An Imperceptible Ruse Indeed (The Gods' Executioner Series) Read online

  I take several deep, oxygenating breaths, and walk out of the room with my hands held over my head. The moment I step out into the open, I get shot in the chest about fifteen times, puncturing both lungs, shattering a few ribs, and severing a few arteries.

  (The rounds have been loaded with chlorotoxin and an electrical impulse, which are completely ineffective now that you hold Jupiter’s power over electricity. Smart move oxygenating your blood in case both lungs were punctured doing this, Master)

  “Thanks, Genie; I guess Sara is going to be busy pretty soon, huh? Now let’s show these guys what we can do.”

  The Void fills my eyes as my left arm flushes black and I throw it in the air. Five black tendrils shoot out of each of the holes in my forearm and connect with the faces of each of the vampires faster than they can comprehend. In the past three years, I’ve been working on speeding up the tendrils and I’ve been able to decrease the size of the tendrils to create more of them for less cost. Once I got the accuracy up, the smaller tendrils became much more effective; who needs a three foot crater when one foot is more than enough to take out a head?

  I hit the ground as all of the headless vampires rain blood down upon the restaurant’s patrons and the majority of them start screaming. A stampede towards the exits ensues as everyone freaks out over my act.

  “COLE!” I hear Cheza scream as she rushes to my side.

  “I’ll be fine, Cheza. However, I do need to get to Sara and I’m running low on oxygen.” I think.

  Cheza nods and runs to grab Natasha before returning to my position as I start to see stars. I feel her cold hand entwine in mine, but before I touch my Haglaz rune on my right shoulder, I turn my head towards Natasha and contact her. The connection opens up with some difficulty; like a steel door that is close to being rusted shut.

  “Think I’ve still been replaced?” I think.

  “Cole… I’m pretty sure it is impossible for anyone to replace you.” Natasha thinks with a tender smile and I touch my Haglaz. I lose consciousness as my body hits the tile floor of the house in Arizona.

  ****

  [December 19th]

  I wake up in the middle of the night to the feeling of someone biting into my neck. My eye’s shoot open and I see my goddaughter straddling my chest whilst gnawing on my jugular.

  “Alice? What are you doing?” I ask, surprise flooding my tone as I sit up in bed.

  “I don’t know… I woke up and I was hungry and you smelled so good, Uncle Cole.” Alice starts crying as she explains, barely intelligible when muffled by my neck.

  “I’m sorry, Uncle Cole! I can’t stop!” Alice cries. I gently embrace her and start stroking the back of her head.

  “It’s okay, sweetie; you take as much as you need.” I tell her as I allow the blood to slowly flow from my neck.

  “But mommy said that I shouldn’t bite people! That I might accidentally kill them! I don’t want to kill you, Uncle Cole, but I can’t stop!” Alice cries harder.

  “Don’t worry about that; your Uncle Cole is special. Unlike most people, he won’t be easily killed if you’re hungry. So with me, it’s okay to drink as much as you want; I promise that I won’t die.” I reassure her.

  Alice’s crying lessens as she continues drinking from my neck. She finally detaches herself a few minutes later.

  “Uncle Cole…?” Alice asks; I really do not like the tone she’s using.

  “I don’t feel so good…” Alice says as I pick her up and race to the bathroom, knocking Alice’s rabbit to the floor in the process.

  I throw open the bedroom door, cross the hall, and enter the bathroom. I’m able to get the toilet seat up and hold Alice over it before she blows, but the blood vomit ricochets back and covers both of us. As I stand there, dripping with blood vomit, holding my three year old goddaughter who is also dripping with blood vomit, I notice that saran wrap is over the toilet just before I notice a yellow post-it note on the wall to the left of the toilet. I set Alice down, bend down, and pull the note off of the wall.

  Cole,

  By now, you have noticed the saran wrap. Ha ha.

  Love, Jason

  “Well, I guess we both could use a bath right about now.” I tell Alice as I set her down.

  “Sorry, Uncle Cole…” Alice quietly replies.

  “I don’t blame you, sweetie. I’ll get the bath started.” I say as I walk over to the bathtub.

  “I’ll go get the bath time candles!” Alice exclaims and runs out of the bathroom.

  “Okay?” I reply, confused.

  I get the bath to a suitable temperature and grab towels before noticing that Alice and I are tracking blood everywhere; I’ll just have to take care of that later I guess… or call for the maids to do it. Alice walks back into the bathroom with an armful of candles. She reaches up and places six candles on the bathroom counter.

  “Uncle Cole? Can you light these?” Alice asks.

  “Sure, just stand back.” I tell Alice and she moves to stand behind me.

  My left arm flushes black and a purple lightning bolt appears on the back of my hand as I point my index finger at the candles. Six tiny arcs of lightning shoot out of my index finger and light the wicks on fire.

  Should I be using my Void powers so frivolously when they could lead to my death in one form or another? Probably not, but I discovered that utilizing the powers that I’ve gained from the fallen gods doesn’t turn my eyes black, which Airi tells me is the sign that the Void is a step closer to taking over my aura. So lightning and water manipulation: good. Void tendrils and breaking things down into smoke: not so much.

  “Ooh! Pretty!” Alice exclaims with excitement.

  “Alright, let’s get this blood off of us.” I say.

  “Wait, Uncle Cole! There’s no bath time music!” Alice pouts.

  I think Alice might’ve walked in on something that she shouldn’t have and got the wrong idea… but hell if I’m going to be the one to explain things; what am I, her dad? …I’m still not explaining things to her.

  “I’ll go grab my phone, I guess. I’ll be right back.” I tell her and run back to the room, grab my phone off of the night stand, and return to the bathroom.

  I shuffle my music list with the first song being by the Arctic Monkeys, turn the volume all the way up, and set my phone next to the candles. I pull off my t-shirt and leave my boxers on to avoid awkward questions before Alice runs over and turns off the bathroom light. I help her out of her clothes, pick her up, step into the bath tub, and sit us down. After we dye the water a light shade of red, I wash the blood puke out of Alice’s long black hair. I’m able to accomplish the hair washing without getting soap in her silver eyes as I’m reminded of Addie.

  “Uncle Cole? I’m hungry again…” Alice sheepishly informs me.

  “Already? Well, I suppose that’s to be expected since it didn’t stay in you for very long the first time around. Work on restraining yourself so you don’t puke again, okay?” I reply as I sit back against the wall of the bathtub.

  “Okay.” Alice quietly says, climbs into my lap, and bites into my neck as a few tears slip down her cheeks.

  “It’s okay, sweetie. It’s not your fault; it’s just who you are.” I tell Alice as I hug her to let her know that she isn’t doing anything wrong.

  My shuffled music list of over eight hundred songs decides that now is the time for some Barry White, just to make things awkward for me. Damn you, uPhone! Learn to read a mood and leave that shit out! I am really glad that Cheza blocks our connection when she’s on a mission or she might’ve gotten the wrong idea, like she always does. The bathroom light suddenly turns on.

  “Cole!? What are you doing!?” Reyna asks in a state of panic from the open door before Jason walks up behind her.

  Why does she look so panicked? She and Jason must’ve come home early when they heard about the intruder… is this about the blood we tracked through the hallway? Is she worried that we were injured?

  Then I take in t
he full force of this picture: bathtub, candles, Barry White, their three year old daughter straddling a perceivably naked man in the tub while kissing his neck as he holds her close to him… all this is missing is a smattering of rose petals and an empty bottle of wine to become a pedophile’s idea of the perfect evening! It’s only topped by the fact that the water is bloody and Alice has been crying recently to make this look like the perfect storm of ‘holy shit I’m going to get arrested for child molestation.’

  “Aw—Awwwww!” Is all I can manage to say with my downtrodden tone as I look around at the situation. Why does this shit always happen to me!? Jason starts cracking up and alleviates some of my stress.

  “WHAT IS SO FUNNY ABOUT THIS!?” Reyna shrieks; looks like misunderstandings of this situation aren’t solely Cheza’s department.

  “Haha! The saran wrap! Hahahaha! The saran wrap!” Jason replies while in stitches; so it seems he’s figured everything out.

  “I’m sorry, Mommy! I was just so hungry and Uncle Cole smells so good and he said it was okay…” Alice starts to cry.

  “Oh mija, I’m not angry at you; I just misunderstood. It’s okay.” Reyna gently says as she helps Alice out of the tub.

  “I’ll go grab you some clean jammies.” Reyna adds and heads out of the bathroom and down the hall towards Alice’s room.

  “So, Cole… are you attracted to young girls?” Jason asks me in a serious sounding tone, but with a smile that says he’s fucking with me as he dries Alice off and I step out of the tub.

  “Well, that depends… do you want me to go the R. Kelly route and say define ‘young,’ or the Sandusky route and say that I ‘like young people and enjoy being around them’?” I ask while drying off, wrapping my towel around my waist, and slipping off my soaked boxers underneath the towel. Jason and I both start laughing as Reyna comes in with a pair of Alice’s footie pajamas and helps her into them.

  “Come on; it’s been a long night so I think we should all get some sleep. Cole, is it alright if Alice sleeps with you?” Reyna asks and I realize that it must have something to do with a bloodlust that comes with the fangs.

  “Sure. We can talk about what happened tomorrow at breakfast.” I reply before realizing that, with the exception of the towel, I’m completely naked and my clothes are all in the bedroom. Jason smirks at me and snaps his fingers, applying a clean pair of boxers and flannel pajama bottoms.

  “Right. Let’s go get some sleep.” I tell Alice.

  “Okay. Goodnight, Mommy. Goodnight, Daddy.” Alice says and follows me into the guest bedroom. I lift her into bed and slide in next to her before shutting off the light.

  “If you get hungry in the middle of the night, just go ahead and take a bite; you don’t need to wake me up.” I tell Alice.

  “Okay… thanks, Uncle Cole.” Alice softly replies and I kiss her forehead.

  “Goodnight, Alice.” I say and drift off to sleep.

  …

  “So walk us through what happened.” Reyna says after breakfast, once Alice has been put down for her nap.

  “Well, Alice was eating dinner and I felt nauseous so I went to the bathroom and splashed some water in my face. Then shit got weird. As I brought my head up, I saw Loki standing behind me in the mirror, but he wasn’t behind me when I turned around. Loki asked me what my answer was in response to helping him in return for bringing Addie back. I told him that my answer is the same as it was four years ago; that I’m going to kill him. He said he was happy that was my answer and that he had several things planned for me before I heard the window break in the kitchen. I rushed out there and found a woman in a black leather riding suit with a black street bike helmet holding a knife to Alice’s throat.” I recant while looking away.

  “I’m sorry… that never should have happened and it’s my fault…” I quietly admit.

  “It’s alright, bro; Alice is safe so it’s fine. What happened next?” Jason asks.

  “I told the woman to let Alice go; she responded by doing just that after using a spell to put Alice to sleep. She told me that she was following orders to come and say hello, meaning that she must work for Loki. She also told me that it was nice to see me again and that she’ll be seeing the Night Ice Queen again soon as well.” I recap.

  “Did you recognize anything about her?” Reyna inquires.

  “Nothing; I couldn’t even tell what ethnicity she was because her skin was completely covered. As far as I know, I’ve never met her. All I know is that she calls herself Sydney and is about five and half feet tall with a very slender figure.” I reply.

  “Plank like?” Jason asks.

  “Close to flat as a board… Hmm, I think I may have a lead.” I say as I think of Charlotte; same height, body type, and knife proficiency… I wonder where she was last night? There’s a knock at the door and Jason goes over to answer it.

  “Prince Jason, I’m here to make my report.” The head security guard from last night says from the doorway. I leave the kitchen and stand behind Jason to hear the report.

  “I apologize, but we weren’t able to catch the intruder.” The guard says.

  “Don’t worry, I didn’t expect you to. The speed with which they were retreating would’ve made it incredibly difficult to catch them, even for me. What about how they got in?” I ask.

  “We weren’t able to discover that either… we had no idea they were on the grounds until the window broke.” The guard reports while looking at the ground with shame.

  Sydney must’ve known about the security system in place since she most likely works for Loki, knowing that the security force would arrive promptly, cutting our meeting short. That amount of time is really only enough for introductions, which is exactly why she said she was here. Knowing that security was on their way and that I had to take care of Alice deterred me from following, which all but assured her escape. This had been well planned indeed, which seems to be something of Loki’s forte. The only question that remains is how she was able to exit undetected.

  “I assume the gates were locked down once the intruder was detected?” I question.

  “Uh, yes sir. All of Niflheim was locked down within five minutes of detection.” The guard answers.

  That doesn’t restrict porting, but Hel would have been able to sense any porting within all of Niflheim. Thinking back to when Loki showed up at the wedding, Hel seemed pretty surprised… was that just because she didn’t expect to see him, or was it because she didn’t sense him come in? I should go speak with her.

  “I need you to go inform Hel that I need to speak with her immediately. I’ll meet her in the front sitting room of the palace in ten minutes.” I tell the guard.

  “Yes, Feros.” The guard replies, bows to Jason, and runs off across the grounds.

  I head upstairs, take a quick shower, dress in my normal jeans/ white t-shirt/ jacket combo, and touch my Haglaz to port to the sitting room in Hel’s palace.

  “Hello, Cole. What do you need?” Hel asks from her place on the black leather couch. I take a seat across from her.

  “When Loki appeared at the wedding reception, were you able to sense him port in?” I ask.

  “No, I didn’t. Does my father have something to do with last night?” Hel questions.

  “Yeah; he appeared to me in the bathroom mirror just before the break-in and the woman who broke in was sent by Loki for a meet and greet. I believe that Loki ported in with the woman and ported the two of them out; it’s the only way that the woman could have slipped in and out undetected. The woman gave indications that we had met before so I’m going to look into it.” I reply.

  “I’ll see you later.” I add and port back to Jason and Reyna’s house.

  “Hey CT, how did things go with my mom?” Jason asks.

  “Well, I figured out that Loki can’t be detected when he ports, so he most likely brought the intruder in last night. I’m going to look into a few things since Sydney said we had met before.” I respond.

  Still, something
doesn’t seem right; while Loki physically porting Sydney out seems plausible, it is slightly too hands-on for his style…

  “Cole, would you mind hanging around here for a few days? With Alice’s bloodlust due to her fangs coming in, it would be a big help if you could stay around.” Reyna requests.

  “Yeah, I suppose I can do that.” I reply.

  “So what exactly happened last night?” Reyna asks.

  “Well, I woke up and found Alice attached to my neck. She started crying and saying that she didn’t want to kill me, but she couldn’t stop. I gave her the go ahead to drink as much as she needed and reassured her that I wouldn’t die. Then she felt like she was going to puke so I rushed her to the bathroom and got the seat up before she threw up, but it hit the saran wrap and drenched both of us.” I explain.

  “Yeah, I figured as much. What about the candles and Barry White though?” Jason asks.

  “I’m blaming that one on you two. When I told Alice that we needed to take a bath, she went to grab the ‘bath time candles’ and when we were about to get in the tub, she said we needed ‘bath time music,’ so I grabbed my phone and put it on shuffle.” I recant as Reyna and Jason look away with slight embarrassment.

  “You should probably correct that misconception about bath time before it gets even worse.” I tell them and my phone starts ringing so I answer it.

  “Cole, I need your assistance.” Maria informs me.

  Chapter 3: Maria’s Mission

  “What’s going on?” I ask.

  “The vampires have grown restless under an azeman’s rule.” Maria replies.

  “Why? What difference does it make who is ruling as long as it’s essentially a vampire?” I inquire.

  “Vampires and azeman have never gotten along very well because vampires see themselves as superior.” Maria answers.

  “So it’s a race thing?” I question.

  “Essentially, yes. A large rebellion of vampires has formed since the events during Alice’s birthday party five months ago and they have started attacking the azeman embassies on earth. I could use your help.” Maria replies. I wonder how much influence Loki has in this event…