Izak and I walked through the outskirts of the town. The pair of us had concealed our headwings, for there were still many places which an incubus could not go in safety. Over the next few decades this would change, at least in some parts, but the time was not yet upon us.
In the meantime, we were dressed as Beings, at least for the trip. I cut a tall, menacing figure in my Johan Cross trenchcoat, a crossbow dangling at my waist. I only usually wore this coat at Hallows-Eve parties, but since it was woven with a thin layer of kevlar it seemed to me a good choice. It was not just the legends of Johan Cross, but the fact that others took me for an assassin that kept others away from me.
Izak was dressed as a more traditional adventurer, his armour light so as not to restrict his movements. The bracers he wore completed the effect although they were not so much for protection as to conceal the mark of Daryil Clan that would otherwise have screamed "I AM A 'CUBI!" in glowing runic symbols.
Finally we came to the cliffside we had been looking for, and set up the recorder. I left the crossbow with Izak's pile of belongings, but the coat had my notes in it, so after a final scan through them I left it just off-shot and stood in front of the camera.
"Today we are coming to you from Sandiria gorge, where among the cliffs we can find the nesting-place of the brown hate-eagle. This remarkable bird is one of the only feral animals which has the ability to feed entirely on emotions.
"As with most raptors, their behaviour is defined by their feeding habits. Indeed, outside of breeding season, the osprey needs to catch only about three fish a day and is happy to spend the rest of the day idle, so you might think that the hate-eagle, requiring only noncorporeal sustenance, spends most of its time sitting around as well. However, this is not the case."
I paused to recover my breath. I was going to cut into footage of the eagles around this point, so editing this out was no problem as I wouldn't have to worry about keeping the video in sync.
"As you can see, the hate-eagle spends a great proportion of its time hunting, but unlike a conventional predator they do not actually catch their prey. Instead, the bird will molest them, threatening them and any chicks in particular, thereby invoking feelings of fear and anger in the parents. It is this which the eagle feeds upon.
"The sole execption to this remarkable behaviour is during the early breeding season when they will resort to catching physical prey in order to bring food for the chicks. As the chicks grow, the parents will start to bring live prey which they will kill in the nest, allowing their young to feed upon their pain and terror.
"The chicks we see here have reached the juvenile stage, and the parents will actually carry their own chicks in their talons, bringing them to the prey so that they can feed on the fear of the attacks.
"By the time they are sub-adults, the..." I trailed off. Izak looked at me strangely since he hadn't seen the newcomer. They were waiting out-of shot, but I had heard them approach. I spun around and saw a familiar face. Paladin!
Oh shit, I thought. What does he want?
"I guess you'd better film the eagles, Izak," I said. "We can add the rest of the commentary later in ADR." Assuming I get out of this. "Now, Lieutenant... what can I do for you? And may I ask what became of Malnemar?"
"The Being ambassador called for the death penalty on behalf of all the Being souls he had eaten," Paladin replied. "The Angel ambassador agreed after Lucien testified that Mal had murdered him and tried to eat his soul as well. Mal had good lawyers though and managed to have the sentence commuted, so they did the next best thing and cursed him back to Being level."
This was rare - a combination of spells had been woven that restrained all his 'cubi powers. It would probably give him the same lifespan as a Being too, unless the council decided at some point in the future that he had paid his debt to society and had the spells negated.
Assuming of course that Malnemar hadn't take his own life first, as the jump down from near tri-wing power to Being status might make death seem preferable.
"I am looking for Johan Cross," he said. "Malnemar wasn't him, but he named you as a likely candidate, so I must ask ye to accompany me to the Council."
"Damn," I said. "Very well. Just let me get my coat."
Putting it on, I turned around to where Izak was, only to see a blur of movement as a panther sprang from the trees, tackling him to the ground and holding a gun to his head.
"Where is Johan Cross?" he demanded.
"Don't... know... who... you... mean..." Izak choked. Indeed, his long stay at the Academy had meant he'd missed all the excitement. He didn't know about my wicked past and I had put off telling him.
"Pull the other one," he said. "I have reliable information that he's a grey wolf incubus. He could easily be you, in fact!"
"Hands up," roared Paladin, backing up and aiming a shortbow at the panther. Startled, he turned, only to see Paladin who had apparently arrested another wolf - one dressed in a black trenchcoat and looking even more like Johan Cross was rumoured to than his own captive. With a roar, he threw Izak to the ground and lunged at the warrior.
"The bounty on Cross is mine," yelled the panther and made to shoot Paladin in the head. The wolf had been expecting that and opened fire with his bow, striking his enemy's gun and ruining his aim. The shot went wide, missing the wolf's head and striking his armour. The shot glanced off but it cost Pal his balance and stumbling, he toppled over the edge of the cliff.
With a mixture of horror and fury I leapt at the bounty hunter, dragging him to the ground and trying to remove his gun. Izak was still in a state of shock, but he slowly came to and tried to help. Not that he was much use, having given himself over to more intellectual pursuits than brute violence.
My big break came a few moments later when there was a heavy thump behind us, the sound of something very large falling to the ground. It distracted the hunter long enough for me to punch him in the solar plexus. Only then could I glance at the object which had made the thump... Lieutenant Sheppard.
Paladin could glide, but from the sound of it he had slammed into the cliff-face as he'd fallen over. Unable to save himself, he had summoned his Warp-Aci but being teleported hadn't absorbed his momentum and he had fallen heavily into the ground. His armour had taken most of the impact but it had not done him any good at all and he lay there, either winded or unconscious. I couldn't tell which, but there was a trickle of blood from his muzzle, so at least he was still alive.
Izak ran to help him, leaving me alone with the feline who was already beginning to recover.
Turning back to face him, I found myself looking down the barrel of his gun. Earth import. Nasty.
"Foolish," he sneered. "I know who you are, Mr. Cross, and there's a bounty on your head like you wouldn't believe. I'll never have to work again after this."
This could have been a very bad situation, but my attack had given him one critical disadvantage - his mind-shield was still down. Peering at the parts of his mind I could easily reach, I saw that he had quite a detailed knowledge of my recent past - too detailed for my comfort, in fact. This very knowledge would help me greatly though so I made my move.
Somehow his gun was in my hand. Or was it his gun? No, that was on the floor beneath my foot. This was a far more powerful weapon and I had drawn it from the pocket in my trenchcoat.
"So... you want to know about Johan Cross, do you?" I said, my eyes narrowing and my lips curling once more into the trademark sneer of centuries past. "I have half a mind to tell you. But know that you are not the first to come hunting him. Better men than you lie dead or soulless... are you certain you wish to join them?"
I was only half-bluffing. Much as I detested murder, if by taking the cat's life I could be free of my past, it might be worth the stain on my already bloodied conscience. Besides which, I realised, I probably wouldn't even have to kill the feline. Simply erasing the relevant parts of my enemies' mind and soul would keep the secret just as effectively - it would then only be a matter of dealing with Paladin and from a purely magical viewpoint he didn't seem to be a particularly skilled incubus.
The bounty hunter's fear was deliciously cold and it flavoured all his thoughts.
His mind kept going round and round in panic. They told me he hates guns... won't be armed... should be a pushover, just kill him and go... just a lie to put his enemies off guard... now he's gonna kill me and eat my soul...
I glanced briefly over at Paladin, who was just about able to sit up again.
"You know, the bounty-hunter thing cuts both ways," I said happily, as if I was greeting a long-lost friend. One of my tentacles appeared and I banished its head, sharpening it to a razor edge. It was hovering above his face.
"Such lovely fur," I crooned, stroking his wrist. "Xe'Pherion City will pay a handsome reward for your pelt, especially when the lieutenant of the royal guards testifies that you tried to kill him. Just be grateful that I'm not quite so cruel as to remove it while you're still alive.
I'll even make it nice and quick for you. After all, as they say... live by the gun, die by the gun."
I'm gonna have one hell of a guilt trip in the morning, I thought, and aiming between his eyes, pulled the trigger. At this distance I couldn't miss... there was a loud retort and a splash of red.
It took the feline almost fifteen seconds to realise that he wasn't dead, but when he did his face became a mask of fury as he wiped the remains of the paintball from his forehead.
For my part I had miscalculated how angry he would be, and he leapt at me, sword flashing from its sheath. Seconds later I was pinned to the ground, the blade thudding into the soil just beneath my headwings which had fanned out in surprise.
"How's this for fear?" he said. "The next one will be for real." As I struggled, he drew the blade from the earth, only to have it knocked from his grasp by a metallic blur that resolved into a wicked-looking throwing dagger.
Looking in the direction from whence the blade had come, the pair of us were in just in time to catch another blur of motion as Paladin shoulder-charged the enraged cat.
Bouncing to a stop, the feline rolled back to his feet smoothly and faced this strange wolf. In Paladin's hands was a large, two-handed axe that he had kept strapped to his back.
"Surrender! Ye have no chance." Paladin slurred from a broken jaw. The feline growled and then launched an attack, aiming at the wolf's legs.
Spinning the large axe far faster than seemed possible, Paladin blocked the attack. Amazed, the feline stepped back just in time for Paladin's own attack to nick his left arm. He gave an almost kitten-like mewl of pain before hopping back and swinging at the wolf again.
This time it was Paladin's turn to step back, but not before he had placed another wound, to the jaguar's leg this time.
Bleeding from a number of deep cuts, the feline's confidence had been gradually ebbing away. By now he knew that he was going to lose this fight and his priorities had changed accordingly. It was no longer a matter of capturing or killing Johan Cross, it had become more a matter of ensuring his own survival.
The shaft of the armoured wolf's axe slammed into the side of his head and he slumped over. I cradled his head, pressing my hand against his temple.
The feline came to muzzily and reached for his gun. He aimed at me but then dropped it with a gasp of agony and collapsed as Paladin's arrow embedded itself in his back. Horrified, I held him in my arms, stroking his head gently as he died.
"No, no, no," I said, tears filling my eyes. "It wasn't supposed to be like this! What did you have to go and kill him for?"
The hunter was overcome with a sense of bewilderment that of all people, Johan Cross would weep for him. Then everything went dark.
The feline came to muzzily and reached for his gun. Then he hesitated.
"Good choice," I said, slicing through it with one of my tentacles. "I like Beings, and it makes me very sad when they die." He blinked at me in confusion.
"That was a dream," I said. "But something very much like it will become reality unless you choose very carefully."
The feline leaned back to look behind himself. Paladin was covering him with the shortbow. He gulped, all pride and self-esteem fled, a pale, broken shadow of the cocky jaguar who thought he could claim a bounty on Johan Cross.
"Let him go," I told the wolf. "He knows he's out of his depth. If you want to take me to the council, let him go this time and I'll come quietly. Kill him and there will be hell to pay."
Indeed, I'd have him up before the Council for killing an unarmed Being.
Paladin looked furious but he lowered the bow. The feline hesitated only for a moment, a mixture of fear and embarrassment crossing his features. "The dream... would you really have cried for me?" he asked.
"Yes," I replied simply, and with that he turned tail, stumbling off in the direction of the town.
"Well, this is the second time you've saved me," I said to Paladin, "although I get the feeling it's more out of business than pleasure."
"Indeed," he slurred, still angry that the feline had escaped. "And now ye must come with me. The council awaits."