Taylor, Diane

by Shadow Demon (Triskelion) (lit)

  Chapter Nine

  >I paid off the taxi driver as he pulled up to the Olympic Marina, adding a nice tip for him. The crisp, winter air seeped into my pores as the cab sped away to pick up another fare. Instinct told me that it would be snowing before nightfall. I grabbed my stuff and headed towards the Marina entrance, keys in hand. Down the dock to my slip and unlocking the door to the houseboat, I stepped inside to my own private realm. It was the best welcome home in the entire universe, lifting my spirits immensely. Once again, my mind thought about the former owner, and I laughed softly to myself. My mother had a heavy addiction to creature comforts after the divorce, much to my delight. The houseboat had all the amenities, yet used the least amount of power in the entire Marina. Solar panels, on board generator and a myriad of other gadgets kept the dockside electrical bill down into the double digits.

  Smiling, I walked over to the bank of switches just inside the door. Flipping three switches in sequence, a soft hum told me the Jacuzzi out on the enclosed deck had begun the process of warming up. A light above the last switch indicated the thermal heat wrappings on all the water pipes were working properly. Which is a good thing. Dealing with exploded water pipes due to ice this late in the season is an absolute bitch. After making the rounds inside the houseboat, I dropped my bags in the bedroom, before returning to the kitchen. Opening the fridge, I perused the food left there. Finding an old bottle of my mother’s favorite vintage of wine had me shaking my head in amazement. I’ve never liked wine all that much, preferring a decent beer instead. For now, however, I grabbed a soda and shut the door.

  Thinking of my mom made me reflect a bit on the past. We’d never actually liked each other. To her, my arrival became the cause for everything from, ruining her modeling career to the reason the sun never shined in the same place each morning. She really didn’t like me, but she’d hated Dad more. Anything she could do to spite him, made her day. Hence the houseboat and the inheritance Dad couldn’t get at even if he tried. After I arrived on the scene, Mom divorced Dad and found a job in business as vice-president of a small time company that made components for AshiCorp. On one of her many business trips to Japan, she fell in love with Ashi Nogura and, well, you know the rest of the story. I got the houseboat after graduation from high school. She probably did it because of the last visit we had together. Dad had been particularly nasty and to us both. My lot in life at the time, became a goal to endure and rise above the abuse. After the commencement ceremony, she drove me to the boat and handed me the keys before walking out of my life for the last time. Walking into this boat with my mom and finding someone had managed to get my stuff out of the house and here, felt priceless. The memory still makes me grin today. Dad got royally pissed when he found out, threatening violence instead of simply verbal abuse. His first and last time until this afternoon. It didn’t work then, and it failed miserably now. I hope he learned his lesson.

  To dispel past memories, I grabbed a few beers out of the fridge and stepped outside. Next to the bubbling water of the Jacuzzi, a bucket of snow sat on the deck, always full during the winter, awaited my arrival. Once they started the chill process, the cold deck drove me back into the warmth and to a hot shower. Two things you learn to appreciate while in the USA, a bubbling hot tub and a shower. I groaned with pleasure as the hot water cascaded over my body, washing away the tension in my muscles. After a few minutes of absolute bliss, my body received a good scrubbing. I had a hard time with my hair, though. The buzz cut thing felt pretty strange, but a lot easier to clean. Checking my body in the full-length mirror brought a frown to my lips after stepping out of the shower. Not bad for a twenty-five year old, I thought to myself, with a couple small exceptions. One of those exceptions was the small, finger shaped, bruises starting to form where my dad grabbed me. The other was the brand on my chest. I wanted nothing more than to claw the blasted thing off, but that would require explaining why it was there in the first place if I went to the doctor.

  “Dad never should have put a hand on me,” I muttered.

  I checked the healing scars around my left eye and the nose for further damage or any sign of infection. Since my refusal for a glass eye, the doctor sewed the eyelid shut to prevent any further damage happening to the inside of the socket. The repair job on my nose appeared to be healing well. The stitch scars were so tiny, they weren’t noticeable. The bruising had a yellowish tinge to my tan skin, a bit ugly and mottled, but it looked okay. Why complain? The nose seemed even straighter than my real nose. Other than that, my body didn’t have the curves to really be called beautiful, but I’d been known to turn a head or two in my time. My body relaxed as the worries of the past few days felt like they had gone down the drain with the soap. The feeling of actually being home, finally, felt wonderful.

  I finished toweling off and moved into my bedroom to snag the wireless from its cradle near the door. In the kitchen, a bowel of iced fruit came out of the freezer. Both the phone and the bowl were set on a small cupboard within hands reach of the Jacuzzi. The cupboard itself contained several large fluffy towels and an array of rough cloths used for wiping sweat and spilled drinks off the deck. Selecting one of these to set next to the rest of my celebratory meal, I pulled the chilling bucket a little closer to my hand before slowly lowering myself into the hot, bubbling water.

  A groan of ecstasy escaped my lips as the heated water lapped it’s way up my body after sinking down onto a molded seat, giving me much needed relief from the tight muscles underneath bare skin. I refuse to wear a bathing suit in my own hot tub. Screw the people who watched through their windows. If they were offended, they shouldn’t be watching in the first place. For me, there’s something primal about looking at the sky while it slowly turned brilliant colors to herald the onset of the night time blue while being stark naked and up to your neck in almost boiling hot water. I reached over to grab a piece of fruit from the bowl, sighing in pleasure as the iced piece of melon dissolved on my tongue.

  After a few moments of self-indulgence, I hit a memory button on my phone, setting it on speaker mode. It autodialed with amazing speed, connecting me to my current paycheck signer. I popped the top on one of the beers and took a good long drink, then ran the cold bottle across my forehead.

  Someone picked up the phone, “Stephanie Grant’s office, Stephanie Grant speaking.” The professional sounding voice, I knew, would verbally tear strips of flesh from her employees at ten paces if she got pissed.

  I chuckled. “So official, and after hours too! Must have been a busy day with my dad pestering you on when I was going to get back with the cover photos.”

  A long-suffering sigh, “You don’t know how much I wanted to kick your dad’s ass from the Canadian border down to the tip of Baja, Terri. I’ve been forced to call his supervisor and threaten to sue for harassment before everything returned to normal. How’re you doing, girl?”

  “Currently? I’m back at my houseboat, up to my neck in a wonderfully hot Jacuzzi, drinking a cold beer.” I smiled mischievously. “You’ve got two choices at this moment. You’re welcome to come down and join me if you like, or you can wait till tomorrow to see the photos.”

  There was a pregnant pause on the other end of the line. “I guess I could take off early. I don’t have a swimming suit or anything,” she murmured.

  “No buts, Steph. Get down here. I’m not turning loose of these pictures until you get the chance to see them in private. I’ll tell you the whole story when you get here.”

  She laughed, “I‘ll be there in a bit. Let me clear up a few things and then we can view those pictures when I arrive.”

  “Stephanie, be careful. This isn’t one of those mystery things that the mayor hushes up with a few bribes here and there.” Another grape went into my mouth after that warning.

  She got serious. “How bad off is it?” she asked with concern.

  “Bad enough that I had four mystery men chase me through the underbrush around Kamakura, then someone else tried to blow
me into the next lifetime. If it weren’t for my stepfather, I’d still be in Tokyo General getting most of the house removed from my body. Steph, someone put that bomb under my bed. So get here, but do it safely. I’ll tell you the rest when you‘re soaking your cute little buns in hot water.” Call me paranoid, but the need to tell her the whole story made the warning important.

  “I’m in the elevator now, Terri. You just keep that water hot and the story warm. Be there in ten.” A click and Stephanie hung up.

  I clicked off the phone, got out of the water and walked inside to gather the photos into a manila folder. The disk and negatives, however, were a different matter altogether. They went into a secret niche stuck inside the oak headboard of my queen-sized bed. Back at the Jacuzzi, I set the folder on top of the cubby, then put a terrycloth robe on a bench for Stephanie, just in case she didn‘t feel like soaking. The eye patch went back on once in the heated water. No sense in spooking my best friend and boss unnecessarily. Taking up my beer once more, I settled in to wait.

  Fifteen minutes later, I heard the gate to the dock open and shut. Moments later, the front door opened up, revealing a shadowed figure. After a tense moment, my brain reminded me that Stephanie had her own key to tidy up my place while I went on assignments. She is the only one with the keys to my sanctuary. With her arrival, a heavy feeling began to lift from my shoulders. Finally, I could unload on someone.

  Stephanie called from inside the living room. “Terri?”

  “Out here!” I waved my beer bottle in the air so that she’d see me. “Grab a brew from the fridge, shed the clothes, and get in here. The water’s warm.”

  In record time, she came out of the house, buck naked, and slipped into the water. Instead of beer, however, she carried a wine cooler. Trust Stephanie to hide a couple of those in the back of the fridge. When I handed over the bowl of frozen fruit, she snagged a cluster of grapes with a grin. Then she got serious. Like someone switching channels, she could go from casual to razor edge intenseness when there’s a story in the making.

  “Okay Terri. Your dad told me about the shoulder, but he didn’t tell me about the eye. Gone?” As usual, Steph got right down to business. No dancing around the topic, no innuendos to worry about. Cut to the chase and save the bullshit for someone who actually needs it. That’s her motto.

  I nodded. “Along with all the bones in my nose. I have the late Cosar Mentari to thank for that. It’s reconstructed with polymer plastic.” I took a sip of my beer. “According to the doctors, his fist, combined with the resulting blast, totally pulped the whole nose and cartilage.”

  She nodded. “Okay, start from the beginning, Terri. I want to hear it.”

  Mentally I debated on leaving a few things out, but a woman’s voice whispered in my mind. “She is safe to trust, Daughter of the Sun. She can help you more than you know.”

  Startled, I glanced around the deck, looking for the source of the voice. My mind, however, worked overtime like an engine kicked into high gear. “Who? What? Where? How?” Adrenaline rushed like cold ice through my system.

  The voice in my mind laughed softly. “I am who you think I am, Terri Montegard. Enough of our chat. Talk to your friend and tell her everything. I will help you if she needs proof. I will explain later if you need an explanation. ”

  I looked at Stephanie. “Settle in.” Then set the bowl of fruit between us and took a deep drink. “It all began two months ago when you contacted me about following Mayoral Candidate Cosar Mentari and his fiancée, Sara Ashi, around Japan...”

  ****

  Two hours later, Steph looked a bit dazed and confused. I gave her the entire story with a single omission. I did not, repeat not tell her about my stepfather being Yakuza. That one piece of information needed to be kept quiet. For both our sakes. If Dad taught me anything about crime organizations, they don’t like being dragged into the limelight by a photographer. I may hate my dad, but he taught me things that made my life as a photographer go a bit smoother. One other thing my story didn‘t contain, my mystery man. That would trigger her bloodhound instincts to get more info. Just the thought of him made my toes curl while an electrical tingle started at my nipples and made its way downwards.

  I finished the story and sighed. “Now you know what I know. The photos are up on the cupboard when you get done soaking.”

  She nodded. “Terri, you’ve got yourself into a deep hole and it’s getting deeper by the moment. Whatever you’ve got, girl, you find a way to get rid of it and fast.”

  I stared long and hard at the bottle in my hand. “If I knew what the hell it was, I would’ve destroyed it long ago. But it seems that I’m stuck with them until it gets figured out. Now, you don’t seem to be freaking over the ghost, let alone the Goddess allowing my stepsister to visit things. Care to share?”

  A rosy pink flush colored her skin. “Well, to spill the beans, so to speak. I see ghosts all the time. Not many people know about the other side of my life. I try to keep it quiet because I don’t want to be known as a freak.”

  I nodded. “And the Goddess end?” Curiosity rode me hard. One of my many downfalls when it comes to getting to know people.

  She chuckled. “I am what is known as a Pagan, Terri. A Solitary eclectic, worshiping the Goddess. Your Amaterasu seems to be just another manifestation of the Mother.” Smiling, she continued. “If She talks to you, then you’re more in touch with Her than I am with mine.”

  Finishing my beer, and snagging some frozen melon, my gaze wandered around the deck. “I guess you’re right. But, well...” Words failed me as I tried to express the feelings that were chasing themselves around my brain.

  She waved a hand at the medallion around my neck. “She allowed Sara Ashi to reach out to you from the spirit world and give you a gift. I’d say it’s proof enough that She does talk to you. Just not in the same way I do with the Mother.”

  I smiled and caressed the small medallion. As my thumb brushed the Japanese characters etched on the back, a tingle went through my fingertips. Markus’s face swam through my head. That salt and pepper hair combined with the green and amber eyes made liquid fire run through my veins. Brushing my fingertips over my lips, my mind indulged in imagining what it would be like to have those oh-so-soft looking lips capture mine in a searing...

  “Terri!” The loud voice abruptly yanked me back to the here and now, making me jump in startlement, splashing warm water everywhere. Stephanie.

  I looked over at her, my face flaming in embarrassment. “What? What?”

  She chuckled. “You looked so strange with that moonstruck look on your face.” She had a gleam in her eye. “Met someone finally, have we?”

  “Will you quit looking like a cat that just got the bowl of cream?” Grumbling, I ducked under the water to get control of my runaway emotions. Coming up for air, my body floated in the water. “You know I’ve never had any serious form of a love life before. Hell, every time I found Mr. Right, Dad always found a reason for him being Mr. Wrong.” Yes, I sounded resentful. Because it was true.

  She leaned forward with that knowing glint lighting her eyes. “That wasn’t exactly a no I heard. So tell me, tell me everything.”

  Shaking my head, “Oh no you don’t. I’m not telling because there’s nothing to tell!” I pointed to the folder, hoping to distract her from the issue. “Check those out and see if they’re usable for your photo spread. I know he‘s dead, but maybe there’s something you guys can use as a Life and Times thing about Cosar.”

  I could tell she wanted to press the issue, but curiosity got the better of her. She climbed out of the water, toweled off, then donned one of the robes. “I trust you to be thorough in your work, Terri,” she said as she opened the folder to remove the stack of photos. Before she even looked at the first one, she turned her intense gaze on me. Knowing what was coming didn’t make it any easier to answer. “So when are you going to tell me what happened in the Chen Shan mountains?” Her gaze dropped down to the brand on my chest.r />
  My hand dropped down to cover the scar. “Never, Stephanie. The pictures that you got and the story behind them were the only thing you will get. It’s been five years and I still can’t talk about it.” I smiled sadly to take the sting out of my words, then closed my eye, relaxing back into the water. “That’s the reason why my name is always at the top of your autodial list. Don’t deny it. When your regular shutterbugs freak out at the eggshell walking, I’m the one you turn to. That and the potentially dangerous assignments.” Grinning, I decided to get a jab in, “So when are you going to upgrade me to the secret admirer list that I know you have stashed in that oak desk you have at work?”

  Retaliation came in the form of an ice cube dropped onto my chest, causing me to gasp at the cool fluid rapidly melting on my overheated skin. “Behave yourself, woman.” She laughed at the reaction. “You’re beautiful, but you’re just not my type, hon.” she winked.

  What most people don’t know is Stephanie is a closet lesbian. In her line of work, there’s still a social frowning on same sex relationships. However, she’s found a way around it by arranging `business meetings’ with her partner. An executive of a different company that also happens to be a competitor of hers. I’m the only one who could get away with teasing her about her lifestyle. Being straight, I am her confidant and her sounding board, and someone just to pal around with when she needs it. I first met her while doing an architectural shoot for another company and wanted to take some pictures of her office building. She made a comment that she just had to get me hooked up with someone, being too beautiful to be single. And the fun never stopped from there.

  I looked up at her and wiped the sweat out of my eye. Steph still had her head down, gazing at the photos with a concerned look on her face. “What? What’s wrong with the pictures?”