Let it Burn: Chapter three

The Arrow in the Door

Note: I found a good theme song for Tucker. Desperado by Eagles.

Tucker woke up fully clothed on the musty bed. He opened his heavy eyes as though he hadn't slept all night. He sat up on the bed and looked around the room as if expecting something to be different. Something was. A silver arrow was lodged in the door as if it had been shot from the broken window on the opposite side of the room. Since his limbs were so stiff, Tucker practically fell off of the bed. He groggily walked over to the arrow in the door, and noticed a slip of paper attached to it. He grabbed the arrow and yanked it out of the wall. He removed the string holding the paper in place and held it in his hand as he dropped the arrow to the ground, now awake enough to realize from just whom the arrow came from. Tucker gave a humored sigh.

It's a letter from Mom. He thought sarcastically. Tucker unrolled the letter. Written in pristine, silvery cursive was this.

You cannot hide forever. You do not deserve to exist, nor will you for very long. Enjoy these last few days of your pathetic life. We will kill you, soon or later, and we will not hesitate. Resistance is futile.

-Artemis

"Yeah, tell me something I don't know." Tucker said out loud. This is the third death threat he had received from the Hunters of Artemis. He noticed how Artemis always wrote 'we' instead of 'I', like he was hated by all of the hunters when in truth it was only two... He wondered if they would ever give up on hunting him, even though he had killed a few of them in the past. Although he regretted doing it, he did it in self-defense, more or less. Tucker then noticed just how hungry he was, and left the motel room, not even bothering to lock the door. He walked to the end of the second floor, and slid on the railing down the stairs, only to land directly in a puddle left behind after the deluge the day before. He raised his already ruined tennis shoe as if to confirm that this actually happened. He sighed and stepped out of the dirty puddle. He walked out of the motel parking lot and onto the old, cracked sidewalk neighboring an empty street. No one was out. After walking no more than ten feet towards the diner, Tucker heard a familiar sound from somewhere behind and above himself. A cross between a twang and a flick, and Tucker sighed with disappointment at this repetition. As he did so in the past, Tucker casually stepped to the side and smirked. Kling! a sliver arrow suddenly appeared in the crease of the concrete sidewalk and vibrated from the sudden stop. Staring at the arrow and then at the general direction it came from, Tucker spoke loudly.

"You can come out now, Zoe Nightshade!"

A blur leapt from a nearby rooftop and onto the sidewalk twenty feet from Tucker. The moment it landed, the blur came into focus as a tall, slim teenage girl with copper colored skin and a sliver circlet. She held a silver bow in her hands and an equally silver quiver on her back. She scowled at Tucker, more so than she would any other man.

With hatred and obvious disgust in her voice, Zoe said "How did you know it was me, boy?" She said 'boy' as if there was no worse word she could use. She then gripped her bow tighter.

Tucker laughed and placed his hand casually in his pockets. He gave a knowing smirk "Because if you were my mother..." he began with emphasis on the word mother, as if saying aloud was the true purpose of his speech "You would not have actually aimed at me."

Zoe took a step forward. "Are you saying that my Mistress's aim is faltering?" She asking with a commanding tone in her voice, more so than usual. Generally, she always stresses her speech when talking to men, including Tucker; in fact, especially Tucker.

Tucker just laughed again and said "No, what I'm saying is that Artemis would never bring herself to shoot me." He stared Zoe right in the eyes. "Face it; Artemis doesn't have the guts to come kill me herself, so she sends her lapdog to do it for her. How does it feel? Your own Mistress broke the very vow she swore you and all of the Hunters to."

Zoe tighten her grip on her bow even more now, and she trembled with rage, barely able to contain it, like a seawall during a hurricane. Then she exploded, she tossed her bow violently to the side, and two wickedly curved daggers materialized in her hands. She charged at Tucker with skill, but he was ready. With his sword in hand, he blocked her strike perfectly, and for a moment the two of them had blades locked. They then broke off, and each took a fighting stance. While Zoe's was aggressive and potentially intimidating, Tucker's was casual, holding his bronze sword in his left hand with his right tucked behind his back, as if he were fencing. Zoe charged him and attempted a complicated, multi-striked attack, but Tucker parried every slash, stab, and cleave Zoe attempted. Zoe tried to disarm Tucker by striking his blade near the hilt. Though she struck his blade perfectly, his grip was strong enough to hold on, but he did stumble back from the blunt force. Zoe saw this chance and she expertly landed a tiny, but painful cut through his jeans and onto the side of his left calf, causing him to fall to a knee. He grunted in pain and tried to ignore the warmth of blood flowing into his boots. Zoe then slowly placed her foot on his chest and used it to push him flat on his back on the sidewalk. Tucker's sword lay at his side, just out of his reach.

Zoe stood over Tucker, pointing one of her knives at his chest. She should have ended him right then, but for a few seconds, she just stood there. It was a few seconds to long. Tucker, using his hands as a fulcrum, lifted his body slightly off of the ground and tripped Zoe, causing her to fall to the ground. Tucker quickly grabbed his sword off the ground and just as Zoe attempted to stand up, she froze when she felt the cold, hard tip of Tucker's sword against her neck.

"Let me guess, you're the one who really sent that letter. Well, fired that arrow." Tucker said with an accusation. Zoe gulped, as if she actually though she would die then, like the two other hunters that were foolish enough to come after Tucker on their own. "Well, I guess it wouldn't really matter either way, since you would have come here anyway."

As if carefully choosing her words, Zoe said "Go ahead and kill me. If you do, the whole of the Hunters will come after you." Tucker then smirked and backed off from Zoe. He flicked his sword and it turned back into a lighter. Zoe stood up.

He said "That is exactly the reason why I won't kill you. I just wanna be left out of this crap. When you get tired of caring, just don't. That's my philosophy on life."

Zoe sighed and said "You don't seem to care about anything."

Tucker laughed "I don't have anything to care about. I'm burden-free; more or less."

Zoe said "Even though you are a fool, I must congratulate you for being able to survive this long. The longest an animal has ever been able to survive against the hunters is a month. You have survived fourteen years." Tucker wondered if she said 'animal' to describe him, though it was obvious she was. Tucker then resumed walking towards the diner, as if that whole duel had never happened. "And where exactly are you going?" Tucker turned around and flashed a casual smile.

"To get a sandwich, I'm starving over here." He said.

From a bird viewing platform high in the mountains above Elston, the Goddess of Love was looking though a powerful telescope at Tucker and Zoe's duel that had concluded moments ago. A Golden Eagle that was perched on the wooden railing of the platform screeched beautifully. Aphrodite grunted and walked away from the telescope with a look of disappointment on her face.

She said "Ugh, this is awful!" She looked at the eagle with a scowl. "You are a terrible writer! This story doe not have enough romance! It's just bad!"

Suddenly, a young voice rang out from the eagle. "Only in your eyes, chief." The eagle fluttered off of the railing. It suddenly began to grow and morph. The beak became a mouth, the wings became arms, the claws became legs, and the feathers disappeared.

In a nutshell, the eagle shape-shifted into a boy, barely into his teens, with blonde, almost golden hair wearing a black pinstripe suit and tie.

Aphrodite said "Lord of the Eagles" with annoyance.

Lord of the Eagles said "Just call me L.E." He then smiled.

"Fine, L.E." Aphrodite said.

L.E. then turned to no one at all and said "Listen up readers, I hope you'll keep up with this story and comment!"

Aphrodite narrowed her eyes in confusion. She said "Hey, who are you talking to?"