by J. P. Rice
Fuck it. I stood my ground. I’d battled some gnarly beasts in my day. Going barehanded against a cougar seemed par for the course.
I planned to sidestep the cougar when it leaped at me, grab it by its head and break its neck all in one neat move. The cougar leaned back, and I got my hands into position. No fear. No fear. No fear.
A string of gunshots rang out in the library, causing me to scream like a girl. My heart almost jumped out of my chest and my muscles tightened as the bullets raced past me and peppered the side of the cougar. Blood spurted from the bullet holes, running down the side of the animal’s ribcage. The beast stared at me with its bright yellow eyes growing duller by the second. It slumped to the ground. The cougar thrashed around in one last act of desperation to avoid the inevitable.
Thirty seconds later, the beast went completely still. I waved my arms around, trying to get some feeling back in my numb body. That was close. Let the record state that I was willing to battle a mountain cougar with my bare hands. I wasn’t going to start bragging that the mountain cougar was lucky I hadn’t gotten my hands on it, but I was willing to give it a shot.
“Dinner is served,” announced Glenda, walking up to the cougar for a closer look.
We moved in and hovered over the lean animal. I asked, “Does anyone know how to butcher a mountain cougar?” I glanced at Glenda, then Felix.
They both shook their heads. “I’m willing to give it a shot,” Glenda said confidently.
I said, “I watched my uncle gut a deer once. This will hold us over for a few days, but we need to figure out how to get to the bottom of the mountain.” It should hold us over for more than a few days, but I didn’t want my mates to get complacent.
We found the straight blade dagger on a table near Okumura’s bones. I said, “First thing to do is to gut it.”
I positioned the cougar on its side and jammed the knife into its belly. Felix gagged behind me and Glenda giggled at the mage’s queasiness. I ran the knife up to the animal’s sternum and a flood of blood and some of the entrails spilled out, barely missing my hand.
Felix dry heaved. I turned around and he was down on one knee, covering his mouth and nose with his hand. How could someone kill beings without issue, yet be so squeamish at butchering an animal? “Why don’t you go outside and get some snow to pack the extra meat in?” I suggested to Felix.
He nodded and swallowed a couple of times, fighting away the urge to puke. “All right. I would help, but it looks like you two have this under control.” He tried to sound tough even as he was walking away with his tail between his legs.
I smirked. “Yeah, yeah. Thanks for the offer.”
Glenda and I butchered the mountain cougar as best we could, which wasn’t great. We decided to eat the loin and tenderloin first.
We started a fire outside the castle and found some loose metal rods in the portcullis that we used for kebabs. Without a grill, we had to roast our own meat by hand. Glenda ate her meat bloody as hell, I cooked mine to medium and Felix went for burnt to a crisp.
The meat was tough due to the animal being so lean and muscular. We didn’t have any salt or pepper. No A.-1. Sauce. However, after being faced with starvation, it was a delicious meal.
As we packed the rest of the meat in ice, I realized that it hadn’t yielded as much as I’d expected. But we were in a much better place than yesterday.
I went to sleep that night with a slight sense of relief. This meat would buy us a couple of days, but it hadn’t solved the main problem. How the hell were we going to get out of here? It was winter, which meant there weren’t many people on the entire mountain, let alone a mysterious area that only a special guide could get to.
As I nodded off, I wondered what the next day could possibly bring.
BARKING DOGS BROKE me out of my slumber. My weary eyelids flicked open and I sat up, wondering what the fuck was going on. Four mountain doggies were munching on pieces of the mountain cougar that we had packed on ice. I jumped up and screamed. Making some wild motions with my hands, I hoped to scare them away.
The doggies barked angrily at me, but it seemed like they’d already had their fill and retreated toward the entrance of the castle. I moved in closer to inspect the damage. A blind man could see it was bad. The doggies had barely left a scrap of meat from the entire animal, just some blood-stained ice. I couldn’t believe it. I looked at my friends. We were going to die on this mountain.
Instead of traipsing down the mountain, we formed a different plan. We were going hunting. Even though we hadn’t seen a single animal on all the trips down the hill, it was approaching life or death. At least it felt that way as my stomach writhed, sending a gentle reminder. Where were those mountain doggies now?
Felix and I kept small fireballs waiting in our palms for when we saw an animal. Glenda held her gun near her hip as she peered around the woods. We walked in what seemed like a circle for most of the day until the sun went down. We hadn’t spotted one animal. No snow doggies to be found.
I went to bed starving and cranky that night. The real possibility of dying thousands of miles from home started to set in. Unable to sleep, I grabbed a torch and walked around the rubble. I went to the area where Shuten dōji had smashed Okumura’s bones.
First, I worked on the skull. Like a puzzle, I found most of the pieces and slid them into place. Then I worked my way down, trying to reassemble the bones as best I could.
“If we find a way out of here, I’ll make sure to get your bones back to your family. I’m sorry this happened to you. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you from Shuten dōji.” It was my first time talking to a set of charred bones, but something told me it wasn’t going to be the last.
WE WOKE UP THE NEXT day and went hunting again. We enjoyed the same fruitless results as the day before. My stomach felt like it was eating itself or twisting itself into a knot. I’d never been this hungry before. With snow covering the ground, I couldn’t search for any fresh vegetation. We seemed doomed.
From a distance, I heard a male voice speaking Japanese. I did a three-sixty trying to find the person. Another guide had to be coming up the hill, so I looked down the slope. Squinting, I looked between the trees for a human figure.
Nothing.
The voice called out again. From behind me. I spun around and looked up the hill. It couldn’t be.
Skipping down the hill were the rattling bones of Okumura. They were fully reassembled and carried an orange glow to offset the dull black bones. The skeleton and skull walked up to us and said something in Japanese.
“I think he said, follow him,” Felix explained, wide eyed, in awe of the moving skeleton.
Okumura gestured with his finger for us to follow him and took off down the hill. I swung my backpack around to make sure I still had the filled Blood Goblet. Check. I smoothed my hand over the rubies on the base and felt a little spark come from the Goblet.
Stuffing it back into my bag, I zipped it closed and swung it over my shoulder. We followed Okumura to the bottom of the slope, but the level area appeared the same as all the other times. Rolling my eyes, I walked forward expecting to see Shuten dōji’s castle again. Instead, my jaw dropped when I saw a directional arrow sign on one of the trees.
We looped around the base of the mountain, and less than an hour later, we made it back to the guide lodge. As I stared at the building, Felix asked, “Where did he go?”
“Who?” I turned around and noticed Okumura was gone.
We stumbled into the lodge and I handled the responsibility of explaining what happened to Okumura. The other guides laughed again and one of the men said, “He dies every time he goes up the mountain. That’s why we said he was dead when you asked. He’ll be back, flesh covered and living in a few weeks. He always does.”
What the living fuck? I’d been around magic for a while and that was straight wild. The men shared some of their food and beverage with us while we made travel plans to get back home. A few taxi and train rides later
, we ended up at Osaka Airport.
Glenda sneaked the Blood Goblet on the flight by stuffing it between her breasts. I had brought it to Japan in my hiking bag, but now that it contained more than four ounces of liquid, it was a problem. I had no idea how it didn’t set off the metal detector either. The wheels went up on the plane and I sat back in my seat. Now that we had the full Goblet, we could go after the Seven Sorcerers and free Cyclone Woman from the curse.
Chapter 25
I dropped off Glenda and Felix and pulled my Maxima into a parking spot in front of my house. Felix had taken the Blood Goblet and was going to set up a meeting with Fukutama so I could only wait for the next step now. My phone sat on the passenger seat connected to the charger. It was like an elephant in my car.
I had to turn it on and call Jonathan. Checking my dashboard, it was 11:30 a.m. Hopefully, the vampire was still sleeping. I held down the power button on the side of the phone, and the screen flashed on. My palms started to sweat as I waited for the phone to gather all the memory.
Several alert signals beeped for text messages, missed calls and voice messages. Scrolling down the missed call log, Jonathan’s name was all over the place. I stopped counting at seventeen missed calls. I knew he would be pissed, but not seventeen-plus calls pissed.
I opened up his profile and hit the little symbol that looked like a phone receiver. My pulse quickened as the phone rang. If he didn’t answer, I could just leave a quick message explaining everything. That way, he couldn’t question anything or poke a hole in my excuses.
Jonathan had warned me when we’d first met that I should never lie to him. Unfortunately, the present situation gave me little choice. If I was honest, I would be dealing with a clan of vampires trying to kill me and Jonathan could try to kill me for lying to him initially. Lying also meant that my best friend would stay buried beneath the earth’s surface. Fu—uck.
My nerves started to calm down as I prepared to leave a message.
“Hello, just the person I need to talk to.”
Damnit. “Hey Jonathan.”
“Hey Jonathan? Hey Jonathan?” he asked, sounding pissed. “You’ve been accused of murder by my fellow vampires. A friend of yours, who is also an enemy of the Purple House, shoots up my mansion and my clan mates. And you say, hey Jonathan?” He normally spoke calmly and slowly. Not today.
“Let me explain. Your friends have again accused me of something I didn’t do.”
“The reason they did that is because these bodies are talking.” He started to calm down. “And they all have your name on the tips of their tongues. It seems like more than just a coincidence.”
How could I worm my way out of this one? “Does it? I’m hated by every supernatural being and creature in Pittsburgh. It makes perfect sense that vampires would say my name to exact revenge after the grave. And as for Reg, we were best friends for years. Of course he’s going to invoke my name. Do you really think I wouldn’t be doing everything I can to save my best friend?”
Jonathan paused for a few moments and said, “You two did seem to have a firm connection, I suppose. That doesn’t change the fact that I have a group of bullet-riddled, comatose vampires.”
I extended an olive branch. “I’ll pay for the damage, but none of this would be necessary if your goons hadn’t kidnapped me. They wouldn’t have tried that bullshit if you were in town. They went behind your back when you were away with a move I don’t believe you would have sanctioned. Roydell and Timson seem to forget who is in charge of the Purple House.” Pitting them against each other was the best bet right now.
“I will deal with them accordingly when they are fully healed. As for you. If I find out you are lying about a member of the Purple House, I will bring down a storm of hellfire on you, the likes of which you’ve never even thought possible. Do I make myself clear?”
“Crystal,” I confirmed. “I’m not sure what kind of black magic your boys are dealing in, but I can assure you I don’t know anything about Reg. In fact, I have feelers out all over the city looking for him.”
Jonathan reminded me, “If you hear anything, I am the first to know.”
“Of course. I’m still worried sick about my friend.” I felt so sleazy lying about this to someone who could probably save Reg.
“How did the trip to Japan turn out?” Jonathan asked.
The recent trip seemed like it had happened months ago. “Like most of my adventures, harrowing. But we accomplished the mission.”
“Good. You need to stop these tornadoes then.”
“What? Did something happen when I was in Japan?”
Jonathan explained, “Many things happened. You can find out the details of the tornadoes later. That only leaves one matter for us to straighten out. You need to tell me where Glenda is. Or you can turn her over to me. Your choice.”
Fuck. I knew it would come down to this. “Jonathan, that’s not going to happen. You are my friend. She is also my friend. I wouldn’t give you up to the cops or anyone coming after you. In the same manner, I wouldn’t turn Glenda over to be killed.”
“Be certain this is the action you wish to take,” he said, his tone shifting back toward anger. “The favors, the gifts, the Jameson. All that can disappear in a flash. I treat you better than my clan members, you know?”
I hadn’t expected him to pull the fringe benefits card, but not totally surprised either. “And I can’t thank you enough for that. The reason, I think, that you do that for me is because you know I would never sell out anyone from your house. Or you. In this fucked up world, you can rest assured that I’m not going to blow up how you illegally obtain blood from the blood banks.”
Sometimes you had to let people know you had a little something over them. But you also had to be careful and use it sparingly. If someone—especially the kind of people that I dealt with—saw my knowledge as a threat to their livelihood, they would kill me and not think twice about it.
“I still want you to think about just slipping a piece of paper to me with her address on it. But I understand the hesitation.” He paused for a moment, and said calmly, “In fact, you’re right. I do like you because you know how to keep things quiet. I’m rather confident you would never put my life in danger with loose lips.”
“You know me. I don’t really have a family, so I have to take care of my friends.”
Jonathan said, “Not to worry. We’ll track her down and exact our revenge at some point.”
Not if I had anything to say about it, but I didn’t want to get into that right now. “I’ve had a long trip. Do you need anything else from me?”
“Just don’t let me find out you are lying,” he warned.
“That’s not going to happen,” I said, hoping this would never come to a head. “Why don’t you go back to sleep now?”
“Once I’m up, I’m up. Good day, Micheal.”
“Bye, Jonathan.”
I was off the hook for my best friend’s murder. Temporarily. My plan was to dig up Reg’s dormant body and bring it back to life. It was a great plan, except for the fact that I had no clue how to do it. With my connections, I was sure I could find out how to revive a body. At least I knew Reg was still alive. Barely. How had the stake missed his heart?
Reaching out my right hand, I grabbed my wallet off the passenger seat, tucked my phone into my pocket and headed inside.
I opened the door and looked over at the couch. Alayna was sitting with her feet up on the coffee table reading a book that recounted the adventures of the wizard from St. Louis. “I’m still alive,” I exclaimed with a smile.
Alayna jumped up, ran over and gave me a hug. “Did you fill up the Goblet?”
I nodded slowly. “We did. Right up to the tippy-top. I would have been home a few days ago, but we encountered...”
Alayna cut me off, “I know how it goes in this game. No need to explain that to me.”
“Where is Dante?” I asked, looking into the kitchen.
She pointed at the ceilin
g. “Upstairs reading comic books. He found your old stash and he’s taken quite a liking to them.”
“That’s good.” A slight smile developed on my face. It slowly faded as I prepared to tell Alayna the bad news. “So we might have a little problem with the Purple House.”
“I know,” she said and sat back down on the couch. “A couple of their goons stopped by and I chased them away with their tails between their legs. I told them if they wanted to start a war with the Celtic Gods and the Deep Burrow, have at it.”
Alayna didn’t fuck around. She was like a connected mobster in the city. Sure, you could fuck with her, but then you had all of her associates to deal with. If the vampires killed Alayna for no reason, there would be hell to pay.
Jonathan understood that the same went for me. Many people in the supernatural know called me the Golden Boy of the Celtic Gods. I wasn’t as close to the deities as Alayna, but I was still part of the team.
Alayna continued, “I do hope they found out what happened to Reg. That is quite unfortunate. I really loved Reg.”
I wasn’t sure I could tell Alayna what I’d done. Not yet. It was too embarrassing. Waiting for a later time seemed like the best move right now.
“Jonathan mentioned something about tornadoes while I was in Japan. Do you know what he’s talking about?”
“I do,” she answered and lowered her head. “For the first time in history, tornadoes swept through the city of Pittsburgh. One went straight down East Carson Street in the Southside. Another one went through Oakland.”
“Did anyone die?” I knew it was a stupid question, but I had to know.
Alayna nodded, glossy eyed. “None of the weather experts saw them coming. Now that you have the Goblet, you can stop all that,” she added with a touch of hope.
I hated waiting when the citizens were in danger. Felix had set up an appointment with Fukutama but hadn’t called me back with the details. I had to call on the Celtic Goddess Blodeuwedd and find out if she had figured out where the sorcerers had moved to, assuming they hadn’t stayed in the same location.
