by J. P. Rice
“If we find a way out of here, I’ll make sure to get your bones back to your family. I’m sorry this happened to you. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you from Shuten dōji.” It was my first time talking to a set of charred bones, but something told me it wasn’t going to be the last.
*****
We woke up the next day and went hunting again. We enjoyed the same fruitless results as the day before. My stomach felt like it was eating itself or twisting itself into a knot. I’d never been this hungry before. With snow covering the ground, I couldn’t search for any fresh vegetation. We seemed doomed.
From a distance, I heard a male voice speaking Japanese. I did a three-sixty trying to find the person. Another guide had to be coming up the hill, so I looked down the slope. Squinting, I looked between the trees for a human figure.
Nothing.
The voice called out again. From behind me. I spun around and looked up the hill. It couldn’t be.
Skipping down the hill were the rattling bones of Okumura. They were fully reassembled and carried an orange glow to offset the dull black bones. The skeleton and skull walked up to us and said something in Japanese.
“I think he said, follow him,” Felix explained, wide eyed, in awe of the moving skeleton.
Okumura gestured with his finger for us to follow him and took off down the hill. I swung my backpack around to make sure I still had the filled Blood Goblet. Check. I smoothed my hand over the rubies on the base and felt a little spark come from the Goblet.
Stuffing it back into my bag, I zipped it closed and swung it over my shoulder. We followed Okumura to the bottom of the slope, but the level area appeared the same as all the other times. Rolling my eyes, I walked forward expecting to see Shuten dōji’s castle again. Instead, my jaw dropped when I saw a directional arrow sign on one of the trees.
We looped around the base of the mountain, and less than an hour later, we made it back to the guide lodge. As I stared at the building, Felix asked, “Where did he go?”
“Who?” I turned around and noticed Okumura was gone.
We stumbled into the lodge and I handled the responsibility of explaining what happened to Okumura. The other guides laughed again and one of the men said, “He dies every time he goes up the mountain. That’s why we said he was dead when you asked. He’ll be back, flesh covered and living in a few weeks. He always does.”
What the living fuck? I’d been around magic for a while and that was straight wild. The men shared some of their food and beverage with us while we made travel plans to get back home. A few taxi and train rides later, we ended up at Osaka Airport.
Glenda sneaked the Blood Goblet on the flight by stuffing it between her breasts. I had brought it to Japan in my hiking bag, but now that it contained more than four ounces of liquid, it was a problem. I had no idea how it didn’t set off the metal detector either. The wheels went up on the plane and I sat back in my seat. Now that we had the full Goblet, we could go after the Seven Sorcerers and free Cyclone Woman from the curse.
Chapter 25
I dropped off Glenda and Felix and pulled my Maxima into a parking spot in front of my house. Felix had taken the Blood Goblet and was going to set up a meeting with Fukutama so I could only wait for the next step now. My phone sat on the passenger seat connected to the charger. It was like an elephant in my car.
I had to turn it on and call Jonathan. Checking my dashboard, it was 11:30 a.m. Hopefully, the vampire was still sleeping. I held down the power button on the side of the phone, and the screen flashed on. My palms started to sweat as I waited for the phone to gather all the memory.
Several alert signals beeped for text messages, missed calls and voice messages. Scrolling down the missed call log, Jonathan’s name was all over the place. I stopped counting at seventeen missed calls. I knew he would be pissed, but not seventeen-plus calls pissed.
I opened up his profile and hit the little symbol that looked like a phone receiver. My pulse quickened as the phone rang. If he didn’t answer, I could just leave a quick message explaining everything. That way, he couldn’t question anything or poke a hole in my excuses.
Jonathan had warned me when we’d first met that I should never lie to him. Unfortunately, the present situation gave me little choice. If I was honest, I would be dealing with a clan of vampires trying to kill me and Jonathan could try to kill me for lying to him initially. Lying also meant that my best friend would stay buried beneath the earth’s surface. Fu—uck.
My nerves started to calm down as I prepared to leave a message.
“Hello, just the person I need to talk to.”
Damnit. “Hey Jonathan.”
“Hey Jonathan? Hey Jonathan?” he asked, sounding pissed. “You’ve been accused of murder by my fellow vampires. A friend of yours, who is also an enemy of the Purple House, shoots up my mansion and my clan mates. And you say, hey Jonathan?” He normally spoke calmly and slowly. Not today.
“Let me explain. Your friends have again accused me of something I didn’t do.”
“The reason they did that is because these bodies are talking.” He started to calm down. “And they all have your name on the tips of their tongues. It seems like more than just a coincidence.”
How could I worm my way out of this one? “Does it? I’m hated by every supernatural being and creature in Pittsburgh. It makes perfect sense that vampires would say my name to exact revenge after the grave. And as for Reg, we were best friends for years. Of course he’s going to invoke my name. Do you really think I wouldn’t be doing everything I can to save my best friend?”
Jonathan paused for a few moments and said, “You two did seem to have a firm connection, I suppose. That doesn’t change the fact that I have a group of bullet-riddled, comatose vampires.”
I extended an olive branch. “I’ll pay for the damage, but none of this would be necessary if your goons hadn’t kidnapped me. They wouldn’t have tried that bullshit if you were in town. They went behind your back when you were away with a move I don’t believe you would have sanctioned. Roydell and Timson seem to forget who is in charge of the Purple House.” Pitting them against each other was the best bet right now.
“I will deal with them accordingly when they are fully healed. As for you. If I find out you are lying about a member of the Purple House, I will bring down a storm of hellfire on you, the likes of which you’ve never even thought possible. Do I make myself clear?”
“Crystal,” I confirmed. “I’m not sure what kind of black magic your boys are dealing in, but I can assure you I don’t know anything about Reg. In fact, I have feelers out all over the city looking for him.”
Jonathan reminded me, “If you hear anything, I am the first to know.”
“Of course. I’m still worried sick about my friend.” I felt so sleazy lying about this to someone who could probably save Reg.
“How did the trip to Japan turn out?” Jonathan asked.
The recent trip seemed like it had happened months ago. “Like most of my adventures, harrowing. But we accomplished the mission.”
“Good. You need to stop these tornadoes then.”
“What? Did something happen when I was in Japan?”
Jonathan explained, “Many things happened. You can find out the details of the tornadoes later. That only leaves one matter for us to straighten out. You need to tell me where Glenda is. Or you can turn her over to me. Your choice.”
Fuck. I knew it would come down to this. “Jonathan, that’s not going to happen. You are my friend. She is also my friend. I wouldn’t give you up to the cops or anyone coming after you. In the same manner, I wouldn’t turn Glenda over to be killed.”
“Be certain this is the action you wish to take,” he said, his tone shifting back toward anger. “The favors, the gifts, the Jameson. All that can disappear in a flash. I treat you better than my clan members, you know?”
I hadn’t expected him to pull the fringe benefits card, but not totally surprised either. “And I c
an’t thank you enough for that. The reason, I think, that you do that for me is because you know I would never sell out anyone from your house. Or you. In this fucked up world, you can rest assured that I’m not going to blow up how you illegally obtain blood from the blood banks.”
Sometimes you had to let people know you had a little something over them. But you also had to be careful and use it sparingly. If someone—especially the kind of people that I dealt with—saw my knowledge as a threat to their livelihood, they would kill me and not think twice about it.
“I still want you to think about just slipping a piece of paper to me with her address on it. But I understand the hesitation.” He paused for a moment, and said calmly, “In fact, you’re right. I do like you because you know how to keep things quiet. I’m rather confident you would never put my life in danger with loose lips.”
“You know me. I don’t really have a family, so I have to take care of my friends.”
Jonathan said, “Not to worry. We’ll track her down and exact our revenge at some point.”
Not if I had anything to say about it, but I didn’t want to get into that right now. “I’ve had a long trip. Do you need anything else from me?”
“Just don’t let me find out you are lying,” he warned.
“That’s not going to happen,” I said, hoping this would never come to a head. “Why don’t you go back to sleep now?”
“Once I’m up, I’m up. Good day, Micheal.”
“Bye, Jonathan.”
I was off the hook for my best friend’s murder. Temporarily. My plan was to dig up Reg’s dormant body and bring it back to life. It was a great plan, except for the fact that I had no clue how to do it. With my connections, I was sure I could find out how to revive a body. At least I knew Reg was still alive. Barely. How had the stake missed his heart?
Reaching out my right hand, I grabbed my wallet off the passenger seat, tucked my phone into my pocket and headed inside.
I opened the door and looked over at the couch. Alayna was sitting with her feet up on the coffee table reading a book that recounted the adventures of the wizard from St. Louis. “I’m still alive,” I exclaimed with a smile.
Alayna jumped up, ran over and gave me a hug. “Did you fill up the Goblet?”
I nodded slowly. “We did. Right up to the tippy-top. I would have been home a few days ago, but we encountered...”
Alayna cut me off, “I know how it goes in this game. No need to explain that to me.”
“Where is Dante?” I asked, looking into the kitchen.
She pointed at the ceiling. “Upstairs reading comic books. He found your old stash and he’s taken quite a liking to them.”
“That’s good.” A slight smile developed on my face. It slowly faded as I prepared to tell Alayna the bad news. “So we might have a little problem with the Purple House.”
“I know,” she said and sat back down on the couch. “A couple of their goons stopped by and I chased them away with their tails between their legs. I told them if they wanted to start a war with the Celtic Gods and the Deep Burrow, have at it.”
Alayna didn’t fuck around. She was like a connected mobster in the city. Sure, you could fuck with her, but then you had all of her associates to deal with. If the vampires killed Alayna for no reason, there would be hell to pay.
Jonathan understood that the same went for me. Many people in the supernatural know called me the Golden Boy of the Celtic Gods. I wasn’t as close to the deities as Alayna, but I was still part of the team.
Alayna continued, “I do hope they found out what happened to Reg. That is quite unfortunate. I really loved Reg.”
I wasn’t sure I could tell Alayna what I’d done. Not yet. It was too embarrassing. Waiting for a later time seemed like the best move right now.
“Jonathan mentioned something about tornadoes while I was in Japan. Do you know what he’s talking about?”
“I do,” she answered and lowered her head. “For the first time in history, tornadoes swept through the city of Pittsburgh. One went straight down East Carson Street in the Southside. Another one went through Oakland.”
“Did anyone die?” I knew it was a stupid question, but I had to know.
Alayna nodded, glossy eyed. “None of the weather experts saw them coming. Now that you have the Goblet, you can stop all that,” she added with a touch of hope.
I hated waiting when the citizens were in danger. Felix had set up an appointment with Fukutama but hadn’t called me back with the details. I had to call on the Celtic Goddess Blodeuwedd and find out if she had figured out where the sorcerers had moved to, assuming they hadn’t stayed in the same location.
I felt a twinge in my calf, and suddenly, I wasn’t in control of my body anymore. I spoke, but the words weren’t authentic. They weren’t mine. “Could you find the Mabinogion on my bookshelf? I know it’s there, I just can’t seem to locate it.”
What the hell was I doing?
She rolled her eyes and said, “I suppose I can find it.”
My body moved into the kitchen. I opened the closet door and pulled out a pair of bungee cords.
An evil smile was pasted onto my face as I re-entered the living room. Alayna continued searching the shelf for a book that wasn’t there. No. Don’t let me do this.
Against my wishes, my body sprang into action. I hooked her arms and wrapped the bungee cord around her tiny wrists.
“What the hell are you doing?” Alayna asked, trying to free herself.
Staring at the black cords, I silently set a complex spell and ignored Alayna’s pleas. I followed the same procedure and secured her ankles together, finishing the job with a defense ward.
My body went back into the kitchen and grabbed a long rag out of the cabinet. What the fuck was I doing? I walked back into the living room. Alayna was flopping around like a mermaid on land.
I wanted to scream, “Get the fuck out of here. Or break out of those bonds so you can stab me and kill me right now before I do something despicable.”
Instead, I pounced on my mentor, stuffing the rag in her mouth and tying the gag against the back of Alayna’s neck. I set a defense ward on the gag and involuntarily went to the basement. As I searched around, I had no idea what the demons controlling me were hunting for. What was I going to do?
I found a long, green duffle bag and brought it upstairs. As I walked into the living room, Alayna was struggling with the bonds. I said, “Sorry, but I have to do this.”
I opened the duffle bag wide and laid it on the ground near Alayna. Against my will, I scooped up Alayna, who was as light as a feather, and stuffed her into the bag. My transition to monster seemed officially complete.
I watched my hand run the zipper all the way to the end, sealing Alayna in. My right arm hooked the shoulder strap and I picked up the light bag. I went out the front door, leaving Dante to fend for himself.
My body didn’t stop and close the front door. Instead, I left it open and walked to my car. I opened the back door and tossed the sack inside as if it was a bag of dirty laundry. Prying the keys out of my pocket, I hopped in the driver’s seat and started the car.
Where was I taking her?
Chapter 26
Where was I going? Why couldn’t I stop this? Perhaps I should have killed myself when I had the chance. I was totally responsible for my monstrous actions now. I could have stopped all the madness.
We drove for a long time, leaving Pittsburgh and heading out to the Appalachian countryside. My subconscious seemed to know exactly where we were going, even stopping for gas when necessary. I traveled to the base of a mountain and parked the car in a random field.
Oh shit. I realized where we were. No. No. Not this. Not her.
I pulled the moving duffle bag out of the back seat and threw it over my shoulder. The light parcel didn’t slow me down as I traveled into a valley between two big mountains. The verdant landscape triggered a reminder I didn’t want to encounter.
As we
walked through the valley, a blurry green object appeared in front of me. The portal to Sleepy Willow. No. Please. No. Why her? Just take me. Just fucking take me.
My thoughts couldn’t slow me down as I power walked toward the portal. How could the demons be doing this from a remote location? It didn’t make any sense.
I stopped in front of the portal and held the bag with Alayna’s body in front of me. Everything told me to turn around and get the fuck out of there. But the implant had other ideas. I plunged into the portal and felt the tight squeeze as we traveled through.
I was a monster.
My eyes watered immediately, and I shut them to deal with the pressure of the portal. It constricted even more. Tightening. Pressing down on me. Just as I felt my body was about to explode, the pressure relented. My eyelids flickered open.
We were in Primero’s entrance shack near the city in Sleepy Willow. The werebear’s eyes widened as he focused on me. “You know you’re not allowed back here.”
I retorted, “I brought a gift for the king. He will be more than happy to accept it. You should contact him right now.”
“What gift?” he asked, narrowing his eyes and leering at me.
I reached for the zipper on the moving duffle bag.
Primero pulled the gun out of his hip holster. “Slowly. Don’t try anything stupid.” He probably thought that I had some feral animal in the bag.
I unzipped the bag, and Alayna rolled out onto the wooden floor speckled with blood. Primero’s eyes bulged like they were going to jump out of his head. He put his gun away and pulled out a rectangular device that looked like a cell phone. Holding down a button on the device, he said, “Get the king to checkpoint one. Right now. He’s going to want to see this.” He put the device to his ear and waited a few moments. “It’s fucking Queen Al. I’m looking at her with my own eyes. Get him over here.”
Alayna glared at me with the intensity of a thousand daggers being plunged into my heart. I tried to turn away to avoid the shame, but the demons wouldn’t acquiesce. Standing in silence, I waited for what seemed like hours. Waiting for the king to take out his vengeance on his erstwhile wife.