a slayer like he was trying to draw a tire through a straw.
Syn didn’t hesitate.
With a powerful surge, he bum-rushed the evil, taking three huge strides and throwing all his body weight at the damn thing. And the Omega, for all its omnipotence, didn’t seem to notice him—at least not until Syn was on the entity, his body tackling the master of all lessers off its feet.
Or whatever held it up off the ground.
Everything went in slow motion at that point. As whatever spell or magic the Omega had been aiming at Butch went haywire and blew