by LC Champlin
“Unc’ Conrad!” Laughing, the boy tackled him. “Gone so long!”
A wave of relief washed over Albin. “Now we’re back, little wolverine. Did you watch out for your mother while we were gone?” He pulled the boy to arm’s length and gave him an exaggerated look of seriousness.
“Yes. I was good!” The boy’s green eyes sparkled like his mother’s as his grin flashed like his father’s. A wind off the runway ruffled his wild, black hair.
Mr. Serebus and Janine broke from their kiss. She stepped away from him as she met Albin’s gaze.
“Go on,” Albin waved David toward his father.
The attorney straightened to meet Janine in an embrace. She drew him close and hooked her chin over his shoulder. “Albin, thank you so much. You nearly died for Nathan, even after what he did. I don’t deserve someone as good as you. Thank you.”
“It was my honor.” He pulled back enough to kiss her on the forehead.
She in turn pecked him on both cheeks. “You are more than a brother to me.” Then her eyes fell to his neck. Sighing, she traced the scar. The touch made it tingle. “What happened to you these weeks?”
He shook his head. “It is a long story, and one best left for later. What of you?”
“Ditto.”
In the next moment, Mr. Serebus and David caught Janine and Albin in an embrace. The dogs joined with licking and barking. At last, home.
Then Mr. Serebus and Janine separated to share another private moment.
“Dogs!” Albin spread his arms to the three canines, collectively called the Pack or Cerberus. They overwhelmed him and David, their muscular bodies an anchor and reassurance. Albin wrapped his arms around the neck of Fenrir. The Caucasian Shepherd resembled a lion more than a dog. She growled in delight as he scratched her belly. The others interposed, begging for attention.
After greeting them, Albin composed himself. “Mr. Kuznetsov, Mr. Shukla, I am relieved to see you have emerged unscathed, at least physically. Thank you for your service.” He shook hands with Shukla, who dragged him into an embrace.
Then Albin turned to Kuznetsov. The man appeared hesitant. Ah, the man deserved gratitude. Albin spread his arms in invitation. The engineer responded with a polite hug.
“So,” Janine addressed Albin as she leaned against her husband, one arm around his waist and one hand on her son’s head, “who are your friends?”
Introductions and welcomes followed. Janine greeted them with the air of a gracious hostess.
“A pleasure to finally meet you.” Amanda shook hands with the other woman.
“It’s nice to meet you too.”
At the questioning look from Janine, Albin supplied, “They will be living with me until they are able to locate their own housing. Their home in San Francisco is not yet habitable.”
“You’re always welcome to stay with us, too,” Janine added, “if his apartment isn’t up to snuff.” Magnanimous, Janine smiled at the family.
Albin drew breath to elaborate on their role in the past weeks’ events; however, Mr. Serebus’s phone rang.
Chapter 106
Image of the Beast
World Naki Logos – Hellsing Anime Theme
By habit, Nathan deployed his phone. The number read—No. He looked up at the others. “It’s Kenichi Oshiro.”
Swipe to answer. Speaker.
“Hello, this is Nathan.”
“Just the man I was looking for! As you can see from the caller ID, this is Ken. Is everyone gathered around? I’m just assuming, given the timing, that you’ve landed and are finished with your initial welcome-wagon greetings. It must be such a relief to be among friends and family again.”
“What do you want, Ken?” Couldn’t the little bastard give them a moment of peace?
“Hello, Ken,” Janine greeted him as if encountering a coworker.
“Janine, a pleasure to speak with you. I’ll only be a moment, then Nathan’s all yours,” Ken chuckled. “May I congratulate you on your tremendous victory! That was indeed impressive. Turning the cannibals’ signals against their master? Inspired.
“Did you thank Janine? She was, in a way, your real benefactor. If she denies that, she was at least the angel on Neil’s shoulder. Then again, if you look at it another way, she’s a main reason why LOGOS sucked you down the rabbit hole!” Laughter.
“I am aware,” Nathan cut off the mirth. “But I thought you would be angry or at least disappointed when we defeated your desire for the underworld to come to life.”
“Oh, I had fun with the underworld, but playing god gets dull. There are just so many requests and so much to do. Even watching your minions wander about and attack things loses its novelty.”
A trick, surely. “Then am I to understand you truly did want us to defeat LOGOS? You did not want to maintain control of the cannibals?”
“I helped send you there, so that’s a clue. I didn’t want LOGOS to control them.”
Albin stepped forward. “What are you going to do now, Kenichi-san?”
“Albin, good to hear from you. You’re such a good player. MVP! You know how to use the rules to your advantage. You figured out my little riddles, too. Bravo! Encore!”
“No,” Nathan snapped, “no encore. Answer his question.”
“Oh, Nathan, you’re always giving orders.”
Nathan stifled a growl. “I find it difficult to believe you’ll simply return to creating your computer games and augmented reality.”
“As I was saying, playing god was fun, but now it’s dull. So I started thinking: peasants bow to kings, and kings bow to gods. What do gods bow to? And then it hit me: they bow to their creators.”
Blasphemous devil. “God is the creator, the I Am. I don’t know what kind of god you’re thinking of.”
“I believe artificial intelligence is a good start. The next time you log on to Amazon and see suggestions pop up, or when your phone provides the next word to type, think of me. It’s only going to get better from here. Well, TTFN!”
Click.
Nathan returned the phone to his pocket as he stared ahead.
“Nathan,” Janine prompted, “is he going to be a danger?”
Nathan shook his head. “We’ll worry about that later. We’re home and together; that’s all that matters now.” He pulled his family close as he smiled at his friends.
The sun blazed in the heavens, its fire burning away the shade and darkness of the past.
SELAH
Thanks for taking the time to read this book. If the story made you feel something, or at least killed some time, support your local author by leaving a review on Goodreads or Amazon.
Thanks! That helps other people find the book and encourages me to write other stories.
I hope you enjoyed fighting cannibals and sinister organizations alongside the characters. It’s sad to be finishing the series, but their lives go on in our imaginations. And if I ever write a sequel series.
Thanks again for reading!
To keep up to date on new books, as well as get blog posts about villains, weird science, and more, visit my site lcchamplin.com
