An Imperceptible Ruse Indeed (The Gods' Executioner Series) (10 page)

“Come in.” Maria replies.

“Hey Maria.” I say as I walk into the room.

“Hello
, Cole. What can I do for you?” Maria asks.

“Well, I have to go meet with the vampires in Mexico City to ask about the murders of three of the heads of the Aztec pantheon last night, and I figured that you would most likely have some information on them. I need to know where the vampires are and who is leading them.” I tell her.

“Well, I do know that the vampires are situated in the skyscraper that used to be the azeman embassy. I’ve been informed that they’ve bought out four blocks surrounding the building, blocked off the area, and rerouted traffic around it by claiming that they’re doing construction. Essentially, they’ve created a fortress.” Maria tells me.

“What about the leader?” I
inquire.

“I’m afraid that I can’t help you there because I have no information on who is leading them. However, I do know that they know that you are working for me so you most likely won’t be getting anywhere near the leader.” Maria replies.

“Great… so what now?” I ask.

“Well, we go to the vampire’s fortress and I’ll go in to get the information while you wait at
someplace nearby.” Tia suggests.

“Yeah, I suppose that will
work. Mexico City, here we come.”

Chapter 10: Tenochtitlan

I port us into an alleyway across from
the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral, a massive church that is just over a mile from the former azeman embassy. I step out of the alleyway and head into the square in front of the cathedral to look for the skyscraper of the former azeman embassy; I stand beneath a gigantic Mexican flag as I look around. Stretching along the square to my right is a wall that looks like it belongs on a British parliament building. I turn to the left and spot the skyscraper in the distance. I hear Tia sigh behind me and I turn around to find sorrow in her eyes.

“What wrong, Tia?” I ask.

“Nothing… I just don’t like coming here… especially now.” Tia solemnly replies.

“Why?” I inquire.

“This place just brings me a certain deal of sadness. I can still see Montezuma’s palace where the National Palace now stands, which isn’t too bad because a great deal of Montezuma’s palace was used in the construction of the National Palace.” Tia says while pointing at the parliament-esque wall to the right.

“
The place that brings me the most sadness is the Metropolitan Cathedral.” Tia tells me as her eyes glaze over slightly and a certain depth to them appears. For the first time since I’ve known her, Tia’s true age is actually showing through.

“Why does the cathedral make you sad?
Is this the site where the explosion occurred?” I ask, referring to the ultimate Aztec warrior that died in an explosion to save a Spanish missionary.

“No, that actually occurred at a different site. This is where the sacred precinct once stood. What the people of today call the Templo Mayor, the second largest location for sacrifice after the main temple that was destroyed in the explosion
, sat right over there.” Tia replies while pointing to the top right corner of the square.

“The cathedral is where Harry’s main temple was before it was destroyed by Hernan Cortes. This entire city used to be Tenochtitlan, the city that Harry instructed the Aztecs to build. This all used to be his city… but now it’s gone… and now he’s gone…” Tia softly says as tears well up in her eyes.

It pains me to see the woman I consider to be my elder sister like this, so I quickly step forward and hold her as she works through it.

“Let’s go find who murdered him.” I quietly suggest.

“Yeah… thanks, Cole.” Tia replies and wipes the tears from her eyes.

We head left out of the square and walk for about a mile. I notice several vampires with bronze auras wearing heavy clothing and hats, presumably to block out the sun and prevent burns. Construction signs start popping up as traffic starts thinning to follow the detour signs. With all of the sinking that goes on in Mexico City, saying that they needed to do construction to level off any tilting wouldn’t bring any suspicion from the public eye and then it’s just a matter of paying off the government
.

Tia and I finally come to the construction area that has been cordoned off and is guarded by two vampires dressed in hoodies, reflective vest
s, and hard hats. Tia pulls me onto the patio of a café that is just before the construction area. I notice that I have a fairly clear view of the former azeman embassy skyscraper from this location.

“Alright, so you wait here, I’ll go in and have a chat with the leader to find out what they know, come back here, and we’ll proceed from there.
I’ll give you a call if anything goes wrong.” Tia says on the patio.

“Okay, see you soon.”
I reply. Tia turns to leave and then stops, turns back around, and gives me a hug.

“Thanks for helping, Cole.” Tia whispers.

“Of course; how else was I supposed to respond to my big sister needing help?” I rhetorically ask.

Tia smiles at me and leaves the café while I take a seat.
I watch as she walks across the street and heads down to the ‘construction’ area. The ‘construction workers’ stop Tia and they talk for a moment before one takes out a radio.

“
Hola, puedo tomar su orden?” a waitress asks. I assume that she wants to take my order.

“Uh… caramelo macchiato?” I reply, unsure if the caramel in caramel macchiato should be translated to caramelo… and also unsure if caramel in Spanish is caramelo beca
use the only Spanish I know is what I’ve picked up from living in Arizona for the majority of my life.

The waitress smiles, nods, and leaves. I look back to see one of the vampires escorting Tia down the block towards the
skyscraper. I wait for a few minutes and the waitress brings over my coffee.

“Um, check por favor?” I ask.

The waitress looks confused for a moment so I pull out my wallet and hand her a credit card. She nods in understanding and takes the card. A minute later she comes back with the bill, a pen, and my card. I sign off on the bill after entering an inconspicuous amount for a tip so that I won’t be remembered. I slide my card back into my wallet and sip my coffee.

Five minutes pass by and I finish my coffee as I notice that the vampire that escorted Tia has returned. Ten minutes pass by as I watch the comings and goings of the vampires. Twenty minutes pass by with no word from Tia, but I suppose that isn’t all too weird; the leader might be making her wait or something. I suddenly hear a crashing sound in the distance as shards of glass fall from the top floor of the skyscraper
. I see someone fall out of the window… someone with a burgundy top and long black hair…

Shit! I have to save Tia, but how!? I can port up to catch her, but then I’d just be falling too… wait, momentum carries when I port so if I get a running start and port midstride… that just might work, but it’s going to take some careful timing. I jump out of my seat and start sprinting towards the skyscraper as fast as I can before porting into the air. I continue sailing through the air and pass undern
eath Tia, missing by about fifty feet. I hit the side of the skyscraper and kick off of it, catching a noticeably wet Tia on the return and aiming for the adjacent building as a landing point. We make it half way across before I realize that I’m not going to make it… fuck, this is going to hurt.

(*Sigh* What did I say about jumping off of tall buildings? Luckily, this time around you have enough control to utilize the power of a fallen god)

“What are you talking about?”

(Horus was a sky god)

My left arm flushes black as I comprehend Airi’s meaning. I focus on willing my body to slow down and it starts to work. I hypothesize that Horus’s power somehow changes the effects of the gravitational pull on my body as my decent speed slows until my feet gently touch onto the street in the middle of the empty intersection.

“That was pretty close, eh Tia?” I ask while cradling her in my arms. I look down and my face falls in horror.

There’s a Void dagger sticking out of Tia’s chest.

“Tia?” I ask
as I fall to my knees in shock.

“I love you,
my little brother.” Tia softly says with a sad smile.

“No Tia! Don’t talk like that! I’m going to fix this!” I exclaim as a few tears slip fro
m my eyes. Tia weakly reaches up and places her hand on my cheek.

Tia closes her eyes and goes limp as a hole is burned through her chest. The dagger falls into her chest cavity.

She’s gone…

(Master…)

“Airi! Please tell me that there’s some way to fix this! That there’s some way to save her!”

(I’m sorry, Cole…)

These bastards… these goddamn sons of bitches killed her… they’re going to pay… ALL OF THEM ARE GOING TO DIE FOR THIS!

Something inside me breaks as
I feel a prickling sensation on my left arm, starting at the line where my artificial arm meets what’s left of my flesh. The sensation travels upward, over my left shoulder before branching out across my left shoulder blade and left pectoral. It continues moving up the left side of my neck, stretching across my cheek before it comes to my left eye. I feel my eyes flush with the Void as my body floats up until I’m about a foot off of the ground, still cradling Tia in my arms. An enhanced situational awareness comes to me and I become hyperaware of my surroundings.

Vampire soldiers in all of the surrounding buildings begin firing at me, but I don’t bother to engage my helmet
. Void tendrils shoot out of the holes in my left arm and right leg, shredding the sleeve of my jacket and legging of my jeans. Tendrils of several different sizes move around Tia and expand outward from my position until I can see strings of black in every direction.

The
tendrils strike the weak points of the small surrounding buildings that the vampires are using for cover. Two fragmentation grenades land at my feet before the tendrils pick them up and throw them back. Explosions and resulting screams reach my ears as the small buildings collapse around me. Vampires flood out into the streets and start shooting for a moment before the tendrils find their heads. Blood and bodies cover the streets in all four directions as I turn my attention towards the skyscraper on the corner.

I float up to the doors and see twenty-five vampires with guns trained on the entrance. The tendrils spear forward and then move horizontally from left to right a
t chest level before moving in a circular pattern around me. The tendrils send a small width of everything they touch into the Void, cutting the vampires and the middle section of the wall in front of me. The vampires’ arms fall off at mid-bicep level as their shoulders and above are stricken from their bodies. The center of the wall, including the doors, falls to pieces as I float through the circular opening.

I look upward and know that there are squads of vampires on each of the seventeen floors above me. I come up with a fun way to take them out, but I won
’t be able to kill the leader, or have confirmation of his death. I exit the building, look up at the window that Tia fell out of, and will myself to fly up there, feeling the gravitational pull reversing beneath my feet.

The vampires watching the elevators and the stairs
on the seventeenth floor are surprised when they notice me floating outside the broken window. One vampire turns and fires a damn rocket launcher at me, but a tendril shoots into the room and strikes the rocket as it leaves the tube, causing it to explode and kill the surrounding vampires. I notice a door on the back wall behind the reception desk and move towards it. My tendrils ‘open’ it for me and I proceed through the large hole where the door once stood.

“Who is in charge here?”
I ask the six vampires in the room from the entrance of the ornate office.

I somehow notice the lights above the elevator door
, sixty feet to the rear of my position; reinforcements brought on by the explosion, no doubt. Tendrils shoot across the sixty feet of room to the elevator doors before puncturing them to sever the cables as the light for the fourteenth floor lights up; that’s a long way down.

“I SAID WHO IS IN CHARGE HERE!?” I shout
.

Five out of the six vampires immediately point to one at the back of the room. I float towards that one as tendrils spear into the heads of the other five; after all, snitches get stitches… or in this case, decapitation. I turn my attention back on the vampire in charge: the leader of the vampire rebellion. The white man with brown hair looks neither strong nor charismatic as I approach him.

“So, you are the one responsible for this… for killing my sister.” I gravely announce.

“No! That was Venus! She’s the one that has been leading us! She’s the one that
threw the dagger into that woman’s chest and blasted her out of the window! She ported away right before the fighting started!” the vampire spills.

I know Venus hates me for killing her husband, Vulcan, and her lover, Mars, but would she really side with Loki for revenge? That, I’m not sure of. I send the tendrils over to pick up the vampire and bring him to me. I hold my left hand out while still cradling Tia and bring the vampire’s mouth towards it with the tendrils. The vampire closes his mouth and keeps it tightly shut.

“Open your mouth.” I order, but he doesn’t obey.

I could force the blood in through his nose, but that seems too easy. Instead, I spear a tendril through the bottom of his chin and have it hook around his jaw before yanking down, breaking his jaw in the process; a process which wasn’t really necessary considering that he started screaming once the tendril punctured his chin, but it was already in there so I decided to follow through.
I siphon the blood down his throat and move it into his brain where I start flipping through his memories in a rapid fashion.

I
’m vaguely aware as my tendrils shoot out of the office, towards the door that leads to the stairwell that is located near the elevators, as I get to the recent memories.

“Venus,
Tlazolteotl is here from the Aztec pantheon to discuss the murders of the pantheon heads that took place last night.” The vampire says; I guess he’s Venus’s assistant, secretary, or receptionist.

“Haha! I can’t believe my luck!
Here I was thinking that the plan last night had failed since we weren’t able to kill Quetzalcoatl, but now the true target is coming to me! I always thought that destroying the Aztec pantheon just to kill a single goddess to hurt Feros was overkill, but now I get the satisfaction of killing her in person! Where is she?” Venus asks.