by T. J. Hunter
Chapter 16
Keob felt like a real home and things were beginning to make sense to me, at least until the bedroom alarm went off. Seconds later my magic window was shinning bright and the roster was back with his annoying wakeup crow. I threw my pillow at him and he flew away, shooting feathers into my room.
Interesting … a hologram roster afraid of pillow fights. Good to know.
My memory had improved significantly, but I was drawing blanks in about why a roster alarm clock was ever created. I must have had too much to drink when coming up with this crazy idea. Still, I have to admit the annoying thing did wake me more quickly than other traditional types of alarms.
I entered the living area and was surprised to see everything in immaculate order. While we didn’t have a wild party last night, the place did get messy with empty pizza crust and spilled beer. Who cares, at least it’s clean. I decided to cook some breakfast as Alura and Thyzil were coming out of her bedroom.
“Are we having company for breakfast?” I asked.
Alura rolled her eyes. “If you’re cooking, we’re eating.”
I was about to make another wise crack when my phone rang.
“Mr. Zane, I suppose congratulations are in order.”
“Moony, is that you buddy? Tell me where you are so I can come there and kick your furry butt.”
I put my phone of speaker so Alura and Thyzil could hear the conversation.
“Mr. Zane, there is no need for a personal vendetta. After all, I only provide legal representation to powerful individuals. I have no interest in increasing hostility between us.”
“It’s a little late for that now fur ball. You may not have killed those people with Lupzarro, but you helped nonetheless. In my eyes you’re just as guilty, and the next time I see you, I’m going to turn you into dust.”
“As you wish Mr. Zane, however, there is something you should know. My new client wishes for me to express his curiosity about your activities in the city. He believes it would be in everyone’s best interest for you to leave before other people get hurt, such as loved ones or other innocent people.”
“More threats, huh Moony? It didn’t work out so well for you last time, nor did it for your pack leader Lupzarro who is now a pile of burnt out ashes in a city subway.”
I must have struck a nerve because there was a long pause, and then Moon surprised me.
“Mr. Zane, or should I call you Azul?”
Moon knew my real name. How does he know my name?
“How about not calling me at all. There are better things for me to do than have meaningless conversations with a soon to be dusted flea bag.”
“I will come to the point Mr. Zane. My client has informed me that you both last saw each other a very long time ago, about 25,000 years to be precise. He tells me it was a glorious time in those days among the Mayans and other lost civilizations.”
“Cut to the chase fur ball.”
“My client told me you would recognize his name. Those of us in my pack call him by his ancient name Ah Chuy Kak. He hopes not to see you anytime soon, but should things work out differently … well, I think you will find the outcome quite different from what you experienced last evening. Good day Mr. Zane.”
Ah Chuy Kak was the Mayan title for god of war. I knew this name from Manco’s archeological research in Peru, but that was it. Recognition or not, I don’t remember anything about meeting Ah Chuy Kak.
Legends say Ah Chuy Kak was a bloodthirsty killer with supernatural powers who preyed on innocents. Some believe he was responsible for destroying the entire Mayan civilization. No one knows much about his reign of terror because the Mayans vanished without leaving a trace of what caused their disappearance. If Ah Chuy Kak has been hanging around on Earth for 25,000 years, one could safely assume he has had a hand in large scale enterprises involving wars and misery.
“Why would Ah Chuy Kak stay behind while his Darkzon superiors left Earth long ago?” I asked Alura.
“We know some underlords among the Darkzon stayed behind after the last battle on Earth, but no one has heard anything from them all these years. If Moon is telling the truth about Ah Chuy Kak, then the rules of this game have changed.”
Alura looked concerned, and given her fighting skills, if she was concerned about a monster, so was I.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“To remain secretly in the dark for so long means Ah Chuy Kak has risen into power among the nations of Earth. It will be difficult to find him, and even more difficult to destroy him if found.”
“That may explain all the corrupt politicians and Wall Street bankers,” I said in a sarcastic tone.
“No, that would be too obvious. These monsters hide in the dark out of view from people. Politicians and businessmen may be their puppets, but their masters operate in the shadows. They are secretive and powerful enough to destroy entire nations without ever leaving their hidden chambers.”
“Great, now I have to worry about beings that can destroy entire nations. Doesn’t matter, I’m still going to turn Moony into dust no matter how many bad guys are out there.”
Alura smiled. “Of course you are dear brother, and I’m going to help.”
Thyzil took a bite out of an apple and said, “Me too.”
I was anxious to get back to Manhattan and take care of Sally, who was probably hungry and needed a walk. I excused myself and went to my bedroom for my wizard bag and staff. The bed was gone from inside the pentagram and did not appear when I stepped inside the circle. Must be on a timer. I took a blue magic coin from the wizard bag and twisted it under my foot saying, “Transmati domas.” Moments later I was back in my Manhattan apartment lab.
When I entered the living room, Sally pushed me to the floor and slobbered all over my face. It reminded me of Dino on the Flintstones cartoon tackling Fred when he came home from work.
“Yaba-daba-do to you too,” I said. “Come on, give me a break Sally. Okay, okay, I missed you too.”
Sally ran to the door and pulled her leash off the wall peg with her teeth. This routine was showing some stress on her lease, judging by all the teeth marks, but hey, no big deal. If new leashes had to be purchased occasionally, it’s worth every penny because she never left me guessing when nature was calling.
“Okay you win. Let’s go for a walk.”
My wards rearmed as I locked the apartment door behind us. It was nice day with a cloudless blue sky and lots of sun. Best of all, the full moon cycle had completed. Frankly, I was all wolfed out and needed a break from the flea bags.
Sally walked over to her favorite light pole, relived herself, and then headed right back to the apartment door. She must be hungry. I put my key into the front door lock and heard a caw. Great ... just when things were looking up, the creepy watcher bird was back and sitting on a sign across the street. For a moment, I was tempted to extend one of my fingers, but thought doing so might only encourage the nasty hell pet. Sally looked at the bird and growled.
“Come on girl, the day is too nice to let that dirty bird annoy us,” I said, then scowled at the bird as we entered the apartment.
“Bet you’re hungry, huh girl?”
Sally woofed, then sat next to the kitchen table watching me cook up twice the normal size breakfast of eggs, beacon, and toast. I tossed a few sausage links into the frying pan as a treat.
The food couldn’t cook fast enough for us, and once it was ready, we both ate like it was our last meal. A few minutes latter, I stretched out on my couch and Sally flopped down next to the fireplace. We both let out a satisfying exhale.
I got a little antsy after awhile and decided to do some shopping – maybe even for a new car – but first wanted to do a special errand. I left Sally in the apartment and waived down a cab to take me to the motor vehicle department. It occurred to me that vanity license plates would make excellent gifts, especially if they reflected the recipient’s personality. Alura’s plate read: BAK-OFF to reflect her heroine fightin
g skills. Thyzil’s plate read: WAR-MAN for obvious reasons. For me, I got one to help motivate my interest in buying my own car – it read: MAGIC.
Moon got the best plate of all. I wrapped his up after placing a sticky note inside with the words ‘very soon fur ball’ written on it. What I wouldn’t give to see his face when he opens the package. Instead of BITE-ME as I first thought when watching him drive off in his Mercedes, his vanity plate gift read: DUST-ME. A fitting plate that predicted his future.
On my way home, I got to thinking about what it would be like being stuck inside a car during city business hours. Traffic jams in Manhattan are as close as it gets to being stuck in a Wal-Mart cashier line during the holiday shopping season. Hmm … perhaps owning a car could wait for the time being. I decided that I would hang my vanity plate on the apartment wall and continue using city transportation, at least the next few months. After all, being able to snooze while someone else was driving is a big plus.
Sally was snoozing away herself when I returned home, but did wag her tail a little. She was doing well as a New Yorker and needed no adjustment period. Her life for the most part consisted of going for walks, sleeping, and eating. By far, eating was her favorite thing to do and she made no qualms about it. Her appetite was extraordinary.
After eating her own food, Sally always focused her attention on my breakfast, lunch, dinner, or anything in between. She doesn’t beg for food – she demands it – and uses annoyance strategies, such as pushing her head into my arm when I raised a fork to my mouth. Not hard enough to poke out my eye, but enough to throw food from the fork onto the floor.
I planned ahead today for lunch and fed Sally first thinking it might help to solve the problem – it didn’t. By the time I got my own lunch to the kitchen table, Sally had already finished hers and was waiting for a sympathy snack.
“Darn it Sally, just because you wolfed down your food doesn’t give you a right to have mine.”
Sally titled her head and gave a lazy look pretending not to understand. I did my best to eat in peace, but she managed to nudge a few pieces of food to the floor. Some things just never change.
Not much time passed before I got to thinking about Moon and his new client Ah Chuy Kak. I wanted to teleconference with Manco, who knows everything about Mayan lore, but Alura warned me not to contact anyone from my past. I couldn’t take the chance of putting Manco or his family in danger under any circumstances.
Kyiel or Yochi were the obvious choices because they knew everything about my past. I figured I’d be checking in with them about Ah Chuy Kak sooner or later, but for now was feeling nostalgic about my old profession. Instead of taking the easy ‘tell me all about Ah Chuy Kak’ tutoring lesson, I decided to spend some time at the New York City Library.
Not being in any particular hurry, I rode a bus to the Library and was looking forward to spending quality time with what use to be a big part of my life – books, and lots of them. After hauling as many books as I could carry to an obscure corner of the library, I spent several hours pouring over Mayan lore and various legends and myths about ancient deities. Surprisingly, there wasn’t much information about Ah Chuy Kak other than short descriptions and a few drawings. The one drawing that caught my attention showed Itzam-Yeh sitting on a throne with several beings kneeling at his footstool.
Itzam-Yeh is the Mayan god whose name was written on the scrolls Manco and I found at the Gate of the gods. One of the creatures kneeling at his footstool was Ah Chuy Kak, and his being in the presence of Itzam-Yeh meant he was important in the Darkzon hierarchy. It also meant he was an overlord under Itzam-Yeh’s rule. Overlords did not rise to such a rank without reflecting the same dark characteristics of their superiors, so Ah Chuy Kak is as nasty as they come.
The picture of Ah Chuy Kak was a black and white representation of a stone drawing Manco discovered years ago in Central America. It showed Itzam-Yeh dressed in a large head mask with his hands pulled together inside the sleeves of a ceremonial robe. There was enough detail in the picture to see that Itzam-Yeh was adorned with precious stones and jewelry.
The three overlords at Itzam-Yeh’s feet each wore a single necklace and loin cloth. Two of them had their heads bowed, but Ah Chuy Kak appeared to be intentionally looking away from Itzam-Yeh, perhaps as a sign of having less reverence. Ah Chuy Kak was ugly if you go by the drawing in a literal way. His eyes were enlarged, mouth wide showing sharp teeth, long boney fingers and toes, and he was covered in splotchy matted fur.
I never placed much emphasis on taking ancient stone drawings too literally. For all I knew, the artist could have been an ancient Picasso putting together an abstract version of his nightmare after eating too many peyote plants. If Ah Chuy Kak was also a shapeshifter, I guess he could look like anything he wanted, including the ugly beast in the drawing.
There is no doubt in my mind that many lycanthropes continue roaming the Earth. Ah Chuy Kak probably had a wolf harem filled with hairy concubines on every continent adding to the ugly ranks of shapeshifters. The very thought of these things engaging in procreation sent shivers up and down my spine. Yuk … I think that’s enough research for one day.
I placed all the books onto a cart that had a sign written in bold letters: Place Books Here – Do Not Return to Shelves. I smiled, thanked the cart for being close by, and headed outside to catch a bus back to my apartment. Lucky for me, there weren’t too many people standing in line waiting for the bus.
My new wizardry senses encouraged me to sit at the back of the bus and keep my eyes open. If danger presented itself, I could jump out of the emergency exit, get hit by a cabby, or smash my head on the pavement, but at least I’d escape the jaws of a monster. My cleaver strategy seemed less sound when someone sat next to me. Once that happened, I began looking at everyone wondering if they were about to shapeshift. Thank goodness the ride home took only 20 minutes. Any longer, my eyes would have dried out from not blinking.
I unlocked my door, disarming my wards, and to no surprise saw Sally waiting with her leash in her mouth. She obviously didn’t want me to settle down before taking care of her needs first. Fair enough.
I smiled. “Okay, I get the message. At least you could learn to snap your own leash on for me,” I said.
Once outside, Sally made a predictable left turn heading for Magical Herbs. I kept looking up at the lamp poles along the way, but didn’t see any sign of the neighborhood hell pet, so I turned my attention back to walking Sally.
When we arrived at Magical Herbs, Melony was opening the shoppe door. She had her hair pulled back in a pony tail as usual, but was dressed in blue jeans and a light colored t-shirt with something printed on the front.
“Hello Melony,” I said, catching her off guard. “Sorry, we didn’t mean to startle you.”
“Oh, Daniel … hello, how are you? I haven’t seen you for days and wondered if you moved away without saying goodbye.”
I could now see the front of her t-shirt. It read: Herbs Are Better Than Sex. Not exactly what I expected to see, but it did fit Melony’s natural look and appeal. She stooped down and gave Sally a hug.
“Sally, has Daniel been treating you well?”
What I wouldn’t give to be Sally right now. Melony was beautiful when dressed in her Celtic shoppe outfit, but in those tight jeans and t-shirt, she was more than beautiful – she was incredible. A few moments later I pulled my jaw back up and closed my mouth.
“Leave without saying goodbye. No, nothing of the sort. I was out of town on business.”
“I’m glad you’re still here. Come on in and I’ll make you a cup of my special tea. On Sundays the shoppe opens at noon, so customers won’t be showing up for a half hour or so. It will be nice spending some time with you and Sally, even if only for a few minutes.”
Sally and I sat at one of the tables while Melony went behind the counter and wrote special prices on the On Sale white board. She then smiled and headed to the back room.
“Give me a minute to ch
ange and I’ll make that tea.”
“We’ll be right here.”
Sally looked at me, then at Melony, and back at me again.
“What?”
Sally let out a barely audible woof and laid down next to my feet with drooping eyes.
“So now you think you’re a match-maker do you? Give me a break.”
Melony returned in her Celtic costume as beautiful as ever. Sally kept shifting her eyes back and forth at us.
“There, that didn’t take long,” she said. “I’ll make some tea now and you can fill me in on what you two have been up to all week. Have you checked out the city yet?”
I flashed back to when Alura and I destroyed Moon’s office basement and dusted Lupzarro. If only she knew.
“Um … no, not yet. I’ve been busy … you know, getting settled in.”
Melony smiled. “Poor thing, you should have asked for my help.”
“I should have … I mean, sure, help would have been nice. Maybe next time.”
What a stupid response. A beautiful girl shows a little interest in me, and what do I do? I get flustered like a school boy with a crush.
“There weren’t a lot of things to move and unpack,” I said. “I was mostly keeping busing at work.”
“What kind of work?”
“I’m a journalist and field reporter at ZWC here in the city.”
Melony raised her eyebrows. “ZWC … as in Zane Worldwide Communications? Are you related in some way to the Zane family?”
“Sure am. Well, I’m not the only one. There are a lot of us working there.”
Melony laughed and I began feeling nervous. Most of my life was wrapped up in books and research. Having conversations with a beautiful woman, especially small talk, was not something I handled well. Even so, Melony was easy enough to talk to until I looked into her emerald eyes and my knees started shaking.
Okay, here I go with all the covert identity crap.
“The company was named after my great grandfather. It started out as a small family newspaper and now is a publicly traded company. I’m new there and still learning the ropes, so to speak.”
“Wow, I’m impressed. I’m not a ZWC customer, but am impressed just the same.”
Melony sat down at the table and asked Sally if I was giving her a daily sprinkle of the herbs she gave us last week. Sally woofed and wagged her tail knowing the conversation was all about her.
“Sure am,” I said.
“Good. It will keep you both healthy and promote long life,” she said, then smiled and walked back to the counter.
“Hey, I have an idea,” she said and held up two tickets in her hand. “A customer gave me these the other day. It’s for the new Broadway show everyone’s talking about. I wasn’t planning on going because I hate seeing shows by myself, but thought it would be nice to have your company. Want to go and see the show with me on Saturday?”
“Me? Yea, sure would, I’d like that very much.”
Melony’s smile widened. “Alright then, it’s a date. Meet me here at the shoppe no later than 6:00 PM.”
Huh … only in the city for a few days and I’ve already met a nice girl. Manhattan is showing some promise.
The bell on the shop door rang and a woman straight out of the Victorian era walked in. She wore a dress covering everything from the tip of her shoe to the top of her neck. Her grey hair was wrapped up in a bun under a black hat. The fabric of her dress was dark grey and she carried a black purse. She was average height and weight, had pale white skin, and probably in her late 60s judging by the deep wrinkles on her face.
“Mrs. Greyson, how are you?” Melony asked. “I have your package wrapped and ready to go ma'am.”
Greyson gave me a disapproving glare, the kind an overbearing parent gives a boy on a first date with their daughter.
“Thank you dear. I was nearby and thought I would stop by.”
Melony went behind the counter for Greyson’s package while I tried my best not to notice the parental glare. I could only imagine what the Victorian gal was thinking and again nodded my chin in a greeting gesture. She made no response. I didn’t take it personal and chalked it up to a generation gap – more like a few generation gaps.
“Everything all right dear,” Greyson asked, stiffening her glare at me as if I was an intruder. Honestly, she was acting like a chaperone at a high school homecoming dance. Not now, but back a few centuries when kissing was punishable by being burned at the stake.
“Yes Mrs. Greyson, everything is fine,” Melony replied and then introduced me. “This is Daniel who lives in the neighborhood. He’s new to the city.”
Mrs. Greyson tilted her chin up arrogantly at me and said, “I see,” then walked to the counter without so much as a simple hello.
Sally looked at me and let out a whimper. I reached down and lightly scratched behind her ears, almost whimpering myself. The old nag was not only unfriendly, but also very strange, not to mention having no fashion sense whatsoever, and for a second I thought of Kyiel. The door bell rang again and other customers entered the shoppe, so Sally and I got up to leave.
“Thanks for the tea Melony,” I said and Sally woofed wagging her tail.
“Bye Daniel. Bye Sally. Don’t forget about Saturday.”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world”, I said, then frowned when looking back at Greyson.
Grayson gave me one final ice cold stare that was more than disapproving, It was outright disdain. If it were not our first encounter, I would say her stare was pure hatred. It felt as if she punched me with her eyes.
Sally had her nose at the door and was anxious to leave. Once outside, I pat her again and said, “Don’t blame you old girl, not one bit.”
There was something very odd about Greyson. Whatever it was, it gave Sally and me the heebie-geebies and we were happy to be out of range from her piercing glare.