“Abel put me over the closest roaming guard. Three meters, please. When I call, deliver your passenger to the rear behind the pool.”
“You going to see how deep you can plant yours?” Abel quipped.
Akio rolled his eyes as he stepped out into the darkness.
“Ito, did you hear something?”
“No, what?”
“I heard a noise near the back wall.”
Akio touched down between the two confused guards. His hands shot out, and both fell to the ground, unconscious. He spun on his heel and intercepted the pair walking the front, then dispatched them with equal ease.
When he came around to the rear, Kenjii was leaning against the side of the grounded Pod, holding Kimura by his collar.
“What did you do to this one? He’s unresponsive to commands. I had to remove him from the Pod.”
Akio grinned and tapped his temple.
“Upgrades,” they said in unison.
“Do we knock?” Kenjii wondered as he looked through the glass doors past the pool. Six people occupied the room now. One leaned by the entrance, two stood attentively on opposite sides of the Oyabun, and the others occupied chairs.
“Why not?” Akio mused as he took Kimura from Kenjii.
They walked across the grass onto a rock path that wound through to the heated pool behind the house. Kimura followed mindlessly, responding to Akio’s gentle prods to move in the right direction.
“Kimura,” Akio called when they were three meters from the glass doors that led into the house.
“What? Huh? Where?” he stammered as he came out of the compulsion to be deaf, mute, and blind.
Akio caught his collar in one hand and his belt in his other, then lifted Kimura off his feet and tossed his body through the glass doors. Kimura almost got his hands up to protect his face before it slammed into the doors with a crash and shower of flying glass.
“Knock, knock,” Akio murmured as he sped up and followed Kimura inside.
“Good evening, Sofu. You sent for me?”
“Hello, granddaughter,” Sato Sakutaro answered. “I hope you are well.”
“I am. Did you have a pleasant day?”
“Hai, until I had a visitor with disturbing news.”
Kishi stiffened. I need to have Asaka explain the rules to that idiot valet again. No visitors are to see Sofu without my approval. Maybe it’s time for this one to retire.
“What was that?” She checked his water glass before she sat in the chair beside his.
Sato looked at her through narrowed eyes. “Please explain why Juba came to me today with information that you were not only meeting with Li Song but were actively helping him locate Akio. After I expressly forbade it.” Sato nodded and the guard opened the door and admitted Juba, then placed a chair for him to Sato’s right.
The blood drained from Kishi’s face, and she looked over her shoulder at the door where Asaka leaned.
“Don’t look at him for answers. Juba was adamant that you were the one behind this. He even explained that you threatened his daughter’s continued enrollment in school if he refused to assist you. Not that it was you paying for it.”
“Sofu, I…”
“Enough!” Sato yelled. “You overstep, girl. If you weren’t my granddaughter, there would already be a price on your head.”
Asaka shifted to subtly turn away from the bodyguard near him, then eased his hand into his jacket. The feel of his holstered pistol’s grip comforted him. Sato Sakutaro hadn’t achieved his position in the family by being soft, so Asaka expected to need the gun at any second.
No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than the glass doors leading to the pool exploded into the room. Asaka registered a large mass flying through the door and landing with a solid thunk on the floor.
The glass was still falling when he drew his pistol and moved to protect Kishi. He took one step, and his body slammed into the wall behind him. The pistol in his hand disappeared, and when his eyes focused, a man had pinned him to the wall by his throat.
Asaka struggled to push the man away, but all he accomplished was his body being pulled clear of the wall and slammed back into it again.
Akio saw Asaka pull his pistol and start toward Kishi when Kimura blasted through the doors. He flashed across the study and incapacitated the bodyguard, then caught Asaka by the throat with one hand and slapped the pistol away with the other.
“Be still,” he growled when Asaka tried to break free.
Akio pulled the dazed man off the wall and shoved him toward the seated pair.
Kenjii stood over the guard across the room while watching the seated figures with a feral look in his eyes.
“You!” He pointed at Kishi. “You’re the one who worked with the Sacred Clan. You tried to give them my Akio.”
Kenjii’s eyes slowly turned red as he stepped over the unconscious bodyguard.
Sato watched in horror as Kenjii stalked across the room, each step shattering the silence as it crushed shards of glass under his armored boots.
Kishi shoved her hand into the stylish handbag in her lap. Kenjii smirked, expecting her to pull a weapon. His smirk turned to shock as burning pain engulfed the left side of his face. He threw a hand up and cupped his cheek. When he pulled it away, blood covered it.
Flame lanced from the tattered, smoking end of Kishi’s bag, and a sharp blow hit him in the chest. His armor deflected the bullet, but red rage overcame him.
He was on her in a blur of motion. Kishi Sakutaro, the Crown Princess of the Tokyo Yakuza, flew out of her chair with enough force to dislocate the shoulder attached to the arm Kenjii grabbed. He spun her around, and her agonized screams rang through the room as her shoulder sent lances of fire through her chest.
Once her motion stopped, Kenjii held her tight against him, her back against his chest. His eyes glowed bright red as the blood pouring from his ripped cheek slowed, then stopped.
“No one touches my face,” he hissed as his fangs extended. He caught the silky black hair she wore loose down her back and viciously wrenched her head to the side, exposing her long pale neck.
“Kenjii, wait,” Akio called.
Kenjii never slowed. He struck like a viper, burying his fangs deep in Kishi’s neck, cutting through skin and muscle until the rich metallic taste of her blood erupted from the severed artery to flow hot and sweet into his mouth.
Asaka watched in horror as an oni savaged Kishi’s delicate throat, then pulled back his hand and balled it into a fist.
Akio didn’t flinch when Asaka punched him in the face. His attention remained focused on the scene playing out before him.
Kenjii drew back from Kishi. Her blood ran down his face and mingled with his. He looked down into Sato’s terrified eyes and smiled as he casually twisted Kishi’s neck until a loud snap echoed through the silent room. Kenjii continued to smile at Sato, his face bloody and his fangs extending down across his bottom lip.
Asaka let out a low moan that rapidly turned into an anguished scream as he watched the light in Kishi’s eyes fade. Kenjii looked toward the noise and saw Akio holding a screaming man who repeatedly punched and kicked him, although the man’s eyes remained locked on Kenjii and the limp body he held.
Kenjii let the body slide to the floor and faced Akio. “No one, and I mean no one, will ever harm my face again and live to tell about it.”
Akio shook his head and came out of his trancelike state when Asaka landed a blow to his temple. Akio slowly turned his head to stare into Asaka’s eyes. He pushed into his mind and saw the laundry list of crimes he’d committed against humanity.
Akio continued to stare into Asaka’s eyes as he tightened his grip on the man’s throat, applying pressure to the larynx until he felt it crumple under his grip. He held the struggling man until his body stilled. With a disgusted shake of his head, he let Asaka’s lifeless body drop to the floor next to Kishi’s.
Sato Sakutaro couldn’t move or speak. Pain like none he’d
ever felt in all his many years gripped his chest and crushed the air from his lungs, making it impossible to draw more in. Sato knew there were things in the night. He’d watched live television coverage on the day TQB took to the stars in their spacecraft. He’d seen the beautiful woman transform into a horrifying kyuuketsuki. The sight of one of those creatures ravaging his granddaughter was too much for his body to withstand. Sato Sakutaro, Oyabun of the largest and most powerful Yakuza family Japan had ever known, died with his granddaughter’s broken body at his feet. Her lifeless eyes staring accusingly into his for failing to protect her from the monsters.
“Akio?” Kenjii approached him slowly while wiping the blood from his lips with the back of his hand.
“I understand,” Akio answered before he could explain. The glimpse he’d had from Kenjii’s mind when he dropped Kishi’s body to the floor had made his heart hurt. He saw the memories of the night Isamu and Ogawa had tortured him from Kenjii’s point of view. Although he had wanted this to end differently, after seeing what Kishi damaging his face had done to his mind, he would never regret that Kenjii had reclaimed a piece of his soul when he took Kishi’s life. Serving as a surrogate for Isamu and Ogawa was probably the best thing she had done in her miserable existence.
Akio looked around the room and spotted the bar stocked with rows and rows of spirits. He pulled several bottles down, then splashed the volatile alcohol around the room before he knelt beside Kimura’s unconscious form. He’d already seen the evil in his mind—the lives he’d destroyed, a daughter forced into prostitution to pay off her father’s debts, stores burned, products destroyed, beatings and murders… The list was endless. Akio grasped Kimura’s chin and jerked it upward with a quick twist.
Juba stared wide-eyed from his seat. He started when the body crashed through the doors, and partially rose until he saw Kenjii staring at him over the fallen bodyguard. He slumped into the chair and hadn’t dared move a muscle since.
“Juba!” Akio barked. “Get the man from the kitchen to help you move these two.” He indicated the unconscious bodyguards. “Take them out of the house, then spread the word to your fellows. If I see any Yakuza near anyone or any place I deem mine, even if they’re only passing by, I will start with you and will not rest until every member of your gang is dead. Do I make myself clear?”
Juba nodded. He tried to stand but fell back into the chair when his shaking legs failed him. He struggled up again, and this time, his legs held.
Without a word or a backward glance, Juba rushed out as fast as his legs would carry him. He returned seconds later with another man, and they struggled as they half-carried and half-dragged the unconscious men from the room.
Akio crossed to the fireplace set into the far wall, then snapped the gas line that led to the logs before he walked back across the room to the bar. He pulled a towel out from under the dark wood counter and stuffed it into a bottle of fifty-year-old Scotch. An ornate cigar lighter rested in a wooden case next to a stocked humidor. The flint sparked on the first turn, causing the flame to engulf the wick. In seconds, the towel burned toward the mouth of the bottle. He set it on the bar and walked away.
Akio caught Kenjii’s hand in his as he passed him on the way to the door. They left much more than the bloody scene behind them as they stepped into the clean night air.
The pair climbed into the waiting Pod and sat on the bench. Akio wrapped an arm around Kenjii’s waist and pulled him close as the Pod gently rocked from the force of the exploding house. Neither spoke as they ascended into the sky, each comforted by the other's presence.
TQB Base, Tokyo, Japan
Abel watched through the eyes of a drone he’d placed in the study over a month ago. He knew there was more going on with his people than the words he heard and the actions he saw conveyed. The facial expressions Akio and Kenjii wore when the battle was over spoke volumes. The way they held each other without speaking in the Pod said more. Without orders from either of them, Abel sealed the Pod and guided it into the stratosphere. It was several hours until the sun would endanger Kenjii, and he felt the quiet time alone would be good for both.
Eve’s Lab, The Palace, Tokyo, Japan
An alarm alerted Eve that an event she had not expected for years to come had taken place. She felt a sense of pride that first Takumi and now Abel had displayed signs of their awakening awareness—the first step toward ascension.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Pod, Low Earth Orbit
Akio held Kenjii close as the Pod continued to rise after leaving the Sakutaro home. Both were silent, lost in their thoughts until the screen on the wall lit up and showed the unobstructed view of millions of stars.
Kenjii stiffened when he saw this. “Akio, where are we?”
Akio opened his eyes and looked in the direction Kenjii stared.
“Abel?”
“You are in the mesosphere, one hundred and fifty kilometers above Japan.”
“Why?”
“I watched the encounter with Kishi. I determined that you and Kenjii needed some time, and the view here is phenomenal.”
“It’s breathtaking,” Kenjii whispered in awe.
Akio turned his head and smiled warmly as he saw the wonder on Kenjii’s face. “Thank you, Abel. I will contact you when we’re ready to return.”
“Acknowledged.”
They sat silently watching the panorama of stars, Kenjii in childlike wonder and Akio content that his love was enjoying the experience.
Kenjii shifted in his seat to face Akio after a half-hour. “I’m sorry.”
Akio quirked one eyebrow up questioningly. “For what?”
“Losing control when that evil witch shot me.”
Akio stared deeply into Kenjii’s soft brown eyes. “I understand why you did it. You have nothing to be sorry for.”
Kenjii shook his head. “You didn’t want a slaughter or evidence of what happened. My actions caused you to alter your plans.”
“That’s assuming any plans I made survived first contact. I didn’t plan on Kishi shooting you. She changed the dynamic through her actions.”
“Aren’t you angry at me for disobeying you? You told me to stop. I heard you, but I was so caught up in the rage that I wouldn’t obey.”
“Kenjii, you suffered much abuse to your face the night you became a vampire. Understandably, you have an extreme reaction to similar injuries. Had I realized that, I would not have asked you to stop.”
Kenjii silently contemplated Akio’s words as he continued to look him in the eye.
Akio raised his hand and gently brushed his fingers across Kenjii’s freshly healed face. A thin white line was all that remained of the jagged wound the bullet had made.
“Your injury will be healed soon.”
Kenjii snorted softly. “At least that bastard Heinz got that right.”
“Partially,” Akio replied as he ran a single finger the length of the fading scar.
Kenjii pulled away from his touch. “I’ve thought about your offer to enhance me. I’m still undecided, but I have almost made up my mind.”
Akio regarded him for a moment. “Although I want you to have the best possible chance of surviving, I understand and respect your hesitation. The offer is open when and if you decide you want it.”
Kenjii embraced him while tears leaked from the corners of his eyes. “Thank you for understanding. It’s not that I distrust you, far from it. It’s too soon, and I still have things to work out. Tonight, believe it or not, I put one issue to rest.”
Akio nodded, having seen it in Kenjii’s mind when he took vengeance on Kishi for the pain—pain that brought back memories of the agony Isamu and Ogawa had inflicted when he was helpless to resist.
Akio pulled back from the embrace enough to face Kenjii. “I understand, and I will support you in whatever you need. Just know that I am here.” He finished by pressing his forehead against Kenjii’s.
Kenjii smiled, his expression shifting from regret to joy a
s he saw the love he felt reflected back to him. “Don’t we have tigers to deal with?”
“Hai, but I think that will keep another day.”
“Seriously? Why? I assure you I am up for it.”
“This isn’t about doubting you, Kenjii. The sun is only a few hours away, and I won’t risk you being caught by it. We will leave as soon as it’s dark tonight.” He grinned and flashed a little fang. “Then you can show me how you clear fur from between your fangs.”
“I’ll give that a hard pass if possible,” Kenjii deadpanned.
“Very well.” Akio chuckled. “Abel, bring us down.”
“What do you plan to do for the rest of the night?” Kenjii inquired.
“Enjoy a long bath.” Akio smiled as he cut his eyes toward Kenjii.
“Want company?” Kenjii tilted his head, letting his hair fall over one eye as he smiled coyly.
Akio pulled him into a tight embrace, his mouth against Kenjii’s ear. “Always,” he murmured as the Pod descended.
TQB Base, Tokyo, Japan
Kenjii’s fingers caressed Akio’s shoulder-length hair as they sat on his couch, watching a dark-haired woman blast an alien monster on a spaceship. “Is that what your Queen is about now?”
Akio shrugged. “If there are Kurtherians around, I’m certain of it.”
“I can’t imagine leaving for the unknown to fight aliens with advanced technology. She’s either the bravest woman I’ve ever heard of, or she’s insane.”
“Depends on who you ask on what day.” Akio chuckled. “She does as she pleases when fighting evil, no matter what her personal guards suggest.”
“I look forward to meeting this woman. You make her sound like she is ten feet tall and capable of eating nails and spitting bullets.”
“No, she’s only a little taller than me. She need not spit bullets when she can throw Etheric energy.”
Kenjii’s eyes widened in shock. “She can hurl energy bolts like a wizard?”
“Hai. That’s as good a description as any.”
Retribution Page 17