An Imperceptible Ruse Indeed (The Gods' Executioner Series) Page 9

“Tia? What’s wrong? Has something happened to you or Sara?” I frantically ask since Tia being distraught is a giant red flag.

  “No, she’s fine. By ‘we,’ I mean the Aztec pantheon.” Tia corrects.

  “What’s going on?” I inquire.

  “Tezcatlipoca, Xipe-Totec, and Huitzilopochtli were all killed last night in a manner that you know quite well.” Tia explains and I start freaking out. That’s three out of four Category 3 pantheon heads killed in a single night; one more and Tia dies with him.

  “Where’s Queta… Quetzala… Que…” I try to say.

  “Quetzalcoatl? He’s here at the house. He goes by Quinn now by the way.” Tia says.

  “Alright, I’ll be there in a little bit.” I tell Tia and hang up.

  I run downstairs and see that the girls have started the ‘pre-game warm-up’ on the couch. I struggle to ignore the sight as I head to the laundry room and pull out my armored jeans and jacket from the washer-dryer.

  “Cole? What’s going on?” Cheza asks from the living room.

  “I need to go help the Aztec pantheon.” I say while pulling my pants on.

  “Is Tia alright!?” Cheza asks, sounding worried.

  “She’s alright at the moment, but three of the four heads of the Aztec pantheon were killed last night; one more and she won’t be alright at all.” I reply while pulling on my jacket and walking into the living room from the kitchen.

  “Okay, I’ll go grab my suit.” Cheza says, standing from the couch and Natasha.

  “No, Cheza. Your suit has too many vulnerabilities at the moment. I’m taking both of our suits with me so Sara can repair them.” I tell her while grabbing my boots from the entryway closet and sitting on the stairs to strap them on.

  “Cole—” Cheza starts to argue.

  “Cheza, I can’t allow you to come with me on this one… I can’t risk losing you again with what happened yesterday… it’s my fault you got hurt.” I tell her while hanging my head. I hear Cheza pad across the floor to my position.

  “Cole… you have to stop blaming yourself for these kinds of things.” Cheza softly replies as she leans forward over the stairs and pulls me close to her.

  “I’ll let you do this one solo, but I want you to check in with me on occasion.” Cheza adds.

  “Yes ma’am.” I reply.

  “Alright… be safe, Cole; I love you.” Cheza says.

  “I love you too, and I will.” I respond and give her a quick kiss.

  After heading back to the master bedroom to grab my holster pouch and both armored leather suits, I touch my triskele and port to the house in Arizona where I grew up. I find Sara and Tia sitting at the kitchen table with a Hispanic man that is around six feet tall with a thin build and short black hair that has a metallic green sheen to it.

  “Hello everyone. Sara, can you fix my and Cheza’s suits?” I ask and hold the suits out to her.

  “Sure… Holy shit, Cole! What happened!?” Sara inquires while holding up my suit and inspecting the back of it.

  “Cheza and I had to take on ten tanks yesterday; she was getting shot so I jumped in the way and covered her.” I recant.

  “Well, your suit is toast. Cheza’s shouldn’t be too difficult to repair, but I’ll need to make a new suit for you. I’ll have to strip the inlay from this one, replace the broken discs, and insert it into a new leather suit.” Sara explains.

  “Take your time on mine, I still have my old one to use as a backup, but Cheza needs hers as soon as possible. Also, can you reinforce the collar?” I ask.

  “If you made pure silicon carbide discs then I can.” Sara replies. I walk over to the kitchen sink and hold my left hand over it.

  “If I make them half an inch thick, would it limit her neck’s mobility?” I inquire.

  “Most likely.” Sara answers.

  Cheza being unable to turn her head would be even more of a liability so I guess that’s out. I form pure silicon carbide discs that are a quarter of an inch thick and two inches in diameter. A liter of blood later, I hand the ten discs to Sara and she heads back to her room. I take a seat at the kitchen table next to Tia, who is wearing jeans and a burgundy camisole with a slight puffiness around her eyes.

  “So what’s the situation, Quinn?” I ask the man wearing the black suit across from me at the table.

  “Well, as Tia already told you, the lords of the North, South, and East have all been killed.” Quinn replies.

  “How?” I inquire.

  “There were holes from a blade in their shirts and underneath… their chests were melted and their cores were gone.” Quinn answers. This sounds just like the incidents with the Greek pantheon four years ago.

  “Where were they killed?” I question.

  “In Mexico City. They were on their way to a meeting with the new vampire leader to negotiate their takeover of Mexico. I was supposed to be going to that meeting as well, but I was running late. When I felt my brothers die, I sent some gods to investigate, knowing that if I went and fell into a trap, the Aztec pantheon would be finished.” Quinn explains.

  “Were they together, or did they take separate routes?” I ask.

  “Separate routes.” Quinn answers.

  “Alright, I think it’s best if I go talk with the vampires in Mexico City and see if they know anything.” I say.

  “I’ll accompany him. You should return to Aztlan, Lord Quetzalcoatl.” Tia suggests.

  “What’s Aztlan?” I ask.

  “Aztlan is the Aztec plane of the gods, like Mount Olympus or Tir na nOg. It’s sometimes known as the birthplace of the Aztec people; the word Aztec is actually the Nahuatl word for the people from Aztlan.” Tia informs me.

  “I think that would probably be best… be careful and report back when you know something.” Quinn says and disappears.

  “So, shall we go?” Tia suggests.

  “Yeah, but let’s go speak with Maria first; I want to get as much information as I can so we know what we’re walking into. I also need to feed Alice while we’re in the Underworld.” I reply.

  “Alright, let’s go.” Tia says as she grabs my arm.

  I touch my Haglaz rune and port to Jason’s house first because I can’t port directly to Mictlan anyway.

  “Hey Cole; here for Alice?” Reyna asks as Tia and I appear in the kitchen.

  “Yeah, that and to see your mother.” I answer.

  “Well, Alice is down for her nap at the moment.” Reyna informs me.

  “Alright, I’ll go see if she’s hungry.” I reply and head upstairs.

  I enter Alice’s room and find her peacefully sleeping. I lift her over the guard rail of her bed and hold her against my chest. Alice sniffs and moves to bite my neck without waking up. After she drinks half of a liter, I cut her off and tuck her back into her bed. I turn around and find Tia standing in the doorway, smiling at me.

  “Have you considered that she might be your daughter?” Tia whispers.

  “Why do you say that?” I ask at the same volume as Tia.

  “Well, her silver eyes and silver aura are difficult to ignore.” Tia replies.

  “Airi… care to jump in and confirm or deny her, and my, suspicions?”

  No response, like I expected.

  “Wait, you can see auras?” I question.

  “Of course; all gods can.” Tia says.

  “If you could see my aura then why didn’t you, or Kira for that matter, suspect my origins?” I ask.

  “Because all of the blood warriors had silver auras. As you know, silver auras are reserved for god-created beings like jinn; the blood warriors fall under that distinction as well. Cheza’s silver aura only served to strengthen the lie that she had to be killed to start Ragnarok since she’s doesn’t have the blood of a god-created being; that sort of anomaly made sense.” Tia explains.

  “Huh… anyway, let’s head to Maria’s.” I reply.

  I grab Tia’s wrist and port us to the front door of Maria’s house where I ring the doorbell.
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  “Hello, Cole.” Babette greets.

  “Hello. I need to speak with Maria.” I reply.

  Babette motions for us to follow and leads us back to Maria’s usual room before knocking on the double doors.

  “Come in.” Maria replies.

  “Hey Maria.” I say as I walk into the room.

  “Hello, Cole. What can I do for you?” Maria asks.

  “Well, I have to go meet with the vampires in Mexico City to ask about the murders of three of the heads of the Aztec pantheon last night, and I figured that you would most likely have some information on them. I need to know where the vampires are and who is leading them.” I tell her.

  “Well, I do know that the vampires are situated in the skyscraper that used to be the azeman embassy. I’ve been informed that they’ve bought out four blocks surrounding the building, blocked off the area, and rerouted traffic around it by claiming that they’re doing construction. Essentially, they’ve created a fortress.” Maria tells me.

  “What about the leader?” I inquire.

  “I’m afraid that I can’t help you there because I have no information on who is leading them. However, I do know that they know that you are working for me so you most likely won’t be getting anywhere near the leader.” Maria replies.

  “Great… so what now?” I ask.

  “Well, we go to the vampire’s fortress and I’ll go in to get the information while you wait at someplace nearby.” Tia suggests.

  “Yeah, I suppose that will work. Mexico City, here we come.”

  Chapter 10: Tenochtitlan

  I port us into an alleyway across from the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral, a massive church that is just over a mile from the former azeman embassy. I step out of the alleyway and head into the square in front of the cathedral to look for the skyscraper of the former azeman embassy; I stand beneath a gigantic Mexican flag as I look around. Stretching along the square to my right is a wall that looks like it belongs on a British parliament building. I turn to the left and spot the skyscraper in the distance. I hear Tia sigh behind me and I turn around to find sorrow in her eyes.

  “What wrong, Tia?” I ask.

  “Nothing… I just don’t like coming here… especially now.” Tia solemnly replies.

  “Why?” I inquire.

  “This place just brings me a certain deal of sadness. I can still see Montezuma’s palace where the National Palace now stands, which isn’t too bad because a great deal of Montezuma’s palace was used in the construction of the National Palace.” Tia says while pointing at the parliament-esque wall to the right.

  “The place that brings me the most sadness is the Metropolitan Cathedral.” Tia tells me as her eyes glaze over slightly and a certain depth to them appears. For the first time since I’ve known her, Tia’s true age is actually showing through.

  “Why does the cathedral make you sad? Is this the site where the explosion occurred?” I ask, referring to the ultimate Aztec warrior that died in an explosion to save a Spanish missionary.

  “No, that actually occurred at a different site. This is where the sacred precinct once stood. What the people of today call the Templo Mayor, the second largest location for sacrifice after the main temple that was destroyed in the explosion, sat right over there.” Tia replies while pointing to the top right corner of the square.

  “The cathedral is where Harry’s main temple was before it was destroyed by Hernan Cortes. This entire city used to be Tenochtitlan, the city that Harry instructed the Aztecs to build. This all used to be his city… but now it’s gone… and now he’s gone…” Tia softly says as tears well up in her eyes.

  It pains me to see the woman I consider to be my elder sister like this, so I quickly step forward and hold her as she works through it.

  “Let’s go find who murdered him.” I quietly suggest.

  “Yeah… thanks, Cole.” Tia replies and wipes the tears from her eyes.

  We head left out of the square and walk for about a mile. I notice several vampires with bronze auras wearing heavy clothing and hats, presumably to block out the sun and prevent burns. Construction signs start popping up as traffic starts thinning to follow the detour signs. With all of the sinking that goes on in Mexico City, saying that they needed to do construction to level off any tilting wouldn’t bring any suspicion from the public eye and then it’s just a matter of paying off the government.

  Tia and I finally come to the construction area that has been cordoned off and is guarded by two vampires dressed in hoodies, reflective vests, and hard hats. Tia pulls me onto the patio of a café that is just before the construction area. I notice that I have a fairly clear view of the former azeman embassy skyscraper from this location.

  “Alright, so you wait here, I’ll go in and have a chat with the leader to find out what they know, come back here, and we’ll proceed from there. I’ll give you a call if anything goes wrong.” Tia says on the patio.

  “Okay, see you soon.” I reply. Tia turns to leave and then stops, turns back around, and gives me a hug.

  “Thanks for helping, Cole.” Tia whispers.

  “Of course; how else was I supposed to respond to my big sister needing help?” I rhetorically ask.

  Tia smiles at me and leaves the café while I take a seat. I watch as she walks across the street and heads down to the ‘construction’ area. The ‘construction workers’ stop Tia and they talk for a moment before one takes out a radio.

  “Hola, puedo tomar su orden?” a waitress asks. I assume that she wants to take my order.

  “Uh… caramelo macchiato?” I reply, unsure if the caramel in caramel macchiato should be translated to caramelo… and also unsure if caramel in Spanish is caramelo because the only Spanish I know is what I’ve picked up from living in Arizona for the majority of my life.

  The waitress smiles, nods, and leaves. I look back to see one of the vampires escorting Tia down the block towards the skyscraper. I wait for a few minutes and the waitress brings over my coffee.

  “Um, check por favor?” I ask.

  The waitress looks confused for a moment so I pull out my wallet and hand her a credit card. She nods in understanding and takes the card. A minute later she comes back with the bill, a pen, and my card. I sign off on the bill after entering an inconspicuous amount for a tip so that I won’t be remembered. I slide my card back into my wallet and sip my coffee.

  Five minutes pass by and I finish my coffee as I notice that the vampire that escorted Tia has returned. Ten minutes pass by as I watch the comings and goings of the vampires. Twenty minutes pass by with no word from Tia, but I suppose that isn’t all too weird; the leader might be making her wait or something. I suddenly hear a crashing sound in the distance as shards of glass fall from the top floor of the skyscraper. I see someone fall out of the window… someone with a burgundy top and long black hair…

  Shit! I have to save Tia, but how!? I can port up to catch her, but then I’d just be falling too… wait, momentum carries when I port so if I get a running start and port midstride… that just might work, but it’s going to take some careful timing. I jump out of my seat and start sprinting towards the skyscraper as fast as I can before porting into the air. I continue sailing through the air and pass underneath Tia, missing by about fifty feet. I hit the side of the skyscraper and kick off of it, catching a noticeably wet Tia on the return and aiming for the adjacent building as a landing point. We make it half way across before I realize that I’m not going to make it… fuck, this is going to hurt.

  (*Sigh* What did I say about jumping off of tall buildings? Luckily, this time around you have enough control to utilize the power of a fallen god)

  “What are you talking about?”

  (Horus was a sky god)

  My left arm flushes black as I comprehend Airi’s meaning. I focus on willing my body to slow down and it starts to work. I hypothesize that Horus’s power somehow changes the effects of the gravitational pull on my body as my decent speed slows until m
y feet gently touch onto the street in the middle of the empty intersection.

  “That was pretty close, eh Tia?” I ask while cradling her in my arms. I look down and my face falls in horror.

  There’s a Void dagger sticking out of Tia’s chest.

  “Tia?” I ask as I fall to my knees in shock.

  “I love you, my little brother.” Tia softly says with a sad smile.

  “No Tia! Don’t talk like that! I’m going to fix this!” I exclaim as a few tears slip from my eyes. Tia weakly reaches up and places her hand on my cheek.

  Tia closes her eyes and goes limp as a hole is burned through her chest. The dagger falls into her chest cavity.

  She’s gone…

  (Master…)

  “Airi! Please tell me that there’s some way to fix this! That there’s some way to save her!”

  (I’m sorry, Cole…)

  These bastards… these goddamn sons of bitches killed her… they’re going to pay… ALL OF THEM ARE GOING TO DIE FOR THIS!

  Something inside me breaks as I feel a prickling sensation on my left arm, starting at the line where my artificial arm meets what’s left of my flesh. The sensation travels upward, over my left shoulder before branching out across my left shoulder blade and left pectoral. It continues moving up the left side of my neck, stretching across my cheek before it comes to my left eye. I feel my eyes flush with the Void as my body floats up until I’m about a foot off of the ground, still cradling Tia in my arms. An enhanced situational awareness comes to me and I become hyperaware of my surroundings.

  Vampire soldiers in all of the surrounding buildings begin firing at me, but I don’t bother to engage my helmet. Void tendrils shoot out of the holes in my left arm and right leg, shredding the sleeve of my jacket and legging of my jeans. Tendrils of several different sizes move around Tia and expand outward from my position until I can see strings of black in every direction.

  The tendrils strike the weak points of the small surrounding buildings that the vampires are using for cover. Two fragmentation grenades land at my feet before the tendrils pick them up and throw them back. Explosions and resulting screams reach my ears as the small buildings collapse around me. Vampires flood out into the streets and start shooting for a moment before the tendrils find their heads. Blood and bodies cover the streets in all four directions as I turn my attention towards the skyscraper on the corner.