by Jet Lupin
Since he had time to kill, he took a closer look.
All of the optional attachments were arranged next to it. Meat grinder with sausage stuffer attachment, juicers—both citrus and sauce maker—grain mill, all three pasta attachments with drying rack! They even had the heated mixing bowl in two sizes. God, all that had to cost almost a grand. What did they even need it for? They didn’t even need to eat food! And from how clean everything was, they didn’t cook either.
“You can have it if you want.”
Abby stood in the doorway as polished as ever in a dress with a floral print on a cream background with matching shoes. Her look was a bit summery for mid fall, but she wore it well. She came in, her face more open and friendly than he remembered it. She wrapped her arms around him in a hug, filling his nose with the scents of jasmine and lavender.
“It’s been too long. I’m glad you look as well as Shige said.”
“You too.” Why did I say that? “I mean, hi?”
He hadn’t expected this to be so awkward.
Phil often had nightmares of the terrible things he’d gone through while Pampa’s prisoner. They followed the tract of actual events, all the way up to his rescue. Abby always strode in, calm and dashing in her trench coat and pumps. She dispatched Pampa with impunity and left covered in his blood like the Fury she was, her maker slung over her shoulder. He totally understood the whole damsel falling for the hero thing.
And those dreams? They didn’t always end with him passing out on the lawn as Pampa’s mansion burned. They sometimes got more... intimate. Nothing too racy, but it made looking her in the eye difficult.
There was never any chance of something happening between them with Shige and Hans in the picture, and that was fine. It was nice to have dreams even if they wouldn’t come true.
She backed out of the hug and touched his cheek with startling familiarity. She’d always kept her distance, treating him like a chore when he’d stayed with them. He supposed saving someone’s life could change your attitude.
“It is good to see you. I was concerned when you didn’t come by after you were well. With Shige living in Redor, I suppose you did not have a reason to come out all this way. We should catch up. Dinner? When you’re back in the states?”
“You cook?”
“I never said that. We can share a meal, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be the one to make it. Maybe you should cook for me.” She reached out and touched the mixer. “Using this. I’m having it sent to your house while you’re away.”
Had he been a lesser man, Phil would have thought Abby was flirting with him. Her being nice was still a foreign concept. He’d get used to it. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I never do anything I don’t want to, Phil. You should know that.”
Why did that sound so suggestive?
He cleared his throat. “I... Thank you. When we get back, we’ll set something up.”
“I hope I’m invited.” Abby’s other half joined them. Unlike Abby, Hans was as cool as ever. He did shake Phil’s hand, trapping him in a vice-like grip. “Glad to see you’re well, Felipe.”
“Same.” His head clearing out some, Phil had a second to take them in. They usually dressed to the nines, but they were fancier than usual. “You guys’ headed out?”
“Date night,” Abby supplied. “Once a week.”
Surprisingly domestic for people who lived forever. But cute. When he was old, would he still enjoy the company of a partner?
He hadn’t thought about whether or not that partner would be Shige until now. He would be an old man, and Shige would be the same as he was now. When he started to age, would Shige still be interested in him? Did Phil want him to?
What a depressing way to start this trip.
“We have to go if we don’t want to be late,” Hans said.
Abby hugged him again. Her body felt the same as any human woman Phil had held, but cooler. It would have been pleasant if Hans’ gaze hadn’t bored holes in him from over the top of her head. Phil took care to put his hands in places impossible to offend.
“Make sure you have something to read. It’s a long trip, but you’ll love it. Japan is a beautiful country. I think you’ll like Chiyo, too.”
Chiyo… Shige had been infuriatingly cryptic on the details of this trip. Phil would soak up any information he got.
“You’ve been to Japan?” He had more questions, but Hans was herding Abby out of the room.
She lingered in the door for a few seconds, a playful grin on her lips. “Shige’s the one that decided he wanted to hide away and stagnate. Not the rest of us. Enjoy your trip.”
SHIGE
The day Shige became a vampire, death became part of his existence. The heady aroma of fresh human blood appealed to the deepest parts of him. It sickened him, but there were things he needed to accept to survive. The smell of a dying vampire churned his stomach in a more visceral way. Abby claimed it was evolution at work, keeping them from feeding on each other to the point of death. Whatever the case, the only thing worse than smelling Pampa’s foul blood cooling on the basement floor was what he represented, a past Shige would rather forget. This man used to be a friend. Once Shige thought them equals. But that was a fantasy borne of loneliness.
Steam rose from the stripes on Pampa’s chest and arms as his body worked to regenerate with no fuel. They hadn’t fed him for two weeks. His sanity was also running low.
“I bet you regret showing me how to hurt our kind.” Shige’s maker found pleasure in causing pain, humiliation. Her methods tended to get more personal. Pampa had shown him efficiency.
Pampa looked up at him, that annoying smirk still on his lips. “You remembered. I’m honored to have left an impression on you.” He wheezed, likely meant to be a chuckle. “Every time you hurt someone, you’ll think of me. It’s sweet.”
The whip cracked as Shige left another set of stripes on the side of Pampa’s face. Shige would carve that smirk off his face if he had to. He tensed to strike again, but a chirp from his cell phone stopped his arm. He nodded toward Duri, who came forward and picked it up.
“Phil’s here.”
A whole hour early. Shige had hoped to have more time. They’d kept Pampa chained in the basement, beating him and bartering food for information for months, yet he refused to yield. He wouldn’t say why he sought Shige out after all this time, or who sent him. If Shige remembered nothing else about him, it was that Pampa was a pack animal. He wouldn’t make a move without a chorus of agreement behind him. Now they were out of time.
“You. Come here.”
Jonquil stepped forward. He kept his eyes down cast, arms folded behind his back. His nose was better than Shige’s, but he didn’t flinch when he got close to Pampa. “Are your bags packed as I told you?”
“Yes, Mr. Shige, but—”
“Take our bags to the door and entertain Phil while I finish here.” Shige leveled a finger at him. “Do not forget what I said.”
Jonquil gnawed his bottom lip, but didn’t raise further protest. He nodded and headed upstairs. He’d always been agreeable and eager to please, but this was a new level of docile. Shige preferred it.
During the single most riotous event in his time as sovereign, one of Shige’s men abandoned his post. His job, along with the others in Shige’s cortege, was to watch Phil, to keep him safe, and above all else, to obey Shige’s orders.
They’d lost Midoriyama that night, but structures could be rebuilt. There was no replacing Phil. And it was because of Jonquil that he’d almost lost him.
At first, Shige thought him a traitor, conspiring with Pampa. Tate had cleared him of those charges, but he had yet to earn back his place.
Exile would have been the start of his atonement, followed by a flogging, but in these current times, people were less accepting of corporal punishment, even if it was deserved. Losing staff was a move he couldn’t afford to make. He needed more supporters, not less.
Assigning Jonquil
to tasks he was sure to hate was the closest Shige had to comeuppance.
He hated driving detail, so he ferried Shige from here to Redor whenever he stopped in to visit. Jonquil had always opted out of blood bag runs—no longer an option.
Both Jonquil and Tazette had an aversion to planes so strong, they had come to California from one of the Carolinas by train. He would have gone his whole life without setting foot on a plane. Until now.
He would be accompanying them to Japan, on the single longest trip of his brief life. He’d tried to get out of it, begged, pleaded, bartered, but Shige would not be moved. Shige wouldn’t deny taking satisfaction in his suffering.
“So that human of yours survived?” Pampa asked. “I haven’t smelled him on you in months. I thought I’d killed him.” Pampa slurred around the gash bisecting his lips. “Give him to me, and I’ll overlook what you’ve done to me for the last few months.”
Shige laughed at that. “And what would you even do with him, eh? Now that you’re lacking some vital tools?”
“You should know the benefits of being adaptable. I taught you that, too.”
Adaptable. Funny coming from a man that had remained as vile as the day they’d met.
Shige shifted through the instruments of cruelty that covered the low table. He’d spent months subjecting Pampa to every kind of torture he knew, with no results. Shige couldn’t risk leaving Pampa alive while he was out of the country. Now was the time to end this.
He picked up a sword from the table. It shone flat under the fluorescent light. He ran his thumb down the blade and it barely penetrated his finger. This would not be fast or merciful.
He came around to Pampa’s side. He was too weak to lash out now. “Now’s the time to be cooperative.”
Pampa’s bloodshot eyes met Shige’s from where he knelt, his whole body heaving with each labored breaths.
“I’m glad it’s you.”
Shige brought the sword down on Pampa’s neck. The blade stuck and he had to swing it again and again until it sliced through. Pampa’s head rolled across the floor. The wound bled for a few seconds and then stopped. The sight of it made Shige ill. As if he needed something else to help diminish his appetite. He hadn’t been hungry for blood since… since he’d fed from Phil. He ate every few days because he had to, but he hadn’t had the desire for months. Bag blood no longer brought him pleasure. He wasn’t sure why or how to fix it. Or if he even wanted to. He would have to gag down food after this so as not to be hungry aboard the plane, now that task would be made much harder.
Pampa wormed his way under Shige’s skin even at the end. This chapter of Shige’s life was closed, but his troubles were far from over.
A shower washed away the blood, but Shige felt covered in filth. Being in Pampa’s presence always left him feeling polluted by the sins of their past collaboration. He supposed that wasn’t a problem he would have again.
Phil sat in the living room, staring down at his phone. Though it was brief, he smiled when Shige came in the room, and Shige’s heart galloped in his chest.
Phil went back to his phone and turned it off. “I thought you might have changed your mind.”
Shige wanted to touch Phil, but couldn’t bring himself to make the first move. The smell of Pampa’s blood still filled his nose. How could he touch Phil with that aura clinging to him?
Every time he worked on Pampa, he got like this. He wanted to see Phil, but wouldn’t risk sullying him. Their relationship was in tatters because of it, yet Phil let him be near. He didn’t mind that Shige wouldn’t touch him first, that he stayed away. Grateful. Shige was grateful for it, but things couldn’t continue this way.
He didn’t join Phil on the couch; they didn’t have the time. “Just tying some things up. Sorry to keep you waiting.”
A wave of Phil’s hand dismissed his concern. “It’s fine. I talked to Abby and Hans on their way out. And Jonquil’s been keeping me company, though... He hasn’t said much.”
Shige shrugged. “Nerves. He’s not much for flying.”
“Me too. I’ve never gone on such a long flight. If I didn’t have to, I wouldn’t.” A shaky sigh lent credence to Phil’s words.
“I bet you’ve never flown private either?” Shige grinned at Phil’s widened eyes. “Come, let’s get to the airport.”
Chapter 3
PHIL
“Watashi wa pinattu arerugi ga arimasu.”
“Mm.”
“Kōnō syōkuhin niwa pinattu ga furumarete imasuka?”
“Fukumarete… But good enough. You’ve been practicing.”
Phil always got those confused. “I know enough to not die from food allergies.” Anything more severe than that, and Phil was in trouble.
He leaned his chair back and stretched. Not having to worry about the person behind him was a luxury he never knew he wanted. He wished every flight he’d gone on had been private. Better late than never.
Shige shut his eyes again. Jonquil snoozed in a drug induced sleep across the aisle. Sleep tugged at Phil, too, but it never lasted long when he flew.
Shige leaned his chair back, too, his arms folded across his chest. He’d stayed like that for most of the flight, but whenever Phil spoke, he answered. They’d been in the air 12 hours, not counting their brief stop in Hawaii. Their final destination was minutes away.
The sun remained high in sky, though the vampire in their party lounged unconcerned. Phil couldn’t help worrying on his behalf. “You’re sure you’ll be OK when we land?”
“Yes, yes.” Shige kept his eyes closed. “Not all vampires can fly private. There are ways to cope. You’ll see.” If it involved pain, Phil didn’t want to see. Why couldn’t Shige just tell him?
The flight attendant came around for final checks. Phil helped clear the trash off the table, and the attendant returned to the fore of the craft. “Tell me about Chiyo.”
Shige cast one dark eye on him. “You hear that name from Abby?”
“I should have heard it from you. It would be nice to know something about this person you’re having me meet.”
“She asked me not to. She wanted you to come to her with an open mind. She wasn’t sure how you’d take learning from an old woman.”
“I already knew she was old, but why would I care that she’s a woman? You should have vouched for me.”
Bit by bit, the pieces were coming together, and Phil wasn’t sure he liked the picture. Secretive, paranoid, leveraging information. She sounded too much like Shige when they first met.
“I did try, but she wants to see for herself. She’s a little eccentric.”
The pilot came on the loudspeaker, announcing their final descent. The plane rolled, tipping its wings, but that wasn’t the only reason Phil’s stomach dropped into his shoes.
“What happens if I don’t get along with her?” Or, more likely, that he couldn’t.
“She’ll still help you with your problem, and we’ll leave as soon as we can. But it won’t come to that.”
“Right…” Phil yelped as the plane rolled the other direction. It was hard to sass when he feared for his life. They were dropping so fast. Did all landings happen this fast?
“I mean it. You remind me of her when she was younger in some ways.”
“Is that good or bad?”
Shige shrugged.
The wheels hit the tarmac, and Phil felt every bump of the runway as they slowed. Jonquil woke once they started to cruise into the taxi queue. Phil was envious of how well rested he appeared. “Here already?”
As if he’d heard him, one of the pilot’s came over the loudspeaker. “Master Shige, we’ve arrived.”
Phil and Jonquil disembarked first. Then one of the pilots and the flight attendant went to unload the bags. Together on the tarmac, Jonquil kept up his silent treatment from the night before. If he didn’t want to talk to Phil, he understood.
Things between them were complicated. Jonquil had tried to save him, while at the same time, pretty mu
ch delivering him into the hands of Shige’s enemy. Phil hadn’t seen Shige’s anger first hand, but the stories he’d heard had saddled him with a guilt that had never dissipated these past six months. Being constantly reminded of how you fucked up was bad enough, but then being stuck—face-to-face—with the reason you’d fucked up for a whole month? Away from home? He wouldn’t have forced conversation if they’d been on speaking terms.
The time difference and the flight left Phil dazed. He imagined it wouldn’t be any better for Jonquil. The only thing he wanted more than sleep right now was food.
Nothing happened for several minutes; then, everything happened at once.
The flight crew brought the bags around, and the door popped open. Phil shielded his eyes from the afternoon sun. What looked like a pile of dark laundry descended the ramp. Not one inch of skin was exposed. He stopped next to Phil, staring at him from behind huge, round rimmed sunglasses Phil was almost positive he’d seen Lady Gaga wear. “Don’t just stare. Let’s go.”
Being inside didn’t save them from the sun. The airport’s huge floorplan let light in from almost every angle. There was even an upper floor and atrium where it poured through. Phil was no architecture buff, but he wished they had time to look around. Shige insisted he was fine, but he walked through the concourse faster than anyone in their entourage. Everyone rushed to keep up.
They skipped the general queue and got the shorter line for private customs inspection. When their turned came, Shige disappeared with their passports and immigration papers.
How long is this going to take? I really need to piss
Does Tinder work here? I forget…
Tinder? Phil didn’t even have that app on his phone, let alone the desire to...