by T S Paul
Jumping back to the table he’d started on, Fergus looked up at Elvis. “Don’t you think that using Elvis is Dead as a sign is tacky? The vamp I know is named Anastasia. She’s supposed to be one of your ancients.”
“Do you really know her?” Elvis asked him quietly, a tiny bit of fear in his voice now.
“She’s part of the FBI team I’m on.”
“By saying I’m dead, Graceland can’t sue me. It’s embarrassing enough that I can’t use my own name and likeness. It sucks being dead sometimes,” Elvis replied. “I used to live in Mississippi but ran into a bit of trouble there with the Fae and some local vampires. It got really complicated, really fast. This place was for sale on Ebay of all places, so I bought it. Now I can be myself all I want and get paid for it.”
“Sure you can. Go outside much? Ok fake Elvis, since you don’t have any sandwiches here I’m gone. Have a nice un-life, I’ll mention you to Anna when I see her. Bye!”
Peering out the window, Ferus jumped.
“Wait… Dagnabbit. Don’t that beat all. Try to hide and some sort of magical unicorn thingy up and finds you. Time to pack up the blue suede shoes and move on.”
Chapter Fourteen
Lord Shinigama protested and yelled for a good hour before agreeing to honor my request. And he still tried to weasel out of my terms.
Dealing with the divine might be my future as much as the Gods were interfering in my life. At some point I needed to sit grandmother down and get the truth out of her about all this. Way too many things have happened to me for there to not be some sort of divine plan. Khonsu showing up after the kitsune kidnapped me was a little too coincidental. Even he wanted something from them. My instincts, such as they are, all said I was overthinking it and it was something basic. Like a peace treaty. So that’s what I went with. Peace between enemies.
“No.” Lord Shinigama protested for the thousandth time.
My terms were simple. I wanted a joint opening of the door. Both factions of kitsune needed to be involved. There was no need to send all the way to Japan and other places for all the clan lords though. I just wanted both the Zenko and the Yako factions present. Simple. Like herding cats through a catnip factory.
“Then forget it. Find another way to open the door. Trust me when I say that killing me or at least trying to will end very badly for you otherwise. You can wait another thousand or so years then. Find another way,” I fired back at the clan leader. All I wanted was for the Zenko to have equal access to the door at a minimum. I had suspicions about the realm they wanted into. That bit could wait.
“Blood sacrifice is always available. You might be tough but my entire clan is formed now,” the Yako leader replied.
Forming a ball of concentrated lightning in one hand and a fireball in the other I faced down the leader and his guards. “You might’ve had the advantage before, but my power’s back on at full strength now. Wanna play because nobody touches the witch. Not now, not ever.”
Shinigama held his hands out in front of him. “Fine. We shall call the Zenko. I make no promises on their behalf.”
Which is why I now stood waiting, casting small fireballs at illusions I’d created. After the first dozen or so the Yako court stopped watching, gossiping among themselves. Any day blood wasn’t spilled was a good day for me. Several hours later three extremely cautious Zenko representatives entered the hall.
“Evil demons! Thieves! Betrayers! You dare to profane the holiest of holies? Why have you summoned us here?” The taller of the three kitsune demanded.
Seeing the two groups side by side I noticed the differences. It was all cosmetic. Beneath the clothing and attitude they looked to be the same creatures. Tails. Ears. They even had the same coarse language.
“They didn’t, I did. Nice of you to join us.” Pausing, I checked my watch. “Three hours late.”
“So? Our time is our own. We refuse to associate with these… these… betrayers. We are celestial kitsune. Our lineage is the most sacred. We answer to no human or evil betrayer,” the tall kitsune answered.
“Do you have a name or shall I just make one up? It was my idea to call you here, not theirs,” I answered. Khonsu and I were going to have a long conversation if he kept saddling me with idiots.
“Konjaku, Lord Konjaku. I lead the local clan of Zenko. These are my current guards,” the tall man pointed beside him.
“Do they have names, these guards?” I asked the celestial leader.
“No. They are mine, not yours. Get on with it. Why call us here?” Konjaku crossed his arms menacingly.
I let out a small giggle. No matter how old I get, I still find humor in the damndest of circumstances. I blame the company I keep. Chuck, Cat, and Fergus keep me young. “Frick and Frack it is then. Do you see the door behind me? Recognize it?”
“Thievery. That is a sacred relic of the Zenko, left in our care by Inari herself. Stolen it was in my father's time. I… My people demand it be returned.”
Lord Shinigama and his inner court sat like statues, staring at me. Looking in his direction, I could only sniff. Peacemaking was hard! “Have your people ever managed to open it?”
Konjaku looked aghast at me. “No! It was entrusted to our clan by the Goddess herself. If she wished us to return to paradise she would invite us back.”
“Uh huh.” I didn’t believe him. Human nature didn’t work that way. I was assuming it was the same for kitsune. I would’ve tried if I knew about it. “As I see it, the door and what it represents is the linchpin separating your two factions. Neither of you trust the other because of events happening thousands of years in the past. All revolving around the door and what it represents.”
“The Goddess,” Konjaku intoned while Shinigama said, “Family.” The kitsune looked at each other in surprise.
I smiled. “Not so different after all. I represent the largest coven of witches in North America. I am also related to the Yako by birth. In my role as Guardian I have the power to open many types of gates and portals. It’s my job to stand between light and dark, the candle and the flame, protecting the world from monsters. At this point, I’m not sure if either of you are the monster. I won’t know until the door is opened. Will you set aside your differences while I do this thing? Or should I just leave you to your conflict?”
Both sets of kitsune looked at each other. Shinigama was the first to say anything. “Open the door. Please.”
“And you, sir?” I asked the Zenko.
“Please,” Konjaku replied.
Rubbing my hands together, I approached the door. “Alrighty then. Let’s do this.”
I’d had many hours of just sitting to scan the thing already. Artwork depicting battles with demonic creatures as well as those of the Goddess and her court decorated both the surface and the rock that held the frame. Someone at some point removed the door from wherever it originally resided.
Concentrating, I tapped into my internal power reserves, the bracelets, and what was stored within Fergus. Unlike last time, his power didn’t take nearly as long to collect. The little pest was closer to me than before. Modern witches aren’t religious in the same way humans are. We worship those that have come before, like in Shinto, and those deities who’ve impacted our lives directly. This much I knew from my lessons with my grandmother. On a personal level I kept the Goddess in all her forms in my heart along with Emesh. Worshiping a God who brings forth food to feed the world wasn’t a bad thing. Inari was just one aspect of what I believed. Connecting to her power was easier than I thought it would be.
Sitting before the door as if in prayer I held out a spiritual hand to the otherworldly connection. Slowly the stone door opened.
“She’s done it! Claim the door before they get it,” Cheif Priest Unway charged past me followed by a half dozen robed acolytes.
“Stop, wait! Give the portal a moment to stabilize!” My warning fell on deaf ears. The Yako priests were followed by both Frick and Frack as well. “The door came with warnings�
�”
Stepping back several paces, I dug deep and readied my magic. Vibrations and power traces from several worlds and powers lay in what I’d received on my end of the spell. What they called paradise was far from what actually existed over there. “Ready your warriors. What comes isn’t the paradise you expect.”
Like something from Hollywood, a large red and black tentacle swept outward grabbing one of the clan lord’s people. Ducking, I lashed out with my magic even as the screaming kitsune was sucked into the doorway. Having flashbacks from Charleston, I pulled on my magic. Just hurting the thing would only piss it off. We needed to either destroy it completely or close the gate. Or both. Hindsight being what it is, I cursed the idea of placing the stone door in the center of the room so everyone could see better! Now the thing had the entire room to reach into. Rolling left, I hit the demon with first a flash of extreme cold followed by force, smashing it in half. With a bellow, the slimy thing pulled back into whatever Hell I’d opened.
Gasping I cried out to the kitsune around me, “I can close it but I need as much power as you can give me.”
Lord Shinigama screamed at me, “You did this to us! Demon lover.” At his command, guards and armed retainers charged at me.
Tapping into my bracelets, I threw up a shield wall. I wasn’t going to last all that long if I had to defend against the demons and the kitsune. Yelling back, I started my argument. “Pot calling the kettle black! First you kidnap me, torture me, and drug me. The moment I open your stupid door you try to kill me. The thanks I get. What about you, Konjaku? Do you believe I did this thing?”
“No. We remember what the door truly represents, even if the Yako forget. The Goddess entrusted it to us for this very reason, as a guard against the legions of hell. I stand with you.” Casting magic of his own, the kitsune lord began freezing the kitsune warriors.
A look of horror on the faces of the kitsune jerked me around to the door. Instead of tentacles there were now imps, dozens of imps, pouring into the room.
“Damn it! Fergus, where are you when I need you?” Pulling on resources I didn’t know I had, I lit into the demons. Fire, lightning, and bursts of cold hit the screaming demons. Like Charleston, it was intense and destructive. Demon blood and ichor coated the floors. Praying the kitsune didn’t knife me in the back, I redirected my shields to the door in an attempt to funnel the imps. If I could slow their advance, I might be able to close the damn door! “Help me!”
Fighting his way toward me, Konjaku laid his hand upon my shoulder. “Take what you need.”
Accepting the gift of power, I funneled it into by bracelets. It wasn’t enough, but it would keep me upright while I blasted the demons. We needed to get ahead of the incursion. A new California front could devastate the county, again.
Concentrating, I pulled power from those around me. Like water swirling down the sewer, I drained the kitsune around me. It was either me or them, and I wanted to live!
“Eat horn demon!” With a pop, Fergus appeared in the middle of the throne room, immediately attacking the horde. Tiny but mighty, my familiar started taking down the enemy one imp at a time.
I barely acknowledged him as Lord Shinigama’s hand clasped my other shoulder. Drawing in the new power, I dumped it all into the swirling spell in front of me. More and more and more and more until what felt like a nuclear bomb danced and twisted beneath my hands. “You messed with the wrong witch this time. This gate is finished.” Releasing the spell, I screamed out a warning, “Duck and cover!”
Built half by instinct the rest by need, the swirling mass launched itself at the door and remaining demons. My last thought before the explosion was no more dragons!
BaBaBoom!
Bathing the room in power, flashes of purple, green, and red light streamed into and through the door melting it like a sugar sculpture in the rain. The door and the frame became one with the floor in the amount of time it took to take a breath.
Unlike previous spells, this one didn’t knock me out. But I was prone on the floor with a unicorn on me. Fergus and his tiny, pointy feet were walking all over me complaining about meals missed and cats terrorized. Or was it terrorized by cats? Either way, he was doing it non-stop. “Fergus, chill out. I’ll feed you later. You’re a wizard, just conjure up a pizza for the Goddess sake.”
Rolling over to one side, I took in the room. The door was just gone. Marks on the floor were the only traces left. Kitsune guards were still dispatching energetic imps on the edges of the room, but the source was destroyed. Unlike before, we didn’t have to deal with a demon prince this time. Less headache. Climbing to my feet, I began scanning the complex just to be sure.
“Do you still wish to attack me?” I asked the local lord. Both kitsune leaders glared at me from the floor.
“You destroyed the door,” Lord Shinigama stated. “Couldn’t you have just closed it?”
I shook my head. “No. What separates us from the demons is their lack of ability to open and close gateways without help. They’re able to gain access to us by either capturing or possessing magic users. It was a split second choice made for me by your priest and others charging into the maw. If the larger demons didn’t just eat them, they could return to you possessed, their souls ripped out. Irreparable harm was caused the last time this happened. It’s what the battle of Charleston was all about. Lack of a doorway will protect your people.”
“But the loss of heritage… We were entrusted with its protection. What do we tell the clan?” Konjaku whispered.
“The truth. When deciphering legends not everyone gets the details correct. You lost the door, but the Yako lost generations of sons and daughters attempting to open the door. Who lost more? As a people you need to embrace the pain and learn from it. The Gods are petty and cruel. They play games with their followers, calling it a learning experience. Was this a mistaken twist of fate or one of those experiences? Live in the now gentleman. What is paradise but a place of your own making.”
Reaching down I scooped up Fergus, placing him on my shoulder. “Can anyone call me a cab? I’d like to go home now.”
Chapter Fifteen
Who needs a cab when family comes to pick you up? Imagine my surprise to find my grandmother, Cat, and Chuck trying to force their way through a skeleton crew of kitsune.
With a wave of his hand, the Yako lord dismissed the guard. Bowing low in front of my grandmother, Lord Shinigama asked for forgiveness. “My apologies, Queen Blackmore. My family has wronged yours. We were misled.”
Looking past the kitsune, my grandmother locked eyes with me. Smiling and nodding was a non-verbal signal we both used. Accepting but wanting the full story later, she nodded back to me. I gestured downward to remind her of the kitsune.
“For now, you are forgiven. The loss of my granddaughter would have caused an open war with the Blackmore coven. But I see that she is now safe. Was she able to assist you?” Grandmother asked him.
Being behind him, I missed the widening of the eyes and open-mouthed expression. Grams was an expert at catching men of power off guard and turning the tables on them. It was probably a good thing the kitsune were based on the West coast rather than the East.
“Yes, she is a strong representation of our family. Kenji would be proud of her and her abilities. She saved us from our own idiocy. We might even stop the endless war,” Shinigama replied.
“It isn’t for me to judge you. But if you wish closer ties with the Species Council, you will need to reduce your criminality. Ties to the Yakuza will only hurt you. Keep in mind that the humans are antagonistic to our kind at the moment. Staying insular may hurt more than help.” Making a throwaway gesture with her hand, grandmother changed the subject. “Is it possible for your people to fly us home or will I need to make alternative arrangements?”
The Yako lord only smiled.
“Our old bosses would freak out if they knew about this flight. Yakuza warlords and FBI don’t mix all that well these days,” Chuck commented as he
inspected the jet.
“Enjoy it while you can. We’ll be walking or riding from now on. Too many ways to be arrested in one of these,” Cat told him. Giving him a nudge, she plopped down next to me on the plane’s couch. “Slide Clyde.”
Giving my bestie a big hug, I started grilling her on what’s been happening in the world. “... only small details. I did project myself out astrally and do a bit of dreamwalking. There were some details to be had from an FBI supervisor outside the blockade. Sleeping on duty can get you fired.”
“Faith was able to convey some of what you told her. We got California and foxes. Marcella was able to fill in the rest. How hard was that for you? I remember the lessons with Agnes.” Cat hugged me back.
“Pretty hard. Did you know she was a Knockers bartender in school? Her dream was all about working there and mixing drinks. It took a bit to wake her up in the dream to where she would recognize me. Now that I’ve done it a few times I think it’s another tool in my chest of magic. Too bad we aren’t investigating anymore.” I explained.
Cat rolled her eyes and smiled at me. “About that. Chuck and I had a thought. Well, more than a thought. A plan.”
Giving her a poke in the arm, I locked eyes with her. “Spill.”
Grunting to clear her throat, Cat launched into her idea. “It’s like this. There are lots of paranormals getting scooped up by the government task force and either being disappeared or exiled. They either don’t know about the gateway to Otherworld or can’t get to us. We thought we might use some of the contacts we have along with my father’s people and create an underground railroad of sorts. We can use it to sneak our people through the patrols and blockades getting them to safety.”
It was such a good idea it blew me away. But there was so much risk! I didn’t want to lose my friends. “Can you do it and not get caught?”
Cat smiled. “Have you seen Chuck? He’s a giant. You’re gonna laugh, but we’re going to include Mongo as well.”
