In all of her time spent watching her creatures and children, the girl grew negligent towards the boy. The boy had been happy with the way things were, when it was just he and the girl. He grew jealous of all the attention that the girl gave to her project, so he gave the girl an ultimatum; she could either have the boy or her project)
After a couple minutes of silence and a bottle of water, I’m forced to ask, “So which did she choose?”
(You have to understand; the girl didn’t wish to lose either. She wanted to have them both and was willing to work to make that happen. However, the boy did not allow it, so the girl did the only thing she could think of… She ate the boy)
“What!?”
Natasha barges into my room and flings herself over me, landing on the right side of my bed.
“Cooooole. I’m sooorry I yelled at youuu. I’m sure you… that whatever was promised to you was important enough for you to kill the Slavic pantheon when you found out they lied. Let’s have sex and make up!” Natasha exclaims.
“No.” I tell her.
“Wwwwwhy nooooot?” Natasha whines.
“Well, for one, you are really drunk right now.” I reply.
“I’m not as drunk as you think I am. See!? I even said it properly! Case dismissed, now have sex with me!” Natasha demands.
“And I’m also kind of in the middle of something.” I respond.
“Huh?” Natasha replies and looks over to see my ‘blood cooler’.
“Doooon’t worry! You can do both!” Natasha exclaims. In one motion, she rips off my boxers and mounts me.
“Natasha!” I exclaim as she slips me inside of her.
“Doooon’t worry; I’ll be gentle.” Natasha whispers into my ear while leaning over my chest.
Then she proceeds to lie down on my chest, and falls asleep.
(Draining complete)
“Can you finish the story now?”
(That will have to wait for another time. Get some rest)
I do as Airi suggests, after withdrawing my deposit from the First National Bank of Natasha and rolling her onto the right side of the bed.
****
Chapter 6: Is this idea crazy?
“Daddy? Are you okay?” Addie asks from the crack in my door.
“I’m just fine, sweetie. I’m sorry if I scared you yesterday.” I tell her with a warm smile.
“DADDY!” Addie cries while bursting into my room and jumping on my bed to hug me.
I hug her back while she cries into my shirt for a while. When she finally calms down, Addie sits down next to me and we watch cartoons for a while. I hear Addie’s soft breathing about an hour later, indicating that she has fallen asleep. I look down at her peacefully sleeping face, only to find that her peacefully sleeping face is no longer there.
“Addie?” I call out. I get out of bed and head down the hall.
“Addie!?” I call out again. I hear the front door open so I rush to the living room.
“ADDIE!” I scream.
As she crosses the threshold of the house, she turns into black smoke and disappears with the wind. I rush to the threshold and fall apart in the doorway.
She’s gone.
And there’s nothing that I can do to bring her back.
****
[October 17th]
I jolt awake in my bed, breathing heavily in a cold sweat as two tears slip from my eyes. Natasha is sleeping soundly to my right. Seeing that it’s only 2am, I slowly get out of bed so as to not awaken Natasha. I exit my room and walk next door. I quietly open the door to Cheza’s room and step inside, still shaking from my dream. Cheza sits up in bed when I enter her room and examines me.
“Come here.” Cheza softly beckons with her arms open.
I climb into her bed where she wraps her arms around me and holds my head to her chest. With the severity of the dreams I’m having, I can’t stay in this house anymore… at least not for the time being. I’ll bring it up with Cheza tomorrow.
…
I’m awakened by the sound of two loud gunshots in quick succession. I jump out of Cheza’s bed and rush towards the source of the sound: the basement. Once there, I find Tia on the floor of the armory, swearing profusely while holding her stomach.
“What happened!?” I ask.
“Oh—son of a bitch—hey Cole. I was—fuck— just testing—shit—your new gun.” Tia replies, swearing under her breath every so often. I see a huge silver handgun on the floor next to her.
(I took the liberty of creating the frame while you were sleeping, Master)
“It’s got some—shit—kick to it. I fired it once and it recoiled out of my hands, discharging when it hit the floor, so it fails the drop-safety test.” Tia explains.
I pick up the large silver gun that is modeled after a Desert Eagle and has a stiletto blade for a disarm bar that is jutting three inches past the end of the barrel. I drop the gun several times and even pitch it at the ground, but it doesn’t go off.
“Seems fine to me; maybe it just didn’t like you shooting it?” I suggest.
I aim down range with my left hand and fire at the silhouette until the slide locks back; only eight rounds, meaning that it can hold a max of eleven rounds if I chamber a round before loading a fresh magazine. While that seems like a very small number considering that it is less than half the capacity of my 10mm auto, I frequently fire two rounds at a time, which will be completely unnecessary with this gun.
I’d gladly take a diminished magazine capacity in exchange for bullets with a velocity 1.5 times higher, which will actually connect at a distance. Even with the fact that my blood is reducing the recoil, I still have to adjust for it to keep multiple shots on target. I reload and try shooting it in my right hand, only to find that the recoil is about three times worse.
“This is pretty sweet, but even I have to deal with recoil in this gun; I can only imagine how bad it is to shoot without my blood.” I tell her.
“Yeah, it’s pretty rough.” Tia says as she tries to get up, only to fail so I give her a hand up.
“Everything alright?” Cheza thinks.
“Yeah, Tia just accidentally shot herself.” I reply.
“Ha! Serves her right for shooting you all those times! Ahem… I mean, is she alright?” Cheza inquires with mock concern.
“Well I had to amputate her leg with the Mu-cutter, but I think she’ll pull through… probably.” I answer.
“WHAT!?” Cheza screams.
“That was a joke… Anyway, I need to talk to you about something…” I reply.
“What about?” Cheza nervously questions.
“I need to stay someplace else for the time being. I can’t handle my dreams and they are much worse when I’m here, or any other place that has something to do with her.” I inform her.
“Okay… you know that I’m coming with you, right?” Cheza rhetorically asks.
“…Thanks Cheza.” I softly reply.
“Hey, I’m going to find someplace else to stay for a little while; I can’t really sleep here…” I say to Tia while looking at the ground. Tia gently places her hands on my shoulders.
“I understand, Cole; just make sure to check in every now and then.” Tia replies.
“I will; thanks, Tia.” I respond.
We head upstairs to have breakfast with Cheza and Sara. Sara opens her mouth to ask what happened, but then she sees the large hole in Tia’s blouse, combined with the large gun in my hand, and figures it out. Natasha joins us about halfway through, looking extremely hung over. I hold my hand over her glass of orange juice and pour some of my blood into it.
“Ew…” Natasha says.
“Just drink it; it will help.” I tell her.
“Airi, can you assist Natasha please?”
(What am I, your hangover cure?)
“No, you’re my special genie who grants my wishes!”
(…Fine, you talked me into it)
“So Cole… I have to make a report to Carla, so would you care
to explain exactly what was promised and lied about that caused you to destroy an entire pantheon?” Natasha asks after drinking her orange juice.
“To be fair, I only killed Veles and Perun, and had I known that killing them would dismantle the entire pantheon, I wouldn’t have done it… probably. Veles promised that if I helped him get his wife back from Perun, which in actuality was just a ploy to get me to kill Perun, then Veles would allow a meeting with someone in Iriy, the Slavic higher plane of the Underworld that I couldn’t access without his invitation.” I inform her.
“Who were you promised a meeting with?” Natasha inquires.
“*Sigh*… With Cheza’s mother. As you know, Cheza and I were having some… issues. I thought that she’d be happy if she could see her mother and that it might help fix our relationship. When I found out that Cheza’s mom had already passed on from the Underworld, my mind somehow equated that to him promising that I could see Addie again…” I explain.
“Which resulted in you going all agro and killing everyone. Alright, I’ll go call Carla and give her a version of the events.” Natasha says and leaves the kitchen.
“Thanks Cole, but you know that what you did was kind of overkill, right?” Cheza thinks.
“Yeah, but back then I wasn’t sure if you were coming back. When I started to think about how I might lose you… I had to do something…” I reply.
“Alright so we need to decide where we are going to be staying!” Cheza awkwardly exclaims, changing the subject.
“I was going to go talk to Jason and see if I could stay there for a while to see if that helped.” I respond.
“Okay; I wanted to see how their trip went anyway!” Cheza thinks as Natasha walks back into the kitchen.
“So… I’ve been reassigned.” Natasha announces. I’m not sure what to make of this news because I can’t tell if this is good or bad based on her expression.
“Congratulations, Cole. You have officially grown notorious enough to be assigned your very own shadow! Do you want to know who the last person was that was assigned their own shadow?” Natasha sarcastically asks.
“Who?” I inquire, obviously wishing for further punishment.
“No one! It was a hypothetical position in The Agency before you came along!” Natasha exclaims hysterically. Natasha sits down and lets her head thud to the table.
“The amounts of paperwork your antics cause alone kill forests.” Natasha says, her voice muffled by the table. Was that a haiku…?
“Well, cheer up, buddy!” I exclaim. Natasha slowly lifts her head off of the table to glare at me.
“Think of it this way; we are headed to Niflheim and won’t be staying here, so it’s basically a vacation!” Cheza adds, putting a positive spin on things.
“Yeah, I suppose. I’m going to go take a shower.” Natasha groans and leaves the kitchen.
“Cole, come to my room for a moment.” Sara says and walks down the hall. I follow her and shut her bedroom door behind me.
“What’s up?” I ask.
“Here, to replace your other one.” Sara replies while tossing me a new armored leather jacket. I notice that this one has a zipper at mid-bicep level on the left sleeve.
“You’re just going to keep shredding through the left sleeves so I came up with this. Now you can take the sleeve off, if you have time, but even if you get caught in a situation where you can’t, I can just switch out the ruined sleeve with a new one instead of replacing the whole jacket.” Sara explains.
“Thanks, Sara. Oh, by the way, Cheza and I are going to stay in Niflheim for a while.” I quietly inform her.
“Okay, Cole; take as much time as you need.” Sara gently says while embracing me.
“Thanks.” I reply while hugging her back.
I head to my room and take a quick shower before dressing in jeans, a white t-shirt, and my new jacket. I walk out into the living room and find Cheza and Natasha waiting for me, both dressed in a t-shirt and jeans.
“Let’s get going.” I say to them.
They stand up from the couch and grab my left arm while I touch my Haglaz to port us to Niflheim. A few moments after we arrive, Jason bursts into the room.
“CT! You always know when I need you! Ladies, can you give us some time alone?” Jason asks with a slightly crazed look in his eyes.
“Umm, sure… come on, Natasha.” Cheza replies and they both exit the room.
“Okay, I need you to tell me if what I’m thinking of doing is crazy and then try to talk me out of it if it is.” Jason rapidly says.
“Uh, what are you thinking about doing?” I cautiously question.
“I’m going to ask Reyna to marry me!” Jason exclaims.
I respond by slapping him.
“Get a hold of yourself! That’s insane!” I exclaim.
“But—” Jason starts.
“I don’t care what she can do with her leg and a lampshade! You two have only been dating for like six weeks; do you even really know her?” I ask.
“I’m pretty sure I know everything about her.” Jason replies.
“What’s her favorite color?” I inquire.
“Red.” Jason answers.
“Favorite food?” I ask.
“You.” Jason answers. I feel this odd combination of pride and spine tingling levels of creepy.
“When’s her birthday?” I question.
“October 31st, Halloween.” Jason replies.
“Favorite animal?” I inquire.
“Koala.” Jason answers; damn murder bears…
“Favorite band?” I ask.
“Manchester Orchestra.” Jason replies.
“Really? Huh… I never would have guessed she’d be a fan of alternative. Biggest fear?” I question.
“Bats.” Jason confidently answers.
“Seriously? Wow, that’s embarrassing for an azeman.” I reply.
“Yeah, she told me not to… tell… anyone…” Jason says as his face falls.
“Don’t worry, bro; my lips are sealed. Next question; number of kids she wants to have?” I ask.
“Two, a boy and a girl, one of which may be on the way…” Jason quietly responds.
“Reyna’s pregnant!?” I ask in an urgent, yet hushed, tone. Jason nods once in response.
“Okay then you’re going to marry her regardless because you’re a man, aren’t you!?” I ask, trying to get him pumped up.
“Yeah…” Jason replies, not so enthusiastically.
“AREN’T YOU!?” I shout.
“HELL YEAH!” Jason shouts back.
“I’m going to go propose right now!” Jason exclaims and starts to march out the door.
“Whoa there! Just because this is a shotgun wedding doesn’t mean you can skip the formalities and not give her the proposal she’s always dreamed of.” I explain.
“That’s true, but I don’t know what her dream proposal is.” Jason says.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered. Just sit down and give Cheza a moment to get the information.” I tell him and open my connection with Cheza.
“Hey, are you with Reyna?” I think.
“Yeah, what’s up?” Cheza replies.
“I need you to start talking about wedding related stuff and find out what Reyna’s dream proposal is.” I request.
“Why?” Cheza asks.
“Long story short? Reyna is pregnant so Jason is going to ask her to marry him and needs to know what her dream proposal is so he can set it up; that last bit being my idea.” I answer.
“Okay, give me a couple minutes.” Cheza replies.
“So how did you manage to get Reyna pregnant?” I ask Jason.
“Just an outcome of the circumstances, I guess. Looking back, neither of us was using birth control because neither of us had needed it before. I was used to fucking ghosts, which can’t get pregnant, and she was used to fucking girls; no real possibility for pregnancy there.” Jason replies.
“Yeah, I guess that makes sense… in a stupid sort o
f way.” I reply.
“Alright, she says that her dream proposal is in front of a lot of people, next to a blood fountain, fireworks optional.” Cheza thinks a few moments later.
“Thanks, Cheza!” I respond and relay the information to Jason.
“So now we need to think of a date where we can set this up without her getting suspicious…” I say.
“A date that’s close by, where we can throw a party with a blood fountain without Reyna getting suspicious…”Jason adds.
The answer must have dawned on us at the same time because we simultaneously exclaim, “Halloween!”
“Okay, let’s never do that again; that was seriously lame.” I say after a few moments of awkward silence.
“Agreed.” Jason replies
…
Chapter 7: The Halloween Proposal
Jason and I spend the next two weeks planning for the party. As the saying goes “There ain’t no party like a *undisclosed celebrity* party!” so we recruited *undisclosed celebrity* to help us plan the party. Sean is actually a minor demigod so recruiting him in promise for a nice set up in Niflheim for his afterlife wasn’t too difficult, but getting to him to make the offer was…
“Hello.” I say to the cameras outside *undisclosed celebrity*’s house in Miami Beach, Florida.
“Whatever it is you want, the answer is no.” The guard replies over the intercom.
“I’m a representative from Nifl—” I start to say.
“No.” The intercom interrupts.
I take a few steps back and look at the eight foot, wrought iron gate. I engage my helmet and get a running leap over the gate. Two NFL linebacker sized guards come out of a small structure in the right corner of the property, pull Glock 22s with laser sights out of their hip holsters, and open fire. I calmly walk up to the front door as the .40 S&W rounds hit my jacket and fall to the ground. I ring the doorbell and wait for three minutes as the guards run out of bullets and stop firing. The door suddenly opens and Sean blasts me with USAS-12 automatic shotgun. I fly back off of the porch and land on my back.
Cole's Haunting Melody (The Gods' Executioner Series) Page 5