“Please don’t call me master,” I said. “I’m not even master of myself, let alone you.”
“Charles, then?”
“That’s fine. What now, you ask? Now, it’s time to make preparations. Finally, I have my foot in the door to something that might be big. But I don’t know where these coordinates lead to. Which means--”
“Which means you first need a word with someone who knows everything about anything,” Lis finished for me, her voice billowing from behind me unbidden and unabashed. “That or a quick internet search.”
I sighed and shrugged. “At least you have a good sense of timing-- What the hell are you wearing?”
Lis chuckled wickedly, her forked tongue poking out of the corner of her lips. She was garbed in an elegant white fabric from the waist up, painstakingly sewn to perfection all the way down to the long baggy sleeves. From the waist down she flaunted a red pair of pants, her hips visible through intentional gaps just below the waist. She had her hair done up straight and fancy and was sweeping leaves off the stone walkway.
“What’s wrong?” Lis asked innocently. “You never get this upset when I wear my nun getup.”
She insists she isn’t a succubus, if you can believe it.
“Charles, do you know this miko?” the lantern asked.
“Miko means shrine maiden in Japanese. Priestess. Female shaman if you want to get real specific with the etymology,” Lis filled in before I even asked for a definition. “So, aren’t you going to introduce me to your cute little friend?”
More like cute little fiend.
I let out a sigh. “Lis, Lantern of Weakness. Lantern, Lisistrathiel; Arch-Devil of destroying any hope I have of ever enjoying a quiet and happy life.”
“You don’t have a name?” Lis asked.
“It’s a lantern,” I scoffed.
Lis smiled at me, her eyebrows furrowing dangerously. She was annoyed, but why?
“Any ideas for a name then?” I asked.
“I’m no good at naming things. Why don’t you ask him instead?” Lis replied.
“Cho,” spoke the lantern, his voice betraying a hint of excitement. “I like Cho, you should call me Cho.”
“Good one,” Lis exclaimed, clapping her hands together. “Like the lantern ghost, right? Very famous critter around these parts. It’s perfect.”
“Boys and girls, believe it or not there are more pressing matters than trying out names for the la-- Cho here. Lis. Where do these coordinates lead to?” I asked.
I showed the she-devil my phone. One glance and she replied, “About two hundred miles south of here in empty waters if I remember coordinates right. You sure this is correct?”
“Can’t be. Someone went to great lengths to hide this away from me.”
“It’s the truth Charlie. Nothing but deep blue sea. Maybe it’s a submarine, or a ship, or--”
“Or an artificial island,” I whispered.
Lis wiggled her eyebrows. “Oh?”
The puzzle pieces clicked into place. It was the only thing that made sense.
“Tons and tons of dirt. Legal discourse regarding land claiming. Concrete. Privacy papers to keep it all as hushed as can be. It’s not like they didn’t have experience building secret bases beneath their corporate headquarters either. The Tengu constructed an island that isn’t on any maps, and it’s at these coordinates.”
Lis’ eyes darkened balefully with an emotion I couldn’t quite recognize. “Not bad at all, Sherlock. What’s the next step?”
“A million dollar yacht. Armed to the teeth and bulletproof preferably.”
“Weakness: Indulges in fantasies, unable to remain grounded in reality during times of stress,” Cho the lantern eagerly illuminated.
“Wow, Charlie. Looks like you have two people to tell you how unrealistic your ideas are now,” Lis said, pouring salt on the wound.
“Matthew,” I began, a surge of righteousness flowing through me. “Chapter eight, line twenty six. Oh ye of little faith, why are you so afraid?”
Cho looked confused. Lis’ eyes grew to the size of saucers before she burst into the longest, loudest fit of laughter I’d ever heard.
I fished my phone from my pocket and dialed in a fresh number. A gruff voice mumbled a greeting. Just the man I needed to speak to.
“O’Connor. It’s been ages,” I greeted.
General O’Connor. I met him a few years ago when I ‘peacefully dissolved’ a sacrificial cult in the California badlands. East of Taft if you’re curious. His daughter was one of the girls caught up in the worst of it. As luck would have it, the good general had been assigned to oversee the overseas U.S. Garrison here in Japan.
“Charles Locke. By God you’re in Japan?”
“I’m here to try out a bit of deep sea fishing. Think I can borrow one of your boats?” I asked.
A pause, and then, “Military grade fishing, I take it? What’re you hitting?”
“Heard somebody made a little island getaway couple of hundred miles south of mainland Japan. Any other help you can get me will be most appreciated.”
“The Chinese?” he asked.
“Not this one,” I replied.
“Sorry then. Can’t help you with any of that,” he replied. “However, we did lose a yacht with gear and guns in it out by the harbor. If you can find it at the second rightmost pontoon facing East I’d be grateful for it’s eventual return. Regards.”
He couldn’t openly support me, after all. But O’Connor knew that in an army as big as America’s, mistakes do happen. Like ‘misplacing’ a boat and telling me where I ‘might’ find it.
“Much appreciated,” I said and cut the call.
“Charlie, you’re so cool,” Lis gushed. “If you quote the Bible at me a couple more times I’m going to burst into flames. That or make you take me out on a date.”
“ Nothing in this world can compel me on date with you. Cho, you’re with me. Lis?”
“Mm?”
“Find a new safe house for when I get back. I have a feeling I’m going to need one.”
“Sure thing, Charlie. I’ll just,” Lis began, before her voice fell low and baleful. “Put it on your tab.”
I shuddered from head to toe. My soul shrunk inside me.
“Go play nice with the others,” she called out cheerfully.
I raced down the stairs like the hounds of Hell were on my heels. Too close. I’m going to get my soul extracted through my left nostril at this rate. Thankfully, Lis didn’t notice my gambit.
Only when I’d reached the bottom of the stairs did I take Cho out and dangle him in front of me. I bet she didn’t think for an instant that I’d use the lantern of weakness on her.
“Cho. I need your expertise.”
“With what, Charles?” he asked.
“Lisistrathiel. You had a good long look at her. You’ve heard her speak, seen the way she acts. I need something, anything to give me an edge over her. Otherwise she’s going to swallow my soul whole.”
The crinkles in the plastic lantern that passed for Cho’s eyebrows furrowed in consternation.
“You need help finding her weaknesses?” he asked, incredulously.
I nodded sharply. “Anything. Anything at all.”
“But Charles, all she has is weaknesses.”
My mouth opened to retort, but no words came. I’d been prepared for an obscure weakness, like holy water or divine magic or some artifact I might find impossible to acquire. I’d even be fine with Cho telling me that my Infernal Adversary had no weakness at all.
But all weaknesses?
“Ex… explain,” I managed.
“Charles Locke, the Devil called Lisistrathiel is bound by powerful magics that hurt to even look at. Impossibly powerful. She is weak in strength, is wide open to ambush from every angle except the front, and seems to trust you completely. It should be a trivial thing for you to slay her.”
My heart beat like a drum. I swallowed my spit nervously. It couldn’t be that ea
sy. Could it?
“Will you strike her down now?” Cho asked.
I shook my head. “I need to think about this. When we return I’ll take a closer look. For now though? We’re going fishing for Tengu secrets.”
Chapter 19
Dusk light faded and the yacht hummed along wide blue waves when I finally caught sight of it. The Tengu were very precise and specific about the coordinates. For once it seems that precision would be used against them.
“Secret island base,” I murmured as I raised a pair of binoculars to my eyes. “Should count my blessings it’s not a damn volcano lair.”
To be frank, it was a pretty small island. However, it’s artificial birth and the jutting towers bedecked in satellites and wires in the center reminded me of the careful and clever minds that I was going to be measured up against. There were a few palm trees and thick vegetation around the top of a deserted beach, but otherwise the island seemed fairly bare.
My boots hit the sand, my black waterproof getup clinging uniformly to my body. Too bad there weren’t any beach babes to impress with my physique. Pistol, dagger, and wand, check. And to top it all off, I grabbed one of O’Connor’s ‘lost’ guns.
An M27 with a doubled up magazine of 5.56mm rounds. It looked well oiled and cleaned, had a high tech silencer attached to it, and the short reconnaissance scope up top was outfitted with night vision capabilities.
God bless the U.S. of A.
I crept up the beach right up to the foliage, then crawled through the wiry branches of thick vegetation. It looked natural, until you reached the edge of a cavernous cove. Peering over the side, I could make out dull lights of what appeared to be a small airstrip for supply planes.
The thick metal doors at the back end of the cove gave the Tengu away. They probably had several conspiracy theories worth of secret base masked beneath the island.
I put on a condom for a different reason than usual. It was for my rifle. Diving with my rifle into the water was a quick and easy way to ruin any sort of gun aside from a Kalashnikov, and I’d rather not have it jam on me when it counts.
It’s important to practice safe sex when you plan on screwing with this many Supernaturals.
Noiselessly, I swam through the water and cautiously waded to the metal ledge on the side of the cove.
I made it to entrance leading deeper underground and slipped inside before finally finding the first guard. He was playing on his phone or some sort of hand held device. I sneaked around his little post, entered from behind, and put him in a headlock until unconsciousness met the unfortunate man.
Man is the key word here. Unlike the Oni, the Tengu made use of mixed species when it came to combat. The Humans around here were either in the know about their Supernatural overlords or, more likely, were kept entirely in the dark regarding the nature of their employers with a little bit of illusory magic.
Air magic, the Tengu specialty, had a lot of utility.
Using Mundane mortals to bolster strength and numbers however made it easier for me to infiltrate. It gave me the chance to use the oldest trick in the damn book.
I removed the guard’s clothes and his passkey, tied him up, and crammed him inside a nearby locker like an elementary school bully. His shirt was a bit baggy, but otherwise comfortable. I entered the main base with confidence, my rifle swung over my shoulder, and wearing the same uniform as everyone else.
Wolf in sheep’s skin.
The hallways were sparse, I must have walked past a total of two armed men and a lone Tengu with a paperclip. He looked like a man, but the jittery head, long nose, and short stature were dead giveaways. Magics can only hide so much to someone who knew what to look for.
“...Have come to a crossroads in our destiny,” spoke a voice, garbled by minor static.
It sounded familiar somehow.
Moving towards the source, I opened a door to discover exactly where all the guards had gone. I was standing in an auditorium of sorts. Hundreds of seats fully occupied by Tengu and Humans alike. Not a one of them looked at me though. They were all too busy staring at a face on the main screen.
Kuroshi’s face was on a large screen. “Ten-Ko corporation stands on a knife’s edge. Whether the insurgents and their Yakuza aides choose to continue their attacks remain irrelevant at this point. For a bright and blue future, we owe it to ourselves to remove this taint that has festered in our society and even among our very own ranks.”
He must be referring to the Oni when he said insurgents. Something the Mundanes could follow along with. I’d barely stuck my nose near the base and I already smelled trouble.
Kuroshi’s words were anything but hot air. The Tengu were mobilizing their talents and preparing to strike the Oni. They had the numbers and they certainly had the heavy ordnance. At this rate, the street brawls that have broken out would turn into full scale war.
Seeing the vice president’s face however gave me an idea. There was an awful lot of high tech around here. If I could get access to an administrator’s terminal, I might just be able to figure out the Tengu’s plans.
Better yet, I might even reveal the tampering of the string puller hiding in the shadows.
I ducked out of the auditorium and walked down a lengthy hallway. Finding a terminal, getting my hands on the intelligence, and then bugging out were my top priority.
“But how the Hell do I find administration if all the signs are in Japanese?” I muttered to myself.
I was running blind until I saw it. A fountain, a garden, and a good sized bonsai tree growing in the middle. No corporation as big as Ten-Ko would drop a small fortune on beautifying crew quarters. This must be just the place I’m looking for.
The plaza led to a trio of offices carved right into solid stone. Just one look at one of the entrances confirmed that these were the offices of big wigs.
The door looked like it was salvaged from a cold war bunker. It had a solid four locks, thin laser beams that would probably set off an air raid siren if they were ever interrupted, and probably a dead bolt on the other end too.
“Now they’re just being paranoid,” I muttered.
An idea of terrible wonder bloomed in my mind. I withdrew Cho from my back pocket, unzipped the sandwich bag I’d sealed him in, and pulled him out.
“No more water Charles. Please,” the lantern begged.
“I put you in an air tight bag. Think of the swimming as a chance to overcome your fears. Weaknesses for this door. Help me out Cho.”
“I’m no good with inanimate objects.”
I bit my tongue before I could blurt out ‘you are an inanimate object’.
Cho took one look at the door before he simply said. “The hinges are rusty.”
“You just earned yourself a candle. Thank you.”
I withdrew my wand, pointed the tip right up to the steel hinges, and focused my will into it. A weak ‘ptow’ marked the breaking of the first hinge. Another, the second. I eased the door to the side so as not to trip the lasers, and willed a ball of light to life upon the tip of my wand.
Electronics hummed in the dark room as I access the main computer, slid in a flash drive, and began copying all the documents I could get my hands on to it.
That’s when I heard the safety come off a gun. I turned my gaze up to see a middle ranked Tengu aiming a pistol right at my head.
“Stand. Slowly now, we wouldn’t want my gun to go off by accident, now would we, Human?”
Chapter 20
I raised my hands over my head and turned around at the Tengu’s bidding.
Crow Tengu were small, chatty, and very birdlike. Both mentally and physically. I’m fairly sure half of them had stashes of shiny trinkets in their homes. Several, if they were particularly wealthy.
There’s a reason Grand Tengu were considered Gods back in the day though. Powerful magic. Clever minds. Huge noses. Even their lieutenants were probably mage enough to kill me if I made one false move.
I just had to make sure I didn’
t make a false move.
Shifting my eyes to the computer, I saw that I was only at thirty percent as far as file copying was concerned. That meant I had plenty of time to turn the tables and then beat a hasty retreat.
“I’m impressed you caught me. I guess real Tengu aren’t to be trifled with,” I said, lightly.
“Hah. I’m impressed you had the brain damage to think you could infiltrate this base. Administration has already been notified. The air strip locked down. Your boat has been discovered too.”
That didn’t sound like good news at all.
“Sometimes I forget that not all Supernaturals forget to check cameras and post competent guards. My regards to your contractors. That being said--”
I flipped my hands around so that my palms were facing the Tengu and unleashed the power I’d gathered upon them. A flash of light exploded behind me and the Tengu squawked in agony. Before he could fire off his pistol, I’d turned around, disarmed him, and planted a knee into his nose.
He fell against the metal door with a groan and one hell of a nosebleed.
“Never underestimate Human wits.”
The computer pinged. Copying all done. How convenient. The sudden crash of the door, followed by the blare of alarms, however, was not convenient.
I had to get out of there, and I had to do it fast. Pocketing the flash drive, I kicked open the security door and turned the corner of the hall way, running as fast as my legs would take me. The Tengu probably meant to destroy my hope by telling me about the locked down air strip and my boat being found, but all it really did was narrow down my choices.
I took a right and then a left down the corridors, narrowly avoiding a patrol of gunmen by ducking into an alcove. I’d have to improvise. With no boat, I’ll need to get another ride. But where?
No chance to think it through. I was spotted by a group of Crow Tengu at a crossroads, and narrowly avoided a burst of gunfire. Bullets ricocheted off the wall near my head as I kicked open a door. I found myself at the foot of a cylindrical stairwell going up.
“The tower,” I whispered.
If I was lucky, there might be a landing pad at the top, or at least a clear drop to jump to the water below. My chances dwindled the longer I stood around thinking.
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