Chapter Fourteen
Whoa.
Double whoa.
Triple whoa.
Actually, infinity whoa because my dad had really gone to town with his retaliation against the elves.
It was iron rain, and it was falling across the globe. Every corner of it. A contingency plan the wolves’d had for a while, apparently. Saved for a rainy day. Shit, that saying would never work the same after this.
After the attack on the hotel, the iron weapon to cause the rain had been building up to firing. Explained why there’d been some time before the attack. This was all reported back to me from Dad by phone—who’d given me as much detail as I needed, not saying where the weapon was or anything. Just enough to keep me in the loop.
I knew my dad had iron weapons at his disposal, but this? Global rain? Any elf out in the streets would be screwed.
Now the elves had to stay underground like the wolves—though there was a real risk of flooding because this rain wouldn’t stop. Those underground tunnels were more than likely gonna fill up with toxic iron water with this onslaught.
Dad hadn’t evened the playing field. He’d taken it one step further.
Good? Yeah. I guess. Except that now I was so confused about who was an elf enemy and who wasn’t. Maybe the vast majority hated the wolves, but I didn’t believe my friends did—Xavier and Melody. Phi was still, well, I didn’t know.
What if they were hurt by the rain?
We were heading out, making our way to Tokyo Harbor. Again, Dad didn’t go into detail but assured me we wouldn’t be sailing our way back to the UK.
Back to London.
Back to the place of the curse.
The last part of our convo was still playing in the back of my head.
“You will be contacted as soon as we acquire him,” he’d said.
Uncle Ryoka.
Now the iron rain was doing its thing, the magic that’d been hiding my uncle and playing tricks on those who’d tried to rescue him was fractured. The way was clear. An SCU unit was on its way to rescue him from elvish clutches.
Bob and Rose had just arrived over there. He was still alive, still tied to that chair, and covered in cuts and bruises.
There were still elves there too, though. Panicked. Flustered. Trapped. Running around in darkness. Even with the magic cracked, the room around my uncle was proper dark as he was under a bright spotlight.
What was that on the floor next to him? A pile of…what? Dust?
Tenshi, I hoped they didn’t hurt him. They were fucked and desperate. Desperation is a dangerous thing.
“He’s alive,” I muttered, leaning against G’s shoulder (a.k.a. the Pillow of Awesomeness).
He curled his arm around my waist as we sat together on the side seats in the back of the van and planted a kiss on the top of my head.
This wasn’t over by a long shot. The road ahead rough as hell. But it wasn’t hopeless, and that meant everything right now with all the feels pawing at me. Good feels, bad feels. I’d almost lost the death power. Bad feel. The elf wanker had somehow tapped into me and dragged up the dark shit inside me. More bad feels. Mama Rita was alive, and so was Violet.
Onto the good. G was here. I hadn’t lost the power. I was on my way properly now—back to London. I wasn’t one to put all my eggs in one basket. Prepare for the worst, and you might end up with a nice surprise. Being cocky screwed you over.
I just didn’t go for carrying an umbrella to protect me from being shat on from a great height. It could still splash your shoes.
I looked across to Zach sitting opposite us. It was just the three of us and the driver behind the closed partition. Junto had gone in a different vehicle.
Zach was staring out the window, anxiety plastered across his face. Phi was still out there—unanswered questions for him as well as the rest of us.
I shuffled closer to G, trying to give my mind a break from the spikes of nasty guilt—guilt and horror over the wolves I’d killed in the safehouse, including the Tokyo Alpha…
Caramel Man made me do it…
Slaughtered…
A mind break? Ha! That’d be doing the impossible.
* * *
We crossed over Rainbow Bridge on our way to Tokyo Harbor, the structure still illuminated in its multi-colored spectacle despite what was going on. I liked it. Pretty. A bit of a two-finger salute to the scary times.
I looked back through the tinted windows at the city we were leaving behind, my birthplace, thinking how I’d love to come back one day and explore it properly, really get a better feel for it than what I’d got. You know, drama-free. Just me and G having a proper wander, paying a visit to Ota City (where I’d been born and briefly lived—which was the same place as the Tokyo Alpha’s seat).
One day.
“Are you okay, Aki?” G whispered, rubbing my side.
“Yeah, I’m fine. How you holding up?”
Formula GX. Blimey! What a guy! Taking that stuff for me. Worried the shite out of me, but he’d be okay. And I’d ride the crash with him, hold him tight until he was all better.
“All good,” he answered.
“Very fairy tale,” I said as the van hit an incline descending into the harbor.
“What is?”
I turned to face him. “You kissing me better. That’s for storybooks. True love’s kiss and all that.”
“True love?”
Wow. That made me blush. “Y-yeah. I guess so.”
“You guess so?”
I beeped his nose. What the hell for? “Erm, yeah. Not guess. I do.”
“Do what?”
“Love you.”
“True love like in the fairytales?”
“If you like.”
His lips twitched. “If I like?”
Man, it was hot in this van. I pulled at the collar of my T-shirt. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Well, I’m confused. Beep my nose again?”
“Huh?”
“Go on. Beep it.”
“You want me to beep your nose?”
“Yes. It was cute.”
My mouth spread into a grin, a laugh escaping. “You’re crazy.”
“Just beep me, Aki.”
I beeped it, then moved closer, resting my nose again his. “Cute nose,” I breathed. Mine was still crooked from getting broken.
“As is yours.”
“Nah.”
“Yes.”
So close to kiss, to get lost in. But not here with my brother on full view. I moved back a bit, though my body ached to close the gap between us.
“I think this is true love.” Man, I wanted to beep his nose again, maybe nibble it.
Nibble?
“Me too, Aki.”
“We’re getting mushy.”
“Who cares?”
“I don’t. I love you.”
He reached out, playing with a lock of my hair. “I love you too. And you’re right, it must be true love for me to have broken that wicked spell.”
“Thank the tenshi for that.” There went the force of habit again. Hmmm. Thank them? “It’s getting easier each time I think it, when I say it—the love stuff.”
“I’m pleased to hear it.” He was still playing with my hair. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay? With what you went through? You know you can talk to me. There’s no need to put on a brave face.”
I swallowed, casting my gaze down. We hadn’t really talked about it yet. I’d given a report to my dad on the phone, but it’d been quick. He wanted to talk later in detail. He’d got enough info. The elves had used magic on me through my babies. Possibly used remotely. Powerful mojo to get through the iron and anti-magic that’d been protecting the safehouse.
Scary as hell.
“I was so cold, G,” I said. “Whatever was being done to me, I was freezing.” I remembered all of it, every moment under the elf’s influence. “You know when people talk about being cold-hearted? Well, I was. Felt cold and was cold in the empty w
ay. He’d got into my psyche, dug around, and used it against me, made kill those wolves.”
“Aki, that wasn’t you.”
“I know that, but its stinging me, you know?”
“I know.”
“The pain in me has never gone away, and it was fresh enough to be used as a weapon.” I sighed. “But just because the pain’s still there, it doesn’t mean I wanna be that person, the creature of destruction. ‘Cos I was heading that way.”
He let my hair go. “Your heart wasn’t completely cold, though. I don’t believe it can ever be fully frozen. You resisted.”
“Only a bit.”
“A bit is more than enough.”
“Warm because of you,” I said. “You did all the work.”
He smiled. “There’s that true love again.”
And it had me riding a warm and fuzzy train.
Still, I’d been vulnerable to an elf attack. And it frightened the crap out of me that they’d try it again. Was I that weak, that open?
No.
I had to be strong. No whining. The motherfuckers weren’t gonna drag me down. I wanted that happier life, to be showered with all the fuzz.
I had to win to make it happen.
Ugh. My brain and its pathways. Fuzz had me thinking of peaches, and peaches of G’s amazingly peachy arse I wanted to sink my teeth into.
Call me the Aki zombie who needed to eat arse to survive.
Wait.
I’d fallen off the path and into the gutter.
Ah, fuck it. The gutter was fun. And it was true. G had a backside you just wanted to devour.
I crossed my legs to hide my erection. This wasn’t the moment for this stuff.
Zach was still staring out the window. I didn’t know what to do, how to help him. I’d tried to tell him I was here for him. I think he got that, but he wasn’t forthcoming with a response, really. Couldn’t blame him. Things were so messy. He just wanted to see Phi.
Were they even in London now?
Rose manifested, turned to me, and cried.
I hadn’t called her.
“Oh, shit!” I shot upright, leaning forward. “It’s happening again.”
Bob followed, crying, the pair of them flickering, starting to pace, then yanked out of the van, flying across the city as I yelled in agony, dragged along with them.
Chapter Fifteen
This wasn’t my body.
Dragged through the air, my babies howling, we raced over the white and brown structure that was Imperial Palace, skimmed across the surface of the moat, looped back up, hurtling towards the building again. There were bodies scattered around the outside, burned, clawing at the air. Their faces were contorted in pain, holes in their flesh.
“Tenshi…” I breathed.
“Have a good look, Akira.” Another man’s voice, nowhere near as soft as Caramel Man’s. Didn’t recognize the gravelly tones at all.
I was pulled forward, passing into the palace—the dark room my uncle was being held in. It was brighter now, the room painted green and white, the wooden floor scuffed, blood-stained, darkness still clinging to the edges.
There were elves ringed around my uncle. About twenty of them, their faces hidden by a bright light in their hands. I squinted. They were all holding a stone.
Crap. Anything like a stone was bad news in the hands of an elf. Even a tin of peas was. Infuse it with magic and boom. It was a weapon or tool or whatever.
“What the hell is going on?”
Gravel Man laughed in response.
Dick.
I was face to face with Uncle Ryoka, drifting closer. I reached out, too far away, and not solid to actually make an impact.
“Uncle…”
He was slumped forward, his breathing labored and wheezy.
“Shit.”
The pile of dust was still there.
“Meet Caramel Man,” Gravel Man said. He was in my head like Caramel Man had been.
“What?”
“The dust. That’s him. A brave soldier.”
“You’re gonna have to level with me here.”
“About the fight? Didn’t you watch our glorious leader’s speech?”
Condescending fuckhead. “I’m talking about all this. What’re you doing to me?”
“A desperate move,” he replied. “Caramel Man, or Cian as he was known, sacrificed his life to summon the power to do what he did.”
“Try and force my hand?”
“What fascinating power you have, Akira. And blood. Lupine and holy, a strange blend.”
“Just get on with it.”
“I don’t have to tell you anything. Yet I think you’ve probably figured all of this out.”
“Since we’re hanging out, indulge me.”
How was I gonna get out of this one?
“We want you stopped,” he said, “and we found an alternative to explosions—through these strange metaphysical senses of yours. Cian was able to touch them, to break through the defenses on your safehouse in a way any other weapon wouldn’t manage. And he took you, made you his. The cost of using such power was his life.”
“Sneaky. Failed too.”
“Correction: Clever. Your hatred for Mama Rita, and your general pain, were easy for him to manipulate, to soothe. Cian was exceptional at being a soothing force.” A sigh. “He was one of the best we had. He gave his life to know you, to see the clockwork behind the flesh. He came so close. It seems we got ahead ourselves, failed to understand not only your strength but the strength of those around you.”
“They call that arrogance. Trust me, I’ve been there.”
“Indeed. We need to take another approach.”
“Care to explain?”
“No.”
“My uncle?”
“What about him?”
“Why him?”
“I’m done talking.”
Ugh. I needed to buy some time. “Oh? That’s a shame. Be cool to know why you kidnapped him. I mean, what did he really have to offer?”
“The details were not forthcoming from traitors. We were left with no other choice but to take your uncle.”
Xavier. He didn’t tell his people about me.
“At least we had Phi on our side,” Gravel Man added.
“Phi? What—”
“I’ve revealed more than enough, Akira.”
Dragged back outside, me and my babies came to a stop over the vortex—that fucking famous whirlpool of death. The water churned beneath me, sucked into the dark void below. Bob and Rose were too close, pawing at air, turned upside down, and lowering closer.
“Don’t hurt them!” I cried.
A laugh, hoarse and cruel. “What’s wrong, Akira?”
“Let them go.” What the hell was I talking about? They were part of me.
“Are you stupid? They are you.”
“Slip of the tongue. How can you see them?”
“I can’t. Only those elves inside can—more heroes giving their lives.”
Great. What fun.
Shame the rain hadn’t stopped these wankers dead in their tracks. Ugh. Hated that they had a way in like this.
“I’ve heard you’ve been a friend to the elves, as has The Chief—the new one. There is nothing admirable in it, to be friends with a wolf.”
Where were the crew coming to get my uncle? “If you say so,” I said, trying to figure out a metaphysical escape plan.
“It had been a dream to see you die, to take away the last stand for the wolves. With Mama Rita dead also, the way would have been clear for a new world. Alas, we are back at step one, with both of you still alive, and many of our own dead. And your father dares to call us terrorists? This iron rain? What sort of man does that make him?”
“Same as The Chief if you wanna go there. I mean, what sort of man attacks a hotel full of innocent people? Not me, fine, but everyone else.”
“Wolf supporters. They were all your father’s people. We’ve done our research.”
�
��You wankers ain’t getting into power. You’d be, well, rubbish.”
“Is that so?”
“You ever heard of a chocolate teapot?”
He chuckled. “Such insolence.”
“I get that a lot.”
“I’m sure.”
“Who are you?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“The Chief?”
“No.”
“Okay. So, you’ll be dust too?”
“Yes. We can no longer avoid this deadly path. Fifty will fall for the greater good that is stopping you.”
“Fifty? Seriously? Is it worth it?”
“It certainly is. In our death, we will hold you, drag you into the depths of our combined sorrow, our joy, drive you insane, and render you impotent.”
“Who you calling impotent?”
This was some metaphysical bullshit!
“We cannot use your pain as Cian had done. That route is expired. So, we will be the cause of a new pain, break that mind of yours to the point of no return. By the time anyone figures this out, it will be too late.”
Think, you dickhead!
“We win.”
My babies and me plunged into the scary whirlpool.
Thanks for nothing, brain!
This wasn’t like the Butcher Hound flinging twisted visions of mega graphic horror at me. It was an endless spin, a funnel of dark water sucking me down. Not physical me, but spiritual me. And my babies. My senses were fucked, scrambled, and way too overloaded.
Come on! Think of something, for fuck’s sake!
Was there a bottom to this thing? Is that what the impotent comment meant? Forever trapped in this? A seriously messed up mental collapse?
Shit.
Shit!
I yelled my lungs out, as if the power of my screams could smash through this, make it stop.
It didn’t.
Chapter Sixteen
Gabriel
Aki was screaming, trying to claw at his face.
I pinned his hands down at his sides, pushing my weight into him as he tried to lunge forward. I shoved a hand between his stomach and the seatbelt before it ripped him in half.
“Aki!”
His eyes widened, and he flinched, pushing back against the wall.
Four Moons: The Complete Collection: (Books 1 - 4) Page 76
