Feros and the Underworld Prince (15 page)

The werewolf takes a 1-2 swipe at my face. I use my left hand to smack his right wrist and then his left as his swipes come in. Each smack snaps a wrist and the werewolf howls in pain as I reach up and flick his sternum as hard as I can with my left hand; by the way he kneels at my feet, I’d say I just broke it, which isn’t all that surprising when consideration is given to the hardness of my arm paired with the force that a flick can generate. With my left index finger against his forehead, I push the werewolf backwards gently… down the stairs. He tumbles head-over-heels until he lands sprawled out on his back, on the ground near Carla’s feet.

I’m greeted with a menagerie of stunned expressions. I start feeling awkward so I do something stupid and try to make it funny.

“
Hello; my name is Cole and I might have an anger problem.” I address the crowd.

“
HI COLE!” the jinni guy shouts back in the exact reply I was hoping for. Thankfully Carla and Natasha laugh because everyone else is a sea of crickets… dead ones… they’re quiet.

“
Anyway, that’s Cole; he will be assisting us with the mission. The mission starts at 2350 local time. I don’t need to remind everyone about the dangers of fighting the enhanced vampires or weres so you are all dismissed.” Carla says and everyone files out of the room while two people carry the werewolf out.

“
Come on, I want to introduce you to someone.” Natasha says.

She grabs my hand and drags me down the steps, before pulling me on stage and over to the jinni guy with black wings sticking out of his back.

“
Ryuji, I want you to meet Cole Treyfair. Cole, this is my friend Ryuji and one of The Agency’s best analysts and tech experts. We went to college and joined The Agency together.” Natasha introduces us. Ryuji is a few inches shorter than me with spiky black hair and copper-brown eyes.

“
So you’re Feros!” Ryuji excitedly announces.

“
Feros?” I inquire.

“
Faction’s Executioner Run On Sight. It also means wild animal in Latin and is the plural of the Latin word ferus which means fierce or cruel.” Natasha explains. I actually kind of like the sound of that…

“
I thought you died in your battle against Fenrir when you destroyed half of Greenland!” Ryuji exclaims.

“
I got better… and it was only half of a Greenlandic town, not half of Greenland.” I clarify.

“
Wait a second, you said that you and Ryuji became friends in college, but how did Ryuji go to college with his wings?” I ask Natasha.

“
Oh, I went to a college for supernaturals. Have I never told you that?” Natasha explains.

“
They have supernatural colleges!?” I incredulously inquire.

“
Yeah, Fogquartz University.” Natasha answers.

“
Your fucking with me, aren’t you? That sounds just like—” I start to say.

“
Yeah, I know; J.K. Rowling is actually an alumnus.” Natasha interrupts.

“
So, I take it from your name that you’re Japanese, not Chinese. How do you spell Ryuji?” I ask.

“
No, you were right, I am Chinese.” Ryuji says.

“
Then why…?” I inquire.

“
For the same reason that my birth parents only wrote my name in English and didn’t specify the characters when they dropped me off at the orphanage: to piss me off. My adoptive parents are great though; they’re imps and they adopted me because they thought I was one too, but they were still really supportive of me when we discovered I was actually a dragon. Being raised by them in San Francisco was a great time and I was able to get in touch with my roots… you know, because Chinatown San Francisco is the best in the country.” Ryuji jokes; I guess that’s a no on him being a jinni.

“
Oh, so I guess we have a similar upbringing…” I absentmindedly say, which results in a few moments of awkward silence.

“
Do you really have your own harem?” Ryuji asks in awe.

“
HE SURE DOES!” Natasha interrupts before I can say anything. “He even has a loli peri!”

“
Lowly peri…? What are you talking about? peri’s are awesome!” Ryuji exclaims with a slightly questioning look.

“
No, Japanese loli.” Natasha clarifies. Ryuji’s eyes go wide in shock and his jaw drops to the floor.

“
Thanks a lot Natasha; now he thinks I’m a pedophile!” I angrily think after establishing our connection.

“
Cole, how do you think I even know the term loli?” Natasha replies.

“
Can I just hang around you in the hopes that some of your swagtastic ways rub off on me!?” Ryuji pleads.

“
See? Ryuji and I have been friends for a while. Just don’t find a loli catgirl while you are out or he will probably bow down at the mere sight of you.” Natasha thinks.

“
Did I mention that he had a threesome with a maid and a catgirl? Oh, and that the catgirl was his little sister? Oh, and that I was the maid?” Natasha adds as Ryuji looks like he’s about to have a stroke caused by too much awesome.

“
Hey Natasha, Cole, I’m not sure if I can handle this job. I’m still shaking from earlier and I can’t even imagine going through that day after day. I’m not like you, Natasha; I can’t remain calm after seeing something like that… how do you do it?” Katie asks, freaking out slightly; most likely a delayed response from the buildup of the last few days.

“
Katie, you will be fine; things like this almost never happen and are even rarer in research and development.” Natasha reassures her.

“
As for how I do it? Experience. I’ve seen Cole beat a werewolf into ground meat using the werewolf’s own leg. I’ve seen him laugh while he cracked open a god’s ribcage for an anatomy lesson while the god was still alive. I’ve seen him get an erection whilst torturing my ex-arranged-fiancé to death. I’ve seen what happens to those that hurt his friends and I’ve seen how hard he is on himself if he fails to save them.” Natasha says rather passionately.

“
Natasha… are you trying to make me friendless?” I ask with a halfhearted sternness.

“
You know me, Cole; I’m just trying to knock out the competition!” Natasha exclaims with a smile.

“
Ryuji, take Cole to the tech-lab and get him outfitted with anything he needs. Katie, let’s go introduce you to the Seattle research and development team.” Carla orders.

All five of us walk to the elevator. Carla and Katie get off on the -3 floor while Ryuji, Natasha, and I take the elevator down to -5.

“
HAREM KING FEROS COMING THROUGH! HIDE YOUR LOLIS! HIDE YOUR IMOUTOS! HIDE YOUR CATGIRLS TOO ‘CAUSE HE RAPIN’ ER’BODY UP IN HERE!” Ryuji shouts as we step out of the elevator and onto the dark blue carpet of the room that resembles an office. I see a total of eight people down here: two women and six men in cubicles.

“
Hey, that’s slander dude! I don’t go around raping anybody!” I say loudly as I notice that one of the women is wearing cat ears and is trying to stealthily take them off.

“
Fine, I retract my ‘rapin’ er’body’ statement but still, HIDE YOUR LOLIS! HIDE YOUR IMOUTOS! HIDE YOUR CATGIRLS TOO ‘CAUSE THEY WILL MOST LIKELY LEAVE YOU FOR HIM!” Ryuji reiterates as we reach a glass door that leads to a section of the floor that is a sterile white and appears to be an armory.

“
Anyway, let’s get down to things you will need for the mission. You will most likely need night vision, thermal vision, tactical armor, submachine gun, combat knife, grenades, C-4, and… radio earpiece.” Ryuji says while piling the items onto the table.

“
Actually none of those will be necessary, except for the radio… never mind, I just realized that I won’t be able to use it with my special helmet. Make sure that Natasha gets one though so I have some way to relay information to you guys.” I say.

“
Yes, your highness!” Ryuji replies seriously.

“
Stop that…” I respond.

“
Cole, can you port Katie back home before the mission?” Carla asks as she walks in with Katie.

“
Sure, are you ready to go now Katie?” I ask.

“
Yeah, can you port me back to my room at the sorority house?” Katie requests.

I port Katie back to her room and wait an awkward minute before porting to my room. I quickly change into my armored suit and strap my holster over it. I decide to leave my left Diamond sword behind; I most likely won’t use it so it will just be in the way. I return to the armory to find Natasha being outfitted.

…

Chapter 16: The Finer Things in Life

[September 14th]

“
Oh Cole, you take me to the nicest places! This is kind of romantic, isn’t it? A moonlit walk through concrete corridors that smell of piss where numerous enemies may be awaiting us around every corner! How about you throw me up against that wall and we have sex right now!?” Natasha thinks as she rubs her breasts against my left arm.

“
You know, I don’t have feeling in that arm anymore so what you are doing is completely ineffective.” I reply, not mentioning the fact it is also ineffective because of the armored vest she is wearing. I’m wearing my armored suit with my left arm unwrapped and my helmet engaged.

“
I wouldn’t say that it’s completely ineffective…” Natasha softly thinks.

“
Why are you treating this like it’s a haunted house or something?” I ask as I peek around a corner to check for enemies and then for traps as a precaution (even though it’s mostly just wishful thinking that I have the capability to see laser sensors because I can see auras).

“
I’m just nervous I guess… I’ve heard stories about the enhanced vampires and the mortality rate against them is really high, Cole. Every time our forces go up against them, we always lose at least one operator for every enhanced super that we take down. You’ve been up against them, how fast and strong are they?” Natasha asks, her level of anxiety becoming more noticeable.

“
They’re easily as strong and as fast as the Daeva, but not as fast as Tia.” I think to her; there’s no use trying to bullshit her. I feel her tense up next to me.

“
Don’t worry; I promise that I won’t let anything happen to you.” I whisper in her ear.

“
No… Cole, these vampires are faster than the reports and the werewolves are fast as well. There are two waiting down the next corridor, you fired five shots and they dodged all of them. You finally get a hit when they are about thirty feet away, but the two bullets that don’t miss, don’t slow them down. Our forces will be decimated in the next five minutes.” Natasha whispers in a panic, making me realize that her tensing was because of a vision.

“
Contact the base and tell them to have everyone fall back. Tell them to equip all of the USAS-12 combat shotguns that are available; those should have enough stopping power. If there aren’t enough shotguns, have them use any assault rifles that are loaded with 7.62mm rounds and tell them to aim for the legs to slow them down.” I say while gesturing to the automatic shotgun that is hanging from a strap by Natasha’s right arm. She touches a button on her vest and starts relaying the instructions as I wait for her.

Suddenly two vampires with red auras rush around the corner armed with twin short swords; they must have heard us speaking because it’s unlikely that Natasha’s premonition was this wrong. I meet them about twenty feet from my previous position with my gun and Diamond sword drawn, cursing myself for not bringing my second one. I block the right vampire’s blades with the Diamond sword as I block one of the left vampire’s blades with my gun, while the other blade comes down on my left elbow. The blade breaks on my diamond-hard arm; I use the vampire’s surprise to turn my gun and drill two rounds into his head.

I hear Natasha scream behind me, accompanied by the sound of automatic shotgun fire. The vampire I’m blocking uses Natasha’s scream as a distraction to take a swing at my neck with one of her blades. I catch her sword in the disarm bar, rotate my gun, fire three rounds into her abdomen before shuffling to the side to allow her other sword to come down away from me while I bring my Diamond sword through her neck.