Chapter 33

The whistle of a bitter wind settled into his bones as Haldir kneeled on the peak of the rocky ridge that divided the glacier from the tundra. In the darkness, his psychic eyes found the light of four human men in the small encampment and the black pickup truck that stalked him.

His fingernails scratched at his chin, still crunchy with his lover's blood as he surveyed the area and made his plan of attack.

Haldir's worn leather gloves gripped firmly to the smooth ice-covered rocks as he backed down from the rocky cliffs. Any spotter worth his weight would catch him easily in the open field. He wanted them to.

The pops of rocks under the truck tires got louder, and when he wrapped his fingers around the handle of the door to the mine entrance, he looked back over his shoulder to see two men climb down from an old white truck. Their headlights stayed fixed on him, and his toothy grin shot through his beard as he shut the door behind him.

It wasn't long before the door opened, and the white beams of their flashlights poked through the blackness that surrounded them.

Tucked into a corner while he took shallow breaths to keep the air still, Haldir’s sharp blue eyes caught the fear in their auras burn. The hunters moved silently as they slid their feet across the dirty floor and made their way further into the only open mine shaft that remained.

But when they came face to face with the collapsed entryway, a flashlight dropped from the hunter's hand, and he collapsed to his knees like he had no bones at all. And when his partner shined his light on him, Haldir's ax sat in his back.

The whole earth that surrounded them rattled when three quick shots left the human's handgun. And even though he groaned for a moment as he kneeled on all fours on the ground, raspy laughter echoed through the mine and sent a shiver through the hunter's nerves. "Sorry friend. That doesn't work on me."

Before he could pull one more shot, the gun dropped to the ground, still clutched in the hand of the man who missed an arm now. But not even a scream fell from his mouth, because in a split second, Haldir's sword plunged through his heart.

Even in the cold blackness of the ground, his piercing blue eyes shimmered as he came face to face with the hunter to watch the spark of life leave his eyes.

He wiped his sword across the dead hunter's back and shoved it into the sheath behind him. His foot sat squarely on the back of the other man's thigh, and his teeth clenched as he yanked his ax free of the body.

Like the cruelest summer rainstorm, a raging cloud covered him, and as soon as the mist cleared, a thump ripped through his chest like a freight train. But his gasps for air and the blood that seeped from his center slowed and by the time the world dropped away again, he was already healed.

"He's gone." The hefty red-haired bearded hunter took his face away from his rifle scope and squinted his eyes to refocus before he took another look. "He just fucking disappeared into thin air. How the fuck does he do that?"

A toothpick rolled around the mouth of the smiling man from town. "What do you mean he disappeared? Did you hit him or not?"

"Yeah, of course, I did." He checked his scope again and shook his head. "He just disappeared into a black cloud. He's not there anymore, Mitch."

With the butt of his gun against his thigh, the big one cleared the chamber. "He'll bleed out in a minute like his girl did. That motherfucker's done for."

His arms crossed his chest as Mitchell tossed his toothpick aside. "We got to find him. That's the last asshole on my list."

His hands lifted into the air and spread out as he imagined it. "I'm hanging his fucking head from my wall right next to that twelve-point buck."

The bearded man chuckled as he gripped his thermos. "You want some coffee? It's cold as fuck out here."

Mitchell pushed his knit hat back on his head and twisted the knob on his hand radio. "No, I'm alright."

The button on the black handset cut off the static, and Mitchell brought it to his mouth. "Chris, Tom, he’s bleeding. Keep an eye out."

There was nothing but fuzzy clicks and pops from the radio, and Mitchell sighed as he pressed the button. "Chris, Tom, do you copy?"

Like the coldness claimed him, inch by inch, a numbness started in his fingers and by the time he heard his friend's gurgles, he was frozen in place.

But when the thud of the oversized body dropped to the ground behind him, Mitchell flinched and Haldir's raspy voice came from the bed of the truck. "Mitchell. Mitchy, Mitchy, Mitchy. Just the man I came to see."

The brown leather boots that still carried Mory on them slid across the grassy frozen ground as Haldir circled the truck. With his cursed blade in his hand, he pointed the tip of it at Mitchell. "I heard you were looking for me." As he held out his arms, Mitchell's eyes traveled to the huge bloody wound on Haldir's chest. "Well, here I am."

Mitchell matched his steps while he backed away and reached for his sidearm, and Haldir clicked his tongue. "Like I told your friend down in that mine. Those don't work on me." He pointed to the bloody holes in his coat, and Haldir shook his head and smiled. "I've been shot and stabbed more times than I can count, and it never does work. I'm what you might call lucky."

When he spat out his toothpick, Mitchell grinned and shrugged up his shoulder. "I think your girlfriend would disagree, Haldir." Mitchell popped the buckle of the strap that held his pistol down and slid his hand over the handle.

A finger uncurled from his knife handle and waved back and forth like a windshield wiper blade. "Wife. That was my wife. She and that doctor you killed were humans, moron."

Fingers clothed in the finest leather wiggled over his hip. "I don't give a fuck who they were, and with all the money I shoved at the Governor, no one else will give a fuck either."

A palm slapped to Haldir's chest. "I gave a fuck."

The black pistol slid from its holster and pointed right at Haldir's heart. "You're the last piece of the puzzle. The last piece-of-shit supernatural I need to kill."

His shoulders jutted upwards as Haldir laughed. "No, not quite. They don't live here anymore. But it hardly matters, you're never getting off this island alive anyway."

The safety clicked off with his thumb as Mitchell shook his head. "Neither are you, old man."

"Hmm." The corners of his mouth turned down as Haldir's head tipped right just a little. "We'll see. I got to ask though. How'd you find me?"

His eyes squinted as he sighted Haldir in, not that he needed to at that range. "Enough time and money and you can accomplish just about anything. I would've paid every penny I had to be here in front of you right now like this."

"Uh-huh." The knife came across his chest as he readied his arm to strike. "That's the same thing that my daughter said to your old man right before she cut that coward's throat."

The muscle in Mitchell's jaw wiggled, and Haldir knew that was the moment, and his arm snapped across his body. But even with his quick release and the cursed knife that landed in Mitchell's throat, five well-placed bullets sat in Haldir's belly.

But it was worth it to the Immortal. He lay there on the frozen tundra and faced Mitchell, and he got to watch as his eyes went lifeless.

And as his wounds wove back together, he stared up at the green lights above him as white clouds rose to the sky from his mouth. "I love you, Morana."