Feros and the Underworld Prince (45 page)

“
Cheza, you know that you can cry for Addie anytime you need to, right?” I think to her.

Cheza nods her head a few moments later as a couple of droplets hit my chest.

…

[October 11th]

Try as I might, I end up staying awake through the night, my memories giving me a fright, and I didn’t just spend the last two hours thinking up that rhyme, alright? Cheza is squeezing me tightly on my right side. As I reach over and brush away the tear drop in the corner of her eye, Cheza’s eyes flutter open. She groans and stretches, looking fantastic in that shirt, while moving upward to kiss me.

“
Good morning.” Cheza whispers with a smile, but a profound sadness is in her eyes. I try to probe for the answer, but the door between our minds is slammed in my face, causing me to physically recoil back slightly.

“
It’s nothing. I’m going to hop in the shower.” Cheza says and gets out of bed. She walks into the bathroom and I hear the click of the door locking before the shower turns on.

Now, I don’t claim to be an expert on the creatures known as females, but in my short time on this planet, I have learned that phrases like ‘everything’s fine,’ and ‘it’s nothing,’ are usually strong indicators that everything is not fine and something is wrong. I stand up out of bed and walk over to the bathroom door. Now how to get the door open? I could use explosives, but that will defeat the purpose of sneaking up on her to catch her in the act; this also means that shooting the lock is out. I could try slicing through the doorknob, but then Cheza would hear the thud when it hits the floor.

What I really need is for the doorknob to just disappear… oh, right. I grab the doorknob with my left hand, recalling that I have the ability to make things disappear like smoke, presumably through some means of superheating to a gaseous state or by splitting the bonds between molecules until there are just free-floating atoms left. Well, Jason will most likely forgive me for the door. What was it my Drive had said?

“
I create nothing. I preserve nothing. I only
erase.
” I whisper, but nothing happens. Then the doorknob starts gradually loosing presence until disappearing from sight. Perhaps my attempt at this was just too slow or the molecules weren’t broken apart in scattered enough patterns to give the cool smoke effect.

I quietly push the door open and see Cheza’s naked ass. The guy from Happy Madison Productions says
Terrific!
Then I notice Cheza’s hands are by her face and her body is heaving spastically, as though she were sobbing.

(Less terrific)

I silently strip off my boxers, open the shower door, and step inside behind her. After quickly wrapping my arms around her, Cheza becomes rigid and turns around to face me.

“
Did you really think that I wouldn’t notice that something was wrong just because you blocked me?” I ask.

Cheza responds by audibly sobbing into my chest. I hold her tightly as the warm water buffets our bodies. Once she’s calmed down enough, I pour some shower gel into my hand and start scrubbing us up. I start tickling her just to get a smile out of her in a lame attempt to make her feel better.

“
It is pretty lame… but thanks.” Cheza thinks with a teary-eyed smile.

After shampoo and conditioner, we get out and towel off when I learn something interesting. It seems that, regardless of the shampoo Cheza uses, the smell of her hair always reminds me of frozen mandarin oranges; I wonder what I smell like to her…

“
Bananas usually, sometimes with a kind of coppery tang, which I don’t really mind, but I imagine it makes you smell delicious to vampires; like if Orange Julius made a blood smoothie…” Cheza thinks as she puts on the t-shirt and jeans that she was wearing yesterday.

“
I actually really missed that smell while you were gone. When I first moved into the sorority back in July, one of the girls cut off the tip of her finger while making a banana smoothie and I started bawling… you’re not going to leave me alone again, right Cole?” Cheza asks as she halts her movement. I finish pulling my jeans on before walking over and hugging her.

“
No, I promise that I won’t leave you again. Watching you try to follow me the first time around was the single most painful experience of my life, and one memory that I wish would have just stayed forgotten.” I think.

Recalling how I felt watching her sobbing on my bed as she dragged my switchblade through her throat, I realize that I truly mean it. Extracting myself from her life cleanly is impossible, so I guess my only choice is to get strong enough to protect everyone I care about… alienating everyone else isn’t a bad idea either… I should make a ‘people I’m stuck with no matter what’ list and focus on protecting them while cutting myself off from everyone else, like Travis… shit, did anyone tell him what’s going on?

“
Don’t worry; Natasha told him about it and that the case would most likely be settled very soon.” Cheza butts in.

“
Good.” I reply as I put my t-shirt on.

“
So, do you have any plans for an assault on Duniya al Jinn?” Cheza asks.

“
Well, my plan of bum-rushing them all by myself doesn’t seem like it will fly anymore, but that doesn’t mean I can’t take out a great deal of them at once to protect you guys if you’re coming with me.” I tell her and exit the room.

“
Cole, what are you scheming?” Cheza asks with slight concern as she follows me out of the room and down the hall.

I walk past the kitchen and to the door that leads to Reyna’s room. I knock twice and wait so I don’t accidentally walk on them having sex again.

“
What’s up bro?” Jason asks whilst shirtless.

“
I need a place to train with roughly forty homunculi or flesh dolls. In absence of those, I can work with pig carcasses.” I tell him.

“
Sounds like you’re going to be doing something fun!” Jason says, snaps his fingers, and swirl of black mist overtakes Cheza, Jason, and I.

Jason ports us to some sort of training facility that is a large circular room, roughly one hundred feet in diameter. He snaps his fingers and two scores of homunculi appear.

“
Thanks Jason, I’ll just port us back when I’m done.” I tell him.

“
Can’t I stay and watch?” Jason asks with a questioning look.

“
Normally I’d say yes, but I don’t trust the things I’ll be using. They seem to follow my will, but if I lose control, they may end up leaving you without any of your skin. The only reason I’m letting Cheza stay is because I know they won’t hurt her with the amount of my blood that is in her.” I inform him.

“
Alright CT… I’ll see you guys in a little while!” Jason says with a grin and a swirl of black as he disappears.

“
Cheza, do me a favor and pull out your phone to record the results in the notes app. I also need you to have a stopwatch app open.” I request; Cheza nods and gets ready.

“
Gaze upon erasure, and return to the void.” I command while holding my left arm out.

And nothing happens.

“
Gaze upon erasure, and return to the void.” I command with slightly different enunciation while flinging my left arm out.

Once again, nothing happens.

I start flailing around like a child throwing a tantrum for a few minutes before Cheza puts her hand on my shoulder.

“
Don’t worry about it! It happens to everyone sometimes and I don’t think any less of you because of it!” Cheza says with a half-smile, which only serves to exacerbate my frustration.

I sprint forward and punch my left arm through the torso of one of the homunculi, when a crazy thought pops into my head.

“
Hey Airi, is it possible for me to spin the blood around in my hollowed out left arm to create a kind of vacuum effect to suck the blood straight from my enemies and replenish my own supply?”

(Hmm… theoretically yes, but it would take some time… definitely not something you would be able to do without taking cover)

“
Still it’s a good thing to have under my belt in case of emergencies.”

“
Let’s head back. I’ll try again later.” I tell Cheza and she walks over to grab my hand. I touch my Haglaz and port us to Jason’s room.

“
Perfect timing, I was just about to have Jason go get you two.” Reyna says.

“
Why? What’s up?” Cheza asks.

“
We are headed to Mictlan.”

…

Chapter 40: Mictlan, Azeman, and Vampire Society

As the black mist dissipates, I notice the greyscale stucco buildings around us and the orange sky. The orange darkens by the moment as the simulated daylight in the Underworld fades.

“
So, would anyone care to explain where in the hell we are going?” I ask.

“
You’ll find out soon enough.” Reyna replies as a limousine pulls up.

“
Duchess, I have been instructed to deliver your party to the mansion for dinner with the Queen.” The driver says as he opens the passenger door to the limousine.

Reyna enters without a word and motions for us to follow; Jason, Natasha, Cheza, and I get in the limousine and the driver leaves. About fifteen minutes later, the stucco buildings disappear and all I see are palm trees and other types of tropical foliage. Since this is the Aztec district of the Underworld, I suppose the foliage isn’t all too bizarre, but greyscale plants are rather disturbing…

“
So… while you may have two princesses, I’m banging a duchess! I am totally kicking your ass in harem bingo now!” Jason whispers to me.

“
A duchess is technically of the same rank as a princess.” I respond.

“
So that means…” Jason replies.

“
I’m still
winning
.” I sarcastically whisper. Jason gives me this defeated look and stares out the window.

Fifteen more minutes pass by until we reach an elaborate metal gate with the initials M.R. ornately displayed on the front. It still takes five more minutes once we pass the gate, but we finally arrive at a large Tuscan style villa with huge Corinthian columns bordering the steps leading up to the front door. The palm-leaf Corinthian columns tell me that the house was definitely custom built, as any architect would have matched the plainer looking Tuscan columns with a Tuscan villa. All five of us walk up the steps and the front doors open for us.

“
Welcome home, Duchess.” A brunette maid in uniform on the left greets Reyna with a light French accent as we walk through the ornate double doors. I quickly scan her and am surprised to find that she’s not only human, even if there is something slightly off about her center aura, but she’s also alive.

“
Would any of your guests care to freshen up before dinner? Perhaps I can help this one more…
personally
?” A short-haired Latina azeman maid asks from the opposite side of the doors while staring at my throat with a hungry expression.

Cheza edges closer to me as I form a smoke bomb in my pocketed left hand. If it comes down to it, I should have no problems throwing the bomb, grabbing Cheza, and touching my Haglaz before anyone can recover.

“
That is quite alright; an escort to the dining hall is all that is necessary.” Reyna replies.

“
Pardon my intrusion Duchess, but the Queen has required proper dining attire as several others will be joining the dinner party.” The French maid informs us.

“
Of course there are…” Reyna replies through gritted teeth with a tone that implies that she’s thinking something along the lines of ‘Dammit!’

“
Will this suffice?” Jason asks after snapping his fingers.

I look around and see that Jason and I are dressed in fitted tuxedos while Reyna and Natasha are dressed in tight fitting satin evening gowns. Much to my delight, Jason has dressed Cheza in the black halter top dress with the slit up to her left thigh that she wore for her birthday party last year. I turn back to the maids and notice that Jason has taken the liberty of shortening their uniforms to mini skirt sizes. Reyna rolls her eyes and lightly smacks his arm so Jason shrugs and snaps his fingers, returning the uniforms to their basic knee-length skirts.