by Kat Cotton
I punched him. “You’re a vampire. You don’t feel the cold.”
“Half-vampire.”
I grinned at him. He’d do it with me, no matter what he said. We’d do this purification together, then I’d be free of the bad juju. I’d have my sex aura back, and then we’d defeat the kitsune and everything would be good again.
Chapter 20 Clem: Waterfall
“You promised you’d do this with me.”
Even from a distance, the roar of the waterfall made conversation difficult. We’d hiked for miles and miles just to get here. I’d never realized there was so much wilderness in Japan.
“No, I didn’t,” Kisho replied. “I never said anything of the sort. All I said was that you should do it. I’ll stand over here and watch. If you want, I can take some photos. You might like to have something to remember this by.”
I figured that was his way of making a joke.
“Come on. This is scary. It’s cold and wet and slippery, and we haven’t even gotten to the waterfall yet. I need you with me.” I gave him my sweetest smile.
He gave me the sweetest smile back, and, coming from Kisho, that was insanely sweet. But he still shook his head. My bottom lip trembled. Surely, that would get him.
“You think you need me with you, but you’ll come through this all the better for using your own strength.”
“Bullshit. You just don’t want to get under the cold water.”
“It looks freezing. And intense.”
“Yeah, I thought it might be a slight trickle. Not a gushing stream like that.”
The closer I got, the less I wanted to do this. I hated it enough when the hot water cut out in the shower.
“Winter probably isn’t the best time to do this.”
We’d almost reached the meeting spot. A few people were waiting in a clearing near the waterfall.
“Also, I won’t understand a word he says. You need to translate.”
“You don’t need to understand with your ears. Your heart will understand.”
Who knew Kisho could be so stubborn?
An old priest greeted us.
“This will work, right?”
Kisho discussed some things with the priest.
“He says there are no guarantees. I didn’t want to go into much detail with him, either. It’d be too hard to explain. But there are other things. He thought an exorcism might be worth a try. They can beat the demons out with sticks. There are other things, too, not Shinto. Like smudge sticks and chakra balancing.”
“I think I’m way beyond smudge sticks.”
“And... umm...” Kisho looked away, like he was going to say something I’d find unpleasant. “Sex with a virgin.”
“Holy fuck. Give me the waterfall. Give me the beating with sticks. Hell. You sure you he didn’t say sacrifice a virgin? Because I could totally do that.”
Kisho laughed. “It wouldn’t be so bad,” he said. “Nic’s totally hot. But he wouldn’t risk breaking the bond with Vlad, I guess.”
“Don’t talk about this like it’s a real possibility.”
The priest handed me a white kimono and headband. Apparently, that was what I had to wear.
I looked around for a place to get changed.
Kisho pointed to some bushes, and I ran behind them. I hung the robe and headband on one of the branches and stared at them. I needed to strip off, but, in the middle of nowhere, there was no heating.
Even with my big puffer coat and a heap of layers, I’d frozen. Taking that coat off would kill me. Before I could even get to the waterfall, I’d be frozen into a big chunk of Clem Starr iceberg.
“Clem?” Kisho called. “They’re waiting for you.”
Damn. I could try running.
“Don’t even think of running,” Kisho said. “Just get the robe on. The sooner you do this, the sooner it’s over with, and I’m getting cold.”
“I will kill you for that remark.”
I unzipped my coat, then took off all my top layers.
It was only when I took off my boots and socks that it hit me.
“Are there shoes for this?” I called to Kisho.
“Shoes? No.”
“I do it barefoot? No. No way. That is not possible.”
“It’s only for a few minutes, and what did you expect?”
“That there’d be some kind of footwear. Like those plastic slippers you wear to the bathroom, at least. I’m pretty sure wandering around the wildness barefoot is the fastest way to pick up some kind of horrific worms.”
“I think you’re pretty safe.”
“Yeah, you only think that because you didn’t actually go into the Parasite Museum. One of us here is now an expert on all those gross worms and ticks and things.”
“Oh, the priest has some Crocs you can wear.”
They wouldn’t provide warmth, but they’d provide protection.
“Do not tell Nic I wore Crocs, and do not take any photos!”
“Okay.”
That might sound like a regular “okay” to the untrained ear, but I heard the implications. Implications like, “If you don’t show Nic the maid photos, I won’t show him the Croc photos I’m going to take.”
I stripped down to my underwear.
Underwear? What did I do with that? Did I keep it on under the robe or take it off too? I couldn’t call out to ask Kisho because I didn’t want anyone else hearing.
I peeled my briefs off. Better do this properly rather than risk it not working. I put on the kimono and tied it tightly around me.
When I came out from the bushes, I handed Kisho my clothes, and he stuffed them in his backpack. He handed me the Crocs to put on. They might look ugly, but, boy, were they comfy.
Two older men were standing around in loincloths. If Kisho was doing the ritual with me, he’d be dressed like that. I’d been so ripped off.
“It’s not too late,” I said to Kisho.
He just smiled. Bastard.
The priest called me over.
I had to stand around with the two men, chanting stuff. I didn’t understand what I was chanting. Maybe I’d said the wrong thing, and this whole ritual would be screwed up. I might even have invoked a whole new evil. That was the last thing I wanted. My ignorance made this dangerous.
I wanted to tell Kisho that, but he stood too far away.
After the chanting, we had to do some weird exercise with our bellies. I just copied what the other two did again.
Then the priest explained something.
Kisho came over and told me I had to throw salt as I entered the waterfall, then chant some words. I repeated the words after him.
“I’m going to forget them or say them wrong. This whole thing is going to end up so fucked up.”
He patted my shoulder. “You’ll be fine. The most important bit is the intention.”
“Yeah, well, I could’ve had the intention at home in my warm bed.”
I inhaled. This ritual might just kill me.
“You can do it, Clem. It’s only a few minutes of discomfort.”
“Yeah, that’s easy for you to say since you’re chickening out.”
The priest called me back over. I took a handful of salt. Then the four of us moved off. At least there was a rope to hold as we walked to the waterfall. Wow, it’d be convenient if this robe had a pocket to put the salt in so I could have both hands free. Or they could’ve given us the salt in a little sachet like you get with takeout food.
I’d never been so cold in my life. I thought my hand might freeze to that rope and I’d be stuck there forever. The first few rocks we clambered over were out of the water, at least.
Then I had to put my foot in the water.
Shiiiiiiit!
I sprang back, spilling some of the salt.
How could water be so cold and not be actual ice?
One of the men walked behind me. He made a little noise. I think it was a noise of hurry the fuck up. I wanted to hurry, I wanted to get this over with as quic
kly as possible, but my entire body refused to move. I wasn’t a masochist. Willingly going into a painful situation was not for me.
He coughed.
I inched my way over the rocks, clutching the rope. As I got closer, the splash back of the waterfall hit me. Shivers ran through me, making it hard to keep going.
My body screamed.
The man in front of me threw his handful of salt. I kept moving and threw mine. Having two hands free made me feel a little safer. Throwing that salt seemed to have no other benefit.
I forced my body to keep going. The roar of the waterfall almost deafened me. The first splashes hit me, and I recoiled. Jesus, that water. It wasn’t just cold; it had so much force behind it that it felt like needles being driven into my skin.
The man behind me got impatient enough to give me a little nudge. Why was he so eager?
I couldn’t go back, not with him blocking the rope. There wasn’t enough room to get around him. I had to keep going forward.
The first man had gotten into position under the waterfall, hands pressed together in front of him in a prayer position.
I took a deep breath and joined him.
Shit, that water got no warmer. It flooded down my face and into my eyes. How would I get out of here with the water blinding me? My shivers had almost turned to convulsions. I stammered out the words the priest had told me to chant even though my teeth chattered so hard, I could barely talk. My body convulsed some more. The force of the water pummeled me so hard, my body had to be bruised.
Could I go? Was this it? Surely, that was enough. Neither of the old men moved. We’d been under that waterfall for hours, surely.
I didn’t feel any different. Just cold. A coldness I didn’t even think was possible.
Then my stomach heaved. Great heaving convulsions. I wanted to get out of here now I’d done the chanting, but I couldn’t move with my stomach heaving like that.
Hell, I needed to throw up. Here, in the middle of the purifying water. I took deep breaths, but the coldness tortured my lungs. The pains got worse. Maybe it was an allergic reaction to purification. I was so impure that once the impurities left me, there’d be nothing left.
Finally, one massive heave went through me, and I gripped my stomach. The pain even drove away the coldness. My eyes watered, and the tears mixed with the waterfall water.
Then, nothing.
My body had gone numb. That was all. I didn’t feel different. I didn’t feel cleaner. Just numb. Well, the numbness could’ve been from standing under the cold water.
The two men moved, and I was forced along even though I wanted to fall into a pile. I had to keep moving, and I had to hold that rope. It would only take a few minutes. All my strength went into holding on and staying upright.
When I reached the other side, Kisho stripped the kimono from me and wrapped me in a big towel. He rubbed my body briskly with that towel, his body close to mine.
It was almost worth the cold and pain to have him do that.
“Are you warm enough?” Kisho asked.
“Not yet. Keep rubbing.” The rubbing was the only good thing about this whole day.
The coldness hadn’t left me, and it wasn’t just from the waterfall. I knew that. The cleansing ritual had failed. I’d failed.
Chapter 21 Nic: Bar Fight
Word on the street was that the Northside gang planned to attack a bar in Smith Street tonight. Unfortunately, word on the street didn’t get any more specific than that. I didn’t have time to spend hanging out in a bar on the off chance it’d be the right one.
“Don’t you have a curfew in place?” I asked the mayor. He’d called over to discuss the potential attack.
“I do. I do indeed.”
“So, you must know which bars are breaking that curfew. Why don’t you send word that you’ll be having a crackdown on illegally opening bars to every place but one? Then that can be the only possible place for the attack.”
The mayor raised his latte cup to salute me. “That’s why you’re the pack leader. You have the smarts.”
It sure was.
I wasn’t really sure why the mayor had popped over to visit again. He seemed to like just hanging out. Since I had no other adult conversation in my life, I didn’t stop him. With Vlad’s increasing strength, though, it became harder to conceal him.
“I’ll turn up, finish this gang off, and we’ll be sweet.”
The mayor nodded.
“But I still get my crim delivery? That’s not going to stop.”
“I see no reason why it should. It’s a small price to pay.”
I smiled at the mayor. The mayor smiled back.
“We’re a winning team, Nic.”
That didn’t mean I trusted the guy one little bit. He’d turn on me as soon as it was expedient. I didn’t blame him; I’d do the same. But, for the moment, we were allies. I needed him, and he brought me coffee and cake.
“Now, for more important things. Where do you buy your suits?”
He stopped smiling. He couldn’t hold out on me, though.
“I’m not sure I want you going to my tailor,” he said.
“Come on, it’s not like I’m going to feed on the guy. You have strange ideas about us vampires.”
“Feed? That’s the least of my problems. I’m worried you’ll look better than me. You already have this amazing charisma, and people love you. I’m supposed to be the one with all the charm in this city.”
I patted the mayor on the arm. “It’s okay. There’s enough charm to go around.”
Lies. Total lies. I could outcharm the mayor any day, but it wasn’t like I’d tell him that. I needed to know about that tailor. The guy didn’t have to worry, anyway. It wasn’t like I planned to run for mayor any time soon.
The mayor got a business card out of his wallet and handed it to me. “Tell him I sent you. I might get a discount.”
Sweet. Sweet like this little cake the mayor had brought.
“Tasty?” a voice yelled from the basement.
“My neighbor again,” I said.
“Come on, Nic. I didn’t come to town on the last turnip truck. I know who you have here. It’s not exactly rocket science piecing it together. You disappeared from the Convention Center with the Demon Child. You move to a new Airbnb with a secure basement, and now you need a constant flow of fresh bodies. Bodies that are returned with puncture marks on their necks.”
I could thrall him to forget that information.
“You can’t thrall me, either. I have protection against that. But, hey, we’re buddies. I’m not going to snitch on you. Who am I going to snitch to, anyway? The VK and I aren’t exactly on speaking terms at the moment, and who else really cares?”
He had a point there. I took another bite of that delicious cake. Even if he did blab this around, I had dirt on him.
I put on a sunny smile. “Yes, I guess if word got out that the mayor who proclaims to want to free the city of vampires was providing victims for a vamp to feed on, it’d be a PR nightmare.”
The mayor’s returning smile was every bit as fake as my own. The mayor and I, we understood each other.
That night, I headed to the only bar open in Smith Street. The crowd spilled out onto the footpath. The mayor’s curfew thing had worked. Whispers in all the right ears but one. That made my job easier, but it also made it a ripe hunting ground for the gang.
I walked into the bar, wondering if saving all these people would be worth my time. They looked like a bunch of wankers, talking in loud voices about their real estate deals and their paleo diets. But, hey, I wondered if any of them needed a series of self-help DVDs. Maybe an online course.
After getting a drink, I sat down on a sofa with a good view of the room.
A girl in a short dress walked over to me.
“I’ve not seen you here before,” she said. She tried to use flirty eyes on me.
Everything about her was immaculate. Good grooming, stylish clothes, perfect nails. Se
e, that was the kind of girl I should be attracted to, not some slob like Clem Starr.
But I missed Clem. I missed the way she got all frustrated when I snarked at her and she knew she had no good comeback. She’d ball her hands up tight, like she wanted to punch me but tried to resist the urge.
No, I didn’t miss her at all. I’d never miss her.
I smiled at the short dress girl. She seemed nice enough, but there was no attraction there. Nothing at all. In my many years on this earth, I’d met so few people I was attracted to. That’s how it went. I knew I was the attracter, not the attractee. I just had to accept other people’s admiration and adoration gracefully.
“Such a drag, all the other bars being shut tonight. I hate this curfew. It really cramps my style.”
“Don’t you think there’s a reason for it?”
“What? This fool idea the mayor has about vampires? As if that were true. I’m sure there’s a more complicated reason behind it. Some big business wanted to ensure that we don’t have access—”
A body flew across the room and almost landed in her lap.
“Vampires!” someone screamed.
Panic flooded the room. I sprang into action.
One of Lucio’s goons rushed at me, a big, slow guy with flinty eyes. One swipe of my blade took him down. I staked him without even raising a sweat. He became nothing but a pile of dust on the floor. Staking wasn’t exactly the done thing between vampires, but I never played by the established rules, and a knifing wouldn’t be nearly as permanent.
Another vamp had a girl pressed up against the bar. She squirmed, trying to escape. Squirming would do her no good. That just got these guys worked up.
I attacked him before he even realized I’d approached. Staked through the heart. She fell as he crumbled.
I held out my hand to her. “Let me help you,” I said.
She looked at me and almost swooned. Understandable. When some ugly, sweaty vampire is about to feast on your neck and he gets replaced by me, that’s most definitely swoon-worthy.
“Get some sweet milky tea,” I advised. “It will help.”
“Behind you!” she screamed.
I spun around and staked another one of the goons. As far as I could see, there was only one left. I searched the room for Lucio, but he couldn’t be seen. Strange that he wasn’t here.
