“You a vampire or a werewolf?” Sean asks while pointing his shotgun at my prone form.
“Neither.” I reply as I slowly get up, dust myself off, and disengage my helmet.
“I’m a representative of Niflheim and I’m here on behalf of its Prince.” I inform him.
“Do you have any proof of that?” Sean questions without lowering his shotgun.
“They don’t hand out badges, if that’s what you’re asking. I do have this, though.” I answer, unzip my jacket, and lift up my shirt to show him my right pectoral; Sean lowers his shotgun upon seeing the ethereal silver of the Haglaz rune.
“Well, come in and we’ll talk.” Sean replies and turns to walk into the house.
I follow him in, past a grand foyer, down a hall, and into a large kitchen with island bar style seating in the center of the kitchen.
“Sorry about shooting you; can I get you something to drink.” Sean asks.
“A glass of water would be nice. Don’t sweat it; I understand that you were just trying to protect your family from a perceived threat.” I reply as Sean walks over to the refrigerator.
“So what does the Prince of Niflheim need from me?” Sean inquires as he passes me a bottle of Fuji water.
“He needs your assistance in planning a Halloween/ birthday party that will double as a surprise proposal to his girlfriend.” I explain and then one of the guards comes into the kitchen.
“Mr. Combs, four squad cars are here about the gun shots and they’re demanding that you come out.” The guard explains. Sean sighs and shakes his head in response.
“Don’t worry; I’ll handle this.” I say before heading down the hall and out the door.
I pull out my Agency badge as I walk towards the open gate. I see a total of eight officers, six with guns drawn and pointed at me. One of the officers sees my badge and orders the others to stand down.
“Easy, officers. There are no problems here and all of the reported gunshots were fake calls.” I report as I show the lead officer my badge. His partner runs my badge into the computer in the squad car and comes back.
“The badge came back with instructions for PD to ignore any situation he’s involved in unless he requests assistance.” The partner whispers. The commanding officer looks me up and down for a moment.
“We apologize for the intrusion. Have a good day.” The head officer says and motions for everyone to leave. I wave as the cars drive off before heading back into the house.
“The police have been dealt with and it should keep the media off of the incident as well.” I inform Sean.
“So the Prince needs to throw a kickass party? That is something I can help with.” Sean says with a smile.
“Good! I’ve been asked to take you to the Underworld to meet him.” I reply.
“How are we getting there?” Sean asks.
“We’ll be porting there. It’s like teleportation with an added feeling of falling.” I explain.
“How does it work?” Sean inquires.
“I don’t actually know. Just grab onto my arm, I’ll touch the rune on my chest, and it’ll take us there.” I reply.
Sean hesitantly grabs my left arm and I touch my Haglaz rune. We appear in Jason’s bedroom as Sean looks slightly stunned. Jason appears with a swirl of black mist a moment later.
“Sean! So glad you could make it! I’m Jason, Prince of Niflheim; let me show you what you’ll be working with.” Jason says and exits the room.
Sean and I follow him down the hall, past Reyna’s room, and out onto the balcony that overlooks the gigantic, walled rear courtyard that contains a ten foot tall fountain in the center.
“This is where we were planning on having it. I assume that Cole has already told you what I need your help with. And how does Afterlife security sound for your efforts?” Jason asks.
“Why would I need security in the afterlife?” Sean questions.
“Not like that; I mean that I’ll have it so you and your family will be set up for the duration of your afterlife.” Jason explains and Sean thinks it over for a few moments.
“We are gonna throw the greatest Halloween party the Underworld has ever seen!” Sean exclaims.
I’m pleasantly surprised to find that he’s a pretty cool guy and quite a bit like the character he plays in Get Him to the Greek.
Roughly a week after I arrive, I run into an exhausted looking Hel. I expect her to scold me, but she never does.
“No more destroying pantheons and making districts disappear from the Underworld… it’s exhausting.” Is all Hel says as she passes by.
The rest of the week is rather uneventful and, much to my relief, I’m able to go the whole two weeks without dreaming, sleeping soundly through the nights with Cheza by my side.
…
[October 31st]
The obsidian walls of the rear courtyard make perfect screens for the projectors that are set up all over the place. Teams of workers are still setting up the massive sound system, alcohol, and various ‘party favors’ as a pair of snow elf ice sculptors set up what has to be the most elaborate ice luge I’ve ever seen; this thing looks like a damn Hot Wheels race track. I direct some deliverymen over to the bar area when I remember something.
“I still have some things that I need to get done; can you handle things here?” I ask Sean.
“No problem; you go do what you need to do, I’ve got it covered. Hey! The flaming pyramid goes over there, so why are you setting it up here?” Sean rhetorically asks a group of workers that are in the process of setting up the ten foot pyramid of goblets that are going to be filled with alcohol and set on fire until they spell a message to Reyna.
Confident that Sean can handle things, I head up the grand staircase to the second floor balcony and into the house. I walk down the hall and stop in front of Reyna’s bedroom door. I knock twice before opening it.
“DON’T COME IN!” All three girls scream.
“What? It’s not like I haven’t seen all of you naked!” I shout back.
“What do you want!?” Natasha asks, poking her head around the door.
“Don’t I need to go pick up Naia and Ryuji? I have no idea where I’m supposed to go.” I tell her.
“Oh… Ryuji said that they would wait in the Seattle office’s tech area so you’d have a familiar place to port to.” Natasha replies, somewhat abashed.
“Alright I’ll go pick them up and bring them back here. See you later.” I respond as Natasha closes the door.
I touch my Haglaz rune to port to the tech lab of TheAgency’s Seattle office. I see Ryuji sitting in an office chair nearby as Naia stands in front of him with her hands on his shoulders.
“You will be fine, just breathe; you still have about an hour until you meet them.” Naia tells a hyperventilating Ryuji. Naia is wearing a black halter top dress and Ryuji is wearing a tuxedo that appears to have been modified for his wings somehow.
“What’s wrong, Ryuji?” I ask.
“Oh hello, Cole. Ryuji is nervous about meeting Milady and my mother for the first time.” Naia answers.
“Don’t worry, man; you’ll be fine!” I tell Ryuji and his expression lifts.
“Probably… Anyway, are you two ready to go?” I ask as Ryuji’s expression darkens.
Ryuji reluctantly grabs my arm with Naia and I port us all to Jason’s room.
“Hey guys! Whoa! What’s his problem?” Jason asks, gesturing to Ryuji’s sad state.
“He’s meeting both of his girlfriend’s mother figures tonight.” I tell him as Ryuji slumps onto the couch.
“Oh, come on! It can’t be that bad! I met my girlfriend’s mother a couple weeks ago and she’s the Queen of the Azeman! It wasn’t so bad…” Jason says.
“Dude, Naia’s ‘mothers’ are the Queen of the Jinn and Isis.” I inform him.
“Shit, seriously? Well… you might be fucked!” Jason exclaims. Ryuji groans and buries his face in his hands.
“You are too uptight! Here—” Jason
starts to snap his fingers.
“No!” I exclaim and smack his hand down.
“What? I was just going to get him a drink.” Jason innocently replies.
“Fine, but not too much. Come on, Naia; I’m sure the girls want to see you.” I say and lead Naia out into the hall.
“So how goes your relationship with your mother?” I ask as we head down the hall.
“It goes well. Thank you, Cole. Without you, I do not know where our relationship would be, but it most likely would not be amicable.” Naia says.
“Don’t mention it.” I reply.
“But I must! You have done so much for me, even after the horrible things I’ve put you through…” Naia responds as she starts to tear up.
“So how is your mother getting here?” I ask, trying to change the subject.
“She is currently in Duat so she will be accompanying Milady to the party.” Naia replies.
“Why is Tali in Duat?” I inquire.
“She has been in negotiations with the Egyptian pantheon to improve relations after the damage done by Horus. You did the jinn a great service by destroying him; mother even commissioned a statue of you to be erected in the palace courtyard.” Naia answers.
“Seriously? A statue?” I get this image of an angry mob tearing it down and proceeding to piss on the head.
“Anyway, here we are.” I say, stopping in front of Reyna’s door and knocking on it.
“DON’T COME IN!” the girls shout.
“Naia is here. See you guys later.” I shout and head further down the hall.
I step out onto the balcony and watch over the set up for a few minutes. Upon seeing that Sean still has everything covered, I return to Jason’s room.
“What… in… the… hell!?” I slowly ask in quiet astonishment as I see Jason lying on the floor next to a bucket in the bathroom.
“Hey bro—” Jason greets, being interrupted by the vomit flying from his mouth, only half managing to make it into the bucket he’s holding; I notice that he has vomit all over the front of his tuxedo.
“What in the fuck happened!?” I ask.
“Well, I gave Ryuji a couple of drinks and when I realized that I was asking Reyna to marry me in a couple of hours, I started getting nervous so I had a few—” Jason says, being interrupted once again. “drinks. Next thing I know, Ryuji and I are way too drunk so I got us a couple bottles of ipecac.”
“Noooo! HOW!? I haven’t even been gone for thirty minutes!” I reply.
“I’m dying; I seriously think I’m dying! Tell Naia that I love h—” Ryuji is interrupted by the echoic sound of vomit flying into a toilet.
“Now you guys are going to be sleepy as fuck all!” I say and then I hear a knock at the door. “Fuck!”
“DON’T COME IN!” I shout.
“What? Why?” Natasha asks as she starts to open the door. I rush over and slam it shut.
“I SAID DON’T COME IN! JUST WAIT FOR US IN THE KITCHEN!” I yell while holding the door closed.
“Cole, what’s going on?” Cheza sternly asks.
“I’ll explain later, just go wait in the kitchen please.” I beg. The girls don’t say anything else as they walk away.
“I’ll go keep them preoccupied; get yourselves cleaned up and make sure to get some coffee or something to counteract the lethargy you’ll feel from the ipecac.” I tell them and leave the room.
I walk into the kitchen and see Cheza wearing a sexy angel outfit that is just two swathes of white cloth covering her pink bits, and presumably holding up the feathery white wings on her back, with a golden headband to complete the image and pull her hair back. Natasha is wearing a sexy devil outfit that is mostly just a red mini skirt, tube top, and devil horns. I notice that Naia is wearing devil horns too, but these are purple.
“I like your costumes! Where did you find purple devil horns though?” I ask.
“We didn’t; we just painted a pair of red ones with purple nail polish.” Natasha says, blatantly proud of the fact.
“So what was that all about?” Cheza asks.
“What?” I innocently reply while stalling; Cheza narrows her eyes at me. “Oh, that; I just wanted to let you guys know how that felt. After all you did that to me twice!”
“Bullshit; don’t lie to me, Cole.” Cheza thinks, her malicious tone spearing through my mind.
“Jason and Ryuji got way too drunk so Jason got them two bottles of ipecac to try and sober them up and now the entire bathroom is covered in vomit.” I quickly reply. I’m vaguely toying with the idea that Natasha and Cheza should have switched costumes.
“Unbelievable…” Cheza sighs while shaking her head.
“Were you just thinking that Cheza and I should switch costumes?” Natasha thinks.
“Whaaaaat?” I reply in a high-pitched fashion that makes it obvious I was thinking exactly that.
“Haha don’t worry, I won’t tell.” Natasha thinks with a sly smile.
“So what made you decide to go as a devil?” I ask aloud.
“Well, Cheza and I wanted to have paired costumes since we are both escorting you so we decided to be your conscience; after that we just flipped a coin.” Natasha replies. This is the first I’m hearing about being both of their dates, but it’s hardly surprising.
“Where’s your costume, Reyna?” I inquire while looking at her ruby red, backless dress.
“I’m going as ‘the azeman princess whose birthday it is so she can wear whatever the hell she wants’; what’s your excuse?” Reyna snidely asks.
“I’m going as a partially wrapped mummy.” I say while holding up my bandaged left hand. Sean comes down the hall and waves me over.
“Guests have started to arrive and I have a party to get to in Miami so can you get me back there?” Sean asks.
“Sure, just a second.” I reply and walk back to the girls.
“Guests have started showing up. I don’t know what’s taking those two so long, but can you guys go out and entertain people?” I request.
“Sure; we’ll see you when you get back.” Cheza says and leads the girls to the balcony doors.
I port Sean back to his house in Miami Beach.
“Thanks again for all your help; we couldn’t have pulled this off without you.” I tell Sean while standing on the front porch of his house.
“Don’t worry about it. Tell our Prince that I send him my best.” Sean replies and heads inside.
I wait on the porch for the remaining thirty seconds to pass and port to Jason’s room to see what’s taking them so long, only to find that it’s empty. I walk down the hall and head outside to find Jason chatting with people while wearing a black cloak, and Ryuji getting a pep-talk from Naia. While walking down the left staircase, I discover something that is slightly creepy, slightly flattering, and slightly insulting: there are two guys wearing jeans and leather jackets with silver helmets. They’re dressed like me! For Halloween! I wonder how often Marilyn Monroe has to deal with shit like this… probably a lot…
“Noticing the people dressed as you?” Tali asks from behind me.
“Yeah, it’s a little unnerving, but not exactly impossible to understand given the events of two weeks ago…” I reply as I turn around and see that she’s wearing a form-fitting periwinkle dress to match her hair and eyes.
“Yes, what was that about anyway?” Tali inquires.
“I wouldn’t have killed them both had someone thought to inform me that if you kill all the heads of a pantheon before they can pass on their power, you end up destroying the whole pantheon.” I explain.
“No one thought to tell you that?” Tali asks, showing genuine surprise.
“I know, right? I guess I surprised everyone by killing gods totally for the first time!” I sarcastically exclaim. Tali laughs, causing me to chuckle as well.
“Who is that guy talking to?” I hear a girl ask while I’m laughing, which makes me realize that no one here can see Tali.
“So, are you looking forward t
o meeting your daughter’s boyfriend for the first time?” I ask.
“Yes, I am. I must thank you for reuniting us, Cole. And I do understand why you didn’t tell me about her immediately upon realizing the connection.” Tali says.
“Don’t mention it, but how do you feel about meeting Ryuji? Do you even want to meet him?” I inquire.
“Of course I do! I’m just nervous…” Tali replies.
“That’s exactly how he feels about meeting you. Well, if you are keen on meeting him, then you are going to need one of these. Right now, the only people that can see you are me, Chezarei, Naia, and any gods.” I tell her and unwind the bandages from my left hand.
“Airi, if you’d please.”
(As you wish, Master)
A black-ish bangle forms in the palm of my left hand while I try to keep the process as discrete as possible. I don’t feel a drastic shift in the mood at the party so I’ll assume that I was successful.
“What is it?” Tali questions while examining the bangle as I rewrap my hand.
“Naia wears one just like it; without it, no one would be able to see her either.” I reply.
“So someone has been a naughty boy lately!” Isis exclaims behind me and I feel a small amount of dread at seeing her for the first time since I killed Horus; I suppose I should start off by apologizing…
“I’m sorry for killing your son. I may not be sorry for killing Horus, but I do apologize for killing your son.” I say as I turn around. Isis is wearing a form-fitting golden dress that is similar to the one she was wearing when I first met her.
“Thanks, Cole. I understand why you had to kill him and don’t worry; I won’t hold it against you. Osiris does, however, so I’d stay out of his way if I were you.” Isis warns.
“Is he here tonight?” I ask.
“No, he’s not really big into parties.” Isis says. I see Ryuji walking over with Naia, looking cool and calm, which confuses me to no end.
“Cole! It’s good to see you again!” Ryuji ecstatically says as he reaches out and touches the lapel of my tux. “Is that silk? Because that feels fantastic!”
Cole's Haunting Melody (The Gods' Executioner Series) Page 6
