Monster Hunter Bloodlines - eARC Larry Correia (all ebook reader .txt) 📖

natural science and the spirit mongrel. Bring the device to me, child.”

Sonya tried to run, but Phipps clenched one bony fist, and she was instantly frozen in place. The look stuck on her face was one of absolute terror as she began to float up toward the lich. Phipp’s licked his nonexistent lips with his jerky tongue. Not only could a skull look hungry, it could also look greedy.

“A fascinating development. Perhaps this new discovery will make up for tonight’s inconvenience.”

Boone’s voice was in my ear. “Everybody duck and cover.”

The other team had taken advantage of the lich’s distraction. I realized what they were doing, but I also knew that the results would probably kill Sonya too. Without hesitation I sprang up, sprinted forward, and tackled her. We both hit the ground hard.

Then Buford Phipps exploded.

Chapter 13

When I say that the lich exploded, I’m not talking a little explosion, like I could get from Abomination’s grenade launcher. Oh no. I’m talking a big-ass literal fireball, with a deafening roar and a shockwave that bent the air around it and made me eat dirt.

“That was a direct hit, Gregorius,” Boone said over the radio.

“You know I love me some thermobaric warheads, Jay.”

I lay there, ears ringing, coughing, really thankful that Gregorius had used a round that relied on heat and pressure in the biggest gun we’d brought tonight, as opposed to a warhead with a bunch of shrapnel, because I’d be dead. Instead, I probably only had brain damage. But a lich was a terrifyingly capable foe, so even hitting Phipps with a bunker buster was no guarantee that he was finished. I rolled off Sonya and looked in the direction the lich had been levitating, but there was no sign of him.

“Are you alive?”

“Yeah. Quit shouting in my ear.” Sonya glanced around, obviously stunned. The blast had flattened several of the outbuildings. A few more fires had started and the barn was a mighty blaze by this point. Boone’s guys must have set the farmhouse on fire too, because it was burning. There were brain-shot zombie corpses scattered everywhere. “You MHI guys really don’t mess around.”

“Are you injured?”

“Just this stupid thing stuck to my hand.” She shook the Ward but it wouldn’t fall off.

“Okay, stay down while we finish this son of a bitch.” I got up, checked Abomination to make sure it was ready, and stumbled in the general direction I thought the monster would’ve ended up.

Since we’d gotten separated when the lich had given us that telekinetic bitch slap I looked around for my team. The spot where Earl had been was empty. He’d run off, which was good, because even though he had far more self-control than most werewolves while transformed, he was still a werewolf and would need to stay away from people until he changed back. I spotted Milo and Trip already up and moving, searching the charred area for the lich. I couldn’t see Holly though. I keyed my radio. “Come in Holly, status?”

“I’m fine, Z. I’ll catch up in a minute.”

Boone’s team had moved up on the barn and began searching the ground with their flashlights. Gregorius was there with the gigantic SMAW launcher over one shoulder, grinning. Which was a pretty common expression among Hunters whenever we had the opportunity to set off a truly glorious explosion.

“Got one of his arms here,” Mundy shouted. “It’s still crawling.”

“Hurry and throw it in the fire,” Boone ordered.

Mundy picked up the lich’s arm with a look of distaste. That was understandable since the fingers were frantically grasping. He tossed it on the bonfire. A moment later Sherlock found a leg, and Hertzfeldt found a pelvis stuck beneath the tractor. Apparently, there were some limits on how far apart Phipp’s severed bits could end up and still pull themselves back together. A thermobaric warhead gets the job done.

“Put the parts in different woodpiles and burn them all,” Boone directed his team.

I joined Boone. “You think that’ll work?”

“Probably. Even really tough supernatural bodies can only take so much physical punishment. The real problem with liches is that they pluck their heart out and leave it in a magic jar that their spirits retreat back to when their bodies get destroyed.” Then he noticed a rib stuck in the dirt near his boot and bent over to pick it up. “Where’s the girl?”

I’d been kind of distracted. “I left her back at the car.”

Boone looked at me like I was stupid. “The one who has already run away from you a couple times?” He grabbed his radio. “Anybody got eyes on the shapeshifter?”

“Way ahead of you guys.” I turned around to see Holly and Sonya walking toward us. Holly looked smug, while Sonya looked guilty. Holly had her carbine casually pointed at Sonya’s legs, and her gun handling was good enough that the angle certainly wasn’t on accident. “Our little shapeshifter here was about to make a run for it.”

“I was not.”

“Uh-huh . . . ” Holly said. “I bet you were getting in the car to drive for help, right?”

Boone scowled at me and shook his head. “Moron.”

I felt like such a sucker. I turned toward Sonya. “I can’t believe you stole that nice woman’s Hyundai.”

“I was going to return it. It got kinda trashed though.”

I sighed. A promise was a promise, so it looked like I was buying Bonnie a new car. “Let me see the Ward.”

Sonya held out her hand and showed us the stolen treasure. “Yeah, about that . . . ” She turned her hand over, spread her fingers wide and then shook it hard, but the Ward still wouldn’t let go. “Since I’ve got all you occult experts here, is it supposed to do that?”

I signaled for Milo. “Hey. Magic rock check.”

Milo came over from where he’d been gathering lich parts to take a look. He tossed Phipp’s jawbone in the nearest fire. Then he approached Sonya and politely said, “May I?”

“Knock yourself out.” She held the stone out to him. “I touched it before and it didn’t