Excerpt: Starhunters

Further in the back of the bar a tall slender woman reclined in her seat, watching the two youngsters at the bar with great interest. Her long lilac coloured hair fell down to her waist, a sharp contrast to her black leather tunic and trousers, and dark brown skin. “You think he‘s our guy?” she asked her tall alien companion.

“He could be, do you think he‘s the right age? You know your species better than I.” Nelark replied thoughtfully, resting one of his six two-fingered limbs under his chin.

“Could be,” Violet replied, a little non-committal. “But if he is a dancer, there’s bound to be many human dancers, were gonna have to watch him closely and see if he reveals himself.” pausing to take a sip of her wine, “I don‘t wanna pick up the wrong one, while the real one does a runner amid the confusion.”

The large insect-like alien grunted in agreement, “you could always drag him down an alley and attack him, if he produces any powers, then you would know it‘s him.”

Violet laughed, “And just how do we get him to trust us after that?”

Nelark huffed as he shifted his weight in an uncomfortably small booth for his ample abdomen. “I‘m just the brawn, you‘re meant to be the brains.”

Just then, the swinging doors to the bar opened and in walked what looked to be a spacefaring woman, wearing a telltale sleeveless jumpsuit, curves in all the right places, long fawn coloured hair, but what really stood out were her amber coloured eyes, almost glowing in the dim light of the bar.

As soon as Violet clocked the amber eyes she gripped the pistol on her thigh, Nelark resting a silent cautious hand on hers as they tried not to draw attention to themselves. A short, slight human with long wavy hair sat in the corner booth, slowly sipping from his drink as he watched everything in the room. Now that he saw the amber eyed woman entering the bar, he straightened in his chair and suddenly became very disinterested in his drink.

The Amber-eyed woman shook her hair, and proudly walked forward towards the bar, very close to Mikael and Tolorn. Mikael glanced towards her, then took a second look as he saw her striking eyes, he’d never seen a human with such bold eyes before. Were they real, or were they contacts, he wondered, gazing mesmerised by her. She flashed him a grin, amused by his curiosity. Suddenly realising he’d been staring, Mikael stumbled awkwardly “Er…er, hi.” blushing a little, Mikael wondered what had come over him. The woman said nothing, only broadened her grin, now showing much sharper teeth, which surprised him. There was something seductive about her, and at the same time something unnerving. She seemed dangerous and exotic all at the same time. “Can… Can I get you a drink?” Mikael stuttered, somehow unable to take his eyes off of her.

Now turning full on to face him, the strange woman’s grin got wider, to reveal a somewhat impossible array of sharp craggy teeth, and was it Mikael’s imagination or were they growing? His attention drawn to her mouth, Mikael failed to notice her arm folded to her back, now morphing and slowly changing into a long, bone-like extending claw. Upon seeing this, the short man in the corner booth left over his table and came racing towards them, “SHAPESHIFTER!” he yelled as he came rushing over. She spun and drove her claw straight through his chest, yelling out in pain, he clung to her claw. She beginning to growl, her face lit up in delight. A shot of light came from the opposite side of the room, no longer restrained by her companion, Violet was stood and shooting at the shapeshifter, knocking her back against the bar howling in pain, but the force with which she had been hit and knocked back, drew her claw from the man’s chest, leaving silver blood slowly trickling out of his chest. He now drew a short sword from his back, he drove the blade through her mouth and up into her brain. Covering his mouth in shock, Mikael didn’t think he’d ever seen anything so brutal. Turning to the barkeeper, the silver bleeding man asked if there was an incinerator in the back, to which the barkeeper nodded slowly in shock. The man drew his short blade out of her mouth, and quickly swung it to chop off her head, her corpse fell to the floor, though her head remained on the bar, grabbing the shapeshifter’s head, he leaped over the bar and went straight to the incinerator in the back, flinging it in with a dull thud, he slammed the door shut and switched it on, listening to the flames roaring inside and incinerating the head.

Back in the bar, Violet had rushed up to the bar to look at the corpse, pistol still in hand, closely followed by her multi-limbed companion. Staring down at the silver pool of blood she looked up to see a splash of it on the counter and a small trailer leading through to the kitchen at the back. “A Gargoyle…” she breathed in wonder, then turning to Mikael, who looked like he was trying hard not to gag, “You must be the one.”

The Gargoyle appeared at the door, leaning heavily into it’s frame. “Mikael, you must leave, it is no longer safe for you here, they have found you.”

Looking puzzled, Mikael turned from Violet to the Gargoyle and back again. “They… ? Who are they?”

“There, is not time to explain, we must hurry, when her head grows back she will attack.” the Gargoyle gasped.

Something inside of Violet just snapped at those words, she sprang into action, “You‘ll have to come with us.” she said to Mikael, taking his arm, looking back at the Gargoyle, “I take it you‘re his guardian?”

“Yes, I am Alexander, Protector and Guardian of the Hybrid. You must be Violet, Gruber sent you?” he replied, still holding onto the wound in his chest.

“Yeah, you wanna come for a ride, we have a ship. You‘re more than welcome to join us -” Violet answered.

“Woah, wait a minute” interrupted Mikael, attempting to shrug Violet’s strong grip off his arm. “What is this? Who are you people, and what do you want with me?”

Growing impatient, Violet replied, “We don’t have time to explain, you’re just gonna have to trust us on this one.”

Having been silent through all of this, Nelark produced a small handheld taser and zapped Mikael in the neck, who dropped like a stone. “Now let‘s get out of here, before someone calls security.”