An Imperceptible Ruse Indeed (The Gods' Executioner Series) Page 19

  “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 Cheza 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 t
o 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)

  “Good… I can’t keep this one from Cheza though.”

  I grab a towel from the rack and dry Sara off before I wrap her in it and carry her to the room she’s staying in. After placing her in bed, I head downstairs and out to the garage to reset the circuit breaker. I return to Sara’s side, contemplating what I can do for her. I come up with an idea that is going to make me feel like a terrible person, but it might keep Sara from trying to kill herself a third time.

  “Airi… can you implant a dream of Tia talking to Sara into her mind? Basically just repeat my speech to Cheza before I killed Fenrir, and tack on something about how she can’t go to where Tia is.”

  (I can do that)

  “Thanks…”

  My phone starts ringing; I pull it out of my pocket and see that Cheza is calling.

  “Hey.” I answer.

  “Hi…” Cheza replies and I hear her cover the phone with her hand.

  “What’s wrong?” Natasha asks in the background.

  “He still sounds upset.” Cheza informs her.

  “Try apologizing.” Natasha suggests.

  “I’m sorry, Cole…” Cheza tells me.

  “For what?” I inquire.

  “For laughing at you and for telling Natasha about your fear of Australia a few days after you first told me…” Cheza quietly replies like a scolded child who’s being forced to explain what she’s done wrong, but I can’t figure out why.

  “What…? Oh right, that. Anyway, I assume you guys need a lift?” I ask.

  “Wait, if that’s not it then why do you sound upset?” Cheza asks and I touch my triskele.

  “…I’ll explain when we get back to the house.” I tell her while sliding my phone back into my pocket, noticing that it dropped the call.

  “Cole? What’s going on?” Cheza questions, but I remain silent for the next minute before grabbing her and Natasha.

  I port us to the living room of the house, sit down on the couch, and pat the seat next to me.

  “Cole?” Cheza inquires after sitting down, feeling very concerned.

  “Sara tried to kill herself… again.” I inform her.

  “What do you mean, again!?” Cheza frantically asks.

  “Last night she apparently washed down a bottle of Ambien with a glass of vodka. When I came home a little while ago, I found her in the bathtub with a radio in it; she must’ve figured out that I slipped some of my blood into her so she used electricity to bypass it. I’d just siphoned my blood in through her neck and restarted her heart when you called.” I recant.

  “Is Sara okay?” Cheza questions with tears in her eyes.

  “Airi told me that there wasn’t any brain damage so she must’ve done it less than six minutes before I got home… it seems like we were lucky.” I reply.

  “So what do we do now? Lock her in her room after taking away any sharp, blunt, or rope-like objects?” Cheza asks.

  “Maybe… I hope that won’t be necessary after what I’m doing…” I say.

  “Cole? What did you do!?” Cheza exclaims.

  “I’m implanting a dream of Tia into Sara’s mind that will hopefully help her move on.” I reply.

  “So like that movie Inception?” Natasha asks.

  “Not really… well, kind of.” I admit.

  “Oh, good… I thought you were erasing Sara’s memories…” Cheza tells me.

  “I couldn’t with how deeply ingrained her memories are. We’ll know if the dream worked when she wakes up, I suppose… Anyway, how were things at the office?” I inquire.

  “Good…” Cheza replies in a fashion that leads me to believe that everything wasn’t ‘good’.

  “What happened?” I ask.

  “Carla’s secretary brought in her hamburger for lunch and Cheza puked into Carla’s trashcan upon smelling it.” Natasha answers.

  “I’m officially on maternity leave and Natasha is going to stay with us for a while because she’s going to be helping fill in for me.” Cheza replies, ignoring the last part of the conversation.

  “That’s fine; we have another guest bedroom after all. So what do you guys want to do about dinner? Are hamburgers sounding good to anyone right now?” I ask with a chuckle before Cheza runs off to the bathroom.

  Now I feel bad…

  …

  [December 29th]

  I wake up in the middle of the night, the blue glow on the ceiling telling me that it’s 12:42am. I carefully get out of bed, silently slip out of the room, and head down the hall into Sara’s room. After seeing that she’s sleeping peacefully, I make a detour downstairs for a glass of water. Once finished with my water, I head back upstairs to the master bedroom when I hear the sound of heavy breathing coming from Natasha’s room. That’s not good… the last time Natasha had a vision in the middle of the night, we got attacked by were-sharks the next day. I walk up to her door and softly knock twice before opening the door.

  “Natasha, what did you see?” I ask while opening the door, expecting to find her sitting up like last time. Instead, I find her propped up against some pillows while in a slightly more… relaxed position with her hands underneath the blankets.

  “Shit! Sorry!” I exclaim and turn around.

  “Cole, wait! Would you care to help me out with this?” Natasha invites.

  “Tasha… I’m sorry, but I can’t. Goodnight.” I reply and close the bedroom door.

  As Aziz Ansari once said in a joke about a young father who fucked a bowl of macaroni and cheese, “Once you have a kid, the macaroni and cheese fucking days are over.” My kid is on the way, Natasha is my macaroni and cheese, and the days in which I’d jump into her bed and ravish her until naught a thought could come to her mind, are over. I return to my bedroom, climb into bed with my wife, and go back to sleep.

  …

  Chapter 20: Totally Not Whipped Cream…

  Breakfast the next morning is a little awkward, to say the least; what with walking in on Natasha’s happy-happy-fun-time-followed-by-loneliness-and-a-bit-of-self-loathing and the fact that I haven’t talked to Sara since she tried to kill herself. However, based on Sara’s demeanor, she seems to be doing better. Regardless, I walk into her room after breakfast to talk to her.

  “Sara, I need to talk to you.” I tell her as I close the door behind me.

  “I figured that you would.” Sara replies while making her bed.

  “You understand that you can’t kill yourself… I won’t allow it.” I firmly say.

  “Sara, you know that Tia wouldn’t want you to kill yourself… and Cheza and I don’t want to lose you… we want our child to grow up having an aunt.” I add, my voice cracking under the weight of the topic.

  “I know, Cole… I know… I’m sorry that I’ve been so selfish.” Sara replies as tears start streaming down her cheeks. I step closer and wrap my arms around her. Sara turns around and cries into my shirt.

  “I’m sorry, Cole…” Sara whispers.

  “It’s okay, Sara… It’s going to be okay.” I tell her as I hear my phone start ringing, but I ignore it. My phone rings two more times before Sara pulls away.

  “Go ahead and answer it; it’s important if the person is trying this hard to contact you.” Sara says.

  I nod in response and run into my room to answer the phone.

  “Hello?”

  “Cole! We need your help!” Naia exclaims.

  “What’s going on?” I ask.

  “Something is happening with Ryuji! We need to go visit Li Zhang and speak with her about this!” Naia tells me.

  “Alright, I’ll be there in a few.” I reply and hang up.

  I pull on a pair of jeans and my old jacket before heading downstairs.

  “What’s going on?�
� Cheza inquires.

  “I’m not really sure, but Ryuji and Naia need me to take them to see Li. I’ll be back later.” I announce.

  “Be careful, Cole.” Cheza replies. I walk over and give her a quick kiss.

  “Make sure you check on Sara… I just had a talk with her and she seems to be doing better, but just in case.” I whisper.

  “Okay, I’ll go do that now.” Cheza replies.

  “See you in a bit.” I respond and touch my triskele.

  “Alright, so what’s the situation?” I ask once I appear in the living room of Ryuji and Naia’s apartment.

  “Well, Ryuji…” Naia starts and walks down the hall as I follow after her.

  “his skin is… well, it is like that.” Naia finishes while pointing into the office. Ryuji is sitting at his desk and his skin is all black; a darkness kind of black, but not quite a Void black. Naia slowly shuts the door and turns toward me.

  “When did this happen?” I ask.

  “We woke up this morning and his skin was all black… and I have been inexplicably more attracted to him since we woke up…” Naia informs me and I start laughing.

  “Hey, Ryuji; ready to go see Li?” I inquire as I open the office door.

  “Yeah. I’m pretty sure I know what’s happening, but she’ll be able to confirm it.” Ryuji replies.

  “Alright, let’s get going.” I say and hold my arm out.

  Naia and Ryuji grab my arm and I port us to Li’s office.

  “Did Li know that we’re coming?” I ask when I see that the office is empty.

  “Well, I sent her a text, but she didn’t reply… I’m actually not positive that she knows how…” Ryuji comments.

  “I know how, I was simply ignoring you.” Li says while walking through the curtain covered door on the left wall, dressed like she’s ready for a safari.

  “Just what I was expecting.” Li comments when she sees Ryuji.

  “You three may want to go home and put on better shoes; we have a lot of stairs to climb.” Li informs us.

  “Care to fill us in?” I ask.

  “We have to take Ryuji to a temple in China so he can go through his first change into his dragon form, and this temple happens to be at the top of around a thousand steps.” Li replies.