James whipped out his knife with his left hand and blazed away with the pilfered pistol in his right. By the time the Harriken realized he’d fooled them and tried to rally he was already in the middle of the room shooting, stabbing, and kicking.
James soon ran out of bullets and tossed the gun away. His knife, hands, and feet would be enough.
Dying men’s screams overlapped and echoed in the room. Only fifteen were left now, and a charge with his knife ended with three more dead.
James yanked a man up by his throat and tossed him toward some of his friends. Several tried to shoot him, and the bounty hunter charged after him to throw a fist into one man’s face and stab another in the throat.
Bullets bounced off his armored skin, their pain registering but their fatal purpose denied. He had to give the last Harriken some respect. None cut and ran, even as he pummeled and sliced each in turn.
The whole exchange was over in about two minutes. Thirty dead men lay on a floor freshly painted with their blood.
“No fucking artifacts?” the bounty hunter muttered, slipping his knife back into its sheath. He didn’t even bother to loot a gun from the new collection littering the floor. “That’s a surprise.”
The only other exit was a single door at the back of the room, so James marched toward it.
Nowhere left to hide.
James kicked the door in, mostly to be an asshole. A short hallway led to an ornate set of wooden doors decorated with detailed carvings of roses. He stomped toward them but didn’t bust down the doors out of respect for the woodworking.
It wasn’t like the Harriken built the building; they’d just bought it.
James threw open the carved doors to reveal a reception area with desk and nice leather couches but no Harriken. One more door on the other end of the room stood between him and the completion of his vengeance.
The door opened, and a Japanese man stepped out. He wore a suit like most other Harriken, though the fabric was nicer from what James could tell. The man was a good fifteen or twenty years older than the bounty hunter and had white streaks in his dark hair. His sword was sheathed at his waist.
After a few seconds James realized the man was missing his left hand.
“Why aren’t you wearing fancy Japanese clothes?” James asked.
“I look to the future, not the past.”
“But you are the boss?”
“I am Jiro Ikeda,” the man assured him, his voice filled with contempt. “I lead the Harriken in America.”
“Best I can tell, there aren’t many Harriken left in America.” He glanced over his shoulder for a fraction of a second before returning his gaze to the main asshole. “Sorry about that.”
Ikeda narrowed his eyes. “Such disrespect. You’ve slaughtered so many of our men. You should be on your knees begging my forgiveness.”
“Why the fuck should I give you any respect? You torture women and kidnap girls. You should give me your respect. I’ve killed all your men, which proves that I’m big shit, Stumpy. Not you.” James gestured toward the man’s left arm.
The Harriken leader slid his sword out of its scabbard. James was far from an expert on swords, but Ikeda’s sword looked longer and more curved than the blades he’d seen most of the Harriken use.
The amulet, which had mostly been quiet, suddenly started whispering loudly again in James’ mind. Even though he couldn’t understand it, he couldn’t help but think it sounded frantic.
The bounty hunter ignored the whispers to concentrate on the man in front of him. He snorted. “Can you even use that sword with only one hand, asshole?”
“Your insolence is amusing.” Ikeda raised the sword, smiling. “Do you know anything about Japanese history, oni?”
“Not really, no. I don’t care a lot about shit unless it involves barbeque. But you guys have some nice barbeque-type stuff. Maybe I should look into that more.”
“Cease your prattle! So you don’t know who Masamune was?”
James shrugged. “Some Harriken dick? Did I kill him the first time?”
The corners of Ikeda’s mouth turned down in a fierce sneer. “He was the greatest swordsmith this world has ever known. This blade was one of his greatest achievements, but the metallurgy he used to craft his blades has been lost to time. None have been able to replicate it. You should be honored that you will die on the blade of a Masamune tachi.”
“Sure, asshole. I’ll keep that in mind, but before I kill you there’s something you need to do.”
Ikeda shook his head. “You dare make demands of me?”
James snorted. “Yeah, I do. You’re the one who is about to die.” He gestured to the door. “Don’t you get it, asshole? Your men are dead. I killed them all: the guy with the magic crossbow, the guy with the magic tattoo, fanboy, and helmet jerk. All those guys with grenades, guns, rocket launchers, swords—they are all fucking dead. And if that army couldn’t stop me, you think you’re gonna stop me with some fucking antique sword? That’s not brave, that’s fucking delusional.”
“Such confidence. Such arrogance.” Ikeda nodded once. “But I’ll reward your bravery by indulging your whim in the last moments of your life. What demand do you dare make of me, oni? Tell me so I can laugh at your idiocy before I send you to join your dog.”
“See? That’s it right there. You need to apologize. Your men killed my dog, and because of you my house got blown up.”
Ikeda snorted. “Your mongrel should have been fed to starving sharks a piece at the time.”
James’ heart rate kicked up and his hands curled into fists. “What the fuck did you just say?” The amulet whispered even more frantically.
“Are you as hard of hearing as you are stupid?” The Harriken spat and waved the sword. “I will enjoy taking your head off. I only wish I had your dog’s head as well. I would stuff them both and put them on a stand in my office.”
James charged Ikeda, bringing his fist up. Ikeda thrust his blade at him, but the bounty hunter ignored the blow. He was unconcerned about a sword, since he’d been taking bullets, explosions, and various blade thrusts all day.
Agony blossomed through his abdomen and James looked down. Ikeda’s sword was embedded in his stomach and there was blood seeping from the wound.
“No fucking way,” the bounty hunter murmured.
The whispers grew quiet in his head, and something about them almost seemed disappointed.
Ikeda nodded, a satisfied smile on his face. “As I said, oni. This blade was one of Masamune’s greatest achievements. It is not a mere sword. It is a powerful weapon with which a warrior can kill even oni or kami.” The Harriken yanked the weapon out of James’s stomach.
James stumbled backward, his blood splattering the ground and his insides on fire.
24
Ikeda sneered. “I do not know what mahou you use to make yourself strong or if you are an oni from Oriceran, but this blade is beyond your power. It is almost a defilement to use it to kill someone like you.”
James grunted and kept holding his bleeding stomach. “One question before I die, asshole,” he managed to spit out through gritted teeth.
“Such stubbornness to the end. Ask me your question and I’ll answer before ending your life more mercifully than I should.”
The bounty hunter flung his last throwing knife at Ikeda with all his remaining strength. Ikeda’s eyes widened and he tried to turn away, but the blade pierced his throat. His sword clattered to the ground and he fell to his knees, gurgling.
“Guess that answers my question,” James muttered. “Sword doesn’t protect you. Violet Glow Boy was more impressive.” He groaned and backed up until he found a wall, just trying to stay upright and ignore the agony in his stomach. “Fuck, this hurts.”
The amulet’s whispering was placid again, almost as if it were content.
I win and you’re happy, huh? Don’t care that I got gutted? Fuck you, too, but thanks for the help today.
The bounty hunter fumbled the
healing potion out of his pouch and swallowed the contents. The seconds ticked away as the pain faded and his flesh mended before his eyes.
James slid down the wall to the floor and rested until every wound and burn on his body disappeared. He gulped down an energy potion next, shaking when the burn hit.
The bounty hunter stood up again and walked over to Ikeda’s body, using his foot to flip it over.
“That was for Leeroy, Nicole, my fucking house, and my fucking truck. And for that matter, my fucking signed recipe books, asshole.”
James marched past the body into the man’s office, which was spartan and tastefully decorated. Several scrolls with Japanese calligraphy hung on the walls and several small stands containing knickknacks stood on either side of the room.
Ikeda’s tastes ran to the expensive. One stand contained three cracked porcelain cups that had been repaired with gold. Gemstone-encrusted figurines stood on another.
“Got to pay for my house and my truck and that Humvee, jackass.” James looked around and spotted a small garbage can, which he emptied on the floor. He filled the liner with Ikeda’s valuables.
He rifled through Ikeda’s desk, but there was nothing more of worth. Instead, he discovered something surprising and macabre: a jar with a severed hand floating in yellowish fluid.
James peered at it. “Looks like a lefty. That your missing hand, Stumpy?” He wondered if the man’d had to remove it as part of some sort of ritual. He took the jar with him, unsure what he was going to do with it but unwilling to leave it behind.
The bounty hunter stepped back into the reception room and realized Ikeda was wearing a rather expensive watch. Even if no one cared about the watch itself, all the diamonds in the thing had to be worth something.
“Huh,” James grunted, eyeing his plastic bag full of loot. “I know Shay wants her fancy restaurant, but maybe I’ll give her an artifact too as a thank you for staying with Alison.”
His magical encounters in the building had all ended in the destruction of the artifacts—except for the enchanted tattoo, and he wasn’t about to flay a man.
The Masamune blade all but shouted to him, so he picked it up. “I’m sure she can sell this to someone non-shitty for a decent amount of cash.”
James made his way toward the exit. “Guess it won’t hurt to check if there are any nice watches or jewelry on my way back down.”
James eyed the garbage bag of loot as he sat in his second rental Humvee. It was all over. He only hoped this would finally stop the bastards from coming after him. Despite what everyone thought, even he didn’t enjoy dealing with this level of violence.
This week has been the most complicated I’ve had to deal with in a long time. Plans, asking for favors, a bunch of different magic shit. Fuck, I let that amulet have free reign, and it seemed like it was liking that killing.
How the hell can I KISS when I’m dealing with this kind of shit?
There was nothing he could do about it now. He’d removed the amulet and didn’t feel any different. That was a good sign, or at least he hoped it was.
James sighed and pulled out his phone to text Shay.
Everything’s over. Got you a present. Gonna call Alison in a sec.
Good, Shay texted back. What present?
A sword.
Haha. Just what every girl wants. What’s next, a crossbow?
James chuckled. Maybe he shouldn’t have broken the crossbow.
He dialed Alison and the girl answered the phone on the first ring. “I was worried about you, James.”
“It’s all over now, kid. I’m sorry for any worries you had.”
“And you’re okay? You’re not like crippled or something now?”
James chuckled. “Nope, not last time I checked. I mean, I have to replace a lot of stuff like my house and my truck’s still being fixed, but I’m as tough as I was before all of this. You handling all this okay?”
Alison let out a quiet sigh. “It’s okay. I think being in an actual school and learning about the world has helped me understand its dangers a little better. Maybe I’ve been a little naïve about the evils of the world.”
James grunted. He doubted that a girl who’d had to deal with her father selling her mother to gangsters to be tortured until she surrendered a wish should be called naïve about any evils.
“It’s okay to worry about people,” he assured her. “The important thing is, the Harriken won’t be messing with me for a long time, if ever. Not even sure there are that many left in the country.”
“Don’t worry, James. If you ever fall, I’ll be there to wish you back.”
James held his phone out to stare at it, wondering if Alison somehow knew about the wish her mother had passed to him to give the girl when she was ready. He’d avoided telling her about it, but now he wasn’t so sure that had been the right call.
Among his other worries, he didn’t know what would happen to it if he were killed. Alison deserved to receive her mother’s legacy. Even though he’d stopped the hitmen and defeated the Harriken, that didn’t mean he would win the next time.
James had almost fucked up. If he hadn’t had the healing potion with him, there was a good chance he might have bled out.
His fight with Sombra during his recent trip to Mexico had left him unsettled and cocky at the same time. He’d defeated the necromancer without even knowing how, but the fight with Ikeda had proved that even a man James could normally kill easily could take him out.
It was like he’d told Trey: sometimes it all came down to luck.
“James, are you still there?” Alison asked.
“I might have something to give you when I next visit,” the bounty hunter sputtered.
Alison laughed. “I don’t need anything else from you. You already gave me my awesome necklace.”
His neck tensed. “What about the necklace? Have you had to use it? Was there some sort of trouble at the school they didn’t tell me about?”
“No, no, no. I mean, I wear it, but it’s not like I’ve been attacked or anything. I haven’t used it. Maybe I should test it.”
“It works. Don’t worry about that.”
“I swear I can see jealousy in the energy of every girl here except for a few of my friends. There’s even this one guy whose energy lights up with desire whenever he sees me in it.”
“What the fuc— Huh? Desire…you mean like lust?” James curled his free hand into a fist, imagining showing up in some punk’s dorm with a loaded .45 and making a point about gentlemanly behavior.
Alison giggled. “I guess you could say he’s lusting.”
“Who is this kid? Huh? Tell me his name so I can deal with him. Me and him need to have a one-way conversation about respect.”
“Oh, it’s not like that, James. He desires the necklace. Even in a magic school, it’s not like everyone’s walking around decked out in magical artifacts. Plus, it’s really pretty. He might just want it because of that. Don’t worry. I never take the necklace off, so it’s not like he could get it even if he wanted it.”
James grunted. “Still don’t trust that guy. Maybe he thinks it’s a way to get to you. You might be able to see people’s feelings and stuff, but you can’t read their thoughts.”
“You’re worrying too much.”
“Maybe you could point him out when I visit next weekend. Not saying I’m gonna do anything, just saying a little warning goes a long way.”
Alison laughed. “James, I can’t have you beating up every boy who looks at me.”
“Maybe not every boy…”
Shay said something in the background, but James couldn’t make it out.
“Hey,” Alison passed on, “Shay wants to talk to you really quick.”
“Okay, go ahead and put her on.”
There was rustling and scratching on the line for a few seconds.
“Hey, Brownstone,” Shay exclaimed. “Glad you’re still alive.”
“So am I.”
“Uh, yeah, well�
�”
“Problem, Shay?”
The woman sighed. “I need to let you know something, just so I can be honest. I think it’s important to tell you after everything that’s happened.”
James’ stomach tightened. He wasn’t sure he could take any bad news after feeling so satisfied about finishing off the Harriken…and he still didn’t like the whole boy situation.
“What?”
“I placed a big bet that you would survive all this shit.”
“Huh? Wait, you’re saying you gambled on whether I lived?”
“Well, I bet that you would live, so I was obviously expecting you to. Thanks. You made me a lot of money.”
James laughed and the tension left him. “Glad I could be of service. If you ever need me to die for a bet, just let me know.”
“Okay, will do.”
“Oh, and about your present?”
“What about it?”
“It’s a Masamune tachi. Valuable?”
“Shit, yes. Is that the present you got me?”
“Yeah, pulled it off the Harriken leader. You might want to clean it. It’s got my blood on it.”
Shay snickered. “Yuck, Brownstone. Try not to bleed all over the next artifact you pick up for me.”
“I’ll try, and thanks again for going to Virginia. It made things a lot easier.” He rubbed the back of his neck.
“You’re welcome, and just because you’re giving me the sword doesn’t mean you get out of the restaurant.”
“Sure, whatever. You can pick the place.”
Not looking forward to some fancy place, but I do owe the woman.
“Oh, you’re gonna pay, Brownstone. Don’t think you won’t.” Shay sighed. “Okay, well, I’m gonna say goodbye to Alison. I guess I’ll be back in LA soon. Maybe hit a bar before I head home. Not enough booze on this campus since it’s filled with magical teenagers. They should be teaching them to turn water into wine. Now that would be magic!”
“Aunt Shay!” Alison shouted in the background.
James laughed and waited for Alison to get back on the phone.
Tyler gestured at the television. The news channel was running a story about the assault on the Harriken building and the chief of police was giving a prepared statement detailing the reasoning behind their obtaining of an extreme dead-or-alive organizational warrant.
Eye For An Eye Page 18