An Imperceptible Ruse Indeed (The Gods' Executioner Series) (20 page)

“How about I kill whoever gets covered in blood!? Now there’s a fun game!” I announce and hack the head off of a nearby blue dragon in human form.

Laughing all the while, I sprint around the room and make good on my promise as I slash apart any human-dragons that have blood on them, which is a little difficult to tell because of the red dragon soldiers’ armor. By the time I’m finished, the dragons that are left have warped into their giant lizard form, crowding the room with a surplus of twenty fire-breathing lizards with deer antlers protruding from their skulls. A blast of fire threatens to roast me before I jump out of the way and proceed to decapitate another dragon.

“You know, I wish that it was the size of the antlers that counts in deer hunting instead of the number of points, because all you fuckers have six points or less! The guys at
the lodge will just laugh at me if I bring your pansy-ass antlers in as trophies!” I yell while laughing.

Jets of fire start erupting around me as I notice the last Longwang getting his shit together and making a break for Ryuji, looking comical with foot long claws where his hands should be.

“What is this, a lame Mario game? Come on girls! You can do better than this! HERE’S A LITTLE MORE INCENTIVE!” I shout as a Void tendril shoots out of the side of my left arm and hits the red Dragon King when he’s six feet from Ryuji.

The red dragons roar with the fall of their master while I laugh and slice off the head of another dragon.

“You know what? I’m kind of bored with this, so I’m just going to end you all now!” I announce as I sheathe both Diamond swords.

Ten Void tendrils extend out from my left arm at different
heights. I swing my arm and tendrils like a wall of giant swords as I walk around the room, slicing all of the dragons into bits with each swing. The giant lizards lie in large strips by the time I’m finished. I walk through the carnage and over to Ryuji’s position.

“For those of you that are still alive, count yourselves lucky! Spread the word that Feros will not tolerate anyone threatening to hurt his friends!” I announce to the room in case I missed one.

I bend down next to Ryuji and free him from his bindings. Suddenly, I get the urge to grab his head and slam it repeatedly into the ground. I fight the urge, but it doesn’t recede.

What’s going on? I’ve never had this urge towards those
that are close to me before, if I don’t count what happened with the Greek/Roman pantheon, which I didn’t because I just assumed it was a result of my compromised state caused by Tia’s death.

(It’s a side effect of the Void. You already had a taste of it five years ago)

“What do you mean, Airi?”

(Five years ago, during your fight with
Illapa, I introduced the Void into your system. It was a small dose and your blood had to be used to offset the cost, but that’s the reason that Illapa was paralyzed when the silver tendrils were in him. It soon became apparent that you weren’t ready for it as the Void started affecting you with certain sadistic tendencies. Luckily, we got a redo when you died)

I think back to when all the sadistic tendencies I had started and realize that it was immediately after my fight with
Illapa. I thought it was because of my Drive, Bhairava, having merged with my consciousness, mainly because that’s what Airi initially told me.

“What do you mean ‘we got a redo’?”

(The Void was only present in your old body, not your aura. When I kept your aura ‘in play’ after you died, I instructed Shiva to create a new vessel for ‘me’. Once Parvati put us into your new body, we had a fresh start. Were it not for that, had you remained in your old body, you would have reached this stage several years ago)

The incident with Sara and the knife pops up in my mind and I realize what Airi means.

“So what can I do about it?”

(My suggestion is to get away from everyone
when you get like this)

“We need to get out of here.” I tell Ryuji
in a strained fashion.

I grab his wrist and port us to the sitting room of the tigers’ base
. We land in the sitting room with Cheza, Kanta, Nagi, and Jeremy behind us.

“Did you succeed? Are the Dragon Kings dead?” Jeremy asks as Ryuji stands up.

I drop down to my hands and knees, clenching my eyes shut. Part of me is seeing everyone in this room as a target to be destroyed and it’s slowly winning… I just have to hold out for forty more seconds and I can port away from them. A prickling sensation in my right thigh moves upward, accompanied by a burning in my chest that increases the more I resist the urge to kill until it feels like I’ve been swallowing plasma.

“Cheza… help.” I practically whimper a
nd she’s at my side in a flash.

Cheza cups my face in her hands and brings my head up to look into her eyes as she cools her hands
. Her frozen lips meet mine as she wraps her arms around me and squeezes tightly. The burning in my chest cools down and I feel the Void on my face receding. Once the prickling finally stops, Cheza pulls away from me, looks into my eyes, and gives me a sad smile.

“Let’s go home.” Cheza whispers and I smile in response.

“The Dragon Kings are all dead and any dragons left alive at the base know that Feros was responsible. Kanta, can you tell my brother that this situation should be taken care of?” I request.

“Yes, Lord Cole—I mean, Cole.” Kanta replies.

“Thanks. Well Ryuji, let’s get you back to Naia.”

Chapter 19: Offing Oneself is not Acceptable

“
Ryuji? RYUJI!” Naia exclaims in a flurry of tears as she runs to Ryuji when we appear in Jason’s living room. Last I remember, Naia had gone to bed; she must’ve woken up and come down here to watch TV.

“I’m back.” Ryuji replies and hugs Naia.

“This is touching and all, but I’m really tired so I’m going to go get some sleep.” I announce and head for the stairs.

I walk into the
bathroom across the hall from the bedroom and step into the shower. The water washes out some of the blood from my clothes before I take them off and scrub myself up. I cinch the towel around my waist after drying off when the bathroom lights suddenly flicker.

“That was pretty close. I thought I was going to have to send Sydney in to kill Ryuji to kick you into a Void state again, but then you did it all on your own! You need to throw yourself into the Void with reckles
s abandon.” Loki says in the bathroom mirror.

“And why should I do that?” I ask.

“Because I’m really tired of waiting to see what will happen! It’s excruciating waiting for this when you only have a few more nudges to go before you slip in completely! And since I’m so tired of waiting, I’ve come up with a solution!” Loki exclaims.

“And what is this solution?” I inquire with annoyance because I want to go to bed.

“Why, it’s the next ‘event’ of course! I’m quite proud of this one. I’m just going to go ahead and warn you that this threat cannot be beaten without using the Void!” Loki explains in an excited fashion.

“You should look forward to it! By the way, how does it feel to know that you’re responsible for the death of your sister?” Loki asks.

Anger flares inside me and I lash out at the mirror with my left fist. The mirror breaks, but instead of dividing Loki amongst the broken pieces, Loki is only in one large shard and laughing at my outburst.

“I’ll give you a little bit of time, but come New Year
’s, the game is back on.” Loki says with a broad grin before disappearing.

(It seems that the years have not been kind to his mental health)

“Cole!? What’s wrong!?” Cheza asks as she rushes into the bathroom and sees the broken mirror.

“Loki
appeared in the mirror again… taunting me about Tia…” I grimly reply.

“Come on… let’s go to bed.” Cheza
gently says while grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the bathroom.

Cheza pulls me into the bedroom and shuts the door behind us.
I get into the bed while Cheza strips out of her suit before climbing in after me, snuggling into her usual spot against my right side.

“Cole… you already know, don’t you? The thing that I’ve been trying to tell you for the past couple of days…
? That’s the reason you felt weird, like you did when you fought Venus, at Nagi’s house and with the tigers, wasn’t it?” Cheza thinks and I remain quiet for a few moments as I feel Cheza’s anxiety increase.

“If it’s a girl… we’re naming her Tia…” I whisp
er and Cheza squeezes me tightly as a few tears drip down onto my chest.

“Okay.” Cheza happily replies and we drift off to sleep.

…

[December 28
th]

I wake up at noon the following day
to find Cheza in the bathroom, puking once again.

“I’ll be fine, just do me a favor and leave.” Cheza requests so I
head downstairs; if she keeps sending me away even now that I know about the pregnancy, I think we’re going to have to have a talk.

“Hi Uncle Col
e!” Alice waves from the couch in the living room when she sees me.

“Hey sweetie; are you hungry?” I ask as I sit down next to her on the couch.

“A little.” Alice admits.

“Did you eat yesterday?” I inquire.

“No, you weren’t around…” Alice replies.

“It seems her initial bloodlust is wearing off. She’ll be down to feeding once a week pretty soon.” Reyna tells me as she walks in from the kitchen with Alice’s lunch.

“What happened to the blood I bottled?” I ask.

“What blood you bottled?” Reyna replies
with an uninflected tone and quickly leaves the room. I guess that answers my question…

“How about you finish your lunch and if you’re still hungry, you can have some blood?” I suggest.

“Okay Uncle Cole!” Alice replies and shovels a spoonful of mac and cheese into her mouth. I sit next to her and watch cartoons while she eats her lunch.

“I’m still hungry, Uncle Cole…” Alice tells me once she’s finished.

“Alright, come here.” I tell her in a friendly manner.

Alice sets her bowl down on the couch and moves over to sit on my lap. She leans
up, bites into my neck, and drinks less than half a liter before cutting herself off.

“Thanks, Uncle Cole
…” Alice sheepishly says.

“Anytime, sweetie.” I reply as Cheza walks into the room.

“Hey Cole? Naia and Ryuji need to get back, as do Natasha and I. I need to talk to Carla about maternity leave.” Cheza says.

“
Alright, let’s go pack and get Sara to do the same.” I reply and we head upstairs.

Once in the bedroom, I pull on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt before grabbing my now-dry armored jeans and jacket from the bathroom
to pack them away with the rest of my clothes.

“I’
m going to check on Sara and tell her that we’re leaving.” I tell Cheza while she is still packing her things.

“Okay.” Cheza replies.

I head further down the hall and knock twice before entering Sara’s room, only to find that she’s still sleeping. I walk around the bed to wake her and I see some suspicious items: a letter, an empty glass, and a white bottle. I read the bottle and see that it’s Ambien… and it’s empty. I sniff the glass and smell Vodka… I don’t even need to read the letter to know what it’s about. I smear some of my blood onto it with my left hand and transmute it into Acetylene. The letter goes up in flames too hot to leave any ash.

“Airi, I assume
my blood broke down the mixture?”

(Yes, Master)

“Thank you.”

“Wake up, Sara.” I calmly say while shaking her and her eyes flutter open.

“We’re going back to our house, so you need to pack.” I inform her as she wakes up.

“
Oh… Okay.” Sara drowsily replies as she sits up and looks around.

I don’t say anything as I leave the room and head back to my guest bedroom, nor do I say anything to C
heza about the situation.

“Can you go tell Naia and Ryuji that we’re leaving soon?” Cheza asks.

“Sure.” I reply and head back down the hall again.

I knock twice on the door of the room Ryuji and
Naia are staying in before entering.

“Hey Ryuji, we’re going to be leaving soon.” I inform him when I see that he’s the only one in the room.

“I know…” Ryuji replies.

“How are you handling things?” I ask; he must be under some stress with the whole kidnapping thing.

“Fine… I guess I’m a bit shocked… finding out the truth…” Ryuji responds.

“What truth?” I inquire.

“About my birth parents… about how they didn’t abandon me for selfish reasons, but because they knew that I’d be killed along with them for being black dragons… I’ve held animosity for them for most of my life, but now I just feel like a giant piece of shit…” Ryuji tells me.

“Yeah, that sucks… but remember that they did what they did because they wanted to give you a life, not so they would have someone to mourn them.” I reply.

“You’re right…” Ryuji says.

“I need to go take care of some things, so just come downstairs when you’re ready.” I tell him.

“Alright… thanks, Cole.” Ryuji replies as I leave the room.

I head downstairs and find Jason
and Reyna in the kitchen.

“Hey, we’re all going to be heading home now.” I inform him.

“Alright bro; I’ll give you a call when Alice is hungry again.” Jason replies.

“Sounds good.” I say.

“Ready to go?” Cheza asks behind me. I turn around and see Cheza, Natasha, Sara, Naia, and Ryuji waiting for me.

“Yeah. Thanks for putting up with us.” I say to Reyna and Jason.

“Anytime! Oh, Cheza! Did you remember to grab the pregnancy books?” Reyna asks.

“Yeah, they’re in my bag; thanks again!” Cheza replies.

“See you guys soon. Alright everyone, link up.” I tell them and hold out my left arm.

Everyone grabs my arm except Cheza because she is holding her bag and mine so I place my right hand on her shoulder. I picture us standing in the living room of our house in Bellevue and port everyone there.

“I’ll show you to your room, Sara.” Cheza says and carries our bags upstairs while Sara follows.

“I’ll take you two back to your apartment now.” I tell Naia and Ryuji once a minute has passed. They grab my arm and I touch my triskele.

“Thanks again for rescuing Ryuji, Cole.” Naia says and hugs me.

“Of course! I wasn’t going to let one of my friends get killed. Ryuji, you should probably call your parents and let them know that you’re alright.” I tell him.

“Yeah, I’ll go do that.” Ryuji replies.

“
Alright, I’ll see you guys later.” I say and port back to the house.

“Hey Cole? We need you to take us to the office now.” Cheza informs me while sitting next to Natasha on the couch.

“Right, reports and maternity leave. Okay, let’s go.” I tell them and the girls stand up.

I grab both of their hands before realizing that I still have fifteen seconds. I stand there awkwardly until I picture us standing in Carla’s office and port us there.

“Chezarei, Natasha, I’ve been expecting you two. I’ve been meaning to forward along a message to you as well, Cole.” Carla says when we appear in her office.

“What message?” I ask.

“AUSSIE sends their thanks for all of your help. They offered to show you and Chezarei a good time if you’d like to go on a vacation.” Carla informs me and Chezarei starts cracking up.

“Bastards…” I mumble.

“Haha! Don’t hold it against them, Cole; there’s no way they could have known haha!” Cheza laughs.

“What’s his problem?” Carla asks.

“He’s terrified of Australia because of all the poisonous shit. I was really surprised that he stayed with us in Australia.” Natasha replies.

“Natasha! That’s—Wait a second… in Australia you said ‘oh, right’ when Cheza explained about my fear; why is that?
” I inquire.

“I…
uh, might’ve told her a couple years ago…” Cheza admits.

“Wow…
alright, ignoring that breach of trust for the moment.” I reply.

“
Stop being such a woman and grow a pair, Nancy.” Carla says and the girls laugh.

“Right; okay,
when you’re done being bitches and need a lift home, call me.” I say and storm out of the office.

I take the elevator down to the ground floor and walk out the front door. I walk three miles in the drizzle until I get to Pike’s Place.
After walking around for about an hour, I head down to the Waterfront and grab a bread bowl of salmon chowder. Oh Ivar’s… your salmon chowder can always make me feel better. I expected Cheza would have called by now so I should probably just port home to wait. After checking to make sure the coast is clear, I touch my triskele.

“Sara, I’m home!” I announce, but there’s no answer
.

It’s around this time that I realize that none of the electronics are on and I remember the events of this morning. I race upstairs to the master bathroom, and find that the door is locked. I throw a left hook through the door and tear it off of the hinges. Sara is in the bathtub, a radio
in her lap; she must have realized what I did after her failed attempt and decided to use electricity so my blood couldn’t interfere. I rush over, yank the radio cord out of the socket, and pull Sara out of the tub, finding that her skin is still warm, which I assume is a good sign. I quickly form a Sic scalpel and make an incision in Sara’s neck; blood only trickles out, not gushes, which is not a good sign. Her heart isn’t beating, which I had anticipated with the electrocution.

I cover the incision with my left hand and pump my blood down into her heart before manually restarting it. I consider using electricity to restart her heart before realizing that defibrillators use two paddles because of how the current passes between them; if I were to apply a straight jolt of electricity, her heart might explode or something.

“Airi, did I make it in time?”

(It appears so.
It seems that she hasn’t suffered any brain damage so she must’ve electrocuted herself less than six minutes before you showed up)