by J. P. Rice
Chapter 30
Kobayashi and Tamamo no Mae were standing in the doorway. Kobayashi rolled his fingers and thumb along his jawline as he opened and closed his mouth. They were beat up, bloodied, battered and covered in dirt. But also alive, which meant they were still extremely dangerous.
I gestured for Cyclone Woman to get away from me and she nodded and hobbled away. This was my fight.
Aiming for intimidation, I widened my eyes and smiled like a crazy man as I stared at the two sorcerers. Standing in a golden shaft of sunlight, they moved toward me. As they walked into the dim barn, the glowing glaze disappeared from around their bodies. Kobayashi still had a blue aura surrounding him as he paced toward me with his wife by his side.
He looked over at Cyclone Woman and closed his eyes. He kept walking toward me with his eyes shut and snapped his hand like he was holding a whip.
A sudden burst of wind blew my hair back. Confusion set in. We were in an enclosed barn. I caught a blurry object out of my peripheral. Turning to my right, my eyes were filled with the sight of a tiny tornado. It was gaining steam, picking up dust and particles while maintaining the telltale circular wind pattern.
I looked around the room and saw that the twister wasn’t affecting anything else. Not even the bales of hay in the corner. Surely they would be affected by this wind storm. The mini tornado grew to about six feet tall and started toward me in a jagged path.
I got up on the front of my feet, ready to dodge the impromptu weather disaster. Leaning to the right, the twister shifted accordingly. When I bounced to the left, it adjusted its path again. The tornado got within two feet and I lunged to the right.
The crafty wind trap pulled me in, my feet sliding on the dirt floor of the barn. The tornado seemed to inhale me. The winds zipped me around in a circle. I threw up, but the vomit just plastered against my face because of the wind pressure.
I spun around like a washing machine until the tornado spit me out. My arms and legs flailed as I flew through the air. I tilted my head to the side to avoid first impact, and my shoulder crashed into the barn wall. The rest of my body weight followed, creating immense pressure on my spine.
I fell face first to the ground, smacking my forehead and knocking myself senseless. Shooting stars streaked through my closed eyes. The barn dirt covered the puke on my face and felt like mud as I wiped it off.
Delirious, I stood up and took seven uneven steps to my left before regaining my balance. I moved my head back and forth, stretching out my neck and getting ready for round two. What was that blurry object in the middle of the room?
I rubbed some dirt and vomit off my eyelids and stared at the storm cloud hovering four feet above ground. Sparking with electricity and emitting a light drizzle, the cloud floated toward me. It followed the same pattern as the tornado, bouncing from side to side.
I tried to find a pattern in the movements, but there was none. Totally random. As the cloud closed in on me, I ducked in an ill attempt to avoid it. The storm cloud pulled me in and I immediately felt the hot moisture. Electricity pulsed inside the cloud, zapping me and causing my body to overheat, systems threatening to shut down.
The small cloud thrashed my body around and the tremendous pressure made my head feel like it was going to explode. Every so often, the cloud would fill with lightning and fry my body just a little bit more than the previous surge.
I’d heard of planes being stuck inside storm clouds and even a man in a parachute. They weren’t as bad as this. At least, not from my perspective. If the tornado was a washer, the storm cloud was a dryer, bouncing me from side to side, sometimes tumbling over.
I felt dizzy and sick and about to puke again. The only positive of the storm cloud experience was that it had washed all the grime off of me. I was soaking wet, but it was better than being covered in puke.
Just as the pressure ratcheted up again, the cloud expelled me, and I fell on my side into a mud puddle. Looking around the barn, the cloud had saturated all the dirt on the ground. I got to my knees and went to rise to my feet, but my shoe slipped in the mud.
Working slowly and carefully, I got back up. Kobayashi and Tamamo no Mae were laughing at me. If they would just stop using the weather against me, I would fuck them up. Fucking cheaters.
I didn’t see any more natural disasters lurking in the barn. I raised my fists, and said, “All right. I see what you got. Let’s fucking rock.”
I started to charge after the two sorcerers when a loud boom came from the entrance of the barn. Wood splintered and flew in every direction as a car crashed through the wooden structure. I turned and ran back toward the wall where Cyclone Woman had drifted off to.
The blurry flash zipped by on a collision course with the two sorcerers. Kobayashi darted to his left and Tamamo no Mae moved to her right. But the fox lady slipped in the mud, her right foot kicked back and her chest hit the ground. She tried to scramble to her feet only to fall again and muddy her furry chin.
The black car barreled right at Tamamo no Mae. The sorceress did a pushup as the vehicle closed in and gathered her feet underneath her. She slipped again and closed her eyes as the front bumper smashed into her forehead and face, causing a red explosion. The car jumped up and down as it ran over Tamamo no Mae’s body and the black Maxima crashed through the other side of the barn.
The Maxima, my Maxima coasted to a stop on the long green grass. Who the fuck had my car? I squinted my eyes and peered through the back window at a fiery mop of red hair in the driver’s seat. Burn.
Kobayashi ran over to attend to his fallen wife. He tried to put her face back together, but it had been smashed worse than the Red Viper’s. I almost felt bad until I remembered the mission.
I conjured up two purple fireballs. My redemption for Alayna started right now by ending this nonsense. I coalesced the burning globes until they were as tight and compact as I wanted. With an underhand sling, I released the orbs. The orbs hummed through the air as they cruised toward Kobayashi.
The heartbroken sorcerer didn’t even turn around. The softball sized flames ripped through both of Kobayashi’s shoulders. His severed arms fell on top of Tamamo no Mae and he cried out in agony. I ran over to him.
Kobayashi was turning toward me when I lowered my body and shoved him down. I quickly got him on his back and pushed my pointer and middle finger into his third eye. I didn’t need him pulling any shit with that now.
A weird gushy sound made me ill, but also caused the eye to come loose. The eyeball popped out of the socket, dangling by the optic cord. I ran my hands down to his throat and called on the Dagda again to borrow some more strength as I increased the pressure on his neck. “Take away the curse you set on Cyclone Woman, or I’ll kill you.”
Spoiler alert: I was going to kill him regardless.
Kobayashi spoke in Japanese, but it sounded like his mouth was full. He finished talking and something poked out of his teeth and lips. I pulled out the small object that looked like a tiny doll.
Undaunted, I kept choking him as his eyes bulged and the veins pumped on his temples. He said something in Japanese, his eyes rolled back into his head and he went still. After his first revival, I decided to keep choking him to make sure he was dead.
Twenty seconds later, I was convinced and let go. I picked up the small doll and planned to ask Fukutama about it later.
As I stood up, Burn staggered through the opening she had created in the back of the barn. She smiled, and asked, “Did I do good?”
“Good? Yes. Reckless? Yes. Am I glad you did it? Yes.” I nodded with a shit-eating grin on my face.
I ran over and hugged her as Dante climbed through the shattered wood opening. “What? Why would you bring him on something like this?”
“I wasn’t going to leave him home. Plus he could help.”
Dante ran toward the bodies. “Whoa. Did you cut this guy’s arms off? That’s awesome.”
Feeling like I was forgetting something, I said, “No. It’s not aw
esome. Get back over here. We need to leave.”
Oh, that was it. In all the excitement, I’d forgotten about Cyclone Woman. I turned to the side of the barn and there she was, shell shocked, standing against the wall. She probably didn’t know she could trust me.
I walked slowly toward her. “I’m going to help you get rid of the curse so that you can take control of the weather again.”
She simply nodded in silence.
I helped her get out to my car, which was battered and tainted with blood, but still drivable. We raced over to the hospital to meet up with Felix and the rest of the crew. Cyclone Woman didn’t speak the entire ride. She just nodded at my questions. Either she’d suffered an injury like Fukutama or she didn’t speak English.
As I turned into the parking lot, I spotted Felix’s hearse and pulled up next to it.
I called Felix and a few minutes later, he appeared with Glenda by his side. As he approached my car, his eyes widened. “What the hell happened to your car?”
“Long story, but let’s just say that Kobayashi and Tamamo no Mae weren’t dead when we thought they were. But I had a little help from my friend.” I smiled at Burn. “Is Fukutama all right?”
Felix said, “Yeah, he’s going to be fine.”
“How about you, soldier?” I directed the question at Glenda, who was back in human form with a new change of clothes.
She shrugged her shoulders and smirked. “I’m just fine. I should have stayed to help you out. You look pretty fried.”
In the past, I would have considered that a compliment. It now had a literal meaning. “Ahh, no more than usual. We need the Blood Goblet for Cyclone Woman.”
“No problem.” Felix dug into his pocket and pulled out his keys. He opened the back door of his vehicle and I walked closer to him.
I extended the talisman to Felix. “I need you to ask Fukutama about this. Kobayashi had it in his mouth when we were brawling and I took it from him. Can you ask him what it is?”
“Sure,” he said, and snagged the little doll from me. He tucked it into his suit pocket and unzipped a backpack on the seat. He picked up the Goblet and handed it to me.
I clawed at the plastic wrap covering it, and after a little trouble, I pried it loose. The blood released an awful odor and I quickly extended my arm to Cyclone Woman. She grabbed the Goblet with two trembling hands and moved the cup toward her lips.
She took a whiff and closed her eyes. She swallowed a few times seemingly steeling herself for the act. As she titled the Goblet, some of the black blood spilled out the corners of her mouth and ran down onto her neck.
She took a drink and handed the Goblet back to me. Using the back of her hand, she wiped away the excess blood around her mouth. She convulsed and appeared like she was going to vomit, but she held it down.
“Did it work?” I asked quizzically.
Cyclone Woman cracked her neck and closed her eyes. Three feet in front of her an opaque object began to take shape. It got darker in color and grew in size until it took the form of a raincloud. A steady drizzle came out of the dense cloud that hovered eight feet above ground. The cloud danced from left to right before it zoomed over and stopped right above my head.
Cyclone Woman opened her eyes, smiled shyly at me and covered her mouth. She snapped her fingers and the cloud disappeared. Everyone was a comedian, huh?
I dropped off Dante and Burn at home and drove my smashed-up vehicle up to Tionesta to take Cyclone Woman home. She stopped me as we approached the entrance to the underground cave. As she walked up to me with her hands out, I wondered what she was doing. She hadn’t spoken, which made me wonder if she couldn’t speak or didn’t know English. Either way, she hadn’t uttered a single syllable in any of our encounters.
She leaned closer and wrapped her arms around me. I pulled her in for a tighter hug and cupped the back of her neck and head with my hand. It felt like time had stopped and I could feel her heartbeat against my chest. A Native American spirit and a flawed mortal man. Connected by fate. Frozen in time.
She broke the embrace, waved to me by wiggling her fingers and disappeared into the darkness of the cave.
Chapter 31
As I sat in a surgical room in Clara Spiritus waiting for my operation, I thought about the past week. Another case had been solved and the citizens of the Pittsburgh area were safe again. For now.
Cyclone Woman had returned home and assumed control of the weather again. Terry had undertaken to feed her daily. I still felt terrible about Black Hoof and his family and everyone who had died before I could save Cyclone Woman. It always bothered me. The what if factor. What if I’d just solved that case a little faster? Who would still be alive?
I had paid Glenda and Felix for their work. We made a nice little trio and I could see us going into battle together again. I gave Glenda a nice fat bonus especially since I knew where most of it would go. I’d even made an anonymous donation to the battered women’s shelter. After what I’d witnessed from my father growing up, it was a cause I could really get behind.
Fukutama was going to be just fine. Felix was brimming when I’d paid him because he felt that he’d finally gotten the respect from his mentor that he craved.
After the surgery I was going to dig up Reg and figure out how to bring him back to life. I wanted to ask Jonathan for help more than anything, but it would cause a major strain in our relationship. If Jonathan turned on me, it meant all the vampires in Pittsburgh would turn on me. That was dangerous turf to navigate safely.
Fukutama had told Felix that the talisman I had taken from Kobayashi placed a curse on the recipient’s children. Since Dante wasn’t my biological child, I hoped he was safe. I had to figure out a way to track down the sorcerer’s soul or spirit before Burn had my baby. Our baby.
As for her and Dante, we were getting along well. Burn and I hadn’t rekindled our romance, but it was nice having something that resembled a family. Hell, in these times, this situation was more normal than not. We were looking at houses outside Pittsburgh with a nice, big yard for Colossus and Dante to play in.
With all that going on, there was still one thing that gnawed at my heart constantly. I needed to get the implant out and rescue Alayna. I yearned for redemption with her and Reg. I could still salvage my soul.
The anesthesia kicked in and soon my vision went blurry and my body began to go numb. Dian Cécht and his daughter, Airmed, entered the room. The bright room consisted of a patient chair, a few other chairs on wheels, a gigantic computer screen and a tray of surgical instruments.
Airmed helped me into the strange seat. I leaned forward and slid into the contraption designed like a chiropractor’s massage chair. I rested my forehead on the soft foam support and stared out of my peripheral vision to see the doctor.
The God of Healing wore light gray clothing similar to O.R. scrubs. The man had short gray hair, welcoming blue eyes, a big, crooked nose and not a whisker on his face or neck. His wrinkled forehead helped to give him the appearance of a gentle grandfather.
Dian Cécht pulled his chair closer to my leg. He stared into a computer screen as he positioned the camera near the implant. Airmed handed him a scalpel that he held close to my calf. In one swift move, he traced his hand over the implant area and made the incision. Burgundy blood oozed from the cut and Airmed dabbed it up with a white sponge.
Dian Cécht exchanged the scalpel for a long silver device that was thick on one end and narrow on the other. The God of physicians shoved the small end into the opening. Working off the computer screen, he moved the device around. Airmed came over and moved my head, so I couldn’t peek at the procedure anymore.
Dian Cécht continued to work, and said, “Come on. Just a little closer...and...there it is.” He took a few deep breaths. “Now is the moment of truth.”
The physicians had figured out that contact with the air would cause the implant to explode. Dian Cécht had created a medical device that would extract the implant into a gel that would neve
r expose it to the air. However, it was still an experimental procedure. Anything could happen.
I moved my head around until I could see again. Dian Cécht slowly removed the device and closed his eyes. One by one his eyes opened, and the corners of his lips curled up. Success.
Airmed moved my head again and I closed my eyes. I said, “Thank you so much. Now I can save Alayna.”
“Yes, about that,” said Dian Cécht. “You will need to have another procedure so that you can go to Hell and secure Cerberus’s tooth.”
“What procedure do I need for that?” I wondered aloud as I lifted my head and looked at the God of Healing.
Dian Cécht stood up from his chair, raised one eyebrow and informed me, “It has been said that there are six million ways to die. You will need to choose one so that you can gain entry into Hell.”
Stay tuned for a preview from the next book in the series, Clipped Wings, after a few quick messages.
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