An Imperceptible Ruse Indeed (The Gods' Executioner Series) Page 8

  Cheza and I engage our helmets and sprint forward while we still have the element of surprise. Once I’m within range, I hold my blackened left arm in front of me and blast the leftmost tank with water, as well as the surrounding vampires. The water on the tank and nearby vampires flash freeze as Cheza passes by, roughly fifteen feet behind me. The tanks’ turrets open fire on me and Cheza while the vampires finally notice us as I’m spraying down another tank.

  “Don’t worry about the smaller arms fire and focus on dodging the .50 cals!” I think to Cheza as the vampires start shooting at us with rifles of various models.

  “Easier said than done!” Cheza responds while freezing another tank.

  I focus on hosing down the third tank while trying to ignore the bullets that keep hitting my suit, which isn’t too difficult seeing as I can barely feel them. Cheza freezes the third tank while I hose down the fourth, quickly followed by the fifth. Cheza manages to freeze them both while I’m hosing down three more as I feel her fatigue.

  “Are you alright?” I think.

  “Yeah, I’m fine; just keep going.” Cheza replies while freezing the sixth tank and I hose down the ninth.

  I suddenly feel a pain in my right thigh as Cheza yelps and her leg collapses from underneath her. I feel a pain in my lower back as Cheza gets hit two more times with .50 caliber bullets and a dozen times with smaller rounds. After quickly changing directions, I launch myself on top of Cheza, but I’m not quick enough to block the bullet that pierces the collar of her suit and sinks into the back of her neck.

  Rage fills me as Cheza stops breathing due to her wound while my back gets continuously punctured by .50 caliber rounds. Cheza loses consciousness from a combination of fatigue and lack of oxygen as the firing lets up from all infantry and the other tanks with the exception of the one directly in front of us. I take a peek over my shoulder and see an infantry vampire rushing forward with something on his back… Oh fuck!

  The flames of the flamethrower engulf me for a brief second before being extinguished by the bubble of water around me; even napalm needs oxygen to remain alight. I notice that the water is swirling around Cheza’s head as the water is set on fire. While in the bubble of fire, I realize that now is a good time to port out of here. I arrive on the floor of Director Gracie’s office with Cheza beneath me. I pull the bullet out of Cheza’s neck, two out of her lower back, and the one from her right thigh as she begins healing herself. The continued gunfire coming from outside tells me that I’ve been able to keep up the bubble, creating the illusion that Cheza and I are still there.

  “Cole! What happened!?” Natasha frantically asks.

  “They hurt Cheza… they’re going to pay.” I maliciously say as I form my Mu-cutter.

  (Relax, Master; you don’t want to channel the Void at this stage)

  “If I need it to kill those bastards, I will channel the Void with no qualms.”

  (Utilize the powers of the fallen gods, and the Void will not be necessary)

  “I can’t see how lightning will help in this situation, or water beyond the whole flamethrower business.”

  (Those are not the only fallen gods you have at your disposal. You have yet to use any powers from the first fallen god that you ‘collected.’ Might I suggest using the powers of a War God?)

  “What good can that do?”

  (Enhanced speed and strength)

  “Do it.” I reply as my Mu-cutter connects and I think about the stretch of road behind the tanks before porting there without touching my triskele.

  I flash forward and hack the vampires surrounding the seventh tank to pieces at a speed that has been previously unknown to me; the majority of them are dead before they even realize they’re being attacked. After six quick slices to cut a hole through the side of the tank, I dispatch the remaining two vampires that were lucky enough to not be in the path of my Mu-cutter while I was cutting open the tank. I set my sights on tank number eight while the infantry around it set their sights on me and open fire. Thankfully, it seems that I’m at an angle that the tank turrets can’t reach.

  As I notice the flamethrower wielding vampire in this group, I recall the explosion of the predator drone this morning when I luckily hit its fuel tank; isn’t the backpack part of a flamethrower all fuel tank? I pull my .460 S&W from behind my back and fire at the vampire’s heart after the purple lightning bolt surfaces on the back of my left hand. The bullet pierces the vampire’s chest and travels through the fuel tank. The resulting explosion from the lightning igniting the fuel is rather terrific and gives me the distraction needed to race forward and slice the infantry to pieces. I cut a hole in the eighth tank before dicing the three vampires inside the tank; only two to go.

  I launch myself over the seven foot height of the ruined tank, moving onto the ninth. The area around me gets lit up by .50 caliber gunfire as I notice that the tenth tank has rolled forward and turned towards my position. I do a retreating backflip over the tank and use it as cover. Since the turret can only fire on the front of the ruined tank because of the angle, I run around the backside of it, only to be met by all of the remaining infantrymen behind three flamethrowers that set me aflame. Water surrounds me as napalm mixes with the surface and turns into a swirling inferno around me. I get a crazy idea when I notice that I can barely make out the bronze auras of the infantry in front of me.

  I stumble forward to make it appear as if they are actually harming me as the flamethrowers continue their efforts and increase the inferno. I feel the heat radiating off of it as I continue until the flamethrowers run out of fuel; I imagine that my ball of fire is quite huge by now so I sprint into the middle of the infantry as they open fire. While I’m getting berated by bullets, I throw both of my arms down and the water bubble pops, sending the swirling napalm flying in all directions around me. The vampires are covered in the flames that were previously surrounding me. Glorious screams of agony erupt around me as the vampires burn. Several vampires hit the ground and try rolling around to extinguish the flames, but to no avail. That’s the thing that sucks the most about napalm: it sticks.

  With the whole ‘AH I’M ON FIRE!’ thing, the vampires are a little too preoccupied to offer any resistance as I hack my way through them. I laugh as the tenth tank tries to retreat at its top speed of 40mph while I destroy the ninth tank in the same fashion as the other two. I quickly catch up to the final tank and cut a hole in the side, slicing through the right treads. The remaining tread goes flying along with a few wheels before the right side drops, the weight stopping the tank’s movement. The vampires inside regard me with wide-eyed terror as I stick my torso into the new opening of the tank.

  “Alright, so here’s the deal. The first person who tells me where I can find the head of the Australian campaign, doesn’t die.” I explain.

  “The captured azeman embassy!” one vampire shouts immediately. I decapitate the other two vampires in the tank and turn to my informant.

  “Thank you; you may leave.” I reply and port back to Director Gracie’s office.

  “Get me a picture of the azeman embassy in Adelaide. Now!” I demand.

  “Cole? What’s going on?” Natasha asks as Director Gracie types on his computer.

  “I’m going to end all of this by eliminating the vampire leading the Australian campaign.” I reply.

  “How do you know they’re at the azeman embassy?” Natasha questions.

  “A vampire told me in exchange for not killing him.” I respond.

  “Shouldn’t you do something about the couple dozen bullets sticking out of your back?” Natasha sarcastically asks.

  “I can take care of those later.” I say.

  “Cole, I’m pretty sure they’re bleeding…” Natasha says with concern.

  “I said leave it! It’s simply the price I’m paying for not getting to her in time… I should have gotten us out of there the moment I felt her getting tired… I knew that she was slowing down, but I just kept going…” I softly reply as I w
alk over and observe Cheza’s prone form. The rise and fall of her chest indicates her breathing has restarted, so at least there’s that.

  “Here,” Director Gracie says while handing me a printed photograph of the embassy.

  “Thanks. I’ll have this Australian vampire situation wrapped up momentarily.” I say and touch my triskele.

  I port to the courtyard of the embassy in Adelaide with a large marble fountain to my left, prepared for a fight. While I’m prepared for a fight, it seems entirely unnecessary as there isn’t a single enemy in the entire courtyard or anywhere in sight. That’s weird, isn’t it? It seems entirely possible that I might’ve already killed all of the vampire forces, but it seems like common sense to keep a few people back to guard the base and the commander.

  I slice through the double doors at the entrance with my Mu-cutter and I’m surprised by what I see: there’s blood, pretty much everywhere. There are dozens of bodies that are all in pieces on the floor. The lack of damage to the surrounding areas and the non-tattered chunks of body indicate a lack of explosions; something of a bladed nature was responsible for this.

  “Please! Just give me more time and I know I can do this!” I hear a woman’s voice beg from the second floor and I look for the stairs.

  “It’s too late. You have failed us too many times.” A modulated female voice replies as I find the stairs at the back of the building and race up the steps.

  “We’re pulling the plug on the Australian operation, and your services…” the modulated female voice adds as I sprint down the hall.

  “Are no longer required.” Sydney finishes as I reach the room just in time to see her decapitate the vampire commander before slicing her severed head into six pieces with red twin swords that don’t appear to be made of metal.

  “Why, hello Cole! What a totally unexpected surprise!” Sydney exclaims as the blood rains down around her; I’m pretty sure she was being sarcastic.

  “So Loki really is behind all of this.” I comment.

  “This is just the first in a series of events we have planned for you. In fact, another one should be starting soon. I wonder if you’ll have this wrapped up before it starts… I guess we’ll just have to see. Until next time!” Sydney replies and waves as she disappears.

  So she can port too? Who in the hell is she? Well, since she didn’t turn into smoke like Loki, I doubt she can port without being detected, which only raises more questions about how she managed to get in and out of Niflheim. And what’s this next event she referred to?

  All of these thoughts wander through my mind as I disengage my Mu-cutter and port back to Director Gracie’s office.

  “Alright, well I’m pretty sure the vampire invasion of Australia is over.” I report.

  “How can you be so sure?” the director asks.

  “Well, I overheard the superior of the vampire leading the Australian campaign say that they were abandoning it, just before the vampire was decapitated by her superior.” I explain as I scoop Cheza up.

  “I’m going to take Cheza home now so she can rest. Natasha, I’ll meet you in the room; Cheza and I left some things in there that I’ll need to get anyway.” I inform them before porting to the house in Bellevue.

  I set Cheza on the bed, pull her suit off of her, tuck her in, brush a strand of hair out of her face, and give her a quick kiss. I port to the room at the AUSSIE compound and gather up the clothing that Cheza and I have left around the room. I zip my left sleeve back on and fold the clothing into neat piles while waiting for Natasha, who walks into the room five minutes later.

  “All done. Ready to go?” she asks.

  “Yeah.” I reply while gathering up the stacks of clothing.

  I grab Natasha’s hand and port us to the living room of the house.

  “Hey Natasha? Could you do me a favor and help me pull these bullets out now?” I request.

  “Of course.” Natasha replies with a slight smirk.

  I walk through the kitchen to the laundry room where I toss the bundle of clothes into the all-in-one washer dryer before adding some soap and turning the machine on. I grab a pair of pliers from our utility drawer in the kitchen and hand off the pliers to Natasha. After grabbing a metal dish for Natasha to put the bullets into, I hop up onto the dining room table and lay face down. Twenty-seven tinks of the metal dish later and I have a back free of bullets.

  “Thanks, Natasha.” I tell her.

  “No problem. Alright, well I’m going to head back to the office.” Natasha says while yawning.

  “Are you sure? You could catch some sleep in the guest bedroom if you want.” I offer.

  “Hmm… I think I’ll take you up on that.” Natasha replies.

  I lead her upstairs to the door that is across the hall from the master bedroom and show her in.

  “Hold on, I’ll go grab some of Cheza’s pajamas.” I say.

  “That’s alright, Cole; thanks though.” Natasha replies.

  “Are you sure?” I ask.

  “Yeah.” Natasha says and an awkward silence follows.

  “Well, uh, goodnight!” I awkwardly reply.

  “Goodnight, Cole.” Natasha responds as I exit the room and close the door behind me.

  I return to the master bedroom while trying to shake my slight feeling of awkward embarrassment, quietly rinse off my suit and myself in the shower, and get ready for bed. I slide in next to Cheza and spoon her as I drift off to sleep.

  Chapter 9: Breakfast Innuendos

  [December 23rd]

  I wake up at 8am the next morning to find that Cheza is still unconscious. I start to worry before I check on her to find that she’s fully recovered, and is only sleeping. I carefully leave the bed and exit the room before heading downstairs. Natasha is sitting at the bar that divides the kitchen and the living room, reading a newspaper while wearing only a blue lace bra and matching panties.

  “Good morning, Cole!” Natasha exclaims from behind her newspaper.

  “Uh, good morning, Tasha…” I reply while trying to keep myself staring.

  “What do you feel like having for breakfast?” I ask.

  “Hmm… I think I could go for some sausage right about now. It’s been quite a while since I’ve had any sausage and the thought of it is really making my mouth water. Can you fix that problem for me, Cole?” Natasha asks with a sultry gaze.

  “Yeah; I’m pretty sure we’ve got some sausage links in the fridge. What else do you want with the sausage?” I question.

  “How about crepes? I think banana crepes with lots of whipped cream would be really good, don’t you? But I don’t want the banana to be sliced. I would rather have you shove the whole banana into the hole of the rolled up crepe, before squirting a bunch of white cream into it. Can you manage that, Cole?” Natasha inquires.

  “I believe we have both whipped cream and bananas so I should be able to manage it. I doubt the crepes will be as good as Jason’s; that man is a master at cooking crepes.” I reply and get to work while Natasha quietly huffs.

  I cook the crepes and sausage before dishing them out onto three plates: two that I set on the bar and one that I put in the microwave, setting it to the ‘Keep Warm’ function.

  “Are you done with the front page stories?” I ask as I sit down beside Natasha and start eating. She hands me the front section of the newspaper and I can’t help but notice the way her breasts move with her blue lace bra as she does so.

  “See something that you like?” Natasha smiles surreptitiously.

  “No.” I plainly reply and turn my attention towards the newspaper.

  “Am I really that unattractive to you, Cole?” Natasha asks, sounding hurt. I turn towards her and see tears in her eyes.

  “No, that isn’t it at all.” I tell her.

  “I mean, I know that I’m entering my late twenties and I’m not in your preferred age range… I’m over a decade past that already…” Natasha quietly adds.

  “You know, I’m getting really sick of everyone t
hinking I’m a pedophile!” I exclaim.

  “You have to admit, the evidence for it is pretty daunting.” Natasha argues.

  “I don’t like little girls!” I expound.

  “Prove it.” Natasha states and stares at me.

  I stare back into her green eyes for several moments before something comes over me. My mouth hungrily finds hers as my right hand slips underneath her bra. Natasha grabs my junk through my boxers and I get so wrapped up in the moment that the shutting of the microwave door comes as a surprise, causing me to jump.

  “Don’t stop on my account.” Cheza says and takes a bite of her crepe before turning towards Natasha.

  “It’s the usual rate and make sure you’re using jimmies; I can’t have you getting my bottom bitch pregnant.” Cheza tells Natasha.

  “Got it.” Natasha replies with a serious nod.

  “So you’re whoring me out to our friends now?” I ask with mock surprise.

  “Whoring you out implies that I’m actually guiding the horse to the watering hole, when all I’m actually doing is profiting from the horse finding the water all on his own.” Cheza replies with an uninflected tone.

  “I’m sorry…” I say.

  “If it were anyone besides Natasha, I’d already have your testicles in a vice grip. However, since it is Natasha, I don’t really mind.” Cheza responds, but something tells me that she’s not being completely truthful. Natasha gets a mischievous look on her face and walks over to Cheza.

  “Want to do a repeat of a few years ago?” Natasha whispers in Cheza’s ear. Cheza stares at me as the mischievous look spreads to her face.

  “That could be fun…” Cheza replies as they both inspect me and I start to feel like a piece of meat. I realize what they’re referring to as I hear my phone ring.

  “Just a second.” I tell them and race upstairs to answer my phone.

  “Cole, we need your help.” Tia says, sounding rather distraught.