Free The Peregrine Omnibus Volume One by Barry Reese Page A

again, his jaw firmly set. “I think he’s something else entirely.”
    Evelyn started to ask something further, but her words were lost in the sudden roar of flames. A wall of fire rose up between her and Max, one that would have swallowed her whole had the Peregrine not shoved her back at the last moment. Beyond the flames, which extended now in a full square around the Peregrine, Evelyn could see nothing… but she heard voices.
    Alongside Max’s, there was another.

CHAPTER XVII
    K’ntu
    The Peregrine coughed as the smoke filled his lungs, but he been in many fires during his adventuring career. Flame did not frighten him… nor did the Asian man who had materialized before him.
    It was K’ntu, the aged advisor to Jacob Trench.
    “Is your boy Jacob with you?” the Peregrine asked, drawing both his pistols and brandishing them before him.
    K’ntu stood with the flames dancing behind him. A self-satisfied smile lay upon his face and his eyes, which seemed so ancient and wise, were full of mirth. His robes whipped about in the wind, which had appeared to fan the flames. “He is busy at work. Our master will soon be unleashed from his prison.”
    “Shouldn’t you be there with him? Celebrate the occasion?”
    “I thought it best that I come to you, Mr. Davies. Jacob does not realize the threat you pose.”
    “But you do, I take it.”
    “Most certainly. You have a gift, one both potent and terrible. Your mind is attuned to the Other Side. That is what allows your father to keep his tether to this world. You are the portal through which he exists.”
    Max frowned. How did K’ntu know…?
    “I know many things,” the old man answered, as if reading the Peregrine’s thoughts. “For I have lived a very long time… and my eyes can see past the veils of reality.”
    “Then I guess you knew these were coming, didn’t you?” Max raised both pistols and fired, unleashing a torrent of bullets. To his amazement, however, K’ntu dodged them all. He was a blur of movement, his actions too fast for the human eye to follow.
    “You think I am human, do you?” K’ntu taunted. “You think that I have stayed alive all these centuries because of some spell or potion? I still live because my kind are far older than you and yours!”
    Beyond the flames, the Peregrine heard Evelyn calling his name. He didn’t respond, hoping to keep K’tnu’s attention fully on him. “Then what are you? A demon?”
    “There was life on this sphere before mankind’s ascendance, Mr. Davies. My kind once ruled over land and sea… until the false God of the Christians chose to hand over power to the short-lived hairless apes that he loved so much!”
    The Peregrine jumped back as K’ntu rushed at him, the man’s aged fingers elongating into claws. They raked at the air, just missing Max’s face and neck. The Peregrine answered with another flurry of bullets, emptying his chambers. He began to reload, noticing that this time there were bloody smears appearing beneath the Asian’s clothing. He had hit his foe, but it was not enough. He hurriedly reloaded, this time using the special rounds he himself had invented. These could take down an elephant…
    K’ntu whirled about, his face changing in color. Beneath his skin, scales began to appear, gradually becoming larger until they swelled out and over the human mask he wore. These scales spread out over his entire body and Max watched in mounting horror as something began to press against the backside of the old man’s pants. It burst through a moment later, swinging from side to side. A reptilian tale.
    “Do you see me now?” K’tnu hissed. “Mankind’s primal fear of reptiles dates back to the wars our kind waged, long ago. But once the master is free, he will reward his faithful followers… and humanity will serve as our cattle!”
    K’ntu jumped into the air and the Peregrine fired again, this time using his more powerful rounds. They tore into the lizard man’s belly,