That Joji geezer and the young lad Mitesh were heading back to Joji’s house to get Mrs. Wallace and Jessie’s dad, along with the rest of the bone key. Both were armed and less conspicuous then me or G taking a stroll through the streets. Good move not bringing the key along in the first place in case the Butchers got their grubby hands on it.
Mrs. Wallace… Tenshi, that’d hit me hard. No more chats in The Teacup, no more sitting on the bench together, hearing her lovely words—she was awesome at the compliments. I didn’t fish for them, she offered them up, and it was super-cute. At least I could do this for her. Save her from an afterlife of pain. That’d lessen the hurt when I went back to living, knowing she was in a happy death, free from the king and the Butchers.
Determination was a real fire in my belly. Mama Rita wasn’t gonna wipe out my kind and leave the world in a big old mess. ‘Cos it would be if that happened. The only end she was gonna see was the end of my blades.
And so was Violet Cross and the others on my hit list.
I’d also save my brother and find my uncle.
I had to.
G had burned his way through the safe. He opened the heavy door as I crouched beside him.
There was loads of paperwork in there, along with bags of jewels and gold coins. But the real treasure was wrapped in a purple velvet bag, tucked into the corner with a small chain around it, glowing blue like the one around the safe.
I’d seen enough chains for one lifetime.
I stabbed the tiny chain, and the bag was free to open.
G fished a piece of bone from the bag, cut like the end of a key. “The last piece,” he said.
“You think they ever knew what this was?” I asked. “The Butchers? They sound like they were right up the king’s arse, but if I were an evil king with a secret like this, I wouldn’t say fuck all to anyone if I could help it.”
“Me neither,” Jessie said from behind me. “Probably hid it for him, no questions asked.”
“Yeah.”
G stood up. “Now, we wait.”
* * *
In a blue and cream tiled bathroom, the one closest to the main stairwell of the mansion, I splashed my face with water. Jumping in the shower was a big no, opening up the possibility of running around naked if an attack came.
Balls to that.
The air in the mansion was warm, and I was starting to dry off from my dip in the lake. Shame about the stale sweaty stink I had, but this was a battle, man. Freshness would come later.
I ignored my reflection in the mirror as best I could as I patted my face dry with a towel. It was a dirty face with greasy hair I didn’t wanna see.
“Aki?” The door was open, G filling the doorway, a new blue towel wrapped around his waist with some rope fastened around it.
“Interesting fashion choice,” I said.
“How are you?” The blood had been washed off his skin.
“Itching to move.”
“Me too.” He went to the small window behind me, our bodies brushing against one another. “I hope it wasn’t a mistake to send them out alone like that. Maybe I should go out there.”
“Looking the way you do?”
“I don’t like hiding out here, Aki.”
“Better than drawing the eye like you would, G.”
He looked at me over his shoulder. “I know you’re right.”
“And I know you’re frustrated.” I walked to him, placing a hand on his muscled back. “But this is safer.”
“I know.”
It took everything to resist running my hands up his spine, to feel every inch of him slide under my fingertips.
His muscles tensed up, and he pushed forward, opening the window. “It’s them.”
“What?”
“Joji and Mitesh. Running across the bridge. Mrs. Wallace and Gerald aren’t with them.”
We were both flying down the stairs seconds later.
Chapter Thirty-Four
We met Joji and Mitesh at the garden gate.
“Where are they?” I tried not to yell, panic rising.
“They’re gone,” Mitesh said, not as short of breath as Joji—who was hunched over, trying to recover from the run. “The house was…ransacked, overturned. And they’re gone. There are so many soldiers in the streets. We’re lucky to be back.”
Fuck! This was bullshit!
G bristled beside me.
“They didn’t get the key, though,” Mitesh added.
Joji pulled himself vertical and held out a black box.
“We need to move,” I said.
“Fix the key,” G commanded. “We leave in five minutes. No one is to remain here. The mansion has been compromised. We cannot stay here.”
Mrs. Wallace. Jessie’s dad. This wasn’t bloody happening! “What about the others?”
“The chances are they’ve been taken to the castle.”
Shit. He was so right.
Fuck!
No. No volcano. Not yet. It was time to move, not to break.
There was a castle to storm.
* * *
We were an army, a rebellion. The freed people had gathered to march on the city, to take on the soldiers and buy us a head start.
Wow.
No coming to the castle when there were others still in the city, they’d said. They would gather more people as they went, grow the army and overwhelm the soldiers. Man, they were riled up and ready for it. The mob had spoken. They were armed to the teeth with the stockpiles of weapons and torture instruments belonging to the Butchers, led by a werewolf called Elaine who’d gone all hardcore and become their general, humans and wolves and everyone else, locked and loaded. Good for them. Over a hundred rebels ready to take down the regime. Even the frailest of peeps were ready to break some faces.
Blimey! What a sight. Talk about a turn of the tide.
Tenshi love ‘em.
Tenshi…
Me.
A tenshi.
Shit.
Tim, the driver, was taking us through the dense forest, G in the front seat, me, Joji, Jessie, and Mitesh piled in the back of the Rolls Royce.
I needed to be at that castle, doing my best at holding off the volcano for as long as I could. Serious shit had just become more serious. Mrs. Wallace was in the hands of the enemy, probably the king. He was playing a game. The hand dragging me into the lake had been a game. That was his whole vibe, the thing that made him a cruel bastard.
I wasn’t a profiler, but I knew a gold-standard arse wipe when I saw one.
Did that game mean that the hundred marching rebels were heading for a slaughter? Was the mansion being watched, the king having a shit load of fun at our expense?
I didn’t have a clue.
What I did know was this—he had some mega hurt coming his way.
* * *
The journey to the castle was quick, with no need to stop for a scrap with soldiers.
The arrival was a different story.
Bonus: The vehicle was bulletproof.
What sucked: About twenty castle guards hidden by the only-seeing-the-fucking-castle-by-looking-right thing.
Getting to the drawbridge would fix that. The good thing about having a bulletproof vehicle was you could charge your way up to the drawbridge.
Boom.
Tim’s driving skills were off the scale, pulling off a braking maneuver that took out two soldiers and positioned us right where we needed to be—parked sideways across the bridge’s access point.
“Awesome,” I said.
Bullets rained down on us, the soldiers charging forward.
“Stay down,” G ordered and slipped out of the car. “Lock the doors behind me.”
Oh, hell, no. I followed him, climbing over to the safe side, rolling out of the door.
“Now lock the doors,” I said to Tim, closing the door.
“Aki, you need to—”
“Don’t even try being the lone hero.”
“I was going to draw them a
way.”
“Cool. But I’ve got a better idea.”
On my knees beside the car, I did my katana crossy thing to release the power inside. The five mud monsters I had left, saving the bigger things for later.
The white mud monsters got to work, the soldiers in a right fluster. Ha! Good!
More soldiers joined the party, their bullets and swords tearing through my white toys. An awesome distraction, but they weren’t gonna hold long.
Shit. How many bullets could I absorb? How much would that mess me up? There were more than twenty of these wankers now, so many flooding out of the castle in all directions.
A wave of bullets had me and G ducking again. The mud monsters were failing.
There were so many of them now, a proper army come to defend their king.
Ugh.
I scrolled through my index cards of stolen power.
Not the thing in the water. That made a big buzz. I’d save that. The hand? What about the blue energy that’d been on the chains? That crackled, a sparky vibe to it. Yeah. Cool.
I let it loose.
Holy crapballs! A cloud of white crackling bees hovered above me. They hummed and waited.
I could tell this was gonna be explosive.
“Destroy,” I told it, fingers crossed for the best.
I watched the bees, or whatever the hell they were, fly at the soldiers, splitting up into mini clouds, then exploding in a mega violent boom of white fireworks that swallowed the soldiers in a spray of roaring fire.
Whoa.
A bloodbath, limbs flying everywhere, melting faces and skin, screams and screams and screams, so much burning death and gore.
My hands tingled from the power, a surge of wobbles going through me. Didn’t linger. For now. Too much of anything had a burnout, but not yet. I still had buckets of strength left to… Destroy…
Destroy…
A haze of white mist blocked my view. I sent out Bob and Rose to scope the area.
“I’m going in,” G said, “while we have this opportunity.” He shifted and was off.
Man, what a hottie.
Focus!
I darted after him, my babies amplifying my senses, my eyes their eyes in the haze that wasn’t going away.
Those had been some hardcore fireworks.
G was taking soldiers down somewhere to the left, but I concentrated on my general area, not wanting a sneaky bullet to the head.
I jumped over two bodies, my babies sniffing the corpses for signs of life, me scoping them out myself. All dead so far.
A few feet away from a body with a hole in its chest, I came up behind a solider crouched over a comrade. Now then. The soldier’s armor. Would my katanas be able to pierce it? There was that weak spot at the neck, but I didn’t have time to piss about when other soldiers were stumbling around, guns still ready to kill. G’s wolfy strength could crack the armor open, no problem. I didn’t have that advantage, but possibly a sharp one.
Deciding to go for it, I drove a katana right through the armor with no resistance. Smooth skewer to the heart.
The soldier rasped and sagged. I drew the blade out, and they crumpled onto their dying colleague.
“Help,” the solider being crushed wheezed.
I killed him quick.
Crunch, yelp, a bullet fired, bodies hitting the ground.
Bob and Rose ran over to G. He was okay. The soldiers he took down not so much. I killed some more myself, getting into the swing of sneaking and stabbing. They were all human, so no energy suckage for now.
A gun cocked, pressing to my head.
“Bet you thought you were so clever,” a male voice behind me.
Colin! What the hell?
“You can’t—”
Faster than he could get the words out or pull the trigger, I had a katana in his guts. He grunted and fired the gun, me already ducked down, driving my second blade upward and into his face.
He died fast.
Colin?
What the actual fuck? He was dead! I’d seen torn apart!
The king. This was the king! He’s somehow… Fuck! I didn’t know what he’d done, but there was the game-playing again.
Bob and Rose were mega happy when G in wolf form padded over. I was trying to catch my breath.
“Nicely done,” I whispered, holding onto my sanity.
Okay, that was wave one. More to come. This was the king. He’d—
Colin. I’d killed Colin. Was it even Colin? A trick with a voice? Whatever it was, it made my heart race faster.
Tricks. Just tricks.
A wind rose up, blowing the mist away.
When the mist cleared, I saw the king with his bright hair and a new blue katana standing on the other side of the drawbridge.
No soldiers.
He had Mrs. Wallace in his arms, blade at her throat.
With his sword skills, not even G could take him down before he’d kill Mrs. Wallace. Nothing in my katanas would either.
Shit.
“I’m glad you passed the test of the lake, Akira,” he said. “I cannot say I’m not impressed.”
“Let her go,” I responded. “This has nothing to do with her.”
Mrs. Wallace was still, not struggling with that thing at her neck.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, Akira, but isn’t she a friend of yours? Someone you hold dear to your heart?”
My jaw clenched.
“Judging by your silence, I’ll take that as a yes.” He chuckled lightly. “Did you enjoy hearing Colin’s voice again? That was just for you. A shame he is truly gone. I quite liked him.”
G shifted, scooping up a gun. “Let her go.”
“Ah, the beta wolf. Such strength, such brutality. You are why I loathe wolves. I would’ve been happy for the elves to win that war. A far more dignified race, and a shame they do not grace this city in their deaths.”
“Please let her go,” I said.
It made him smile. “You’d beg, Akira? To hear you plead with me is rather amusing.”
“This is between me and you.”
“Yes. It is. But I also have the upper hand. I do so enjoy being in a powerful position.”
Arrogant wanker. “Take me instead.”
“Aki,” G growled.
The king laughed. Mrs. Wallace was terrified, not taking her eyes off me for one second.
“Akira,” the king said. “What kind of fool do you take me for? I’d claim you as my prisoner for those swords to fly back into your arms again. I am no fool.”
Well, he was right about that.
Shit.
“Stalemate,” he added. “Look at the mess you’ve made of my kingdom, the slaughter you’ve unleashed upon my soldiers.”
The others in the car! I turned. They were pressed up against the glass, safe and watching.
What the hell were we gonna do?
“I wonder where that bullet will hit, beta wolf,” the king said. “My guess would be a direct hit to the old woman.”
“You’re a coward,” G said. “Using a human shield.”
“Says the man holding the gun. But this is no time for mudslinging, is it? Not in these most interesting times.”
Why did he look like he’d won again? It radiated off him, made his liquid light hair shimmer.
“There is more I have discovered about you, Akira. Call this Colin’s legacy. I am sure you’re going to enjoy this rather juicy nugget.” He clicked his fingers. “Bring out the morsel.”
Movement behind the king. Two soldiers came out of the darkness of the castle entrance, stepping into the dead moonlight with a man in chains.
I cried out, bellowed at what I saw so hard that my lungs were on the edge of bursting.
He had my uncle.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Uncle Ryoka was dead.
Dead.
All my hopes at getting out of here and finding him were crushed to dust. No being his nephew, no having tea in his Tokyo flat, nothing. He’d made my
swords and died, and now he was a prisoner to this wanker.
Ryoka’s eyes had been blackened, his lips swollen, and his white hair and beard shaven off. He looked so old and broken and weak—not a swordsmith or brother of the High Alpha.
The violence inside roared as tears streamed down my face. “You fucking piece of shit!”
“I do love a family reunion.”
G grabbed me as I moved forward.
King Dickhead titled his head. “Even from here, your tears are beautiful.”
“Fuck you! Fuck you!”
“Akira…” My uncle’s voice was a weak whisper.
“I’m here, Uncle. I’m here. Everything will be okay.”
“Is that really the line you want to pedal?” the king asked.
Not my uncle. No. He wasn’t dead. This was a mirage; some spell the king was weaving, messing with my mind again.
“I have another nugget for you to see.”
Another guy was brought out in chains, shoved into view.
“Gerald,” G growled.
I heard Jessie scream behind me. “Dad!”
“Stay in the car!” G barked.
“Dad!” she screamed again. “Don’t hurt my dad! Open the doors, Tim! Open the doors!”
“Stay in the car!” G repeated with a forceful boom.
“Dad!”
“Jessie…” her father wheezed.
Gerald got slapped across the face for talking, fell to his knees, and was dragged back to his feet to be slapped again.
I was so done with this shit.
Breaking into a run, G’ fingers skimming my shirt and missing the grab to stop me, I charged across the drawbridge.
Guns fired, and my hands got to work as they’d done before, katanas twirling, my body a circus of spins and slides and hardcore swordplay, all the bullets sucked down.
When the silence followed, I held steady, blades steaming and ready to unleash.
But I couldn’t. I’d done my thing, now I was caught between that rock and hard place that fucks everyone up. Too much energy used.
“Impressive,” the king said. “Enough fun, though. It is time to get serious.”
Four Moons: The Complete Collection: (Books 1 - 4) Page 57
