London. Akira and Colin kissing in the middle of the street. Then a brutal change, Colin beating Aki to a pulp, stamping down on his skull until it was a broken mess on concrete. The wolf then proceeded to urinate over Aki’s corpse.
“No? Not that one?”
“I’d suggest giving up.”
“But I can hear the racing of your heart, Gabriel.”
The hound was right. My heart was beating rapidly in my chest over what I’d seen, my breathing tight and shallow. Every instinct wanted to galvanize me into action, to save Aki and kill Colin on the spot.
Colin. What he’d done to Aki. The abuse, the way he’d destroyed him on the inside.
“You want to hurt him,” the hound said, “the wolfman. He hurt your friend in terrible ways.”
I flashed back to the story Aki had told me, how the veil of vengeance had fallen over me at the revelation and would never leave. There was always something about Colin that had always felt wrong, right from the first time we’d met. Then I’d seen the wrongness in the way he interacted with Aki, suspicion rising, and then the confirmation in the hotel room that night.
Colin.
I did want to hurt him for what he’d done to my Aki. Really hurt him.
My Aki?
I pulled myself back. The hound was getting in, playing me like an instrument. I wasn’t falling into the percentage of taken. It wouldn’t have me.
“Gabriel. I’m going to have so much fun with you.”
The shadows of the café were fading.
I readied myself to retain my control. Things were going to get a lot worse.
A faint shadow blurred in front of me, cool fingers on my lips. Fingers? They pushed down on my lower jaw as if a dentist was being too rough with me. Before I could push the shadow away, something jelly-like slipped between my teeth.
A sensation like the bubbles in bubble tea, but just one bubble. Yuck. That stuff was disgusting. The bubble went pop, and my mouth was flooded with a sweet liquid. Reminded me of cotton candy, but runny.
“Don’t spit it out.” That was Jessie’s voice, far away but right in front of me at the same time.
Another trick?
The hound roared. “I will break you!”
“Don’t spit, Gabriel!”
The grass of the meadow shriveled and blackened, the ground cracking open, the sky fracturing.
The fakery was dying.
“I will have you, Gabriel Dawson! I will have you!”
I was back in the café, the Butcher Hound growling outside the door.
“It’s okay,” Jessie said.
I looked down at her worried face. “What did you do?”
“My dad found a way to repel it.”
“It’s true,” Gerald confirmed.
The hound roared one more time, then was running, its paws pounding on the pavement.
“Tell me how,” I said to Gerald.
“It’s all to do with the correct balance of sugar and red food coloring.”
“Run that by me again.”
He smiled. “I know it sounds strange, but the sugar does something to the hound it doesn’t like. It was an accident, really. I wanted to make a candy floss sauce for what turned out to be a failed cheesecake.”
If only Aki were here to hear this.
“The morning I’d made it that first time,” he continued, “the hound came sniffing around. It tried to get both of us and failed. It screamed abuse at us, told us it would come back every day until we broke. It did come back for a whole week, but finally gave up.”
“That’s amazing,” I said. “All because of the cotton candy sauce?”
Jessie giggled. “I love how we call it different things, but it’s the same thing.”
“Like chips and crisps.”
“Yes!”
“The best accident I’ve ever had,” Gerald responded.
Jessie held up a clear food bag. Pink capsules about the size of a fifty pence piece sat inside. “Here they are.”
“So cool. Thanks for giving me one.”
“You’re welcome. Couldn’t lose you to the Butchers.”
I couldn’t wait to dig deeper into the workings of this city.
The dreamcatcher tingled against my chest, still not revealing its role in all this.
“A lot of our neighbors have the capsules,” Gerald said. “I wish I could distribute them wider, but how wide would that be?”
“The beginnings of a rebellion,” I said. “I like it.”
“You could say that. I’d like for it to be true, but it’s a long road.”
Jessie was nodding. “Got to have dreams, though. Even when you’re dead. The system is corrupt and too hidden in the dark and cruel and needs shutting down.”
“Yes, luv.” He smiled warmly at his daughter. “Dreams are wonderful things.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “I’m not making more coffee, so save the buttering up.”
“Worth a try. Don’t worry, I’ll make some more.”
“But we’ve only just had some.”
“You’re turning down coffee? My daughter?”
“Well, no. I’m just saying.”
“Oh, is that right?” He picked up the tray, leaving the biscuits. “I tell you what, let me make some eggs. Do you want some eggs, both of you?”
“Why?” Jessie questioned.
“Because I’m peckish. Gabriel?”
“Yes, please.”
“They’re fried. Toast sound good?”
I nodded. “Sounds wonderful.”
A bizarre and regular act of life in a place of death.
“I won’t say no,” Jessie answered.
Gerald gave me a pointed look, smiled, then disappeared into the kitchen.
He wanted me to use this time to listen to Jessie.
“Okay,” she said. “Let’s talk while he’s occupied.”
We sat back down at the table.
“You okay?” she asked. “Must’ve seen some nasty things from the hound.”
“I’m fine, thank you. Nothing I couldn’t handle.”
Those images were still replaying in my mind, but I was grateful for the luck I’d stumbled into. Someone else out there wouldn’t be so lucky. Hopefully, they’d be strong enough to resist the torment.
“So, I told you I wanted to tell you something,” Jessie began. “Well, you see, there’s this guy I know over on Beech Street. He lives in the cottage with the pretty flower boxes.”
“I walked past that.”
“Nice, right?”
“Very.”
“Good to have a splash of color here and there. Anyway, so his name’s Joji. Really sweet Japanese guy who loves his plants. Seriously, you thought the boxes were pretty, you wait until you see the orchids. Because you will be. He’ll be stoked we have a werewolf helping out.”
“Keep going,” I said, sitting back in the chair.
“You see, there’s this key. It is called the bone key. It’s a legendary object in the city, never been found because nobody really believes in it. Supposed to open up a door into paradise. According to legend, the king broke the key up because he didn’t want anyone sneaking in without being worthy.”
“The only way being through his Paradise Games.”
“Exactly. People used to hunt for it all the time, long before I got here. Unsuccessfully. So it fell out of favor over time, nothing but a story you might hear someone bring up at a bar, but then get themselves shot down for mentioning it because who likes false hope? It builds expectations and then tumbling down they go.”
I nodded.
“But Joji never gave up.” She leaned closer across the table. “He’s been here a long time. I’m talking over a hundred years—closer to two.”
“Really?”
“Yep. Really. He knows stuff, and he still talks about the bone key.” She smiled. “He found two pieces of it. One more to go.”
Now, this was interesting.
“Where are they?” I aske
d.
“Safe with Joji. When the hound stuff is over for the day, I’ll take you to him.” She beamed at me. “He’s going to be so happy. We can actually stand a chance of doing this and getting out of the city.”
“And stick it to the king.”
“Yes! How cool is that?”
“Very cool.”
A key to paradise. “Where’s the door?” I added.
The smile was fading. “Deep in the forest. Joji has the location pinpointed. He’s good with that stuff. Expert plant grower with really smart map powers.”
“Sounds like my kind of guy,” I said.
“I haven’t told Dad yet. Want to surprise him. Anyway, so that’s that. What do you think?”
“I’ll help.”
“You will?”
“Of course. The chance at paradise? I’d be a fool to turn it down.”
“Thank you so much! Oh, I can’t wait!”
Paradise for her and this Joji and Gerald? I’d absolutely help. In fact, there was the possibility of freeing many people from this place so they could start a better afterlife. It would require careful planning, though. A mass exodus would gather all the wrong attention. Baby steps first.
“I take it the third piece is hidden somewhere dangerous?” I said.
She nodded. “Incredibly.”
“And where would that be?”
She sighed heavily. “The Butcher Mansion.”
Chapter Eleven
Typical I’d bump into Colin here. Just fucking typical.
“Dead, eh?” I said. “It really suits you.”
He was scowling. “Look at you hiding behind your swords as always. Coward. Why don’t you put them down and fight me man to man?”
“You think I’m that much of an idiot to waste my time fighting you?”
“What else is there to do, Akira? We’re dead.” He smiled, changing his face from ugly hatred to the usual smooth charm—charm that’d stopped working for me a long time ago, the earth salted where its ashes had been left. Whenever I saw him, I saw ugly. Real ugly.
I really hated him. Dead or alive. To hate is to give a shit, offer up an emotion. It was powerful. This hatred went all the way down to the core of me. And I hated that I hated him, that I gave him anything other than indifference. But if anyone in the entire universe deserved my poison, my disgust, it was the man who’d broken my heart. Not in the way of tragic romance, but actually taking my heart and smashing it across the world—pieces scattered and lost forever.
He’d killed all the stars.
Dead stars.
He’d ruined my life. Yeah, I fucking blamed him. I could own my own shit, and I knew I wasn’t a shining ball of perfect. But Colin…
I pointed a katana at him. “As if I’d let my hands touch that fucking skin again.”
“Oh, why not?”
“Get out of my way unless you wanna say bye to your limbs. Your choice.”
The charming face was demonic again. “You did this to me. You took everything away.”
“And now we’re fucking even.”
“You!” He pointed at me. “You’re an ungrateful piece of work, Akira. A brat, a loser. I gave you everything, and how did you repay me? You took what was mine!”
I stepped forward. “And I’d do it again. Over and over again if I had my way. You gave me everything, eh? Think about that. Wait. No. You can’t, can you? You’re fucking loco, nothing but a monster.”
“Says the hunter,” he responded bitterly.
“Yeah, says me.”
“Killing for a living.”
“Drop dead. Oh, wait.”
“Is that your idea of a joke?”
“Not really. Just any little barb I can get in.”
I saw the muscles in his neck tighten, a vein popping. “And yet you’re dead. What does this tell you?”
The joke’s on you? “That, erm, I’m dead.”
“That you can’t fight real destiny.”
“Fuck off.”
“We’re destined to be together, Akira. You and me. Us against the world. I told you if I couldn’t have you, then no one would.”
I resisted the charge forward that almost happened, forcing my feet to stay put.
“I’m getting back on that bike, and you’d better stay out of my way unless you want me to cleave that head from your shoulders.”
“You—”
“You’re not a wolf anymore, Colin. You’re dead and done.”
“And so are you! Failure! You’ve fucked all the werewolves because you’re a loser. Break the curse on the moon? I knew you’d mess it up. You’ll never amount to anything now, will you? Your dad was pathetic to believe in you. It was better when he hated you.”
I walked backward, keeping my eyes on the slimy cunt. “Say what you want. I don’t care anymore.”
I did care. But G was far more important than anything coming out of his mouth. And I was running against time that wasn’t there for me to grab. So fuck him and his words. He was dead, doomed to live in this place, and live in fear of the Butcher Hound. If anyone deserved this stupid place, it was him. Let him go and get slaughtered in the games or vanish forever in that mansion. Whatever hurt the most.
Explicit, fucked up nightmares wouldn’t stop me, and neither would he.
Stirring inside me, a longing for destruction. There on the fringes, not making too much noise, but saying hello. I’d felt it once before when I’d killed baku on the path to Mount Tate.
“Poor Gabriel,” Colin said in a mocking tone. “He couldn’t keep you safe. Bet he’s gutted. Unless he’s here. Did you die together?”
I ignored him, sheathing the katanas and picking up the bike, that strange longing drifting through me like a whisper.
“Was it romantic? Did he die first? For you?” He chuckled, his face still full of loathing. “Weak. So weak. I was the rightful beta, not a faggot like him.”
Man, this was taking some skill to not go and rip his face off.
“Or is he still alive, pining for you?” That sneer. It was almost violent in itself. “Did you two fuck? I bet you did. Pair of pussies. Nothing like how we fucked. Never. Ever. Why not give in, Akira? We’re here together now. No more Gabriel, no more anything. Come suck my cock for old time’s sake.”
He was one twisted, gross fuck. Colin. The big old ladies’ man, liar, and smooth operator, a sniveling creature.
I held tighter to my hate.
My babies stirred. Oh, shit! The hound was moving. No! It had G! It had—
G was still in that café place.
What the hell? The hound was on the move again. Bob and Rose waited for their next order.
“Go after it.”
I had to move. I got peddling, taking out one katana as collateral. He’d try and be a dick and knock me off the bike, no question. The blade would put him off. Yeah, it was working, he was putting himself at a safe distance. Tenshi knew how much he’d know about dying again, but he wasn’t stupid. I’d give…well, no. I wouldn’t give him fuck all.
Was this part of the mountain trial? I mean, Colin was a trial all in himself. Nah, more like a rotten twist of fate.
A line of soldiers in red came stomping into view at the top of the street where there was a T-junction.
Ah, nuts.
Red armor, red guns, and big old swords at their hips. The Crimson Army, then? Whoop-dee-fucking-doo.
I slammed on the brakes, not going over the handlebars this time—which was a yay for me seeing as I had a sword in one hand.
The red crew fanned out, blocking the way completely.
“Halt!” A guy stepped forward, a real huge geezer built like a brick shit house. What was a brick shit house?
The whole red gang had their faces covered with helmets that had a visor for viewing and airholes over the gob area for breathing. I couldn’t tell them apart physically as man or woman, only by voice.
“What are you doing?” he demanded.
“Just out for a bike ri
de.”
“You were fighting,” he said. I didn’t like the way those guns were pointing at me. “Both of you. Disturbing the peace. We’ve had reports of antisocial activity.”
“I just need to get to where I’m going,” I responded.
“And where is that?”
“Willow Street.”
“You’re a long way from Willow Street.”
“I know.”
“Did you steal that bike?”
“No, sir.”
“He’s lying,” Colin joined in.
Great. “I’m not.”
The crimson guy stepped forward. “I think you’re lying. What’s your name?”
“Akira.”
“Akira what?”
“Murakami.” There wasn’t a name right there for me to pull out of my arse. Damn my lack of speed. Now they’d run it through a database and know I was a lying bastard.
No. They’re being tricked. This is all a trick.
Yeah, well, that better be fucking true.
No database checking I could see at the moment.
“He did steal it,” Colin added his wanker voice some more. “I saw him. And he attacked me with those swords. He’s dangerous. I knew him in life. He’s the High Alpha’s son. Really dangerous. Can’t shift, has a reputation for causing chaos wherever he goes.”
“Is that so?”
“He killed me.”
I spun to look at him. “You—”
“Silence!” the soldier bellowed.
The Butcher Hound roared nearby. Fucker had got here in no time.
“You look like a killer,” the soldier added. “Maybe the streets aren’t for you. Killers have skills that can be put to better uses.”
“The games?” I asked.
“If you’re worthy enough. Both of you.”
“What do you mean?” Colin asked.
“I see conflict here. Deeper than I understand right now. But what a hell of a show if you’re worthy enough. But there’re stages to these things. First, you need to pay the mayor and mayoress a visit.”
Colin looked like he was about to shit himself. “What does he mean, Akira? What have you done?”
The solider laughed.
“And you were calling me a pussy?” I threw over my shoulder to Colin.
“What’s happening?”
It was proper satisfying listening to the fear in his voice. Not such a big man after all.
Four Moons: The Complete Collection: (Books 1 - 4) Page 47
