Owl and the Japanese Circus

by Kristi Charish

  Damn it.

  I swung my legs over the side of my bed. OK, maybe not such a good idea, considering the head rush. I braced myself before I slid off, and I pulled my injured arm back in delayed reflex . . .

  It felt fine. I even checked the bone, and sure enough there wasn’t even a sore spot. Using the vanity by the bed for balance, I stood up and got a good look at myself in the mirror. My makeup had been washed off, which didn’t bother me—I rarely wear any unless I’m out with Nadya—but where I should have had a black eye and a swollen lip, my face looked completely normal. I could have sworn I’d just had the shit kicked out of my by a Russian skin walker.

  What the hell had happened?

  I checked the washroom. There was a dent in the wall where the skin walker had slammed me, and the sink was broken. I shook my head. I hadn’t imagined it; I’d almost died. My head swam as I tried to remember . . . Rynn had said something about poison. Had I been hallucinating?

  Captain hopped back up on the bed and mewed.

  I shook my head at him. “I so need to stop letting monsters beat the shit out of me.”

  And where the hell was my cell phone? And laptop? I checked the nightstand, the bedsheets, the desk. I hate not having my stuff. A hair away from full-on panic, I checked my jacket pocket and breathed a sigh of relief as my fingers felt the leather of my wallet.

  “Come on, Captain,” I said as I slid on a pair of slippers—no way was I trying heels, considering how woozy I was—and headed for the door. “You can help me sniff out my stuff.”

  I opened the door to my room. A bodyguard blocked the way, his back to me. I almost tripped over my own feet scrambling back. “Hey, just what the hell is going on? Where are Rynn and Oricho?”

  The bodyguard turned towards me. It was Oricho.

  I leaned against the doorframe. “Jesus, I don’t care if you are a kami, don’t ever scare me like that again.”

  A frown spread over his face as he took in my slippers and sweats. “Though I am glad to see you are awake, I do not think it wise to venture out just yet.”

  “I’m fine,” I said.

  Oricho glanced at the door frame I was leaning against.

  “OK, I’m not ‘fine,’ ” I said, “but I can walk.” I noticed the chair beside the door. “How long was I out?”

  “Twelve hours at most,” he said.

  “Then why don’t I look like I had the shit kicked out of me?” I said.

  Oricho took me by the arm, gently, and steered me back into the living room. I tried to anchor my feet to the floor, but I wasn’t in the best shape to accomplish it.

  “Where most humans would be grateful to wake up unharmed after a battle, your first thought is to ask why. Does that insight not concern you?”

  I pulled my arm away and beelined for the kitchen, struggling to catch my balance. I needed a coffee. I turned the coffee machine on and waited. The gods didn’t hate me that much. Today. As soon as my cup was filled, I took a long sip. “No, because I’m well aware I had the shit kicked out of me by a skin walker twelve hours ago.” I raised my arm. “This should be broken,” I said, “so why isn’t it?”

  Oricho shook his head and passed me a chair. “Skin walkers are known to produce a powerful hallucinogen.”

  I glared at the chair, but it’s hard to have pride when you’re about to face-plant. I sat down, and my head rush subsided. “Yeah, I know, Rynn told me. Trust me, I’m feeling the effects.”

  Oricho’s brow furrowed. “What did it want?”

  I took another sip of my coffee and shrugged. “The translation. It was convinced I had it—What?” I said as the furrow in his brow deepened.

  “Lady Siyu is looking into the security breach.”

  I snorted. “I’ll bet she is,” I said. I’d eat cat food if Lady Siyu wasn’t behind this.

  Oricho frowned but continued. “Though severe, using a skin walker was a . . . sound strategy.”

  “Ripping my brain into shreds is a sound strategy?” I said.

  “Better to get the translation and dispose of you in one move so we stand little chance of deactivating the scroll.” He paused, then added, “Lady Siyu is very powerful. And determined. If it is her, she will not accept failure.”

  I shook my head. “Same goes for Marie. The skin walker was convinced I had it, and it killed that girl just to get to me. One more person whose death I’m responsible for. I should start keeping count,” I said, and combed my fingers through my hair. I didn’t get far with the tangles.

  “If you count yourself responsible for every death that crosses your path, you will soon drown under the guilt.”

  “Old kami words of wisdom?”

  “No, just logical advice.”

  I sighed. “Look, I know my arm was broken—badly—so just tell me what you did. I have the right to know. No more hiding information, remember?”

  Oricho’s eyes narrowed. “You truly do not recall anything past the attack?”

  I shook my head. “Just foggy hallucinations. Rynn fighting with it, being thrown in a bath of ice water.” I shrugged. “It slammed my head pretty hard against the sink. I was probably passing out.”

  Oricho is one of those creatures that can stand perfectly still while he watches you. To say the least, it’s a little unnerving, especially when he tries to stare you down. I crossed my arms and stared right back.

  His nostrils flared. “You are most trying. The incubus was able to heal your wounds, though he had little effect on the hallucinogen. It is powerful, and you have yet to sleep off the poison, so I suggest—”

  A chill went down my spine. “An incubus? You let an incubus near me? Oricho, what the hell were you thinking?” Goddamn it, there were incubi in Vegas. Note to self, warn Nadya no picking up men at the bar.

  “I assure you he had no intention of harming you—”

  “And where the hell was Rynn? He just let you sic an incubus on me? You realize it could have killed me? Where is he? I’m going to kill him.”

  The corner of Oricho’s mouth twitched, something I’d never seen him do before.

  “Goddamn it, you think this is funny?” I swore. “I should have known Vegas was crawling with incubi and succubi. Let me guess, you’ve got them working the casino strip joint?”

  Oricho bowed his head this time. “I am afraid—I was not aware you did not know, please forgive me—” And it hit me.

  Damn good thing I was sitting down already, because hallucinogen or not I would have needed a seat. It’s not every day you get your heart smashed into a million pieces while someone watches.

  “Where’s Rynn?” I said, my voice a whisper, even to me.

  Oricho waited until I looked up at him. I swear to God, I think for once I scared him. “He is downstairs. We were taking turns watching you—”

  I stood up and made for the door. Oricho held out his arm to block my path. “Perhaps it is not wise for you to seek him out just yet, as angry as you are. The hallucinogen’s effects are still strong—”

  “Out of my way,” I said.

  He paused for a moment, then bowed his head and stepped out of my way. “As you wish.”

  I headed for the elevator.

  “Owl,” Oricho called.

  “What?” I forced back tears. Goddamn it, I was not going to cry. It was my own goddamned fault for letting someone in . . .

  “You are angry with what you perceive to be a deception, but I caution you to think about your actions. You are fortunate . . . It is not often we choose—”

  “Choose what? Choose to trick humans? Choose to use humans? Choose to manipulate humans? ‘Cause to me that looks like just about all you bastards do.”

  He bowed his head. “Choose to care about humans,” he said.

  I closed my eyes. Goddamn it. Remind me never to let Oricho talk to me when I’m angry ever again. “I’ll call you when I have a translation . . . and I want my laptop and cell phone back,” I said as the elevator door closed.

  The
elevator door opened on the ground floor. If I hadn’t seen him, if he hadn’t been right there at the bar . . . well, maybe I would have stepped back into the elevator and taken Oricho’s advice and slept the rest of the poison off.

  Instead, I rolled everything over in my skin walker–addled brain. The club, Rynn’s familiarity with the supernatural world . . . How could I have been so stupid, blind, idiotic . . .

  I walked by a table where someone had left an empty Corona bottle. Fitting. I grabbed it by the neck and carried it into the Japanese Circus bar.

  Rynn looked up. “Owl—” he said, surprised.

  I launched the bottle at his head. He dodged, and it crashed into the top shelf, amidst startled bar staff and patrons. Everyone turned to look at me.

  I’m not proud of it. It really seemed like the best idea at the time. Yet another phenomenal display of my decision-making skills.

  Before the bouncers could figure out what had happened, I headed back to the elevator. Rynn chased after me. He caught me as I was pressing the Up button.

  “What is wrong with you?” he said, pinning my shoulder to the wall.

  “That hurts. Let go,” I said. I wrenched away and hit the elevator call button again.

  “You threw a beer bottle. At my head.”

  I couldn’t decide if I wanted to kill him or scream at him. “When were you going to tell me you’re a goddamn incubus?” I whispered so onlookers wouldn’t hear.

  His eyes widened and his expression softened. His surprise was evident enough. I was bad at spotting supernaturals; there was no reason for him to think I’d ever figure it out. The elevator opened.

  “Alix, I can explain,” he said, and followed me inside.

  “Really? Because I’d love to hear it. Please, explain to me why the hell you never once bothered to mention you were an incubus.”

  “I knew you’d overreact. Exactly like you are.”

  “What did you expect me to do? You’ve been lying through your teeth—”

  He held up a finger to stop me. “I never once lied, I left out a detail.” His eyes narrowed. “You do it all the time.”

  I rolled my eyes. The elevator opened on the twenty-third floor. Rynn followed me out.

  “Please, Alix—”

  I spun on him. “How often have you used magic on me? Honestly?”

  “Twice.”

  My eyes went wide. I hadn’t really expected him to admit it.

  “Once in Bali—you were about to leave the temple and would have run into the police at the airport. I suggested that you stay until the luck demon could get us out. Then I couldn’t let you fall asleep after your run-in with Marie in Tokyo, and Nadya was mad at you, so I suggested you come home with me . . .”

  “You what?”

  “In all fairness, I didn’t talk you into bed with me. That was you.”

  “So what? You got to feed off me as a bonus prize?”

  He frowned. “I deserve a little more credit than that, and it doesn’t exactly work like that. I feed enough off the overflow from working in bars and clubs. Besides, I wouldn’t do that to you.”

  I stared up at the hall lights. Rynn grabbed me and pulled me in close. I refused to look into his blue eyes; I’d bet half my stockpile they had something to do with the mind influence . . . or whatever he called it. Instead I stared down at my slippers.

  “Alix, please don’t walk away from me. You make bad decisions when you’re scared and angry.”

  “I run away,” I said.

  “Bad decisions,” he said simply.

  “What do you want?”

  “You.”

  I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and pushed him away, shaking my head. I didn’t have a clue what I wanted. What I didn’t want was to end up like a vampire junkie . . . but I also had a hard time throwing Rynn and Oricho in the same class as vampires . . . Somewhere my lines in the sand with the supernatural world had gotten real murky.

  “Look at me.” He put his hand on my face and lifted my chin. “See, I can touch you without hurting you. I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want. I promise. See?” he said, then he let go of me and took two steps back.

  I opened the door to my room. “Rynn, I need to think—and deal—with everything.”

  “I care about you.”

  I kept my eyes on the floor and closed the door.

  The problem was—if I was completely honest with myself—I cared too. That was the part I was worried about.

  I got in and found that Oricho had returned my cell and laptop. Captain was sleeping on them. He slid off only after I opened the lid. While my laptop started up, I checked my messages. There were five missed calls on my phone from Rynn, and I remembered he’d been madly trying to warn me about the skin walker. I shoved that away for later and read the text message from Nadya: Call me. I did.

  “Alix? I thought you were dead. I’ve had one of Oricho’s goons guarding my door, and they won’t let me out or tell me what happened, they only keep insisting you’re still alive. I’ve tried everything short of throwing a punch and coming to find you myself. What happened?”

  “Skin walkers,” I said.

  Nadya drew in a sharp breath.

  “I’m OK,” I said, and filled her in on everything, minus Rynn being an incubus. I wasn’t ready to talk about that yet. “I think the guards are just a precaution. I’ll talk to Oricho and ask him to call them off.” I took a deep breath. “There are going to be more supernatural things coming after us until we get this thing translated and get the hell out of here.”

  I could hear Nadya pursing on the other end. “What?” I asked.

  “It’s nothing,” she started tentatively.

  “Nadya, what?”

  “Look, I can’t place my finger on it, but my nose tells me there’s something not right with all this.”

  “Yeah, hunting season just opened. On us. Speaking of which, I’m opening the files as we speak. I’ll take another crack at them, and I suggest you do the same before the next monster Marie’s cooked up comes crawling.”

  Nadya sighed. “It’s something more than just being targets. There’s something we’re missing. But I’ll get back on the scrolls as well, if just to buy us breathing room so I can think things through.”

  I checked the clock. It was 8:00 p.m. “All right, gimme a couple of hours to look through everything again and see if there’s another angle we can take,” I said.

  “I’ll do the same. I have a few more ideas, but I want to check them first. I’ll call you then.”

  “One more thing,” I said. “You’re human, right? I mean, you’re not some, I don’t know, succubus or demon, or something pretending to be human, right?”

  There was a long pause. “Alix, what happened that you’re not telling me?”

  “Forget I asked. I’ll tell you later. Four hours or so, OK?”

  “All right, fine. Four hours, but call as soon as you think you have something,” she said, and hung up.

  I opened up the files, the whole shooting match: the inscriptions from the Balinese temple, the scroll I’d scanned, even the tablets. They all matched, they all fit together as a matching set, but the more I looked at them, the more I had no idea what to do with them or how to read them. A perfectly coherent jumbled mess.

  After an hour of staring at the screen I wasn’t getting anywhere and I knew it. As much as I tried pushing Rynn and the skin walker to the back of my mind, that wasn’t working either. I wasn’t in a state to be translating anything.

  I did what I always did when I was this stressed and confused.

  I grabbed a Corona from my fridge and logged into World Quest. Time to get out of that goddamn pit and go kill me some monsters.

  As the screen went live though, somewhere in the back of my mind I knew killing monsters wasn’t going to make me feel any better tonight.

  19

  THROWING IN THE GAME CONTROLLER

  11:00 p.m., three beers, two hours later, and I’m
still stuck in a goddamn pit in World Quest . . . please someone shoot me now . . . or better yet, shoot whoever designed this level . . .

  I slid the control arrow over the green line on the Oubliette’s wall . . . careful, oh so careful . . . it slid into place, and before it could move out of alignment, I hit the left click button and held my breath as I waited. It had to be the faint green line, it was the only thing left in the chamber to try . . .

  Nothing. Absolutely nothing happened.

  I groaned and folded my head onto the keyboard. My computer chimed in protest. I’d scoured the room, pixel by goddamn pixel. There was no hidden lever, no secret entrance, and no magic button. If I ever found the person who designed this level, I might make a habit of throwing empty beer bottles.

  My phone buzzed on the table with an incoming text message. I stared at it for a few seconds before flipping it over. It was from Rynn. I turned the message alert off and put the phone back on the table, facedown. I couldn’t bring myself to open his message, let alone text back. Not right now, anyways . . . Maybe after I got out of the pit and killed a few orcs, I’d be ready to talk to him.

  Captain butted my leg with his head. I reached down and gave him a quick pat before looking back up at the screen and the inscribed walls. “Things were a lot easier when we were living out of the Winnebago,” I told him.

  He mewed back. Actually, things hadn’t been simple since we’d had to abandon my condo in Seattle. Three months was all I’d had at that place before my first run-in with the vampires. Everything since had been downhill.

  “All right, thinking things through isn’t doing anything. Let’s try brute force, shall we?” I pulled up the Byzantine Thief’s inventory and scrolled through the pages until I found the right scroll. It was one I’d gotten off Carpe a few months back. Exploding missile. The spell specs made me think it’d have the same effect as localized dynamite, but if I boosted up my health with potions right before setting it off, I might only lose half my health bar . . .

  My laptop chimed, and an unsolicited message box popped up in the lower left corner of my screen. Owl? What the hell are you doing? Carpe wrote.

  I frowned. First Rynn and now Carpe. “Great. Another person I’m not ready to talk to right now,” I said to Captain. I knew there was no way I’d be able to have a civil conversation with Carpe. He’d known there’d been a skin walker after me. Yes, the warning had probably helped saved my life, but he’d known there’d been a skin walker after me . . . He was starting to intertwine with my real, messed-up life, and I wasn’t comfortable with it. World Quest was supposed to be my retreat, not a recruiting ground for my life’s weirdness.