“Without an actual rift, there’s no way to really know,” Hep answered, handing Cade the tube. “Are you sure you really want to use this?”
“Want to? No,” Cade answered, adjusting the second tube on his back. “Have to, yes. Sepia is in the Park. Velos and his dark blade is here too. This may be the only way to even the odds.”
“Every documented use of a rift gun has ended in the shooter’s death,” Hep said. “You plan on taking down Velos on your own?”
“Unlikely,” Cade said. “I’m not a Hunter and don’t wield a sword. I have a feeling that he’ll find Sepia and try to take her blade.”
“She’d die before giving up her blade.”
“Then you know the same Sepia I do,” Cade told him, his face dark. “I’m here to give her a chance to stop him. I’m her gunman—that’s my job.”
“The rift gun has a double-action trigger,” Hep said. “Do you know how those work?”
“As I said, I’m a gunman,” Cade said, giving Hep a look. “I think I have an idea.”
“First pull activates the round, second pull releases it,” Hep said, raising a hand. “Just making sure. If it works, and that’s a big if, you’ll feel the siphon on the first pull. Try not to pass out between pulls. I’ve heard it can happen.”
“First pull drains and loads the round, second pull fires. Got it.”
“Whatever you do, try and avoid firing consecutive rounds,” Hep said. “You’ll get caught up in an energy loop and before you know it, you’ll fire a round and—”
“It’ll be the last round I fire,” Cade finished. “Understood.”
Hep nodded.
“You still need a rift,” Hep said, handing Cade the small briefcase and tapping the side lightly. “Rift locations according to elevations and a one-shot mobile drilling apparatus, good for two hundred feet. I’m going to guess you’re going to need the rift fissures near the Keep?”
“I do.”
“I took the liberty of marking the locations of those rifts that are closest to the Keep,” Hep said. “Some of them even give you excellent firing positions on the Keep itself, provided that’s where everything is happening.”
“I think it will be, yes.”
“All you have to do is get into position, and remain undetected while avoiding the Unholy that will want to shred you to little gunman pieces.”
“Walk in the park—literally.”
“Coms won’t really work in there, but I included a flare gun,” Hep said. “If things get bad, really bad, use it. Someone will show up.”
“Someone?”
“I’m not the cavalry type,” Hep said, pointing to himself. “Not built for it. There are, however, individuals who owe me favors. I’m calling in some of them for this, because I like Sepia.”
“Just Sepia?” Cade said with half a smile. “Now my feelings are all hurt.”
“I tolerate you, but don’t take it personally,” Hep said. “We’ve never fought, so I don’t know you that well. Her, I know and respect. So if helping you will keep her alive and safe, I’ll do so to the best of my ability.”
“Thank you,” Cade said, extending a hand. “I appreciate it, really.”
Hep took Cade’s hand in his massive fist and shook it.
“Bring her back in one piece, and don’t get dead.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” Cade said. “You better get going before someone mistakes you for an Unholy.”
Hep laughed and clapped Cade on the shoulder, before becoming serious again.
“Be careful in here, gunman. Daytime is better than night, but the place is still deadly.”
Cade nodded, moving deeper into the Park and leaving Hep behind.
He walked for some time, avoiding the Unholy and using cover as he approached the Hunter’s Keep. He’d ducked behind a small rock formation to review the rift map for an elevated firing position on the Keep when he heard the roar.
“That can’t possibly be good,” Cade muttered as he climbed onto one of the positions marked on the map. He removed the drilling apparatus, which contained a small charge, and placed it over the location where the map indicated a sealed rift fissure close to the surface.
He moved rocks and debris over the apparatus to muffle some of the sound before detonating the charge. With a low whomp, a small section of a rift fissure was uncovered. Cade could see the glowing, green energy racing beneath the surface. The smell of sulfur and almonds hung in the air around the recently created crack in the ground.
Cade silently, but quickly, removed the rift gun from the tube.
Slow is smooth, smooth is fast, and speed is the economy of motion.
The rift gun was similar to his rifle in every respect except for the ammunition.
There was no space for a magazine.
The gun was designed to be placed in proximity to the rift. The barrel would slowly transform in color to indicate the level of rift energy contained in a siphoning receptacle near the grip.
Once the threshold level was reached, the shooter could fire a rift round—a combination of rift and life energy. These rounds were lethal to the Unholy, destroying them by severing their connection to their source of life: the rift.
The lethality to the shooter came from firing too many rounds on a rift gun. The wards on the gun acted as a siphon, draining the life of the shooter with each round fired.
“Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” Cade said, placing the rift gun over the fissure. “I really hope Hep got this thing right.”
The wards on the stock came to life immediately, draining his energy and feeding the gun. The energy from the rift funneled into the siphoning receptacle, and the barrel slowly transformed from black to a deep green.
Cade looked through the scope and cursed. Velos was closing in on someone or something that looked like Sepia. Half of her face was covered in a green haze. It took him a few moments to realize that he was looking at Sepia in her Jade Demon form. She may have been changed—drastically changed—but he knew her movements. It also helped that Calisto was sitting behind her and
