Cole's Haunting Melody (The Gods' Executioner Series) (20 page)

“Because…” why had I been so ready to believe Juno did it when really none of the evidence suggests that?

“I guess it was simply because she’s a woman.” My statement garners dirty looks from the three women present.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that! Blame my life experiences, one in particular in which I was stabbed after a perceived cheating by Cheza! And that wasn’t even real! It just wasn’t much of a stretch for me to believe that after cheating dozens of times, Jupiter might get the equivalent of dozens of stabs in return!” I explain. The women just continue to glare at me.

“Well, I think I’m done for today. I’ll continue the investigation tomorrow.” I say as I grab Cheza’s hand and walk past Diana and Juno.

“Hold on, you’re going to need this to access the palace.” Juno venomously says and hands me a golden coin of a mountain with a ring of clouds at the summit that is roughly three inches in diameter.

“Thank you.” I reply and
continue walking.

We head through the palace and to the courtyard where we came in.
Cheza and I stand there for a moment, but nothing happens.

“Umm, Iris?”
I ask while holding the coin up in the air. A rainbow appears and I drag Cheza through it. We touch down next to the now-deserted fountain and head back to the stone gazebo/gate via the cloud pathway.

“Am I really the reason you thought Juno was guilty?” Cheza quietly asks as we walk.

“No… well, maybe. It was also because the spouse is often responsible in human murder cases so why should it be any different with gods?” I reply.

We reach the gate and I touch my triskele to port us to the house in Arizona, not being able to port directly to the Underworld.

“Yeah, I suppose that makes sense… and I’m, uh, sorry for stabbing you…” Cheza quietly apologizes.

“Don’t worry about it
; I still love you, regardless of what you do.” I tell her.

I give Cheza
a quick kiss before remembering my internal conflict about love. How does Venus make someone fall out of love? Does she simply make the person seem unattractive to the victim or does she mess with the brain’s chemicals that are responsible for giving the feeling of love? I wonder why the girls see me as attractive…

“What are you thinking about?” Cheza asks.

“I don’t see why Natasha is in love with me; or Lila, for that matter. I mean, I’m pretty average looking, I don’t think this has anything to do with money, and it’s not like I’m making panties drop everywhere I go…” I say.

“Cole, every girl loves a hero, and we all have a genetic predisposition to li
ke bad boys; you’re both. You saved Lila when she was kidnapped and saved Natasha from marrying an asshole: hero. You have an air of danger about you because of your impulsive/ thrill-seeking behavior and because, well, you kill gods: bad boy.” Cheza explains. Is it really that simple? I touch my Haglaz rune and port us to Niflheim.

“Hey you two; did everything go alright?” Tia asks from the couch when we port into Jason’s room.

“Hey Tia, I was just about to go look for you!” I announce as I walk towards the couch. She’s wearing jeans and a burgundy tank top, which won’t quite work…

“What’s up?” Tia inquires as she sets down her magazine and stands up. I quickly grab her tank top
with my left hand and rip it off.

“Cole?” Tia as
ks with confusion in her eyes.

I bring my Sic dagger from behind my back and proceed to
stab her in the chest, betwixt the ribs beneath her right breast as Tia yelps in pain. I pull the Sic dagger out and watch as the golden mass in Tia’s chest heals just before her skin does. Then Cheza tackles me from the side and starts repeatedly punching me in the face.

“WHAT IN THE HELL HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU!?”
Cheza screams during her flurry of punches.

“
Chezarei, how is he supposed to explain while you’re punching him in the face?” Tia asks and Cheza stops punching me.

“Well, she did throw a knife through my neck last year!” I
exclaim and Cheza starts punching me again.

“
AHHHH! WHY DO I PUT UP WITH YOU!?” Cheza screams rhetorically before her punching stops.

Her words are concerning to me
because if Cheza stops to think about it, she’d realize that the reason she puts up with me is because she has no other choice…

“I needed to see if I could penetrate the golden mass in Tia’s chest and
I decided that ripping her shirt off and stabbing her was a better alternative than cutting her chest open and stabbing her.” I explain.

“Thanks for that!” Tia exclaims.

“Why did you need to do it in the first place!?” Cheza demands.

“To confirm a suspicion on how Jupiter died.
Now all I have to find out is the ‘why’ and the ‘who’… and the ‘where’ is the ‘what’ because leaving this weapon floating around is not at all safe.” I reply.

“
Rei? Why were you screaming?” Sara asks as she walks in the room.

“Never mind, I don’t really want to know.” Sara says while shutting the door behind her as she leaves after seeing Cheza straddling me and Tia topless.

“Well I’m tired so I think that sleep would be a good thing.” I say and Cheza gets off of me.

“Alright, see you both tomorrow!” Tia says while heading for the door.

“Goodnight Tia. Sorry about your tank top and the whole stabbing you thing.” I reply.

“Don’t worry about it; now we’re even. I’ll just go see Jason and have him
snap me up a fresh set of clothing. Later!” Tia exclaims and walks out of the door.

Cheza and I get ready for bed and go to sleep.

****

Chapter 20: Number Seven

“DADDY!”
Addie screams while running towards me, her tail wagging with excitement through her skirt. She jumps towards me and I hold my arms out to catch her, noticing too late the wicked looking black dagger in my hand; the dagger sinks hilt-deep into her chest.

“Daddy?”
Addie struggles to ask as she coughs up some blood, confusion plastered across her features.

I
collapse to my knees in horror at what I’ve done while cradling her body and unable to decide if I need to pull the knife out or leave it in when her body turns into black smoke. The smoke is sucked into the dagger like it’s a vacuum before the dagger drops to the tile floor without a sound. I grasp the dagger with my left hand and stare at it.

“Give her back…
giver her back…” I say as I beat the dagger against the floor.

“GIVE HER BACK TO ME!” I scream and my arm flushes black as I slam the dagger with enough force to crack the
flooring and create a small crater. The dagger shatters and the shards get absorbed into my arm, causing ripples in the surface of my arm as though it were made of liquid.

“
AHHHH!” I scream as my arm feels like it’s on fire.

****

[November 16th]

“Cole!” C
heza shakes me awake; my arm fades back to silver as I open my eyes.

“I’m okay…
let’s go back to bed.” I tell her while beating down my panic as I see that it’s only 4am.

Cheza gives me a concerned look for a moment before snuggling into my right side. I spend the next forty-five minutes trying to sleep while Cheza quietly snores. Finally having
had enough, I gently lift Cheza’s arm off of my chest and scoot out of bed without waking her. I slip out of the room and head into the kitchen.

I’ll have breakfast, maybe read for a few hours, and then continue my investigation on Mount Olympus. I think my next step is talking to Neptune to get his take on things; I should ask what the situation was like when they first arrived
at the scene of the crime. Actually, I probably should have asked Juno that question before making her cry… Apologizing is most likely a good thing in this situation, but how…?

Chocolate cake
.

It’s the answer to all of life’s problems, so why not this one too?

I head to the pantry to see what they have by way of cake mix, only to find that there isn’t anything resembling it. I touch my Haglaz rune and port to the house in Arizona where I wait for a minute before touching my triskele. After appearing at the gate in Tir na nOg, I touch my triskele while thinking of Betty Crocker chocolate cake mix and the accompanying frosting.

(Wouldn’t it be easier to just port a complete cake here?)

“Yes, but it’s 5am and I have fuck else to do so we’re baking a cake.”

I touch my trisk
ele, port to the house, wait a minute, and port to Jason’s kitchen. I wonder why I can port to anywhere in the Underworld without stopping at a gate… the time consistency must mean that I am passing through a gate, but I’ve never even been to it. I guess I’ll ask Hel the next time I see her. Once in the kitchen, I search around for a cake pan, mixing bowl, eggs, canola oil, and a measuring cup. After preheating the oven to 350, I start mixing the ingredients. The oven beeps as I finish mixing. I pour the batter into the non-stick cake pan, slide it into the oven, and set the timer for forty minutes.

“Why are you baking a cake at five in the morning?” Hel asks
while walking into the kitchen wearing a black silk robe.

“I
’m making a ‘sorry for making you cry and accusing you of murdering your husband/ brother’ cake.” I reply.

“You made Juno cry?” Hel
inquires and I nod.

“By the way, why is it that I can port into the Underworld without first passing through a gate?” I ask.

“You can’t. Each district in the Underworld
is
a gate. You can port into Niflheim from anywhere with your Haglaz rune, but you wouldn’t be able to port directly to Mictlan from earth.” Hel replies.

“Right…
thanks for clearing that up.” I say, still confused by the whole thing.

“So how go the wedding plans?” I ask.

“They’re going well. I heard you and Jason had a rough time while dress shopping a few days ago.” Hel says.

“Yeah, something
like that…” I reply, followed by an awkward silence.

“Well good luck with the investigation.” Hel
responds and walks away.

I take a seat at the bar to wait for the
cake to finish baking. The bullet in my stomach protests when I bend the wrong way and reminds me of its presence; I should probably have Sara cut that out if it’s going to keep hurting every time I bend a certain way. My right leg starts feeling stiff so I massage my thigh just above where the silver meets my flesh, which is about three inches above where my kneecap used to be.

“New leg giving you some problems?”
Sara asks as she sits down next to me.

“Yeah, a few,
but the bullet in my stomach is bothering me more.” I reply.

“Do you want me to take it out?” Sara inquires.

“Yeah, when I have some time.” I say while rubbing my thigh.

“Here,
” Sara says while pushing my hands away and grabbing my thigh.

“Thanks Sara, that feels great.” I tell her as she continues to massage my leg
.

“You
have to stop losing limbs, Cuz.” Sara says with concern.

“
Yeah, no kidding… A little harder.” I reply and Sara leans in a bit to dig into the muscle.

“Ah! Not so rough!” I exclaim when she hits a tender spot.

“So… do you want to talk about your dream last night?” Sara asks.

“How did you know about that?” I question.

“You’re baking a cake at five in the morning for no apparent reason; but more importantly, you’re awake at five in the morning.” Sara replies.

“I had a dream about Addie in which she jumped into my arms and I ended up stabbing her
with a dagger that I hadn’t noticed in my hand. It was most likely influenced by what happened yesterday…” I say.

“What happened yesterday?” Sara asks while still massaging my leg.

“I figured out how Jupiter was killed after stabbing Tia…” I tell her.

“Is that all? It seems like there’s something else on your mind.” Sara suggests.

“*Sigh*… I saw Addie again yesterday. I confused her for a little harpy girl… last time it happened with a kitsune girl, which I can understand because they both have ears and a tail, but a harpy? They’re more than half bird…” I explain.

“Cole…
you have to forgive yourself; this isn’t going to end until you do.” Sara says with a pitiful look.

“I know that…
I do… I just can’t… I can’t let her go…” I quietly reply.

The oven’s timer goes off and I take the cake out before returning to the bar chair to wait for it to cool. Upon sitting back down, Sara resume
s working on my leg.

“Thanks
, Sara.” I say.

“Of course
. I want to help you any way I can.” Sara replies.

“Cole? Sara? What are you two doing!?” Cheza excla
ims as she starts freaking out.

I can’t figure out why she’s freaking out until
I suddenly get an image of what she’s seeing: Sara sitting and facing towards me with her arms angled towards my crotch, the position of her hands being blocked by the counter, as she moves both of her arms back and forth while I emanate ‘feel good’ vibes.

“Oh
my gods Oh my gods Oh my gods!” Cheza rapidly says while grasping the sides of her head like she’s ripping her hair out.

“YOU’RE COUSINS FOR GODS
’ SAKES!” Cheza screams as she throws her arms down dramatically.

“Cheza, relax; this isn’t
what it looks like.” I calmly tell her.

(For those of you keeping track at home, this is number seven)

“THEN WHAT IS IT COLE!? BECAUSE IT LOOKS LIKE SARA IS JERKING YOU OFF UNDER THE TABLE!” Cheza hysterically screams.

“Just come here and see for yourself.” I calmly say. Cheza walks around the table and see
s Sara’s hands on my thigh.

“This still isn’t good!
Sara’s been like a sister to you for such a long—” Cheza cuts herself off.

“Realizing how hypocritical that statement is?” I guess.

“Just a bit… you two are still blood related though!” Cheza exclaims.

“There was no sexual connotation in this act, Cheza. My leg was hurting so Sara was helping me by massaging it.” I explain.

“Why is your leg hurting?” Cheza asks with concern.

“It’s most likely from the limb
dismemberment and subsequent replacement.” I reply.

“But you didn’t seem to have any problems with your arm.” Cheza points out.

“True, I didn’t, but my arm also isn’t a weight-bearing limb; my leg is under a constant strain that wasn’t present with my arm.” I explain.

“Oh…
sorry for jumping to conclusions… you know, again.” Cheza replies.

“Yeah, you tend to misunderstand relatively innocent things for sexual acts quite a bit, don’t you?” I rhetorically
ask as I see Tia slip out of Jason’s room with a sheet wrapped around her.

“Tia…
what are you doing?” I loudly ask.

“Oh, Cole!
Hey… this isn’t what it looks like?” Tia suggests.

“Really?
Because it looks like you had sex with Jason last night, despite the fact that he has a fiancée.” I say.

“Oh…
then it’s exactly what it looks like.” Tia replies.

“TIA! How could you!? Fuck! What do we do about Reyna!?” I exclaim.

“Relax, she was there too; she seemed into it and I discovered that Jason has gotten much better in the last seven years.” Tia comments.

“Okay…
problem solved, I guess.” I reply.

“Cole, the cake should be cool enough to frost now.” Sara tells me.

“Thanks.” I say and get to work on frosting the cake.

Since it’s still only 6am, we have breakfast before Cheza and I scamper off to take a shower. At
about 8am, I go to Reyna’s room to wake up him and Reyna, only to overhear an interesting conversation.

“Jason! You’ve gone soft again! It’s like a wet noodle!” Reyna whines while muffled.

“Sorry, but it’s a bit hard to keep it up when you have been drinking so much lately!” Jason retorts.

“What do you expect? I’m drinking for two.” Reyna replies, still muffled; most likely by Jason’s neck. I probably shouldn’t interrupt…

I return to Jason’s room, and pull out my phone to check up on Lord Byron.

“Hello?” Lord Byron answers with his Oxford English accent.

“Hello Lord Byron, this is Cole.” I say.

“Ah, Mr. Treyfair!
I was actually planning on calling you later today. I was able to set up a venue in Hades and I have finished planning the young prince’s bachelor party. It will be held in five days.” Byron informs me.

“Great!
On Friday, then?” I reply.

“Correct. Shall I meet you at the venue?” Byron asks.

“Sure, where is it?” I inquire.

“At Acheron, in the Hades district
.” Byron replies.

“Acheron?
The river of pain, Acheron?” I ask.

“In the original mythologies, yes; however, it’s now the Underworld’s premier
location for a multitude of entertainment.” Byron answers.

“
If that’s the case then I’m sure Jason knows where it is. I’ll see you on Friday with the other two guests at… what time?” I inquire.

“Seven
. See you then.” Byron replies and ends the call.

I send a text to Ryuji to let him know of the plan for Friday; I’ll have to go see Jericho later.
Alright, now that that’s settled, I suppose it’s time to restart the investigation. I grab the cake and Cheza grabs my arm as I touch my Haglaz rune, port to Arizona, wait a minute, and touch my triskele to port us to Mount Olympus. Cheza and I walk along the cloud path leading into town, which already has people up and about at nine in the morning. We reach the fountain and I dig in my pocket for the golden coin Juno gave me.

“
Trofi?” the harpy girl from yesterday asks.

“I’m sorry, but this cake is for Juno.” I reply.

“Trofi?” another harpy girl asks.

“
Trofi?” and another.

“
Trofi?” and another.

“
Trofi?” and another. I start to back away slowly.

“
Trofi!” a harpy girl exclaims and they all take off after me.